Software engineering in a nutshell for Electrical Engineering students

Abstract

Nearly all electrical engineers develop software or do at least a little programming in their everyday professional life. The curricula of Electrical Engineering Bachelor Programs usually include only little time for acquiring software engineering skills. Therefore, in this contribution a concept for a compact course is introduced which includes the main topics of software engineering and focuses on the software development skills which are usually expected from an engineer. The course is based on software modeling using UML, deployment of design patterns, code generation especially for embedded systems and using model driven architecture principles. This basic knowledge is applied to a programming project in robotics. Starting with a Lego NXT robot - without Lego softwarethe ARM 7 processor is addressed directly by the developed software. Beginning with a Platform Independent Model, the students design the system in UML using an appropriate tool. A Transformation Description Model and a Platform Description Model are provided so that the executable system can be generated. Profiles for real-time systems may be included in order to consider the real-time requirements. The project should apply a particular process model e.g. a simple VModel so that the students get used to realizing software projects using a process framework. The course including the lab can be taught in e.g. 12 weeks with 4 teaching hours per week.