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Understanding the principles behind the functioning of basic analog and digital systems is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for independently designing embedded electronic systems. Under the guidance of your instructor, come and experience how challenging it can be to design and implement a working prototype of an electronic device.

This course is taught in the winter semester and is recommended for third-year bachelor's students. It is preceeded by KEI/VPP3 in the previous summer semester. Together, these two courses cover the complete development of an electronic device with an STM32 microcontroller, first focusing on hardware and then on software aspects. The project is frequently suggested for continuation and expansion within the scope of a bachelor’s final thesis.

The VPP3 and VPP4 course pair is intended for advanced students in the field of electronic systems. It is expected that students have completed VPP1 and VPP2 (experience with Altium Designer for HW design and STM32CubeIDE for SW development), or possess equivalent knowledge of HW and SW design for electronic systems gained elsewhere. In each semester, emphasis is placed from the very beginning on an independent semester project chosen by the student. Unlike in VPP1 and VPP2, there is no theoretical instruction; instead, specific topics may be discussed based on students’ needs and requests. Ideally, students bring their own project ideas and, after approval from the instructor, work on them directly. Department-led projects are also available for students to join. Alternatively, students may choose to further develop a project originally started in VPP1 or VPP2.

The course typically uses STM32 microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics along with the aforementioned design tools. However, students may use other microcontrollers or design environments if they wish, but in that case, they must rely more heavily on their own knowledge or self-study.

For projects from other fields (outside of microcontrollers or other departments than KEI), students should register for VPP courses offered by the relevant department. The KEI/VPP courses are specifically focused on microcontroller-based topics, and completing a project in this domain is required in order to receive credit.