Digital technology roadmap
Large volume of
production
VHDL & C
Large
Altera/Lattice/Xilinx
FPGA
Systems on Chip
(SoC) & ASICS
(GA)
Systems on
Programmable
Chip (SoPC)
(>100k logic gates)
Altera/Lattice/Xilinx
CPLD and FPGA
(2,5k – 100k logic gates)
Schematics
&
VHDL
The theory basics
and the classic 74
series / CMOS (SSI
& MSI)
The versatile
GAL22V10
(500 logic gates)
PIC16/18 family
Chapter 3:
Dedicated
processors
of microcontrollers
Application specific
digital systems
(Datapath + control
unit)
Chapter 2:
FSM
Introductory circuits & FSM
Chapter 1:
Combinational
circuits
Chapter 4:
Microcontrollers (µC)
Professional
applications in
Telecommunications
Systems and
Telematics
Digital processors and
subsystems
(peripherals)
Digital Circuits & Systems
Advanced optional
subjects or research
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CSD competencies
Programmable
logic devices and
VHDL
Microcontrollers
English
Self-directed learning
Oral and written
communication
Project management
Team work
Lab skills
(Systematically design, analyse, simulate, implement,
measure, report, present, publish on the web and reflect about
… digital circuits and systems using state-of-the-art digital
programmable devices, CAD/EDA software tools and
laboratory equipment
And show all your achievements constructing your ePortfolio
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CSD systematic instructional design
Learning objectives
and cross-curricular
skills
After completing the
course students have
to be able to …
Repeated every term
Course
evaluation
Student
questionnaires,
and instructors
processing
Coherence and
consistency
Continuous formative
and summative
assessment
Activities and
study time
scheduling
In and out of class
timetable, problembased learning,
application project
Systematic procedures for solving
assignments (plan, develop, simulate,
prototype, measure, report)
Active
methodologies
Individual and group assessing, every
work sample counts and can be
improved, group e-portfolio
No need of traditional exams
Cooperative Learning,
integrated learning of
content and cross-curricular
skills, Learning by doing
3
Learning objectives
Chapter 1
Combinational circuits
Chapter 2
Finite state machines
Chapter 3
Digital processor
Chapter 4
Microcontrollers
#6, #7, #8, #10
#9, #10, #11
#10, #12
#13, #14, #15
Cross-curricular objectives: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
http://epsc.upc.edu/projectes/ed/CSD/index_CSD.html
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CSD specific content
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Combinational circuits
Finite state machines
Digital processor
Microcontrollers
(FSM)
(Datapath + control unit)
(C)
(23h) – 0.92 ECTS
(23h) – 0.92 ECTS
(69h) – 2.76 ECTS
(35 h) – 1.4 ECTS
Laboratory skills: signal generators, oscilloscopes, logic analysers, debuggers/programmers, etc. …
•Proteus-ISIS (Labcenter)
•Quartus II (Altera)
•Proteus-VSM (Labcenter)
•Minilog, IC prog
•ispLEVER Starter or Classic (Lattice Semiconductor)
•MPLAB (Microchip)
•WolframAlpha
•ISE (Xilinx)
•HI-TECH C Compiler for
PIC10/12/16 MCUs (Lite
mode) (Microchip)
• Programmable logic devices (CPLD and FPGA)
from Altera, Lattice, Xilinx
• PIC 16F/18F family of
microcontrollers
•Training boards (UP2, DE2, Spartan 3AN Starter
Kit, MachXO USB Starter Kit, NEXYS 2, etc.
• Training boards PICDEM2+,
etc.
•VHDL
•ModelSim (Mentor
Graphics), Active HDL
(Aldec)
•ISim (Xilinx)
•Synplicity Synplify
synthesis (Synopsys)
• Altera Integrated Synthesis
•
XST (Xilinx Synthesis tools)
•Classic IC’s
• sPLD GAL22V10
•ispLEVER Classic
5
CSD generic tools
Oral and written
communication
English
Self-directed
learning
Team
work
Project
management
•Microsoft Office
• Google docs
• Visio 2010
• Google sites
•Thunderbird
• Web editing tools
•CMapTools
• Proofing tools
•Gantt diagrams
• Google translate
• etc.
6
Planning activities and study time in and
out of the classroom (6 ECTS – 150 h)
Weekly study plan
Activities
(~problem solving all
the time)
Application
project
Guided learning
Exercises
(EX1 .. EX4)
Individual test
Problem solving teamwork
session at classroom (2 h)
Problem solving teamwork
session at classroom /
laboratory (1 h)*
Problem solving teamwork
session at laboratory (2 h)
13
weeks
11.5 h
per
week
(IT1 .. IT4)
Self-directed
learning
ePortfolio
Student-conducted
teamwork sessions
6 ECTS
(>6h)
Extra individual work
* Guided academic activities
7
Exercises and calendar on the CSD web
8
The CSD Blog
http://digsys.upc.es/wp/wordpress/
9
Activities  Design of real world applications
Design using
PLD/VHDL
Design using
microcontrollers
10
The content on the CSD web (units) is focused
on problem solving
11
Course timetable
EX : exercise/problem
AP: project
A : assessment
eP: e-portfolio
IM: improvement
IT: Individual unannounced test
12
Cooperative Learning as the
instructional method
• Positive interdependence
Team members are obliged to rely on one another to achieve their common goal
• Individual accountability
All students in a group are held accountable for doing their share of the work and
for mastery of all of the content to be learned
• Face-to-face promotive interaction
Group members providing one another with feedback, challenging one another’s
conclusions and reasoning, and teaching and encouraging one another
• Appropriate use of collaborative skills
Students are encouraged and helped to develop and practice skills in
communication, leadership, decision-making, conflict management, and other
aspects of effective teamwork
• Regular self-assessment of group functioning
Team members periodically assess what they are doing well as a team and what
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they need to work on for functioning more effectively in the future
A typical 2-hour group work session
Up to 15 minutes
Questions from previous sessions or
exercises
Up to 15 minutes
Introduction of new concepts or materials
(generally, the problem to be designed)
30 minutes
Group work for revising concepts and
planning exercises
Up to 15 minutes
Questions, discussion and general
orientations
30 minutes
Group work for developing exercises
15 minutes
Conclusions and planning for the studentdirected sessions outside the classroom
14
Cooperative group ePortfolio and
instructor’s feedback
A semi structured group e-portfolio organised to show your learning
process and results
15
Showcase ePortfolio
An ePortfolio organised according the subject’s cross-curricular skills to
show your achievements (http://electronicportfolios.com/balance)
Table of contents
1. Course, purpose, audience and structure
2. A list of hardware/software tools and laboratory equipment and examples on the way you’ve been using them
3. Work samples and reflection for the cross-curricular skills
1. 3rd language (English)
1. An active reading of a paper or a book unit
2. A written assignment in English
3. Exam solution
2. Team work
1. Learning an electronic design automation (EDA) tool in group
2. An example of a group assignment
3. Oral and written communication
1. A concept prepared to learn the design flow for a digital circuit
2. A peer-reviewed written assignment
3. An oral presentation in class
4. Self-directed learning/project management
1. Example of a project organisation and development
2. Example of a unit or lesson studied autonomously
. General reflection and conclusions
An excellent way for showing evidence of what you’ve learnt
16
Student assessment
Assessment is not a mechanism for verifying
student knowledge, but an stimulus to guarantee
that (motivated) students will do the group tasks
which lead them to learn the content and skills
Assessment is another learning activity integrated
in the course dynamics  ePortfolio
Every piece of work counts for the final grade
• Final exams are no longer needed
17
Assessment scheme

Rubrics and examples from previous terms, facilitates
assessing and giving fast feedback
Exercises
+
Includes an oral presentation and
a written report
Individual
test
+
6 deliverables
with optional
improvement
Examples to demonstrate
content learning, crosscurricular skills
development and reflection
Application
Project
+
4 individual
“unannounced”
exams
e-Portfolio
+ Participation
Oral: 12.5%
Written doc: 7.5%
Ep1: Week 9, 5%
and attitude
Ep2: Week 14 , 10%
Q  EX  30 %  IT  25 %  AP  20 %  eP  15 %  P & A  10 %
Continuous assessment: you’ll always know where you are and what you have to do to improve
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Assessment scheme
A remark on the Exercises assessment: There is a link between the
IT and the EX:
Exercises (30%)
Individual
Test (25%)
EX1A , EX1B, EX1C
IT1
EX2
IT2
EX3
IT3
EX4
IT4
 The EX will have a preliminary group grade. In order to get its
final grade, students have to pass the corresponding IT. If a
given student fail its IT, its EX will be graded with a “4”.
 At week 9 there will be another opportunity to pass or improve
IT1 and IT2. IT3 and 4 can be assessed again at week 14.
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Course evaluation and processing
This quality cycle has
to be repeated every
term
CSD WEB page 
Course
evaluation
Student questionnaires,
and instructors
processing
Learning objectives
and cross-curricular
skills
Coherence and
consistency
Continuous formative
and summative
assessment
Activities and
study time
scheduling
Active
methodologies
The evaluation’s aim is to prepare a plan with specific actions to improve teaching in
upcoming courses (problems redesigning, timetable scheduling, workload, teaching
materials, new software, demonstration exercises, etc.)
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