Soft processors for microcontroller programming education

摘要

This paper will document the development of a microprocessor platform needed for teaching basic assembly and C programming that would integrate well within the lab environment at the technical college level. A variety of platforms were analyzed and will be briefly compared in terms of capability and usability for the educators and students. Particularly the use of soft processors and system-on-chip platforms both from the educator and student's perspective will be explored. Details will be presented on a developed system using an Altera FPGA platform with a synthesized NIOS II MlPS-like soft processor. An overview will be given of some of the compatible development boards, along with information on the custom interface hardware developed for the lab. The lab coursework produced will also be briefly discussed, followed by results and performance after using the system with students of a variety of programming experience levels.