Syllabus: AME 3623: Embedded Real-Time Systems
(Spring 2021)
General Information
- Meeting time: Tu/Th 9:00-10:15
- Location: Zoom (link posted on Canvas)
- Lab location: n/a
- Prerequisites: AME 2623 or equivalent, and CS 1313 or
equivalent. Note that we will be doing programming in C.
-
Textbook: Programming Embedded Systems from Zyante.
- Access only through the ZyBook link in Canvas (Do not go
to the zyBooks website and create a new account).
- The first time you access the book, you must subscribe
to it. Cost: $58 for the semester (you will be able to
download pdfs of the chapters for your own use)
- Note: chapters 15 and higher in the online textbook are
actually from a C programming textbook , which we
will also be referencing.
-
Official course web page:
http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/classes/ame3623
- We will make heavy use of
Canvas
- Instructor: Dr. Andrew H. Fagg
- Teaching Assistant: Noah Boeckman
Course Goals and Topics
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- design and implement embedded circuits involving
microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators,
- use code and circuit design tools,
- design, program and debug embedded sensing and control software,
- work in collaborative teams to solve system design and
implementation problems, and
- communicate in both oral and written forms.
This is a very hands-on class: every student will
be involved in the design, implementation, and programming for the
projects. Note that this component of the class will
involve a non-trivial amount of time; students should plan their
schedules accordingly.
Topics will include:
- number representations and arithmetic,
- basic microprocessor design,
- embedded system development environments,
- processor input/output implementations and electronic
interfaces (including analog-to-digital translation),
- serial protocols and implementation,
- control loop design and implementation,
- finite state machines, and
- issues in embedded hardware design and debugging.
Course Policies
- Attendance: We will discuss concepts and examples in
class that are not in the assigned readings. Another student's notes
are an inadequate substitute for class attendance. You are
responsible for everything that is announced in class.
- Readings: You are responsible for the
material contained within the readings on the day
that they are indicated on the class
schedule. I will typically address questions about these
at the beginning of the lecture. The lecture material and/or
in-class assignment/quiz for the day will assume that you have
read these materials.
- ZyBook Participation Activities: Each section of our textbook contains a set of participation activities
that you will do on-line. These activities are your homework assignments and are due at 8:00am
on the day that they appear on the class schedule.
- ZyBook "Tries": Many textbook sections contain "Try"
exercises. These are optional. I encourage you to read
through them, think about possible solutions, and even give
them a try. However, they will not be graded.
- Class Web Page: Most of the material that you will need
can be found on the class web page located at:
http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/classes/ame3623
- Canvas: This class will also use Canvas for course management, located at:
http://canvas.ou.edu
Login with your 4+4, using your standard OU password. If you
have difficulty
logging in, call 325-HELP. This software provides a number of useful
features, including announcements, the grade book, discussion areas
and quizzes.
I may update the main web site and the Canvas page several
times a week. When I update either site in any significant way, I will
post an announcement on Canvas telling you what has been added
and where it is located. You are responsible for things posted on the
sites within 48 hours of the post.
- Class Communication:
- The class period will be a mixture of lecture and
interactive exercises. Your active participation in both
will result in a more salient experience.
- Outside of class, we will be using Slack as our
primary method of communication. This
allows everyone in the class to benefit from the answers to
your questions, and provides students with more timely answers
since both the TA and I check this tool often. The invitation
link is on Canvas (see the Syllabus section)
- Matters
of personal interest should be directed to email instead of to
the newsgroup, e.g. informing me of an extended personal
illness.
- Announcements by the instructor or the TA will
be posted to the Canvas announcement board.
- It is your responsibility to
have Canvas configured so that you receive messages in a
timely fashion.
Note that Canvas can be configured so that it will
forward messages, discussion posts and announcements directly to
your email address.
If you need assistance in accomplishing any of these tasks, contact OU IT at 325-HELP.
- Examinations: There will be a midterm and a final
examination. The dates are given in the
class schedule. Exams will be live (on Zoom) and on-line.
Missing an examination without a
previously approved excuse will result in a grade of zero for
that examination.
- Final Examination: The final examination is Friday, May
14th from 8:00 to 10:00am. The final is comprehensive, as required by
College of Engineering policy. No final examinations can be given
early, except as required by University policy.
- Academic Conduct:
Feel free to discuss assignments and labs with the instructor or the TA.
Unless collaboration is explicitly allowed, do not discuss, look at, or copy another
student's solution to an assignment, as this is considered
cheating.
You may make use of the net as a reference as you are working
on exercises and projects. However, downloading specific exercise or project
solutions from the net is considered cheating.
The projects will be performed in collaboration with 1-2
other people. Within groups, you are expected to discuss and share
solutions. Discussion between groups about general issues is fine, but
the sharing of project-specific solutions, circuit diagrams or code
is considered cheating.
Some projects require individual work (including circuit
building, code writing, data collection and testing). Within a
group, it is fine to discuss the specifics of solutions, and
even look at the solutions of others. But, do not make digital
copies of the code.
Some projects are fully group projects, with one group member
taking the lead in building, coding and testing. Everyone may
receive help on these elements from fellow group members, but each
individual must be at the keyboard during design, development
and debugging of their selected assignments. Misrepresenting one's contribution to the programming
assignments is considered misconduct.
Make sure that your computer account is properly protected. Use a strong password, and do not
give your friends access to your account or your computer system. Do not leave printouts,
or thumb drives around a laboratory where others might access them.
Programming projects will be checked by software designed to detect collaboration. This software
is extremely effective and has withstood repeated reviews by the campus judicial processes.
Upon the first documented occurrence of inappropriate collaborative
work, I will report the academic misconduct to the Campus Judicial
Coordinator. The procedure to be followed is documented in the
University of Oklahoma Academic Misconduct Code (http://integrity.ou.edu).
- Tutors: Tutors can be an excellent source of
support for students who are having difficulty in the
class, but only if the tutor is aware of the distinction
between teaching students the material so that they can
do their own work, and doing work for students. Tutors
who do work for students are not only failing to help
the students learn, they are abetting academic
misconduct. Examples of misconduct include:
- If your tutor is sitting behind you while you are
typing and methodically telling you what to
enter, he or she is abetting academic
misconduct.
- If your tutor is emailing files containing partial
or complete programming projects to you, you will
commit academic misconduct if you use those lines
in your program.
A more effective use of tutoring services is to do problems that are similar to the assigned work,
instead of doing assigned work. For example, it would be fine to work unassigned problems from
the textbook with a tutor. This requires significant discipline, both on the part of the tutor and the
part of the student. Copying from a tutor is as unacceptable as copying from another student. If
your tutor doesn't know how to teach properly, please ask them to call or visit me and I will provide
training and guidance. If you are tutoring someone else in the class, you can be accused of
academic misconduct if this person copies your work.
- Incompletes: The grade of "I" is intended for the
rare circumstance when a student who has been successful in a
class has an unexpected event occur shortly before the end of
the class. I will not consider giving a student a grade of
"I" unless the following three
conditions have been met:
-
It is within two weeks of the end of the semester.
-
The student has a grade of C or better in the class.
-
The reason that the student cannot complete the class is properly
documented and compelling.
-
Accommodation of Disabilities: The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing
reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who
require accommodations in this course are requested to speak with the professor as early in the
semester as possible. Students with disabilities must be registered
with the
Office of Disability Services prior to receiving accommodations in this course. The Office of Disability Services is
located in Goddard Health Center, Suite 166, phone 405/325-3852 or TDD only 405/325-4173.
- Classroom Conduct: Because cell phones and laptops can
distract substantially from the classroom experience, students
are asked not to use either during class, except where these are
required as part of a classroom exercise.
Disruptions of class will also not be
permitted. Examples of disruptive behavior include:
-
Allowing a cell phone or pager to repeatedly beep audibly.
- Playing music or computer games during class in such a way that they are visible or audible to other class members.
- Exhibiting erratic or irrational behavior.
- Behavior that distracts the class from the subject matter
or discussion.
- Making physical or verbal threats to a faculty member,
teaching assistant, or class member.
- Refusal to comply with faculty direction.
In the case of disruptive behavior, I may ask that you leave the classroom and may charge you
with a violation of the Student Code of Responsibilities and Conduct.
Grades
Grades will be computed according to the following distribution:
- Midterm exam: 15%
- Final exam: 15%
- Zyante exercises: 15% (distributed across N exercises; keep N-1
exercises with the highest grades)
- In class quizzes and activities: 15% (equally distributed across M quizzes/activities; keep M-1)
- Projects:
- 20%: group grades (equally distributed between 11 projects)
- 20%: individual grades (equally distributed between 3 software components)
Grading notes:
- Final grades: the cut point between letter grades will be
decided at the end of the semester. Cut points will not be any
higher than the traditional 90/80/70 scheme, but they do tend
to be close to these values.
- Group project grades: Project grading is performed as two pieces:
- Group Work (20% of total grade):
A group is first given a grade as a function of the quality
of their work (factors include: correctness of the code, readability of the code,
documentation, presentation by the group and the demonstration
of the working code). If all group members contribute equally to
the project (assessed in part by the group members), then all
will receive the group grade. If there is a serious imbalance in the
contributions, then the grades will be scaled accordingly
(higher contributors will receive a higher grade and lower
contributors will receive a lower grade).
- Individual Work (10% of total grade):
In order to receive full credit for the individual work
grade, a team member must demonstrate a significant
software contribution on three of the projects.
A significant contribution means that the
individual has taken primary responsibility for
at least half of the code for that project. This
does not necessarily mean that the individual has worked alone on
the code. However, this individual has been the one at
the keyboard during the writing and debugging of the
code.
- Grade questions: All grade questions should first be
brought to the individual who performed the assessment (the TA
or the instructor). Questions that are not resolved with the
TA may then be brought to the instructor.
All disagreements about
the grading of assignments must be brought to our
attention within one week of when the
item was returned/graded.
- Canvas Grade Summary: Canvas has a grade book
that is used to store the raw data that is used to calculate your
course grade. It is the responsibility of each student in this class
to check their grades on Canvas after each assignment
is returned. If an error is found, bring the graded document to me
or the TA, and we will correct Canvas.
- Examination Grading Questions: Questions about
examination grading must be addressed within one week of the exam
being returned to the class.
Projects and Homework
- Due dates:
- Projects are due at 8:00am on the date that is listed in the "Due" column on the
class schedule.
- Homework assignments (Zyante participation exercises) are due at 8:00am on the day that the reading is assigned.
- Hand-in procedure:
- Zyante exercises are performed on the Zyante web site
(within the assigned chapter/section)
Project reports must be handed in using Canvas (more information to follow).
Associated C source files must be
handed in as they are (i.e., not included within a MSword file).
In addition, individuals will be asked to fill out a group-work
survey in Catme. This must be completed in order to receive a non-zero project grade.
- Late policy: Because late assignments will
seriously impact your ability to follow the next section of the
course, you are required to complete the Zyante assignments on time.
No late assignments will be accepted. Likewise, in-class quizzes and exercises cannot be made up.
Projects may be handed in late. If late by 0-24 hours, the
project grade will incur a 10% penalty; if late by 24-48 hours,
a 20% penalty will be imposed. Projects that have not been
handed in by 48 hours will receive no credit. Handing in a late
project should only be used in very dire circumstances (consider
the trade-off in the possible grades before you make this
choice).
Course Evaluations
The College of Engineering utilizes student ratings as one of the
bases for evaluating the teaching effectiveness of each of its faculty
members. The results of these forms are important data used in the
process of awarding tenure, making promotions, and giving salary
increases. In addition, the faculty use these forms to improve their
own teaching effectiveness. The original request for the use of these
forms came from students, and it is students who eventually benefit
most from their use. Please take this task seriously and respond as
honestly and precisely as possible, both to the machine-scored items
and to the open-ended questions.
Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues
Should you need
modifications or adjustments to your course requirements
because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related
issues, please contact me as soon as possible to
discuss. Generally, modifications will be made where medically
necessary and similar in scope to accommodations based on
temporary disability. Please see
https://www.ou.edu/eoo/faqs/pregnancy-faqs.html
for commonly asked
questions.
Title IX Resources
For any concerns regarding gender-based
discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, stalking,
or intimate partner violence, the University offers a variety
of resources, including advocates on-call 24.7, counseling
services, mutual no contact orders, scheduling adjustments and
disciplinary sanctions against the perpetrator. Please contact
the Sexual Misconduct Office 405-325-2215 (8-5) or the Sexual
Assault Response Team 405-615-0013 (24.7) to learn more or to
report an incident.
Religious Observance
It is the policy of the University to excuse the absences of students
that result from religious observances and to reschedule examinations
and additional required classwork that may fall on religious holidays,
without penalty.
[See Faculty Handbook 3.15.2]
Final Exam Preparation Period
Pre-finals week is defined as the seven calendar days before the
first day of finals. Faculty may cover new course material throughout
this week. For specific provisions of the policy please refer to OU's
Final Exam Preparation Period Policy.
Emergency Protocol
During an emergency, there are official university procedures that
will maximize your safety.
Severe Weather: If you receive an OU Alert to seek refuge or
hear a tornado siren that signals severe weather 1. LOOK for severe
weather refuge location maps located inside most OU buildings near the
entrances 2. SEEK refuge inside a building. Do not leave one building
to seek shelter in another building that you deem safer. If outside,
get into the nearest building. 3. GO to the building's severe weather
refuge location. If you do not know where that is, go to the lowest
level possible and seek refuge in an innermost room. Avoid outside
doors and windows. 4. GET IN, GET DOWN, COVER UP. 5. WAIT for official
notice to resume normal activities.
Links: Severe Weather Refuge Areas, Severe Weather Preparedness
Armed Subject/Campus Intruder: If you receive an OU Alert to
shelter-in-place due to an active shooter or armed intruder situation
or you hear what you perceive to be gunshots: 1. GET OUT: If you
believe you can get out of the area WITHOUT encountering the armed
individual, move quickly towards the nearest building exit, move away
from the building, and call 911. 2. HIDE OUT: If you cannot flee, move
to an area that can be locked or barricaded, turn off lights, silence
devices, spread out, and formulate a plan of attack if the shooter
enters the room. 3. TAKE OUT: As a last resort fight to defend
yourself.
Links: OU Emergency Preparedness,
Responding
to Gunshots
Fire Alarm/General Emergency: If you receive an OU Alert that
there is danger inside or near the building, or the fire alarm inside
the building activates: 1. LEAVE the building. Do not use the
elevators. 2. KNOW at least two building exits 3. ASSIST those that
may need help 4. PROCEED to the emergency assembly area 5. ONCE safely
outside, NOTIFY first responders of anyone that may still be inside
building due to mobility issues. 6. WAIT for official notice before
attempting to re-enter the building.
Links: OU Fire Safety on Campus
Copyright notice:
Many of the materials created for this course are the intellectual
property of Andrew H. Fagg.
This includes, but is not limited to, the
syllabus, lectures and course notes. Except to the extent not protected
by copyright law, any use, distribution or sale of such materials
requires the permission of the instructor.
This page is online at http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/classes/ame3623/syllabus.html
Andrew H. Fagg
Last modified: Mon Jan 25 17:55:34 2021