News

Exam results in LSF

Written on 02.10.23 by Martina Maggio

The exam inspection is now completed and you'll get the results in LSF soon. If you have feedback about the course, I would like to encourage you sharing it with us via the feedback function here in CMS.

Re-exam results and inspection

Written on 16.09.23 by Martina Maggio

The re-exam results are now available here in CMS. The exam text and solution will be available in the materials page on Wednesday September 27th at 12:00. If you want to inspect your exam, you can come to my office (building E1 3, Room 305) on Friday September 29th between 15:00 and 17:00.

Seating assignment for the exam of September 12th

Written on 07.09.23 by Martina Maggio

The seating assignment for the exam on September 12th (starting time 14:15) is now visible on your personal status page in the CMS. If you have not received a seat but you have registered for the exam, send an email to maggio[@]cs.uni-saarland.de immediately.

Please bring the following items to the… Read more

The seating assignment for the exam on September 12th (starting time 14:15) is now visible on your personal status page in the CMS. If you have not received a seat but you have registered for the exam, send an email to maggio[@]cs.uni-saarland.de immediately.

Please bring the following items to the exam:

  • Pens (non-erasable pens -- you cannot use red ink pens). 
  • Your student ID card.
  • A calculator.

Please note:

  • We will provide you with sufficient amount of paper, please don't bring your own.
  • Any cheat sheets, books, etc. are not allowed (the formula sheet will be attached to the exam itself).

When & how to enter the building?

  • We plan to start the exam at 14:15 and finish at 16:15.
  • The exam takes place in the Günter-Hotz lecture hall (AudiMo - Günter-Hotz-Hörsaal, Gebäude E2 2). Your personal status page is showing you the seat we reserved for you.
  • Please be no later than 14:00 in the proximity of the exam room.

Exam results in LSF

Written on 11.08.23 by Martina Maggio

The exam inspection is now completed and you'll get the results in LSF soon (you will be able to enrol to the re-exam when the results are in LSF). Note: your grade might have changed, because as a result of the exam correction I have re-evaluated the points of exercise 2 (and you got full points also… Read more

The exam inspection is now completed and you'll get the results in LSF soon (you will be able to enrol to the re-exam when the results are in LSF). Note: your grade might have changed, because as a result of the exam correction I have re-evaluated the points of exercise 2 (and you got full points also if you used only the rate monotonic bound and not the hyperbolic bound).

Exam results and inspection

Written on 09.08.23 by Martina Maggio

The exam results are now available here in CMS and the exam solution is also available in the materials page. If you want to inspect your exam, you can either directly come to my office (building E1 3, Room 305) on Friday August 11th between 14:00 and 15:00, or you can send me an email… Read more

The exam results are now available here in CMS and the exam solution is also available in the materials page. If you want to inspect your exam, you can either directly come to my office (building E1 3, Room 305) on Friday August 11th between 14:00 and 15:00, or you can send me an email at maggio[@]cs.uni-saarland.de to book another time slot. The email should be sent before August 11th at 13:59.

Seating assignment for the exam of July 27th

Written on 26.07.23 by Martina Maggio

The seating assignment for the exam on July 27th (starting time 13:15) is now visible on your personal status page in the CMS. If you have not received a seat but you have registered for the exam, send an email to maggio[@]cs.uni-saarland.de immediately.

Please bring the following items to the… Read more

The seating assignment for the exam on July 27th (starting time 13:15) is now visible on your personal status page in the CMS. If you have not received a seat but you have registered for the exam, send an email to maggio[@]cs.uni-saarland.de immediately.

Please bring the following items to the exam:

  • Pens (non-erasable pens -- you cannot use red ink pens). 
  • Your student ID card.
  • A calculator.

Please note:

  • We will provide you with sufficient amount of paper, please don't bring your own.
  • Any cheat sheets, books, etc. are not allowed (the formula sheet will be attached to the exam itself).

When & how to enter the building?

  • We plan to start the exam at 13:15 and finish at 15:15.
  • The exam takes place in the Günter-Hotz lecture hall (AudiMo - Günter-Hotz-Hörsaal, Gebäude E2 2). Your personal status page is showing you the seat we reserved for you.
  • Please be no later than 13:00 in the proximity of the exam room.

Reminder: LSF registration for the exam

Written on 14.07.23 by Martina Maggio

The first exam will take place on 27.07.2023 at 13:15 in Günter-Hotz-Hörsaal, E2 2. You need to register in LSF (if your study program does not allow you to register in LSF, you need to register here in CMS). You will be allocated a seat a couple of days before the exam and the seating assignment will… Read more

The first exam will take place on 27.07.2023 at 13:15 in Günter-Hotz-Hörsaal, E2 2. You need to register in LSF (if your study program does not allow you to register in LSF, you need to register here in CMS). You will be allocated a seat a couple of days before the exam and the seating assignment will be visible here in CMS.

Thanks! -- Martina

Midterm assignment: results published and explanation

Written on 09.07.23 by Martina Maggio

The results of the midterm assignments have been published. On Tuesday, at the end of the exercise session, I'll explain the solution of exercises 3 and 4. For exercises 1 and 2, if you want explanations of the results, please ask during the tutorials.

Lecture tomorrow (online)

Written on 28.06.23 by Martina Maggio

As announced on Tuesday, tomorrow's lecture is going to be online. You will find the link in the materials section. The recording of the lecture will be shared (as usual) at the end of the lecture.

Best regards,
-- Martina

Qualis Evaluation Link

Written on 24.06.23 by Martina Maggio

Hello everybody,

In the materials page you can find the links to the Qualis survey to evaluate the course. I would appreciate if you could fill in the questionnaire (and the next generation of students would appreciate that too).

Cheers,
-- Martina

Reminder: midterm due tomorrow and exam registration in LSF

Written on 20.06.23 by Martina Maggio

Dear students,

The midterm deadline is approaching and you have until tomorrow evening to complete the midterm (21.06.2023 at 23:59). Passing the midterm assignment is a precondition to write the exam. In order to take part in the exam you will also need to register in LSF (with the exception of… Read more

Dear students,

The midterm deadline is approaching and you have until tomorrow evening to complete the midterm (21.06.2023 at 23:59). Passing the midterm assignment is a precondition to write the exam. In order to take part in the exam you will also need to register in LSF (with the exception of Erasmus and guest students and students from a few study programs - e.g. Business Informatics, Bachelor-Plus MINT, Lehramt Informatik). Your registration status (registered or not) can be changed until one week before the exam date.

After that point (exam date minus one week), you will not be able to change your registration status. At that point, if you are registered you will use one of your attempts to write the exam (regardless of whether you actually write it or not). Consistently, if you are not registered in LSF at that point, you will not be able to write the exam. In case of problems with the exam registration, if you are a student with faculty MI, you should contact <studium@cs.uni-saarland.de> and otherwise you have to contact the examination office of your own faculty.

We will try to be as quick as possible in correcting the midterm assignment after the deadline.
-- Martina


 

Reminder: midterm (home) assignment released this week, due on June 21st

Written on 13.06.23 by Martina Maggio

This is just a reminder that the midterm assignment is going to be released on 15.06.2023 at 00:01. The deadline to submit the solution is 21.06.2023 at 23:59. The submission is managed using CMS and you will be able to re-upload your solution any time before the deadline. Note that obtaining a pass… Read more

This is just a reminder that the midterm assignment is going to be released on 15.06.2023 at 00:01. The deadline to submit the solution is 21.06.2023 at 23:59. The submission is managed using CMS and you will be able to re-upload your solution any time before the deadline. Note that obtaining a pass grade in the midterm assignment (meaning: collecting at least 12 points out of 20+5 points) is a necessary condition to write the exam. Feel free to contact me for any question.

The submission is individual and plagiarism will not be tolerated. As specified during the first lecture, you can use any prompt (including ChatGPT) but you need to document the process of generating answers to the questions. Furthermore, you need to attach the code that you used to generate the answers that you provide in the two PDFs.

Best regards,
-- Martina

The slides for the first lecture are online, the recording will not be available

Written on 13.04.23 by Martina Maggio

Thank you for attending the first lecture of the Embedded Systems core course. The lecture slides are online in the materials page, but there was unfortunately a problem with the recording. Hence, there will be no uploaded recording for the lecture. If you have any question about the logistics of the… Read more

Thank you for attending the first lecture of the Embedded Systems core course. The lecture slides are online in the materials page, but there was unfortunately a problem with the recording. Hence, there will be no uploaded recording for the lecture. If you have any question about the logistics of the course, feel free to contact me via email.

-- Martina

Show all

Embedded Systems

Embedded systems are computer systems with a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electrical system. The vast majority of computing systems are - in fact - embedded. Many of the systems we interact with in our daily life contain embedded systems. Think for example about a washing machine, or a dishwasher, or a smart watch, or a mobile phone. According to a 2009 article, "around 98% of the new CPUs produced each year are embedded".

Embedded systems often interact with the physical world around them, and many of them are control systems, that change the behavior of the environment around them to achieve some desired specification (think for example about a thermostat, or about the cruise control system in a car). Because their computation is dedicated to specific tasks, it is often possible to optimize the computation units to: (i) reduce the size and cost of the product, and (ii) increase its reliability and performance.

In this course we will take a look at the theoretical foundation of embedded systems programming, with a strong emphasis on cyber-physical systems. In particular, the course is divided into three modules.

  1. Models: The first part is dedicated to modeling the physics that the embedded systems interact with. We will look at (particular classes of) dynamical systems and discuss models in continuous time and discrete time. We will also look into how to model discrete state systems, and combination of discrete state and dynamical systems, known as hybrid systems.
  2. Control: The second part of the course is dedicated to control principles. We will investigate how to change the behavior of physical systems and how the computation can interact with the environment around us. In particular, we will look at two control techniques: (i) state feedback, and (ii) PID control.
  3. Implementation: The third part of the course is dedicated to study what happens when implementing code for embedded systems. In particular, we will look at scheduling, communication, fault tolerance, and testing.

Calendar

Lectures are scheduled on Tuesdays 16-18 and Thursdays 10-12 in lecture hall HS002 (building E1 3).
Tutorials are scheduled on Mondays 14-16 in SR 016 (building E1 3).
In the timetable page, you can see a detailed plan for lectures and tutorial dates.

Note that lectures are in-person events. Recordings will be made available after the lecture, without any guarantee on the quality level.

Evaluation

To be admitted to the exam, you need to pass a midterm assignmentThe grade is entirely determined based on the result of the exam.

Prerequisites

  • Knowledge of Linear Algebra is needed for both part 1 and 2.
    To refresh linear algebra concepts, I recommend you to watch the youtube playlist "the essence of linear algebra".

Software

You will use (at least) one alternative as software to study and practice the course content:

While Julia and Phyton are open source and easy to obtain, you can download MATLAB from asknet (free of charge with your student account). You don't need to choose a preferred language at the course start, but please make sure that you have the software you want to use installed before the first exercise session and use the software to double check the solution of your exercises.

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