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525.742 - System-on-a-Chip FPGA Design Laboratory Course Homepage

Instructor Information

Douglas Wenstrand

Work Phone: (443) 778-4282

Joseph Haber

Work Phone: (443) 778-7192

Course Information

Course Description

This lab-oriented course will focus on the design of large scale system-on-a-chip (SOC) solutions within Field Programmable Gate Arrays. Modern FPGA densities and commercially available cores enable a single developer to design highly complex systems within a single FPGA. This class will provide the student with the ability to design and debug these inherently complex systems. Topics will include high speed digital signal processing, embedded processor architectures, customization of soft-core processors, interfacing with audio and video sensors, communications interfaces, and networking. The optimum division of algorithms between hardware and software will be discussed, particularly the ability to accelerate software algorithms by building custom hardware. Many labs will center around a common architecture which includes signal processing algorithms in the FPGA fabric, controlled by an embedded processor which provides user interfaces and network communication. The first section of the course will be spent experimenting with different building blocks for constructing SOCs. Students will spend later class sessions working in teams on self-directed SOC design projects. Industry standard tools will be used.

Prerequisites

525.442 VHDL/FPGA Microprocessor Design and familiarity with C programming

Course Goal

To design and develop FPGA designs which consist of large systems on a single chip.  

Course Objectives

  • Design and develop complete hardware/software systems on an FPGA

  • Effectively use commercially available building blocks ("IP") to construct highly integrated systems.
  • Efficiently break down complex computational tasks into hardware and software components, and build co-processor components for an FPGA-based processor.

When This Course is Typically Offered

This course is typically offered in the spring term at the APL campus

Syllabus

Topics Covered

  • System-on-chip Introduction
  • Soft-Core Processors
  • Audio Sensor Interfacing
  • Video Sensor Interfacing
  • Signal Processing IP Cores
  • Networking and Communication Interfaces
  • TCP/IP
  • Hardware / Software Resource Division

Student Assessment Criteria

Laboratory Assignments 75%
Final Project (Team Project) 25%

As this is a laboratory class, some of the meeting time will be allocated to working in the on-site laboratory.  Students will be provided with hardware and software which they can install on their home computer as well (this is strongly recommended).  Lab assignments will typically have defined due dates, and late homework will only be accepted with the prior permission of the instructor.  

Computer and Technical Requirements

In addition to the VHDL knowledge implied by the pre-requisites, students can expect to do some C programming as part of the laboratories.  This will not require extensive C language expertise, but rather a basic knowledge of computer programming concepts and a reasonable ability to learn a new language.

Textbooks

Textbook information for this course is available online through the MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore.

Course Notes

There are notes for this course.

Term Specific Course Website

http://soc.echelonembedded.com/

(Last Modified: 10-28-2009 at 4:17:42 PM)