A Microcontroller Laboratory Hardware Platform for the Academic Environment: The UDM-EVB

The MC68HC11 has been very popular in the academic environment, succeeded by the MC68HC12. Freescale (formerly Motorola) has introduced the HCS12 family of processors which obsoletes the 68HC11/12. The University of Detroit Mercy, as part of a master's thesis project, developed a new laboratory evaluation board (UDM-EVB) specifically designed for use in the academic environment. The Freescale HCS12 was selected as the processor of choice based upon the rich history of academic support for the 68HC11 and 68HC12. The UDM-EVB was designed as a single platform including an HCS12 target processor, a separate debugger, on-board power-supplies, and fault protected I/O circuits. This paper will address the trade-offs that exist between educational functionality, cost, robustness, and how satisfactory compromises were made in designing the UDM-EVB. The University of Detroit Mercy is working to make the UDM-EVB platform and a companion laboratory manual available to other academic institutions and industry