SE3910
Real-Time Systems

In this course, we use the Beaglebone, a USB/Ethernet driven development board that can support a real-time OS. This will allow us to explore programming in a time-sensitive environment.

Catalog Description

This intense design course introduces students to software development for real-time systems, which often have stringent timing constraints that must be satisfied even under adverse circumstances. Real-time applications include flight control systems, vehicle control systems, industrial processes, life-support systems, robotic manipulators and multimedia applications. Special attention is paid to scheduling, latency minimization, bandwidth constraints, and other design issues that impact the design of these systems. Laboratory assignments provide experience in the design and implementation of realistic applications using a real-time operating system and embedded development board. (prereq: CS 2710 or CE 2930, CS 3844 or CS 3841)

(From the official EECS course description and the catalog)

Basics

Instructor
Josiah Yoder
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npǝ˙ǝosɯ@ɹəpoʎ
Office
L344 (Library, 3rd floor)
Office Hours
See below
 
Phone
ƖƐ96 ᔭᔭᔭ ϛ9ㄥ Google Voice; rings my office and home phone at the same time.
Optional
Real-Time Systems Design and Analysis by Laplante and Ovaska, Fourth Edition, Wiley, 2012 (~$100 paper)
Optional
Exploring Beaglebone by Derek Molloy, Wiley, 2015 ($23.07 paper on Amazon)
Required
(WCS) Real Time System Design with the Beaglebone for Milwaukee Schl of Engineering by Derek Molloy, Phillip A Laplante, and Seppo J. Ovaska, Wiley Custom Select, 2016 (You can download an app for your device from Bookshelf Download Page ($65.90 electronic)

Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, the student will:

  • Understand concepts of time-critical computing and identify real-time systems
  • Get familiar with a host-target development environment for time-critical systems.
  • Write multitasking computer programs with inter-task communication and synchronization.
  • Apply concepts of inter-task communication and synchronization via shared memory, message queues, signals, semaphores, mailboxes.
  • Understand real-time kernels and task scheduling.
  • Understand concepts of reliability in relation to real-time software
  • Construct distributed real-time applications using a commercial Real-Time Operating System
  • Analyze the performance of a real-time system.

(From official EECS course description)

My Schedule (Office Hours)

Time Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
8:00          
9:00 CE1911
S314
10:00 CE1911
CC46		 CE1911
CC46		 CE1911
CC46
11:00 Office
Hour		   Office
Hour		  
12:00   Office
Hour		 CS499 SE3910
S365		 Office
Hour
1:00 Dept Mtg      
2:00 SE3910
CC118		 SE3910
S365		 SE3910
CC118		 SE3910
CC118
3:00 Office
Hour		 Office
Hour		   UR4983
4:00      

Class

While I don't mind if you have to skip a class, class attendence is essential so you can learn what material I expect you to know, what HW and quizzes there will be, etc.

In class, I expect you to focus completely on class material. Instead of checking your email or browsing facebook, participate in the class activities and take notes of what you are learning.

If it becomes necessary to consider dropping the class, I am happy to give you advice, but I want you to make the final decision (with the help of your academic advisor). So if you stop coming class, I will not drop you, but instead give you whatever grade you have at the end of the quarter, even if it is an F.

Labs

This quarter, labs are in groups of one, two or three, as marked in the lab handout.

Labs will be turned in electronically. These are due at 11pm, with a 1 hour grace period. In every uploaded file, include your name, date, and the assignment name. Please only submit a lab once. Multiple submissions are hard for me to keep track of, especially if I've already started to grade the first one.

Untested code is buggy. I find that if your code doesn't compile or hardly runs, that there are many other errors in it. To get more than half credit for a lab, it should compile and run when I test it. If it does not compile & run, please fix the lab and submit it later, or drop a feature or two to get it running again (often the best option).

For every day that goes by beyond the original deadline, it gets much harder to catch up on a lab. As a result, after the deadline, you can receive partial credit for a lab, up to 10% off per day.

All assignments must be turned in by 4:30pm on Friday of Week 10 so that we can wrap things up and I can turn the grades in on time.

Please start early and ask me for help if you get stuck.

Learning Assessment

This quarter, we will use the following to measure your learning:

Lab projects 30%
Quizzes 20%
Half Exam 1 10%
Half Exam 2 10%
Final Exam 30%
Total 100%

I sometimes make mistakes in tallying points. If you become aware of an error in grading, please send me an email, and I will fix it and reply by email.

If the error goes beyond tallying points, discussing things in person is a great way to start to resolve an issue. I may ask you to send me an email if I think the case you are asking about requires careful consideration.

Please maintain your own records of your grades and check them against whatever summaries I send to you.

Quizzes & Exams

Quizzes will occur at the start of lab each week or be announced in class at least one day in advance.

Because of the difficulty of preparing fair and accurate tests, you cannot retake a quiz or exam if you miss it or do worse than you hoped. I will drop your lowest quiz score, so one 0 should not be a problem. If you need to skip an exam, you should schedule a make-up exam before the missed exam. I don't always give make-up exams, even if students ask in advance.

You must have a passing grade on the exams to pass the class.

Grade Scale

I use the official MSOE grading scale:

≥93% ≥89% ≥85% ≥81% ≥77% ≥74% ≥70% <70%
A AB B BC C CD D F

In final grading, I may award a grade higher than the grade scale if I feel it is more accurate than what the "raw numbers" produce.

Integrity

Your integrity is your most valuable academic possession, significantly more valuable than passing a class or getting a high GPA.

Academic integrity is essentially truthfulness -- ensuring that if it appears you have done or know something, you have.

It is possible to accidentally give the impression that work is yours. If something like this happens to you, please let me know as early as possible. It is better if you point it out than if I find it.

Be on the watch for violations of academic integrity, including:

  • Receiving code from another student not on your team, even by looking at it.
  • Giving code to another student not on your team, even by showing them.
  • Looking at another student's work during a quiz or exam.

Read MSOE's Policy on Student Integrity for more details.

When coding, you are encouraged to discuss strategies, but the implementations should be independent. Even discussing the details is not a good idea if it goes too far. If you want to show code, start up an independent program rather than showing an assignment -- and use a different application than the assignment at hand to demonstrate the concept you wish to share.

Because of the importance of maintaining academic integrity, I will report apparent academic dishonesty to the Vice President of Academic Affairs. If this occurs, you will get a copy of the report.

Fine Print

1In rare cases, I may need to reschedule an office hour. I will, if at all possible, announce this in class a day or more in advance.