Computer Architecture
Duration
- One Semester or equivalent
Contact hours
- 59 hours
2021 teaching periods
Hawthorn
Higher Ed. Semester 2 | ||
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Dates: Results: Last self enrolment: Census: Last withdraw without fail: |
Prerequisites
Undergraduate
AND
Postgraduate
Admission to the Master of Engineering Science nested suite
Aims and objectives
This unit of study will provide you with an understanding of computer system design, particularly the relationship between hardware and software and how this influences system performance.
Unit Learning Outcomes | |
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On successful completion of this unit students will be able to: | |
# | Unit Learning Outcome Description |
ULO1 | Appreciate the range of application of computer systems and their differing performance requirements (K3) |
ULO2 | Describe the different components of a computer system and their purpose (K2, K3, K6) |
ULO3 | Appreciate different computer architectures and organizations, and their effect upon operation and performance (K2, K3, S1, S2, S3, A2) |
ULO4 | Discuss and apply principles used in instruction set design including that for RISC architectures (K2, K3, S1, S2, S3, A2) |
ULO5 | Describe the use of parallelism in multiple processor systems and the constraints that affect its effectiveness (K2, K3) |
ULO6 | Determine the role of operating systems and how they interact with, and affect the design of, computer architectures and computer organization (K2, K3) |
ULO7 | Assess the range of memory and storage technologies that are available, their area of application and their performance characteristics (K2, K3, S1, S2) |
Unit information in detail
- Teaching methods, assessment and content.
Teaching methods
All Applicable Locations | |||||
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Activity Type | Activity | Total Hours | Number of Weeks | Hours Per Week | Optional - Activity Details |
Face to Face Contact | Lecture | 24 | 12 weeks | 2 | No Description |
Face to Face Contact | Tutorial | 11 | 12 weeks | 0.92 | No Description |
Face to Face Contact | Computer Laboratory | 24 | 12 weeks | 2 | No Description |
Unspecified Learning Activities | Independent Learning | 91 | 12 weeks | 7.58 | No Description |
Total Hours: | 150 | Total Hours (per week): | 12.5 |
Assessment
All Applicable Locations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Minimum requirements to pass this unit
As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass the unit and meet all Unit Learning Outcomes to a minimum standard, a student must achieve:
(i) An aggregate mark of 50% or more, and
(ii) At least 40% in the final exam
Students who do not successfully achieve hurdle requirement (ii) will receive a maximum of 44% as the total mark for the unit and will not be eligible for a conceded pass.
Content
- Fundamentals of computer design
- Instruction set principles
- CISC and RISC architectures
- Pipelining concepts
- Cache properties and performance
- Memory-hierarchy design
- Multiprocessors and thread-level parallelism
- Storage systems
Study resources
- References.
References
A list of additional reading materials and/or required texts will be made available in the Unit Outline.