ECE6881 · Real-time system design

Overview

The unit aims to enable you to understand, analyse, specify, design and test real-time systems using both hardware and software development. Migration between software and hardware will be considered as an approach to meet design criterion such as speed, throughput, energy usage and cost. The design, analysis and implementation of real-time operating systems will be studied and will include scheduling policies, process creation and management, inter-process communication and synchronisation, efficient handling of I/O and communication. You will complete a major team design project that includes hardware and software design of a real-time system.

Offerings

The Handbook publishes no offerings for this unit.

Assessment

The Handbook lists an examination for this unit.

Continuous assessment: 50% Final assessment: 50% Final grades: PGO (pass grade only) or NGO (fail) This unit contains threshold hurdle requirements that you must achieve to be able to pass the unit. You are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component and at least 45% in the final assessment component. The consequence of not achieving a hurdle requirement is a fail grade (NGO).

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. explain the development process for real-time systems from specification, simulation, implementation and testing
2. design and implement interface logic to a bus system and its associated arbitration logic using a hardware description language
3. describe the effectiveness and benefits of deploying a real-time operating system in software development of a real-time system
4. compare, measure and analyse the performance and overhead of real-time scheduling policies of a real-time operating system
5. design and analyse hardware accelerators that improve real-time system performance in areas such as energy use, latency and throughput
6. formulate, plan, create, document and test a solution to a real-time system design problem in a team framework using a real-time kernel and a hardware description language.

Workload

The minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of 3-6 hours of scheduled learning activities and 6-9 hours independent study per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher-directed learning, peer-directed learning and online engagement. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.