Electrical and Computer Engineering


520. Computer Architecture I.  Evolution of computer architecture from the von Neumann concepts and the CISC machines to the RISC machines.  Hardware and Software design methods.  Processor design; Data representation and instruction sets.  Control design: Hardware and Microprogrammed.  Memory organization: Virtual, segmentation and cache; system organization: Bus control, I/O and operating systems.  (Cr.3) 

Prerequisite:       Senior Status.

Goals:               To provide Seniors (and first year Graduate students in Computer

                           Engineering) with a comprehensive view of contemporary computer

                           organization and system structures, and to develop the student's 

                           ability to analyze and design modern computer architectures. 

Text:                     Stone, H.S., High-Performance Computer Architecture, 3rd Edition,

                               Addison-Wesley.

                               Instructor’s Notes. 

Prerequisites by Topic:

     1.      Logical design, Boolean algebra

     2.      Understanding of a basic microcomputer system

     3.      Understanding of computer programming

Topics:

     1.      History, functional organization of the modern digital computer; the design

               process. (1 week)

     2.      Hardware Architecture (3 lectures)

     3.      The Architectural Design of Main Memory. (2 lectures)

     4.      Cache and Virtual Memory ( 3 lectures)

     5.      Modeling & Simulation.and its role in design (3 lectures)

     6.      Processor Considerations (2 lectures)

     7.      Pipeline Architecture, RISC machines (4 lectures)

     8.      Tests

Computer Usage:

Homework assignments to simulate experience of a cache memory. 

ABET category content as estimated by faculty member who prepared this course description.    Engineering Science: 1 credit or 33 1/3%

                         Engineering Design : 2 credits or 66 2/3%

Prepared by: Dr. Gordon Silverman