| CSE 497B: Hands-on Handhelds |
| Course Information |
| Description |
Handheld devices (PDAs, Tablet PCs, cell-phones, etc.) and embedded systems (in automobiles, medical/surgical applicances, etc.) are the next wave of computing platforms that are expected to become a part of everyday life. These platforms offer several new challenges in their design, deployment and usage. They are constrained by limited computing power, memory, battery energy, network disconnectivity, and user interfaces. From the system designer's perspective, the hardware and low level system software needs to be appropriately designed to handle these limitations. With the emerging popularity of these devices, graduating computer engineers and scientists need to become versatile with these techniques.
This course will use a hands-on approach to understand the hardware and software implications for such devices. Laboratory projects using PocketPCs will be a mandatory part of this course which may involve developing systems software (OS), middleware, compilation techniques, wireless communication and application development. You will be given PocketPCs to work with over the duration of this course and a laboratory (129 Hammond) with wireless infrastructure and desktops for program development will be made available to you.
Each week, the Monday session will be covered by the instructors in 302 Pond, and the Wednesday lab session will be covered by the TA in 129 Hammond where you will be able to try out the concepts on the desktops/handhelds right away. There will be three common projects for everyone (that will be prescibed during the course). The final project is left to project teams to decide what each team wants to work on (there may be some suggestions, though you may choose to pick other topics - in either case, a proposal of what you intend to do for the final project and its approval is needed before you can proceed on it). All the projects will require you to work in teams of two students per project.
There is no prescribed text but we will try to make course material (and slides) available to you periodically. The course contents may change dynamically through the semester, so please keep checking the web site frequently.
| Outline and Schedule (tentative, not exhaustive) |
| Grading (tentative) |