UCR EE/CS120B: Introduction to Embedded Systems, Spring 2006

Overview

Embedded computing systems are found everywhere, including in cellular telephones, pagers, VCRs, camcorders, thermostats, curbside rental-car check-in devices, automated supermarket stockers, computerized inventory control devices, digital thermometers, telephone answering machines, printers, portable video games, TV set-top boxes -- the list goes on. In 1997, the average U.S. household had over 10 embedded computers, not to mention the automobile, which have 35 or more by the year 2000. Demand for embedded system designers is large, and is growing rapidly.

In EE/CS120B, you'll learn how to develop and program basic embedded systems. It will introduce you to a unified view of hardware and software design, mapping desired functionality to a collection of single-purpose processors (digital hardware and peripherals) and general-purpose processors (microprocessors). Students will gain experience building real digital systems using VHDL, synthesis and FPGAs (Xilinx), and programming embedded microprocessors (Intel 8051 8-bit microcontroller). The follow-up courses of CS122A and CS122B introduce you to more advanced designs and methods.

Catalog description : CS 120B Introduction to Embedded Systems 5 Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 8 hours. Prerequisite(s): CS 120A/EE 120A. Introduction to hardware and software design of digital computing systems embedded in electronic devices (such as digital cameras or portable video games). Topics include custom and programmable processor design, standard peripherals, memories, interfacing, and hardware/software tradeoffs. Laboratory involves use of synthesis tools, programmable logic, and microcontrollers and development of working embedded systems. Cross-listed with EE 120B.

Basic information

Instructor and office hours : Kris Miller (Email: kmiller, AT cs.ucr.edu) Office hours: Tue 4:30pm - 5:30pm, Fri 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Office: Engineering Building Unit 2, Room 312

Teaching Assistants: David Sheldon (Email: dsheldon, AT cs.ucr.edu)
Scott Sirowy (Email: ssirowy, AT cs.ucr.edu)
Eric Cheung (Email: chuncheung, AT cs.ucr.edu)
Min Chen (Email: michen, AT cs.ucr.edu)

Lecture : MWF, 11:10am-12:00pm in WAT 2240

Labs : Section 21: Mon & Wed 6:10pm-9pm in ENGR2 136
Section 22: Tue & Thu 11:10am-2pm in ENGR2 136
Lab attendance is mandatory. You are expected to stay in the lab for the entire lab session, working on material related to this course. Part of your lab grade is based on attendance and participation.

Books:

Required: "Embedded System Design: A Unified Hardware/Software Approach", Vahid and Givargis, Wiley & Sons, 2002, Book web page
Required: VHDL : A Starter's Guide (2nd Edition)", Sudhakar Yalamanchili, ISBN 0131457357, Prentice Hall, 2004
Recommended: "C and the 8051 -- 3rd edition" (Note: do not get an earlier edition; they are very different), Thomas Schultz, ISBN 1-58961-237-X, Pagefree Publishing Inc, 2004.
Recommended: A basic C programming book. A good C book is The C Programming Language, Second Edition, Kernighan and Ritchie, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-110362-8, OR any other basic C programming book.

Course grading: The grading will be based on the combination of two components: 43 pts: Lab component 38 pts: excercises, assignments and any lab quizzes
5 pts: attendance, participation, and presentations
57 pts: Lecture component 17 pts: Homeworks/quizzes/in-class-exercises/participation
20 pts: Midterm
20 pts: Final
Letter grades are assigned according to the usual 90/80/70/60 rule: 90% and above correspond to an A, 80% and above to a B, 70% and above to a C, 60% and above to a D, and less than 60% to an F. +/- grades will be given. Curving may be done on individual items only if it helps the class; never if it hurts the class. You are not competing against one another -- you can all earn As (and that has happened in the past in some courses), so work together and help each other to succeed.

To ensure minimum competency in both principles and practice, students must pass the lab component and the lecture component individually, meaning 60% or more of the points of each, in order to pass the course.

Course communications

Course communications, including posting of homeworks, announcements, grades, etc., will take place using Moodle

General course features and policies

Study groups : Engineering is a social discipline, requiring good people skills. Furthermore, working with others enhances learning. Therefore, we STRONGLY encourage collaborating on the homeworks, and studying together. Although students should not submit identical homeworks, very similar homeworks are O.K. -- under no circumstances will we consider similar homework submissions as cheating -- even if two submissions are identical (though we will deduct points for identical solutions). So work together without fear. Furthermore, we will give 10% extra credit on any homework submission in which you studied with a group of at least two other CS120B students for at least one hour -- the student names and the time spent together must be noted on the homework, and all must match. Note: we're trusting that you will be honest about this, and not just write down each other's names to get the extra credit.
Helping others : Helping others enhances one's own learning, and also, well, helps others (remember, you can all get As). Thus, we encourage you to help others in the lab if you have the time. You should not write code for others nor show your code to others. But helping find bugs, teaching how to debug, and helping to explain concepts, are fine. Students that we have found to be particularly helpful to others may receive a small amount of extra credit lab points, given in the middle of the quarter and at the end of the quarter (but ideally you should not do this just for the extra credit!).
Regrade policy: corrections must be submitted in writing and within one week of the distribution of the graded material. Grade-database errors should also be pointed out within one week of posting.
Academic dishonesty: please don't cheat, O.K.? Copying code for the labs from any source (current students, past students, textbooks, web, etc.) is not allowed unless explicitly authorized. Team-coding (you write function A, I'll write function B) is not allowed unless explicitly authorized. Report cheating anonymously at: https://www.cs.ucr.edu/cheating/.
Success in computer science courses requires time. A typical student needs to spend about 15-18 hours per week on this course (including lecture and lab).
Come to lecture prepared not to just listen, but to think and to participate, so that you make best use of your time.

Lab guidelines

Students are required to stay the full three hours of lab session every week. You'll have in-lab exercises, presentations, discussions, and possibly exams. Work ahead or on extra course-related material, and/or help others, if you finish early.
During lab discussion time, students should move away from their computers to the whiteboard.
Prepare for lab before arriving. Bring relevant reference books to lab.
All persons in lab during scheduled lab time must be formally registered in that section. No unregistered people in the lab are allowed.
Do not bring your bike/scooter/etc. into the lab.

Lab presentations

Each day (starting the first week of lab) will include three 4-minute presentations at the beginning of the lab. Choose a recent article from a source of embedded systems information. No two people should present the same article. Talks should be almost exactly 4 minutes (questions will be held until afterwards), so plan carefully. The number of presentations per student depends on the number of students we have, but all should give the same number, and you can't give your next presentation until all students have finished their current one. Your talk should justify why you chose that article (why do you think it's interesting?)