The Swiss engineering master's degree

An embedded system is a specialized computer system with embedded hardware. There exists a wide variety of embedded systems, but in general such systems are processing systems capable of sensing physical inputs from their environment and of communicating the results. Usually embedded systems are designed to perform repeating tasks, either periodically or spontaneously, for low cost, low power, and optimal performance.
In this module, we investigate how microcontroller-based embedded systems can be developed, by emphasizing on the following advantages:

• Provide flexibility with a software-based approach, with the right partition of the system into hardware and software components.
• Provide extensibility of the system.
• Provide easier error detection and debugging capabilities.
• Provide portability with the use of an embedded operating system and allow the programmer to abstract the hardware details of each platform.
  

Requisiti

• Knowledge of the C programming langage and of an object-oriented language.
• Good knowledge of computer and microprocessor architecture.
• Basic understanding of operating system concepts (scheduling, process/thread).
• Basic concurrent programming
  

Obiettivi di apprendimento

The students will learn the most important features of a modern RTOS by implementing their own scenario on an IoT development platform that offers a wide range of sensing, processing and communication capabilities. Starting from a basic super loop/bare metal implementation, the students will rapidly reach the limitations of this implementation. These limitations will be studied and improved solutions using scheduling, threading and synchronization will be put in place by the students for the development of a robust, portable and easily maintainable software. In addition, the students will also:

• Implement methods for analyzing the CPU and memory usage of the system.

• Develop methods for automated testing including unit tests and integration tests, toward CI/CD of embedded systems.

At the end of the module, the students will be able to:

• Develop a multi-tasking application on a microcontroller-based embedded system, using a RTOS
• Use the debugging capabilities and build the test environment for an embedded application.
• Understand the memory organization and usage of their application.
• Develop a framework for updating embedded applications, including a bootloader application.
  

Categoria modulo

Introduction to Embedded Systems and Software
•    Applications for Embedded Systems
•    Attributes of Embedded Systems
•    Options for Building Embedded Systems
•    Microcontroller-based Embedded Systems
•    Internet Of Things (IoT) and Embedded Systems
•    Embedded Systems and Operating Systems (OS)
•    Introduction to Mbed OS
Scheduling for Embedded Systems
•    Programming models of Embedded Systems
•    Overview of Scheduling Algorithms
•    Static cyclic scheduling
•    Event-driven scheduling and Interrupts
•    Dynamic RTC Scheduling
•    Dynamic Preemptive Scheduling
•    Comparison of Scheduling Algorithms
Tasks and Concurrency
•    Design of Embedded Software into Multiple Tasks
•    Multitasking and Embedded OS (Mbed OS)
•    Tasks and Real-Time OS
•    Mbed OS Task Scheduling
•    Mbed OS Threads
•    Concurrency Mechanisms (Events, Mutex, Semaphore, Queue, Mail)
•    Priority Inversion and Resource Access Protocols
Memory of Embedded Systems
•    Principles of Memory Management
•    Cortex-M Program Image Structure
•    Mbed OS Memory Model
•    Code, Data and Memory
•    Memory Protection Unit of Cortex-M Processors
Bootloader
•    Deploying Updates to Embedded Systems
•    Bootloader Principles
•    Bootloader Requirements and Application
•    Memory Model for Bootloaders
Testing
•    Levels of Testing
•    Unit Testing on Mbed OS
•    Integrations Testing on Mbed OS
•    CI/CD for Embedded Systems

Metodologie di insegnamento e apprendimento

This module uses lecture notes and practical exercises which are given in the form of codelabs. The students have to develop their own software based on a specification, with the help of lecture notes and codelabs material.

Bibliografia

References are given in the lecture notes and in the codelabs.