ECE319K Introduction to Embedded Systems, Spring 2023 (1/13/2023 Version)

Email all professors and TAs (s23_ee319k@utlists.utexas.edu)  
Course Catalog Description

Embedded systems; machine language execution; assembly and C language programming; local variables and subroutines; input/output synchronization; analog to digital conversion and digital to analog conversion; debugging; and interrupts.

  
Overview

ECE319K will continue the bottom-up educational approach, started in ECE302 and ECE306. The overall educational objective is to allow students to discover how the computer interacts with its environment. It will provide hands-on experiences of how an embedded system could be used to solve EE problems. The focus will be understanding and analysis rather than design. The analog to digital converter (ADC) and digital to analog converter (DAC) are the chosen mechanism to bridge the CE and EE worlds. EE concepts include Ohms Law, LED voltage/current, resistance measurement, and stepper motor control. CE concepts include I/O device drivers, debugging, stacks, FIFO queues, local variables and interrupts. The hardware construction is performed on a breadboard and debugged using a multimeter (students learn to measure voltage and resistance). Software is developed in ARM Cortex-M assembly and C; most labs will be first simulated then run on the real TM4C123 board. Software debugging occurs during the simulation stage. Verification occurs in both stages. Labs 1,3 and 4 are written in ARM assembly language. Labs 8 and 9 are written in a combination of assembly and C.  Labs 2, 5, 6, 7 and 10 are written in C. This semester, we will skip Lab4.

 

ECE319K/ECE319H is team-taught. All five lecture sections will share the same TAs, PowerPoint slides, lab assignments, Quizzes, and Exams. ECE319K/ECE319H will give common Exams 1 and 2 in the evening. Please check the date/time for exams 1 and 2 and make sure they fit your schedule; Let your instructor know if your schedule conflicts with these date/time. The final exam is also common and the date/time will be announced once assigned by the registrar.  Here are the section details:

 

Jon Valvano - 319H, TTh 2pm ECJ 1.214
17066 Th4
17067 Th10
17068 Th1
17069 Th12
Mohit Tiwari -319H TTh 9:30 CPE 2.212
17050 Th 11
17055 W 1
17060 Th 2
17065 Th 5
Al Cuevas -319K, MW 9 EER1.516
17070 W 3
17075 W 4
17080 W 5
17085 W 6
17149 Th 6
Ramesh Yerraballi -319K MW12 ECJ1,214
17090 T10
17095 T 11
17100 T 12
17105 T 1
Ramesh Yerraballi -319K MW3 EER 1.518
17130 T 2
17135 T 3
17140 T 4
17145 T 5

Please note that all lectures and labs are held in Online over Zoom. 

Instructors:

Al Cuevas, EER 4.824, Email through Canvas, http://www.ece.utexas.edu/people/faculty/al-cuevas

Mohit Tiwari,  tiwari@austin.utexas.edu

Ramesh Yerraballi, EER 5.824, ramesh@mail.utexas.edu, http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~ryerraballi

Jonathan Valvano, EER 5.820  valvano@mail.utexas.edu 

Office Hours (see Canvas for up to date OH schedule):

    Al Cuevas,  MW 5:00-6:00pm and by appointment (see Canvas for Zoom link)
    Mohit Tiwari, 

    Ramesh Yerraballi, TTh 2:00-3:30pm (EER 5.824)

    Jonathan Valvano, Monday 11-12, Monday 7-8, Wednesday 12-1, Wednesday 7-8, Friday 2-3, and Friday 7-8 

    

Lab lectures Each week we will provide three optional Lab lectures delivered by online. The times for the lectures are Thursdays 7-8pm (GEA 105) ,  Mondays 7:00-8:00pm (JGB 2.324) . They will be given by the TAs each week with the following exceptions.
1) Lab lectures start the second week: No lab lectures first week; First lab lectures will be Friday 1/20, Monday 1/23.
2) There will be reviews for Exams 1, 2 and the final (time and place TBA)

TAs (Photos of TAs): The office hours and locations will be posted in lab (All TA office hours are Zoom sessions - See class website for details). About 34 students will be assigned to each 20-hour TA, and 17 students to each 10-hour TA.             

   Grad TAs:  Dinesh Reddy, Sophia Jiang (20hrs), Malav Shah, Macias Cuauhtemoc, NieYuxuan (Emma)

   UG TAs:   Elise Johnson, Prithvi Senthilkumar, Anna Guo, Chet Pena, Anthony N Hermez, Raymond Jiang, Jason J Kacines, Anusha Razdan, Paul J. Han, Frank Collebrusco

Mailing list: s23_ee319k@utlists.utexas.edu (all Professors and TAs) 

Teaching Videos and interactive web pages http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/arm/lectures.html

ECE319K Class Web page (Lecture notes and lab assignments): http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/Volume1 
Starter files: http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/arm/  Look for examples that have TM4C in the name.

 

Text (optional): Introduction to Embedded Systems , ISBN: 978-1537105727, which is available on Amazon. Because all editions have the same ISBN, we discourage buying the book used. This means if you buy it used you are likely to get an older edition.  (not available in local bookstores):
https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Embedded-Systems-Jonathan-Valvano/dp/1537105728

EBook: Note that the text is marked as optional above as there is an ebook that covers the same material with inline videos and animations. You will find the ebook here:

http://users.ece.utexas.edu/%7Evalvano/Volume1/IntroToEmbSys/

Reference materials:

  

Equipment to buy: 

  1. We expect each ECE319K student to have a personal laptop. The laptop minimum specifications listed on https://www.ece.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate/laptop will be acceptable for ECE319K. ECE319K software will not run on a Macintosh with an M1 processor. We have a work around for the Macintosh with an M1 processor, but it involves running a different compiler from what most ECE319K students, TAs, and professors will be using. We think adding more RAM will make the operating system run faster. This laptop is required for all labs, and it is required to complete Exams 1 and 2. However, if having a laptop presents difficulty, please see your professor to see what options are available. The ECE319K staff feels very strongly that you should have your own computer on which you develop your software and write your reports. We think both software development and report writing should be done without paper, pencil and erasers. Having a computer at home allows you to organize your information (files, directories etc.) as well as your schedule (allocate your software development time for that the time of day during which you are most creative and energetic.) Physiologically most people are more energetic in the morning. On the other hand, there are fewer distractions late at night. This way they have a common platform while working at home as they have while demonstrating to the TA in lab. To work on your laptop, you will need to install Keil uVision 5 for the ARM. For drawing electrical circuit diagrams some students use Eagle. Both of these applications run on a PC computer running Windows 10, or Windows 1. These software development systems will run on any PC with a USB port.
  2. Every student will be required to have a EK-TM4C123GXL microcontroller board. You should have the microcontroller board by the start of your lab period the week of 1/23. Since this is an old board, and we will NOT be using the kit in ECE319K and ECE445L for a few years, you may find it difficult to sell it at the end of the semester. We recommend you purchase a new EK-TM4C123GXL LaunchPad, which includes a board, and the microB USB cable. The cost will be $16.99 from TI.com and $22.60 from Mouser.com.

·         http://www.ti.com/tool/ek-tm4c123gxl

·         https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=EK-TM4C123GXL Part number 595-EK-TM4C123GXL

·         https://octopart.com/search?q=EK-TM4C123GXL Search engine

If you do buy or borrow a board from another student, I recommend you let the TA test it to make sure the board is functional. 

  1. Every student should have one solderless breadboard and at least 30 wires male-male wires. On the internet there are many options, search “solderless breadboard” or “prototyping kit” on Amazon.  Something like https://www.amazon.com/Solderless-Breadboard-ALLDREI-Male-Female-Female-Female/dp/B07F3T2B68 is ok

  1. Every student should own their own voltmeter. A voltmeter less than $20 will do, see Jameco https://www.jameco.com/z/DVM810-Velleman-3-1-2-Digit-Mini-Digital-Multimeter-19-Ranges_2131127.html .  Or https://www.allelectronics.com/item/dmm-1210/compact-3-1/2-digit-multimeter/1.html Harbor Freight has locations around Texas and usually sells voltmeters for less than $10: http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-digital-multimeter-90899.html 

  2. Every student will need about 30 male-male wires. Search “prototyping wire” on amazon.com. You can also get protoboard and wire together by searching “prototyping kit” on amazon.com. 

Safety warning: Due to the 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.

 

Course Outcomes

After the successful conclusion of ECE319K students should be able to understand the basic components of a computer, write assembly and C language programs that perform I/O functions and implement simple data structures, manipulate numbers in multiple formats, and understand how software uses global memory to store permanent information and the stack to store temporary information.

 
Detailed Objectives of ECE319K:

  1. Understanding how the computer stores and manipulates data (characters, integers, and fixed-point numbers), the basic arithmetic and logical operations performed by the computer.
  2. The understanding of embedded systems (a system with the computer hidden inside) using modular design and abstraction.
  3. Assembly language and C programming: considering both function and style.
  4. Understanding how the computer executes instructions (fetch opcode, fetch operand, read data, operate, and write data).
  5. The use of a microcontroller (strategic use of RAM ROM and I/O) Microcontrollers typically have a little RAM and a lot of ROM. Globals, locals and the heap go in RAM. Constants and programs go in ROM.
  6. Debugging and verification using a simulator and on the microcontroller (embedded systems typically do not have a print function). Debugging techniques, such as breakpoints, scanpoints, profiles, monitors, voltmeters, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers.
  7. How input/output actually happens (the students wire up analog and digital signals to the TM4C123 and measure them with a voltmeter), synchronization,  including switches, LEDs, LCDs, DACs, ADCs, and serial ports.
  8. The implementation of an I/O driver (a set of programs that perform input/output).
  9. Understanding, from an architecture standpoint, how local variables and parameters work (e.g., space on the stack is dynamically created, the local variable is accessed using stack-pointer relative addressing, then the space is deallocated).
  10. Analog to digital conversion (ADC), e.g., the students interface a slide potentiometer to the ADC and write software that measures the position of the slide, creating a display like “1.234 cm”.
  11. Interrupt synchronization, real-time ADC sampling (periodic timer interrupts), introduction to multithreaded programming.
  12. Digital to analog conversion (DAC), used to make simple sounds.
  13. Design and implementation of elementary data structures, such as linked lists, stacks and queues.

 

Prerequisites: ECE306 or BME306 with a grade of at least C-. You should recall:

  1. Bits
    1. Numbers - Unsigned and Signed Integer representation in 2’s Complement
    2. True/False - Logical Operations
    3. Characters - ASCII representation
  2. Gates
    1. AND, NAND, OR, NOR, NOT, XOR
    2. DeMorgan’s Laws
  1. Computer Components
    1. Central Processing Unit: Arithmetic Logic Unit, Control Unit, Registers
    2. Memory – ROM and RAM

                                                               i.      Address Space and Addressability

    1. I/O
  1. LC3 Assembly Language
    1. Instruction Set (ISA)
    2. Pseudo-ops
    3. Op-codes and Operands

                                                               i.      Memory operations

                                                             ii.      Arithmetic and Logic operations

                                                            iii.      Control operations – Branches/Jumps

    1. Addressing Modes
  1. Programming
    1. Algorithms, Flow-Charts
    2. Data Types
    3. Arrays
    4. Interrupts

 

Teaching Philosophy

The ECE319K staff strongly encourage students to take an active role in this class.  Questions are welcome before, during and after class. Please feel free to email, visit or call us if you have questions.

 

Grading

20%

Weekly Quizzes

Online in Canvas

30%

Laboratory Assignments

Due at lab times (Tue/Wed/Thu)

15%

Exam 1 (common exam)

Fri 2/24 7-8:30pm

In person, Location: room=TBD

15%

Exam 2 (common exam)

Fri 3/24 7-8:30pm
In person, Location: room=TBD

20%

Final Exam (common exam, not usual time)

Date   
Makeup: 

Contact your professor to schedule makeup exam 

There will be no re-tests, make-ups, or incompletes.

Cutoff scores for the letter grades will not be determined until after the final exam.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend lectures. The book covers more information than the class, and we will use lectures to map our way through the book. If you miss class you may find it difficult to catch up.  

Laboratory Policies and Lab Partners: See the introduction to the Lab manual. 

Exams: All students in ECE319K will take Exam 1, Exam 2 and the Final Exam at the same time and place. Exams 1 and 2 are practical programming exams during which you will design, implement, and debug a software system in assembly and C respectively. You will be writing software using Keil uVision in simulation mode. No microcontroller hardware will be needed for Exam 1 and Exam 2. 

 

Tentative Lecture Schedule

The following schedule is preliminary; please check the web for the most recent version.

Week

Lecture

Book Reading

Lecture Schedule

1

(1/9-12)

Lec1

Ch. 1

 Architecture – ARM architecture and execution; Simple addressing modes;

Memory-mapped I/O – Parallel ports, direction registers; Arithmetic, Logical and Shift operations;

2

(1/17-20)

 

Lec2

Ch. 2

(Patt Ch. 11, 12)

On Reset; C vs. ASM, Introduction to C programming; Structure of a C program.

C variables, assignments and Boolean expressions. 

3

(1/23-26)

Lec3

Sec. 1.16, 2.7, 3.1,

3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.6

(Patt Ch. 15)

 C Loops, Arrays and Functions
PWM and Duty Cycle
Control structures, branches, if-then, loops. in ASM

4

(1/30-2/2)

Lec4

 Sec 2.4, 3.3,
3.4,

(Patt Ch. 13, 14)

 Switch and LED Interfacing;
Subroutines - Parameter Passing and AAPCS
Stack Operations (Push and Pop) and use in Subroutines


5

(2/6-9)

Lec5

Ch.1-3

(Patt Ch. 16)

Pointers – Indexed addressing; Arrays; Strings; (C &ASM)


 

6

(2/13-16)

Lec6

Ch.4

 

 

FSMs – Finite state machines (FSMs); Linked structures;

C structures and data types; FSMs in C.

7

(2/20-23)

Lec7

 Ch. 5

(Patt Ch. 19)

I/O synchronization – Blind cycle, busy wait, interrupts;

Exam 1, Friday, 2/24, 7-8:30pm

8

(2/27-3/2)

Lec8

Ch. 6

 

Interrupts – ARM interrupts and interrupt processing; Interrupt controller;

Thread synchronization; Periodic interrupts; C/assembly interface;

D/A conversion – Digital to analog conversion (DAC); Resistor networks;

Sound and music generation.

9

(3/6-9)

 

Lec9

Ch. 7 

(Patt Ch. 17)

Variables, parameters – Locals; Scope (local/global); Stack frames, recursion;

Parameter passing, call-by-value, call-by-reference.

LCD interface – LCD programming;

Fixed-point numbers, number conversions.
Spring break 3/13-3/18

10

(3/20-23)

Lec10

 Ch. 8

A/D conversion – Analog to digital conversion (ADC); Nyquist theorem;

Lab 8 design methods.

Numerical calculations – Multiplication and division;
Interpolation and calibration.

Review for Exam 2.

 

Exam 2,  Friday, 3/24, 7-8:30pm

11

(3/27-30)

Lec11

Ch. 1-7

Serial I/O – Universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART);

UART programming and interrupts; Lab 9 introduction

Thread communication – Producer-consumer problems; FIFO queues;

FIFOs and queues in C.

12

(4/3-6)

Lec12

Ch. 9

(Patt Ch. 19,

skip Sec. 19.4)

Game programming – 2-D arrays, bitmaps, sprites;
Game engine design; Data structures, timer interrupts;

Lab 10.

13

(4/10-13)

Lec13

Ch. 10

Misc Topics / Buffer

 

14

(4/17-20)

 

Lec14

 

Review for Final Exam.

 

Game Competition

 

Lab Schedule

Check the "Lab materials" tab on the class website for the schedule.

Labs are due during your lab time (Tue/Wed/Thu), and are demonstrated to the TA.

There will be a signup for Lab checkout times. Each student will have a specific checkout time which will be when their lab will be demonstrated to their TA.

You can only switch lab sections using official add/drop procedures.


Lab Computer Usage

You need to bring your laptops to lab. TAs in the laboratory are checking off programs and supervising while on duty, thus you can expect to have only brief consultations with them. You should learn to develop software while on the computer. This course involves some projects that require extended periods of time to complete and a project cannot be done just overnight. Get started on an assignment early so you can get help if you need it. We expect students to have a laptop or have access to a machine to run at home. Please help to keep the lab clean. 

ECE319K kit handed out by TAs (do not need to be returned)

6 LEDs (2 mA, 2 red, 2 yellow, and 2 green LED)

4 push-button switches

6 470 ohm 5%, 0.25 watt resistors

4 10k ohm 5%, 0.25 watt resistors

5 1.5k ohm 5%, 0.25 watt resistors

5 12k ohm 5%, 0.25 watt resistors

1 speaker, to which you solder two wires

1 10k or 20k ohm slide pot, used in labs 8 and 9 to measure distance, used in Lab 10 as joystick

Software to install on your laptop

1.    Download the TM4C123 example files using the installer (see class website for this)

2.    Find the Keil\EE319KwareSpring2023\windows_drivers folder within this set of examples

3.    Plug the LaunchPad board in, and direct Windows to find drivers in this windows_drivers folder

 

The Digilent Analog Discovery is a wonderful tool for this class. It is not required, but very handy, especially when working at home this semester.

Legal Notes

The 12th class day is 1/25. 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. March 21st is the last day an undergraduate student may, with the Dean’s approval, withdraw from the University or drop a class except for urgent and substantiated, nonacademic reasons.

Students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic adjustments for qualified students with disabilities. Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259, http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/.
Religious Holy Days: By UT Austin policy, you must notify the instructor 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, we will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

Electronic mail notification policy: In this course, e-mail will be used as a means of communication with students. You will be responsible for checking your e-mail regularly for class work and announcements. The complete text of the University electronic mail notification policy and instructions for updating your e-mail address are available at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html.

Use of Canvas and class web site: This course uses the class web page and Canvas to distribute course materials, to communicate and collaborate online, to submit assignments and to post solutions and grades. You will be responsible for checking the class web page and the Canvas course site regularly for class work and announcements. As with all computer systems, there are occasional scheduled downtimes as well as unanticipated disruptions. Notification of disruptions will be posted on the Canvas login page. Scheduled downtimes are not an excuse for late work. However, if there is an unscheduled downtime for a significant period of time, we will make an adjustment if it occurs close to the due date.

 

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 ECE319K 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 ECE319K students is scholastic dishonesty. Policies concerning the use of other people's software in this class:

 

A practical guide to ethics involving software development for ECE319K labs

Activities you can and should do

  1. You are supposed to share everything with your partner. If you form a Lab 10 team with a different student from your partner in labs 3-9, then you can share your lab 3-9 code with the new partner. Make sure the code contains the proper names of who actually helped develop it.
  2. You can and should discuss strategy, theory, approach, and debugging tips with past, present, and future students in this class. This includes flowcharts, data flow graphs, call graphs, pictures and descriptions of data structures.
  3. You can and should read books and search the internet for existing software similar to the problem you have been asked to solve. You may copy-paste that software into your lab as long as you include a full reference of its source. In fact, we all stand on the shoulders of giants and in (large) software development projects, code reuse and building on top of rich libraries is often a key strategy to success. However, proper credit needs to be given and permission to (re)use code from others needs to be obtained. Anything else is cheating and stealing. You are of course also responsible for understanding all software used in your lab solution.
  4. You can look at up to 3 or 4 lines of code from another ECE319K student as part of the discussion described in 1), as long as you are not observing the entire function.

Activities you cannot and should not do

  1. If you form a Lab 10 team with a different student than your partner in Labs 3-9, then you cannot share any newly written lab 10 code with the old partners.
  2. You cannot copy any software either electronically or optically (look at it and type it) from any past, present or future ECE319K students. This includes lab solutions that another student has inappropriately posted on the internet. You are not allowed to look at another student’s lab solution and reproduce it with different formatting or variable names. This can be simply stated “do not look at Lab solutions of another student”, with the 3-4 line exception listed above.
  3. You may not copy-paste old lab solutions to another student. For example, you may not share your LCD driver from Lab 6 to another group while working on Labs 7-10. You cannot give your lab solutions you develop this semester to a student taking the course in the future.
  4. When copy-pasting code from a book or the internet, you should never remove the author’s name. See rule 2) above.
  5. When copy-pasting code from a book or the internet, you should not expect the code to work (most likely it won't work as expected anyway); it is your responsibility to understand and debug all code used in your lab solutions.

 

University Honor Code: "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/

 

Abet material
Three lecture hours and one laboratory hour a week for one semester.  
Design Assignments: Labs 5, 8, 9, 10 (1 week each)
Laboratory Projects: Labs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7
SCH Engineering Topics 3 (Including: 1 SCH of Engineering Design)


Relationship of the Course to ABET EC2000 Program Outcomes:

☒

ABET EC2000 Program Outcomes

☒

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 multi-disciplinary 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.    A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning

☒

j.    A knowledge of contemporary issues

☒

k.   An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice

 

ABET Criterion 9:  Program Criteria for Electrical Engineering Curriculum Achieved:

 

ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING PROGRAM CRITERIA

☒

 Programs must demonstrate that graduates have a knowledge of:

 

1.   Probability and statistics, including applications appropriate to the program name and objectives;

☒

2.   Mathematics through differential and integral calculus, basic sciences, computer science, and engineering sciences necessary to analyze and design complex electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components, as appropriate to program objectives.

☒

3.   (Electrical) Advanced mathematics, typically including differential equations, linear algebra, complex variables, and discrete mathematics.

 

 

 

COVID-19 Guidance

To help keep everyone at UT and in our community safe, it is critical that all students report COVID-19 symptoms and testing, regardless of test results, to University Health Services, and faculty and staff report to the HealthPoint Occupational Health Program (OHP) as soon as possible. Please see this link to understand what needs to be reported. In addition, to help understand what to do if a fellow student in the class (or the instructor or TA) tests positive for COVID, see University Health Services.

Health Self-Checks and Face Coverings

We will all need to make adjustments to benefit from in-person class interactions in a safe and healthy manner. Our protections from COVID-19 include, vaccinations and testing, using cloth face coverings, social distancing and staying at home if showing any symptoms. 

Safety Information

If you have concerns about the safety or behavior of students, TAs, Professors, or others, call the Behavorial Concerns Advice Line at 512-232-5050. Your call can be anonymous. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. Trust your instincts and share your concerns.

Occupants of buildings are required to evacuate buildings when a fire alarm is activated. Alarm activation or announcement requires exiting and assembling outside.

For more information, please see http://www.utexas.edu/safety.

Sanger Learning Center

More than one-third of undergraduates use the Sanger Learning Center each year to improve their academic performance. All students are welcome to join their classes and workshops and make appointments for their private learning specialists, peer academic coaches, and tutors. Please visit http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/slc or call 512-471-3614 (JES A332).

Title IX Reporting

Title IX is a federal law that protects against sex and gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual misconduct, dating/domestic violence and stalking at federally funded educational institutions. UT Austin is committed to fostering a learning and working environment free from discrimination in all its forms where all students, faculty, and staff can learn, work, and thrive. When sexual misconduct occurs in our community, the university can:

  1. Intervene to prevent harmful behavior from continuing or escalating.
  2. Provide support and remedies to students and employees who have experienced harm or have become involved in a Title IX investigation.
  3. Investigate and discipline violations of the university's relevant policies.
Faculty members and certain staff members are considered ``Responsible Employees'' or ``Mandatory Reporters,'' which means that they are required to report violations of Title IX to the Title IX Coordinator at UT Austin. I am a Responsible Employee and must report any Title IX related incidents that are disclosed in writing, discussion, or one-on-one. Before talking with me, or with any faculty or staff member about a Title IX related incident, be sure to ask whether they are a responsible employee. If you want to speak with someone for support or remedies without making an official report to the university, email advocate@austin.utexas.edu. For more info about reporting options and resources, visit https://titleix.utexas.edu/campus-resources or contact the Title IX Office at titleix@austin.utexas.edu.

Campus Carry

``The University of Texas at Austin is committed to providing a safe environment for students, employees, university affiliates, and visitors, and to respecting the right of individuals who are licensed to carry a handgun as permitted by Texas state law.'' For more information, please see http://campuscarry.utexas.edu/students.

Land Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the Indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what now is called North America. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa and Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, and all the American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas. (Pronounciation guide) 

Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Plan Instructions
Please review http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/Volume1/EmergencyTerms.pdf
    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.
    As a University faculty member, you are responsible for pointing out your classrooms' building emergency
evacuation routes and for reviewing emergency procedures with students at the beginning of each semester.
This review should include a mention of the monthly emergency communications test (every first Wednesday
at 11:50 a.m.) and the list of communications channels the university uses during emergencies. It should also
include a review of the attached document outlining emergency terms (e.g., the difference between “shelter-inplace”
and “lockdown”) and instructions for faculty and students to follow during emergencies. As a matter of
convenience, we recommend including this information in your syllabus along with the phone number for the
Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL: 512-232-5050). This is the number to call if you have concerns
regarding the attitude or actions of students, staff, or other faculty.
    Finally, at the end of your emergency preparedness review, request that students requiring assistance in
evacuation inform you in writing of their needs during the first week of class. This information must then be
provided to the Fire Prevention Services office by fax (512-232-2759), with "Attn. Mr. Roosevelt Easley" written
in the subject line.
    Thank you in advance for taking the time to ensure the safety of your classroom. I assure you this small effort
can yield much greater rewards should the unthinkable happen. If you would like more information regarding
emergency preparedness, visit http://www.utexas.edu/safety/preparedness/.