Project and Lab Stuff

A significant part of the course evaluation is based on a project that you will do using the Xilinx tools and the Multimedia board or the XUP board. Learning to use the tools quickly is important so that you can have enough time to do the project. The key is to learn enough of the tools to do what you need to do.

Teams of Three

Labs and projects are to be done with teams of three unless special arrangements are made with the instructor.

Bulletin Board

You are encouraged to use the bulletin board when you have questions about the tools or some other issue. In this way, everyone can see what issues are arising and the same question will not have to be answered multiple times. The responses will also be archived. Some of last year's activity is there for you to see in a separate category.

The TAs will be monitoring the board for activity.

Please do not email the TAs unless it is for something specific to you.

As mentioned under Grading, there are Community bonus marks for participating on the bboard.

Signing Out the Boards and Software Distribution

Each group will be able to sign out a board and keep it for the term. You must bring your own board to the lab if you need to do a demo. Each group will also be provided with a DVD that has the software you require. Instructions are in the INSTALL text file on the DVD.

To help with determining which type of board you will be issued, you must fill out and return a form by the third lecture.

Labs

For the lab component of your mark you will be required to:

1. Do some required modules to learn the tools
2. Demonstrate that you can build a particular design
3. Demonstrate that you can use ModelSim

Required Modules

Work through modules m01 through m05 and m07 available at the Tutorials link on the EDK page as a way to get familiar with the tools. These modules will only give you a very basic introduction and some guidance as to where to look for more information.

There will be three lab periods where you can get help with the lab modules during the lab period. The first lab will be an introductory lab to help you get started. There will not be any grading done during these three periods. The TAs are there to help so use that time effectively.

You will should work on these modules outside of the lab periods. The tools can take a long time to do a compile so you won't be able to finish everything during lab hours and you'll spend a lot of time waiting anyways. Best to have something else to do in parallel.

Lab Demonstration Requirements

During the 4th lab period you will be assigned a specific time slot where you will be graded on the lab demonstration design and a ModelSim simulation. You should also try to become comfortable with ModelSim very quickly as you should be doing lots of simulation. The requirements are given here. This will be the 10% of your final grade assigned to the lab mark.

Project

You will need to work on some aspects of the project before completing the modules since the proposal will be due before you need to complete the required modules.

Project Proposal and Weekly Progress

The proposal and weekly milestone requirements can be seen here.

The basic guideline is that your project should incorporate at least one MicroBlaze processor and a hardware block of your own design.

Block Diagrams

You will need a block diagram of your system. The example shown here is fairly good. The only improvement I might make to it is to explicitly show the OPB bus as this would give a better idea about potential bottlenecks. Any software IP could be indicated as blocks within the the box labeled as the MicroBlaze processor.

Project Demos and Reports

This describes the format of the project demos and what you will need to put into the two reports you will submit.

Timeline 2007

Week No.	Completion by end of	Grades	Activity
1	Jan 8-12		First week of classes, no labs
2	Jan 15 lecture		Submit Board Request form
2	Jan 17 lab		Sign out boards
3	Jan 22 lecture	5%	Submit project proposal at start of lecture
4	Jan 31 lab		Recommended completion of the required modules m01-m05, m07.
4	Jan 31 lab		Project feedback and Milestone I set
5	Feb 7 lab	10%	Grading of your lab demos for 10% of your final grade
6	Feb 14 lab		Show Milestone 1 - Start milestone demos weekly (10% total)
R	Feb 19-23		Reading week
7	Feb 26	20%	Test I during lecture
11	Mar 28 lab	10%	Project final demos
12	Apr 2 lecture	15%	Individual report due at start of lecture
12	Apr 2 lecture	10%	Group report due at start of lecture
13	Apr 9	20%	Test II during lecture