Greetings! In this course, we will delve into the world of embedded systems engineering using ARM microprocessors. Our focus will be on the System-on-Chip architecture prevalent in the ARM ecosystem, beginning with the fundamentals of low-level firmware.

We will explore the intricacies of the boot process, manually configuring and compiling its various components—including ARM Trusted Firmware (TF-A) and the U-Boot bootloader - entirely from scratch. Leveraging Buildroot, we will then construct a streamlined, custom Linux distribution encompassing the kernel, rootfs, and initramfs.

To address modern security practices, we will introduce crucial technologies such as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and ARM TrustZone. Finally, we will round out our journey with an overview of Linux kernel development, focusing on custom device drivers.

Get ready to embark on an exciting journey of learning and discovery!

For the practical labs, we will gain hands-on experience with the NXP FRDM iMX93 platform, featuring:

• SoC: NXP i.MX93
• CPU: 2 x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.7 GHz
• MCU: 1 x ARM Cortex-M33 @ 250 MHz
• Memory: 2 GB DRAM
• Storage: 32 GB eMMC Flash
• Extras: Arm® Ethos™ U-65 microNPU!

If you have any questions, fill free to contact us:

• Radu Mantu, radu.mantu@upb.ro
• Florin Stancu, florin.stancu@upb.ro