Implementing Irda on the Msp430: a project development under the undergraduate research/co-op education model

The combination of undergraduate research and co-op education has been found to be an effective way of building successful relations between academia and industry, as reported by the application of the undergraduate research/co-op educational model (UR/Co-op) developed at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. This paper illustrates the successful application of the UR/Co-op model for developing an industry-sponsored project in the implementation of the infrared data association (IrDA) protocol on the Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller. This protocol has become the de-facto industry standard for short-range infrared data exchange between portable computing and communicating devices. We describe how the structure of the UR/Co-op educational model was used in the development of the project, while providing some technical details of the protocol, which highlight the student learning process. The discussion illustrates how the application of the model provided a framework for a symbiotic relation where both the sponsoring company and the students involved benefit in the exercise.