This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

ECE4074 - Advanced computer architecture

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Engineering

Organisational Unit

Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering

Coordinator(s)

Dr Damien Browne

Offered

Not offered in 2016

Synopsis

This unit builds upon earlier studies in computer organisation and engineering. The unit will explore the structures, techniques and trade-offs implicit in the study of high performance computer architectures. The focus will be on exploring all aspects of exploitable concurrency in computer systems and the applications they support. This will include considerations of data path design, memory structures, resource allocation and scheduling, threading, branch prediction; alternative application specific computer architectures; implementation using re-configurable devices and high-level languages.

Outcomes

to design and construct application specific solutions in the field of computer architecture
to appreciate that the solution to any problem in computer architecture is likely to be quickly invalidated by time and to strive for solutions that minimise the effects of this reality
to develop confidence in specifying computational requirements and formulating original solutions in a timely manner.

Assessment

Examination: (3 hours) 70%
Continuous assessment: 30%.
Students are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component (assignments, tests, mid-semester exams, laboratory reports) and at least 45% in the final examination component and an overall mark of 50% to achieve a pass grade in the unit. Students failing to achieve this requirement will be given a maximum of 45% in the unit.

Workload requirements

2 hours lectures, 3 hours laboratory and practice classes and 7 hours of private study per week

Chief examiner(s)

Prof Tom Drummond

Prerequisites

ECE3073 or ECE3703 or TRC3300

Prohibitions

ECE4705, ECE5074