Computer Engineering (CPE)

Introduction to the computer engineering discipline. Success skills and curricular information. Career paths and opportunities. Professional aspects of engineering and computer science. Interaction with upper division students, alumni, faculty and staff. Introduction to computer software and hardware. Credit/No Credit grading only. 1 lecture.

Basic principles of algorithmic problem solving and programming using methods of top-down design, stepwise refinement and procedural abstraction. Basic control structures, data types, and input/output. Introduction to the software development process: design, implementation, testing and documentation. The syntax and semantics of a modern programming language. Credit not available for students who have taken CSC/CPE 108. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 101.

Use of a supportive software development environment to design, develop, and test applications in a selected topic domain that demonstrates the potential of careers in computing. An introduction to computing and to the selected topic domain. The Class Schedule will list topic selected. No programming experience required. Not for students with credit in CPE/CSC 103 or CPE/CSC 203. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 123.

Number systems, Boolean algebra, Boolean functions, and function minimization. Analysis and design of combinational and sequential digital logic circuits. Hardware Description Language (HDL) concepts and applications digital design and synthesis in FPGAs. Course may be offered in classroom-based, online, or hybrid format. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 133.

Individual investigation, research, studies, or surveys of selected problems. Total credit limited to 4 units, with a maximum of 2 units per quarter.

Introduction to data structures and analysis of algorithms. Abstract datatypes. Specification and implementation of advanced data structures. Theoretical and empirical analysis of recursive and iterative algorithms. Software performance evaluation and testing techniques. Not open to students with credit in CSC/CPE 108. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 202.

Object-oriented programming and design with applications to project construction. Introduction to class design, interfaces, inheritance, generics, exceptions, streams, and testing. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 203.

Introduction to computer systems. Simple instruction set architecture and the computer hardware needed to implement that architecture. Machine and assembly language programming. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 225.

Design and implementation of digital computer circuits via CAD tools for programmable logic devices (PLDs). Basic computer design with its datapath components and control unit. Introduction to assembly language programming of an off-the-shelf RISC-based microcontroller. Not open to students with credit in CPE/EE 229. Course may be offered in classroom-based, online, or hybrid format. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 233.

Directed group study of selected topics. The Class Schedule will list topic selected. Total credit limited to 8 units. 1 to 4 lectures.

In-depth study of the instruction set architecture and hardware design of a specific CPU. Introduction to pipelines, input/output and multi-processors. Computer abstractions and performance measurement. Not open to students with credit in CPE 333. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Introduction to microcontrollers and their applications as embedded devices. Hardware/software tradeoffs, microcontroller selection, use of on-chip and off-chip peripherals, interrupt driven real-time operation, A/D conversion, serial and parallel communications, watch-dog timers, and low power operation. Not open to students with credit in CPE 329 or CPE 336. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Survey of topics in computer system and network security, including protection, access control, distributed access control, operating system security, applied cryptography, network security, firewalls, secure coding practices, and case studies from real-world systems. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 321.

Signal and system description and analysis, with emphasis on discrete-time signals and linear time-invariant (LTI) systems. Sampling theorem. Frequency spectrum, Convolution and its application to LTI systems. The z transform, discrete-time Fourier transform, and discrete Fourier transform. Introduction to digital filters. 3 lectures. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 327.

Discrete-time systems and analysis, with emphasis on linear time-invariant (LTI) systems. Sampling theorem. Classification of discrete-time systems. Convolution and its application to LTI systems. The z transform, discrete-time Fourier transform, and discrete Fourier transform. Introduction to digital filters. Not open to students with credit in CPE 327. 3 lectures. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 328.

Design, implementation and testing of microcontroller-based systems. Hardware and C software for embedded systems to sense and actuate external devices. I/O common embedded systems to interface I/O devices and protocols. Analysis of power consumption. Ethics. Not open to students with credit in CPE/EE 336. Course may be offered in classroom-based or online format. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 329.

Study of a hardware design of a specific CPU. Pipelining, input/output, multi-processors, and performance measurement. Implementation of CPU architectural and computer components using hardware-description languages and development board platforms. Not open to students with credit in CPE 315. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Introduction to microcontrollers and integrated microprocessor systems. Hardware/software trade-offs, system economics, and functional configurations. Interface design, real-time clocks, interrupts, A/D conversion, serial and parallel communications, watch-dog timers, low power operation, event-based inter-peripheral communication, and assembly and higher-level language programming techniques. Architecture and design of sampled data and low-power systems. Not open to students with credit in CPE/EE 329. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 336.

Quantum mechanical wave functions. Principle of superposition and entanglement. States of one or more quantum bits. Quantum gates and circuits. Application of quantum gates on simulators and quantum computers. Quantum computer architectures. Quantum algorithms. Ethics of quantum computing. 3 lectures, 1 activity. Crosslisted as CPE/PHYS 345.

Definition and specification of a system to be constructed in CPE 450; requirements elicitation techniques, research and data gathering methods; project planning, time and budget estimating; project team organization. Ethics and professionalism. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

C programming language from a system programming perspective. Standard C language including operators, I/O functions, and data types in the context of system functions. Unix commands, shell scripting, file system, editors. Course may be offered in classroom-based or online format. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 357.

Laboratory work pertaining to discrete-time signals and linear systems; including frequency response and Fourier spectral analysis, signal sampling and aliasing, digital signal processing techniques, and digital filter design and implementation. 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 367.

Laboratory work pertaining to linear systems, including Fourier analysis, time and frequency responses, and system transfer function. Not open to students with credit in CPE 367. 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 368.

Individual investigation, research, studies, or surveys of selected problems. Total credit limited to 4 units.

Integration of sensors, actuators, chassis, and Linux-based computational platforms into functioning autonomous robotic systems. Embedded Linux system programming, inter-process software communication, basic sensor fusion techniques, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) motor actuation, and web-based interfacing for remote system way-pointing and monitoring. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 414.

Theory and application of concepts relevant to autonomous mobile robots. Sensor and actuator interfacing, programming mobile robots, mobile robot configurations, software architectures and algorithms. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Introduction to applied parallel computing paradigms: software models, resource allocation, performance measurement, and data sharing. Emphasis on massively parallel computation and performance improvement for a real-world application of significant scope. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Introduction to network security, including denial of service, botnets, access control, routing attacks, transport layer attacks, tunneling mechanisms, VPNs, IDS, firewalls, penetration testing, key distribution, email security, jamming, and wireless security. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 422.

Comprehensive overview of wireless networks and system security. Security issues and solutions in emerging wireless access networks and systems as well as multi-hop wireless networks. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 425.

An introduction to hardware security from embedded systems to secure VHDL design. Topics may include digital rights management, hardware based trojans, hardware implementation of cryptography, sidechannel attacks, secure communication protocols, hardware based overflow detection, physical device verification, and physically unclonable functions. 3 lecture, 1 laboratory.

Introduction to the concepts of 2D and 3D computer vision: low-level image processing methods such as filtering and edge detection; feature extraction; segmentation and clustering; stereo vision; appearance-based and model-based algorithms. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 428.

Intermediate code representations, memory management, functions and parameter passing, code transformations and optimizations, code generation, register allocation. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 431.

Theory and applications of digital computers in linear control systems. Analysis and design of microprocessor-based controls. Introduction of continuous and discrete transform methods for design of closed-loop dynamic systems. Applications in robotics, automotive, aircraft and industrial process control. 3 lectures. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 432.

Theory, design and implementation of real-time operating system-based embedded systems. Scheduling algorithms, operating system resources, peripheral device interfacing and embedded system architecture. Resource management issues in a resource-limited (microcontroller-based) environment. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 439.

Design of VLSI circuits using state-of-the-art CAD software. Design issues and algorithms related to design using CAD. Full custom design through automated design and a major multi-week chip design project in lab. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE 441/EE 431.

Theory, design and implementation of modern embedded systems. Scheduling algorithms and operating system resources. System on Chip (SoC) design issues such as interfacing with custom hardware description language (HDL) peripherals, high-performance chip interconnect standards, energy use, area, and hardware versus software performance trade-offs. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 442.

Hardware and software fault tolerance concepts: fault models, coding in computer systems, module and system level fault detection mechanisms, reconfiguration techniques for general purpose processors and ASICs, and software fault tolerance techniques such as recovery blocks, N-version programming, checkpointing, and recovery. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 446.

Acoustics, sound production, and transducer design in the context of stringed musical instruments. Introduces music theory, scales and temperament, sound radiation, structural dynamics of stringed instruments. Integrates engineering topics including frequency spectrum analysis, electromagnetics, properties of materials, digital and analog circuit design. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 447.

Team-based design, construction and deployment of an embedded system that includes a custom-built computer. Technical management of product development teams. Technical documentation, configuration management, quality assurance, integration and systems testing. Professionalism. 1 lecture, 2 laboratories.

Introduction to sequential and multiprogramming operating systems; kernel calls, interrupt service mechanisms, scheduling, files and protection mechanisms, conventional machine attributes that apply to operating system implementation, virtual memory management, and I/O control systems. Course may be offered in classroom-based or online format. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 453.

Design and implementation of multiprogramming kernels, systems programming methodology, interprocess communications, synchronization, device drivers and network access methods. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 454.

Selected aspects of design, implementation and analysis of networks, advanced operating and distributed systems. Topics may include process management, virtual memory, process communication, context switching, file system designs, persistent objects, process and data migration, load balancing, security and networks. The Class Schedule will list topic selected. Total credit limited to 8 units. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 458.

Selection and completion of an individual or team project. Project results are presented in a formal report.

Selection and completion of an individual or team project. Project results are presented in a formal report.

Computer network architectures; communications protocol standards; services provided by the network; historical and current examples presented. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Advanced topics in computer networks; greater detail of protocol standards and services provided by the network; focus on current industry and research topics. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.

Foundations of distributed systems, distributed hash tables (peer-to-peer systems), failure detectors, synchronization, election, inter-process communication, consensus, replication, key-value stores, and measurements. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CSC/CPE 469.

Directed group study of selected topics for advanced students. Open to undergraduate and graduate students. The Class Schedule will list topic selected. Total credit limited to 8 units. 1 to 4 lectures.

Graphics software development and use of application programming interfaces for 3D graphics. The graphics pipeline, modeling, geometric and viewing transforms, lighting and shading, rendering, interaction techniques and graphics hardware. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 471.

Design and programming of microprocessor-based digital controls for electro-mechanical plants. Topics include digital control laws, translation of transfer functions into algorithms, assembly language programming, real-time software design, sample rate selection, finite word-length considerations. 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 472.

Basic and advanced algorithms for real-time, interactive, 3D graphics software. Modeling (polygon mesh, height field, scene graph), real-time rendering and shading (visibility processing, LOD, texture and light maps), collision detection (bounding volumes, complexity management), interactive controls, multi-player game technology, game engine architecture. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 476.

Directed group laboratory study of selected topics for advanced students. Open to undergraduate and graduate students. The Class Schedule will list topic selected. Total credit limited to 8 units. 1 to 4 laboratories.

Materials, processes, and reliability of microelectronics and electronics packaging, surface mount assembly and printed circuit board fabrication. Organic substrates and ceramic substrates. Mechanical design, thermal, and electrical considerations in electronic packaging. Design for manufacturability. Overview of optoelectronics packaging and other emerging technologies in microelectronics and electronic packaging. Project on design and manufacture of an electronic device. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE 488/IME 458/MATE 458.

Part-time work experience in business, industry, government, and other areas of student career interest. Positions are paid and usually require relocation and registration in course for two consecutive quarters. Formal report and evaluation by work supervisor required. Credit/No Credit grading only. No major credit allowed; total credit limited to 6 units.

Full-time work experience in business, industry, government, and other areas of student career interest. Positions are paid and usually require relocation and registration in course for two consecutive quarters. Formal report and evaluation by work supervisor required. Credit/No Credit grading only. No major credit allowed; total credit limited to 18 units.

Full-time work experience in business, industry, government, and other areas of student career interest. Positions are paid and usually require relocation and registration in course for two consecutive quarters. A more fully developed formal report and evaluation by work supervisor required. Credit/No Credit grading only. No major credit allowed; total credit limited to 24 units.

Comparative study and design of multiprocessor, dataflow, RISC, high level language and other new computer architectures. VLSI processor design techniques. 3 seminars, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 515.

Organization of modern general purpose, high speed digital computer systems. Design of arithmetic units, control units, memories and memory subsystems. Cost, power and speed trade-offs in the design of such systems. 3 seminars, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 521.

Define and implement a microcontroller-based Real-Time Operating System (RTOS). Advanced real-time concepts, kernel structure, task and time management, various intertask communication constructs including semaphores, queues and mailboxes. Scheduler design, memory management and shared resource management in a resource-constrained microcontroller environment. 3 seminars, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 522.

Full-custom design and analysis of digital circuits using full CMOS, pass-transistor and dynamic circuit topologies. Transistor sizing for minimizing power consumption, delay and other design criteria. 3 seminars, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 523.

Characterization, testing and documentation of custom-fabricated Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. Use of specialized test equipment. 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 532.

Advanced Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) design using state-of-the-art software. Advanced topics in digital, analog and mixed signal circuit design to enable a quarter-long design project culminating in a tapeout-ready integrated circuit design. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE 541/EE 531.

Advanced study and application of modern embedded systems. Memory bandwidth matching, clock-domain crossing, IP creation and verification, and student-led lectures on modern System on Chip (SoC) design topics. Building a prototype embedded system. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/EE 542.

Exploration of advanced topics in emerging computer networking technologies; focus on leading edge computer network research topics. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 564.

Principles and practices in distributed computing: interprocess communications, group communications, client-server model, distributed objects, message queue system, distributed services, mobile agents, object space, Internet protocols. Distributed algorithms: consensus protocols, global state protocols. Fault tolerance: classification of faults, replication. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Crosslisted as CPE/CSC 569.