New approaches for a distance learning course about embedded systems

Abstract

Embedded systems courses and labs teaching hardware and software design are a necessity in many technical university programs. The attendees of these courses train their skills and expertise on hardware platforms available for the students only during the phase of attendance. To gain practical skills in building such systems, lab courses are required and appropriate parts have to be supplied.To train the same skills and expertise in distance learning courses, a new approach is necessary, as everything has to be supplied to the students "at home". Apart from detailed handson tutorials and teaching materials, a hardware platform for every student is mandatory. To keep the motivation for the subject high, a start at Operating System level (nowadays well known to all the students) and gradual decent to bit-level and the attachment of external hardware to a microcontroller, is the introduced approach. This is standing in opposition to common concepts that start at pin-level and progress up to Operating System level.To train practical skills in assembling an embedded system a HW/SW co -simulation tool comes in handy. The students can prepare and test a self designed electronic completely in the simulation environment and hands-on skills with real components can be gained quickly in a very short attendance phase.The concepts and recommended tools for such a distance learning course are described in this paper

Preparation for embedded systems laboratories the virtual workspace approach

“…Due to the wide application range from microcontrollers to FPGAs and Android smartphones such an approach could not have been implemented for the conditions found in the laboratory. While [9] also plans to use a virtual machine, due to organizational habits, the students work is completely remote. Such an approach would not be feasible in our case because the laboratory is held weekly and thus, the transferability of the system has to be guaranteed.…”