431-102 Computer Engineering 1

Credit Points

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

To complete the subject successfully, you should be able to demonstrate that you can; appreciate the pervasiveness of digital circuits in modern life; design combinational logic circuits to a specification using a variety of logic circuit minimisation techniques and integrated circuit technologies; design synchronous sequential logic circuits to perform a variety of common tasks including counting and sequence identification; identify and describe the key elements within a microprocessor, and have an understanding of the logic within them and their functions; write a simple assembly-language program and download it to a microcontroller chip; construct logic circuits using commercial components; communicate in terms commonly used in computer engineering.

The content includes; analogue versus Digital. Basic gates. Combinational logic circuits: Boolean algebra, minterms and maxterms, Karnaugh maps, integrated circuit types, MSI logic, programmable logic devices. Introduction to number codes, arithmetic networks and the Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU). Sequential logic (state machines): latches and flip-flops, sequential logic design methods and examples, registers and counters. Computers and Microprocessors: ALU and register design, software instructions, basic computer architecture, reduction in the size of computers, data flow in a computer/microprocessor, bus designs, computer memory, connecting memory to a microprocessor, programming a microcontroller.

Assessment

One written examination not exceeding three-hours, tutorial attendance, tests, assignments, laboratory reports and notebooks up to 100 pages