605.715.82 - Software Development for Real-Time Embedded Systems

Computer Science
Spring 2024

Description

This course examines the hardware and software technologies behind real-time, embedded computer systems. From smart kitchen appliances to sophisticated flight control for airliners, embedded computers play an important role in our everyday lives. Hardware topics include microcomputers and support devices (e.g., flash, ROM, DMA, timers, clocks, A/D, and D/A), as well as common applications (e.g., servo and stepper motor control, automotive sensors, and voice processing). Software topics focus on unique aspects of embedded programming and include interrupts, real-time control, communication, common design patterns, and special test considerations. The course also explores the unique tools that are used to develop and test embedded systems. Labs, beginning with using Bare Metal and Free RTOS on Arduino for simple devices and culminating with using Linux on Raspberry-Pi for Quad-Copter flight control, are developed.

Instructor

Profile photo of Doug Ferguson.

Doug Ferguson

dfergus1@jh.edu

Course Structure

The course materials are divided into modules which can be accessed by clicking Course Modules on the left menu. A module will have several sections including the overview, content, readings, discussions, and assignments. You are encouraged to preview all sections of the module before starting. Most modules run for a period of seven (7) days, exceptions are noted in the Course Outline. You should regularly check the Calendar and Announcements for assignment due dates.

Course Topics

Simon-1&2:Hardware Fundamentals
Simon-3:Advanced Hardware Fundamentals
Simon-4:Software Control with Interrupts
Simon-5:Embedded Software Architectures
Simon-6:Real Time Operating Systems
Simon-7:RTOS Services
Simon-8:Basic Design Using a Real-Time Operating System
Simon-9&10:Embedded Development Tools and Debugging Techniques
Molloy-1,2:Raspberry Pi Basics
Molloy-13:Wireless Comms
Molloy-3,4&5:Interfacing and Programming
Molloy-6&8:Interfaces, I/O, and Targeting
Molloy-11:RPi Buses and interface to Environment
Molloy-7&15:Images, Video & Audio, Cross Compilation
Molloy-12&14:IoT, Rich UI

Course Goals

The goal of this course is to provide both practical and theoretical information about the field of real-time embedded programming.

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

Textbooks

Simon, David E, (1999). An Embedded Software Primer. Pearson Education Inc., ISBN: 8177581546

Molloy, Derek, (2016). Exploring Raspberry PI. Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-18868-1

Textbook information for this course is available online through the appropriate bookstore website: For online courses, search the MBS website at http://ep.jhu.edu/bookstore.

Other Materials & Online Resources

Students need to acquire the processing hardware
An Arduino such as an UNO or a Mega 2560 Starter Kit but many other duins will suffice.
A Raspberry PI. Preferably a Raspberry Pi 4 Kit so you have Bluetooth and WiFi but RPI 3 B would suffice. Also, a plastic case will greatly help mounting on the QuadCopter.
Possibly a soldering kit with some solder for soldering 4 pins to the IMU, ($11 to $40 on Amazon) if your kit contains a new IMU or logic level converter which would need soldering
You will not have received your kit of parts by Project 1 so you will also need a Bread Board, LED, and a Resistor.
If you do not receive your kit by Module 2, you will need a Temp Sensor.
If you do not receive your kit by Module 4, you will need a IR Emitter + Detector pair.
Most starter kits include a Bread Board, LEDs, and Resisters. Temp Sensors and IR Emitter + Detector pairs are readily available
Kits are shipped after the 2nd module and are strongly attempted to be shipped before the 4th module.
A 5/64 in. long arm hex Allen key wrench is very useful for Quadcopter assembly.
JHU EP will provide the parts for projects which I will personally mail to you so you need to provide me your preferred USPS mailing address, email, and phone number. At the end of the semester you either need to return the still operational parts back to me or pay JHU EP for the cost of the parts, which is $534.90 as of 2023-08-31. When parts are shipped, students are provided tracking numbers and USPS provides tracking updates via email.

Required Software

Whatever software you desire to use to develop your projects.  Most students use gcc C or C++ in Eclipse.

Student Coursework Requirements

It is expected that each module will take approximately 7–12 hours per week to complete. Here is an approximate breakdown: reading the assigned sections of the texts (approximately 3–4 hours per week) as well as some outside reading, listening to the audio annotated slide presentations (approximately 2–3 hours per week), and developing projects (approximately 2–5 hours per week).

This course will consist of the following basic student requirements:

Preparation and Participation

You are responsible for carefully reading all assigned material and being prepared for discussion. The majority of readings are from the course text. Additional reading may be assigned to supplement text readings.

Post your initial response to the discussion questions by the evening of day 3 for that module week. Posting a response to the discussion question is part one of your grade for module discussions (i.e., Timeliness).

Part two of your grade for module discussion is your interaction (i.e., responding to classmate postings with thoughtful responses) with other classmates (i.e., Critical Thinking). Just posting your response to a discussion question is not sufficient; we want you to interact with your classmates. Be detailed in your postings and in your responses to your classmates' postings. Feel free to agree or disagree with your classmates. Please ensure that your postings are civil and constructive.

I will monitor module discussions and will respond to some of the discussions as discussions are posted. In some instances, I will summarize the overall discussions and post the summary for the module.

Evaluation of preparation and participation is based on contribution to discussions.

Preparation and participation is evaluated by the following Rubric:

 

Quizzes

Each module of the course content may have a quiz encompassing items in the module. The student is expected to complete these each week during the week of the associated module to gauge their mastery of the material and identify areas needing additional study and review. Quizzes can be taken as many times as desired and the grade is the average of all Quiz attempts.

Course Projects

Course Projects start with a simple project and build upon one another to culminate in a flying quadcopter

Each course project is evaluated by the following grading elements:

Based upon the stated project requirements, the student echoes or refines the requirements

Either a written, or graphical depiction of the design or combination of written + graphical depiction.  This does not need to be from a tool.  A hand drawn design may be all that is needed to convey your design, but generally ones from tools appear better.

Your source code for implementation of the project

A hyperLink to a video uploaded to YouTube or other site within your folder+project capturing in video a demonstration of your design meeting the requirements with your recorded voice describing how it meets the requirements.  Past experience has been that sharing of One Drive, Google Drive, dropbox, etc sometimes work and sometimes not.  Youtube when set to public sharing has always worked.

Students are encouraged to collaborate and help each other with the projects.  Early in the semester a spreadsheet will be shared containing each student’s name, email, and zip code to help students determine who they might collaborate with, if they choose to do so.  As such, students can form groups of 2 or 3 students where there is only one submission for all students in the group to Blackboard and JHBox where the front page CLEARLY indicates the names of all students in the group.  The one submission will be graded using the Assignment Rubric and all students in the group will receive the same grade for that project submission.

This class uses a Google Group to assist collaboration.  All student’s JHU emails are added to the Google Group which allows students to send an email to the group which is sent to all other students and myself.  Likewise, when a reply is sent to the Google Group, it is sent to all other students and myself.  The Google Group also has a website which maintains all past messages.  In order to be able to navigate to the website, you must be logged into a Google account and your Google gmail or some other email linked to gmail must be added to the Google Group.  If you would also like to have that functionality, please send me at DFergus1@jh.edu your gmail address and let me know if you would like your gmail address to be added to the Google Group or replace your JHU email address in the Google Group.

 

 


All of the artifacts for a project that you submit for grading are submitted to Blackboard in Project Submisson as a SINGLE pdf file which I will grade using the Rubric. 

For you to help other students as well as get help from other students, AFTER the due date passes share with other students what you are willing to share in the Discussion Board for Project Sharing the project.  Please help each other!  For many students the material is totally new and the first time you learn new concepts is difficult so please help each other!  I intend to grade modules on Mon or Tues or Wed and the latest by Thu and you may or may not have shared by that time.  As such, when I grade I will give credit for sharing and then on the following or later module which would be a week or two later, go back and revise the credit for Sharing for students who do not share any material.

Each project’s artifacts are shared between students in the respective Discussion Board for Project Sharing.  As the quadcopter projects build upon one another, projects are INTENTIONALLY shared so students can see and understand each other’s designs and use that additional knowledge in their later projects.  As long as you give credit for where you get material, you can use any material you find anywhere to help you with your projects.

 

Grading Policy

Assignments are due according to the dates posted in your Canvas course site. You may check these due dates in the Course Calendar or the Assignments in the corresponding modules. We will post grades one week after assignment due dates.

We generally do not directly grade spelling and grammar. However, egregious violations of the rules of the English language will be noted without comment. Consistently poor performance in either spelling or grammar is taken as an indication of poor written communication ability that may detract from your grade.

A grade of A indicates achievement of consistent excellence and distinction throughout the course—that is, conspicuous excellence in all aspects of assignments and discussion in every week.

A grade of B indicates work that meets all course requirements on a level appropriate for graduate academic work.

Score Range
Letter Grade
100-98= A+
97-94= A
93-90= A−
89-87= B+
86-83= B
82-80= B−
79-77= C+
76-73= C
72-70= C−
69-67= D+
66-63= D
<63= F

Academic Policies

Deadlines for Adding, Dropping and Withdrawing from Courses

Students may add a course up to one week after the start of the term for that particular course. Students may drop courses according to the drop deadlines outlined in the EP academic calendar (https://ep.jhu.edu/student-services/academic-calendar/). Between the 6th week of the class and prior to the final withdrawal deadline, a student may withdraw from a course with a W on their academic record. A record of the course will remain on the academic record with a W appearing in the grade column to indicate that the student registered and withdrew from the course.

Academic Misconduct Policy

All students are required to read, know, and comply with the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences (KSAS) / Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) Procedures for Handling Allegations of Misconduct by Full-Time and Part-Time Graduate Students.

This policy prohibits academic misconduct, including but not limited to the following: cheating or facilitating cheating; plagiarism; reuse of assignments; unauthorized collaboration; alteration of graded assignments; and unfair competition. Course materials (old assignments, texts, or examinations, etc.) should not be shared unless authorized by the course instructor. Any questions related to this policy should be directed to EP’s academic integrity officer at ep-academic-integrity@jhu.edu.

Students with Disabilities - Accommodations and Accessibility

Johns Hopkins University values diversity and inclusion. We are committed to providing welcoming, equitable, and accessible educational experiences for all students. Students with disabilities (including those with psychological conditions, medical conditions and temporary disabilities) can request accommodations for this course by providing an Accommodation Letter issued by Student Disability Services (SDS). Please request accommodations for this course as early as possible to provide time for effective communication and arrangements.

For further information or to start the process of requesting accommodations, please contact Student Disability Services at Engineering for Professionals, ep-disability-svcs@jhu.edu.

Student Conduct Code

The fundamental purpose of the JHU regulation of student conduct is to promote and to protect the health, safety, welfare, property, and rights of all members of the University community as well as to promote the orderly operation of the University and to safeguard its property and facilities. As members of the University community, students accept certain responsibilities which support the educational mission and create an environment in which all students are afforded the same opportunity to succeed academically. 

For a full description of the code please visit the following website: https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/policies-guidelines/student-code/

Classroom Climate

JHU is committed to creating a classroom environment that values the diversity of experiences and perspectives that all students bring. Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Fostering an inclusive climate is important. Research and experience show that students who interact with peers who are different from themselves learn new things and experience tangible educational outcomes. At no time in this learning process should someone be singled out or treated unequally on the basis of any seen or unseen part of their identity. 
 
If you have concerns in this course about harassment, discrimination, or any unequal treatment, or if you seek accommodations or resources, please reach out to the course instructor directly. Reporting will never impact your course grade. You may also share concerns with your program chair, the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, or the Office of Institutional Equity. In handling reports, people will protect your privacy as much as possible, but faculty and staff are required to officially report information for some cases (e.g. sexual harassment).

Course Auditing

When a student enrolls in an EP course with “audit” status, the student must reach an understanding with the instructor as to what is required to earn the “audit.” If the student does not meet those expectations, the instructor must notify the EP Registration Team [EP-Registration@exchange.johnshopkins.edu] in order for the student to be retroactively dropped or withdrawn from the course (depending on when the "audit" was requested and in accordance with EP registration deadlines). All lecture content will remain accessible to auditing students, but access to all other course material is left to the discretion of the instructor.