E15: Fundamentals of Digital Systems

Fall 2011 Labs

M W 1:15-4:15, Hicks 211
Instructor: Matt Zucker

Main course website here.

Lab 1 - Old school digital design

• Lab handout
• 74xx series datasheets

Lab 2 - Combinational logic: traffic light and seven segment display

• Lab handout
• Quartus II Abbreviated Manual
• Erik Cheever's E15 Lab References - lots of useful stuff
• Files for setting up your first Quartus project (right-click, and Save Link As...):
  • E15ClockDivider.v
  • E15Counter.v
  • E15DE2_IO.qsf
  • E15Lab2.v
• Other useful verilog links:
  • Synthesis tutorial
  • "Cheat sheet"
  • Bucknell handbook

Lab 3 - Sequential logic: traffic light redux

• Lab handout
• Files for Quartus:
  • E15Lab3.v
  • DetectThreeOnes.v
  • E15DE2_IO.qsf
• File for simulator: Lab3Sim.do
• Erik Cheever's ".do" file reference

Lab 4 - C Programming for Real World Interfacing

This lab was developed by Prof. Erik Cheever.

• prelab
• tutorial
• main lab

Final Project - C Programming

The last few weeks of E15 you will be working on a C programming project of your own choosing.

Guidelines

• The scope of the project should be something that is equivalent to about 1.5 to 2 regular labs, but not too complicated.
• You may work alone or in groups of up to four students.
• You may work with anybody in the class (i.e., you are not restricted to people in your lab period).
• You may pick a topic from the list below, or choose your own. All project topics not on the list must be approved by Professor Moreshet or Professor Zucker.

Deadlines

• Friday, November 18, 4:30 PM: Discuss a project idea with Professor Moreshet or Professor Zucker, and get it approved verbally.
• Monday, November 21, 9:30 AM: Project proposal is due. This is a one to three paragraph description of the project. It should be sent via email to Professor Zucker.
• Wednesday, December 14, 4:30 PM: Project report is due online (you will receive notification about a Swatfiles dropbox a few days prior). See below for details about the report.

Project Report

We are not looking for a full formal lab report, but your report shuld include at least the following:

• Abstract - a single paragraph describing what you did.
• Introduction and background - What is the goal of your project? Why is it interesting? What technical details does your reader need to understand what you did?
• Project design - How did you implement your project? Start with a high-level description, and work up to a full description that would explain to one of your peers, for instance, how the project works. Including snippets of "tricky" source code here would be useful, but you shouldn't list your entire program.
• Results and conclusion - How well did the project work? Did you achieve your goals? What would you do next if you had time?
• Acknowledgements - Which group members did what?

Separately, you should also upload the entire source code for your project, as well as any example input or output that would help illustrate your results

Example Project Ideas

• Learn how to control the LCD character display on the E15 I/O Board screen and use the A/D converter with the MSP430. See here for details.
• Implement a Connect Four PC game for two players that draws the board using ASCII characters. Advanced programmers: create a computer player so a single player can play versus the computer. Starter code is here.
• Write a PC program implementing the Quine-McCluskey algorithm to simplify arbitrary logical expressions with any number of variables. Your program should take as input either a sum of minterms or a product of maxterms. Advanced programmers: your program should also take as input an arbitrary Boolean expression composed of variable names, and the operators (, ), ', *, +. See here and here for an introduction to the algorithm.
• Write a program to output simple WAV audio files to produce music, morse code messages, or to synthesize touch tone dialing sounds. Professor Zucker can provide you with code to get started. Starter code is here. (Unzip and type "make" from the shell to get started).
• Write a program that can output Scalable Vector Graphics format files containing fractal imagery. Start out by trying the famous Koch Snowflake fractal.
• Write a program to help generate or solve word search puzzles.
• Or, come up with your own idea...