ESE 5160 IoT Edge Computing

Course Overview

ESE5160 is a hands-on course that teaches its students the tools needed to design and prototype an embedded device. The design of an Internet of Things (IoT) device is used as a medium to teach the students concepts on embedded programming, hardware architecture design, IoT, and the cloud.

The class is divided into two big components – Embedded Programming and Embedded Hardware Design. Students will pair up to design an IoT device from the ground up. Industry tools and best practices will be introduced to the student and applied in this accelerated electronics product cycle. At the end of the semester, each group will end up with a physical prototype of their embedded system design.

Spring 2025: Lectures are MW 8:30-9:59am in Moore 216

History

ESE 5160 was developed in 2017 by Nicholas McGill-Gardner and has evolved through the years. Eduardo Garcia taught the course for five semesters from 2019 to 2022, updating the course to use a Real Time Operating System (FreeRTOS), the Tracelyzer analysis tool, a file system on an SD card, Doxygen documentation, and more.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Eduardo successfully shifted this hardware-heavy course online, developing a kit that could be shipped internationally to cater to our diverse graduate student population. He took a novel approach, guiding students to create a SIMON says game that functioned over the Internet and across the world. You can see more in this article that the Penn Engineering school wrote.

Syllabus

Access the full syllabus here.

Office Hours

Google Sheets Link

Schedule

Access the full schedule here.

Final Project

Students design and manufacture their own board from scratch, then program them with custom firmware. Although the boards may look similar, each group designed it for their own product. You can review projects from previous years at the links below.

Spring 2024