ELEC3145: Real Time Instrumentation

10% lab checkpoints, 15% midsem, 15% lab exam, 60% final.

, ELEC2134 (the Laplace transform section), and to a small extent ELEC3104 and ELEC2142 and MATH2099 (the linear algebra part)

I actually took this elective after reading a previous review of it by Jamon, and it's well worth it. I would describe this course as being a sort of bridge between control systems and DSP, with a big focus on implementing controllers in the discrete-time domain. Mostly the content overlaps with control systems (state space methods, PID controllers, Laplace transforms) and DSP (z-transforms, discrete-time equations and filters).

There is a small, separate (3 weeks) part of the course which involves actually learning how to program in real-time and learning about how to implement a real-time system.

The content is not difficult, however one somewhat challenging part would be solving differential equations using the Runge-Kutta methods. The labs are quite enjoyable and not difficult (just a bit of basic C-programming is required). The midsem was fine but the final exam was quite difficult (e.g. in one question we actually had to solve a 4th order Runge Kutta using 2 iterations ). It probably didn't help that the final was held from 5:45 - 8:00pm.
Overall this is actually a very useful and interesting elective and I'd recommend taking it.

2/3 hour lectures, 3 hour labs, 1 hour tutorials

2/5

Yes

Branislav Hredzak

Not much, possibly a real-time engineering textbook would come in handy

4/5

None

2/2019

10% lab checkpoints, 10% lab exam, 10% midsem, 10% assignment, 60% final exam

First year Mathematics, ELEC2141, and a fundamental programming course (COMP1511 or similar)

This is a good course to take at the same time as Control Systems, because much of the content overlaps. I found the two courses nice to do in tandem because they expanded and played off each other - Made things easier to remember for me.
The course is essentially in two halves - An analytical section focusing on the mathematics behind certain control systems, and then a programming section on how you actually code using a real-time kernel. The two don't overlap in any meaningful way, and the programming section is far more useful and interesting than the analytical section. The analytical section is not that difficult - The programming section is

2 hours lecture, 1 hour tutorial, 3 hours lab

2/5

No

Dr Branislav Hredzak

-

5/5

None prescribed, anything on Real-Time systems could be useful. Your textbook for Control Systems could come in handy.

2017/2

92 HD