Embedded systems and Internet of Things (IoTs) - Challenges in teaching the ARM controller in the classroom

This presentation is concerned with issues related to teaching Embedded Systems and Internet of Things (IoTs), the frontier topics in engineering and technology curricula. ARM is the leading microcontroller used in designing Embedded Systems (such as smart phones, digital cameras, and smart appliances) and IoTs. Globally, ARM is the most widely used instruction set architecture in terms of quantity produced; over 50 billion ARM processors have been produced as of 2014, of which 10 billion were produced in 2013. It is the leading microcontroller in terms of the market share. Therefore, it is essential that our students should be familiar with applications of ARM in their undergraduate curricula. The presentation focuses on sharing teaching difficulties in ARM controller. ARM is a high performance, low power 32-bit microcontroller. To minimize power consumption ARM has used many techniques in its hardware design that increases the complexity in writing software. ARM has a very complicated architecture, and its instruction set includes various options for execution. In addition, they are many difficulties in teaching the ARM in the classroom setting because ARM Company licenses its core to many manufacturers with freedom to implement various features at their discretion. Embedded Systems were used to be primarily stand-alone systems until the advent of IoT systems. Now Embedded Systems are getting smarter and connected with the internet that raises issues of security. This presentation focuses on how to simplify the teaching in the classroom, various options, and choices between assembly, C, and ARM's mbed platform.