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

This paper describes the author's experiences using a low-cost system-on-a-chip (SoC) embedded computer system and a commercial real-time operating system (RTOS) in the laboratory component of an undergraduate embedded system design class. The target hardware is a small low-cost X86 SoC computer system that has a wide range of I/O features. For software development, a popular commercial hard RTOS is used that has been designed for use in embedded devices. This course covers both hardware and software topics in embedded systems, and the course culminates in a final team-based design project. A full set of course materials including a textbook with laboratory tutorials, instructor slides, and code examples has been developed and is available online in electronic form.