2110682 Embedded and Real-Time Systems

Department of Computer Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University

Course duration   : Jan-April 2021
Lecturer                : Prabhas Chongstitvatana, Prof.
                            office Eng build 4, Floor 18, room 13
                            email: prabhas at chula dot ac dot th
Lecture                : Sunday 13.00-16.00 online

The content of the course is a mixed between hardware and software. Embedded systems are computer systems with special requirement on constraints such as low power, high integration, real-time. On the hardware side, it includes embedded processors and low level programming, logic design, integrated circuits. On the software side, it includes Operating systems scheduling and real-time constraints. Here are the list of topics:

Introduction to embedded and real-time systems
Microprocessor
Assembly level programming
Memory, Peripherals and Microprocessor interface
Operating systems and task scheduling
Real-time systems and their requirements
Internet of Things

How we learn

We learn by doing both hardware and software. The activities include embedded system model construction, some programming, and hands-on session. The assignments will be given out periodically throughout the term. A small project will be given around midterm. Students must present the results of their projects. At the second half of the semester, a real hardware will be presented. Students are assigned to design and implement a small embedded system. The project will be presented in the class. The final exam is "open book" and has an element of system design plus some "pseudo" programming.

old lecture 2020

Announcement

24 Jan 2021 The class starts.
2 May 2021 Final exam, take home, due date
6 May 2021 Final project demonstration

Timetable

January

Introduction    Embedded Processors
Embedded Systems Design
Microprocessors
IOT board (platform for interrupt programming)   demo-rz.txt
example of using IoT board (in Rz): stopwatch
programming with interrupt   counting events
Assembly language S2 version 1: 32-bit processor
example of writing assembly language:   find max
Rz language and its compiler
logic design Basic Logic

February

Operating systems and task scheduling basic OS concepts
Multitask-OS (MOS) (in assembly) mos2.txt (in Rz) mos-rz.txt
lecture from Matt Welsh, Harvard, semaphores.pdf
semaphore: demo from William Stallings, U. of Queensland
implementing semaphores example reader-writer mos-rz2.txt
Cooperative Processes
Cooperative Multitask OS (CMOS)
Project discussion

March

Project presentation
real-time systems RTOS real-time scheduling
Embedded Systems Communication
Embedded systems practice (Arduino Board)
Actual hardware: Arduino experiment

April

memory,   memory and interrupt i/o   memory system design
peripherals and interface
    peripherals (counter, timer, PWM, step motors, LED display, LCD, UART, USB)
    digital/analog conversion (ADC, DAC, MCP4922 code experiment)
Internet of Things: Everything as a service
I2C bus    RTC experiments DS1307 (polling) (interrupt)

May

final exam
final project presentation

Homework

31 Jan 2021 Try to run 'stopwatch' to familiarize yourself with tools (IoT board)
7 Feb 2021 Modify 'mos-rz.txt' to add one more process that print ten odd numbers.
21 Feb 2021 Use LogicWork to build a full-adder

Videos

1) Introduction to Embedded systems: types of embedded systems. https://youtu.be/FCNBOCF4Myo
2) Embedded Systems: constraints, design considerations.   https://youtu.be/IBQWSlTKvmM
3) Real-time considerations, design abstraction, hardware vs software. https://youtu.be/U6Hv92ujSUs
4) Embedded processors, FPGA, IoT board, demo stopwatch. https://youtu.be/xtmkvzBAqrc
5) Multitask operating system: OS concept https://youtu.be/1ViLKdoQ_tI
6) Multitask operation system: Multitask OS https://youtu.be/xfF2vMC5x-0
7) Assembly language (S2)    https://youtu.be/A2IBYWVNLTU
8) MOS demonstration     https://youtu.be/qJhvgT5Y3yY
9) Real-time scheduling part 1/2: scheduling, earliest deadline first https://youtu.be/YcQ32yjaYBg
10) Real-time scheduling part 2/2: scheduling examples https://youtu.be/jggQHbj14LM
11) Peripherals part 1/4: system on chips, counter and timers https://youtu.be/zNv3vxFRyeo
12) Peripherals part 2/4: example Reaction timer, watchdogs https://youtu.be/e5xiqw7pFMI
13) Peripherals part 3/4: UART, LED display https://youtu.be/yYlNRgmMV2M
14) Peripherals part 4/4: motor controls, LCD controller https://youtu.be/GTmUMa8VGtE
15) Digital/Analog converter part 1/3: general theory https://youtu.be/krx1w6NHFWM
16) Digital/Analog converter part 2/3: experiment https://youtu.be/S5x0DqlxK7E
17) Digital/Analog converter part 3/3: demonstration https://youtu.be/VmAOpFbgKhA
18) I2C bus https://youtu.be/H6yizZikGEI
19) RTC experiment part 1/2: polling mode https://youtu.be/F1G6IIumyG8
20) RTC experiment part 2/2: interrupt mode https://youtu.be/Q0pQgPp_RjQ

Additional Materials

Transistor level simulation of an antique CPU. 6502 is used in the iconic Apple II machine.
http://visual6502.org/JSSim/index.html

Course Assessment

Assignments            10%
Mid project         30%
Final project           30%
Final exam              30%

Tools

IoT board: Rz compiler, S21 assembler, simulator (with MOS and input): iot-rz-19.zip
s21 tools :    assembler and simulator s21-3.zip
rz3.6.1 compiler with s21 assembler and simulator rz361-2.zip
MOS in Rz mos-rz.txt
MOS with semaphore   mos-rz2.txt
LogicWork5    tutorial
Arduino 1.0.5     boards.txt (configuration file)

Acknowledgement

Slides and presentations are kindly permitted by Setha Pan-gnam, Chalermek Intanagonwiwat, Krek Piromsopa

last update 25 April 2021