Exam 3 – CS4341
Not for Extra Credit Project
Doug DeGroot’s Class
Due Wednesday, December 7
(This will count as 20% of your grade.*)
For a final project, I'd like you to work on a project idea of your own making. As to
possible projects, It must be directly related to digital logic. I'm open to almost anything.
I would prefer it if you decided (not me) what you wanted to work on so that you might
have some passion for the subject you select. But whatever the subject, you should
consider the following submission formats.
White Papers: Write a 3+ page white pape
eport on some aspect of digital logic
(11-point font size, preferably Cali
i font). Be sure to include and cite your
eferences (there should be at least 3 good references; don’t just list URLs). Possible
topics include:
• Moore's Law, where we cu
ently stand with it and why; what do we expect will
happen with it and what, if anything, might replace or extend it, and so on. See
Michio Kaku’s YouTube video on this subject.
• Neuromorphic computing. What it is, how it works, what can we do with it?
• DNA computing (implementing AND, OR, and NOT gates in DNA, along with
programming principles. Show a couple of programs and argue for their
co
ectness/performance. See Adelman and Lipton’s papers on the Traveling
Salesman.
• quantum computing circuits (not their operations or algorithms)
• Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer and its organization.
• IoT systems and devices and their role in smart cities
• robot
ains, control mechanisms, etc.
• 3-dimensional chip design
• Discuss the differences between a CPU and a GPU, how they work, how they are
fed with data, how and why their performances differ, and why they are useful for
machine learning, etc. Why are GPUs so important to Deep Learning?
Design Projects:
• Design an interesting system and analyze the heck out of it (e.g., a very
sophisticated traffic light system, as from our text, or an "intelligent" elevator
system, home security system, automated manufacturing system, etc., etc.
• Design a complete hardware implementation of Conway’s Life System (scalable and
life-size.)
• Design a multi-elevator system (at least 3 separate elevators) for a building at
least 10 floors high. Design it so that average wait time is minimized, electrical
efficiency is maximized, or other. Don’t send multiple elevators to the same
call. Incorporate the signal lights both inside and outside. Make its behavior a
function of the time of day; operate differently when people are coming to
work vs. leaving for home.
• Design an FSM and circuitry for a full-fledged drink-dispensing machine, one
that takes nickels, dimes, and quarters but rejects all other coins. It should,
however, accept legal one-dollar bills. It should give change. It should have
lights on the panel that show when a drink is out of stock in the machine (all
sold out, for example). Maybe multiple modes, e.g., being restocked, coins
eing emptied by the operator, and so forth. And more…
• Develop a small home-security system in Verilog, along with suitable
documentation; include both the code for the system and a good test-bench.
(See our text’s example of a small home-security system for a smart-lock. If you
select this topic, it should have more features, such as motion detectors, alarms,
etc.
• Some clever system in Minecraft, probably using Redstone, but more than just
the basic systems that are already online. Nah!
These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. I am open to almost anything,
as long as what you do relates directly to what we've been studying in this course –
which is digital logic and not software. Send me an email with your ideas if you’re
unsure.
I don't really care, nor do I wish to push you into one direction or the other. I was
thinking these projects would be mostly for some aspect of a field that you yourself are
interested in -- but that are related to logic and/or logic-based systems. Please be sure
it's interesting, challenging, and directly related to our course.
DO NOT MAKE IT A SOFTWARE ONLY ESSAY.
I want your research and your reports to be impressive and in-depth.
Start off assuming that if your project/paper is “good,” it will score around an 85. Extra good
papers/projects will score around 90-95, and exceptionally good papers/projects will score
around 100. So please do an exceptional job on this project.
(I apologize for any typos or inconsistencies in this document.)
Doug DeGroot