UCR EE/CS120B: Introduction to Embedded Systems, Summer 2007

Overview (Download Syllabus Here)

Embedded computing systems are found everywhere, including in cellular telephones, camcorders, medical equipment, 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. Demand for embedded system designers is large and continues to grow.

In EE/CS120B, students learn how to design and program basic embedded systems. Students learn to program a type of microprocessor, known as a microcontroller, intended for embedded systems. In such programming, TIME (e.g., respond to event X within Y seconds), not just data, is a key part of a program. You'll learn about common microprocessor peripherals that greatly ease the job of designing embedded systems. Students will also design custom single-purpose processors (circuits) on FPGAs to execute certain computations much faster than microprocessors, and will learn to build complete systems consisting of microprocessors, peripherals, and custom processors. This course uses the 8051 microcontroller and Xilinx FPGAs. The follow-up courses of CS122A and CS122B introduce 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 : Brian Grattan (Email: bgrattan, AT cs.ucr.edu) Office hours: please e-mail me
Office: Engineering Building Unit 2, Room 309

Teaching Assistants: Smruti Parichha (Email: sparichh, AT cs.ucr.edu)

Lecture : Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs 9:40 - 11:10 Office: ENGR2 141

Labs : ENGR2 136
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. We want you to get the maximum learning from your enrollment in the course.

Books:

REQUIRED: "VHDL for Digital Design / Embedded System Design". ISBN 0470-17353X. Frank Vahid, John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Note: This is a custom bundle of two books, arranged with the publisher to achieve a price savings for students. The individual books in the bundle are:
- "Embedded System Design: A Unified Hardware/Software Introduction", Vahid and Givargis, John Wiley and Sons, 2001, ISBN 978-0-471-38678-0, Book web page
- "VHDL for Digital Design", Vahid and Lysecky, John Wiley and Sons, 2007, ISBN 978-0-470-05263-1.
If you can find the books separately for cheaper, by all means feel free to get them separately. Note: The author keeps no royalties from book sales at UCR.
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. www.CAndThe8051.com
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: Letter grades will be assigned using a 90/80/70/60 scale: 90% and above corresponds 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 if it helps the class (but never if it hurts the class). You are not competing against one another -- you can all earn As (and that has nearly happened in some past 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.

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 formal academic dishonesty cases, but we may deduct points or not give credit for overly-similar solutions. So work together without fear of retribution. Furthermore, we will give 10% extra credit on any homework submission in which you studied with a group of at least two other EE/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!).
Academic dishonesty: 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/. We usually report detected cheating formally as academic dishonesty cases to the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, who keeps a file of cases and imposes sanctions for repeat offenders (including expulsion).
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. Read material before class.

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. This policy is intended to help you relax, avoiding rushing, and ultimately to learn.
During lab discussion times, 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, or informal lab section switching, are allowed.
Do not bring your bike/scooter/etc. into the lab.