| Instructor: | Professor Hank Dietz |
|---|---|
| Office: | 469 FPAT |
| Email: | hankd@engr.uky.edu |
| Home URL: | http://aggregate.org/hankd/ |
| Course URL: | http://aggregate.org/EE686 |
| Course Meetings: | TuTh 9:30-10:45 in 331 CB |
| Course Text: | None; handouts/WWW postings will be used |
The (slightly dated) catalog description of the course is:
A study of current diverse advanced architectures such as microprogrammed, parallel, array and vector, networked, and distributed architectures; applications and example systems employing these architectures; matching applications to architectures; consideration of architectures of the future.
A very approximate overview of the lecture coverage, in "lecture weeks," is given in the following table. Course materials will be distributed in class and/or online. You are expected to understand any material discussed in lecture, cited from references, or presented via the course URL. Note, however, that some reference materials may be excessively large and detailed in the interest of completeness; is such a case, your understanding be restricted to specific aspects identified in lecture or via the course URL.
| Topic | Weeks |
|---|---|
| Introduction | 0.5 |
| Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD):
SIMD execution semantics, Vector, SIMD Within A Register (SWAR), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) |
2.5 |
| Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data (MIMD):
Multi-Core Processors, Symmetric MultiProcessors (SMP), Massively Parallel Processors (MPPs), Clusters, Farms, Grids |
2.5 |
| Interconnection Networks | 1.5 |
| Shared Memory:
Memory hierarchy (TLB & cache issues), Logical vs. physical sharing, coherence mechanisms, Distributed Shared Memory (DSM), Remote Memory Access (RMA) |
2 |
| Instruction Set Concepts:
SuperScaler, Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW), Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computer (EPIC), Reconfigurable Computing |
1.5 |
| What's Next:
Analogic computing, Optical computing, Adiabatic "reversible" computing, Quantum computing, DNA computing |
2 |
| Exams & Project Presentations:
Two exams on the material, One project presentation |
2 |
Various (short) homeworks will be assigned, largely involving readings about specific examples of interesting architectures. Generally, these will be submitted via the WWW forms at the course site. Computer use will be discussed in lectures and at the course URL; it is likely that one or more small programming assignments may be given to strengthen understanding of specific architectural concepts. Detailed grading may be done on only a subset of the work assigned. The project will involve a paper study of a particular architecture or architectural feature, including a short write-up and a very brief in-class presentation. Two 1-hour in-class exams and a comprehensive final are planned.
The schedule for the two in-class exams will be announced in class and at the course URL; final exams are scheduled by the office of the registrar (the Spring 2009 EE686 final is 10:30PM Friday, May 8, 2009). Although we will try to accomodate requests to take in-class or final exams at other than the scheduled times, such requests generally will be considered only if made in writing or email at least a week before the scheduled exam time, and the course staff may decide to use a different format (e.g., an oral exam) for exams given at times other than those scheduled.
We reserve the right to adjust weightings, but the first two exams will count for about 25% of your grade each, the final will count for about 25%, and 25% of your grade will be based on the project and othner assignments. So that any grading errors can be consistently corrected for all students, regrade requests (preferably in writing) must be made promptly and must be specific as to the reason a regrade is requested. Any work submitted for regrade may be re-evaluated in its entirety.
Although students are encouraged to discuss course material with one another, everything you submit must be entirely your own original work. UK guidelines dictate that violation of this policy will result in all involved students failing the course; more severe penalties also may be applied. Contact Professor Dietz before submitting work if you have any doubts about how this policy might apply.
Advanced Computer Architecture Design.