EEE304 Microprocessors Course Overview

Study Notes

The course EEE304 Microprocessors consists of 3 hours of lectures and 2 hours of lab sessions per week, spanning 14 weeks.
The prerequisite for the course is EEE104 Logic Circuit Design with a minimum attendance requirement of 70%.

The course aims to explain the instruction set architecture of microprocessors, internal structure, memory hierarchy, and programming input/output ports.
The course learning outcomes include understanding instruction set architecture, using assembly instructions, understanding internal structure and memory hierarchy, programming input/output ports, and creating a project using a microprocessor/microcontroller.

A microprocessor is a central processing unit (CPU) designed to carry out arithmetic and logic operations in a computer.
It is a silicon chip that serves as the brain of a digital device, interpreting instructions and executing tasks to perform various computing functions.
Key components of a microprocessor include the arithmetic logic unit (ALU), datapath, control unit (CU), and registers.
Microprocessors are important for powering computers, embedded systems, connectivity, real-time processing, innovation, and advancement.

A microprocessor is a central processing unit (CPU) designed to carry out arithmetic and logic operations in a computer.
A microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit (IC) containing a processor, memory, and input/output peripherals.

ISA is an abstract interface between the hardware and the low-level software interface.
It includes addressing modes, operand numbers and types, instructions, and instruction formats.

ARM started with Acorn Computers, which produced desktop PCs for the educational market in the UK.
The ARM1 was designed to run at 4 MHz using less than 25,000 transistors.
The ARM2 added multiply and multiply-accumulate instructions, a coprocessor interface, and more registers for handling interrupts.
The ARM7TDMI expanded the original ARM7 design to include new hardware specifically for an external debugger.
Thumb, a compressed instruction set, was created to increase performance in embedded systems.

ARM7 introduced in 1993 was used by Acorn for a new line of computers and by Psion for a new line of PDAs.
The ARM11 family, the Cortex family, and processors for multi-core and secure applications were released in the early 2000s.
Today, ARM is the leading technology provider of processor IP, offering the widest range of cores to address the performance, power, and cost requirements of every device.