Learning and practicing fundamentals of electrical and computer engineering through building and programming a microcontroller with multiple peripherals

Abstract

A required sophomore course on microcontrollers and computer architecture was designed and offered for the first time in 2009 to expose our electrical engineering (EE) sophomore students to microcontroller-based applications so that they could appreciate and be exposed to fundamentals of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) through hardware and software design and interfacing. The course also helps students to obtain a broad view of various subjects of ECE from circuits, signals, digital logic, microcontrollers, C and assembly language programming to system design, implementation and measurement so that they can make a well informed decision on whether to continue to major in EE. The course builds a foundation for future classes that may require instrumentation or microcontroller-based applications such as those on communications, control, power electronics as well as junior and senior design courses. In addition, the students are required to purchase most of the hardware components for the course so that they can use the components for future projects.

A two stage approach for a cost-effective and versatile debugging unit and starter platform

“…According to [3], the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 4 offers sophomore courses dedicated to electrical and computer engineering and uses a self-designed microcontroller board based on the PIC16F887 microcontroller. During these courses the students are able to train their skills in microcontroller programming, hardware and software design.…”

Evaluation of an Early Three Phase Approach to Electric Circuit Instruction

“…• Project Design and Development (3) • ECET Elective (3) electrical circuit analysis instruction. For example, Figure 1 presents a common WyeWye three phase circuit configuration utilized in electric power systems.…”

“…Examples include replacing the introductory circuit course with analog signal processing [1], or designing new introductory courses around broad real world themes such as integrated sensing and information pro-cessing [2] or the programming of microcontrollers to integrate with peripherals [3], [4]. In all of these cases, the objective of the curricular re-design is to put classroom learning in a real-world context, with a goal of improving student learning of subject matter and better educating students on the linkage between concepts within ECE/ECET.…”