Simple Software Simulator for Teaching Embedded Programming

Jan Dolinay; Petr Dostálek; Vladimír Vašek

doi:10.3991/ijep.v12i6.28193

Authors

Jan Dolinay Tomas Bata University in Zlin, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6603-8509
Petr Dostálek Tomas Bata University in Zlin, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic
Vladimír Vašek Tomas Bata University in Zlin, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v12i6.28193

Keywords:

microcontroller, simulator, embedded programming

Abstract

This article presents simple software simulator of a microcontroller evaluation board FRDM-KL25Z. The simulator was developed to make it possible to teach our embedded systems course online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is in principle a software library that handles function calls and register access from student’s program and displays the outputs in a console window of a standard desktop application. It does not require any special hardware or software tools except an IDE capable of building C++ applications for the desktop computer. It can be easily modified for different microcontrollers and thus can be useful if existing lessons need to be switched from in-person to distance learning at a short notice.

Author Biographies

Jan Dolinay, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic

Jan Dolinay, Ing., Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Department of Automation and Control Engineering, Faculty of Applied Informatics, of Tomas Bata University in Zlín. His research activities include microcontroller applications in process control and design of embedded software (email: dolinay@utb.cz).

Petr Dostálek, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic

Petr Dostálek, Ing., Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Department of Automation and Control Engineering, Faculty of Applied Informatics, of Tomas Bata University in Zlín. His research activities include microcontroller applications in process control and hardware and software design of communication and measurement devices (email: dostalek@utb.cz).

Vladimír Vašek, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, nám. T. G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic

Vladimír Vašek, Prof., Ing., CSc., is a Professor in the Department of Automation and Control Engineering, Faculty of Applied Informatics, of Tomas Bata University in Zlín. His research activities include microcontroller applications in process control, computer monitoring and control systems, and discrete deterministic controllers approach of tannery processes (email: vasek@utb.cz).