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 042 
Laboratories: Tu or Th 2:30-5:20, Sieg 327 

Instructor: 
Carl Ebeling       ebeling@cs Sieg 215 

assisted by: 
Darren Cronquist darrenc@cs 
Chris Fisher        fisher@cs 
Alan Wilson         alan@cs 
Dorian Miler        dorianm@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			Carl
11:30	Carl				Carl
12:30
1:30	class		class		class
2:30	Alan	lab	Alan	lab	Dorian
3:30	Dorian	lab		lab
4:30		lab		lab
5:30

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Catalog Data 

CSE 477 Digital System Design (4 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 presentations and/or special topics.  
   Special sessions: there will be a few special sessions late on Thursday afternoons (4:30-6:30).  The first session (this week) will be used for discussion of possible class projects. 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 three or four laboratory assignments that will familiarize you with the microcontrollers, Pilot and 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 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.  

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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: 
3/24/99