CSE477 Syllabus

Catalog Data

CSE 477 Digital System Design (4) Students use the laboratory to design, simulate, construct, and debug a substantial project that includes hardware, software, and communication components. Lectures focus on use of embedded processors in digital system design and interfacing techniques. Writing and debugging of real-time reactive software emphasized. Prerequistes: CSE378 and CSE467.

Course Goals

To serve as a capstone design course to tie together the computer engineering curriculum via the design of a complete embedded system involving hardware, software, and communication components.
Understanding of basic microcontrollers and their use in embedded system design.
To gain appreciation for the software issues in embedded system code.
Familiarity with basic serial and parallel communication methods.
To experience the development of a complete product from design to implementation and debugging.
To present design goals and decisions as well as implementation results in both verbal presentation and written documentation.
To work toward a common goal in a team environment.

Course Syllabus

Introduction to embedded systems
Microprocessors and microcontrollers

Review of basic computer organization
Address/data bus
Memories
I/O ports
Timing subsystems
Interrupt handling

Interfacing techniques

Basic I/O ports
Interactions involving time
Memories
Interface support devices
Polling
Interrupts and interrupt handling

Communication methods

Serial
Parallel
Basic wireless schemes
Error correction
Flow control

Microcontroller software issues

Interrupt handling
Device drivers
Multi-tasking
Operating systems for embedded applications

Design experiences

Case studies of previous projects
Industry perspectives
Research directions

Workload

The course consists of the following elements:

Lectures: there will be approximately 15 formal lectures and approximately 4 guest lectures from industry representatives. The remainder of the lectures will be filled with design reviews and presentations of student projects and/or special topics.
Special sessions: there will approximately 3 special sessions late on Thursday afternoons (4:30-6:30) during the 1st and 3rd week of classes and then on Tuesday afternoon (4:30-6:30) during the 10th week. The first session will be used for discussion of possible class projects. The second will be used to further plan out the projects. And the last one will be used for project presentations which we can not fit into the regular schedule.
Reading: all materials will be provided to you.
Assignments: there will be three laboratory assignments that will familiarize you with the microcontrollers and PDAs you'll have available for your projects. Our goal is to have the laboratory experiences be directly relevant to your projects. The laboratory assignments will also serve to familiarize you with construction and debugging equipment we have available.
Exam: there will be a single 50 minute mid-term exam that will be open book and notes (only your own, of course). There will be no final exam.
Project: the projects are the heart of the course and will occupy all of your time during the last five weeks and a good fraction of your time in the first five weeks of the quarter. You will be expected to prepare a demonstration during finals week.

This course serves as the capstone design course for the Computer Engineering Program. Its purpose is to tie together much of the material from the courses in the curriculum into a coherent whole by asking you to apply your knowledge to the design, construction, and debugging of a complete embedded system involving software, hardware, and interfacing.

Because of this holistic mission, this course has a very heavy workload. It will probably end up being much more than the 4 credits assigned to the course would normally imply.

Grading

The course grade will be roughly determined as follows:

20%: laboratory assignments
20%: midterm exam
50%: project
10%: class participation

Collaboration

Part of the objective of this course is to provide some experience in working as a team. All projects will be done in groups of two. However, this does not mean that there should be a split in the material to be learned. There is a simple rule to keep in mind when working with a partner: each of you should be able to answer any question about the laboratory assignment or project. You should never utter words equivalent to: "my partner did that, I need to ask her what she did." Make sure to pick your partners arefully and ensure that you are compatible in terms of personality, objectives, and study habits. This is very important. Part of your project write-up will include a statement about each person's precise role in the design and realization of the project.

You are free to work with anyone in interpreting assignments and on developing facility with the software tools we will be using. However, you should thoroughly understand the solutions to the assignments that your team generates, not to mention that you should know the project like the back of your hand. On the midterm exam, all work should be solely your own.

Cheating

Cheating is a very serious offense. It will be dealt with in the most severe manner allowable under University regulations. If caught cheating, you can expect a failing grade and initiation of a cheating case in the University system. Basically, its an insult to the instructor, the department and major program, and most importantly, to the person doing the cheating. Just don't.

To avoid creating situations where copying can arise, you should not ever e-mail or post your design files. You can post general questions about interpretation and tool use but limit your comments to these categories. If in doubt about what might constitute cheating, either don't do it or send the instructors e-mail describing the situation.

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