Teaching philosophy
: I am here to teach you about embedded systems. I am also here
to share my experiences about what it is like to be an engineer. I have over 50
years of experience designing, building and testing medical devices and
embedded systems. I strongly encourage students to attend all the lectures and
take an active role in this class. Questions are always welcome before, during
and after class. Please feel free to email, visit or call me if you have
questions.
You will find out that I am very accessible.
My video recording philosophy:
Dr. McDermott and I have over six years of
experience with "Zoom" learning. Those students that did not attend the lectures
or office hours and only watched recordings did poorly on ALL 3 exams!
That said, I do not record my lectures anymore. I personally want you to
become great engineers. To do so, you have to actively participate in person. I
want you to attend all of the lectures, ask lots of questions and come to my
office hours if you have any additional questions.
Course Catalog Description: Design of
microcontroller-based embedded systems; interfacing from both a hardware and
software perspective; and applications, including audio, data acquisition, and
communication systems.
Course Specific Objectives of ECE445L: The
primary objective of ECE445L is for the students to develop the ability to
design microcomputer-based embedded systems. This class allows students to learn
microcomputer interfacing from both a hardware and software perspective.
Professor's Specific Objective for the Course:
My objectives for this course is for the software centric students to become
proficient with hardware and the hardware centric students become proficient
with software such that when you are in industry you make more money than those
students who elect to be isolated in their comfort zone be it SW or HW.
Outcomes: After the successful conclusion of
ECE445L, students should be able to design embedded systems including
hardware/software interfaces for devices like LCD displays, motors, keyboards,
analog sensors, and microphone/speakers.
Attendance:
Students are expected to attend all of the lectures in person. The book covers
way more information than the class can cover and we will use lectures to map
our way through the book. If you do not attend the lectures in person you may
find it difficult to catch up. DO NOT assume that you can watch previous
(ancient) recordings and do well in this class.
Once again, please attend all
of the lectures, ask lots of questions and come to my office hours if you have
any additional questions.
Prerequisites: All with a grade of C- or better.
Programming: ECE312 or ECE312H or ECE412 or ECE412H;
Microcontrollers: ECE319K or ECE319H or ECE419K or ECE419H;
Circuits: ECE411 or ECE411H or BME343 or ME348E;
Transforms: ECE313 or ECE313H or BME311
Writing BME333T or ECE333T or ME333T (credit or registration)
Note to ME/Robot minor
students:
If your C programming skills are excellent, and you did well in ME340 and
ME348E, then you should perform well in ECE445L. Conversely, if your C
programming skills are poor, then ME students do very poorly in ECE445L. We
strongly recommend ECE319K prior to ECE445L. However,
if robot minor students have not had ECE319K, please complete ECE319K Labs 2,
5, and 7 prior to starting ECE445L. Don't worry about the ECE319K
auto-graders, just build the hardware, write/debug code. For ECE319K Lab 7
don't worry about the LCD, just sample the ADC using interrupts and calculate
distance from the ADC sample.
Grading
:
Assignment
%
Date
Notes
Quiz 1
15%
Thursday, 10/1, 15:30 - 16:45
Closed book, no crib notes, in class, in
person, no Zoom
Quiz 2
20%
Thursday, 11/5, 15:30 - 16:45
Closed book, no crib notes, in class, in
person, no Zoom
Final
25%
Saturday, December 12, 1:00 PM - 3:00PM
Closed book, no crib
notes. Room TBD, in person, no Zoom
Laboratory
35%
See below
A larger grading
weight is applied to the laboratory assignments for Labs 7A, 7B
and 10
Teamwork
5%
Team dynamics
and
team participation is critical to the success of any project in
school and in industry. If you are not a team player, then you should
take another course.
When studying for quizzes, focus on the topics that apply to
the ARM Cortex M and the lab assignments. You will find old quizzes and finals
with solutions on the class web site or on Canvas. I have no expected grade
cutoffs or expected GPA for this class. You can view the previous GPAs for most
of your classes at UT. All professors want a 5/5 on their teaching evaluation,
and all students want an A. Just like Dr. McDermott, I feel both the instructor
and the student should onlybe awarded for excellence.
LED interface, switch interface, busy-wait synchronization, serial
communication concepts (start bit, data bits, stop bit, baud rate,
bandwidth), UART programming, analog to digital conversion (range,
resolution, precision, accuracy), ADC programming, digital to analog
conversion (range, resolution, precision, accuracy), interrupt concepts
(arm, enable, acknowledge, vector), Output compare interrupt programming.
Specific ECE412 topics needed for ECE445L:
Modular programming, differences between pointers and numbers, when to use
permanent allocation and when to use temporary allocation, definitions of
char, short and long, understanding and use of static,
const and volatile, understanding call by value versus call
by reference, stack frames, structures, linked lists, fifo queues,
verification. The most important component students must be able to
accomplish is the translation of a problem statement into software code. The
second most important skill we expect students to have is the ability to
debug software.
Specific ECE402/ECE411/EE313/ECE438 topics needed for ECE445L:
RLC circuits, NPN and PNP transistors, input impedance, output impedance,
linear amplifiers using op amps, oscilloscopes, sampling, frequency
response, Bode Plots, Fourier Transform, spectrum measurements.
Microcomputer Architecture (ECE419K review)
An introduction to the microcomputer, architecture, The Cortex M0
Instruction Set, Cortex M0 Addressing Modes, I/O and Memory Organization and
the memory map of the MSPM0.
Programming Microprocessors (ECE412 review)
Data Structures in C (arrays, tables, linked lists, stacks, and fifo
queues), Writing Quality Programs in C, Passing Parameters (Conceptual and
Implementation Levels), Modular Programming, Verification and Testing,
Documentation
Microcomputer Bus Interfaces
Digital Hardware, Modules and Signals, Drivers, Registers, Timing equations,
Timing diagrams,
Parallel and Serial Input-Output
MSPM0 Parallel I/O Devices, Device Driver Software, Buffered Input and
Output, Table and Linked List Interpreters, MSPM0 Synchronous and
Asynchronous Serial Input-Output, Synchronization in I/O devices,
Blind-Cycle Synchronization, Busy-Wait Synchronization, Interrupt
Synchronization, Polled Interrupts, Vectored Interrupts, Interrupt Priority
Parallel Port Interfaces
Keyboards, Key Debouncing, Keyboard Scanning Techniques, LED Scanning
Techniques and LCD Interfacing
Stepper motors, DC motors, pulse-width modulation, proportional-integral
(PI) control
Equipment to buy:
1) Board
Every student will be required to have a
Texas
Instruments MSPM0 LaunchPad by Friday August 29th. Since we will
be using the MSPM0 kit in ECE402/ECE319K/ECE445L/ECE445M for a few years, you will have
the option of selling it at the end of the semester.
The LP-MSPM0G3507 LaunchPad is available at the University Coop.
Put your name on the following page to get a notification when it is ready.
LaunchPad at the University Coop.
We have been
using the MSPM0 board in ECE319K for many years, so you might be able to find one
used. If you do purchase a used microcontroller board, ask a TA or me to run
the board tester to make sure all the pins work. If it still works at the
end of the semester, you will be able to sell this board to students in the
next semester.
2) LCD
Each group of two students will need to a LCD graphics display. We will
be using Sitronix ST7735R 18-bit color 1.8" TFT LCD display for $20 plus
shipping,
http://www.adafruit.com/products/358 If you want a lower
cost version you could order it from China (search ST7735R on Amazon or
EBay).
ECE445L has a
design competition where students build embedded system. Using the same
LCD for labs and for the project will save you time. Just like the
microcontroller board, you will have the option of selling the Sitronix
LCD to students next semester.
3) Breadboard.
You will need a solder-less breadboard. We strongly recommend you do not
buy used or borrow a breadboard, because as the breadboards get old they
fail in mysterious and extremely annoying ways (shorts and opens).
The Twin Industries TW-E40-1020 is a breadboard that is easy to find.
You can find it for sale on the internet by searching
https://octopart.com/search?q=TW-E40-1020 Any
breadboard, any size will be OK. Another approach is to search "solderless
breadboard" on amazon.com
or
ebay.com
4) Wire strippers and voltmeter.
You will need own your own pair of wire-strippers and a digital
multimeter. You will be stripping a lot of 22 or 24 gauge wire as you
build the interface circuits. Your meter must be able to measure voltage
and resistance, so a meter costing around $20 will suffice. Since
you will be making hundreds of solder joints this semester, we suggest
you use the high-quality irons available on the first floor.
LAB Safety warnings:
Due to the minute amounts of lead in most solder, please wash your
hands after soldering, before eating or drinking.
If you drop the soldering iron, let it fall to the ground. Do not
try and catch it.
If you are pregnant or think you might be pregnant, have someone else
do the soldering!!
Lab Partners:
Most labs should be performed with a partner. Some will
be done with a group of 4 (see below).
You and your lab partner must be registered for the same
lab section (4 person teams can be registered in different sections).
The lab partnership must be registered with your TA (a simple hand written
note signed by both students will suffice) during the week of
Sep 2nd.
Once registered, the partnership will continue. A partnership can be
dissolved only after discussion with the TA.
NOTE: The only way members of the same team will receive the same
score for a lab assignment is if ALL of the team members participate
equally. For more information on teams, see the
team contract.
Both partners must be present during the demonstration. It is expected that
both partners will contribute to all aspects of each lab, and both partners
are expected to be present during the check out.
The point values are the same for all labs. Lab partners will be selected in
your lab the week of Sep 2nd.
If you want to switch sections, there will be a
GoogleDoc link on canvas, on which you can
request a section swap.
Basically, you will need another student (not your lab partner) with
whom you will switch sections.
<
ECE445L Lab Sessions
(see your TA for the latest information).
This is a lab based class so LAB attendance is
ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY.
No drive bys, you must
attend your lab session for the entire period to get the maximum grade.
Each week there are two 90 minute lab sessions, which are scheduled
Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. You will show the preparation to
your TA at the beginning of the second session. During the first session
demonstrations will be made. The TA will sign your software listing when
you demonstrate your system. The report (hardware/software/data plots)
is due Friday uploaded to Canvas according to the directions posted on
Canvas. Any ECE445L TA is authorized to check out your lab. Please
consult with your TA for specific due dates for your lab section.
During the week of Aug 25th, please
go to your scheduled ECE445L lab sessions in
EER 1.806
to get a demonstration of the lab equipment. If you do not
already own a MSPM0 board, you must purchase one by
Friday August 29th.. Each student
should have their own board. The lab preparations (hardware
diagrams and syntax-free software source code printouts) must be
uploaded to Canvas prior to the beginning of your lab period. PLEASE SEE
YOUR TA ON EXACT REQUIREMENTS FOR TURNING IN LAB ASSIGNMENTS. In other
words, please type your software into the PC before lab.
All software for lab,
and tests must include comments. All hardware must include R&C values
specifying tolerance and type (e.g., 5% carbon), and chip numbers (be
very specific e.g., INA122P). Pin numbers are required only for lab, not
for the exams.
The uploading of preparations will close once Lab has begun. For the
first 15 minutes of lab, the TA will lead a lab discussion session. The
remaining lab time is available for debugging and lab checkout. At the
end of the semester please verify with the checkout counter that your
record is clear. All reports must be given to the TA by
Friday Dec 5th@ 2pm.
- Rough draft due to the TA for review by
Friday 10/30 @ 9am on Canvas
- ATTENTION:
PCB files are due Tuesday 11/3 @ 10am on Canvas (if you miss this deadline
you will have to pay for your own board) - TA downloads
files from Canvas and creates an XLS sheet - PCB ordered on
Tuesday 11/3 by 12 noon - Boards received between
11/10 to 11/15 - For Lab 10 prep: All
parts soldered and microcontroller ready to be programmed.
We will
be using KiCad for the PCB design. Install the latest free version KiCad (do not
spend any money). Download and install here:
https://www.kicad.org
To complete ECE445L labs it will take time outside
of the 3 scheduled lab hours. It will be necessary for you to configure a
development system on your laptop (
CCS21.0 and
KiCad).
For KiCad see ECE419K PCB camp
The PuTTy application is optional. For PuTTY see
http://www.putty.org/.
ABET Relationship of
the Course to Student Outcomes:
Bold applies to EE445L a. An ability to
apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering. b. An ability to design and conduct experiments, as
well as to analyze and interpret data. c. An ability to design a system, component, or
process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic,
environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability,
and sustainability.
d. An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams. e. An
ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems. f. An understanding of professional and ethical
responsibility. g. An ability to communicate effectively.
h. The broad education necessary to understand the
impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and
societal context. i. Recognition of the need for and an ability
to engage in life-long learning.
j. Knowledge of contemporary issues. k. An ability to use
the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering
practice.
Legal Stuff: The 12th class day is Sep 9th.
The drop policy is extremely complicated. See your academic advisor or the
Dean of Students for more information. Course evaluation is conducted on the
last class day in accordance with the Measurement and Evaluation Center form.
The final exam is at the time and place stated in the course schedule. The
University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic
adjustments for qualified students with disabilities. For more information,
contact the Office of the Dean of Students with Disabilities at 471-6259,
471-4241 TDD.
Sharing of Course Materials is Prohibited:
No materials used in this class, including, but not limited to,
lecture hand-outs, videos, assessments (quizzes, exams, papers, projects,
homework assignments), in-class materials, review sheets, and additional problem
sets, may be shared online or with anyone outside of the class unless you have
my explicit, written permission. Unauthorized sharing of materials promotes
cheating. It is a violation of the University's Student Honor Code and an act of
academic dishonesty. I am well aware of the sites used for sharing materials,
and any materials found online that are associated with you, or any suspected
unauthorized sharing of materials, will be reported to Student Conduct and
Academic Integrity in the Office of the Dean of Students. These reports can
result in sanctions, including failure in the course.
Religious Holy Days By UT Austin policy, you must notify
me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of
observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a
work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will
give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time
after the absence.
Policies for using
artificial intelligence:
You cannot use
any AI on written parts of lab reports (e.g., methods, tables, figures, text, discussion, conclusions)
If you use AI
on code or debugging, then you must acknowledge its use
We know how engineers write reports.
We do not award extra points for polished report writing. Therefore, a lab report
written with polished technical writing will be a red
flag
to the TA. We will run lab code through a plagiarism checker. So if two students
ask the same question to AI, get the same answer and both turn it in, it may be
triggered as plagiarism. To be clear, we expect students to copy/paste code from
the book or ECE445L web site (just reference the source).
Scholastic dishonesty: "Faculty in the ECE
Department are committed to detecting and responding to all instances of
scholastic dishonesty and will pursue cases of scholastic dishonesty in
accordance with university policy. Scholastic dishonesty, in all its forms, is
a blight
on our entire academic community. All parties in our community -- faculty,
staff, and students -- are responsible for creating an environment that educates
outstanding engineers, and this goal entails excellence in technical skills,
self-giving citizenry, an
ethical integrity. Industry wants engineers who are competent and fully
trustworthy, and both qualities must be developed day by day throughout an
entire lifetime. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to,
cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsifying academic records, or any act
designed to give an unfair academic advantage to the student. The fact that you
are in this class as an engineering student is testament to your abilities.
Penalties for scholastic dishonesty are severe and can include, but are not
limited to, a written reprimand, a zero on the assignment/exam, re-taking the
exam in question, an F in the course, or expulsion from the University. Don't
jeopardize your career by an act of scholastic dishonesty. Details about
academic integrity and what constitutes scholastic dishonesty can be found at
the website for the UT Dean of Students Office and the General Information
Catalog, Section 11-802."
You are encouraged to study together and to discuss
information and concepts with other students. You can give "consulting" help to
or receive "consulting" help from such students in oral form. However, this
permissible cooperation should never involve one student having possession of a
copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an email, an
email attachment file, a portable storage device, or a hard copy. Copying of any
part of a program is cheating without explicit reference to its source. We do
enter lab assignments turned in by ECE445L students through a plagiarism
checker, comparing them to assignments of this and previous semesters. If we
find two programs that are copied, there will be a substantial penalty to both
students, e.g., failure in the course. Students who cheat on tests or in lab
will fail. Prosecution of cases is very traumatic to both the student and
instructor. It is appropriate to use software out of the book, class website as
long as all copy-pasted software is explicitly referenced.
Copy-pasting software from current or past students is scholastic dishonesty.
Policies concerning the use of other people's software
in this class: -
I strongly encourage you to study existing software. -
All applications and libraries must be legally obtained. E.g., You
may use libraries that came when you bought a compiler.
You may use software obtained from the web. You may copy and paste from the existing source code. - You may use any existing source code that is clearly
referenced and categorized: original: completely
written by you, derived: fundamental approach is copied but it is your
implementation, modified: source code significantly
edited to serve your purpose, copied: source code
includes minor modifications.
The University Honor Code is:
"The core values of the
University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership,
individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the University is
expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and
respect toward peers and community."
http://registrar.utexas.edu/catalogs/gi09-10/ch01/
Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Plan Instructions Please visite https://emergencymanagement.utexas.edu/ for detailed information.
Every member of the university community must take appropriate and deliberate
action when an emergency strikes a building, a portion of the campus, or entire
campus community. Emergency preparedness means we are all ready to act for our
own safety and the safety of others during a crisis. It takes an effort by all
of us to create and sustain an effective emergency preparedness system. Your
support is important to achieving the best possible outcomes during a crisis
event.