ECEN 5773

Spring 2024

Developing the Industrial Internet of Things

University of Colorado, Boulder

Class style: 3 credit hour lecture course

Effort: Average 3 to 4 hours per week

Last edited: December 19, 2023

Introduction

Developing tomorrow's industrial infrastructure is a significant challenge. This course goes beyond the hype of consumer IoT to emphasize a much greater space for potential embedded system applications and growth: The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), also known as Industry 4.0. Cisco’s CEO stated: “IoT overall is a $19 Trillion market. IIoT is a significant subset including digital oilfield, advanced manufacturing, power grid automation, and smart cities”.

As an elective, this course sits orthogonally to the core ESE courses. This is a survey course. The primary objective is to closely examine emerging markets, technology trends, applications and skills required by engineering students exploring career opportunities in this space. The structure of the course is intentionally wide and shallow: We will cover many topics, but will not go extremely deep into any one topic area, thereby providing a broad overview of the immense landscape of IIoT. There is one exception: We will study security in some depth for 2 weeks as this is the most important topic for all "Internet of Things" product development.

Watch this video to get an idea of what we will be studying this semester and the tremendous impact that IIoT will have on future business operations.

Logistics

• Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30-1:45pm, ECCR 1B51

• Class modality: In-person. A zoom meeting will be provided for distance section students.

• Office hours: Scheduled as needed.

• Instructor's contact information: David.Sluiter@colorado.edu

Recommended Prerequisites

Digital logic design, embedded computer architecture, knowledge of python and C/C++ programming. Students will be required to complete a graded introductory machine learning assignment in python.

This course list is a suggestion only, as we will be touching on a few subjects from each these:

• ECEN 5613 Embedded System Design

• ECEN 5823 IoT Embedded Firmware

• ECEN 5853 Embedding Sensors and Motors

• ECEN 5133 Fundamentals of Computer Security

Don't worry if you have not taken these courses yet, we will cover what we need in class.

Course Description

First of all, this is going to be a fun and interesting course. I assure you, you have never taken a course quite like this one - and that is a good thing! By the end of this course you will have developed an understanding of how the knowledge and experience you have gained in your other ESE courses fit into the much larger picture of an entire IIoT ecosystem. In addition you will have learned valuable business concepts useful to engineers. This is a traditional lecture style course, not a project intensive course.

Students will learn what it takes to develop in the IIoT space. For example, the course will include studies around market segments and applications in these high-growth areas:

• Agriculture

• Building Automation

• Manufacturing

• Automotive and Transportation

• Oil and Gas

• Utilities

Students will gain a greater perspective on where and how to apply their embedded system knowledge and skills, and learn new skills necessary to be employed in the IIoT space. This material cannot be obtained by online searches. Studies will include:

• Where opportunities exist in the world and where more can be created

• The business and market driving forces behind IIoT

• Operational efficiencies that can be gained by companies deploying an IIoT solution

• Business challenges that shape the need for compelling technical solutions

• Basic business skills and knowledge that engineers need to know

• Case studies of business successes and failures

Additionally, you will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience with:

• Security

• Machine Learning

Weekly Topic List

Week 1 : Expectations, Course overview, Writing resumes and preparaing for job interviews

Week 2 : Market overview, Key skills to learn, Platforms, Software and Services

Week 3 : Market application areas, Operating systems and RTOSs

Week 4 : Networks, Wireless Communication

Weeks 5-6 : Security, Guest speaker

Week 7 : Project planning, staffing and execution, building a Bill of Materials (BOM)

Week 8 : Midterm exam preparation and midterm

Week 9 : Sensors and File Systems

Week 10 : Machine Learning

Week 11 : Big Data Analytics

Week 12 : Introduction to SystemC, Guest speaker

Week 13 : Deep dive into Automotive and Transportation

Week 14 : Debugging deeply embedded systems, Guest speaker

Week 15 : Promoting technical ideas, learning from failure. Final exam preparation.

Attendance

On campus students: This is a popular class. Your best chance to "get in" is to enroll AND remain on the wait list. If you see a long wait list do not enroll in the distance section as this section is reserved for off-campus and specially designated students. If you are an on-campus student and you enroll in the distance section you will be administratively dropped - so stay on the wait list. Many students over-enroll and then later drop a class. This allows students on the wait list to naturally flow into the course in a fair and consistent manner. Attendance counts for 10% of your grade and starts on the first day of class.

• For on campus students, class attendance is expected (does not apply to US based distance students. Please arrange to be on campus on the first day of class. For distant students, videos of class sessions will be available.

Our policy is:

• Students enrolled but not engaging in an ESE course for the first week will be moved to the end of any existing wait list.

• Students enrolled but not engaging in an ESE course for the first two weeks will be administratively dropped from the course.

The course cap (number of enrolled students, on-campus and distance students) is fixed. Don't ask me to change the course cap.

Course Materials

Course materials include lecture slides, project guides, and other online materials via Canvas.

No textbook is required, though a good reference is: 

• “Industry 4.0” by Alasdair Gilchrist, ISBN: 978-1-4842-2046-7, available from Amazon.

Required for Distance students: A PC with a microphone, speakers and web camera; a reliable internet connection (minimum 5 megabits per second download speed).

Course will be administered on Canvas.

Honor Code

A complete description of the honor code can be found here: http://honorcode.colorado.edu/

To summarize: Violations of the Honor Code are acts of academic dishonesty and include but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, aid of academic dishonesty, lying to course instructors, lying to representatives of the Honor Code, bribery or threats pertaining to academic matters, or an attempt to do any of the aforementioned violations. Violations can result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the University.

Note to students: In past semesters our ESE program had a significant issue with students copying work from other students and submitting that work as their own. This behavior will not be tolerated.

Image courtesy of Autoware, http://www.autoware.it/en/