10 Best Embedded Systems Online Courses, Training & Certifications [Updated June 2023]

About the Course

ARM-based (Advanced RISC Machines) technology has become an industry standard when it comes to embedded systems. Therefore, our first best embedded systems online course is an intermediate training that will take you through the fundamentals of an embedded system and teach you why ARM processors are best suited for present-day IoT applications.

This course, through its interactive labs, will help you in developing the technical skills that are essential to work on embedded systems. This embedded system online training will begin with the characteristics, components, benefits, and constraints of an embedded system as well as the cost-performance trade-offs.  The reason why this course is the best embedded systems online course is that it includes free access to a Mbed API so that you can practice your newly-acquired skills to prototype and build real-world applications without the need for any additional hardware. You can simply download the simulator on your computer and save on the expenses of sourcing hardware.

By undertaking this course you will be able to modify skeleton code to implement functionality for multiple applications. You will be able to use analog and digital I/O interfaces, timers, interrupts, and pulse width modulation to program an audio wave generator and audio player.

This course is one of the best embedded systems courses created by ARM education that can be completed in six weeks. While it is a self-paced course, it will require a study effort of 3 to 6 hours per week. You can access and review this course for free; however, you will have to pay a fee to get a verified certificate.  This will be an instructor-signed certificate along with the institution’s logo that you can add to your CV’s or share on your LinkedIn profiles.

What You Will Learn from This Course

• The characteristics of an embedded system and evaluating its benefits and challenges
• Identifying key features of the Mbed API and running a basic application using the Mbed simulator
• Controlling GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) peripherals using digital I/O interfaces from the Mbed API
• Explaining and implementing interrupts for controlling peripherals
• Implementing an audio wave generator whose pitch and volume are controlled by two analog signal inputs
• Developing an audio player that incorporates timers, tickers, and pulse width modulation

Who Is This Course For?

This is one of the finest courses for engineers who want to quickly learn building microcontrollers using the industry-standard APIs.

Pre-Requisites

• Students taking up such embedded systems online courses must be familiar with the engineering principles
• To learn embedded systems online, you must have a basic understanding of any programming language such as C or C++
• You must have access to a Windows or MAC to install the template of the Mbed API simulator

About the Course

This course is the first part of a two-course series that will give you hands-on experience in working with embedded systems to build solutions for real-world problems. This embedded system online training will especially focus on microcontroller input/output. The two lab-based courses created by the University of Texas at Austin are one of the best embedded systems online courses that will teach you how the common electronic gadgets are developed as embedded systems.

'This first course will begin with how to build simple interfacing of switches and LEDs. It will progress to complex concepts such as a microcontroller-based pacemaker and a digital lock. This intermediate course to learn embedded systems online will also cover the general principles and tips for programming microcontrollers and building circuits using the C programming language.

The reason why this course has secured second place in our selected embedded systems online courses is that this course will also teach you how to use oscilloscopes, logical analyzers, and software instrumentation to improve your debugging skills. Every lab-based assignment included in this course will first be worked upon simulators and once you are confident you can debug your embedded system in the real microcontroller. By the end of this best embedded systems course, you would have gained sufficient knowledge and the skills to build your own traffic light controller from scratch.

The duration of this self-paced intermediate course is 8 weeks and it will demand a study commitment of 8 to 10 hours per week.  It consists of 10 lab-based modules and you can select from the subset of these modules to get your certification. While this edX course can be accessed for free, you will need to pay an additional fee to obtain a verified certificate.

What You Will Learn

• Fundamental concepts of embedded systems such as numbers, computers, and the ARM Cortex M processor
• Writing I/O functions and software using C programming
• Building and testing circuits with switches, LEDs, resistors, potentiometers, and LCDs
• Synchronizing hardware and software I/O using switches, lights, sound, sensors, motors, and LCDs 
• Solving problems using a finite state machine
• Debugging with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and software instrumentation
• Reading a datasheet

Who Is This Course For?

Engineers who are new to embedded systems can enroll in this lab-based course to gain hands-on experience in microcontrollers.

Pre-Requisites

• Enrollees are required to have undertaken a computer programming course in any language to have an understanding of variables, arithmetic, logic, loops, and functions.
• Understanding of high-school physics concepts such as current, voltage, resistance, and power will be beneficial.
• Students will be required to purchase the Texas Instruments TM4C123 microcontroller kit and a couple of other electronic components prescribed by the instructors.

About the Course

This embedded system online training is the continuation of the previous edX course. This intermediate course will further your skills through the lab-based classes. Through this course, you will learn how to use interrupts to design real-time systems such as an audio player, a data acquisition system, an interactive game, and much more. This is one of the best learn-by-doing embedded systems online courses that will equip you to build solutions for real-world problems.

Just like the previous course, you will begin building simple interfacing of switches and LEDs. As you advance in this best embedded systems online course, you will learn building complex display drivers, digital to analog conversion and vice versa, motor control, generation of sound, etc. This course will also cover programming the microcontroller in C language, debugging using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and software instrumentation. By the end of this second course, you will be working on your embedded system on the real microcontroller and will construct your own arcade-style game.

This embedded systems online certificate course is offered by the University of Texas at Austin. It comprises six lab-based classes and you can select from the subsets to complete your certification. The duration of this self-paced course is 8 weeks and it requires a study effort of 8 to 10 hours every week. Since this course is archived, you can access the content for free by logging in through your edX account. However, if you wish to receive a verified certificate, you will need to pay an add-on fee.

What You Will Learn

• Building and testing circuits with switches, LEDs, resistors, potentiometers, and LCDs
• Synchronizing hardware and software I/O with switches, lights, sound, sensors, motors, and LCDs
• Implementing an I/O driver and multi-threaded program using interrupts
• Debugging system using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and software instrumentation
• Reading a datasheet
• Constructing a smart object and creating a system as part of the Internet of Things (IoT)
• Designing and testing a guitar tuner to produce a 440 Hz tone
• Designing and testing a digital piano with 4 inputs
• Design and testing a hand-held video game, integrating all components from the previous modules

Who Is This Course For?

Engineers and developers who want to learn to build real-world embedded systems using a bottom-up approach can enroll in this best online course for embedded systems.

Pre-Requisites

• Understanding of programming language concepts such as variables, arithmetic, logic, loops, and functions.
• Students should be well-versed with high school physics covering topics such as current, voltage, resistance, and power.
• Enrollees should have completed Part 1 of these two embedded systems online courses.
• Students must have access to a Texas Instruments TM4C123 microcontroller kit and other electronic components prescribed in Part 1.

About the Course

If you are looking for free embedded systems online courses, Udacity is offering an excellent course in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology. As smartphones and tablets have taken over the world of computing and communication, there is no denying that embedded systems are the future. Newer paradigms such as the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence have further fueled the ubiquity of information and related computation. These highly demanding platforms have led to the complete redesigning and reinvention of hardware and software stacks such as ARM, DSPs, and network processors. These processors can meet real-time needs, are high in performance but consume lesser energy, and are built using compact code and data segments. If you wish to work on such ever-changing software stacks you must gain knowledge about the different sectors of embedded systems. This intermediate course is one of the top embedded systems online courses that will provide a holistic view of the embedded system stack focusing on processor architectures, instruction sets, and advanced compiler optimizations.

Led by Santosh Pande and Catherine Gamboa, this embedded system online training consists of three self-paced modules that will take approx. 16 weeks to complete. What makes this the best embedded systems online course is that besides the instructor-led video lectures, this course also provides hands-on exercises to learn embedded systems online. Since this is a free course it does not award any certificate, however, you can opt for the Nanodegree Certificate Program on Flying Car and Autonomous Flight Engineer.

What You Will Learn

• Instruction-level parallelism
• Embedded micro-architectures
• Design of instruction set architectures
• Compiler phases
• Registering allocation foundation
• Registering allocation for embedded processors
• Data layouts for embedded processors
• Data and code compaction
• Network processors

Who Is This Course For?

This is the best embedded systems course for anyone who wants to learn about processor architectures, instruction sets, and compiler optimizations.

Pre-Requisites

• You must have undertaken an undergraduate or equivalent course in computer architecture.
• You must also have strong command over the programming languages C and/or C++.

About the Course

For those aiming to gain real-world coding experience and hands-on training on working with ARM-based microcontrollers, this course is one of the best embedded systems courses that you can opt for. In this course, you will learn how to develop embedded software applications and implementing software configuration management. Through the course assignments of this embedded system online training, you will learn how to create a build system using the GNU Toolchain GCC, how to use the Git version control, and how to develop software in Linux on a Virtual Machine. As a final leg of the course, you will work on a project to create your own build system and firmware to manipulate memory.

The instructor of this best embedded systems online course is Alex Fosdick who teaches Electrical, Computing and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. The duration of this intermediate course is approx. 9 hours and it is 100% online which means that you can learn at your own schedule. While you can enroll in this embedded systems online certificate course for free, you will have to purchase a subscription to Coursera Plus to receive a certificate. This course has a rating of 4.5 and 61,021 students have enrolled in it so far. Around 25% of these enrollees were able to start new careers after completing this best embedded systems online course.

What You Will Learn

• Components of embedded system software development process
• Development environments, version control, and the hardware kits to design, build, and manage systems
• Software development build system
• Creating build systems and utilizing build tools to analyze embedded software implementations
• Embedded concepts like the memory systems
• Software to hardware mapping
• Differentiating between program code and program data
• Utilizing all parts of an embedded system’s memory
• Writing memory manipulation software

Who Is This Course For?

Anyone who wishes to learn embedded systems online can enroll in this course.

Pre-Requisites

No pre-requisites have been mentioned to undertake this best online course for embedded systems.

About the Course

This is another course created by Alex Fosdick that will help you learn embedded systems online by focusing on embedded architectures and writing software to manipulate that hardware. Enrolling in this best embedded systems course will give you experience in writing low-level firmware to interface hardware with efficient and portable practices.

While the previous course taught how to build and run code in a simulated environment, in this embedded system online training you will work in an IDE to build and install your code directly on the ARM microcontroller. Through the hands-on assignments of this course, you will also learn to write firmware for both the ARM architecture and the microcontroller platform. As a final project, you will develop a circular buffer data structure.

This intermediate course is one of the best embedded systems online courses offered by the University of Colorado that you can complete in approx. 4 hours. It comprises 25 video lectures that are 100% online so that you can access them at your convenience. The online classes of this course can be enrolled in for free, but you will need a Coursera Plus subscription to obtain a certificate of completion. You can also apply for financial aid if you wish to purchase only this particular course. This course has a rating of 4.5 and has already been enrolled by 20,989 students. Another reason why this is one of the top embedded systems online courses is because around 60% of the enrollees were able to kick-start new careers with this course. Approx. 62% of the students got tangible career benefits by receiving certification of this course.

What You Will Learn

• Software/firmware interfacing with an embedded platform and the processor architecture
• Software design techniques that focus on portability and maintainability without reducing hardware’s performance
• Advanced firmware techniques and writing firmware for the microcontroller
• Building memory access methods for manipulating peripheral memory bit fields to configure microcontroller peripherals and core architecture concepts
• Using pointers for register definition files and function pointers for interrupt vector tables
• Efficient and maintainable ways of organizing data
• Abstract data structures in embedded system software

Who Is This Course For?

This embedded system online training is suitable for beginner or intermediate engineers and developers who want to understand embedded architectures and how to write software/firmware to manipulate the hardware. 

Pre-Requisites

You will need the Texas Instruments LaunchPad with the MSP432 microcontroller to work on the assignments included in this embedded system online certificate course.

About the Course

This course is one of the bestseller embedded systems online courses on Udemy that will teach you in-depth about the internal working of the microcontroller and its peripherals. In this course, you will learn step-by-step coding for the peripherals such as GPIOs, I2C, SPI, USART, etc., and develop software drivers, interrupt handlers, and sample application from scratch. The instructor will also teach you how to extract maximum information from the datasheets and reference manuals to configure and handle APIs. You will also learn protocol decoding using a logic analyzer, debugging, and testing, along with hints and expert tips.

This course has been created by FastBit Embedded Brain Academy and the instructor is Kiran Nayak, an Embedded Software Engineer. What makes this course the best online course for embedded systems is that it aims to helps engineers to learn different aspects of embedded systems through high-quality video lectures that too at a fraction of the cost of full-time courses. You have the liberty to learn at your own pace and can even access the classes on your mobile or TV. The duration of this embedded system online training is 24 hours and 6 minutes and it contains a whopping 258 video lectures.

Besides that, there are articles and downloadable resources to assist you in learning about embedded systems. You can purchase this embedded systems online certificate course with a one-time fee that is also covered under Udemy’s 30-days money-back guarantee. Purchasing this course will entitle you to lifetime access to learn embedded systems online. Plus, you will also be awarded a certificate of completion. This course has a rating of 4.6 on Udemy and 27,372 students have already enrolled so far.

What You Will Learn

• The right ways of handling and programming MCU peripherals
• Developing peripheral drivers for your microcontroller
• Complete driver development for GPIO, SPI, I2C, and USART
• Peripheral drivers and prototyping APIs
• The right ways to handling/configuring interrupts for various peripherals
• Peripheral IRQs/vector table/NVIC interfaces
• Configuration/status/control registers of various peripherals
• Using MCU datasheets and reference manuals, and writing start-up codes
• MCU bus interfaces and clock configurations, clock sources, etc.
• MCUs AHB, APB bus protocols
• Capturing/decoding/analyzing traces of serial protocols on a logic analyzer

Who Is This Course For?

Computer professionals who are interested in understanding embedded systems in detail

Students who want to build their careers in the Embedded systems world

This course is not suitable for people searching for quick prototyping using boards such as Arduino

Pre-Requisites

To learn embedded systems online, you can use any development board that runs with the ARM-Cortex M3/M4 processor. In case you do not have a development board, the instructor recommends STM32F407xx based Discovery board which he has also used in this course.

About the Course

This course is one of the bestseller embedded systems online courses on Udemy that will teach you in-depth about the internal working of the microcontroller and its peripherals. In this course, you will learn step-by-step coding for the peripherals such as GPIOs, I2C, SPI, USART, etc., and develop software drivers, interrupt handlers, and sample application from scratch. The instructor will also teach you how to extract maximum information from the datasheets and reference manuals to configure and handle APIs. You will also learn protocol decoding using a logic analyzer, debugging, and testing, along with hints and expert tips.

This course has been created by FastBit Embedded Brain Academy and the instructor is Kiran Nayak, an Embedded Software Engineer. What makes this course the best online course for embedded systems is that it aims to helps engineers to learn different aspects of embedded systems through high-quality video lectures that too at a fraction of the cost of full-time courses. You have the liberty to learn at your own pace and can even access the classes on your mobile or TV. The duration of this embedded system online training is 24 hours and 6 minutes and it contains a whopping 258 video lectures.

Besides that, there are articles and downloadable resources to assist you in learning about embedded systems. You can purchase this embedded systems online certificate course with a one-time fee that is also covered under Udemy’s 30-days money-back guarantee. Purchasing this course will entitle you to lifetime access to learn embedded systems online. Plus, you will also be awarded a certificate of completion. This course has a rating of 4.6 on Udemy and 27,372 students have already enrolled so far.

What You Will Learn

• The right ways of handling and programming MCU peripherals
• Developing peripheral drivers for your microcontroller
• Complete driver development for GPIO, SPI, I2C, and USART
• Peripheral drivers and prototyping APIs
• The right ways to handling/configuring interrupts for various peripherals
• Peripheral IRQs/vector table/NVIC interfaces
• Configuration/status/control registers of various peripherals
• Using MCU datasheets and reference manuals, and writing start-up codes
• MCU bus interfaces and clock configurations, clock sources, etc.
• MCUs AHB, APB bus protocols
• Capturing/decoding/analyzing traces of serial protocols on a logic analyzer

Who Is This Course For?

• Computer professionals who are interested in understanding embedded systems in detail
• Students who want to build their careers in the Embedded systems world
• This course is not suitable for people searching for quick prototyping using boards such as Arduino

Pre-Requisites

To learn embedded systems online, you can use any development board that runs with the ARM-Cortex M3/M4 processor. In case you do not have a development board, the instructor recommends STM32F407xx based Discovery board which he has also used in this course.

About the Course

Beginner as well as experienced mobile and desktop software developers looking for the best embedded systems online course can enroll in this Pluralsight course to learn about microcontroller programming. Under this course, you will learn the essential skills for reading and writing Input/output lines, counter/timer modules, configuring various peripherals, and the serial interface. This embedded system online training will begin with the process of configuring the clock system of the processor to balance performance and power consumption.

You will proceed to learn about digital and analog inputs and outputs and how to write interrupt service routines to quickly handle real-time tasks. This course is the best online course for embedded systems that will also take you through the basics of debugging tools and how to architect your code to make it reusable, maintainable, and extensible. Undertaking this course will equip you with the fundamental skills of embedded firmware development as you will work on a practical mobile device accessory project to measure bicycle speed and distance.

This course is of the best embedded systems courses created by Jeremy Willden as it will prepare you to undertake other embedded systems online courses on energy harvesting and ultra-low power development and developing for the Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms. The duration of this course is 3 hours and 6 minutes and it consists of 57 video lectures categorized under seven modules. You can enroll in this course by taking an individual or premium Pluralsight membership that also comes with a 10-days free trial. However, only the premium subscription will offer this course as an embedded systems online certificate course. This course has a rating of 4.5 on Pluralsight.

What You Will Learn

• Architecting and refactoring
• Low-level functions, interrupts, and I/O
• Source code control
• Git benefits: Log messages, branching, and merging
• Flash, RAM, and clocking
• Energy harvesting, battery life, and clock domains
• Clocking for communication interfaces
• Clocking bit rate errors and long division
• Oscillator source selection
• Digital peripherals for binary signals
• Analog to digital conversion
• Power saving and debugging

Who Is This Course For?

Beginner/experienced engineers and software developers who wish to learn about the fundamentals of embedded systems can enroll in this course.

Pre-Requisites

Enrollees who want to learn embedded systems online should be familiar with the basics of programming in at least one language.

About the Course

This is another Coursera course making it to our list of top embedded systems online courses and is a part of a four-course specialization on Real-Time Embedded Systems. This course is also a part of an Online Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering offered by the University of Colorado Boulder. The reason why this course is one of the best embedded systems courses is that students undertaking this course can earn academic credits towards their degree learning.

In this course, you will use a real-time operating system to design and build a microprocessor-based embedded system app. This course primarily focuses on the basics of integrating digital command and control of hardware systems. Undertaking this best online course for embedded systems will help you develop an understanding of rate monotonic, theory, analysis, and practices for embedded systems. Plus, you will learn the difference between Linux user space and kernel space.

The duration of this intermediate course is approx. 51 hours. Besides the self-paced video lectures, this course is enriched with reading material and practice quizzes to improve your learning and track your progress. The instructor of this course is Sam Siewert, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado. Just like the other embedded systems online certificate courses on Coursera, you can access this course for free. However, you will have to purchase the course to receive a certificate of completion. This course has a rating of 3 on 5 and has already been enrolled by 3369 students. 

What You Will Learn

• Real-time theory
• Challenges faced in designing real-time systems
• Implementation of scheduling policies while comparing the Linux POSIX real-time threads to RTOS and MFE systems
• Utility curves used for the analysis of real-time systems
• Absolute time and date standards
• Methods of sequencing of service requests
• Software scheduling and real-time scheduling policies
• Use of multicore microprocessors for real-time applications

Who Is This Course For?

This course is one of the top embedded systems online courses for computer, electrical and software engineers who wish to learn about real-time embedded systems.

Pre-Requisites

• You need to install embedded Linux on the Raspberry Pi ARM A-Series System-On-Chip processor.
• Students must complete this course using a Raspberry Pi as an embedded system (headless) not a PC running Linux.

About the Course

The last course on our list is the best embedded systems online course for developers who want to learn end-to-end firmware and driver development in C and C++ using information from the datasheet.  Undertaking this course will give you hands-on knowledge of writing embedded drivers such as GPIO, TIMERS, and UART. You will also learn how to write firmware by applying object-oriented principles such as polymorphism, inheritance, and encapsulation.

This course is one of the best embedded systems courses created by EmbeddedExpertIO and the instructor of the video lectures is Israel Gbati, an Embedded Firmware Engineer. The duration of this course is 12 hours and 11 minutes and it consists of 43 self-paced video classes. You can enroll in this course with a one-time fee and in case you are not happy with the content you can also seek a 100% refund under Udemy’s 30-days money-back guarantee. Paying for this course will give you full lifetime access to its classes and you will also be awarded a certificate of completion at the end. This course has a rating of 4.6 and has been enrolled by 1241 students so far.

What You Will Learn

• Applying OOP principles to firmware development
• Writing Objected-Oriented Embedded C and C++ applications
• Writing Embedded Systems drivers from scratch in C and C++ using information from the datasheet
• Writing firmware by applying the OOP principles

Who Is This Course For?

This beginner course is one of the best embedded systems courses for students who want to improve their embedded firmware development skills.

Pre-Requisites

No pre-requisites have been mentioned for this course.