Industry has significant demand for engineers experienced in developing embedded real-time software. The educational approach emphasizes practical inter-disciplinary learning by designing and implementing real embedded systems in a university laboratory. By enhancing the operating system, it is possible to create a virtual machine that is more user-friendly, thus requiring less expertise to program the software. One tool currently under development will automate the analysis, debugging, and fine-tuning of an embedded system's temporal properties. This is important because existing CASE tools often focus on the software specification and design of embedded systems, but provide little support after the software has been implemented.
Embedded systems pervade nearly every aspect of our lives.
They can be found in VCRs, vending machines, and cellular phones, and are critical components in complex industrial applications such as manufacturing plants, flight and traffic controllers, and medical systems. Copyright 1999 Engineering Research Center, University of Maryland. All Rights Reserved.