2110682 Embedded and Real-Time Systems

Department of Computer Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University


Course duration    : Jan-April 2026
Lecturer                : Prabhas Chongstitvatana, Prof.
                            office Eng build 4, Floor 17
                            email: prabhas dot c at chula dot ac dot th
Lecture                : Sunday 13.00-16.00

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.

Announcement

  12 Jan 2026   The class starts. 
  ...

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
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
logic design  Basic Logic  
RISC-V  instruction set
    datapath    control unit
RISC-V assembly language programming

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

     Weekly assignments in Mycourseville

Recommended Textbooks

1. Philip Koopman, Better Embedded System Software, Drumnadrochit Press, 2010, ISBN-10: 0-9844490-0-0.
2. Ball S, Embedded Microprocessor Systems: Real World Design 2nd edition, Newnes 2000
3. Vahid F, Givargis T, Embedded System Design: A Unified Hardware/Software Introduction, Wiley 2002
4. Kopetz H, Real-Time Systems: Design Principles for Distributed Embedded Applications, Kluwer 1997

Additional Materials

Transistor level simulation of an antique CPU.  6502 is used in the iconic Apple II machine.
    http://visual6502.org/JSSim/index.html  
Computer Organization and Design: The hardware/software interface (RISC-V edition), D. Patterson, J. Hennessy, Morgan Kaufman, 2018.  link to Amazon  
RISC-V Instruction Set Manual v.2.2  2017

Course Assessment

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

Tools

IoT board:  Rz compiler, S21 assembler, simulator (universal base code for both Windows and Mac, iot-rz-19, must re-build, no binary executable files) in C standard c17:  iot-rz-universal.zip

MOS in Rz  mos-rz.txt 
MOS with semaphore   mos-rz2.txt
LogicWork5    tutorial
Arduino 1.0.5     boards.txt (configuration file)
Venus, RISC-V online interpreter
Compiler Explorer, RISC-V compiler on the web (select "rv32gc gcc")

Acknowledgement

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


last update 25 Jan 2026