This course provides an introduction into the functioning and programming of embedded microcontrollers and their peripherals.

2 lectures weekly

None.

None.

80% Examination

20% Course Work

The aims of this course are to:

■ provide an introduction to embedded systems and applications;

■ gain knowledge of the operating principles of microcontrollers and to understand the functional interactions between software and hardware peripherals in embedded systems;

■ expose the student to fundamental problems and operating principles of typical embedded systems;

■ gain knowledge and experience on adequate programming skills relevant to embedded systems.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ program an HCS08 microcontroller in C, assembly and machine language;

■ use and interface with the hardware peripherals of the microcontroller correctly;

■ construct paced loops, by hardware and software methods;

■ appreciate the difference between polling and interrupt driven programming;

■ use different data representations, such as ASCII and BCD; 

■ use fixed point arithmetic to perform simple operations;

■ write and debug interrupt handlers, both in assembly and in C;

■ use serial, SPI or I2C protocols to interface with off-chip peripherals.

Students must attend the degree examination and submit at least 75% by weight of the other components of the course's summative assessment.

Students must attend the timetabled laboratory classes.

Students should attend at least 75% of the timetabled classes of the course.

Note that these are minimum requirements: good students will achieve far higher participation/submission rates.  Any student who misses an assessment or a significant number of classes because of illness or other good cause should report this by completing a MyCampus absence report.