The purpose of this lab is to introduce students to using micro-controller for basic real-time (RT) system and the basic tools used by embedded system engineers: oscilloscope and function generator. The oscilloscope used to troubleshoot electronic systems. Additionally, real-embedded system signals are too complex (e.g., sensor data) and difficult to to analyze. The function generator is used to generate electronic signals with specific known characteristics, thereby enabling an engineer to test and examine a circuit. Finally, you will use a micro-controller to implement specification of a simple interrupt controlled system. Lab objectives include:

  • Introduction to lab equipment and microcontroller
  • Understand how we might use them to control digital outputs.
  • Understand the limitations switch polling
  • Using timers and interrupts to mitigate the limitations of switch polling
  • Understand the potential problem (e.g., race conditions, shared mutable variables, etc) and potential solutions to these problem.