Computer Engineering Research Group
Sandford Fleming Bldg (SF2001)
D.L. Pratt Bldg (LP484)
Engine ering Annex, 3/Floor
 
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
University of Toronto
10 King's College Road
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4, Canada
Research Facilities
The Computer Engineering Group operates a number of well-equipped graduate laboratories. Facilities are available for doing both hardware and software research. Current projects include the design and implementation of operating systems, compilers, communication protocols for clusters, software shared memory systems, parallel architectures, microprocessors, FPGAs, CAD/CAM tools, and custom VLSI chips. A permanent staff of a technologist and a technician and a software support person are available to support these facilities.

There is easy access to computer terminals and workstations. The Computer Engineering Group runs its own cluster of machines that is centered around a number of file servers. Most workstations are recent Sun SPARC and UltraSPARC workstations, Silicon Graphics workstations, a large number of Intel-based multiprocessor PCs connected with a fast, programable system area network, and a number of parallel servers. There are currently more than 130 workstations in the group. The available facilities also include a large number of MC68000 boards for applications such as real-time control. The MC68000 boards have an ethernet controller on-board so they are easily connected to a local area network.

Those involved in VLSI design also have access to the facilities of the VLSI Research Group, which include a number of high-performance Sun UltraSPARC workstations. For IC design we use industry-standard commercial CAD packages. There also exists facilities for the testing of VLSI circuits, and access to a well-equipped integrated circuit processing facility. Silicon implementations of VLSI designs are carried out through the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation (CMC). Foundaries used include TSMC, Mitel, and Gennum. Technologies available include 0.35um, 0.25um, and 0.18um CMOS processes, SiGe and bipolar.

All machines are connected to the University of Toronto campus network. The campus network consists of 100 Mbit/s fibre-optic cables, and ethernet. Machines on this network can reach most research networks worldwide. The University of Toronto has a direct connection to the Internet.

Outside of the Computer Engineering Group there are many other computing facilities available. Each full-time graduate student is assigned a study desk, and there are numerous workbenches available for hardware projects.