EC463 Microcomputer Interfacing
Catalog Data & Credits (Recitation-Lab-Total)
EC463 Microcomputer Interfacing (2-4-4): This course provides a strong foundation in techniques for connecting computers to peripheral and communications devices and in the methodology for programming the computer to control external devices in real time. This course is supported by a project-oriented laboratory with an opportunity to use a wide variety of computer-controlled peripheral devices. A major emphasis of the course is the in-depth study of interrupt processing, polling, direct memory access, memory-mapped interface, parallel input/output (I/O) protocols, serial input/output (I/O) protocols, inter-process communication, and modular techniques for designing hardware and software.
Pre-requisites
EC262 – Digital Systems or EE313 Logic Design and Microprocessors
Course Objectives
- Program in VHDL, hardware interfaces between a microprocessor and a device.
- Program in C, software that utilizes hardware interfaces.
- Use the lab station and development boards effectively, including necessary time-consuming debugging.
- Be familiar with and understand the implications of the following issues relating to interfaces: software to hardware communication; memory map; interrupts; polling; bus communication; serial and parallel connections; memory access.
- Independently learn a new device extracting necessary information from data sheets to design a system interface both in software and hardware.
- Meet weekly to orally update their status on a term project, and present/demonstrate their final project.
- Use correct English, useful diagrams, and appropriate mathematical explanations in lab reports clearly describing both the hardware and the software components of their projects, organizing their thoughts effectively and paying particular attention to these facets of them: design, functions performed, operation, inputs, and outputs.
