Design of Digital Circuits SS13 (6 ECTS)

 

Lecturers

Markus Püschel, Computer Science, ETHZ <pueschel@inf.ethz.ch>
Frank K. Gurkaynak, Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, ETHZ <kgf@ee.ethz.ch>

Teaching Assistant

Aanjhan Ranganathan, Computer Science, ETHZ <raanjhan@inf.ethz.ch>

Help

For technical questions, please go to the office hours (below) or write to <digitaltechnik@lists.inf.ethz.ch>. All lecturers and assistants will receive this e-mail and try to respond quickly. For other inquiries please email the TA or the lecturers.

Lecture Times

Note: No lectures on 10th of May and 31st of May.

Lab Sessions

List of students who keep their old lab grades: PDF

In the labs...

• You will work in groups of two.
• You will do hands-on exercises and be required to demonstrate your implementation.
• Hand in a short report within 1 week of finishing every lab. There will be 10 lab exercises.
• Only one report per group.
• The report will be graded within the following week. You can have a look at your reports during the office hours associated with your lab.
• The labs count 25% of the final grade.
• Use the office hours to clarify any bigger problems you might face during the labs.

Lab Assistants:

Grading Policy

Written exam: 75 percent
Laboratory exercises: 25 percent

Course Content and Schedule

The course provides an introduction to the design of digital circuits and computer architecture. The course covers the basics of the technical foundations of gates, an introduction to hardware description languages (and their use in the design process), and introduces processor and computer architecture. The lectures closely follow the textbook: Digital Design and Computer Architecture (David Harris and Sarah Harris), Language: English, ISBN-10: 0123704979. This book is available online (within ETH and from home using an ETH VPN connection). The course will (roughly) cover the first 7 chapters of the book.

Lecture Schedule

Lab Exercises

* Irregular dates due to holidays.

Xilinx Software Installation

The computers in rooms HG E26.1 and 26.3 are already installed with the necessary software. Students who wish to install and experiment on their own can follow the below instructions.

1. Download XIlinx ISE Webpack from here. In the labs we use Xilinx version 13.4 and recommend the same. Depending on your operating system, select the Full Installer files (approximately 6 GB).
2. You will have to create a Xilinx account to continue downloading.
3. After downloading, open the compressed (.tar) file and run “xsetup.exe”.
4. Follow the instructions for installing Xilinx WebPACK as prompted by the setup wizard.
5. You will be prompted to finish license configuration, select “Start ISE WebPack”, and click “Next”, and follow the link to finish the registration.