EE Department Intranet - intranet.ee.ic.ac.uk
Close window CTRL+W

ELEC40003 Digital Electronics & Computer Architecture


Lecturer(s): Dr Tom Clarke; Prof George Constantinides

Aims

The aim of this module is to teach the foundations of digital design and low-level computer operation and enable you to understand system design across the hardware-software boundary.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. design significant synchronous sequential digital circuits using registers and combinational logic
2. design simple two�s complement addition and subtraction digital circuits, with correct use of carry and overflow.
3. use digital blocks: RAMs, ROMs, registers, adders, multiplexers and state machines to design and analyse the operation of simple pipelined RISC computer systems.
4. model the operation of machine code instructions on a CPU at register-transfer level, and manipulate data using different numeric representations.
5. write programs for arithmetic operations, manipulating bit fields within words, accessing memory, and calling subroutines.
6. implement I/O in embedded computer systems using polling.

Syllabus

First an introduction will be provided to the design and operation of digital electronic circuits. The course will cover: (1) Data representation for digital electronics (2) Boolean Algebra and Combination Logic. (3) Combinational logic gates, circuit and logical operation, and their implementation. (4) Basic digital blocks e.g. multiplexers, adders, encoders/decoders, flip-flops, ROM/RAM, registers. (5) Sequential Circuits and their timing, State Machines. (6) Simple application examples to tie together the above concepts. Then you will apply this knowledge to the design of a simple CPU. The module will culminate with the design of hardware and code for an embedded processor.

Assessment
Exam Duration: 2:00hrs
Exam contribution: 50%
Coursework contribution: 50%

Term: Autumn & Spring

Closed or Open Book (end of year exam): Closed

Coursework Requirement: Laboratory experiments
Coursework assessment: 1hr on-line test in each reading week and an oral tests at end of autumn and spring term.

Oral Exam Required (as final assessment): no

Prerequisite module(s): None required

Course Homepage: unavailable

Book List: