Master’s in Observability and Telemetry in Embedded Systems Engineering
Online master's programme of 1,900 hours in observability and telemetry engineering for embedded systems, structured in 12 modules covering on-device logging, tracing and timing analysis, metrics, post-mortem debugging, telemetry transport, OpenTelemetry backends, fleet data analysis, embedded Linux, alerting and privacy regulation, with an assigned technical tutor.
Master’s in Observability and Telemetry in Embedded Systems Engineering — studying from South Africa
Electronics and telecommunications are substantial sectors in South Africa, with operators such as MTN, Vodacom and Telkom supporting national connectivity. Electronics manufacturers and design houses serve automotive, industrial and consumer markets, and embedded systems engineers are needed across these industries. Research at institutions such as Stellenbosch University and the CSIR contributes to advances in communications and signal processing. Compliance with national radio spectrum rules is overseen by the national communications regulator.
Fees for South Africa: R 129 000 (South African rand), with instalments and employer sponsorship available.
Relevant bodies in South Africa
Typical roles
Questions from South Africa
Which South African bodies recognise electronics and telecom engineers, and does SEIUM feature?
ECSA registers engineering professionals in South Africa, and the Electronic Communications and Postal Act means telecom roles are regulated through ICASA and related licensing. SEIUM is a private online institute whose qualifications are not official state degrees and are not accredited by a national body. Recognition is decided by employers or the relevant professional body, so check with them before enrolling.
Would this programme help me work in embedded systems or telecoms in South Africa?
South Africa has electronics manufacturers, telecom operators and technology firms that employ embedded and communications engineers. Employers typically weigh practical skills, experience and recognised qualifications. A private online qualification can strengthen your profile in specialist areas, but it does not guarantee employment. Ask prospective employers whether they would value it.
Can I study around a job, and what English level is needed?
The programme is entirely online and taught in English, so you need solid English for coursework and tutor communication. Because it is remote, no student visa is needed to study from home. Master's programmes are 1,900 hours, postgraduate diplomas 800 hours and specialist courses 300 hours, each supported by a technical tutor. Fees can be paid in instalments, and employer sponsorship may be possible.
Take the controls.
Run a real engineering trade-off from this field. Move the sliders, watch the model react in real time and beat the challenge.
What you will be able to do
Design observability strategies adapted to embedded systems.
Instrument firmware with efficient logs, metrics and traces.
Analyse the timing behaviour of real-time systems.
Debug field failures through post-mortem analysis.
Implement telemetry pipelines into observability backends.
Analyse fleet data to detect regressions and anomalies.
Develop a complete observability solution for a device.
Who it's for
- Firmware engineers
- Observability engineers
- Device reliability engineers
- Telemetry data engineers
- Connected product support engineers
- Post-market quality engineers
- Engineering or science graduates looking to move into consumer electronics
What you'll work with
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation)
- Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (European Data Act)
- ISO/IEC 30141 (IoT reference architecture)
- IEC 62443-4-2 (security requirements for IACS components)
- OpenTelemetry Specification (vendor-neutral telemetry model)
- OASIS MQTT 5.0 (messaging protocol for IoT)
- IETF RFC 8949 (CBOR concise binary encoding)
- ISO/IEC 27001 (information security management systems)
- SEGGER SystemView
- Percepio Tracealyzer
- Memfault
- OpenTelemetry Collector
- Grafana
12 modules · 1900 h
1.1Monitoring versus observability1.2Memory, energy and bandwidth constraints1.3Signals: logs, metrics, traces and events1.4Observability in development and in the field1.5Firmware instrumentation1.6The cost of observability1.7Use cases in connected products1.8End-to-end telemetry architecture1.9Privacy and consent1.10Case study: observability requirements for a wearable
2.1Log levels and formats2.2Binary logging and string dictionaries2.3Logging systems in Zephyr and FreeRTOS2.4Ring buffers and persistence2.5Logging on embedded Linux with journald2.6Log compression and transmission2.7Event time synchronisation2.8Performance impact2.9On-device retention policies2.10Practical exercise: deferred logging in Zephyr
3.1RTOS tracing3.2Percepio Tracealyzer and SEGGER SystemView tools3.3Hardware tracing with ETM and ITM3.4Interrupt latency analysis3.5Priority inversion and deadlocks3.6CPU usage per task3.7Function profiling3.8Tracing on Linux with ftrace and LTTng3.9Worst-case execution time analysis3.10Lab: latency analysis with SystemView
4.1Designing device metrics4.2Counters, histograms and gauges4.3Battery and energy metrics4.4Connectivity metrics4.5Memory and stack metrics4.6On-device aggregation4.7Sending periodic heartbeats4.8Efficient format and encoding4.9User experience metrics4.10Workshop: metrics catalogue for an IoT sensor
5.1Hardware faults on Cortex-M5.2Memory dumps and coredumps5.3Stack unwinding5.4Watchdogs and reset causes5.5Asserts and error handling5.6Stack overflow detection5.7Memory leaks in embedded systems5.8Symbols and debug servers5.9Reproducing field failures5.10Practical exercise: analysing a HardFault from a coredump
6.1Telemetry over MQTT and CoAP6.2Telemetry over BLE via a phone6.3Telemetry on LoRaWAN and NB-IoT6.4Handling intermittent connectivity6.5Data prioritisation and sampling6.6Compression and CBOR encoding6.7Transport security6.8Cellular data costs6.9Standard telemetry protocols6.10Lab: sending metrics over MQTT with local storage
7.1OpenTelemetry data model7.2Collectors and pipelines7.3OpenTelemetry on constrained devices7.4Prometheus for metrics7.5Loki and Elasticsearch for logs7.6Jaeger and Tempo for traces7.7Time-series metric storage7.8Commercial IoT observability platforms7.9Backend costs and scaling7.10Practical exercise: OpenTelemetry pipeline into Grafana
8.1Fleet health dashboards8.2Segmentation by version and hardware8.3Anomaly detection in metrics8.4Analysis of reset causes8.5Correlation with deployments8.6Battery degradation models8.7Field usage analytics8.8Reports for product and quality teams8.9Bug prioritisation8.10Case study: analysis of a regression after an update
9.1System metrics with collectd9.2Service supervision with systemd9.3eBPF on embedded devices9.4Profiling with perf9.5Containers and their observability9.6Persistent log management9.7Authenticated remote diagnostic sessions9.8Agent resource footprint9.9Integration with device management9.10Workshop: eBPF tracing on an industrial gateway
10.1Defining device thresholds and SLOs10.2Fleet-wide alerts10.3Managing alert noise10.4Responding to field incidents10.5Runbooks for support10.6Integration with issue management10.7Customer communication10.8Post-market quality metrics10.9Data-driven continuous improvement10.10Practical exercise: connectivity SLO for a fleet
11.1Personal data in telemetry11.2Minimisation and anonymisation11.3General Data Protection Regulation11.4European Data Act and data access11.5Security of diagnostic channels11.6Telemetry in medical devices11.7Regulated post-market surveillance11.8Security event logging11.9Auditing access to telemetry11.10Case study: telemetry impact assessment
12.1Definition of the device and objectives12.2Instrumentation design12.3Firmware implementation12.4Telemetry transport and backend12.5Dashboards and fleet analysis12.6Alerting and operations12.7Assessment of resource impact12.8Conclusions on observability12.9Thesis report12.10Master's Thesis: defence before a panel
How you'll learn
100% online training on the SEIUM campus, with downloadable material, recorded classes and an assigned technical tutor. No fixed timetables: you progress at your own pace within the intake, so you can combine it with your job.
Each module combines theory, guided reading of the original standard and applied exercises. The working software is SEGGER SystemView, Percepio Tracealyzer, Memfault, OpenTelemetry Collector and Grafana, in free, academic or evaluation versions. Practical work is based on real procedures: analysing RTOS traces and latencies on the board, post-mortem debugging with coredumps and building fleet health dashboards. Assessment is continuous by module, plus the final Master's Thesis.
Standards covered: Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, ISO/IEC 30141, IEC 62443-4-2, OpenTelemetry Specification, OASIS MQTT 5.0, IETF RFC 8949, ISO/IEC 27001.
Build it end to end
Your final project follows the real engineering workflow, step by step, reviewed by your tutor.
Where this takes you
Requirements
- University degree in engineering, science or architecture, or equivalent demonstrable professional experience.
- Internet connection and a computer capable of running the programme's software.
- English sufficient to read technical standards.
Ready to start?
Send your application today. Our admissions team replies within 72 hours with your study plan and funding options.
Frequently asked questions
The programme totals 1,900 hours over 12–14 months. You set your own pace within each intake, and your tutor helps you plan the workload around your job.
You work with SEGGER SystemView, Percepio Tracealyzer, Memfault, OpenTelemetry Collector and Grafana, using free, academic or evaluation versions. Your tutor indicates the free alternative wherever one exists.
A SEIUM Institute diploma, awarded on passing the continuous assessment and the Master's Thesis. It is SEIUM's own qualification, not an official state degree; its recognition depends on the programme completed and the regulations of each country.
Yes. Modules passed in a course or postgraduate diploma in the same area are recognised in the higher programme. Ask about the recognition policy when you enrol.
A university degree in engineering, science or architecture (or equivalent professional experience), a computer able to run the software and English sufficient to read technical standards.
Start dates are set by SEIUM's faculty for each intake. Our admissions team will confirm the next available date when you apply.
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