ECE471: Embedded Systems

University of Maine ECE

Fall 2026

Instructor: Vincent Weaver
The class meeting time is Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 9:00am-9:50am.
The meeting place is Barrows 119.

The final exam is scheduled for: Wednesday, 16 December 2026, 12:15pm, in Barrows 119
Office hours:

Notes on Required Hardware

Required Raspberry Pi Hardware

Syllabus

ece471_2026f.pdf (not posted yet)

Course Listing

Application of micro-processors to the solution of design problems, including hardware characteristics, peripheral control techniques and system development. Lec 3. (Fall.)

What We'll Do this Semester

We will investigate modern embedded systems, with a focus on ARM processors.

Class Schedule

MondayWednesdayFriday
Week 1 31 August
Introduction to Embedded Systems
2 September
Embedded Hardware, 8 vs 32-bit
4 September
ARM History, RISC, Single Board Computers
Week 2 7 September
No class, Labor day
9 September
Raspberry Pi Background, Linux, C
11 September
Pi Setup and Configuration
Week 3 14 September
NSF Meeting
16 September
Linux Commandline Demo
C Pitfalls
18 September
Compiling, ABIs and Assembly Overview
Week 4 21 September
ARM32 assembly Overview
23 September
THUMB/Thumb2/AARCH64, Code Density
25 September
Linux GPIO Interface
Week 5 28 September
ELF Executables, Virtual Memory
30 September
HW3 Review, Operating Systems
2 October
i2c
Week 6 5 October
Real Time, Jitter
7 October
More Real Time
9 October
Midterm Review, RT Scheduling
Week 7 12 October
No Class, Fall Break
14 October
Homework Review, RT Priorities
16 October
Midterm Exam
Week 8 19 October
Real Time Linux / RT Wrapup
21 October
No class -- Engineering Career Fair
23 October
SPI Bus
Week 9 26 October
Floating Point Review
28 October
Booting, Device Detection
30 October
1-wire Bus
Week 10 2 November
Firmware
4 November
Trusted Firmware / C strings
6 November
HW#9 Preview
Week 11 9 November
Computer Security
11 November
Veteran's Day
13 November
Buggy Software Case Studies
Writing Good Code
Week 12 16 November
Pre-Midterm Homework Review
18 November
Midterm #2
20 November
Pi-related Project Topics / Other Busses
Week 13 23 November
Energy / Power Measurement
25 November
THANKSGIVING
27 November
THANKSGIVING
Week 14 30 November
ECE Ethics, USB
2 December
Final Exam Review / Project Example
4 December
Project Presentations
Week 15 7 December
Project Presentations
9 December
Project Presentations
11 December
Project Presentations

Homework Assignments


Final Project


Optional Useful Textbooks


ARM Assembly Language Links

Useful Links


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Last updated 15 July 2026, 17:00