FYS4240 / FYS3240, is all about how Micro-controllers, PC Processors and busses are made and gives you a very wide perspective in choice of connection technologies and micro controllers. Topics from internal structure of micro controllers to interfaces on it and parallel programming on multi core / multi processor machines. It also includes LABView and C programming for AVR micro controllers in the lab assignments. This course is recommended to take by all electronics, Robotics students and I would have a much wider point of view if I had taken this course in the beginning of my studies (something that did not happen because of lack of communication between physics department and departments of informatic). Here you can download the exam paper for spring 2011.

Lerning Objectives: Students should be able to

• describe the main functional units in a PC and be able to explain how they interact. They should know different bus types, and on this basis be able to account for different generations of PCs.

• explain what an operating system is and be able to explain important concepts such as multitasking, privilege levels and drivers.
• describe the main functional units of a microcontroller and be familiar with typical applications for a microcontroller. They should also have a basic understanding of how a microprocessor is built up and be able to explain concepts such as interrupts and interrupt handling both on a microcontroller and a microprocessor.
• solve simple instrumentation tasks using both PC and microcontroller. They should also master programming in C and LabVIEW on a level that enables them to solve such tasks.
• master basic troubleshooting of both software and hardware.