- Knowledge of the main non-idealities of digital systems caused by technology scaling; - Ability to analyse the sources of non-idealities and skills in designing solutions to compensate for such non-idealities; - Ability to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of design solutions; - Knowledge of the main issues related to temperature, ageing and process variation in modern embedded systems; - Ability to design an embedded system contextualised in the design process of an IoT application; - Knowledge of virtual platforms for hardware-software co-simulation of an embedded system and evaluation of control software; - Focus on new emerging technologies and computational paradigms well suited for embedded applications and edge computing.

The course requires knowledge of C programming (data structures and algorithms), as well as basic knowledge of in calculus, statistics, digital electronics and digital design, computer architecture and operating systems.

The course consists of frontal lectures and laboratories. The course includes - Introduction to Embedded Systems [2h] - Architectural templates (single and multi-core platforms) [4h]. - Implementation of embedded systems: Single-Core and Multi-Core [4h] - ARM and PowerPC processors: Application Domains [4h] - Embedded buses: Parallel and serial buses. Common standards (AMBA, CoreConnect, STBus, I2C, SPI) [4h] - Embedded Memory and Emerging Technologies Memory [2h] - Multicore architectures [4h] - Sensors and Actuators [2h] - Wireless Sensor Networks [6h] - Design Metrics & Optimisation Techniques [8h] o Temperature o Process variability o Ageing and reliability o Energy consumption - State-of-the-art hardware-software co-simulation frameworks (such as Renode) [3h] - Emerging technologies and computational paradigms for edge computing applications [6h] o Brain-inspired computing o Neuromorphic architectures o Neuromorphic sensors The "laboratories" include project-related activities on several case studies from the state-of-the-art work in the embedded systems domain, carried out in groups with the continuous support of the lecturers.

In addition to the regular lectures, there will be several laboratory sessions. These labs will consist of exercises and projects developed on evaluation board and simulation platforms related to the topics covered in the course.

There is no official textbook. Handouts and additional material (papers, links to websites, software and manuals) will be made available on the course website. Scientific papers and documentation will be provided during the course.

Lecture slides; Lab exercises;

You can take this exam before attending the course

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Group project;

Compulsory oral exam; group project; Students will be asked to select and read a technical paper (provided during the course) related to the topics covered in the course and to carry out a design project in a group (2-3 people), developed on a simulation platform and finally on an "evaluation board". The exam consists of an individual presentation of the selected technical paper and a group presentation of the developed project. Each group will be asked to submit the developed code as well as a report (6-10 pages, double-spaced) with a research paper-like description of their work, including challenges and motivations, state of the art, proposed solution and discussion of the results obtained. The project will then be presented and discussed by all members of the group in an oral session (either in person or via web conferencing). After the ppt group presentation (approximately 15 minutes), each group member will be asked questions about the project and their individual contribution to the group activity, as well as general questions about the topics covered in the course. Each student's final mark will consist of - Evaluation of the group project (same for all group members, 70%). This evaluation will take into account: the complexity of the problem addressed; the originality and richness of the proposed solution; the methodological and technical correctness of the solution; the completeness and quality of the report; the completeness and quality of the oral presentation. - Individual oral evaluation (30%). This evaluation takes into account: the quality of the individual presentation; the individual effort and contribution to the group activity; the correctness of the answers to the theoretical and technical questions; the individual communication skills.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.