By the end of this course as a successful student you will be able to:

- Name at least 3 metrics of performance evaluation of a SoC

- Describe at least two advantage/disadvantage of various SoC implementations (multi-core, reconfigurables, ASIC, and etc.) with respect to other methods.

- Describe at least two distinctive characteristic of different memory architectures

- List at least two different interconnet technology for on-chip communication and at least two of their applications/distinctive characteristics

- Describe the concept of Cyber Physical SoCs and its main components.

- Describe the concept of Self-Aware SoCs and Autonomous SoCs. Also list and two main differences of these systems compared to other emerging technologies.

-Name at least two key aspects of Fault Tolerance and respective design processes.

- (Optional) Name at least two key aspects of Hardware Security and respective design processes.

In this course you will first get familiarized with the basics of SoCs and its design process. This includes the main components, design flow, manufacturing process, chip basics, performance metrics and floor planning.

You will learn the core concepts and issues of multi-processor systems, pipelining, reconfigurables, Customized Systems, ASICs, trade-offs and scalability.

Memory hierarchy and addressing will be introduced to you and you will get familiarized with various interconnection issues such as data paths and controls, input/outputs, bus structure and standards as well as the concept of Network on Chip.

You will learn the fundamentals of fault tolerance and hardware security. 

You will be familiarized with the road map and challenges ahead of SoC, future technologies and integrations issues as well as CPSoC, self-aware and autonomous SoCs. 

Time permitting some additional important topics of the field may be covered as well.

This course is part of the Embedded Systems Master Programme, and there specifically of the SoC Track. The Institute of Computer Technology also offers other relevant courses. 

- Very short quizzes will be held during the class period (10% each).

- As the final evaluation one of the following options will be considered: 1- Final Written Exam (50%) -2- A short quiz (10%) plus a project/paper (40%).

The students who have taken the first quiz are now registered. This enables you to access the course material including the slides and the quiz marks which will be posted online.  

You should have a working knowledge of computer architecture basics.