Teaching Utilization of a Multitasking Operating System: A Case Study

Engineers are taught to use a variety of tools in system design. This paper describes a project used successfully to teach one software tool, a real-time, multitasking operating system. The project involved the simulation of a simple traffic light controller and associated traffic. Pieces of the simulation are implemented as independent tasks runining under the operating system. Small groups of students (2-3) worked nearly independently to write their respective parts, with the whole simulation being integrated only at final load time. The traffic light provided a familiar example with which to work, and student interest and enthusiasm were high for the duration of the project. Several aspects of the educational results of this case are presented.