In this course you will learn about microprocessors and microcontrollers and how to design and build “Embedded Systems” to control and operate electronic devices. You will use the Arduino Mega 2560 R3 “Single Board Computer” (SBC):
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1. Read Chapter one of the textbook and answer problems 1.5 through 1.10 at the end of Chapter one (this should be mostly a review of CPE 201 and will help you in writing up your report for #2 below).
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2. Begin by going to the Arduino web site and examine the features and input/output devices of several of the different Arduino boards. Features are things like type of microprocessor or microcontroller used on the board, amount of flash memory, software available, prices etc. Input/output devices are timers (CPE201 counters), UARTs (CPE201 shift registers), general purpose input/output devices (CPE201 latches and flip-flops), and analog to digital converters (a web search will tell you more about ADCs, for example see: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/analog-to-digital-conversion ).
Then, Perform a WEB search for “Single Board Computers”, “Embedded Controllers”, “Embedded Computers”, and other search terms you might think of to examine other brands of SBCs and their features. You will use the Arduino SBC in this class as an example of modern embedded systems. However, there are many other brands of SBCs which contain the same types of input/output devices. What you learn about the Arduino can be applied to almost any modern SBC.
Write a two to four page report, in your own words, describing what you learned about at least two of the input/output devices listed above and your understanding of how they work. Include references (URLs) to any really good web pages describing or comparing SBCs.
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Be sure that you reference any quotes or figures you use from your search. It is OK to include material from other sources in your
written report as long as you reference the source. It is not OK to just cut and paste from other sources and pretend you wrote the material. This is true for anything you prepare for any class, and if you do not reference the source it is considered plagiarism which is academic dishonesty.
