Topic outline

  • General

    September retake exam is taking place in an online format on 12/09/2022 at 16:30-19:30.

    Please check the course forum for more information.


    Welcome to the Embedded Real-Time Systems!


    Exercise sessions take place most Fridays (see calendar bellow) @10:00AM via Zoom: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/65206002565


    This course is led by Ivan Vujaklija (ivan.vujaklija@aalto.fi,  Office F306, Rakentajanaukio 2c)

    This year’s course will be conducted in an online format and will consist of lectures and exercises.

    Zoom, MyCourses, and email will be main communication platforms, for the course, however participants are encouraged to utilize any other means of communication that they might find useful for supporting their own work.

    All handouts for the course will be uploaded in the Materials section of the page (on your left) according to the schedule. All video materials as well as Zoom links for the online contact sessions will be posted timely here in both Materials section and via the Course Forum (see below).

    Throughout the course, participants are also at liberty to use electronics workshop (sähköpaja) at Maarintie 8 (ground floor, room 1558), if they see fit.

    Intended Learning Outcomes

    After successfully completing this course, the participants are able to:

    • Present the general structure and principal implementation of embedded systems
    • Describe the fundamental characteristics and associated design issues of real-time systems
    • Outline the central computer architecture concepts from the perspective of the real-time systems designer
    • Apply different memory technologies, input/output techniques, and peripherals for embedded systems
    • Conceptually program and evaluate real-time embedded systems for a certain application

    Assessment Methods and Criteria

    • Homework (45%)
    • Online exam (55%)

    Study Material

    Course extensively relies on the following book:

    P. A. Laplante and S. J. Ovaska, Real-Time Systems Design and Analysis: Tools for the Practitioner, 4th Edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012, Chapters 1–3

    which is available to all Aalto students as an e-book via the publisher: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118136607
    In addition, lecture videos, notes, and handouts will, over time, be made available in the Materials section of the MyCourse page.

    Prerequisites

    Recommended: basics of electronics and circuit design, basic programming

    Schedule

    Lectures on Monday 10:15-12:00 via Zoom or prerecorded (see below)
    Exercises on Fridays 10:15-12:00 via Zoom

    Course timeline table

    Tentative schedule (subject to changes):

    1. Week 37 - Lecture 1: Course introduction (short on zoom)

        • No exercises

    2. Week 38 - Lecture 2: Introduction to real-time system concepts (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 1 (zoom)

    3. Week 39 - Lecture 3: Essentials of processor architecture (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 2 (zoom)

    4. Week 40 - Lecture 4: Introduction to memory technologies (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 3 (zoom)

    5. Week 41 - Lecture 5: Advanced architectures (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 4 (zoom)

    6. Week 42 - Lecture 6: Peripheral interfacing (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 5 (zoom)

    7. Week 43: Break due to the evaluation week

        • No exercises

    8. Week 44 - Lecture 7: Microcontrollers and distributed real-time architectures (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 6 (zoom)

    9.  Week 45 - Lecture 8: Basics of real-time operating systems (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 7 (zoom)

    10. Week 46 - Lecture 9: Scheduling and task management (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 8 (zoom)

    11. Week 47 - Lecture 10: Programming real-time systems (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 9 (zoom)

    12. Week 48 - Lecture 11: Embedded system requirements and security concerns (prerecorded)

        • Exercise 10 (zoom)

    Exercises will be arranged topically (concerning the respective week’s lecture theme). They are envisioned to be student driven through either direct discussions or any questions that arrive by the date via email or MyCourses forum. In addition, exercises will feature a small instructor driven consideration of a related theme.

    All Zoom sessions will be recorded and made available for streaming on MyCourses.

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