guassian:
Many people, students, hobbyist in the field of engineering or technology would have probably heard of the word “Embedded Systems” or “Microcontroller” and wonder what is it all about. An average Nigerian student studying computer science, computer engineering, electronics engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications etc. rarely learn or go on net for practical research on how to build circuits and be creative in their field until when they want to do their final year project, that’s when they realize that the world of technology has gone far beyond the V=IR they are being taught in class. They want to download circuit diagrams and implement it but discover that more than 70% of construction projects approvable by their supervisor are one way or the other related to the use of Embedded system and thereby would need the knowledge of Microcontroller and Embedded systems development to achieve it.
I stand to be corrected, most universities, polytechnics and technical schools don’t teach Microcontrollers and Embedded systems well enough for the student to grab useful information they will need to implement their final year project. They teach the introduction and use obsolete microcontroller or microprocessors and use obsolete programming language, and at the end of the course, students are examined by designing a kindergarten circuit and writing programs on book that will never Run if it were to be compiled and simulated. These lecturers that don’t teach embedded systems well enough will later be giving very hard project topics to students as final year project. The student who probably complains of not having the technical know-how to achieve the project would probably be told by their supervisor to go and make research or some would encourage them to contract it out and tell them to learn how to defend the project. Can You Imagine!... An higher institution that is supposed to be a research institution offering solutions to companies and inventing new things, students are going outside to contract projects to some uneducated technician at Alaba, Oshodi and the likes. The student ends up writing a shabby report because he is writing a book about what he or she doesn’t know and thereby do a lot of plagiarism by copying and pasting someone else’s work and having up to 50 references which some are fake, they virtually write nothing from their brain because they don’t have anything technical up there. Infact, so many students that has graduated ought to do their NYSC in jail for plagiarism, and also some lecturer that are not interested in the research but using students to write journals for promotion.
Come to think of it, those people that are gurus in embedded systems and microcontroller programming that you contract projects to are not super human, they figured it out too. Some went to learn it from existing gurus, and some were patient enough to learn from books, tutorials, internet and also by try-an-error. Which ever case, the endpoint is having knowledge, and the earlier you start learning the better for you because the world is now going digital.
You that knows how to design and construct any type of discrete circuits, analog circuits, digital circuits, it time for you to go flexible and dynamic by learning embedded systems because that’s where the world is moving now. Finite state machine (FSM) or discrete analog and digital circuit has limited functionality and you use so many circuit components to achieve a very small task or application but using a stored program machine (SPM) or embedded system can achieve a whole lot with a finger size circuit.
You a fresh student in school or even in your final year studying electronics engineering or computer engineering or electrical etc, I urge you to start learning how to design and construct and develop embedded systems as this will help you achieve your final year project easily and also make money from the lazy ones who cannot go extra mile than reading and passing exams.
You a graduate of engineering that is looking for Job, its high time job look for you and its high time you be an entrepreneur. If you are not in electronics/computer/electrical line, get skills related to your field. But believe you me, computer engineering, computer science, and embedded systems is one of the most lucrative job in engineering you can practice on your own and use your one room apartment as a workshop and none of your neighbor will be disturbed.
You electronics engineer and electrical engineer working and earning salary, its time to invest your spare time and money in embedded systems. Your employer will only pay you a peanut of what they actually earn, no employer can overpay you. Even if you work in a multinational company, they wont pay you to get richer than them, and they can sack you at any time except you are indispensable, and the only way to be indispensable is to have a broad and updated knowledge of your field and be exceptional. Also have another source of income, something you can fall back on if anything happens to your Job.
You practicing electrical technician or technologist, its time to get flexible also. Apart from running electrical fittings and installing electronics appliances, you can start designing and constructing fire alarm systems, security systems, home automation systems, tracking systems for valuable equipments etc. You can build these gadgets yourself and make more money.
Gadgets that involves embedded systems imported from abroad is very difficult to repair especially when the progrmmed chip is damaged. This is because no manufacturer will give out their software to enable technician change the chip and reprogram it. This lead to changing of a whole board instead of changing of a single chip. So we need to start developing our own gadget here in Nigeria that the manufacturer will be nearby and gadgets will be easily repaired.
To this effect I take it upon myself to teach people, students, hobbyist, and engineers in the area of embedded systems especially using microcontrollers. I will be giving tutorials out for free circuit, code and methodology just to encourage someone out there, I am committed to blessing someone’s life practically. I will be giving links to where you can download useful softwares and tutorials on net.
There is also solution to the major problem or challenges electronics hobbyist in Nigeria is facing which is getting electronics componets, tools, equipment and modules related to microcontroller and embedded systems. Some components like resistors and capacitors are easy to get around but components like 7 segment displays, LCD display, GSM module, Ultrasonic module, Fire sensor module, Arduino, oscilloscope, quality multimeters, etc are very hard to get and this problem discourages students and hobbyist and scare them away from practicing and doing some experiments.
Universities and polytechnics too are not helping matters because most don’t have these components in the so called modern laboratory and few that has them don’t allow students to touch them let alone giving them for experiment. You can order components online at sparkfun, alibaba, aliexpress, adafruits, hub360 etc. these companies are located abroad except hub360 which is here in Nigeria and supplies any hard-to-get component anywhere in Nigeria. They are reliable, they supply quality components for secondary schools, universities, polytechnics, technical schools, organizations, students, hobbyist etc and have good customer relation. They have embedded system engineers that are ready to help you if you have any problem or challenge concerning any component you buy from them. You can check out this site and see for yourself. www.hub360.com.ng
I use them always and get components at my doorstep, most times, I am always busy reading, performing one experiment or the other so no time to go to market to get component and when I go sometimes, I end up not getting all the exact components I read about online and need to perform my next experiment so what’s the essence of going. But hub360 will get you all the components at cheap price and you pay on delivery. They have hub360 starter kits which are groups components carefully selected by their engineers for beginners who don’t know which components to start with.
I will be doing tutorials in modules and providing links to sites and books you can download useful materials for more information.
Watch out for my next post which will be an introduction to Embedded systems. You will be learning what it is, what it entails, where they are used etc. Nice Concept |
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: Post Of Engineer Trainee Globalcom by feladibaba(m): 1:27pm On May 09, 2017