Principles of Embedded Computation

Catalog description

This course is focused on principles underlying design and analysis of computational elements that interact with the physical environment. Increasingly, such embedded computers are everywhere, from smart cameras to medical devices to automobiles. While the classical theory of computation focuses on the function that a program computes, to understand embedded computation, we need to focus on the reactive nature of the interaction of a component with its environment via inputs and outputs, the continuous dynamics of the physical world, different ways of communication among components, and requirements concerning safety, timeliness, stability, and performance. Developing tools for approaching design, analysis, and implementation of embedded systems in a principled manner is an active research area. This course will attempt to give students a coherent introduction to this emerging area. This course is appropriate as an upper-level undergraduate CIS elective. This course assumes mathematical maturity, commensurate with either ESE 2100 (Introduction to Dynamical Systems), or CIS 2620 (Introduction to Theory of Computation). It is suitable for students who have an undergraduate degree in computer science, or computer engineering, or electrical engineering. It is also suitable for Penn undergraduates in CIS or CE as an upper-level elective.