Admin contents:

Location

Catalog Data

Course Goals

Course Syllabus

Workload

Grading

Collaboration

Cheating

Locations: Meetings, staff and offices
Lectures: MWF 1:30-2:20, EE1 025
Laboratory: Th 2:30-5:20, Sieg 327

Instructor:
Carl Ebeling       ebeling@cs  Sieg 215

assisted by:
Christopher Morgan   morgan@cs
Deepak Verma           deepak@cs
Dmitriy Portnov         dportnov@cs

TAs can be found in the Hardware lab Sieg 327

Office Hours in Sieg 327 and Sieg 215 (Carl)

Start Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:30
9:30
10:30
11:30
12:30
1:30	class		class		class
2:30				lab
3:30				lab
4:30				lab
5:30

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Catalog Data

CSE 477 Digital System Design (5 credits)   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. 

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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 design and development of a complete product using hardware and software, 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 
     Hardware Design
          Partitioning Software and Hardware
          Interface design and implementation
     Design experiences 
          Case studies 
          Industry perspectives 
          Research directions 

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Workload

The course consists of the following elements: 

   Lectures: there will be approximately 15 formal lectures.  The remainder of the lectures will be filled with student project design reviews and presentations and special topic lectures. 
   Special sessions: there will be one or two special sessions that we will use to discuss possible class projects.  The first session will be scheduled for early in the second week.  We'll see videos from previous quarters and kick around ideas over pizza. The remaining sessions will be used as needed for project presentations and design reviews in which all enrolled students will take part. 
   Reading: all materials will be provided to you. 
   Assignments: there will be four laboratory assignments that will familiarize you with the microcontrollers and the XS40 board 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 for the end of the quarter. 

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. Depending on your project goals, you may end up spending more than the 5 credits assigned to the course would normally imply. 

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Grading

The course grade will be roughly determined as follows: 

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

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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 or three. 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(s): 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 partners carefully and that you are compatible in terms of personality, objectives, and study habits. Each team should be balanced in terms of software and hardware background and abilities.  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. 
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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. information here

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 Last Updated:
3/24/2000