Course detail

PC systems

FEKT-BPC-SPCAcad. year: 2024/2025

The course is aimed to the personal computer architecture and peripheral communication (interrupts, DMA, serial data communication, communication buses and graphical cards). The descriptions of the devices are aimed to designing of user peripheral and user interfaces (signal measurement, data analyses). As a peripheral devices are used FPGAs and signal processors.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

4

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Entry knowledge

The subject knowledge of programming in C language, boolean function, logic and sequential devices operation.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Labs + projects: 50 points
Final Exam: 50 points
Requirements for completion of the course are specified by a regulation issued by the lecturer responsible for the course and updated for every academic year.
The content and forms of instruction in the evaluated course are specified by a regulation issued by the lecturer responsible for the course and updated for every academic year.

Aims

The aim of the course is to inform students about PC construction on programmer level. The course allows to understand PC function as a control computer in technology processes.
- able to design a simple PC peripheral
- synthesizes logical devices and networks
- describes ISA, PCI and PCI Express buses
- describes the functional blocks and properties of gate arrays
- describes advantages and disadvantages of implementation of DSP and FPGA based peripherals
- discus interrupt handling mechanisms
- identifies weakness of PC’s buses and their usage

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

BUDRUK S. PCI Express System Architecture. MindShare, Inc., 2013 1280 p. ISBN 13: 978-0-321-15630-3. (EN)
MUELLER S. Personal Computer. Computer Press, 2001. 869 p. ISBN 80-7226-470-2. (EN)

Recommended reading

Not applicable.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme BPC-AMT Bachelor's 3 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

Syllabus

1. Organization of teaching, architecture of PC class computers, buses in general (address, data, control), memory subsystem, transfer rates, throughput calculation and peripheral circuits.

2. ISA bus, functions, address decoders, signal description, memory-mapped space, isolated mapped space, interrupt subsystem and DMA.

3. PCI bus, topology, functions, time multiplexing, signal description, bus arbitrator (de/centralized), transfer line characteristics.

4. PCI bus, configuration space, fast data transfers without processor involvement, bus master, interrupt subsystem.

5. PCI Express bus, bus version, development until 2023 (gen. 5/6), transfer principles, encoding, physical layer, differential lines and their termination.

6. PCI Express bus, transactional and link layer, transfer rates, QoS, virtual channels, examples of use for data acquisition and embedded devices.

7. Ethernet and its standards from the perspective of the physical layer, methods of signal encoding and negotiating physical layer speed.

8. Ethernet optical interfaces 1 Gbit – 400 Gbit/s, interface for FPGA connection to PCI Express bus.

9. Acquisition and generation of analog signals, sampling theorem and its application to real AD and DA converters, Nyquist zone and its impact on the bandwidth of the converter.

10. Memory circuits, volatile and non-volatile memories, synchronous and asynchronous, SDR, DDR4/5, GDR6, QDR2/3, NAND, SSD, NVMe, transfer speeds and impact on data organization in memory from the Cache perspective.

11. Image sensors CCD, CMOS, area and line, resolution, color depth, color encoding, frame rate. Transfer of image data to PC, interfaces USB, CameraLink, PCIe, analog line, video format.

12. Image sensors data processing - DSP signal processors, video output and generation of image data, displays (monitors and screens, e.g., for virtual reality).

 

Laboratory exercise

26 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Syllabus

1.-6. Laboratory tasks for communication with a PC, serial link and its variants, Ethernet, VGA Controller.

7.-12. Laboratory tasks - an independent project under the guidance of the instructor.