Syllabus & Course Information

Digital Hardware
Design Laboratory
ECE 2031
Fall 2016
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Thomas R. Collins
Kevin Johnson

Copyright 2016 Thomas R. Collins and Kevin Johnson.

All rights reserved.

Contents
General Information ...................................................................................................................... 1
Prerequisites and Co-requisites ................................................................................................ 2
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes: ................................................................................... 2
Faculty and Staff ........................................................................................................................ 3
Required Books and Materials ................................................................................................. 4
Instruction in Lecture and Lab ................................................................................................ 5
Communication .......................................................................................................................... 5
Websites ................................................................................................................................... 5
Online Discussion .................................................................................................................... 5
Announcements ........................................................................................................................ 5
Course Grades ............................................................................................................................ 6
Absences and Late Work .......................................................................................................... 6
Excused Absences .................................................................................................................... 6
Unexcused Missed Exams ........................................................................................................ 7
Unexcused Missed Prelab Quizzes .......................................................................................... 7
Unexcused Missed Practical Exercises .................................................................................... 7
Unexcused Late Lab Reports ................................................................................................... 7
Unexcused Late Writing Assignments ..................................................................................... 7
Grade Disputes ........................................................................................................................... 7
Honor Code ................................................................................................................................ 8
Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities ................................................................. 8
Lab Procedures ............................................................................................................................... 9
Procedure for Each Lab ............................................................................................................ 9
Check-offs ................................................................................................................................... 9
Lab Availability ......................................................................................................................... 9
Beginning of Lab Sections ....................................................................................................... 10

General Information

his document provides supplementary material for the Digital Design Laboratory and
ECE2031. The course schedule, exercises, and procedures vary from one semester to the
next, and within here is included all information that is specific to the fall semester of

2016.

The laboratory is located in room E283 of the Van Leer building. It contains 22 stations, each
one of which has a computer, prototyping unit, oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and programmable
logic development board, as shown below. This equipment is used through the semester to
practice hands-on design, implementation, and test of digital hardware.

The ECE Undergraduate Professional Communication Program (UPCP), often called the
Writing Program, is integrated into ECE 2031. This will be the first of several courses in ECE
in which you are instructed in techniques for presenting technical information. CS and other
majors taking ECE2031 have the same technical communication requirements and get the same
advice and consultation on written and oral communication skills.

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

Either ECE 2020 or CS 2110 is a required prerequisite in digital logic theory, with a minimum
grade of C. General programming experience and use of integrated development environments,
such as from ECE 2035 or ECE 2036, is also required, but may occur as a concurrent corequisite.

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes:

The goal in ECE 2031 is to experience the conception, design, fabrication, and testing of digital
hardware in a hands-on setting.
Laboratory projects will use a PC-based CAD Tool environment that supports schematic capture,
logic simulation, and VHDL-based logic synthesis on FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays).
Discrete logic devices will be used for two designs, but VHDL-based logic synthesis on FPGAbased design boards (with hundreds of thousands of equivalent gates) will be used for more
advanced design implementations. The semester will culminate with a design project specified
and undertaken by teams of four to five students. Technical communication skills are developed
through laboratory reports, project documentation, and an oral presentation.
Topics:

CAD Tools
Combinational logic design using multiple methods: discrete logic devices,
schematic capture for FPGAs, and VHDL
Examination of real timing issues on hardware using software simulation and
hardware test equipment (oscilloscope)
State machine specification, design, simulation, and implementation with multiple
methods
VHDL models of basic gates and logic operations
Logic synthesis and simulation using VHDL
Design verification with a logic analyzer
VHDL models of data storage elements
ROM and RAM implementations on an FPGA board
Hardware design of a simple computer with ALU, registers, control unit, memory,
instructions, and I/O
VHDL-based simple computer simulation and implementation on FPGA board
Machine language and assembly language programming for the simple computer
Simulation and implementation of programs on the FPGA board
Final design project problem specification (examples: video game, control
application, robot, or contest)
Hardware and tools available to solve the final design project problem
Project engineering issues: top-down vs. bottom-up design, hierarchical
decomposition, and modularity

The learning outcomes for this course are proficiency in all of the topics listed above.

Faculty and Staff

With over 200 students in ECE 2031 during some semesters, this course requires a large group of
faculty and staff to provide some personal attention to each student.
Dr. Thomas Collins (tom.collins@gatech.edu) is the instructor who presents the lecture each
week. He also is an administrator of the lab facilities, and he determines all quiz and exam
problems, creates new laboratory exercises, and determines the final grades. Dr. Collins received
his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in 1994 and has an active research career at the Georgia Tech
Research Institute in robotics, embedded systems, and high-performance computing. In addition
to having taught courses related to this one here at Georgia Tech, he has worked for IBM,
Hewlett Packard, and other companies.
Office Location: College of Computing Building, Room 258
detailed instructions at
http://powersof2.gatech.edu/resources/RIMoffice.html
Office Hours: Friday 4:00-6:00 and by appointment
Telephone: 404.385.2637
(When you arrive at the second floor of the College of Computing
building, you will have to call this number to be let in. There
is a phone there with preset numbers, or you can use your cell
phone.)
Lecturer Kevin Johnson (KJohnson@gatech.edu) is the co-instructor for this course. For Fall
2016 Kevin is teaching at GTL in France, so although he will support the Atlanta class remotely,
he will be unavailable for in-person help. He plays the lead role in the creation of the
communication-related assignments (written reports and oral presentations), sets the requirements
for formatting reports, and supervises the grading of these reports through the Graduate Teaching
Assistants. He works under the direct supervision of Christina Bourgeois.
Christina Bourgeois (christina.bourgeois@ece.gatech.edu) is the director of the Undergraduate
Professional Communication Program (UPCP) in ECE. She trains the UPCP GTAs and is the
main local UPCP faculty while Kevin is away.
Office Location: Van Leer Room E266
Office Hours: By appointment
Telephone: 404/894-9597
The UPCP GTAs (Graduate Teaching Assistants) handle the grading of all written reports and
exams. A GTA is assigned to each laboratory section and is available during the early part of the
sections scheduled period for administering quizzes, collecting writing-related assignment, and
general assistance. Students should always contact their GTA first for any questions about
assignment format and grading, because the GTA is the person who will be doing the grading. In
some semesters, a more-experienced GTA might do the grading of major assignments for a new
GTA.
The Lab GTA handles equipment setup and maintenance in the lab, and is available for advanced
technical questions related to 2031 content. For Fall 2016, the lab GTA is Vasundhara Rawat.
The UTAs (Undergraduate Teaching Assistants) are undergraduates who have been through the
course (some as recently as the previous semester), and have returned to provide immediate
technical assistance during lab times. They are familiar with the laboratory exercises, and usually
at least two of them will be available at all times that the lab is open. They are usually enrolled as
students in ECE 4901 (Special Projects). You, too, can become a UTA, so think about it as the
semester progresses.
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The Lead UTAs (usually called LTAs) are undergraduates who have usually served at least two
semesters as a UTA, and were selected based on their technical skills and their instructional
abilities. There is one Lead UTA assigned to each section, and they run the lab session along
with the assigned GTA. During most semesters, LTAs also run most or all of the open hours.
Remember that your Lead TA and your GTA are your primary resources for the personal
assistance that the faculty cannot provide to each and every student every week of the semester.
Together with the other UTAs, they keep the student-teacher ratio for this course less than 5:1.
There are procedures (described below) to get additional attention from the faculty when you
need it, though.

Required Books and Materials

The required books for this course are
Digital Design Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, by Thomas R. Collins and Christopher
Twigg, and
Rapid Prototyping of Digital Systems, by J. O. Hamblen, T. S. Hall, and M. D. Furman (SOPC
Edition).
In the lecture and elsewhere, these will normally be referred to as the lab manual and the
textbook, respectively. The lab manual is the starting point for each lab exercise, and it refers
to sections of the textbook, as needed.
In addition to the textbook and lab manual, you will need to have the following:

hardware:
o a wire kit,
o a chip set, and
o a protoboard
USB storage devices as needed to take files to and from the lab and to save data from
lab instruments
your personal GT computer account and GT Active Directory password, which must
be activated before the first lab (see the OIT support center if you have never
accessed a campus Windows-based computer).

None of the hardware is needed for the first lab, but ALL of it is needed for the second lab. The
web site describes sources for all needed items.
Each student should use personal storage to backup all work. However, the CAD software has
been known to have errors when compiling from a network drive and is 5-10 times slower when
you compile files on your Z drive (which includes your desktop) or from a flash drive. So, it
is wise to copy working files to a local directory (recommended C:\users\[your username]), but it
is a violation of the honor code to leave files on the local drive, and personal files on lab
computers are cleaned regularly.

Instruction in Lecture and Lab

The lecture held on Thursday and/or Friday of each week is designed to provide information
necessary to understand the laboratory assignments for the following week. This includes some
review of prerequisite material in the context of the laboratory environment. Some lectures also
provide instruction on technical communication.
The hands-on coursework is self-paced within an allowed period for each lab (usually one week),
and is guided by the lab manual, which provides detailed background information, recommended
reading from the textbook, and step-by-step instructions for prelab and lab steps.
Teaching Assistants are available in the lab for immediate assistance with lab steps, and
instructors are available for help with more difficult problems.

Communication
Websites
The course website is heavily used to distribute files and provide semester-specific instructions
for labs and the design project. It also contains all course information, such as the calendar and
lab schedule.
You can get to the 2031 website directly at
http://powersof2.com/ece2031.html
UPCP information, including resources and requirements for lab reports and technical
communication assignments, are posted to the UPCP web site:
http://upcp.ece.gatech.edu/2031.html
Online Discussion
Piazza is used as the primary online forum for this course, and a link to the Piazza ECE2031
course page is on the main course website.
Acceptable questions include clarification of assignments, methods of problem solving, locations
for additional information, tips and tricks for using the laboratory tools, deeper discussion on
course topics, etc. Seeking direct answers to fundamental lab exercises is inappropriate and
considered to be a violation of the honor code, as is answering such questions. Dr. Collins
and Kevin Johnson will participate in the Piazza interaction, as well as some of the TAs.
For sensitive questions, post visibility can be limited to faculty only; however, if it is determined
that the question is both valid and general in nature, the post might be opened to the entire class.
Announcements
Piazza is used for general course-wide announcements. Announcements specific to a particular
lab section are made through T-Square email.
Because email can be lost due to filtering or limited storage space, the websites and Piazza are
preferred as a means of communication, but note that any email sent to the T-Square email list
will remain available in the T-Square email archive.
Check both websites (powersof2.com and upcp.ece.gatech.edu) and Piazza often, especially
on the days immediately preceding a due date or exam!

Course Grades
Letter-grade cutoffs use the usual scale:

A
B
C
D
F

90-100%
80-89+%
70-79+%
60-69+%
0-59+%

The final average used in the calculation of course grades is determined according to the
following weights:

30% in-class exam

10% two practical lab exercises
30% prelab quizzes (usually nine total)
30% prepared work -- 3200 total 'points' broken up into:
o Lab results (eight total)
(150 points each)
o Writing assignment
(500 points)
o Design proposal
(300 points)
o Project demonstration
(500 points)
o Design presentation
(200 points)
o Design report
(500 points)

There is no exam during finals week.

Note that you can compute your own uncurved grade at any time by applying these weights to the
scores you have received to date. Since any curve would be applied only in the last few days of
the semester, your uncurved estimate is the best indicator of your grade. The curve is typically no
more than 1-2 percentage points, so its usually unrealistic to assume, for example, that an 87
might be an A.
An additional factor, the GTA perspective, is a subjective evaluation of each students abilities
by the GTAs who know them best. This is used to determine the final grade of any student in a
borderline situation, which typically applies to between 5% and 15% of the class. It can only pull
students up, and will never be used to pull a student down below a grade break. Dr. Collins may
also provide input to TA perspective grades.
Penalty points can be assigned to students for the following reasons:

Leaving trash in the lab

Tampering with or vandalizing laboratory equipment (which could also result in
institute penalties or fines)

Absences and Late Work

Excused Absences
For excused absences falling under institute guidelines (school function, illness, injury, etc.; see
http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/rules/4/), at the earliest opportunity, submitted work (lab reports,
writing assignments, etc.) should be given to the GTA, and assessments (tests, quizzes, etc.)
should be made up with Dr. Collins.

For extenuating circumstances not covered by institute policy (job interviews, transportation
problems, personal crises, etc.), contact Dr. Collins as soon as the situation is known. If it is
deemed excusable, appropriate (perhaps partial) accommodations will be made.
Unexcused Missed Exams
In general, an unexcused missed exam will result in a grade of zero, or the curved equivalent of a
zero. However, it would be to the advantage of a student to discuss a missed exam at the first
opportunity with Dr. Collins.
Unexcused Missed Prelab Quizzes
Missed prelab quizzes may be taken up until the first lab section of the following week (when that
quiz starts being returned to students). A penalty of 3 points (out of 10) will be applied. The
student should contact their GTA to arrange a time at the earliest mutual availability.
Unexcused Missed Practical Exercises
Practical exercises take place at the beginning of the lab section, at times announced in the class
schedule or lectures. Students who arrive after a practical exercise has begun but before it
completes will be allowed to start the exercise at that time, but at the end of the normal exercise
time, the student will be given the option to either a) stop then and have their work graded
normally, or b) receive a 10% penalty and continue working until they have been given the full
exercise time.
Students who miss the exercise completely will be given the opportunity to make it up in a later
section or other period and will receive a 15% penalty.
Unexcused Late Lab Reports
For a lab that starts at X:05, lab reports are due at X:20 of the first hour of the student's lab
section. They will be accepted up to X:55 of the first hour for a 10% penalty, and will not be
accepted after that.
Unexcused Late Writing Assignments
Writing assignments will be accepted up to 24 hours after they are due with a 10% penalty, and
will not be accepted after that.

Grade Disputes
All students have the right to ask questions about the grades they receive on assignments.
Students who wish to discuss their grade must follow the procedures outlined below:
1. Make an appointment where you can discuss the grade with your GTA outside of the
lab and in private.
2. If you still have questions or concerns about your grade for a writing assignment,
send an email to Christina Bourgeois that clearly and concisely explains the problem.
For concerns about a quiz or exam that remain unresolved after discussions with your
GTA, send an email to Dr. Collins or visit him during office hours.
3. Sometimes an email response from Dr. Collins or Christina Bourgeois may be
enough to solve the problem, but they may request that you make an appointment to
discuss the grade, or you may feel it necessary to request an appointment yourself.
4. When course instructors become involved in re-grading an assignment, the entire
assignment will be reviewed, not just the area questioned by the student. Understand
that your score could go up or down upon review.
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Honor Code
Georgia Tech aims to cultivate a community based on trust, academic integrity, and honor.
Students are expected to act according to the highest ethical standards. For information on
Georgia Tech's Academic Honor Code, please visit

http://www.policylibrary.gatech.edu/student-affairs/academic-honor-code
http://honor.gatech.edu/

Any student suspected of cheating or plagiarizing on a quiz, exam, or assignment will be reported
to the Office of Student Integrity, who will investigate the incident and identify the appropriate
penalty for violations. Some key points follow.
Plagiarism is the act of using someone elses words, ideas, or organizational patterns without
giving credit to the source. It constitutes a serious offense and is a violation of the Academic
Honor Code. Georgia Tech and the School of ECE define plagiarism as Submission of material
that is wholly or substantially identical to that created or published by another person or persons,
without adequate credit notations indicating the authorship (Georgia Tech Student Code of
Conduct, Section B.3).
Students may, of course, discuss assignments in general terms with one another, but all work
should be generated individually (except for anything specified as group or team projects).
Likewise, students may receive assistance on lab reports from the course instructor, lab
instructors, or writing consultants. However, students are expected to write their own reports and
do their own work.
Lab reports, in particular, must be completed individually. External references or collaboration
with other students (current or previous) is not allowed.
External sources may (and usually should) be used during other communication assignments
(technical reports, proposals, etc.), but you must cite the source(s), or the use of that information
will be considered plagiarism. Refer to the Mayfield Handbook and UPCP materials for proper
documentation of sources (IEEE formatting only). Be aware that inappropriate collaboration is
considered a violation of the Honor Code whether or not it is cited, and will be treated as
academic misconduct.
Additional requirements for ECE2031 include the following

Do not attempt to gain special access to TAs that you know personally, or to gain
access to the lab outside of normal lab operating times.
Students must keep electronic copies of everything that they submit for grading.
Students must never leave files on the computers or portable media in the lab, nor
leave results accessible to other students. Attempting to recover files or other
intellectual property of other students is also forbidden.

Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities

If you are a student with learning needs that require special accommodation, contact the Office of
Disability Services (often referred to as ADAPTS or ODS) at (404)89-2563 or
http://disabilityservices.gatech.edu/, as soon as possible, to make an appointment to discuss your
special needs and to obtain an accommodations letter. Please also e-mail Dr. Collins as soon as
possible in order to set up a time to discuss your learning needs, or discuss after lecture at your
convenience, but well before any exams or quizzes that might be affected.

Laboratory and Exercise Procedures

All students have an assigned laboratory section that they are expected to attend. During the
normal period for each section, prelab quizzes are given, announcements are made, written
reports are submitted, and graded work is returned. Students scheduled to be in a given section
are given priority for workstations, but available extra workstations may be used by students from
other sections, as long as an assessment (e.g. quiz or practical exercise) is not in progress.

Procedure for Each Lab Exercise

The main steps for performing each lab are:
1) Read the introductory material in the lab manual and attend lecture to get
background information about the topics that will be covered.
2) Complete the prelab steps before your lab section. Prelab steps are designed to
be completed at home, but you may use lab open hours or other sections if
needed.
3) Complete the lab steps during your lab section. If you do not finish during
your lab section, you may return during open hours or other lab sections to
complete the lab.
4) Compile your results into a lab report. This can be done in lab or at home.
5) Submit the lab report when it is due (in lab the following week).
Note that steps 4 and 5 of each lab overlap with steps 1 and 2 of the following lab. Pay attention
to the course calendar, and manage your time accordingly.

Check-offs
The lab manual indicates several steps or results in each lab that must be checked off by a TA.
These check-offs ensure that students complete each lab individually, and are also designed to
ensure that intermediate results are correct before dependant steps are completed.
Check-offs must be acquired in the laboratory, but may be done by any TA, at any time, during
any section or open hours, before, during, or after your section. TAs giving check-offs record the
date and time with no concern to how that relates to the schedule, due dates, or deadlines. The
date and time of each check-off is used during the grading of lab reports to determine any late
penalties, which are described in the lab report grading rubric.

Lab Availability
The course website hosts two schedules:

The week-by-week schedule for the entire semester, detailing lecture and lab topics,
assignment due dates, test dates, and how holidays affect the lab schedule. This
calendar is available in several formats and can be found on the right side of
http://powersof2.gatech.edu/2031/ece2031.html.

An hourly lab schedule, showing section times, TA assignments, and exact open
hours. See powersof2.gatech.edu/weeklyschedule.html.

Open hours are provided according to the availability of TAs. In general, open hours are not a
substitute for the assigned sections, and there is no guarantee that equipment will be available.
TAs will limit time as necessary, so being first in the lab does not entitle a student to sole
uninterrupted access to a workstation. No student is allowed in the lab without a TA.

Beginning of Lab Sections

The first 15 minutes of each lab section will be structured as follows:
1. Turn in all assignments due on that day.
2. Take the prelab quiz.
3. Obtain prelab checkoffs.
Failing to complete these at the beginning of the lab section will result in penalties as described in
the course late policy and the lab results grading rubric.
During the week of Lab 4 and during a week of project work, there will also be a practical, handson exercise at the beginning of the lab section. In such cases, the 15-minute period described
above will apply after the exercise is complete.
Note: there is no printer in the lab, so all assignments (and any accompanying materials) must be
printed, filled out, and stapled prior to your scheduled lab time. It is good practice to have
everything printed well ahead of time, or preferably the night before, to avoid any last-minute
problems (printers not working, etc.), which will not be considered valid excuses for late work.

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