Teaching microprocessors design using FPGAs

Microprocessors is a typical subject within the Computer Architecture field of scope. It is quite common to use simulators in practical sessions, due to the complexity of its contents. In this paper a new methodology based on practical sessions with real devices and chips is proposed. Simple designs of microprocessors are exposed to the students at the beginning, rising the complexity gradually toward a final design with a multiprocessor integrated in a single FPGA chip. Finally, assessment results are shown

NFC based remote control of services for interactive spaces

Ubiquitous computing (one person, many computers) is the third era in the history of computing. It follows the mainframe era (many people, one computer) and the PC era (one person, one computer). Ubiquitous computing empowers people to communicate with services by interacting with their surroundings. Most of these so called smart environments contain sensors sensing users’ actions and try to predict the users’ intentions and necessities based on sensor data. The main drawback of this approach is that the system might perform unexpected or unwanted actions, making the user feel out of control. In this master thesis we propose a different procedure based on Interactive Spaces: instead of predicting users’ intentions based on sensor data, the system reacts to users’ explicit predefined actions. To that end, we present REACHeS, a server platform which enables communication among services, resources and users located in the same environment. With REACHeS, a user controls services and resources by interacting with everyday life objects and using a mobile phone as a mediator between himself/herself, the system and the environment. REACHeS’ interfaces with a user are built upon NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. NFC tags are attached to objects in the environment. A tag stores commands that are sent to services when a user touches the tag with his/her NFC enabled device. The prototypes and usability tests presented in this thesis show the great potential of NFC to build such user interfaces

Development of a Wiimote-based Gesture Recognizer in a Microprocessor Laboratory Course

This gesture recognizer, developed by students in a third-year microprocessor-based laboratory course, takes Wii remote (Wiimote) as an input device to estimate the movements of the user and to compare the detected trajectory with the previously learnt movements, in order to carry out the associated actions. Such a cheap state-of-the-art wireless user interface is very attractive for the students and can be used in many interactive applications, from robotics to virtual reality and multimedia presentations. By combining commercially-available hardware, pattern-matching techniques and programming skills, we are able to foster students' interest on developing innovative potentially-marketable systems. This freeware project, implemented as a configurable publicly-available library, can be adapted to the needs of any course or student. In our laboratory this open-source DLL is used for remotely controlling a robot (based on an open-hardware Arduino platform), using a PC and the Wiimote, although the DLL can be integrated in any C, C++, Java or C# project. A GUI application (based on a Model-View-Presenter paradigm) is also provided and can be used as a template for new applications or just for debugging purposes. Although the developed application only uses data from the accelerometers, data from the infrared camera and buttons of the Wiimote is also available

Um espaço de aprendizagem com software livre : relatório de estágio

Este trabalho foi realizado no âmbito do II Ciclo de Estudos em Ensino de Informática, que acompanha o percurso seguido, no período em que decorreu a prática de ensino supervisionada. No período de dificuldades económicas que atravessamos, a que a escola não escapa, torna-se imperioso olhar para o software livre e analisar a pertinência da sua utilização em contexto escolar. Deste estudo, resultou a criação de uma sala de informática, com software livre, para utilização quer por professores, quer por alunos. Paralelamente, é elaborada uma reflexão sobre o trabalho do professor, na procura das respostas aos desafios com que se é confrontado na atividade docente, assim como a contextualização e o desenrolar detalhado das atividades realizadas durante o estágio.This paper was created within the second cycle of studies in Computer Education, which tracks the route followed in its supervised teaching practice time frame. In the period of economic difficulties we are experiencing, which schools cannot escape, it is imperative to look for free software and analyze the appropriateness of its use in schools. This study resulted in the creation of a computer room with free software for use either by teachers or by students. Moreover, it is presented a reflection, regarding the teacher’s work in the field, in search of answers to the challenges that are faced in all teaching activities, as well as the context and deployment of all the activities developed during this internship