Advanced Studies in Embedded Systems, At least 80 cr

Embedded systems are individual electronic products or larger entities such as self-driving cars, and interact with the world around them. They are computer-based, i.e. they have one or more processors and process information digitally, are themselves programmable and typically perform real-time tasks. They are also often networked and communicate both with each other and with traditional information systems. An embedded device does not necessarily require active human control, but works in the background, for example, using artificial intelligence. Interaction with the environment is done by measuring essentially analogue signals and controlling actuators. They themselves require energy, which can even be collected from the environment and adapted to the device.

Embedded systems can also work together to perform a larger task that a single device cannot. A big difference with other computing technologies is that the computing capacity, memory, available power and physical size of the devices can be significantly smaller than a conventional computer, and this is another reason why their design is challenging.

Embedded systems as a whole combine hardware and software design and implementation.

• The student masters the requirements specification of embedded systems and the product development and productisation processes.
• The student can design board-level integrated devices including microcontrollers, programmable logic circuits, peripherals, interface components, buses and other data interfaces.
• The student can design and implement real-time, parallel, hardware-oriented and possibly resource-constrained software (firmware, device drivers, operating systems).
• The student can manage changes and upgrade products on emerging hardware and software platforms.
• The student is able to consider solutions from both an ethical and sustainability perspective, as well as the ethical and sustainability objectives relevant to the embedded systems, such as energy consumption savings.

• The student can proceed to doctoral studies in the field of embedded systems. Students can search for research articles relevant to problem solving and apply them to practical problems.