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Embedded Software
- Location: 12:00-1:45, TTh, Baskin Engineering, Rm. 372.
- Lab location: Baskin Engineering, Rm. 168.
- Office Hours: Mondays, 1-2.
- Newsgroup: ucsc.classes.cmpe117
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General Information
What is Embedded Software?
Embedded software is the software that is included in products, rather
than running on desktop PCs or workstations.
The applications of embedded software range from small, stand-alone
systems such as those found in appliances, to the real-time, networked
systems responsible for the control and performance of cars, aircraft,
and production plants.
Over 99% of the CPUs being produced are used in embedded systems,
and embedded software determines an increasing share of the
functionality, appeal, and complexity of a product, from cellphones,
to automotive engine control systems.
What is This Course About?
- Program Lego® Mindstorm®
robots in a variety of languages!
Make them roam, explore, build ad-hoc communication links, and
perform a variety of tasks.
The special project this year consists in setting up an ad-hoc
network between the robots, so that the robots can communicate
and coordinate their tasks.
- Learn how to write concurrent, real-time code, and how to
ensure it is correctly scheduled.
- Learn how different real-time operating systems support
embedded programming.
- Experiment with high-level languages for embedded systems,
developed to make real-time distributed control easy!
These languages are based on a completely different set of ideas
from the programming languages you are used to.
- Learn what are the main challenges in developing embedded
software for complex systems such as cars, cellphones, and
satellites, and learn techniques to overcome them.
Notes on This Year's Version of the Course
Topics
This year, I will introduce as soon as possible the architecture of
the Lego Mindstorm robots, so that
the students will be able to start working on the project in January.
The project consists in developing an ad-hoc network using the
infrared communication link of the Mindstorms.
We will be able to use debugging tools and packet generators in order
to help test the code.
The ad-hoc network is a challenging application that will lead us to
explore in a practical context many of the issues of embedded
programming: scheduling, resource contention, locks, power-aware
design, and real-time.
It should be fun!
Lab
The course has a lab.
Indicatively, I would prefer to hold lab lectures each Tuesday after
class, but I will conduct a poll during the first week of classes, to
ensure that the time is convenient for most students.
Generally, I give one lecture a week in the lab.
The first lectures will be dedicated to Lego Mindstorm programming;
after that, we will talk about the details of the ad-hoc protocol.
In a later part of the course, students will also use Esterel to
program the Mindstorms.
Students will have access to the lab during most times of the week to
work on their projects.
Students can work either alone, or in pairs, at the projects.
Prerequisites (and the lack thereof)
Due to the simultaneous change to the prerequisites of CMPS 111, and
the scheduling of CMPE 117 in Winter, it could be difficult for many
students to have already taken the prerequisite CMPS 111.
Because of these circumstances, I am quite willing to make
exceptions.
If you need a permission code to enroll, let me know.
Course Information
Textbook
Giorgio C. Buttazzo, Hard Real-Time Computing Systems: Predictable
Scheduling Algorithms & Applications.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997.
Midterms and Final
- Midterm 1, January 29 (Thursday), in class.
- Midterm 2, February 26 (Thursday), in class.
- Final: by request. Otherwise, a software project is due at the
end of class.
Reading and Resources
robos is the operating system that we will use for the
Lego® Mindstorm® robots.
These pages contain both the code, and a wealth of documentation and
information about robos (including application code examples).
Esterel is a synchronous language that we will use in programming
Lego® Mindstorm® robots.
Accessible from UCSC only.
Ad hoc network protocol
- Johnson and Maltz: Dynamic Source Routing in
Ad Hoc Wireless Networks
- Packet structure. This is the new packet
structure discussed in class, and kindly documented by Eric Decker,
who greatly contributed to it.
- IETF
draft specification
- The new lnpd_1_1 lnpd tarball,
from Eric Decker, new as of Feb 24, 2004,
containing the following improvements:
- (Makefiles): clean up dependancy generation
- (Makefiles): fix cleaning and realcleaning.
- (Makefiles): generate TAGS for emacs (ctags currently ignored).
- (Makefiles): generate rawdump and rcpdump.
- (README): update to reflect rawdump and rapdump.
- (misc): clean up warnings from implicit use of functions.
- (): add rapdump.c rapsupport.c, rapsupport.h, rawdump.c
- (): add include/lnp/rap.h
- (): clean up strange chars (unicode?)
- This is a bugfix release, compared to lnpd_1_0.
- Pseudocode for RAP buffers.
- Overview slide for RAP implementation.
- New rap.txt (02/29/04)
- New rap.h (02/29/04)
Slides on scheduling
Protocols
The Consensus Problem
Assigned Readings and Homeworks
- Due Tue Jan 13: Read the legOS Kernel Documentation,
written by Stig Neilsson, available from the robos
documentation page.
You may also want to browse the legOS HOWTO.
It would be great if you could read some of this (or at least "read it
in diagonal", i.e., scan it quickly) before Thursday's lab.
- Due Thu Jan 22: The light-seeking robot. This is a lab
assignment, that has been discussed in class.
You should email me the code as an attachment, and demo the robot in the
lab.
- Due Tue Feb 3:
Homework 1, and
sample solutions.
Disclaimer
LEGO® and Mindstorm ® are trademarks
of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or
endorse this site.
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