COSC 198 Embedded Systems

This course will be part lecture and part senior seminar. The focus of the lecture material will be on systems, languages and tools related to embedded systems. The seminar portion of the course will focus on current research publications in the area. Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

Read, understand, and present current research papers in the area of embedded systems.

Design, implement, and test their own embedded system components for integration into a larger system.

Document complexities of hardware/software interaction in their embedded system components in sufficient detail that the work can be understood and replicated by others.

Student grades will be assigned based on evaluation of the following:

Presentation and discussion of current, relevant research papers drawn from the top publication venues in the field;

Quality of embedded system components produced and successfully integrated into the existing MSCS Experimental Operating Systems Lab infrastructure;

Completeness of final written report detailing both the technical aspects of the constructed components and the lessons learned throughout the construction process.

Projects will vary according to student interest and available resources. Some sample projects could include:

Wireless network interface driver for embedded Mips WRT54GL platform. Will allow XINU operating system to interact over wireless network with other servers or backend machines.

TCP/IP networking support for Embedded XINU.

Remote debugging support for the Embedded XINU operating system over EJTAG hardware on the MIPS platform.

Basic kernel support for the embedded Mips WRT350N Gigabit router, the next generation of Embedded XINU backend.

Memory protection for Embedded XINU. Will allow individual processes to execute in distinct virtual memory spaces, protecting critical tasks from memory corruption.

Real-time scheduling enhancements and lightweight synchronization primitives for Embedded XINU. Will enhance the suitability of our platform for research and courses on real-time systems.