Friday, October 17, 2014

New Course Offering – Winter Quarter 2015: EE 371 Design of Digital Circuits and Systems

EE 371 Design of Digital Circuits and Systems (5 cr)
SLN 21021
Jim Peckol
WF 230-420
EEB 045



The execution of modern digital electronic systems designs presents challenges that demand new ways of thinking about such problems.  Building upon the fundamental concepts of electronic circuits and those developed in EE 271, the main objective of EE 371 is to provide students with a theoretical background to and practical experience with the tools, techniques, and methods for solving challenges related to signal integrity, the modeling complex systems using the Verilog hardware design language, managing power consumption in digital systems, and ensuring robust intra and inter system communication.  

We will work with the Altera DE1-SOC development board that utilizes the Cyclone V FPGA combined with a variety of peripheral devices, potentially including the embedded NIOS processor, as a target hardware platform.  The hardware side of the applications will be specified then designed, modeled, and tested using the Verilog HDL and the libraries and tools provided under the Quartus II development environment.  We will synthesize then download the tested modules onto the DE1-SOC board where they will be integrated into a complete working system. 

Upon completion of the class the student will have developed strong design skills for implementing complex digital logic systems in modern design languages onto FPGAs and similar programmable fabrics.

For this first offering, we're going to have to prioritize juniors initially, particularly those headed for EE 476-EE 477 next year.