COMPUTER STRUCTURE LAB - FALL 2001

Course Information

Course web-site: http://hyde.eng.tau.ac.il/Resa01/resa_home.html

People

• Dr. Guy Even
  Office Hours: Wednesday 11-12, Room 116, Engineering-Labs Building.
• Assistant: Nissim Halabi
  Office Hour: Room 106, Elec. Eng.-Labs Building
• Engineer: Marko Markov
  Office Hour: Room 106, Elec. Eng.-Labs Building

Topics

This new lab was built for the Computer Engineering program. The lab is based on an instructional computer, called RESA, and on the hardware design software of Xilinx. Course topics include:

1. Computer aided hardware design.
2. Using an FPGA.
3. Design of a simple RISC processor on an instructional computer. Acquaintance with basic components of the computer architecture: main memory, main bus, bus protocol.

Logistics

1. Students will work in groups of three.
2. At most five groups will be in the lab in every lab meeting.
3. Almost all meetings during the first half of the semester will be preceded by a recitation. The recitation will take place on the Thursday on the week before the lab meeting. The purpose of the recitation is to prepare the students for the upcoming lab tasks.
4. Every student will be given an account on a UNIX server for the purpose of storing their lab related files.
5. Students may use local directories during their lab work. However, it is the responsibility of the students to backup their files on the UNIX server. We cannot guarantee that files on the PCs will not be destroyed.
6. Lab notes are printed and can be purchased in the basement of Wolfson building.
7. All the lab materials are available in the lab's homepage (including: lab notes, schedule, requirements, assignments, some of the software tools, tips, etc.).
8. An email distribution list has been opened for everybody. You can register or remove yourself from the list. Please post messages to the list regarding the lab, if you have a question or think you have a remark that others could benefit from. The course instructors will try to respond as soon as possible.
9. Students are requested to leave the lab only after they have cleaned up the station that they used.
10. Improper behavior in the lab will lead to students being expelled from the lab.

Grading

The lab grade will be based on lab assignment grades and quiz grades. Every lab assignment will be divided into the pre-lab assignment and the post-lab assignment. The pre-lab assignment must be submitted before the beginning of the lab meeting. The post-lab assignment must be submitted by the given deadline (usually the next lab meeting). The weight of the lab assignments will constitute roughly 2/3 of the final grade.

Quizzes will be held during the recitations. The weight of the quizzes will constitute roughly 1/3 of the final grade.

A student who misses lab work as a result of military service should contact the lecturer to coordinate individual course requirements.

Remarks and Reminders

1. Students are expected to adhere to the university rules regarding self-work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated!
2. The lab activity must meet the deadlines. Late submissions without prior consent of the course instructors will not be accepted. The lab will be used during the second semester for a different lab course. This means that the lab will be closed during the semester break so that different hardware and software can be installed. If you have a just excuse for not being able to meet the deadlines (i.e. military service), you must coordinate this with the course instructors.

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