REPTAR: A universal platform for codesign applications

Abstract

Embedded systems are shaping a new world. There is no sector immune to their adoption and the effects in the long term are unpredictable and fascinating. Embedded systems are designed by embedded system engineers. What technical education and what kind of practical skills these new engineers will need? This is a complex and unanswered question. In this paper we describe our proposal to equip engineering students with knowledge and experience: REPTAR. REPTAR (Reconfigurable Embedded Platform for Training And Research) is a feature rich complex embedded system designed for giving the opportunity to tomorrow's engineers of having hands-on experience on modern technologies and learning by doing. As a side effect REPTAR revealed itself as an invaluable tool for rapid prototyping and research explorations.