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 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. You must make a commitment as a group by the second week so that the projects may begin. It is unfair to the others in the team if you drop out part way.

Discussion Board

You are encouraged to use the discussion 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. Unfortunately, Activity from previous years have been lost with the demise of CCNET.

The TAs will be monitoring the discussion board for activity and respond when they can.

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

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

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 information to download the tools.

To get a board and the software key you must fill out and return a form by the date specified in the timeline below.

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 lab periods. The TAs are there to help so use that time effectively.

You will need to 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. Plan on having something else to do in parallel.

Lab Demonstration Requirements

During the demo 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 5% 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 running a part of your application and a hardware block of your own design. The remainder of the project can use and software or hardware IP that you find useful.

Block Diagrams

You will need a block diagram of your system. The example shown here is good. The diagram should show all datapath connections. Note that any software IP should be indicated within the processor blocks running that software.

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 2009

Week No.	Completion by end of	Grades	Activity
1	Jan 7-9		First week of classes, no labs
2	Jan 12 lecture		Submit Board and Tool Request form
2	Jan 14 lab		Sign out boards before lab
3	Jan 19 lecture		Draft proposal due at start of lecture
3	Jan 21 lab		Project proposal feedback and Milestone 1 set
4	Jan 28 lab	5%	Submit formal project proposal
5	Feb 4 lab	5%	Grading of your lab demos
6	Feb 11 lab		Show Milestone 1 - Start milestone demos and weekly progress reports (10% total)
R	Feb 16-20		Reading week
7	Feb 23	20%	Test I during lecture in BA2165
11	Apr 1 lab	20%	Project final demos
12	Apr 9 lecture	12%	Individual report due at start of lecture
12	Apr 9 lecture	8%	Group report due at start of lecture
13	Apr 13	20%	Test II during lecture in BA2165