Entry requirements

120 credits in science/engineering, including 5 credits in electronics and/or computer architecture. Participation in a course in imperative programming, for example Computer Programming II. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• program a microcontroller in C, including the hardware configuration and interrupt routines,
• manage parallel processes with different priorities without the help of an operating system,
• explain the choice of data types and algorithms in view of limited resources,
• provide a description of the constraints of the selected system design,
• debug a microcontroller application by various means.

Content

Structure of microcontrollers and internal peripherals, memory types. Connecting analog and digital signals, including the basics of electronics.

Serial communication. Hardware programming in C, device drivers, interrupt handling. Handling of parallel processes when an operating system is missing, process priority, time analysis, finite state machines. Instruction and register set for a given microcontroller family.

Efficiency aspects of different data types and program structures in C. Development tools and debugging.

Instruction

Lectures and laboratory work.

Assessment

Written examination (4 credits). On-site examination of laboratory work (1 credit).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.

Other directives

The course may not be included in a degree together with 1TE663.