The course is mandatory for the BSc-level programme in Electrical Engineering and will be offered in the second period of the third year. It is focussed on the basics of Digital Electronics, considering and studying the different aspects of digital design. A lot of methodologies related to basic digital circuits up to complex processing systems will be shown and used. The knowledges and the abilities developed in this module will constitue the solid bases of the following corses where digital systems will be considered in more details.

- Knowledge of basic combinatorial circuits and their synthesis tools; - Knowledge of sequential circuits and their synthesis tools; - Knowledge and ability in the use of a Hardware Description Language such as VHDL: description and syntesis of digital blocks. - Knlowledge of complex programming digital circuits (FPGAs); - Knowledge of memory structures and architectures, and their use in processing systems. - Knowledge of microcontrollers architectures and applications.

Boole's Algebra; elementary combinatorial and sequential digital gates; FSM concept, basic processor architecture and its programming paradigm (assembler language)

- Combinatorial circuits: synthesis techinques for basic and arithmetic circuits (2 CFU) - Sequential circuits: elementary FSMs and complex control architectures (ASM charts) (2 CFU) - Hardware Description Languages (VHDL): statements, data structures and coding techniques for hardware description and modelling (2 CFU); - Memories: circuits, architectures and applications (1 CFU); - Microcontrollers: internal architecture, programming model and use; peripheral units (3 CFU);

Practice classes will focus on small digital designs (personal calculator required). Lab sessions consist in the development, synthesis and implementation of digital designs, described using VHDL, and microcontrollers, possibly integrated into FPGAs . Evaluation boards will be available to test the designs. 7 or 8 lab sessions will be provided by groups of 2 or 3 students. Homeworks are required to prepare the lab sessions. A report is required for the lab sessions and will be considered in the final grade.

The learning material used for the lessons is made available through the course website. Notes provided by the professor. Reference books: "Fundamentals of Digital Logic with VHDL Design (Third Edition)" di Stephen Brown e Zvonko Vranesic , Mc Graw Hill 'Microcontroller Theory and Applications:HC12 and S12' (Second Edition), D. Pack, S. Barrett, Pearson, Prentice Hall.

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Prova scritta tramite PC con l'utilizzo della piattaforma di ateneo; Elaborato progettuale individuale;

Both the written test and the oral exam can be taken onsite or online. The written test includes two/three open answer questions and one design problem. The available time is 2 hours. The questions cover all course topics and they intend to verify the acquired knowledge and capabilities. The design problem requires to understand the initial specifications, to develop a detailed datapath architecture, to properly model the control unit, and to describe one or multiple elements by means of VHDL. No books and notes are admitted. Normally, the same weight is given to each question. However, the weight of questions that achieved a very low average mark may be slightly reduced. A mark at least equal to 18/30 is required to pass the written test and to access the oral exam, which deals with the complete set of subjects covered in the course, including the laboratory activities. Normally, two questions are asked and one of them is about laboratory projects. The evaluation of laboratory projects is based on: - completeness, - adopted methodology - obtained results. The final grade is a weighted average of the written and oral exams (weighted 0.7) and lab reports (weighted 0.3). Although not recommended, it is possible to pass the exam without the laboratory contribution. However, in this case, an excellent result in the written test and in the oral exam is necessary: in particular, more than 25/30 must be achieved after the written test, so as the 70% of the received evaluation is larger than the passing threshold (18/30). Written test: organization In the online case, we will use the EXAM platform and the proctoring system Respondus. There will be two or three separate test sessions: 1. The first session is about the design of a complex digital system. The answer has to be typed on your PC according to a detailed template specified for every step in the design procedure (see the example given at the end of the document). During the test, you must also provide two or three drawings, each one on a separate paper, according to the rules specified in the exam text. Do not deliver any other drawing in addition to the one explicitly required. Before the end of the test, the student must frame each drawing with his webcam. Then, after the end of the test and within 5 minutes, the same drawings must be delivered, according to the following rules: a. Upload your drawings to the “Elaborati” section of the “Portale della didattica” by means of the Polito App. In case you are unable to do that, send the drawings by email and, in this case, compose the file names as: student ID followed by the word PHOTO and by a progressive number (example: S123456PHOTO1). b. You have to provide clear and complete pictures of the same drawings as the ones that were framed at the end of the written test. c. Please, provide good quality pictures with files of limited size (approximately no more than 1 or 2 MB per picture). d. Each photo must only contain the required drawing and your name; no other text descriptions are admitted. Any description, explanation or comment related to the design must be typed on your PC. e. Each photo must be a JPEG or PDF image saved in a separate file. Drawings delivered too late will not be considered. Drawings that were not properly framed with the webcam at the end of the test or different from the ones framed will not be considered. 2. The second session of the written exam includes two-three open answer questions. In this case, for each question, the student has to type the answer on the PC, with no extra material admitted. Each question will detail both the requested content and the template to be followed in providing the answer. There can be a word number limit for each answer. Oral exam: they can be organized onsite or, alternatively, online by using the BBB tool (Virtual Classroom platform).

Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula); Prova orale obbligatoria; Prova scritta tramite PC con l'utilizzo della piattaforma di ateneo; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;

Both the written test and the oral exam can be taken onsite or online. The written test includes two/three open answer questions and one design problem. The available time is 2 hours. The questions cover all course topics and they intend to verify the acquired knowledge and capabilities. The design problem requires to understand the initial specifications, to develop a detailed datapath architecture, to properly model the control unit, and to describe one or multiple elements by means of VHDL. No books and notes are admitted. Normally, the same weight is given to each question. However, the weight of questions that achieved a very low average mark may be slightly reduced. A mark at least equal to 18/30 is required to pass the written test and to access the oral exam, which deals with the complete set of subjects covered in the course, including the laboratory activities. Normally, two questions are asked and one of them is about laboratory projects. The evaluation of laboratory projects is based on: - completeness, - adopted methodology - obtained results. The final grade is a weighted average of the written and oral exams (weighted 0.7) and lab reports (weighted 0.3). Although not recommended, it is possible to pass the exam without the laboratory contribution. However, in this case, an excellent result in the written test and in the oral exam is necessary: in particular, more than 25/30 must be achieved after the written test, so as the 70% of the received evaluation is larger than the passing threshold (18/30). Written test: organization In the online case, we will use the EXAM platform and the proctoring system Respondus. There will be two or three separate test sessions: 1. The first session is about the design of a complex digital system. The answer has to be typed on your PC according to a detailed template specified for every step in the design procedure (see the example given at the end of the document). During the test, you must also provide two or three drawings, each one on a separate paper, according to the rules specified in the exam text. Do not deliver any other drawing in addition to the one explicitly required. Before the end of the test, the student must frame each drawing with his webcam. Then, after the end of the test and within 5 minutes, the same drawings must be delivered, according to the following rules: a. Upload your drawings to the “Elaborati” section of the “Portale della didattica” by means of the Polito App. In case you are unable to do that, send the drawings by email and, in this case, compose the file names as: student ID followed by the word PHOTO and by a progressive number (example: S123456PHOTO1). b. You have to provide clear and complete pictures of the same drawings as the ones that were framed at the end of the written test. c. Please, provide good quality pictures with files of limited size (approximately no more than 1 or 2 MB per picture). d. Each photo must only contain the required drawing and your name; no other text descriptions are admitted. Any description, explanation or comment related to the design must be typed on your PC. e. Each photo must be a JPEG or PDF image saved in a separate file. Drawings delivered too late will not be considered. Drawings that were not properly framed with the webcam at the end of the test or different from the ones framed will not be considered. 2. The second session of the written exam includes two-three open answer questions. In this case, for each question, the student has to type the answer on the PC, with no extra material admitted. Each question will detail both the requested content and the template to be followed in providing the answer. There can be a word number limit for each answer. Oral exam: they can be organized onsite or, alternatively, online by using the BBB tool (Virtual Classroom platform).