A Student Experiment Method for Learning the Basics of Embedded Software Development Including HW/SW Co-design

The applications of embedded system are widespread in not only consumer products and industrial machines but also new applications such as ubiquitous networking or sensor networking. There is a great demand for embedded software engineers in the enterprises, and the education of embedded software engineering in university has become important. The embedded software engineers should acquire both hardware (HW) and software (SW) technologies. We propose a student experiment method to nurture embedded SW engineers who understand HW technologies. The method includes embedded SW and HW design experiments, and a HW/SW co-design experiment. The method helps students learn about system modeling, HW/SW trade-off design as well as SW and HW design. We developed these experiments and evaluated them.