Labs

The laboratory experiments are meant to reinforce the lecture material and form an integral part of the learning experience in this course.

There will be 4 lab experiments, done individually. Lab 0 will be an (ungraded) tutorial to set up your board and Labs 1-3 will be graded.

Experiments

Lab experiments for this course are usually done using an ARM processor on an Altera DE1-SoC single board computer. The FPGA chip on the DE1-SoC has an ARM processor in it that we will be programmed. We will not be using the VHDL configurable fabric of the FPGA in this class. In later classes, such as ECSE 325 Digital Systems, you will learn how to use both the FPGA fabric and the ARM processor on the chip to do hardware/software co-design.

Altera DE1-SoC

Note

Simulator replaces physical board

Due to the inability to distribute physical lab boards in the contex of COVID-19, we will be using a simulator for the Fall 2020 edition of this course. The simulator is web-based and you will learn how to use it in the lab 0. The simulator is able to simulate the board’s processor as well as many of its I/O devices.

Scheduled lab sessions

During the 2-hour online lab sessions, you will have access to the TAs for questions and to demonstrate the lab experiments to your TAs for evaluation. It is not possible to ask the TA for help or demo your lab in a period other than the one assigned to you.

Zoom links

For all the zoom links to the live session and recordings, check the Zoom links & recordings

Documentation

• Introduction to the ARM Processor Using Altera Toolchain

• ARMv7-AR Architecture Reference Manual

• ARM and Thumb-2 Instruction Set Quick Reference Card

• DE1-SoC Computer Manual

• Simulator help

Labs details

• Lab 0
• Lab 1
• Lab 2
• Lab 3