CSCE 236: Embedded Systems
Fall 2017

Instructor

Dr. Carrick Detweiler
Computer Science and Engineering
220 Schorr Center
carrick _at_ cse.unl.edu

Teaching Assistant

Graduate TA: Najeeb Najeeb

Office Hours:
Dr. Detweiler: schedule online, and by appointment.
Monday 11-12am: Najeeb in SRC
Friday 11-12am: Najeeb in SRC

Course Information

Lecture: Tuesday 7:00-9:30pm in Avery 110

For detailed information on this course please see the course syllabus in html or pdf format.

Course Description

Embedded Systems are everywhere. Every time you look at your watch, answer the phone, take a picture, or turn on the TV you are interacting with an embedded system. Embedded systems are also found in cars, airplanes, and robots. They far outnumber traditional computers (which also contain embedded processors) and learning to design and program embedded systems is a critical skill that is necessary for many industry and scientific jobs.

In this course you will learn the basics of designing, interfacing, configuring, and programming embedded systems. We will make use of the Arduino platform, which is an inexpensive, popular embedded system used by hobbyists, researchers, and in industry, to implement the techniques learned in class. By the end of the course you will have mastered the basics of embedded system design and programming. This course will help to prepare you for cutting edge careers in industry and research.

Datasheets and other useful documents

Arduino Uno R3 schematic: The schematic of the Arduino we are using in this course.
Atmega328 datasheet: Datasheet for the processor on the Arduino Uno we are using in this course.

Assignments

See the course schedule below for reading assignments and the general topics covered in the course. Unless otherwise noted, assignments are due at the start of class on the due date.

Assignment	Due Date
Course Survey	Thurs, Aug 24th, 5pm
HW 1 (pdf,code)	Started: Tues, Aug 22nd Checkoff Due Before Class: Aug 29th Due in Class: Tues, Sept 5th
HW 2 (pdf)	Started: Tues, Sept 5th (posted Sept 1) ~~Due in Class, Tues, Sept 12th~~ Due Weds, Sept 13th at 5pm
Lab 1 (pdf,html)	Tues, Sept 5th in class
HW 3 (pdf,code)	Started: Tues, Sept 12th Due Fri, Sept 22nd, 2017 by 5pm
Lab 2 (pdf,html,lab2_button_count.ino)	Tues, Sept 19th in class
Test 1 from prior years: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016	For review for test on Thurs, Sept 28th, 2017 at 7pm
HW 4 (pdf,code)	Started: Tues, Oct 3rd Due Fri, Oct 13th, 2017 by 5pm
Lab 3 (pdf,html)	Tues, Oct 10th in class
Project 1 (pdf) Robot Building Instructions (pdf)	Started, Tuesday, October 10 Checkpoint, Tuesday, October 24 (in class) Competition, Monday, October 30 Written report, Friday, November 3 by 5pm
HW 5 (pdf)	Started: Tues, Nov 7th Due Fri, Nov 17th, 2017 by 5pm
Project 2 (pdf)	Wall Checkpoint, Monday, Nov 20, 2017 (in class) Obstacle Checkpoint, Tuesday, Nov 28 (in class before test, or on your own before) Competition, Tuesday, Dec 5th, 2017 Report, Video, and Surveys, Friday, Dec 8, 2017 at noon
Lab 4 (pdf,html*,blink irq) VCNL4000 Ranger Info: Sparkfun, Datasheet, Application Note, Sample Code	Thursday, April 7
Test2 from prior years: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015	For review

For assignments that require electronic code submission, you can do so at: https://cse-apps.unl.edu/handin.
*Note html versions of assignments may lack some formatting or pictures found in the pdf version.

Course Books

Marilyn Wolf, Computers as Components, Third Edition: Principles of Embedded Computing System Design, 3nd ed. Morgan Kaufmann, 2012
Third or Fourth Edition will work well for this course. Available in the book store or purchase online. Readings from this book are specified in the format Wx.x, where x.x indicates the chapter and subsection.

David Russell, Introduction to Embedded Systems, 2010.
Available for free download when on the UNL campus. Good reference for embedded C programming. Do not print out this book, it is less expensive to order a printed copy than to print it yourself. Readings from this book are specified in the format Rx.x, where x.x indicates the chapter and subsection. Note: this book is specifically designed for the Arduino platform, but there are some differences between the version of the Arduino used in the book and the version we are using in class. So be careful!

Edward Lee and Sanjit Seshia, Introduction to Embedded Systems, A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach, 2017.
Available for free download. Do not print out this book, it is less expensive to order a printed copy than to print it yourself. There are no specific readings from this book, but it is a good reference for those interested in exploring some subjects further.

Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, C Programming Language (2nd Edition), 1988. ISBN: 0131103628
Learn C The Hard Way, Zed Shaw
A wiki-style C "text book" alternative
Another online C text book
C Frequently Asked Questions from the days of Usenet
Suggested references for those with little prior C programming experience. There are no specific readings from these, but they are good references (thanks to Dr. Bourke for some of these references).

Course Schedule

Below is an approximate schedule of course topics. These are subject to change, assignments will be announced in class. Readings are recommended and will be added as the semester progresses, so make sure to check back often; however, the best resource for this course is attending class and taking good notes. The course is roughly broken into regular class lectures on Monday and Wednesday and then lab-style lectures on Fridays where a Labture is specified. Typically during labtures there will be a short topic-specific lecture followed by a hands-on, small group, in class lab assignment.

Week	Class Topics	Labture	Reading
Week 1, Aug 22	course intro, c programming		R2.1, R2.2, R2.4
Week 1 Additional Readings:	Basic C Types More on Basic C Types Bit Operations More Bit Operations Fixed width types Why use uint8_t C Pre-Processor and Macros How not to write code and the output (really, try compling it) Pointers Function Pointers Apollo Guidance Computer
Week 2, Aug 29	embedded system design, arduino intro, basic circuit diagrams		R2.5, R2.6, R2.7, R2.8, W1.2, W1.3
Week 3, Sept 5 (NO CLASSES Monday)	instruction sets, registers and mem access, digital I/O	Arduinos	W2.1, W2.2, R6.*
Week 2 and 3 Additional Readings:	Basic circuit elements How to read a schematic Arduino Uno R3 schematic How to read a datasheet Atmega328 datasheet Register-based digital I/O Another register-based digital I/O (just make sure to use bit operations (\|=,&=) and not binary value!) Arduino-function digital I/O AVR memory map overview (see datasheet as well) Directly accessing memory/registers with C macros (but for ARM, not AVR) Directly accessing memory in assembly Program counter (general info) AVR program counter Reading the program counter (not straight forward, but sometimes useful)
Week 4, Sept 12	registers and memory, debugging		R4.5.6 R7.*
Week 5, Sept 19	debugging, timers	timers and I/O	R4.*
Week 4 and 5 Additional Readings:	Suggestions for debugging ES More debugging suggestions JTAG Another JTAG link Yet another JTAG link Viewing assembly output Arduino build process overview General info on timers AVR timers
Week 6, Sept 26	timers and review		test 1(tentative)
Week 7, Oct 3	timers, PWM, and analog to digital converters (A2D)	PWM and servos	R8.*
Week 6 and 7 Additional Readings:	Read section 16 in the datasheet on the Timer/Counter1 with PWM Details of Arduino millis fuction (and how it uses Timer0) Sparkfun PWM Arduino PWM (including analogWrite) Wikipedia PWM Fast versus Phase/Freq Correct PWM How servos work More on how servos work Wikipedia ADC Sparkfun ADC More ADC
Week 8, Oct 10	CPU bus, communication protocols (UART, SPI, RS485)	A2D	W4.3, W3.2.1, R10.1 to R10.1.3
NO CLASS FALL BREAK
Week 9, Oct 24	project
Week 8 and 9 Additional Readings:	Parallel versus Serial, UART (sparkfun) Serial and Parallel Comms (a bit of history too) Serial Communication (Wikipedia) Parallel Communication (Wikipedia) Serial Comms, UART, RS232, RS485 UART (Wikipedia) UART (sparkfun) More UART (but beware, code examples for a different processor) Interfacing a UART to USB-UART converter (TTL, RS232, USB, etc) SPI (sparkfun) SPI (wikipedia) SPI (arduino)
Week 10, Oct 30 (Halloween) Class on Monday at 7pm		project 1 competition
Week 11, Nov 7	interrupts	interrupts, communication	W3.2.4, W3.3, R9.*
Week 12, Nov 14	I2C, peripherals, sensors	i2c	R10.1.2
Week 11 and 12 Additional Readings:	Interrupts More Interrupts Even More Interrupts Interrupts, very broadly (wikipedia) List of all interrupts on AVR AVR Libc Interrupt Reference AVR pitfalls of reentrant code I2C (warning code examples not for Arduino) I2C (sparkfun) I2C (wikipedia) I2C aka Wire Library (arduino)
Week 13, Nov 20 (Thanksgiving break Weds-Fri) Class on Monday at 7pm	Embedded Operating Systems, review	project checkpoint	W6.2, W6.4, W6.5
Week 14, Nov 28	power management, embedded algorithms, program optimization	project checkpoint, test 2(tentative)	W5.5.3
Week 15, Dec 5	final project competition	final project competition

CSCE 236: Embedded Systems Fall 2017