ARCHITECTURES OF MICROPROCESSOR SYSTEMS
Academic year and teacher
If you can't find the course description that you're looking for in the above list,
please see the following instructions >>
- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2020/2021
- Teacher
- MICHELE BALESTRA
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- ING-INF/05
Training objectives
- The course aims to provide knowledge of the analysis and synthesis of microprocessor systems (microprocessors, memory subsystem, input / output controllers, external peripherals and controllers).
In particular the student will acquire knowledge on digital systems design based on ARM CORTEX A and CORTEX M processors and associated peripheral.
After the course the student will acquire the ability to design digital systems based on microprocessors and microcontrollers. In particular the student will be able to perform requirements analysis and to synthetize the requirements in a system design and in a associated hardware design and to design the management firmware for system devices drivers. Prerequisites
- Knowledge provided by the courses:
1) microprocessor systems
2) operating systems
3) digital electronics
4) syntesis and analysis of digital systems
5) Computer science
It is also necessary to be able to design software using the C/C++ language. Course programme
- During the course will be studied in detail the ARM CORTEX A and CORTEX M processors in the internal architecture, the AMBA bus structure and will be analyzed the main management methods to exchange information from the various processor peripherals.
It will be studied the peripheral, such as controllers of synchronous serial ports, parallel bus controller, programmable timers, controllers for direct memory access and for the interrupts management systems.
Also it will be studied in detail the interfacing method for external memories on parallel bus and the FSMC port.
It will be studied typical external bus management systems of more complex architectures such as: ISA, EISA, PCI, AGP, USB, SCSI, IDE, SATA, COM Express, PCI Express.
Also it will be described the main video ports: Displayport, HDMI, DVI, LVDS, VGA
and the main audio ports (AC97).
It will be also studied some controllers for external connectivity of microcontroller and microprocessor systems: GPIB, USB, CAN, Ethernet, Firewire.
SOM (Sysyem On Module) design method will be explained.
It will be analyzed in detail heterogeneous multicore processor systems such as dual-core CORTEX M4 + CORTEX M0.
It will be explained the structure and the main safety features of the CORTEX R52 processors designed for safety critical systems.
Finally, redundant architectures according to functional safety according to IEC 61508 will be analyzed. Didactic methods
- The course is organized in a section based on lectures and a section based on processing system design activities based on real components.
Development of small projects is assigned to groups of students or individual students, according to design complexity. Tools are provided for hardware and / or firmware design of complex systems.
During the lessons data sheets of complex devices used in various fields are analyzed: general purpose, industrial, automotive and avionics. Learning assessment procedures
- The Assessment will be done through an interview by the teacher in order to evaluate the aquired knowledge.
Also a discussion of system design, hardware design and software design of the projects or researches assigned to the students by the teacher during the course will be done, in order to evaluate the design ability achieved by the student.
The final evaluation will be calulated both on the interview and on the project quality and design level.
Passing the final exam is the proof that knowledge and abilities outlined in the training objectives of the course have been achieved. Reference texts
- Handouts provided by the teacher
