McGill crafts course around ST Micro's tech

MANHASSET -- STMicroelectronics and McGill University have collaborated to create an undergraduate course that teaches the integration of multiple state-of-the-art sensors into embedded computer systems.

The course includes laboratory exercises and a final project that enables students to design systems for analyzing data taken from multiple sensors.

The course was designed by Zeljko Zilic, a professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and is based on ST’s iNemo design platform for measurement gear.

iNemo integrates ST’s accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers, together with pressure and temperature sensors, to provide 3-axis sensing of linear, angular and magnetic motion, complemented with temperature and barometer/altitude readings.

"We believe this new course, which integrates the curricula of Computer, Electrical and Software Engineering programs, provides an ideal foundation for modern system design, which increasingly requires the ability to combine computer system and software design, as well as the signal processing needed to integrate multiple sensor data," said Zilic, in a statement.

"ST, together with McGill University, has created a standard education package including lectures, labs and final projects that can be supplied to other academic instutions together with the iNEMO platform and help establish similar courses across North America," said Bill Raasch, VP Product Marketing, Smart Power and High Performance Analog, in the same statement.

Some 35 students have already completed the course, which started this January.

The students' final projects included a gaming application featuring 'Hidden Markov Model Motion Detection,' a gesture recognition system for image manipulation, and a tilt-compensated compass with free-fall detection for aircraft use.

The next undergraduate course will start this coming September. In addition, a two-day postgraduate workshop devoted to Integrated Sensor Systems, also based on the iNEMO, will be held at McGill University May 16 and 17.

McGill University is a public research university that consistently is ranked as the top university in Canada. Its past students and professors include three astronauts, two Canadian prime ministers, three foreign leaders, and three Pulitzer Prize winners.