A Real Time Course For Computer Engineers

Computer Engineers work in that area that lies between the electronic hardware domain of the Electrical Engineers and the organized formal software systems of the Computer Scientist. Much of this work involves both hardware and software that is synchronized in time to events outside of the system being designed. Such systems are commonly referred to as "real-time systems". In many computer engineering programs, real-time concepts are sprinkled through several courses, but a formal course that concentrates exclusively on real-time systems is usually an elective. In this paper a real-time course proposal is presented. The course concentrates on realtime concepts central to computer engineering. It is offered as a junior-level course and is required for all computer engineering majors. The two major objectives while developing the course were: 1) keep hardware and software costs low so that the course can be offered inexpensively and so that students could do course assignments in their home/dorm and, 2) use hardware and software similar to that currently being used in industry. Both of these objectives were achieved by using a standard PC as the hardware platform and by using real-time operating systems and development environments that are available at little or no cost. A course outline and a list of course resources are presented.