A Tiny Development Platform with Virtualized Peripherals for Education of Embedded Software Design

Abstract

In the embedded software education, it is usually a burden to give every student a development board in the class due to limited budget. Besides, peripheral devices such as LCD panels also increase the cost. A cheap and flexible way is to use virtual embedded systems in the class. However, virtual systems cannot completely reflect the developing environment on real platforms. In this article, we propose the idea that combines the virtual and real embedded platforms. The proposed platform preserves the core of the hardware board, so that developers can design embedded software applications in the real developing environment. In addition, we eliminate the peripheral wires and connectors on hardware board and use virtual peripherals and peripherals on PC instead, such that designers can easily control and change peripherals. The proposed idea can significantly reduce cost and increase flexibility when teaching embedded software design. Moreover, the size of development board can be reduced as well. Without the restriction of peripheral connectors and devices, development boards become portable and more easy to use.