Italian (an English version of the slides will be made available on request)
Course Content
Main features of digital systems based on high speed integrated circuits will be discussed and design guidelines will be illustrated through examples and laboratory experiences. Main topics: Acquisition and synthesis of wideband signals, transmission lines, switching noise, cross-talk, lay-out problems, metastability, clock distribution. Architecture and programming issues of FPGA (VHDL). DSP laboratory experiences.
T.Gramberg, Handbook of Digital Techniques for High-speed design, Prentice Hall, 2004
Tocci, Widmer, Digital Systems: Principles and Applications, 8-th Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2000.
J.E.Buchanan, Signal and Power Integrity in Digital Systems, Mcgraw-Hill, 1995.
H.W. Johnson, M.Graham, High-Speed digital design, Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Slides provided by the teachers.
Data sheets and application notes of reference commercial devices.
Learning Objectives
The student will be able to identify the critical aspects in the project of a digital system. He will also learn interpreting the main features of a digital device and working, in particular, with programmable circuits (FPGA and DSP).
Prerequisites
Elementary electronic circuits (ELETTRONICA GENERALE)
Elementary circuit circuits, Boolean logics (ELETTRONICA DIGITALE, ELETTRONICA DEI SISTEMI DIGITALI)
Teaching Methods
Lectures and laboratory tests
Further information
The complete exam corresponds to 9 credits.
For students coming from other Universities, the program may be reduced to 6 credits, including only the parts 1, 3 and 4 specified below, as well as laboratory activities.
Type of Assessment
The standard oral exam may be substituted by a written proof at the end of the Course
Course program
1. A/D and D/A Conversion Systems for acquisition and synthesis of signals
Advanced electronic components used in the digital to analog conversion: CMOS switches, D/A converters, multipliers. Digital synthesizers.
Advanced electronic components used in the analog to digital conversion. Static and dynamic parameters in Track & Hold circuits. Sigma-Delta, flash, subranging and pipeline A/D converters. Experimental techniques to evaluate the static and dynamic performance of a conversion system. Effective number of bits.
2. Design issues of high-speed digital systems
"Digital" transmission lines; Switching noise and forward/reverse cross-talk: causes, effects, countermeasures. Influence of the "package". "Lay-out" problems, design criteria for printed circuit boards.
Synchronous systems: distribution of clock, clock "skew".
3. Design of programmable digital circuits
This part ot the course will mainly deal with DSP and FPGA architectures and applications.
DSP: Notes on the operation of a CPU. CPU with specialized architectures and essential characteristics of a DSP. Discussion on a DSP Reference: architecture, timing and examples of interfacing. Development environment.
FPGA: Elements of logic networks: Boolean algebra, analysis and synthesis of combinational and sequential circuits. References to the architecture of PROM, PAL, CPLD, and detailed architecture of FPGAs. Analysis of a commercial device. VHDL: main structures, description of combinational circuits and state machines. CAD applied to programmable circuits: Technical Project Top-Down, Schematic Entry, Simulation, Fitting, Configuration. Development Environment Altera's Quartus II.
4. Example: Design of a digital system for biomedical applications
As an example, the design of a biomedical digital system will be presented, from the predicted operative modalities and related specifications, to the PCB implementation and test.
The lectures will be supplemented by seminars dedicated to applications held by experts in the field of digital electronics.
Laboratory activities:
The activities will be organized by dividing the students into groups.
Each group, on the basis of assigned specifications, will have to design and implement a complete hardware and software signal processing system. The system will consist of a circuit board realized in the laboratory, interfaced with two other boards based on DSP and CPLD and controlled through an appropriate integrated development environment (IDE). Students seek to address issues such as: operation of an emulator, interface between PC and DSP interface between DSP and devices connected to it, the design of VHDL code for CPLD programming, code development C / ASM for the DSP.