Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Montana State University

EE475:  HW & SW Engineering for Embedded Systems

Topics and Notes Summary (12/13/2004; updated frequently):


DATE COMMENT
   
Dec. 13 M

Final Exam:  2:00-3:50PM RobH 319.  Open book and notes.

 

Dec. 9 Th

Last class day.  Tie up some loose ends and talk about the final exam.

 

Dec. 7 Tu

LECTURE:  talk about starting a business (handout);  fill out course/instructor evaluation forms.

Project reports are DUE this day.

LAB:  All groups demonstrate their projects in the lab.

Dec. 2 Th

Finish DSP microprocessor discussion.

 

Nov. 30 Tu

LECTURE:  finish table lookup.  Begin consideration of digital signal processing (DSP) microprocessors.

LAB:  open time to work on projects.

Nov. 25 Th

No class--Thanksgiving Holiday.

(remember HW #1?!)

Nov. 23 Tu

LECTURE:  cyclic lookup table concepts for waveform generation.  Efficient computation to avoid floating point, etc.

LAB:  open time to work on projects.

Nov. 18 Th

Review exam #2 results.

Continue Huffman discussion.  Start lookup table material.

Handout on Morse code.  Handout on waveform lookup.

Nov. 16 Tu

Exam #2 in class.  Open book and notes.

LAB:  work on your projects.

 

Nov. 11 Th

No class (MSU Veterans Day holiday).

Nov. 9 Tu

LECTURE:  wrap up MicroC topics; talk about data encode/decode with Huffman example.

LAB:  Lab #8  MicroC/OS-II on the HC12.

Here is a zip file containing the project files:  lab8.zip  .  Unzip the file using path names into your project directory.

This will be the last regularly scheduled lab:  you are expected to work on your projects during the next three Tuesday afternoon time slots.

PROJECTS:  Several of you asked about the use of the LCD and keypad ports on the Axiom eval boards in the lab.  Here is a set of example code (zip) from the Axiom CD that accompanied the boards.

 

Nov. 4 Th

LECTURE:  MicroC tasks, semaphores, and priorities.

PROJECT ASSIGNMENT:  your group project reports and demos will be due on Tuesday, December 7, 2004.

NOTE:  Exam #2 will be held during class time on Tuesday, November 16, 2004.  Coverage will be up through the basic MicroC concepts.

Nov. 2 Tu

NO CLASS (university holiday:  State General Election Day--please vote!!).

Oct. 28 Th

NO CLASS (instructor out of town).

Oct. 26 Tu

LECTURE:  Continue discussion of MicroC/OSII functions.

LABLab #7: Investigating Task Priority.  The memo report is due at the start of class on Thursday 11/4/2004.

NOTE:  there will be NO CLASS on Thursday, October 28 (instructor out of town), and Tuesday, November 2 (university holiday:  State General Election Day--please vote!!).

 

Oct. 21 Th

GUEST LECTURE:  Brett Swimley from Advanced Electronic Designs, Inc., will come to class to talk about the embedded software business.

 

Oct. 19 Tu

LECTURE:  Semaphores and mailboxes.  Begin discussion of MicroC/OSII functions.

ASSIGNED:  Finish READING Chapter 2 in the MicroC book, then take a quick look at examples in Chapter 1.

LAB:  Work on Lab #6:  Extended Multitasking.  The memo report for this lab is due at the START of the lab period next week (10/26/2004).  Here is the "framework" file mentioned in the lab writeup:  framework.c.txt .

 

Oct. 14 Th

LECTURE:  Finish discussion of handout article (task control blocks, priority, and inter-process communication).  Discuss semaphores for controlling access to shared resources and synchronization.

ASSIGNED:  Continue reading Chapter 2 in the MicroC book.

 

Oct. 12 Tu

LECTURE:  Simple real-time kernel concepts (refer to the handout article).

ASSIGNED:  Start to READ Chapter 2 in the MicroC book.

LAB:  Work on Lab #5:  Basic Multitasking.  The memo report for this lab is due at the START of the lab period next week (10/19/2004).

 

Oct. 7 Th

Exam #1 in class.

 

Oct. 5 Tu

LECTURE:  Real-time task control procedures.

LABNo lab this week.  Your Lab #4 papers are due at my office by 5PM.

 

Sept. 30 Th

LECTURE:  Finish C language overview:  pointer typecasts.  Start real-time task management discussion.

Homework #2 is DUE at the start of class.

NOTE:  Exam #1 will be held during class time on Thursday, October 7, 2004.  The exam is open book, open notes, but NO consultants:  individual work only.  Coverage will be up through the C language material discussed today.  Both lecture and lab concepts will be included.

ASSIGNED: Finish reading Chapter 3 and start reading Chapter 4, in Programming Microcontrollers in C.

Sept. 28 Tu

LECTURE:  C storage:  structures, pointers, arrays, bit fields, function pointers.

LAB:  Work on Lab #4:  I/O and Real-Time Interrupts.  The memo report for this lab is due at the START of the lab period next week (10/5/2004).

 

Sept. 23 Th

LECTURE:  C language pointers.

HandoutPointer Hints

ASSIGNED: Complete reading of Chapters 1 and 2, start reading Chapter 3, in Programming Microcontrollers in C.

Sept. 21 Tu

LECTURE:  Command line arguments, storage classes, memory usage.

Here is the memory map for the Axiom CME12B/BC development boards we use in the lab, and the full user manual.

ASSIGNEDHomework #2 (C program with file input).  Due at the START of class on Thursday, September 30.  Here are two test files, but you should also make your own test cases!

       hw2_ex1.txt          hw2_ex2.txt

Handout Command Line Arguments

LAB:  Work on Lab #3:  Memory Placement and Interrupts.  The memo report for this lab is due at the START of the lab period next week (9/28/2004).

References on the I/O boards attached to the Axiom boards:

I/O Board Description
HC12 I/O Board Layout (not yet available on line)
A/D Converter and Switches
D/A Converter and Keypad
IRQ Switch
LED Display
Timer and LCD Interface
 

 

Sept. 16 Th

LECTURE:  C storage types and functions.

Homework #1 is due at the start of class.

 

Sept. 14 Tu

LECTURE:  Continue review of the C language.

LAB:  Work on Lab #2:  CodeWarrior Intro.  The memo report for this lab is due at the START of the lab period next week (9/21/2004).

Here are a few relevant files:

dbug.h  (C header file with declarations and macros for using the DBug-12 ROM Monitor with your C program)

CodeWarrior DBUG12 Target Description
Using The Callable Routines In D-Bug12 (App Note 1280a/D)
Using and Extending D-Bug12 Routines (App Note 1280/D)
D-Bug12 address summary (Prof. Cady)
Links to all Metrowerks CodeWarrior 3.1 HC12 docs

 

Sept. 9 Th

Continue review of the C language (program flow, data types, pointers).

ASSIGNEDHomework #1 (C programs).  Due at the START of class on Thursday, September 16.

 

Sept. 7 Tu

Review of the C language (history, basic features, etc.).

ASSIGNED:  Read the first two chapters of the "Programming Microcontrollers in C" book.

HandoutRequirements of the lab memo reports

LAB:  Work on Lab #1:  Simple C Programming.  The memo report for this lab is due at the START of the lab period next week (9/14/2004).

Sept. 2 Th

Continue introductory remarks, and start review of C language.  Information regarding a freeware GCC compiler is available. This version will run in a DOS window (command line) on a Windows PC.

Aug. 31 Tu

First class meeting at 9:00AM in Roberts Hall 319.
 

NOTE:  there will be NO LAB this week.