Department of Computer Science

Electronic System Design (ESD) 2009/0

Workload - Private Study - Assessment - Description - Learning Outcomes - Content - Teaching Materials - Recommended Books

Module Prerequisites

Prerequisite knowledge

It is expected that students will have a basic understanding of : 1) Programming i.e. some high level language 2) Simple processors and memory architectures 3) Simple hardware components e.g. flip flops, registers, logic gates 4) Boolean algebra 5) System design/architectures

Workload

• Lectures: 30 x 1hr
• Labs: 5 x 1hr
• Private Study: 30hrs
• Assessment: 35hrs

The teaching for this module combines traditional lectures with a number of exercises and case studies which will be tackled in small groups with a lecturer leading each group.

Private Study

Students are expected to read around the subject. Background information relating to examples which will be studied on the module may be posted on the course web page; students will be expected to have read this material. Many of the exercises and case studies contain more material than can be completed in the group sessions, and students are expected to continue working on these in private study time.

Assessment

Closed Assessment

• , hours

Description

This module is intended to provide an up to date view of the challenges of designing and assessing modern, complex electronic systems. This process covers initial system level description e.g. SystemC, through to behavioural, hardware level descriptions e.g. VHDL, emphasizing the use of modelling and testing at each phase of the design cycle. Pre-requisites are listed above. The module aims to provide an understanding of:

• Hardware architectures;
• Modelling and testing;
• Modern design routes for electronics and avionics;
• Electronic system reliability and reliability analysis;
• Challenges and threats to future electronic systems.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe a hardware architecture at system and component levels;
• Model and evaluate the performance of such systems;
• Assess the advantages and disadvantages of particular architectures for different application domains;
• Achieve reliability and availability targets;
• Assess the benefits and drawbacks of modern electronic components.

Content

• Modelling electronic systems : the use of system and hardware description languages e.g. SystemC and VHDL, in system specification and analysis;
• Modern electronic devices : Processors, micro-controllers, DSP, FPGA and Co-Processor architectures, and their suitability for different application domains;
• Software / Hardware interface : separating system requirements into software and hardware components, the interaction of these components through device drivers e.g. C, Asm, across a system bus;
• Electronic system reliability and prediction : failure modes and rates, reliability prediction and testing, fault tolerant architectures;
• Challenges to electronic system design : difficulty of assessment e.g. impact of lead-free solder, effects of feature size, coping strategies;
• Future developments : likely future developments of hardware, integration with aircraft systems.

Teaching Materials

Copies of all lecture slides, case studies and exercises will be provided.

Last updated: 26^th May 2011