There are a number of other books that are good references.
PIC Microcontroller
- PIC Microcontroller Project Book,
Iovine, J., McGraw-Hill, 0-07-135479-4. Great examples
for the PIC with schematics and programs in BASIC.
- Design with PIC Microcontrollers,
Peatman, J., Prentice-Hall, 0-13-759259-0. A very
good treatment of PIC interfacing and software design.
Diversified Engineering has a board oriented towards the
experiments in this book.
- Easy PIC'n,
Benson, D., Square 1 Electronics, 0-9654162-0-8. A series
of experiments with schematics, parts lists and assembler.
- PIC'n up the Pace,
Benson, D., Square 1 Electronics, 0-9654162-1-6. A series
of experiments with schematics, parts lists and assembler.
- Build and Understand Pic Microcontroller Circuits, Smith, D.,
Butterworth, 075648120, 2001. Haven't seen it yet.
- The Qunitessential Pic Microcontroller, Katzen, S.,
185233309, 2001. Haven't seen it yet.
Embedded and Real-time Systems
- Computer As Components, Wolf, W., Morgan-Kaufmann,
1-555860-541-X, 2001. Probably the best overall treatment of
the subject with practicalities oriented towards the ARM and
SHARC processors.
- Embedded Microcompute Systems, Valvano, J., Brooks Cole,
0-534-36642-2, 2000. Excellent coverage of hardware and
software topics oriented towards the Motorola products.
- Microcomputer Engineering, Miller, G., Prentice-Hall
00-13-895368-6, 1999. Good coverage of 68HC11 processor
family and some great examples of systems.
- The Art of Designing Embedded Systems,
Ganssle, J., Newnes, 0-7506-9869-1. A concise philosophical
treatment of the subject. Not really a beginners book.
- MicroC/OS-II, LaBrosse, J., R&D Books, 0-87930-543-6.
Good instruction on the design of real-time os's.
- Embedded Systems Building Blocks, LaBrosse, J., R&D Books,
0-87930-604-1. Book of embedded system problems and C code
solutions. Great resource, but not a textbook.
- Embedded Microprocessor Systems, Ball, S., Newnes,
0-7506-7234-X, 2000. More hardware than software, but a concise
introduction to the issues.
- Real-Time Systems, Liu, J., Prentice-Hall
0-13-099651-3, 2000. For real-time software development and
real-time operating systems, this is the most comprehensive
textbook.
- An Introduction to Real-Time Systems,
Buhr and Bailey, Prentice-Hall, 0-13-606070-6.
Good theoretical treatment of system modeling and design.
- Real-Time Programming,
Grehan, Moote and Cyliax, Addison-Wesley, 0-201-48540-0.
Organized around their ETS real-time operating system kernal
and not much general coverage. Some excellent experiments in
real-time operating systems.
- Real-Time Software Systems,
Cooling, J., PWS Publising (Thompson Computer Press,
0-534-95492-8. Theoretical treatment of real-time design issues.
- Real-time Design Patterns,
Douglass, B., Addison-Wesley, 0-201-69956-7.
- Linux for Embedded and Real-time Applications,
Abbot, D., Newnes, 0-750607546-2.
- Embedded Linux,
Hollabaugh, C., Addison-Wesley, 0-672-32226-9.
- Software Engineering for Real-time Systems,
Cooling, J., Addison-Wesley, 0-201-59620-2.
Robotics
Hands-on Practical Robotics
- Robotic Explorations,
Martin, F., Pearson Education, 0-13-089568-7.
- Mobile Robots,
Jones, J., et al, A. K. Peters, 1-56881-097-0.
- Introduction to Robotics,
Niku, S., Pearson Education, 0-13-061309-6.
- Robotics, Mechatronics and Artificial Intelligence,
Braga, N., Newnes, 0-7506-7389-3.
- Applied Robotics,
Wise, E., Prompt Publications, 0-7906-1184-8.
- Robot Builders Bonanza, Second Edition
McComb, G., McGraw-Hill, 0-07-136296-7, 2001. The title says
it all. If you want to experiment with robotics and do it
cheaply, get this book. Schematics, parts lists and lots of
practical advice.
- Build Your Own Robot,
Lunt, K., A. K. Peters, 1-56881-102-0. Oriented towards the
authors particular robots, but good practical ideas.
- Practical Robotics: Principles and Applications, Bill Davies,
CPIC Technical Books, 096818300X, 1995. Haven't seen it yet.
- Robots, Androids and Animatrons: 12 Incredible Projects You Can
Build, Iovine, McGraw-Hill, 0070328048.
- Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robots, ,
Kortenkamp, D., et al, AAAI Press/MIT Press, 0-262-61137-6.
- Behavior-based Robotics ,
Arkin, R., MIT Press, 0-262-01165-4.
- Robot Shaping,
Dorigo, M., et al, MIT Press, 0-262-04164-2.
- Robot Building for Beginners,
Cook, D., a! Press, 1-893115-44-5.
- Robot Teams,
Balch, T., A. K. Peters, 1-56881-155-1.
Mechatronics (locomotion, arms, etc)
- Mechatronics: Mechanical System Interfacing,
Auslander and Kempf, Prentice-Hall, 0-13-120338-X.
- Robotics,
Sandler, B., Academic Press, 0-12-618520-4. Good but not
terribly practical book on mechatronics
- Engineering Foundations of Robotics,
N-Nagy and Siegler, Prentice-Hall, 0-13-278805-5.
- Mobile Robotics : A Practical Introduction (Applied Computing)
, Nehmozow, U., Springer-Verlag, 1852331739, 2000.
- Mobile Robots: Inspriation to Implementation, J. Jones,
AK Peters, 1568810970, 1998.
Sensing
- Sensors for Mobile Robots: Theory and Application,
Everett, AK Peters, 1568810482, 1995.
Comprehensive
- Adaptive Control, Asatrom and Wittenmark, AW, 0201558661,
1994.
- Personal Robotics, Raucci, Richard, AK Peters, 156881089X,
1999. (kit oriented)
Electronics and Interfacing
- Practical Electronics for Inventors, Scherz, P.,
McGraw-Hill, 0-07-058078-2, 2000. Very good coverage of circuits
and digital logic for anyone with a technical interest. Highly
recommended.
- Basic Digital Electronics, Evans, A., Prompt Publications,
0-79-061118-X, 1997.
- Interfacing Sensors to the IBM PC,
Tompkins and Webster, Prentice-Hall, 0-13-469081-8. Some nice
examples, but not a hands-on book exactly.
- Controlling the World With Your PC,
A set of really neat experiments using your PC as the controller.
Great resource with schematics and parts lists.
- Data Acquisition and Process Control with the M68HC11
Microcontroller, Driscoll, Coughlin, Villanucci, Prentice-Hall,
0-13-779976-4, 2000. Mostly on the Motorola architectures,
but some good examples of interfacing and software development.
- Electronic Surveillance Devices, Brookes, P.,
Newnes, 0-7506-2582-1, 1996. Good examples of interfacing
audio and video devices.
- Computer Interfacing, Rigby and Dalby, Prentice-Hall,
0-13-288374-0, 1995, Pretty good book on sensors and interfacing.
- Interfacing Sensors to the IBM PC
Tompkins and Webster, Prentice-Hall, 0-13-469081-8. Some nice
examples, but not a hands-on book exactly.
Recommendations
There is no single book that covers these topics and there are
few that even cover a single topic well. Here are some that
seem to be better.
- Linux Real-time systems - Linux for Embedded and Real-time
Systems (Abbot) or Embedded Linux (Hollabaugh) are both
good, but with different foci. The Hollabaugh book
is centered on Project Trailblazer, which is not really
in the mainstream, but it has good technical discussions.
- Mobile robots - Mobile Robots: Inspriation to
Implementation
(Jones) is a good (and cheap) introduction to the important
topics.
- Embedded systems - Computers as Components (Wolf)
For a concise and more hardware-oriented approach,
Embedded Microprocessor Systems (Ball). A software
engineering approach is found in The Art of Designing
Embedded Systems (Ganssle).
- Real-time Systems - Real-Time Systems (Liu) is the best
all-around book on the subject. Another choice with less
comprehensive coverage but some practical information is
Real-time Programming (Grehan, et al).
- PIC - Programming and Customizing the PICmicro
Microcontrollers
(Predko) or Design with PIC Microcontrollers (Peatman).
PIC Microcontroller Project Book (Iovine) as a secondary
resource, with the various Benson books as alternatives. For
the nuts and bolts, the Microchip website has excellent
references onlin.
- Electronics - Practical Electronics for Inventors (Scherz)
is the best, but Basic Digital Electronics (Evans) is
good for digital stuff, as the Radio Shack books by Mims are
also pretty good.
- Robotics - If you want practical stuff, get Applied
Robotics
(Wise) and Robot Builders Bonanza, Second Edition (McComb).
For theoretical understanding, Robotics (Sandler),
- Data Acquisition - Controlling the World With Your PC
(Bergman) is
a neat practical set of examples and PC Intefacing and
Data Acquisition is a very complete reference. A more formal
approach is Computer Interfacing (Digby).
- If I wanted just an academic, bookworm look at embedded systems,
I would get the books by Wolf, Ganssle and Liu. If I wanted to
go more
practical but not get hands-on, the Valvano book would be a good
alternative to those two.
- If I wanted to get more hands on using the PIC, I would go with
the Peatman book for a fairly orderly presentation, or the
Predko book if quantity of information is more important. In
either case, I would strongly consider the Iovine book as a
companion because it has great examples.
- If I wanted to do this all at minimum cost, I would get the book
by Ball.
- For real-time OS's, you should have the LaBrosse book
in hand.
- For robotics, there are no books that cover the entire
range, because obviously, the range includes locomotion,
arm mechatronics, sensing (vision, hearing, touch), control,
power systems, platforms, pattern recognition and just
about everything else you can think of. I like the practical
books (Wise, McComb, Lunt, Davies) and figure the rest of
it just has to be ferreted out. The books listed above
for mechatronics all pretty good.
