A modular, robust and open source microcontroller platform for broad educational usage

Abstract

In current curricula, more and more courses endeavor to give practical examples on the usage of embedded hardware. Either by demonstrations in e. g. lectures or as hands-on practice in lab courses. In order to motivate the students a reference to current technological developments is desired. All these requirements lead to a point where a reliable and fast modifiable hardware platform is needed. This paper describes a microcontroller-based platform, which was developed in 2004 and refined over the years at RWTH Aachen University. In addition to this platform, we also developed several extension modules in order to embed current technologies like RFID or a digital photo frame. Besides all the technological issues, we also had to pay attention to non-functional requirements like expense for the whole platform or the robustness needed for educational usage of the components.