A Software Package For Enhanced Student Learning In Real Time Embedded Systems Networking

Today, embedded systems networking is common in manufacturing, automobiles, medical equipment, and home appliances, but few undergraduate engineering and technology curricula teach courses devoted to it. Not having appropriate educational experiences risks a decline in US technical expertise. Various companies have developed commercial software packages for analysis, diagnosis and simulation of real-time embedded-systems networking protocols. However, these commercial software packages are very expensive and complex to be used for undergraduate courses. We have developed a user-friendly and easy-to-use software package for the PIC microcontroller to study the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol and its use for various real-time applications. The software can be used in an undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering design class. The use of the software allows the students to understand the CAN protocol. The students can also modify different modules of the software based on the hardware setup of their real-time systems, and then do various types of experiments with their hardware setup. The use of our software enhances student-learning of embedded-systems networking. The paper presents a detailed description of our software architecture and its use for various real-time applications.