Heroshot

Overview

Professor Neil Gershenfeld delivered a lecture on embedded system programming, introducing core concepts, development environments, and debugging techniques. He began with an overview of major processor families such as AVR, ARM, and RISC-V, and discussed commonly used programming languages including C, Rust, and Python. He also introduced essential development tools like GCC, Arduino IDE, and VS Code, and explained communication protocols such as USB and UART. Neil analyzed the trade-offs between different systems in terms of performance, cost, power consumption, and ease of use. To apply these concepts, he encouraged students to research various processors, compare development environments, integrate input/output devices into their boards, and experiment with multiple programming languages to find the best fit for their projects.（Transcription and summary generation by Notta）

Assignment

group assignment:

browse through the data sheet for your microcontroller
compare the performance and development workflows for other architectures

group assignment is here

individual assignment:

write a program for a microcontroller development board that you made,to interact (with local input &/or output devices) and communicate (with remote wired or wireless devices)

extra credit: use different languages &/or development environments

extra credit: connect external components to the board

WorkFlow

Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040

specifications

Item	Value
CPU	Dual-core ARM Cortex M0+ processor up to 133MHz
Flash Memory	2MB
SRAM	264KB
Digital I/O Pins	11
Analog I/O Pins	4
PWM Pins	11
I2C interface	1
SPI interface	1
UART interface	1
Power supply and downloading interface	Type-C
Power	3.3V/5V DC
Dimensions	20×17.5×3.5mm

Solder the Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040 body and pin headers using a gas soldering iron (GP-510SET) with a (GP-510RT-2.4C) tip.
Gas soldering irons are convenient because they are cordless and do not require electricity.

Solder using lead-free solder and a gas soldering iron.

Solder the pin headers to the Seeed Studio XIAO without touching adjacent pins.

Use the Arduino IDE to bake the program into Seed Studio.

Let's try the famous L-chica programming: I set delay(1000) and generated a code that blinks repeatedly every second.

I took a video of the actual flashing.

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Micro:bit v1

specifications

BBC Micro:bit	V1	V2
Processor	Nordic nRF51822	Nordic nRF52833
Flash memory	256 KB	512 KB
RAM	16KB	128KB
Speed	16 MHz	64 MHz
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0	Bluetooth 5.1 with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Radio communication	2.4 GHz radio (80 channels)	2.4 GHz radio (80 channels)
Buttons	Two programmable (A and B) and one system (reset)	Two programmable (A and B) and one system (power/reset)
On/off switch	None	Press and hold the rear power button
Touchpad	None	Touch-sensitive logo
Microphone	None	Onboard Knowles SPU0410LR5H-QB-7 MEMS microphone (with LED indicator)
Display	5x5 programmable LED matrix (25 LEDs in total)	5x5 programmable LED matrix (25 LEDs in total)
Speaker	None	Onboard JIANGSU HUANENG MLT-8530 (up to 80 dB)
Motion sensor and compass	LSM303AGR	LSM303AGR
Temperature sensor	On-board temperature sensor	On-core NRF52
Edge connector	25 pins	25 pins

A table comparing Micro:bit v1 and v2 specs was created. It can be understood that the new v2 model has significantly improved performance.

Micro:bit is designed to be easy to use for a wide range of users and can be coded in the browser. It also employs block programming so that even non-programmers can code.

Since an LED display is included directly with the unit, I used it to generate the code to display F.

I was able to successfully display F.