Week 04 — Embedded Programming

Group assignment

Compare the performance and development workflows for other architectures

Document your work to the group work page and reflect on your individual page what you learned

Individual assignment

Read a microcontroller datasheet

Program your board to do something, with as many different programming languages and programming environments as possible

Learning outcomes

Identify relevant information in a microcontroller datasheet

Checklist

Linked to the group assignment page
Documented what you learned from reading a microcontroller datasheet
What questions have been answered
Explained how you programmed the board
Included your code
Included a ‘hero shot’ of your board

W4 Documentation

Some general knowledge interpretation

I linked the lecture page and my notes to ChatGPT and had a conversation to clarify the fundamentals. Below are the highlights I used to build my Week 4 understanding.

Embedded system: a specialized computer integrated into a device for a dedicated function.

Embedded system concept notes — Figure. Embedded system concept map.

Architecture: Von Neumann vs Harvard memory models and their tradeoffs.

Von Neumann and Harvard architecture comparison — Figure. Architecture comparison: Von Neumann vs Harvard.

RISC vs CISC: instruction-set style and execution behavior.

RISC and CISC comparison chart — Figure. RISC vs CISC overview.

Microprocessor vs microcontroller: external components vs all-in-one integration.

Microprocessor and microcontroller comparison — Figure. Microprocessor vs microcontroller.

Research focus

First, I need to determine the area of research. I uploaded the whole lecture transcripts to ChatGPT and asked this question:

So in Neil’s class, he presented a lot of microcontrollers, and which of the top four is better to deep dive, deep research, so for my project, because I need to control lights, which does not need too much frequency, just needs to be easier to program, so probably it's ATTiny412. Then in the future, I will need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect with other devices, so which is probably use ESP32. And another one, which is also famous and easy to start, so give me suggestions.

ChatGPT reply about the four microcontrollers:

ATtiny412: simple and low-cost for basic light control.
ESP32: Wi-Fi + Bluetooth for connected IoT use.
RP2040: easy prototyping, strong middle step.
SAMD21: clean ARM Cortex-M0+ platform used in many boards.

Research direction and selected microcontrollers — Figure. Selection of the four microcontrollers for deep dive research.

I created 5 NotebookLM pages: one for lecture materials and one for each microcontroller datasheet.

NotebookLM overview for week 4 research — Figure. NotebookLM pages and generated visual materials.

Datasheet links used for the analysis:

ATtiny412

ATtiny412 (tinyAVR 1-series) is a compact 8-bit RISC microcontroller up to 20 MHz with integrated Flash/SRAM/EEPROM, event system support, timers, ADC, and serial interfaces (USART/SPI/TWI). It is a good fit for minimal embedded control.

Helpful reference video: Programming ATtiny with Arduino Nano

ATtiny412 sheet overview — Figure. ATtiny412 sheets and extracted details.

ATtiny412 sheet comparison — Figure. ATtiny412 sheets and extracted details.

SAMD21

SAMD21 is a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ platform with a broad set of peripherals, low-power operation modes, and strong Arduino ecosystem support. It is a practical bridge from AVR to more advanced ARM workflows.

ESP32

ESP32 combines microcontroller capabilities with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, making it highly suitable for connected devices. The datasheet covers architecture variants, security features, pin/boot behavior, and low-power states.

RP2040

RP2040 features dual Cortex-M0+ cores, 264 KB SRAM, and flexible PIO blocks for custom hardware interfaces. It provides a powerful but approachable environment for parallel control and rapid prototyping.