ECEN 5803 Mastering Embedded Systems Architecture

Objective
The objective of this course is for the student to acquire an understanding of embedded
systems architectures for the purpose of creating prototypes or products for a variety of
applications. We will examine the salient issues in the decision making process,
including tradeoffs between hardware and software implementations, processor and
operating system selection, and IP creation or acquisition. Projects will involve the latest
software development tools and hardware platforms to help develop a broad
perspective of the capabilities of various embedded system solutions. Students have
found this course material to be good preparation for job interviews, receiving offers for
internships and jobs from Apple, Intel, Renesas, National Instruments, Magic Leap and
other employers.

Logistics Summer 2020

 PLEASE NOTE: All content on the page subject to change until the end of June
2020
 3 Credit Hours, takes approximately 12-15 hours/week in summer including
lectures.
 Lectures: MTh, 4:00-6:00PM, ECCE 1B41 (Planned, may be affected by
COVID19 protocols)
 Projects: Requires checkout or purchase of dev kits
 Prerequisites: Knowledge of assembly and C Programming, Digital Logic Design,
and basic computer architecture. Students should have a first course in each of these
subjects. The corresponding CU-Boulder courses are ECEN 2120/2350, ECEN
3100/3350, and ECEN 1030/1310/CSCI 1300. In particular, ability to perform tasks like
write a string copy function in C and design sequential circuits using Karnaugh maps is
needed.
 Office hours: MTh, 6:00-7:00PM in ECOT 340
 TA Contact Information:
 TBD

Course Description and Topics covered

This course leverages the main-stream electronic system design platforms, including
ARM embedded platforms from Freescale, ST, and Texas Instruments using mBed,
RTX, Windows CE, and Linux operating systems. This course assumes knowledge of
assembly and C Programming, Digital Logic Design, and basic computer architecture.
 Holistic software and hardware engineering of embedded systems
 Mainstream embedded processors, processor architectures and related
design issues
 Embedded system hardware design and programming
 Embedded software architecture and development
 Implementation of leading RTOS & OS options
 System engineering, software-hardware integration, testing and
troubleshooting
 System Design Tools like Matlab/Simulink for algorithm development
 Firmware, middleware and device drivers
 Common protocols & devices: USB, SPI, Ethernet, PCIe, etc.
 System on Modules (SOMs) and Buy vs. Build
 Application of embedded systems in case studies

 Project 1: Construct a solution for a low-level application using a

Freescale Freedom board and mBed
 Project 2: Explore rapid development with the use of automated
processor configuration and a lightweight RTOS
 Project 3: Compare an existing ARM/Windows implementation to
ARM/Linux by constructing a working VoIP telephone system

For detailed information, see the Syllabus at https://drive.google.com/open?

id=1enLLbtM1mF34IyFR3lEFsnk-yK64z-4j

Readings
Course materials include textbooks, papers, lecture slides, project guides, and other
online materials.
 Textbooks (CU bookstore)
 Embedded Systems: A Contemporary Design Tool, 2nd Edition, by James
K. Peckol, ISBN: 978-1119457503 .
 What Every Engineer Should Know about Developing Real-Time
Embedded Products by Kim R. Fowler
 Course website
 Course lecture slides posted weekly on Canvas at TBD
 Course labs and project material posted weekly on Canvas
 Other online materials
 Freescale Freedom Development Platform
 ARM information center
 ST Nucleo Development Board
 BeagleBone Black Development Board
 Raspberry Pi 3 B Development Board
 Toradex Colibri T30 SOM

GRADING
The course grade will be based on in-class participation, homework assignments,
quizzes, course projects, and 3 exams. The grade proportions are as follows:
 Homework and Class Participation 20%
 Course projects 30%
 Quizzes 10%
 Final and Mid-term Exams 40%

Honor code
A complete description of the honor code can be found here .

To summarize: "Violations of the Honor Code are acts of academic dishonesty and
include but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, aid of academic
dishonesty, lying to course instructors, lying to representatives of the Honor Code,
bribery or threats pertaining to academic matters, or an attempt to do any of the
aforementioned violations."