Announcements:
Lecture will begin on Tuesday, 09/01. There will be lab on Friday 09/04.
Updated 2020-08-31
The zoom link and passcode can be found on the canvas course home page.
If you have any questions, send an email to kimluong@seas.upenn.edu.
Syllabus
Course Times
- Lecture: Tues/Thurs 12:00 – 13:20 EDT
- Lab: Fridays 13:00 – 16:00 EDT
Lectures will be synchronous and recorded. This means that we will hold live lectures using zoom during the designated course time. The recordings will be uploaded by the end of the lecture day. There is no textbook for the course but a rich set of lecture slides will be provided.
Labs will also be synchronous and held during the designated lab times. These will not be recorded as they are essentially guided/open office hours and time for you to work on the course assignments. Occasionally, we will have tutorials on certain topics. These will be recorded and uploaded by the end of the day. Labs will be submitted individually, however break out groups will be used during lab times so that you will be able to interact and work with other classmates.
Pre-requisites
- Previous programming experience (Preferably C, but not required)
- Circuit/electronics experience is useful but not required
Course Description
This is a hands-on course on the theory and practice of developing real-time and embedded systems. Concepts needed for building such systems include power management, bootloading, bare metal programming, and implementation of real time operating systems (RTOS). Students will be exposed to the AVR architecture along with some ARM applications later on in the semester. The course culminates in a final project where students have the opportunity to synthesize their knowledge in a project of their own design.
Course Objectives
- Basics of Microcontrollers – timers, interrupts, analog to digital conversion, bootloaders
- Embedded architectures of modern 8/16/32 bit embedded processors
- Real-time principles – multi-tasking, scheduling, synchronization
- Interaction with devices – buses, memory management, device drivers, sensors, transducers, wired communication
A goal of this course is to prepare students for a career in engineering by giving them a sense of belonging within the field.
This can only happen if all members of the course community – the instructor, TAs, and students – work together to create a supportive, inclusive environment that welcomes all students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, religious beliefs, physical or mental health status, or socioeconomic status. Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are all core values of this course. All participants in this course deserve to and should expect to be treated with respect by other members of the community.
Lectures, office hours, and group working time should be spaces where everyone feels welcome and safe. In order to facilitate a welcoming environment, students of this course are expected to :
- Exercise consideration and respect in their speech and actions.
- Attempt collaboration and consideration, including listening to opposing perspectives and authentically and respectfully raising concerns, before conflict.
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
Parts List
Normally, this course is held on campus and students have access to all the resources offered by Detkin. Since the course is online this fall, each student will be provided with a parts kit. The teaching team as well as the department staff will be contacting students on how to get these out so be vigilant of your email inbox. These will need to be returned to the department when the semester is over.
| Item | Qty. | Unit Cost | Total Cost |
| Elegoo UNO R3 Project The Most Complete Ultimate Starter Kit | 1 | $53.99 | $53.99 |
| Breadboard Wires | 1 | $13.99 | $13.99 |
| DSO Nano v3 – Pocket-size color digital oscilloscope – v3.0 | 1 | $99.00 | $99.00 |
| USB A to Mini B Cable | 1 | $5.29 | $5.29 |
| Multimeter | 1 | $12.99 | $12.99 |
| Breadboard | 1 | $39.78 | $39.78 |
| Total Cost: | $225.04 |
Grading
| Participation | 10% |
| Labs | 30% |
| Worksheet | 20% |
| Quizzes | 10% |
| Final Project | 30% |
| 100% |
There are 4 labs, 4 worksheets, and 4 quizzes. Each individual assignment has equal weight in its respective sections. Participation will be based on interactions during lectures, labs, office hours, and piazza. A positive participation record would also be beneficial for edge cases during final grading.
You can expect at least the following:
| A+ | 98% – 100% | B+ | 87% – 89% | C+ | 77% – 79% | D+ | 67% – 69% |
| A | 93% – 97% | B | 83% – 86% | C | 73% – 76% | D | 60% – 66% |
| A- | 90% – 92% | B- | 80% – 82% | C- | 70% -72% | F | < 59% |
Participation
In reducing the weight of quizzes, the weight of the participation section has been increased (10% of the total grade). Lecture attendance is no longer required but of course, is highly encouraged. Office hours are not a full substitution for an 80 min lecture. Lab attendance is required and you have 2 free passes for this. The main goal is to prevent you from falling behind on the material.
Engagement on piazza will also count towards the participation grade. I acknowledge that it is more difficult to stay engaged in online classes, thus it is in your best interest to try your best to attend as many office hours, lectures, and labs as possible. TA office hour times will be announced when the semester begins.
Quiz Policy
This course has 4 quizzes in the place of a midterm and final exams. The dates for all of the quizzes are available on the schedule and the calendar. The proctored testing environment and time atmosphere stem from this. It is for this reason that we do not accept make-up quiz requests for any reason that would not reasonably hold for requesting a make-up midterm. Acceptable reasons include:
- Illness
- Death in the family
- Religious observance
- More than two quizzes or exams scheduled on the same day
The teaching team reserves the right to approve or deny any other unusual event. Quiz reschedule requests must be made with reasonable notice.
You will have 24 hrs to complete the quiz on the day that it is assigned. Once you start the quiz, it must be done in one sitting within the time limit. Each quiz has a slightly different time limit, which ranges from 25-45 minutes. Since this exam is not officially proctored, you must adhere to the code of academic integrity. No outside materials including but are not limited to lectures, labs, worksheets, and any other resources are allowed.
This course and the university holds a zero-tolerance policy for cheating and plagiarism. You will receive a failing grade if cheating is suspected and the offense will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct. Such offenses permanently mark your academic record. Violation of University Code of Academic Integrity may result in failure of the course.
Late Policy
Life happens and this class will make space for it. One assignment (lab or worksheet) may be submitted up to one week after the due date. Submissions later than one week will be docked 20%. Any additional assignments minus the “free late pass assignment” submitted after their respective deadlines will be docked 20%. This means that the highest grade for any unexcused or additional late submission of an assignment is a B.
University Policies and Resources
My objective is to build a safe and supportive learning environment. In order to do so, there are several policies that we will abide by and resources available to improve learning in the course. Please reach out to me or the TA with any questions or concerns.
Academic Integrity Policy
All students must correctly attribute the ideas, words, and data generated by others through proper citation. All course work submitted in this class must be authentically your own. You may not refer to other student’s(s’) work in preparing individual assignments. I and the University hold a zero-tolerance policy for cheating and plagiarism. You will receive a failing grade on a plagiarized assignment and the offense will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct. Such offenses permanently mark your academic record. The Code of Academic Integrity can be found here. Violation of University Code of Academic Integrity may result in failure of the course.
Collaboration and group work are highly encouraged in this course. All work (with the exception of the final project) must be submitted individually. If you feel that your answers may be similar to that of some of the students that you worked with, make a note of the names of the people you worked with on your submission document.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Your mental health and wellness is of utmost importance to the course instruction staff, if not the University as a whole. All members of the instruction staff will be happy to chat or just to listen if you need someone to talk to, even if it’s not specifically about this course.
If you or someone you know is in distress and urgently needs to speak with someone, please do not hesitate to contact CAPS: 215-898-7021; 3624 Market St. If you are uncomfortable reaching out to CAPS, any member of the instruction staff will be happy to contact them on your behalf.
Sexual Harassment and Related Policies
All forms of sexual violence, relationship violence and stalking and attempts to commit such acts are considered to be serious misconduct and may result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion or termination of employment. In addition, such acts may violate federal, state and local laws and perpetrators of such acts may be subject to criminal prosecution. For more information, please refer to Penn’s Sexual Harassment Policy, as well as the other related policies available at this link.
Students with Disabilities and Learning Differences
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Weingarten Learning Resource Center’s Office for Student Disabilities Services for information and assistance with the process of accessing reasonable accommodations. For more information, visit http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/ or email lrcmail@pobox.upenn.edu.