COURSE STRUCTURE
SOLID FOUNDATIONS WITH HANDS-ON LEARNING

We recommend spreading out the content of the course over 14 days as it has proven to maximise your learning, giving you a chance to absorb the information and practice hands-on as you go.

Section 1 - You will learn about the ARM Cortex architecture. Understanding this will allow you to select the right microcontroller for your project. With the deep understanding of ARM Cortex architecture, you will also be able to debug applications like a pro!

Section 2 - The ARM Cortex programmers model, is hardly taught anywhere but such a crucial piece to understanding how the processor functions and how the C code that you write interfaces with the hardware after compilation.

Section 3 - The ARM Cortex exception model and vector table is an important step to understanding how the working of the processor when things don't go as intended. In embedded systems, exceptions need to be handled elegantly in order to produce a safe functioning product!

Section 4 - ARM Cortex blocks like the System Control Block, Floating point unit, bus interfaces will be covered. This will give you an understanding of how core blocks inside the microcontroller are connected to each other and their usefulness.

Section 5 - The first and an important step for a project is to be able to choose the right microcontroller. You will need to take all sorts of considerations into mind before making the choice. Making the right choice here will make your project successful in the short term and the long term as well.

Section 6 - Peripherals let the processor talk to the outside world. When developing applications for microcontrollers, every project you will work on will interface to one or more of these peripherals. Having this understanding will allow you to successfully interface devices with the microcontroller.

Section 7 - Special features of the microcontroller, go through 3 unique features that you will most likely be interfacing with in your projects.

Section 8 - Hands-on lab to set up your computer with a development environment that will run on Windows, Linux or Mac. Having this setup will allow you to work on the lab exercises in this course and on your projects after course completion.

Section 9 - Understanding UART communication is immensely important, and almost every embedded job interview will ask you a question about it. You will be able to become a pro at UART and interface all kinds of devices with the microcontroller after working on the lab exercises included with the course.

Section 10 - I2C communication runs over 2 wires and is used extensively in a lot of embeded devices. The lectures and timed challenge lab exercise for I2C will train you to be a professional in this communication interface. Having this understanding will allow you to interface with millions of I2C devices available in the market and use them for your projects.

Section 11 - GPIO is a peripheral that will definitely be in every single application you work on. With the hands-on learning in this section, you will understand different ways in which ports and pins can be setup to allow you to interface various types of devices with the GPIO peripheral.

Section 12 - DAC and TIM peripherals will open the world of timing, and digital to analog conversion for you. This is an extensive area where microcontrollers are used and the lab exercises included in this section will give you an excellent understanding of how these two peripherals can be used in your custom application.

Section 13 - These days we just download an IDE and are good to go. But have you ever wondered what the different components inside an IDE (Integrated development environment) are? Going through these exercises will allow you to get that understanding which will make debugging so much easier going forward. Understanding the development environment from ground-up allows you to be confident when things go wrong.

Section 14 - We talk about the next steps and a continued learning program to allow you to take the learnings from this course and continue to apply them in future projects. We also talk about how you can use the information learned in this course to guarantee a successful career in embedded systems.

HARDWARE
HERE'S WHAT HARDWARE WILL BE NEEDED FOR THIS COURSES

The instructor is using a STM32 Nucleo development board for this course. However, you are free to choose any ARM Cortex board you wish to. The learning from the content is transferable across different platforms.

You can choose to develop on Windows, Linux or Mac as per your preference. All 3 are supported in this course.