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Architecture Lab

The Architecture Lab in SIC 100 is a hands-on teaching lab for computer architecture, embedded systems, systems programming and iOS app development.
An instructor teaching at the front of the Architecture Lab while students work at benches with oscilloscopes and other test instruments
A class in the Architecture Lab in SIC 100

The Computer Architecture, Embedded Systems, and Mobile Computing Lab (Architecture Lab), in room 100 of the Science and Innovation Center, is where students see how computers work from the inside out. It’s a hands-on teaching lab for computer architecture, embedded systems, systems programming and mobile device programming (iOS app development), equipped with specialized hardware for building and testing circuits, microcontrollers and robots.

Courses

Courses that meet in the Architecture Lab include:

  • CSC 110A Computer Architecture Lab: hands-on digital electronics with integrated circuits. Students receive architecture lab kits that they keep.
  • CSC 113 Introduction to Embedded-Systems Design: microcontrollers and systems on chip with reconfigurable analog and digital circuits, taught by Zonghua Gu.
  • CSC 155 Systems Programming: UNIX-like systems programming, taught by Thomas G. Re. Students work with Raspberry Pi based robots, which they keep for the semester and access over SSH from lab machines and their own laptops.

Student & Faculty Projects

  • Robots in CSC 155: Students program Raspberry Pi based robots throughout the semester.
  • Senior design: Senior design projects draw on the lab’s equipment, including development boards and bench instruments.
  • Development boards: The lab stocks Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32, AVR boards, NVIDIA Jetson Nano, micro:bit and Circuit Playground Express boards, used in CSC 113, CSC 110A and senior design.

Specifications

Alongside its computers, the lab is equipped like an electronics workshop, with the same kinds of instruments that computer hardware and embedded-systems developers use in industry to test and debug their designs.

  • Computers: 24-inch iMacs running macOS, with an 8-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, 16 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD.
  • Instructor station: a podium computer with a SMART Podium 24-inch interactive pen display.
  • Instruments: 12 Rohde and Schwarz digital oscilloscopes, and bench digital multimeters and waveform generators from Agilent and Keysight.
  • Electronics: development boards, components, tools and instruments for hands-on circuit work.

Access & Help

  • Getting in: The lab has a card reader, and students registered for a course that meets in the lab receive card access for that semester (the building and labs are normally open 7 AM to 9 PM, Monday through Friday).
  • Lab kits: Students in computer architecture courses can store their lab kits in designated storage locations in the lab.