Course syllabus

   

Instructor:	Dr. Dejan Raskovic
Office:	Duckering 225
Telephone:	474-5256
Email:	d.raskovic@uaf.edu
Web:	http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffdr
Lectures:	Monday, Wednesday, 17:30 – 19:00, Duckering 210, or by appointment
Office Hours:	Monday 15:00 – 17:00, Thursday 11:30 – 12:30

Link to Blackboard

PDF version

The course will cover various topics of advanced computer architecture with special emphasis on hardware support for parallel processing and multiprocessor systems architecture. The topics will include multiprocessors interconnection networks, shared memory architecture, message passing architecture, network computing, advanced techniques for exploiting parallelism, parallel processing using modern graphics cards, etc. Students will survey contemporary multi-core microprocessors and graphics cards to understand how the modern systems support and implement the basic parallel processing concepts.  

Prerequisites	CS201/ES201, EE443 or permission of the instructor.
Recommended	EE463 or EE464
Text	H. El-Rewini, M. Abd-El-Bar, Advanced Computer Architecture and Parallel Processing. Wiley-Interscience 2005.
Reference	J.Hennessy, D. Patterson, Computer Architecture - A Quantitative Approach, 4th Edition. Elsevier 2007.

       
Other reading material consisting of selected scientific papers, selected pages from other books and component datasheets will be assigned in class and/or posted on the Web.
                               

      Grading:

Assignments	25%
Midterm	20%
Final Exam	25%
Project	25%
Participation	5%

Plus/Minus grading will be used – see page 77 of the 2007-2008 UAF catalog for numerical values

Students are strongly encouraged to attend every class and participate in the classroom discussion in a manner that would benefit other students as well. A project topic for each student will be determined jointly by the student and the instructor, after discussing student’s background. The project can be a significant piece of parallel software, a parallel embedded hardware built “from scratch,” or a comprehensive literature survey of a topic related to advanced computer architecture.

Each student is required to establish a reliable email address and to send it to the instructor (d.raskovic@uaf.edu). This address will be used for class correspondence – announcements, laboratory assignments clarifications, etc. The course web page will contain useful information and will be updated throughout the course. The students will be notified by email when the content of the web site changes.

The current version of this syllabus will be available on the course web page.

• Review of main concepts
• Sources of parallelism
• Multiprocessors and thread-level parallelism
• Multiprocessors interconnection networks
• Performance analysis of multiprocessor architectures
• Shared memory architecture
• Message passing architecture
• Network computing
• Message passing interface
• Parallel processing using graphics cards
• Multiprocessor SOC

 

The Office of Disability Services implements the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and insures that UAF students have equal access to the campus and course materials. The instructor, the teaching assistant, and the administrative assistant will work with the Office of Disabilities Services (203 WHIT, 474-7043) to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities.  

As a UAF student, you are subject to UAF's Honor Code:
"Students will not collaborate on any quizzes, in-class exams, or take-home exams that will contribute to their grade in a course, unless permission is granted by the instructor of the course. Only those materials permitted by the instructor may be used to assist in quizzes and examinations.
Students will not represent the work of others as their own. A student will attribute the source of information not original with himself or herself (direct quotes or paraphrases) in compositions, theses and other reports. No work submitted for one course may be submitted for credit in another course without the explicit approval of both instructors. 
Violations of the Honor Code will result in a failing grade for the assignment and, ordinarily, for the course in which the violation occurred. Moreover, violation of the Honor Code may result in suspension or expulsion."