Faculty of Science and Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Unit Outline

313690 Microcomputers 204

Semester 2, 2014

Unit study package number:

313690

Mode of study:

Internal

Tuition pattern summary:

Lecture: 1 x 2 Hours
Tutorial: 1 x 1 Hours
Computer Laboratory: 1 x 2 Hours
This unit does not have a fieldwork component.

Credit Value:
Pre-requisite units:

25.0
308768 (v.0) Foundations of Digital Design 201 or any previous version
OR
12702 (v.0) Hardware Fundamentals 101 or any previous version

Co-requisite units:

Nil

Anti-requisite units:

Nil

Result type:

Grade/Mark

Approved incidental fees:

Information about approved incidental fees can be obtained from our website. Visit
fees.curtin.edu.au/incidental_fees.cfm for details.

Unit coordinator:

Mr
Clive Maynard
+618 9266 7905
C.Maynard@curtin.edu.au
204
215

Title:
Name:
Phone:
Email:
Building:
Room:

Teaching Staff:

Michelle Cutinha
+618 9266 7428
M.Cutinha@curtin.edu.au
314
312

Administrative contact:

Name:
Phone:
Email:
Building:
Room:

Learning Management System:

Blackboard (lms.curtin.edu.au)

313690 Microcomputers 204

Bentley Campus
21 Jul 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Page: 1 of 6
CRICOS Provider Code
WA 00301J, NSW 02637B

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Acknowledgement of Country
We respectfully acknowledge the Indigenous Elders, custodians, their descendants and kin of this land past and present.

Syllabus
The von Neumann architecture. Instruction sets and memory maps. Some common microcomputer families. Organisation of simple processor, memory and input/output
(I/O) systems. Assembly level programming, programming techniques. Development Environments Introduction to event-driven structures. Interfacing concepts. Some
peripheral and system busses. Implementation methods for microcomputers. Introduction to High level programming for embedded systems using C language.

Introduction
Microcomputers 204 is a unit designed to introduce the basic concepts of embedded systems design covering both hardware and software aspects. Using both C and assembly language
together with the programming model for a microcontroller the overall concepts of event driven programming are introduced. Peripheral subsystems for Input/Output operations are
described and used to investigate system functionality and case studies used to contextualise the design concepts.

Unit Learning Outcomes

All graduates of Curtin University achieve a set of nine graduate attributes during their course of study. These tell an employer that, through your studies, you have
acquired discipline knowledge and a range of other skills and attributes which employers say would be useful in a professional setting. Each unit in your course addresses
the graduate attributes through a clearly identified set of learning outcomes. They form a vital part in the process referred to as assurance of learning. The learning
outcomes tell you what you are expected to know, understand or be able to do in order to be successful in this unit. Each assessment for this unit is carefully designed to
test your achievement of one or more of the unit learning outcomes. On successfully completing all of the assessments you will have achieved all of these learning
outcomes.
Your course has been designed so that on graduating we can say you will have achieved all of Curtin's Graduate Attributes through the assurance of learning process in
each unit.
On successful completion of this unit students can:

Graduate Attributes addressed

1 Analyse the basic structure of a microcomputer and its operation

2 Select from the common microcomputer families the best for a given application
3 Interpret the technology and application of typical common microcomputer peripherals
4 Create programs for an 8/16 bit microcomputer using both assembly language and a high level language (C)
5 Create microcomputer-based industrial applications using an embedded systems development environment

Curtin's Graduate Attributes

Apply discipline knowledge

Thinking skills

Information skills

(use analytical skills to solve problems)

(confidence to investigate new ideas)

Communication skills

Technology skills

International perspective

Cultural understanding

(value the perspectives of others)

(value the perspectives of others)

Learning how to learn

(apply principles learnt to new situations)
(confidence to tackle unfamiliar problems)

Professional Skills
(work independently and as a team)
(plan own work)

Find out more about Curtin's Graduate attributes at the Office of Teaching & Learning website: ctl.curtin.edu.au

Learning Activities
Through the lectures, project based laboratories and interactive tutorials the student is introduced to the necessary design concepts. Quizzes are used throughout the unit to assess
student progress and to provide feedback on their understanding.

Learning Resources
Essential texts
The required textbook(s) for this unit are:
l

MSP430 Microcontroller Basics by John H. Davies published by Newnes.

313690 Microcomputers 204

Bentley Campus
21 Jul 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Page: 2 of 6
CRICOS Provider Code
WA 00301J, NSW 02637B

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Assessment
Assessment schedule
Task

Value %

Date Due

Unit Learning Outcome

(s) Assessed

Laboratory Projects

25 percent

Week: Last week of semester

Day: During the laboratory
period
Time: as per the timetable

Quizzes

25 percent

Week: Over several lectures

1,2,3
during the semester
Day: during the lecture period
Time: as per the timetable

Final Examination

50 percent

Week: During the examination 2,3,5

period
Day: as published
Time: as punlished

4,5

Detailed information on assessment tasks

1. Laboratory workbook maintained over the semester and a laboratory quizz in the last week comprise this assessment task.
2. The quizzes may be set on randomly chosen lecture periods.Quizzes will be held during lecture periods on 5 occasions during the semester.
4 quizzes must be attempted to obtain full marks for this assessment. If a student takes all 5 then the best 4 marks will be used.
3. A double sided A4 sheet of paper may be brought into the examination for reference purposes. If printed a minimum font size of 10 should be used.

Fair assessment through moderation

Moderation describes a quality assurance process to ensure that assessments are appropriate to the learning outcomes, and that student work is evaluated consistently by
assessors. Minimum standards for the moderation of assessment are described in the Assessment Manual, available from
policies.curtin.edu.au/policies/teachingandlearning.cfm

Late assessment policy

This ensures that the requirements for submission of assignments and other work to be assessed are fair, transparent, equitable, and that penalties are consistently
applied.
1.
2.
3.
4.

All assessments which students are required to submit will have a due date and time specified on the Unit Outline.
Accepting late submission of assignments or other work will be determined by the unit coordinator or Head of School and will be specified on the Unit Outline.
If late submission of assignments or other work is not accepted, students will receive a penalty of 100% after the due date and time ie a zero mark for the late
assessment.
If late submission of assignments or other work is accepted, students will be penalised by ten percent per calendar day for a late assessment submission (eg a mark
equivalent to 10% of the total allocated for the assessment will be deducted from the marked value for every day that the assessment is late). This means that an
assignment worth 20 will have two marks deducted per calendar day late. Hence if it was handed in three calendar days late and marked as 12/20, the student
would receive 6/20. An assessment more than seven calendar days overdue will not be marked. Work submitted after this time (due date plus seven days) may
result in a Fail - Incomplete (F-IN) grade being awarded for the unit.

Assessment extension
A student wishing to delay the completion or submission of an assessment task after the original published date/time (eg examinations, tests) or due date/time (eg
assignments) must apply for an assessment extension using the Assessment Extension form (available from the Forms page at http://students.curtin.edu.au/administration/)
as prescribed by the Academic Registrar. It is the responsibility of the student to demonstrate and provide evidence for exceptional circumstances beyond the student's
control that prevented them from completing/submitting the assessment task.
The student will be expected to lodge the form and supporting documentation with the unit coordinator before the assessment date/time or due date/time. An application
may be accepted up to five working days after the date or due date of the assessment task where the student is able to provide an acceptable explanation as to why he or
she was not able to submit the application prior to the assessment date. An application for an assessment extension will not be accepted after the date of the Board of
Examiners' meeting.

Additional assessment information

Pass requirements
An overall score of 50% or greater is needed to pass the unit together with a minimum score of 40% necessary in the final examination.
At least 4 quizzes must be attempted over the semester.
The laboratory workbook must be submitted and laboratory quiz must be attempted.

Referencing style
The referencing style for this unit is Chicago.
More information can be found on this style from the Library web site: library.curtin.edu.au.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism occurs when work or property of another person is presented as one's own, without appropriate acknowledgement or referencing. Plagiarism is a serious
offence. Student guidelines for avoiding plagiarism can be found at: http://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/StudentPlagiarismGuide.pdf. For more information
refer to academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au.

Plagiarism monitoring
313690 Microcomputers 204
Bentley Campus
21 Jul 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Page: 3 of 6
CRICOS Provider Code
WA 00301J, NSW 02637B

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Work submitted may be subjected to a plagiarism detection process, which may include the use of systems such as 'Turnitin'. For further information, see
academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/students/turnitin.cfm.

Additional information
This unit follows the principles of the CDIO framework (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) for engineering education in its presentation and approach.
The table below indicates the relationship between the Unit Learning Outcomes, the Course Learning Outcomes and the Professional Accreditation Competencies expected.
ULOs

LOT

CLOs

Level of Thinking

Course Learning
Outcomes

Professional Accreditation Competencies

1. analyse the basic structure of a 4

microcomputer and its operation

1,3,5

1.3, 1.5, 2.1, 3.2

2. select from the common

5
microcomputer families the best
for a given application

1,2,7

1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.4, 3.2, 3.4

3. interpret the technology and

application of typical common
microcomputer peripherals

1,3,6

1.4, 1.5, 2.4

4. create programs for an 8/16 bit 6

microcomputer using both
assembly language and a high
level language (C)

1,5

1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1

5. create microcomputer-based
6
industrial applications using an
embedded systems development
environment

5,7,9

1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Enrolment
It is your responsibility to ensure that your enrolment is correct - you can check your enrolment through the eStudent option on OASIS, where you can also print an
Enrolment Advice.

Supplementary and Deferred Exams

Deferred examinations will be held at a date to be advised (see next section). Supplementary examinations, where applicable and when granted by the Board of Examiners,
will be held at a date to be advised (see next section). Notification to students will be made after the Board of Examiners meeting via the Official Communications Channel
(OCC) in OASIS.
It is the responsibility of students to be available to attend a supplementary or deferred examination on the date advised and to check their OASIS account on a weekly
basis for official Curtin correspondence. If your results show that you have been granted a supplementary or deferred examination you should immediately check your
OASIS email for details.
TBA

Student Rights and Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of every student to be aware of all relevant legislation, policies and procedures relating to their rights and responsibilities as a student. These
include:
l
l
l
l
l

the Student Charter

the University's Guiding Ethical Principles
the University's policy and statements on plagiarism and academic integrity
copyright principles and responsibilities
the University's policies on appropriate use of software and computer facilities

Information on all these things is available through the University's "Student Rights and Responsibilities website at: students.curtin.edu.au/rights.

Student Equity
There are a number of factors that might disadvantage some students from participating in their studies or assessments to the best of their ability, under standard
conditions. These factors may include a disability or medical condition (e.g. mental illness, chronic illness, physical or sensory disability, learning disability), significant family
responsibilities, pregnancy, religious practices, living in a remote location or another reason. If you believe you may be unfairly disadvantaged on these or other grounds
please speak to the Student Equity Advisor Team member in your Faculty. Contact details are at: http://eesj.curtin.edu.au/contact.html
You can also contact Counselling and Disability services: http://www.disability.curtin.edu.au or the Multi-faith services:
http://unilife.curtin.edu.au/diversity_and_faith/faith_services.htm for further information.
It is important to note that the staff of the university may not be able to meet your needs if they are not informed of your individual circumstances so please get in touch
with the appropriate service if you require assistance. For general wellbeing concerns or advice please contact Curtin's Student Wellbeing Advisory Service at:
http://unilife.curtin.edu.au/student_wellbeing_service.htm

313690 Microcomputers 204

Bentley Campus
21 Jul 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Page: 4 of 6
CRICOS Provider Code
WA 00301J, NSW 02637B

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Recent unit changes
We welcome feedback as one way to keep improving this unit. Students are encouraged to provide unit feedback through eVALUate, Curtin's online student feedback
system (see evaluate.curtin.edu.au/info/). Recent changes to this unit include:
The microcontroller used in this unit has been updated to the MSP430 which impacts all aspects of the unit.
See evaluate.curtin.edu.au to find out when you can eVALUate this unit.

313690 Microcomputers 204

Bentley Campus
21 Jul 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Page: 5 of 6
CRICOS Provider Code
WA 00301J, NSW 02637B

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Program calendar
Lecture

Hour

Content

Reference

Tutorials

Introduction to Embedded Systems

Chapter 1

The first lab background IDEs and C

Chapter 3

Microcontrollers introduction. Programmers

model

Chapters 2 & 5

Tute 1

2nd lab background MSP430 Instruction Set

Embedded Systems Design - Polling

Tute 2

3rd lab - Structures and unions in C

A finite state machine.

Section 8.11.1

Tute 3

4th lab and the timing library.

Functional aspects of C

Chapter 6

Tute 4

The stack and its uses.

Interrupts

Tute 5

th

6 lab Foreground/background operations.

Interfaces

Chapter 7

The timing subsystem.

Chapter 8

Tute 6

7th lab and the Lift system.

Analogue to Digital conversion.

Chapter 9

Tute 7

th

PWM subsystems

Section 8.6++

Tute 8

9th lab

10

Case studies 1 Digital Voltmeter

Tute 9

LCD displays

11

Case studies 2 Laser Light show

Tute 10

System design overview

12

Review of unit

Review Tutorial

Review of unit

lab

313690 Microcomputers 204

Bentley Campus
21 Jul 2014
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Page: 6 of 6
CRICOS Provider Code
WA 00301J, NSW 02637B