Microcontroller and Peripheral Interfacing - EC25C10

EC25C10:

Microcontroller and Peripheral Interfacing

 

Course Objective:

To equip students with the knowledge of embedded systems, ARM-based architectures, peripheral interfacing, and emerging AI processor technologies for designing modern intelligent electronic systems.

 

Introduction to Microprocessor, Microcontroller and Embedded System

Introduction to Microprocessor and Microcontrollers, comparison and usage of Microprocessor and Microcontroller. Introduction to embedded systems, understanding of code region, data region – and various components of an embedded system.

 

Understanding of Embedded Processor Architecture and Memory Technology

RISC vs. CISC, Harvard vs. Von Neumann, brief on RISC-V, Memory Technologies: SRAM, DRAM, NOR/NAND Flash, EEPROM and its usage in embedded system.

Eight-bit Microcontroller and Introduction to Embedded C programming

8051 Architecture & Memory Map - I/O, Pin Functions and basic understanding of assembly instructions.Embedded C Programming Basics - Data types, control structures - Bitwise operators - Memory qualifiers (volatile, static, etc.) - Pointer basics and structures - Storage class in C (auto, static, extern, register) , C-program Qualifiers (const, volatile), Understanding of C program Memory map

 

ARM Processor and Architecture

Cortex-M Programmer's Model (M23/ARMv8-M) - Registers, memory map, stack, vector table - secure and non-secure mode of processor, understanding of the access permission between these zones. - Understand details about Oscillators, PLL and peripheral clocks distributions. Timers & DMA Overview - Interrupt Handling & NVIC - Understanding of interrupts – General interrupt mechanism (example narrate 8051) and interrupt working on ARM in presence of Interrupt controller.Understand the need of special interrupt controller – use case NVIC

 

Peripheral Interfacing – GPIO, Clocks, UART

GPIO - Usage as an Analog pin, Digital pin, General purpose I/O, Concept of GPIO port block. Clock system module in PIC32CM LSx or equivalent STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 based core- UART Fundamentals - Baud rate, framing, register configuration, understand internal registers of UART in the processor, configure and demonstrate the UART transmission of data between two devices for various baud rates like 9600,115200 etc. Advantages and disadvantages of UART.

 

Intro to AI Processor Technology

Traditional CPU vs AI Processor – Need of AI Processor - AI processors and its types-GPU, Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and Introduction to Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). Components of an AI processor, Overview of AI processors and how fast computation is accomplished in AI accelerator or AI processor – Emergence of new fast memory – Overview of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), Overview about the Matrix Multiplication Unit and future trends in AI Processor - Application areas of AI processors in the market.

 

Weightage: Continuous Assessment: 40%, End Semester Examinations: 60%.

Assessment Methodology: Assignment (20%), Software activity (20%), Quiz (20%), Internal Examinations (40%).

 

References:

1. A Beginner’s Guide to Designing Embedded System Applications on Arm Cortex-M Microcontrollers by Ariel Lutenberg, Pablo Gomez, Eric Pernia Published ARM Education media, 1st Edition 2022 https://www.arm.com/resources/education/books/designing-embedded-systems

2. Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach – John L. Hennessy and David

A. Patterson (Reference for AI Processor Technology module), 6th Edition, Elsevier India Publishers, 2017

3. Embedded Systems Made Easy: From Basics to AI Hardware by Dr. Dinesh Murugan, Vijay Nicole Publishers 1st Edition, 2026