MSE Master of Science in Engineering

The Swiss engineering master's degree

Each module contains 3 ECTS. You choose a total of 10 modules/30 ECTS in the following module categories: 

  • 12-15 ECTS in technical scientific modules (TSM)
    TSM modules teach profile-specific specialist skills and supplement the decentralised specialisation modules.
  • 9-12 ECTS in fundamental theoretical principles modules (FTP)
    FTP modules deal with theoretical fundamentals such as higher mathematics, physics, information theory, chemistry, etc. They will teach more detailed, abstract scientific knowledge and help you to bridge the gap between abstraction and application that is so important for innovation.
  • 6-9 ECTS in context modules (CM)
    CM modules will impart additional skills in areas such as technology management, business administration, communication, project management, patent law, contract law, etc.

In the module description (download pdf) you find the entire language information per module divided into the following categories:

  • instruction
  • documentation
  • examination 
Advanced Embedded Software (TSM_AdvEmbSof)

An embedded system is a specialized computer system with embedded hardware. There exists a wide variety of embedded systems, but in general such systems are processing systems capable of sensing physical inputs from their environment and of communicating the results. Usually embedded systems are designed to perform repeating tasks, either periodically or spontaneously, for low cost, low power, and optimal performance.
In this module, we investigate how microcontroller-based embedded systems can be developed, by emphasizing on the following advantages:

  • Provide flexibility with a software-based approach, with the right partition of the system into hardware and software components.
  • Provide extensibility of the system.
  • Provide easier error detection and debugging capabilities.
  • Provide portability with the use of an embedded operating system and allow the programmer to abstract the hardware details of each platform.

Prerequisites

  • Knowledge of the C programming langage and of an object-oriented language.
  • Good knowledge of computer and microprocessor architecture.
  • Basic understanding of operating system concepts (scheduling, process/thread).
  • Basic concurrent programming

Learning Objectives

The students will learn the most important features of a modern RTOS by implementing their own scenario on an IoT development platform that offers a wide range of sensing, processing and communication capabilities. Starting from a basic super loop/bare metal implementation, the students will rapidly reach the limitations of this implementation. These limitations will be studied and improved solutions using scheduling, threading and synchronization will be put in place by the students for the development of a robust, portable and easily maintainable software. In addition, the students will also:

  • Implement methods for analyzing the CPU and memory usage of the system.
  • Develop methods for automated testing including unit tests and integration tests, toward CI/CD of embedded systems.

At the end of the module, the students will be able to:

  • Develop a multi-tasking application on a microcontroller-based embedded system, using a RTOS
  • Use the debugging capabilities and build the test environment for an embedded application.
  • Understand the memory organization and usage of their application.
  • Develop a framework for updating embedded applications, including a bootloader application.

Contents of Module

Introduction to Embedded Systems and Software
•    Applications for Embedded Systems
•    Attributes of Embedded Systems
•    Options for Building Embedded Systems
•    Microcontroller-based Embedded Systems
•    Internet Of Things (IoT) and Embedded Systems
•    Embedded Systems and Operating Systems (OS)
•    Introduction to Mbed OS
Scheduling for Embedded Systems
•    Programming models of Embedded Systems
•    Overview of Scheduling Algorithms
•    Static cyclic scheduling
•    Event-driven scheduling and Interrupts
•    Dynamic RTC Scheduling
•    Dynamic Preemptive Scheduling
•    Comparison of Scheduling Algorithms
Tasks and Concurrency
•    Design of Embedded Software into Multiple Tasks
•    Multitasking and Embedded OS (Mbed OS)
•    Tasks and Real-Time OS
•    Mbed OS Task Scheduling
•    Mbed OS Threads
•    Concurrency Mechanisms (Events, Mutex, Semaphore, Queue, Mail)
•    Priority Inversion and Resource Access Protocols
Memory of Embedded Systems
•    Principles of Memory Management
•    Cortex-M Program Image Structure
•    Mbed OS Memory Model
•    Code, Data and Memory
•    Memory Protection Unit of Cortex-M Processors
Bootloader
•    Deploying Updates to Embedded Systems
•    Bootloader Principles
•    Bootloader Requirements and Application
•    Memory Model for Bootloaders
Testing
•    Levels of Testing
•    Unit Testing on Mbed OS
•    Integrations Testing on Mbed OS
•    CI/CD for Embedded Systems

Teaching and Learning Methods

This module uses lecture notes and practical exercises which are given in the form of codelabs. The students have to develop their own software based on a specification, with the help of lecture notes and codelabs material.

Literature

References are given in the lecture notes and in the codelabs.

Download full module description

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