News
16.05.2022
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Fourth AssignmentDear students, the fourth book chapter is now available in the materials section. Please submit your summary for this chapter by Monday 23.05.2022 12:00. The fourth exercise will also be available soon. Again, please check the submissions section on your personal... Read more Dear students, the fourth book chapter is now available in the materials section. Please submit your summary for this chapter by Monday 23.05.2022 12:00. The fourth exercise will also be available soon. Again, please check the submissions section on your personal status page for the corresponding deadline. It will be updated as soon as I've uploaded the assignment. Best regards, Sophie |
11.05.2022
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Third AssignmentDear students, the third book chapter as well as the slides of the four previous lectures are now available in the Materials section. The summary assignment is due Monday 16.05.2022 12:00. The third exercise will follow soon. Please check the Submissions section... Read more Dear students, the third book chapter as well as the slides of the four previous lectures are now available in the Materials section. The summary assignment is due Monday 16.05.2022 12:00. The third exercise will follow soon. Please check the Submissions section on your personal status page for deadline. I will update it as soon as the exercise goes online. Best regards, Sophie |
25.04.2022
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Second AssignmentDear students, the next book chapter and the second exercise assignment are available in the materials section. Please submit your summary and solution by 02.05.2022 23:59. Best, Sophie |
12.04.2022
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First AssignmentDear Students, the first book chapter is now available in the materials section. The recording of today's lecture will follow soon. Before starting to write your summary of this chapter, please make sure to read the instructions compiled in a document entitled... Read more Dear Students, the first book chapter is now available in the materials section. The recording of today's lecture will follow soon. Before starting to write your summary of this chapter, please make sure to read the instructions compiled in a document entitled "How to Summarise" which is also available in the materials section. Completing Exercise 1.6 "From an FSM to a Circuit" on page 17 of the reading material is also a compulsory part of your submission. Please submit your summary and your solution to the first exercise to the designated fields on your personal status page until 19.04.2022 - 10 a.m. Best, Sophie |
04.04.2022
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First LectureDear students, as you may have already gathered from the homepage, the first lecture will be held online on Tuesday 12.04 from 12:00 to 14:00 c.t. The Zoom link to the lecture is available in the materials section.
Best regards, Sophie
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How to Clock Your Computer
People
Lecturers:
- Christoph Lenzen
- Danny Dolev
- Ian W. Jones
Teaching Assistant:
- Sophie Wenning
Lecture Slots
weekly lecture slots:
- Monday, 12:00 - 14:00
- Tuesday, 12:00 - 14:00
first lecture:
- Tuesday, 12.04.2022
There are no tutorials. The lectures are online. The participation link will be sent out to registered students before the first lecture (later registrations are possible; please contact Christoph Lenzen (mail) or Sophie Wenning (mail) for receiving the link in this case).
Content Overview
This advanced lecture entitled "How to Clock your Computer" introduces the problem of clocking circuits from a theoretical perspective. We start out with the building blocks of digital logic and provide realistic models for their behavior. We explain the need for synchronised clock signals, present the existing solutions, and motivate the need for solutions which treat a chip as a distributed system of clock domains. We then proceed to discuss, in mathematical terms, the unique problems that circuits present when implementing these solutions. We discuss techniques to solve these issues. Finally we discuss distributed solutions and show how these techniques enable us to devise improved clocking methods.
Classroom Model
This lecture follows the inverted classroom model. This implies that the course is structured as follows:
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We will provide you with some reading material one week before each new lecture block and you will prepare a summary of the topic which we will grade. You are also encouraged to ask questions about aspects that you feel you have not yet properly understood. This step is intended to prepare you for the actual lecture.
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The lecture itself aims to be interactive. The lecturers will present the topic in more detail. In a subsequent discussion we will answer your questions before moving on to jointly solved exercises designed to further deepen your understanding of the topic.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites other than basic mathematical knowledge are needed. It can be helpful to have knowledge about (electric) circuitry and Boolean logic, but this is not mandatory.
Evaluation
The grades for this course will be computed from:
- Homework assignments (25%): you have to write a short summary for each of the above chapters. These fortnightly assignments will be graded.
- Participation in class (25%): we appreciate your participation in the discussions that will form an important part of each lecture. As your contribution will be graded, attendance at the lectures is strongly recommended.
- Final written submission (50%): a final homework assignment at the end of the semester completes the assessment.