Hardware Lab Syllabus

There is no textbook for this course. Rather, your reading and study assignments come from three sources:

Reference Manuals

There are several manuals available online that you will need to consult as you work on the laboratory assignments for the course.

Laboratory Assignments

There will be links to the laboratory assignments for the course on this semester’s course schedule as they become available.

Web Modules

There are some Java programs that are referenced from the laboratory assignments. Some illustrate concepts, and some provide tools to help you do the assignments.

The syllabus for the course consists of a series of laboratory assignments designed to provide you with a basic mastery of hardware design using Field Programmable Logic Arrays (FPGAs). The structure varies from semester to semester, but there are typically five assignments, with each assignment normally consisting of more than one project. Assignment grades are based on coding style, coding efficiency, and documentation. The assignments will make up approximately 20% of your course grade. You are expected to work with a partner on the assignments, and you are encouraged to seek help from and to give help to other people in the course when working on the assignments. However, each team is to submit its own version of each assignment.

At the beginning of the semester and occasionally later in the semester as well, there will be lectures. Normally, however, you will be spending your class time in the laboratory in Room A-227. The software in the lab requires a license to run, but you can access the lab computers, as well as some additional ones that are in Room A-205, from off campus provided you have a broadband Internet connection. In addition, you can get a key to the lab from the department office when it is open, or from the campus main gate on weekends. You need to work in the lab itself in order to test your projects on the laboratory kits.

There will be a midterm and a final exam, which will be based on material covered in lectures and on both the principles and the techniques learned by doing the laboratory assignments. The exams will count 40% of your course grade each.