Using a Low-Cost SoC Computer and a Commercial RTOS in an Embedded Systems Design Course

This paper describes our experiences using a low-cost SoC embedded computer system and a commercial RTOS for a senior level embedded system design class. The eBox 2300 is a small low-cost X86 SoC computer system. It has all of the I/O features typically found in a standard PC. Windows Embedded CE 6.0 is a widely used hard real-time operating system (RTOS). This course covers both hardware and software topics in embedded systems. The course culminates in a final team-based design project. A full set of course materials including a textbook with laboratory tutorials was developed and is available at the course web site.