It is hard to imagine life without your Smartphone – you have come to rely on it so much – for your work; to stay in touch with family and friends; to capture and share those special moments; to find your way around in a new neighborhood. Did you ever wonder how and when all this happened? Or how and when GPS sensors came to be in your cell phone? In this course, we will explore the convergence of multiple disciplines leading to todays’ Smartphones. You will learn about the birth and evolution of Telephony Networks, Broadcast Networks (TV and Radio) and Consumer Electronics. We will discuss the impact of Internet, (multimedia) content, smartphones and apps on everyday lives. We will then look at how this emerging platform called the Internet of Things – wherein billions and trillions of devices communicating with each other and “the cloud” – could enable unprecedented, innovative products and services. Take this course if you want to understand what great new advances in mobile-enabled products will be coming our way! Learning Goals: This course provides a core grounding in how science and technology have developed to enable the Internet of Things – in a way appropriate for any learner. For those interested in developing further hands-on expertise in designing and developing for the Internet of Things, this course will provide a context to the discoveries and converging technologies that will springboard the next round of innovations. After completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Compare how the telephone system works (that is, peer-to-peer networks) with how media delivery works (that is, broadcast/multicast networks). 2. Explain the tradeoffs between circuit switched networks (that is, dedicated resources) and packet switched networks (that is, shared resources). 3. Tell interesting stories about key innovations that transformed the communications, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. 4. Explain how email, YouTube, SMS, etc. work. 5. Find resources for those wishing to do more of a “deep-dive” into the above topics.

Do you want to develop skills to prototype embedded products using state-of-the-art technologies? In this course you will build a hardware and software development environment to guide your journey through the Internet of Things specialization courses. We will use the DragonBoard™ 410c single board computer (SBC). This is the first in a series of courses where you will learn both the theory and get the hands-on development practice needed to prototype Internet of Things products. This course is suitable for a broad range of learners. This course is for you if: - You want to learn how to use learn how to use Linux for embedded purposes. - You want to pivot your career towards the design and development of Internet of Things enabled products - You are an entrepreneur, innovator or member of a DIY community Learning Goals: After completing this course, you will be able to: 1) Know where you can find resources and help in the 96Boards ecosystem. 2) Describe the DragonBoard™ 410c peripherals, I/O expansion capabilities, Compute (CPU and Graphics) capabilities, and Connectivity capabilities. 3) Understand how to navigate and make use of the Linux terminal. 4) Configure at least one integrated development environment (IDE) for developing software. 5) Make use of Git and GitHub for version control purposes. 6) Create and build projects that interface with sensors and actuators through GPIO and Arduino.

Have you wondered what exactly AWS is and why is it important? Do you want to make informed design decisions about which services to use? Do you want to gain expertise to leverage the cloud for your own projects? In this course, you will learn to interface with the AWS cloud. You will then develop software to send data to and receive data from the cloud. Along the way, you’ll learn how to structure your project with a variety of these difference services. Learning Goals: After completing this course, you will be able to: 1) Understand what the cloud is and how it works. 2) Install and configure the AWS CLI and SDK on a Linux system. 3) Use various AWS services such as EC2, IoT, and many more. 4) Build projects that heavily leverage the cloud. 5) Integrate the cloud into embedded systems.

Have you wondered how “Things” talk to each other and the cloud? Do you understand the alternatives for conveying latency-sensitive real time data versus reliable signaling data? Building on the skills from the Sensing and Actuation course, we will explore protocols to exchange information between processors. In this course, you will learn how VoIP systems like Skype work and implement your own app for voice calls and text messages. You will start by using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for session management. Next, you will learn how voice codecs such as Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) are used in 3G networks and use them for voice traffic in your app. Learning Goals: After completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Implement session initiation, management and termination on your DragonBoard™ 410c using SIP. 2. Discover other users and exchange device capabilities. 3. Compare and contrast narrowband and wideband codecs and experience the voice quality differences between them. 4. Implement and demonstrate VoIP calls using the DragonBoard 410c.

Content is an eminent example of the features that contributed to the success of wireless Internet. Mobile platforms such as the Snapdragon™ processor have special hardware and software capabilities to make acquisition, processing and rendering of multimedia content efficient and cost-effective. In this course, you will learn the principles of video and audio codecs used for media content in iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Netflix, etc. You will learn the file formats and codec settings for optimizing quality and media bandwidth and apply them in developing a basic media player application. Learning Goals: After completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Explain the tradeoffs between media quality and bandwidth for content delivery. 2. Extract and display metadata from media files. 3. Implement and demonstrate a simple media player application using DragonBoard™ 410c.