„POLITEHNICA” UNIVERSITY FROM TIMIŞOARA
SYLLABUS
for the discipline:
“Evolvable Hardware”
FACULTY OF AUTOMATION AND COMPUTERS
DOMAIN / SPECIALIZATION: COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Year of studies: II MASTER
Semester: 1
Course instructor: Assistant Professor Lucian PRODAN, PhD
Applications instructor: Alexandru AMARICAI PhD
Number of hours/week/Evaluation/Credits
Course
Seminar
Laboratory
Project
2
2
Evaluation
Exam
Credits
9
A. COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is a graduate level complement to Reconfigurable Computing (8L1.1.1) and Fault Tolerant Computing
(8L2.5). It introduces a range of computational models that appeared at the crosspoints between reconfigurable
hardware and evolutionary algorithms in the recent years as an attempt to solve traditionally hard computational
problems. The course surveys relevant aspects of means to evolve reconfigurable architectures by using evolutionary
techniques inspired from biological processes pertaining to phylogeny, ontogeny and epigenesis. In particular, the
following topics will be discussed: evolvability characteristics, evolutionary computation and design, traditional and
novel reconfigurable architectures, evolvable hardware. Typical applications will illustrate the mentioned approaches.
B. COURSE SUBJECTS
Chapter 1. Introduction (6 hours)
1.1. Characteristics of Evolvable Circuits and Systems
1.2. The Good and The Bad of Evolvable Hardware
1.3. Technology and Applications
1.4. Evolvable VS Evolved Hardware
1.5. Intrinsic VS Extrinsic Evolution. Online VS Offline Evolution
Chapter 2. Fundamentals of Evolutionary Computation (6 hours)
2.1. Definition of Evolutionary Algorithms
2.2. Components of an EA: Representation, Variation, Evaluation, Selection, Population and Termination Criteria
2.3. Peramenter Tuning and Selection of Best EA
Chapter 3. Reconfigurable Digital Devices (10 hours)
3.1. Basic Architectures: PLDs and FPGAs
3.2. Using Reconfigurable Hardware. Design Phase. Execution Phase
3.3. Experimental Results
3.4. The POEtic Architecture. Organic Subsystem. Molecules. Routing Layer
Chapter 4. Using Evolvable Hardware (EHW) (6 hours)
4.1. Synthesis VS Adaptation
4.2. Design of Self-Adaptive Systems. Fault Tolerant and Real Time Systems
4.3. Online Reconfigurable Systems
4.4. Examples of EHW-based Fault Recovery
C. APPLICATIONS SUBJECTS
(laboratory, seminar, project)
The project can comprise of
1. a thorough survey of a topic, with original insight
2. a development of a new scheme, or a fresh implementation of an existing scheme
3. or modeling and analysis of an existing scheme.
A project proposal, a progress report and a final report will be due at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the
semester. Time allocation for the project will include 4 hours for the proposal, and 2 hours for the progress and final
report each; the remaining 20 hours of the time will be dedicated for research. The proposal should include a title,
name, one paragraph abstract, motivation, proposed approach and applicable references The progress report should
indicate that at least half of work has been finished, with a summary of the findings, any refinements of the objectives
as a result of the past study, what the final report will contain and the applicable references. An oral presentation is
required. The final report should follow the structure and formatting of a research paper.
D. REFERENCES
1. D. Mange, M. Tomassini (eds.). Bio-Inspired Computing Machines. Towards Novel Computational Architectures.
Presse Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes, 1998.
2. G.W. Greenwood, A.M.Tyrrell. Introduction to Evolvable Hardware. A Practical Guide for Designing Self-Adaptive
Systems. IEEE Press Series on Computational Intelligence, 2007.
3. R.S. Zebulum et al. (eds.). Proceedings of the NASA/DoD Conference on Evolvable Hardware (EH’05). IEEE
Computer Society, Los Alamitos CA, 2003-2005.
E. EVALUATION PROCEDURE
Course ends with a 2 hour written exam accounting for 50%. Candidates will have to cover several subjects (3-4) based
on course topics. Projects are based on a one page proposal that should include motivation, brief scope of study and
some specific references. The progress report and the final report will account for 20% and 30% of the final mark.
F. INTERNATIONAL COMPATIBILITY
1. University of Missouri-Rolla, CpE/EE/SysEng 301 – Evolvable Hardware (Adaptive Devices, Circuits and Systems)
2. Brno University of Technology, EUD – Evolutionary and Unconventional Hardware
3. University of Oslo, INF-EHW – Evolutionary Computation and Evolvable Hardware
Date:
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
Prof. Dr. eng. Vladimir CREŢU
COURSE INSTRUCTOR,
Assist. Prof. Dr. Lucian PRODAN