UCR EE/CS120B: Digital Systems, Spring 1999, Syllabus

Course objective
To learn to design digital systems at the register and processor levels, emphasizing modern CAD tools.

Course information

Instructor: Frank Vahid (vahid@cs.ucr.edu). Office hours TBA, Bourns A207
Lecture TR 11:10-12:30, Watkins 1000
Labs (Bourns B252) 021: MW 1:10-5:00
022: TR 12:40-4:30
023: TR 5:10-9:00
024: MW 5:10-9:00
025: MW 8:10-12:00
Textbooks
  • Gajski, Principles of Digital Design, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-301144-5
  • Bhasker, A VHDL Synthesis Primer, 2nd edition, Star Galaxy Publishing, ISBN 0-9650391-9-6. http://users.aol.com/SGalaxyPub for information.
  • NOTE: If you need a book, you might order one from a technical bookstore (see the yellow pages), such as the Technical Book Co (800-233-5150) or Irvine Sci-Tech Books (714-733-1002) or direct from the publisher.
    • TA's Leslie Tauro (stauro@cs)
    Jason Villarreal (villarre@cs)
    Roopa Subramanian (roopa@ee)
    Office hours: during scheduled lab times.
    Questions/comments should be emailed to cs120b-t@cs, which automatically forwards to all TA's and lab assistants.
    Prerequisite EE/CS120A
    Course call # and units 11685, 5 units.


    Course grade

    10% Homeworks, 20% Labs, 15% Lab practical, 20% Quizzes, 15% Midterm, 20% Final.


    Lecture overview

  • Combinational components (e.g., adders, ALUs, ROMs).
  • Sequential logic (e.g., FSMs, FSM synthesis, analysis).
  • Storage components (e.g., registers, counters, RAM, datapaths).
  • Register-transfer design
  • Processor design

    • Lab overview

  • Introduction to FPGA boards and VHDL
  • Introduction to synthesis from VHDL
  • FSM synthesis
  • FSMD synthesis
  • Processor synthesis

    • Notes

  • While lecture and lab material obviously overlap, the two aspects of the course are quite independent, with lectures dealing with general theory and principles, and lab dealing specifically with specific software and hardware. Exams will focus on lecture material, but may include some amount of lab material. Students in lab will work with one partner. A lab practical exam will be held during the quarter to ensure that all individuals are learning the lab material.
  • Important note on academic dishonesty: cheating will be punished severely.
  • Homeworks should be submitted on now more than two pages, front and back each, stapled, legible, and not torn from spiral notebooks. While students may discuss material generally, homework submissions MUST represent independent work, and submissions MUST INCLUDE the following statement at the top: "This is my own original work."
  • Regrade requests must be submitted within one week of the distribution of the graded items.
    • Back to Frank Vahid's home page