Intel Curriculum on Embedded Systems

Introduction

About the VIP Program

The Vertically-Integrated Projects (VIP) Program is an undergraduate education program that operates in a research and development context. The teams are: multidisciplinary – drawing students from across the engineering and science disciplines; vertically-integrated – maintaining a mix of sophomores through seniors; and long-term – each undergraduate student may participate in a project for up to three years.

The Objective of this Curriculum

The objective of the program in this curriculum is to introduce students and teachers to skills in electrical engineering and computer science useful to design and implement projects that require learning concepts and approaches commonly used in engineering. The curriculum makes use of open-source hardware and software in order to facilitate the access of individuals to participate and learn. The continuity, technical depth, and disciplinary breadth of these teams are intended to provide the time and context necessary for students to learn and practice many different professional skills, make substantial technical contributions to the project, and experience many different roles on a large design team.

Curriculum Materials

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Slides

• Module One
  
  Introduction: What is an embedded system?, application examples, key characteristics, recent trends, the embedded system designer, role of the design team. Software: Compilers and languages, system development (debugging resource scarcity, approach principles), system architecture (system sketches, model view controller pattern). Hardware: examples, datasheets, schematics, debugging tools. Hardware/Software Integrattion: System development, dealing with errors.




• Module Two
  
  Input/Output Software Interface: Configuring registers, header file, subsystem interfaces, toggling an output. Outputs: Types (digital and pulse-width modulation), setting output pins, turning on and off a light-emitting diode. Inputs: Types (digital, analog), switches as digital inputs, analog inputs (encoding inputs).




• Module Three
  
  Runtime Complexity: Dependency injection. Clocks and Timers: Parts of a timer, time calculations. Activity Flow: Scheduling, state machines, interrupts.

Hands-on Projects

• Projects guide

Quick Start Tutorial on the DE2i-150 Development Board

• Module 1
  
  Introduces the board employing the DE2i-150 Control Panel (updated after class on 8/27/2013).




• Module 2
  
  C Programming in Yocto and interacting with buttons and LED’s on the DE2i-150 board.




• Module 3
  
  Writing and compiling your own C code for real-time interaction between buttons and LED’s on the DE2i-150 board.

Note of disclosure: This curriculum is currently under development for use by participants of the Vertically-Integrated Projects (VIP) Program. The VIP Program is an undergraduate education program that operates in a research and development context. The teams are: multidisciplinary – drawing students from across the engineering and science disciplines; vertically-integrated – maintaining a mix of sophomores through seniors; and long-term – each undergraduate student may participate in a project for up to three years.

Recommended Bibliography

• Schmidt-Walter, H. & Kories, R. “Electrical Engineering: A Pocket Reference.” Artech House, 2007.
• Kleitz, W. “Digital Electronics: A Practical Approach with VHDL.” Ninth Edition, Prentice Hall, 2012.
• Rushton, A. “VHDL for Logic Synthesis.” Third Edition, Wiley, 2011.

Downloads

• Quartus II Web Edition Version 13.0: Allows the development of FPGA systems via JTAG and ASP standards (added after class on 8/27/2013).
• USB-Blaster_Driver.zip: Contains a folder with the USB drivers that are included with the Altera Quartus II Version 13.0 Web Edition.
• DE2i-150_Control_Panel.zip: Contains a folder with the Control Panel of the DE2i-150 board provided by Terasic Technologies Inc.
• UltraVNC: Download this VNC Viewer from CNET.

Contact Information

For more information about this program, please contact:

Greg Drayer, PhD Candidate
https://sites.gatech.edu/ece-humanslab