The purpose of this assignment is to: (0) Introduce you to the concept of ``embedded systems'', which can consist of microprocessors that are embedded in larger systems in order to control or sense physical devices; (1) Introduce you to ``distributed programming'', where several different computers (or microprocessors) are executing simultaneously, with some form of communication and synchronization between them; (3) Tell you about execution threads in Java, a feature that allows a Java program to consist of several program segments executing in parallel.
For this assignment, you will write code to simulate the cruise control system of a car. The job of our (simplified) cruise control mechanism is to attain and maintain a preset speed in spite of changes in road grade (i.e., in spite of whether the road is flat or uphill). One limitation of the cruise control mechanism that you will implement is that it will not attempt to maintain the preset speed if the car is headed downhill. In general, the cruise control mechanism that you will implement changes the speed of the car by turning the accelerator ``on'' (i.e., pressing the accelerator pedal down) to increase speed or turning the accelerator ``off'' (i.e., releasing the accelerator) to stop increasing the speed.