Model-Based Systems Engineering

• Explain the basic concepts and characteristics of embedded systems
• Explain the difference between functional and non-functional requirements
• Understand and apply basic systems engineering methods in the context of embedded systems
• Explain modeling formalisms and apply them in settings of relevance to embedded systems
• Understand and apply simulation methods to evaluate an embedded system implementation model
• Apply methods for determining relevant metrics for embedded systems, such as performance, energy, and cost
• Understand the basic behavioural mechanisms of embedded systems in selected areas such as high performance systems, real-time systems, wireless sensor networks and biochips (Lab-on-a-Chip)
• Understand and apply the appropriate abstraction level to solve the system design problem
• Model, simulate and reason about a given embedded system design problem
• Communicate the systems engineering process and results in a clear and precise manner using technical reports, presentations, posters and demos
• Understand and apply basic agile development methods

The course has three parts: (1) The first part covers an introduction to embedded systems; embedded systems design challenges; introduction to systems engineering, modeling and simulation. (2) The second part consists of presentations of types of embedded systems, such as, hard real-time safety critical systems (e.g., automotive, avionics), soft real-time multimedia systems (e.g., consumer electronics, smartphones), wireless sensor networks (e.g., for environment monitoring, localization), multicore field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and even labs-on-a-chip devices. (3) In the third part, the students will in small groups, do a project, which means choosing a type of computer-based system and a specific application, from which you will construct a model to reason about functional and non-functional requirements, and develop a simulator to evaluate implementation choices. The purpose of the project is to help the students to understand how an embedded system functions and to understand the challenges involved in the design of embedded systems in a given application context.

Students are expected to be familiar with an imperative programming language (02161) and basics of computer architectures (02132 or 02151).

Lectures, student presentations and project work, including regular supervisor meetings