2 of 16

Comp Architecture/Embedded Systems

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

Electives

Embedded

Systems Lab

(EE 445L | FS)

Real-Time

and Embedded

Systems

(EE 445M | S)

Real-Time

DSP

Laboratory

(EE 445S | FS)

Digital

System Design

(EE 460M | FS)

Computer

Architecture

(EE 460N | FS)

Introduction to

Microcontrollers

(EE 319K | FS)

Digital Logic

Design

(EE 316 | FS)

Algorithms

(EE 360C | FS)

Concurrent and

Distributed

Systems

(EE 360P | S)

Computer-Aided

IC Design

(EE 460R | FS)

From small To large systems

Operating Systems

(EE461S | FS)

15-2

3 of 16

Comp Architecture/Embedded Systems

Required

EE 316 Digital Logic Design
EE 460N Computer Architecture
EE 445L Embedded Systems Lab
EE 360C Algorithms
M 325K Discrete Mathematics

Three of the following

EE 422C Software Design and Implementation II
EE 445M Real-Time OS
EE 445S Real-Time Digital Signal Processing Lab
EE 460M Digital Systems Design Using VHDL
EE 360P Concurrent and Distributed Systems
EE 460R Computer-Aided Integrated Circuit Design
EE 362K Introduction to Automatic Control
EE 461S Traditional OS
EE 438 Electronics (get a course substitution)
EE 379K A very long list of new classes)

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

https://utexas.app.box.com/s/m75ly671ces3z5mgjwpfyt3f5o8woj25

15-3

4 of 16

Computer System Design

Applications,
Operating systems,
Compilers,
Instruction set,
Microarchitecture,
Logic design,
Circuit design

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

Understanding the operation and design of computers

Good secondary cores: Electronics and IC, Software

15-4

5 of 16

Growth projections

Just who is in control?

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

year-over-year

Ref: IoT and Edge Computing for Architects, Lea

15-5

6 of 16

Growth projections

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

Ref: IoT and Edge Computing for Architects, Lea

15-6

7 of 16

Computer Architecture Area

Design of general-purpose computer systems

From personal (laptops, desktops) to cloud (servers)

Which courses are most relevant & important?

EE 460N for computer architecture

What are important technical challenges today?

Size, speed, security, software/hardware, power

What industries/companies need these skills?

Any company making computer equipment

How do I prepare for graduate school?

Take EE 460N Comp. Arch. and EE 360C Algorithms

Get involved in undergraduate research

MS degree is essential for this area

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

15-7

8 of 16

Embedded Systems Area

Design of special-purpose computer systems

From toasters (μController) to airplanes (systems-on-chip)

Which courses are most relevant & important?

EE445L digital-analog codesign, systems level design

EE445M real-time operating systems, device drivers, and autonomous robots

EE445S real-time signal processing

What are important technical challenges today?

Time-to-market; maximizing use of Moore’s law

Size, power, profit margins

What industries/companies need these skills?

Any company making super high volume products

How do I prepare for graduate school?

Take EE 460N Comp. Arch. and EE 360C Algorithms

Get involved in undergraduate research

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

15-8

9 of 16

EE460N Computer Arch

What is Architecture, Tradeoffs
Instruction Set Architecture, LC-3b ISA
Assemblers: Translating Assembly Language to ISA
Microarchitecture: Detailed LC-3b implementation
Physical memory, unaligned access, interleaving, SRAM, DRAM
Virtual memory, page tables, TLB, VAX model, PowerPC model, contrast with segmentation
Cache memory
Interrupts/Exceptions
I/O
Performance Improvement. Metrics, Pipelining.
Branch prediction
Out-of-order execution
Vector processing
Integer arithmetic, Floating point, IEEE Standard
Measurement Methodology
Intro to Multiprocessing, Interconnection networks, Amdahl's Law, Consistency models
Cache coherency
Alternative Models of Concurrency: SIMD, MIMD, VLIW, dataflow, etc.
State-of-the-art Microprocessor

15-9

10 of 16

EE460N - Labs

Write an assembler
Write an instruction set simulator
Write a cycle-level simulator
Interrupt support
Virtual memory
Pipeline

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

15-10

11 of 16

EE460M Digital Design Using VHDL

Review of Basic Logic Design Techniques (with emphasis on timing)
Design Flow, High Level Design
VHDL Descriptions of Digital Systems and Simulation
Synthesis
Design using Programmable Logic Devices
SM Charts
Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)
Advanced Topics in VHDL
Test Generation and Design for Testability
Rapid Prototyping using FPGAs

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

Applicable to both embedded and architecture

15-11

12 of 16

EE460M - Labs

VHDL’s timing to model gate-level circuits
FSM simulation
VHDL Package Sorter
Traffic Meter Simulation
BCD conversion, Square Root
Microprocessor Design & Implementation in FPGA
VGA Graphics and Keyboard Interface

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

15-12

13 of 16

EE445L Embedded Systems Lab

debugging with an oscilloscope and a logic analyzer;
design of an alarm clock and I/O driver;
design of a real-time data acquisition system;
Motor control;
design of a music player, DAC, data structure design;
Power management and PCB layout;
Wireless communication, IoT, layered protocol;
board-level design, construction and testing of a complete embedded system

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

15-13

14 of 16

EE445L - Labs

Lab 1. ASCII to fixed-point output to OLED
Lab 2. Debugging, oscilloscope, logic analyzer, dump
Lab 3. Alarm clock, edge-triggered input interrupts
Lab 4. Wifi, UART, distributed systems, IoT
Lab 5. 12-bit DAC, SPI, Music player, audio amp
Lab 6. Introduction to PCB Layout, PCB Artist
Lab 7. Design and Layout of an Embedded System
Lab 8. Software Drivers for an Embedded System
Lab 9. Measurement, ADC, analog amp
Lab 10. DC motor control, PWM, input capture, IoT
Lab 11. Evaluation of Embedded System

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

Watch the projects

Look for YouTube links on Canvas

http://users.ece.utexas.edu/%7Evalvano/EE445L/

15-14

15 of 16

EE445M Real-time operating systems

Lab 1. I/O port drivers
Lab 2. Real-time operating system kernel
Lab 3. Blocking semaphores, priority
Lab 4. Solid state disk, file system
Lab 5. Layered software, boot loader
Lab 6. Distributed acquisition using CAN
Lab 7. Formula 0001 Racing Robot

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Cuevas, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

Go watch the races in Spring 22

http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~gerstl/ee445m_f20/

15-15

16 of 16

For more information

Chiou, Derek (parallel)
Erez, Mattan (architecture)
Evans, Brian L. (DSP applications)
Garg, Vijay (distributed systems)
Gerstlauer, Andreas (embedded systems, IC)
John, Lizy (multicore architecture)
Kulkarni, Jaydeep (circuits)
Marculescu, Diana (energy- and reliability-aware computing)
Marculescu, Radu (ML/AI methods for embedded systems)
Patt, Yale (architecture)
Swartzlander, Earl (architecture)
Tiwari, Mohit (architecture, security)
Valvano, Jonathan (embedded medical devices)

Bard, Tiwari, Telang, Erez, Janapa Reddi, Gerstlauer, Valvano, Yerraballi

http://www.ece.utexas.edu/academics/graduate/tracks/acses

15-16