ENEE14006 - Embedded Microcontrollers

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will learn the concepts of programming, interfacing, and controlling the operations of a microcontroller using the C language. The unit is designed to provide you with an understanding of the architecture and programming of embedded systems with microcontrollers. The course will cover essential programming elements such as data types, loops, branching statements, and functions. Additionally, you will learn about interrupt handling, timers, and counters. Furthermore, you will gain hands-on experience in designing, prototyping, and testing embedded systems using commercially available microcontroller devices. You will be given practical exercises to apply the concepts learned in the unit. The course will also cover advanced topics such as interfacing with peripherals, analog and digital sensors, and communicating with external devices through different communication protocols. Finally, you will design and prototype a real-world application as your final project. To complete the compulsory practical activities and the project, you will be required to purchase the hardware components needed. Please refer to the unit Moodle site for a list of hardware components and their costs. The unit supports the UN sustainable development goal 9 - industry, innovation, and infrastructure by discussing how microcontroller systems could be used in small-scale industries for low-cost automation.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 4
Credit Points 12
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.25
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite: (ENEE13020 Digital Electronics AND ENEE13018 Analogue Electronics) OR ENEX12002 Introductory Electronics.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Mackay
Mixed Mode

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

No previous feedback available

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Unit Coordinator's reflection
Feedback
Further exercises and explanations into some aspects of the hardware programming will be helpful.
Recommendation
Incorporating and highlighting hardware programming examples in lectures and tutorials and providing more explanation of codes.
Action Taken
More sample codes were provided and the codes were explained in detail in the class.
Source: Unit Coordinator's reflection
Feedback
The use of physical hardware in this unit gave the opportunity to apply knowledge into practice.
Recommendation
This practice will be continued.
Action Taken
The students were given practical experience using PIC microcontroller boards.
Source: Unit Coordinator's reflection
Feedback
C programming can be unfamiliar to some students. It is useful to provide more learning support
Recommendation
Supporting materials for learning C programming will be provided and tutorials will cover examples to bring students up to speed with the required programming level.
Action Taken
Additional support for C programming was provided through online tutorials and video resources. The tutorials included more programming examples and exercises.
Source: Student unit evaluation survey
Feedback
The students appreciated the use of Microsoft Teams to provide timely feedback and support for the project.
Recommendation
Microsoft Teams should be used to provide timely feedback and support to students.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator's self-reflection
Feedback
The current hardware platform used in this unit limits the level of difficulty and complexity that the final project can achieve.
Recommendation
A hardware platform capable of handling challenging projects should be introduced.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.