Spring 2027

Embedded Microprocessor System Design

Embedded Microprocessor System Design covers hardware and software design for modern microprocessor-based embedded systems, focusing on the design process and a major team project.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Joseph Krachey4.1/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Joseph Krachey

The class required working early and often, and students noted that ordering components was critical due to late arrivals.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Design an embedded system that utilizes a commercially available microprocessor

  • Incorporate sensors and integrated circuits to solve an engineering problem

  • Architect firmware/software solutions used to control embedded systems

  • Fabricate a prototype using a printed circuit board (PCB)

  • Identify functional requirements and appropriate solutions of an embedded system

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(E C E 315 and COMP SCI 300) or graduate/professional standing. Not open to special students or students with credit forE C E 454, 455, or 554.

ECE 453

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Joseph Krachey

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.26/5 from 42 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.5/5 raw quality · 3.0/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Joseph Krachey

Joseph Krachey taught a hard but rewarding class where students found him helpful and clear. Reviewers noted that ordering components early was crucial because payment hurdles sometimes caused late deliveries during the semester.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.76 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.88 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.83 GPA, 92.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Michael Morrow

Michael Morrow taught the material well, emphasizing real-world engineering applications from his industry experience. He was described as very helpful in office hours, with lectures that were entertaining and worthwhile. The student found him knowledgeable and expressed a wish to have had him for a previous course.

JOSEPH KRACHEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL MORROW is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Joseph Krachey

Students found the course hard but incredibly rewarding, with Joseph Krachey providing clear and helpful instruction.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.76 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.88 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.83 GPA, 92.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Joseph Krachey

The class required working early and often, and students noted that ordering components was critical due to late arrivals.

Past student reviews · Joseph Krachey

Reviewers described Krachey as a helpful, clear, and nice professor who clearly cared about the value of the class to ECE students.

Topics

  • Hardware and software design for embedded systems
  • Embedded system design process
  • Team-based embedded design projects
  • PCB prototyping and fabrication

Skills

  • Designing embedded systems with commercial microprocessors
  • Architecting firmware and software solutions for embedded control
  • Fabricating prototypes using printed circuit boards
  • Integrating sensors and integrated circuits for engineering problems
  • Identifying functional requirements and solutions for embedded systems

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ECE 453 · Spring 2027

Embedded Microprocessor System Design

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:320:006385",
    "course_id": "ECE 453",
    "course_uid": "course_90e09143d9d1e797e54f4796",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "006385",
    "source_subject_id": "320",
    "title": "Embedded Microprocessor System Design",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "0c213c07074735cad7d39faf752a06e02d5db57b99e690eb35156f8c12781bdb",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}