Embedded Control Systems course at the University of Michigan (EECS 461)

There is a strong need in industry for students who are capable of working in the highly multi-disciplinary area of embedded control software development. The performance metrics of an embedded control system lie in the analog physical world, yet the performance limiting component of the system is often the embedded microprocessor. The standard college education does not produce students with expertise in both areas, and students with expertise in one area often do not possess the conceptual framework required to understand issues that arise in the other.
EECS 461: Embedded Control Systems is a senior/first year graduate level course in the subject that teaches students from diverse backgrounds the fundamentals of the subject. The course is taught by Professors Jim Freudenberg and Jeff Cook. We use technology relevant to the local automotive industry, including the Freescale MPC 5553 microcontroller and a CAN network. We also use Mathworks tools, Matlab, Simulink, Stateflow, and Real Time Workshop for modeling, analysis, and (in the last stage of the course) autocode generation. We develop an embedded controller for a haptic interface, or force feedback system, built by Professor Brent Gillespie of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. An intensive version of the course is taught by Professors Freudenberg and Cook to Mechanical Engineering students at ETH Zurich.