Course info

The objective of the Embedded Hardware Design course is to present to the student the Computing Devices, associated Peripherals and Networks along with High Level Software ( C ) and Hardware language ( Verilog HDL ) which are used in the design of a modern day embedded system.

Since peripherals and networks are independent of the computing device used, the course would first only consider the Microcontroller as a computing device and build up the concept of peripherals and networks around it. Standard peripherals like Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) , Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) , Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART), Interrupt Controller, Programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI), Real Time Clock (RTC) will be covered. On the Networks side, different communication standards and protocols – RS 232 , RS 485, I2C, Controller Area Network (CAN) would be discussed. Input output devices like keyboard, keypad and LCD would be taught along with sensors.

There are multitudes of computing devices that can be used in an embedded system. Options range from General Purpose Processors, Microcontrollers, Digital Signal Processors, Programmable Logic Devices to custom designed Application Specific chips. The course will focus on the architecture and high level programming (‘C’) using the AVR microcontroller. This would be followed by digital circuit design using Hardware Description Language ( Verilog) using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) for prototyping. A brief introduction on custom design on the transistor level will be given for design at the switch level.

In summary, this course is to provide an understanding of the various components and design philosophy of a contemporary embedded system.