CE3910 HOME

WELCOME TO EMBEDDED SYSTEMS 3

This course is the third course in the MSOE computer engineering embedded systems sequence. Students refine these prerequisite skills:

design and implementation of system control software written in C,
design and implementation of signal-conditioning circuits, and
control of memory-mapped input/output devices.

Students advance their embedded systems design skill set by rigorous study of new material including:

advanced serial communications busses including SPI and I2C,
expansion bus protocol, interfacing, and timing, and
printed circuit board design.

This website serves as the official syllabus. Instructors may provide a supplemental syllabus to students. Use the links at the top of the page to learn about:

the instructors teaching the course this quarter,
the classroom policies applied by the course instructors,
the integrated circuit chips used in the laboratory,
the daily lecture plan,
the weekly laboratory plan,
the software used in the course,

Laboratory exercises reinforce the lecture material by presenting weekly milestones in the design of a real embedded system.

PREREQUISITE COURSES

Students enrolled in CE3910 should have successfully passed Embedded Systems 2 (CE2811). Embedded Systems 2 is the second course in the four-course sequence in embedded systems design. Important topics covered in the prerequisite class include:

the C programming language,
using C to manipulate on-chip I/O registers,
systematic design of C embedded system control software,
the state machine style for control programs written in C, and
using interrupts as a control paradigm.

Students that have not successfully completed Embedded Systems 2 should talk to the instructor as soon as possible about continuing in the course.

WHY DO COMPUTER ENGINEERS STUDY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS?

Engineering students study embedded systems because computers serve as the brain in thousands of products that make daily life easier and more interesting. Most people probably associate the word computer with either a desktop personal computer or a laptop computer. After all, the print and visual media bombard the average citizen with advertisements for these types of computers and the average household owns at least one. But, desktop PCs and laptops represent only a small segment of the computer systems in use today. In fact, computers are vital in products ranging from kitchen toasters to sophisticated military weaponry. These embedded computer systems are everywhere! For example: families often own these embedded systems:

a microwave oven,
a digital television receiver,
a wireless router,
computer-controlled heating, ventilation, and air conditioning,
multiple media players,
and multiple cellular telephones,

Each of these computers is a complex system of electrical hardware executing software or firmware applications. You will be the engineers creating similar computers that will continue to change human life during the twenty-first century!