This is an advanced course on design and application of microprocessor based systems. Bus architecture and timing, direct memory access, intelligent peripheral devices, device drivers, language linkage. A structured project is required. Intended for seniors. Three lectures and one laboratory per week.

Lectures

• Intro, system and real-time concepts

• Events and determinism, CPU utilization, design issues, history

• Refresh of basic HW concepts, HW interfacing

• HC12 overview: addressing modes, instructions,

• HC12 overview: interface devices. ICE/LAN debugging tools

• Review of memory types, I/Otechniques 

• Performance enhancements, other devices, non von-Neumann machines

• Interrupts: basics, shared data problem, latency

• Embedded SW architectures: round-robin, function-queue scheduling

• RTOS basics: process scheduling

• Simple task synchronization: Semaphores and shared data

• Task communiation: queues, mailboxes, pipes

• Timer functions and events

• RTOS: memory management, interrupt handling

• Techniques: OO/UML

• Object-oriented design techniques

• Real-time programming languages: basics

• Engineering issues: matrices

• Fault tolerance and system integration

The Laboratory includes practice in applying the concepts to experiments, as well as the detailed documentation of the experiments. In the second half of the course, students will work on a "real-world" Course Project which solves a practical problem using a micro-controller.

Students are required to prepare for the labs by writing and debugging assembly or C programs. Development tools, such as assemblers and 68HC11 emulators, are supplied throughout the lab sessions.