A significant part of the course evaluation is based on a project that you will do using the Xilinx tools and the Multimedia board or the XUP board. Learning to use the tools quickly is important so that you can have enough time to do the project. The key is to learn enough of the tools to do what you need to do.
The TAs will be monitoring the board for activity.
Please do not email the TAs directly unless it is for something specific to you.
As mentioned under Grading, there are Community bonus marks for participating on the bboard.
To help with determining which type of board you will be issued, you must fill out and return a form by the third lecture.
There will be three lab periods where you can get help with the lab modules during the lab period. The first lab will be an introductory lab to help you get started. There will not be any grading done during these lab periods. The TAs are there to help so use that time effectively.
You will need to work on these modules outside of the lab periods. The tools can take a long time to do a compile so you won't be able to finish everything during lab hours and you'll spend a lot of time waiting anyways. Plan on having something else to do in parallel.
During the demo lab period you will be assigned a specific time slot where you will be graded on the lab demonstration design and a ModelSim simulation. You should also try to become comfortable with ModelSim very quickly as you should be doing lots of simulation. The requirements are given here. This will be the 10% of your final grade assigned to the lab mark.
The basic guideline is that your project should incorporate at least one MicroBlaze processor and a hardware block of your own design.
You will need a block diagram of your system. The example shown here is fairly good. The only improvement I might make to it is to explicitly show the OPB bus as this would give a better idea about potential bottlenecks. Any software IP could be indicated as blocks within the the box labeled as the MicroBlaze processor.
Week No. | Completion by end of | Grades | Activity |
1 | Jan 7-11 | First week of classes, no labs | |
2 | Jan 14 lecture | Submit Board Request form | |
2 | Jan 16 lab | Sign out boards | |
3 | Jan 21 lecture | Draft proposal due at start of lecture | |
3 | Jan 23 lab | Project proposal feedback and Milestone 1 set | |
4 | Jan 30 lab | 5% | Submit formal project proposal |
5 | Feb 6 lab | 10% | Grading of your lab demos |
6 | Feb 13 lab | Show Milestone 1 - Start milestone demos weekly (10% total) | |
R | Feb 18-22 | Reading week | |
7 | Feb 25 | 20% | Test I during lecture in BA2139 |
11 | Mar 26 lab | 10% | Project final demos |
12 | Mar 31 lecture | 15% | Individual report due at start of lecture |
12 | Mar 31 lecture | 10% | Group report due at start of lecture |
13 | Apr 7 | 20% | Test II during lecture in BA2139 |