ATLS 4519: Microcontroller Adventures

Course Description

This is a hands on course to learn the capabilities of several chipsets and microcontrollers (a single integrated circuit). Microcontroller Adventures is the perfect course if you want to see the possibilities beyond Arduino. Take this course if you want to delve into prototyping beyond Arduino and hone your programming skills on a number of platforms.

The purpose of this course is to survey a number of microcontrollers to familiarize yourself with their features and discuss when and why you might use the various platforms. You will learn to use these microcontrollers by creating projects that harness their abilities. We will delve into price points, how to find chipsets, manufacturing preferences, and the future of microcontrollers.

Course Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course will:

Critical Thinking & Theory / History:

• Learn a brief history and trends of microcontrollers

Design/Creative:

• Build multiple projects of your choice throughout the course
• Design skills for laying out an electronics project will be enhanced

Technical:

• Learn basic features and benefits of several microcontrollers and chipsets, including how to discern which microcontroller is most appropriate for various applications
• Learn various Integrated Development Environments that go with each microcontroller
• Have a better understanding of when to use which microcontroller or chipset when designing hardware in a professional setting

Credit Hours

• 3 hours

Prerequisites

• A physical computing course in any department, or Object in ATLAS should be taken prior to this class. This class will assume you have previously worked with Arduino and have coding skills.