CS 4220 Embedded Systems

Spring 2002

Instructor: Karsten Schwan ( schwan@cc )
Office: 216 CoC Building
Office hours: By Appointment.

Instructor: Calton Pu ( calton@cc )
Office: 269 CoC Building
Office hours: By Appointment.

TA: Lynn Daley ( lkdaley@cc )
Office: Varies by appointment.
Office hours: By Appointment.


3/21/02 - Schedule/Syllabus marked on attached page - date, lecturer, topic, papers. Keep checking this page, as any changes to schedule and abstracts due should appear here.

Any abstracts you've gotten credit for will be recorded on this page.

If you schedule (with Karsten or Calton) to present a paper, please let me know so I can put it on the web page and make sure you get credit for the presentation.

Project III presentations will be approximate 30 minutes each. Schedule with me ASAP, first come, first served. Schedule posted on the page...


Description

CS 4220 Embedded Systems: This course covers the principles of embedded and real-time systems inherent in many hardware platforms and applications being developed for engineering and science as well as for ubiquitous systems, including robotics and manufacturing, interactive and multimedia, immersive and omnipresent applications. As part of this course, students will learn about quality of service and real-time system principles, understand embedded and real-time operating systems and the resource management issues that arise, and construct sample applications on representative platforms. Platforms range from handheld and mobile computers to media and real-time server systems. Platforms may also include specialized systems used in application-specific contexts, such as autonomous robotics, smart sensors, and others.

Embedded Systems is taught only once every two years due to CoC resource constraints. It is suitable for both CoC and non-CoC majors, in part because grades are based on project work, where two smaller projects are predefined and the main course project is defined jointly by the instructor and students. The intent is to ensure some basic skills on the part of each student and also to match both student interests/background and course objectives.

Syllabus

  • Handouts will be available in class. Any leftovers will be available outside CoC Office 216. Otherwise, let the TA know.
  • Links are to papers and lectures available to you online. If a link doesn't work, let the TA know.

Weeks 1,2) Basic Concepts & Real-Time Programming

Week 1, Project I assignment available.
Weeks 3,4) Metrics, Benchmarks, Applications
Week 3, Project I Due Jan 26th.
Week 4, Project II and Project III assignments available.
Week 5,6) Quality of Service
Week 5, Project II Due Feb 10
Weeks 7,8) Scheduling
 Spring Break Week
 Weeks 9,10) CPU Usage & Reservation
 Weeks 11,12) Network Usage & Reservation
 Weeks 13,14) Real-Time Operating Systems and Resource Management
Week 15 & Final Period) Student Project III Presentations


Grading

Each student (or team) will present one course topic in class and also complete the class projects. Maximum team size is 3 students. In addition, as part of class homework, all students must submit written abstracts for at least 75% of the papers studied in class, before each paper's presentation. These abstracts must summarize the main points of the paper.
    60% Projects (3 projects, 10%, 10%, 40%)
    • See details below.
    20% Midterm: Feb 28
    • Covers all papers presented prior to the midterm, and the material of the first two projects.
    20% Abstracts/Class Participation/Student Presentations
    • All students must submit written abstracts for at least 75% of the papers covered after the midterm. Abstracts must summarize the main points of the paper, including what you learned or found of interest in the paper. Abstracts are due before the paper's presentation in class.
    • Students may choose to present a paper in leiu of some number of abstracts. The value of each paper, in abstracts, will be determined by midterm and posted above.

Projects

Class projects will use the Unix Solaris and Linux operating systems, both of which offer some facilities for construction and control of real-time systems. Class members have access to selected real-time devices and ubiquitous systems, including smart sensors (skiff boards running Linux), possibly including Lego robots (if there is class interest), including handheld devices and portable PCs (Linux-based PCs and PalmOS/Linux-based handhelds and/or wearables), including camera and other video-based sensors on PCs running Windows or Linux, and access to the commercially prevalent real-time operating system kernel, called VxWorks, running on Pentium and Sparc machines. Sample applications available to students include multimedia codes (video and audio), distributed games, sensor processing codes, image processing codes, location identification (if there is class interest) and possibly, distributed virtual environments (again, given class interest).

Additional Links

Real-time Systems Reading List
Boston University: CS835 Reading List
Computer Science Research Paper Search Engine
Real-Time Resources
Ubiquitious Computing Links
Postscript(R) to PDF Converter