The aim of the course is to provide students with the skills and with the methodologies necessary for the design of systems dedicated to specific applications. The presence of such systems, often "invisible" compared to general-purpose systems such as PCs, is increasing, covering approximately two-thirds of the market of processor-based systems. Examples of such systems are the biomedical devices, the automotive electronics, platforms for telecom, industrial control systems, set-top-box and a large part of the consumer electronics.

To design such systems, that is to be able to identify the best solution under a large variety of aspects such as flexibility, standardization, cost, size, power dissipation, timing/performance, methodological aspects related to the flow of the design, etc., the coordinated use of different skills and technologies is required.

The course divides in two complementary courses, with the goal to provide a comprehensive view of the best practices in designing embedded systems.

Providing insights related to software development targeting real-time embedded applications is the main object of the course of Advanced Operating Systems, which develops in parallel and complements the course of Embedded Systems 1 whose main focus is instead on systematizing the skills on hardware architectures and communication and on providing the basics of energy/power optimization.

The course will offer the possibility to meet companies invited to talk at seminars, and selected topics will be addressed for the development of advanced researches as MSc thesis/PhDs.

By attending this course, students will understand how to design embedded applications from several perspectives: selection of the technologies, planning and management of the development of products, hardware and software standards and design strategies, power and energy optimization. For more details, please refer to the specific information provided in the description of the courses “Embedded Systems 1” and “Advanced Operating Systems”.

 Knowledge and understanding (DdD 1)

• The student has a clear view of the main technologies suitable to design Hw/Sw Embedded Systems.
• The student will become aware of the main standards and tools for the development and debug of embedded software and hardware.
• The student has a good understanding of the development cycle of an embedded system and of the main tradeoffs and choices to be considered.

 Apply knowledge and understanding (DdD 2)

• The student will be capable of analysing the requirements of an embedded application, from several standpoints including cost, development time, timing-performance and energy from both the Hw and Sw sides.
• The student can read technical documentation and application notes regarding microcontrollers and sensors used for embedded applications
• Students are capable of using tools for the development, versioning and debug of software and hardware.
• Students are capable of writing concurrent software for embedded applications that can run on multi-core embedded platforms.

 Making Judgements (DdD 3)

• The student will be asked to develop a project work analyzing the functional and extra-functional features of an embedded application, while autonomously developing part of such application by exploiting tools and design methodologies considered as best practices.

 Lifelong learning skills (DdD 5)

• The student will become capable of coordinating the use of different skills and technologies in order to identify the best solution under a large variety of aspects such as flexibility, standardization, cost, size, power dissipation and performance, the methodological aspects related to the flow of the design, and so on.
• The student will be capable of navigating autonomously in the state of the art and market-ready technologies suitable for the design of embedded applications.

The 10 CFU integrated course on embedded systems is split in two separate and parallel courses:

- Embedded Systems 1

- Advanced Operating Systems

Possible synergies, especially for projects, can be discussed with the lecturer.

At a very coarse grain, the aspects more related to the technology and design methodology are covered by the “Embedded Systems 1” course, while the main focus of “Advanced Operating Systems” in on the software side of the embedded applications.

For a detailed program please refer to the specific information available for the two integrated courses.

We expect to deliver seminars with industries that will suggest stages opportunities and that will discuss real-world technologies.

Basic knowledge (Bachelor level) of computer architecture, operating systems and high-level programming.

The exam follows the official rules of Politecnico di Milano and more information can be found on the Lecturer’s personal website and BEEP. During the course it will be presented a set of possible topics for projects, whose evaluation will be part of the final result.

Only some chapters

there are alternative books in english

freely available on the web

freely available on the web

available on the web