Connected MCU curriculum for universities worldwide

It delivers an interactive and compelling start to connected embedded systems education – covering MCUs and input/output (I/O), real-time operating system concepts, advanced MIPS processor architecture and cloud connectivity – all presented in a fresh and jargon-free style.

The Connected MCU Lab takes a hands-on approach, leveraging a WiFi enabled development board, tools, software, and cloud services – everything needed to design innovative IoT solutions. Lessons are based around the chipKIT Wi-FIRE board from Digilent, which uses Microchip’s popular PIC32MZ MCU incorporating a 32-bit MIPS M-Class CPU from Imagination. A chipKIT Basic I/O Shield is used for expansion along with a PICkit 3 In-Circuit Debugger from Microchip. Teachers and students have free access to professional software tools including MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment, MPLAB XC32 C compiler, and MPLAB Harmony Software Development Framework from Microchip, as well as Imagination’s cloud technologies.

The Connected MCU Lab curriculum, authored by Dr. Alexander Dean of North Carolina State University, includes presentation slides for each module, student guide, exercises, tests, solutions, and an Instructor’s Guide.

Says Robert Owen, Manager, Worldwide University Programme, Imagination: “The need for internet connectivity and the demand for ease of development are rapidly driving the embedded world towards 32-bit MCUs. As a result, the next generation of embedded system designers and developers need to understand the techniques of connecting embedded systems to the cloud. This is an urgent teaching requirement as many college courses today are still using 8-bit and 16-bit MCUs. The Connected MCU Lab course makes it easy to give the next generation of engineers the skills they need. The 32-bit MIPS CPUs at the heart of Microchip’s popular PIC32 MCUs are suitable for teaching and projects and the Wi-FIRE board is powerful enough to support very ambitious projects, enabling this course to provide a foundation on which students can grow throughout their degree.”

The MIPS CPU IP core in the PIC32 MCU is part of the same family as 'MIPSfpga', a soft IP core used in many computer architecture and SoC courses, thereby creating powerful synergy between two vital branches of engineering education.

Says Derek Carlson, Vice President, development tools, Microchip Technology: “This latest offering demonstrates our ongoing commitment to delivering the highest standard of embedded education to the academic communities. By providing access to our popular PIC32MZ family of high-performance MCUs, we are empowering next-generation engineers and research students to better understand the increasing demands of future applications and gain hands-on experience of IoT design. Additionally, our MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment and MPLAB Harmony Integrated Software Framework will help students accelerate software integration and gain deeper insight into product development cycles.”

Says Steve Johnson, President, Digilent: “At Digilent, our mission is to make electrical engineering and design technologies understandable and accessible to all, by providing high-value, industry-relevant educational tools and curriculum to educators and students. We are proud to partner with Imagination and Microchip to offer this new course that introduces students to the exciting world of cloud-connected embedded devices. As part of the Connected MCU Lab, the chipKIT Wi-FIRE boards will help students get projects up and running quickly, and open a large selection of options they can utilise in the development process to empower them to create ambitious solutions.”

Eighteen universities across Australia, China, Germany, Israel, Portugal, Russia and the United Kingdom participated in the Connected MCU Lab beta program. Academics are welcome to visit www.imgtec.com/university to register and access the course materials.