CSCE 611 - High-level VLSI Systems Design
Department Course Description
The following link will take you to the existing departmental syllabus for this course. This reflects the course content in semesters' past, and is a starting point for our revamping of the course structure, objectives, contents and expected outcomes. Namely, my emphasis is on an understanding of the VLSI design activities associated with taking a system-level description, and constructing and evaluating different custom-logic architectures for the system's components. For the most part, we can think of the core functional aspects of a system as being comprised of key algorithms or protocols. The process of high-level abstract design is to devise appropriate and efficient register-level architectures for such system-level algorithms and protocol descriptions.
611—Conceptual Modeling Tools for CAD. (3) (Prereq: CSCE 211 or 213, CSCE 245) Design techniques for logic systems; emphasis on higher-level CAD tools such as hardware description languages and conceptual modeling. Link to Syllabus on Department Web Page.
The Importance of This Course for Computer Engineering
A key aspect of computer engineering design is the use of an iterative enhancement style of design method, allowing us to explore the space of possible architectures and designs to realize the algorithms and protocols under study. The practice of engineering design in our discipline involves the use of a number of design methods, tools, and processes. It is the systematic use of these--along with the use of your creative minds---that enable one to rise to the level of excellence in practicing computer engineering design. It is my hope that--through observation and direct experience in this course--that you will be able to start on the road to mastery of the principles and best practices of the computer engineering discipline.
My Course Syllabus & Text (Click this link)
Course Lecture Notes & Resources (Click this link)
Homework Assignments (Click this link)
9/20/02 New! I have moved all of the details off this page, as it is getting much too long, and too much time is involved in downloading the page. Note that, with the removal of the frames, you can now save the specific page link for the Lecture Notes and for the Homework Assignments. Also, I'm trying to keep the amount of material per page to a single average sized window, to minimize hand movement via scrolling. User friendliness is our "middle name".