Courses

A Selection of Circuits and Systems Courses offered at UT Dallas

Graduate Courses:

• EE 5305 Radio Frequency Engineering (3 semester hours) Introduction to generation, transmission, and radiation of electromagnetic waves. Microwave-frequency measurement techniques. Characteristics of guided-wave structures and impedance matching. Fundamentals of antennas and propagation. Prerequisite: EE 4301 or equivalent. (3-0) Y

• EE 5325 (CE 5325) Hardware Modeling Using VHDL (3 semester hours) This course introduces students to VHDL beginning with simple examples and describing tools and methodologies. It covers the language, dwelling on fundamental simulation concepts. Students are also exposed to the subset of VHDL that may be used for synthesis of custom logic. VHDL simulation and synthesis labs and projects are performed using commercial and/or academic VLSI CAD tools. Prerequisite: EE 3320 or equivalent. (3-0) T

• EE 5385 Analog Filters (3 semester hours) This course aims at bridging the intermediate-level and the advanced-level knowledge in analog filter design. It moves from basic theory of analog passive filters to theoretical and practical aspects of active, switched-capacitor, and continuous time filters. For active solutions the focus is on integrated implementations on silicon. Prerequisites: EE 3301 and EE 3111. (3-0) Y

• EE 6301 (CE 6301) Advanced Digital Logic (3 semester hours) Modern design techniques for digital logic. Logic synthesis and design methodology. Link between front-end and back-end design flows. Field programmable gate arrays and reconfigurable digital systems. Introduction to testing, simulation, fault diagnosis and design for testability. Prerequisites: EE 3320 or equivalent and background in VHDL/Verilog. (3-0) T

• EE 6302 (CE 6302) Microprocessor Systems (3 semester hours) Design of microprocessor based systems including I/O and interface devices. Microprocessor architectures. Use of emulators and other sophisticated test equipment. Extensive laboratory work. Prerequisite: EE 4304 or equivalent. (2-3) Y

• EE 6303 (CE 6303) Testing and Testable Design (3 semester hours) Techniques for detection of failures in digital circuits and systems. Fault modeling and detection. Functional testing and algorithms for automatic test pattern generation (ATPG). Design of easily testable digital systems. Techniques for introducing built-in self test (BIST) capability. Test of various digital modules, like PLA’s, memory circuits, datapath, etc. Prerequisite: EE 3320 or equivalent and background in VHDL/Verilog. (3-0) Y

• EE 6304 (CE 6304, CS 6304) Computer Architecture (3 semester hours) Trends in processor, memory, I/O and system design. Techniques for quantitative analysis and evaluation of computer systems to understand and compare alternative design choices in system design. Components in high performance processors and computers: pipelining, instruction level parallelism, memory hierarchies, and input/output. Students will undertake a major computing system analysis and design project. Prerequisite: EE 4304 and C/C++. (3-0) Y

• EE 6305 (CE 6305) Computer Arithmetic (3 semester hours) Carry look ahead systems and carry save adders. Multipliers, multi-bit recoding schemes, array multipliers, redundant binary schemes, residue numbers, slash numbers. High-speed division and square root circuits. Multi-precision algorithms. The IEEE floating point standard, rounding processes, guard bits, error accumulation in arithmetic processes. Cordic algorithms. Prerequisites: EE 3320 and C/C++. (3-0) Y

• EE 6306 (CE 6306) Application Specific Integrated Circuit Design (3 semester hours) This course discusses the design of application specific integrated circuits (ASIC). Specific topics include: VLSI system design specification, ASIC circuit structures, synthesis, and implementation of an ASIC digital signal processing (DSP) chip. Prerequisites: EE 3320 (3-0) Y

• EE 6307 (CE 6307) Fault-Tolerant Digital Systems (3 semester hours) Concepts in hardware and software fault tolerance. Topics include fault models, coding in computer systems, fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant routing, clock synchronization, system reconfiguration, etc. Survey of practical fault-tolerant systems. Prerequisite: EE 6301, EE 3341 or equivalent. (3-0) R

• EE 6308 (CE 6308, CS 6396) Real-Time Systems (3 semester hours) Introduction to real-time applications and concepts. Real-time operating systems and resource management. Specification and design methods for real-time systems. System performance analysis and optimization techniques. Project to specify, analyze, design, implement and test small real-time system. Prerequisite: CS 5348. (3-0) R

• EE 6311 Microwave Circuits and Systems (3 semester hours) Operating principles of devices at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies. Sources, detectors, waveguides, cavities, antennas, scattering parameters, impedance matching, system design. (3-0) R

• EE 6323 Circuit Modeling of Solid-State Devices (3 semester hours) Provide physical insight into the operation of MOSFETs and BJTs, with particular emphasis on new physical effects in advanced devices. Compact (SPICE-level) transistor models will be derived from basic semiconductor physics; common simplifications made in the derivations of model equations will be detailed to provide an appreciation for the limits of model capabilities. Prerequisites: EE 6320 and EE 6321. (3-0) R

• EE 6325 (CE 6325) VLSI Design (3 semester hours) Introduction to MOS transistors. Analysis of the CMOS inverter. Combinational and sequential design techniques in VLSI; issues in static, transmission gate and dynamic logic design. Design and layout of complex gates, latches and flip-flops, arithmetic circuits, memory structures. Low power digital design. The method of logical effort. CMOS technology, and rationale behind various design rules. Use of CAD tools to design, layout, check, extract and simulate a small project. Prerequisite: EE 3320 or equivalent. (3-0) Y

• EE 6326 Analog Integrated Circuit Design (3 semester hours) Introduction to MOS transistor, CMOS technology and analog circuit modeling. Basic analog circuits: MOS switches, active resistors, current sources, current mirrors, current amplifiers, inverting amplifier, differential amplifier, cascade amplifier and the output amplifier. Complex circuits: comparators and operational amplifiers. Use of CAD tools to layout and simulate analog circuits. Prerequisite: EE 4340 (3-0) Y-T

• EE 6327 Digital Integrated Circuit Design (3 semester hours) The design and implementation of logic, memory, buffer, and conversion circuits in CMOS, BICMOS, ECL, and TTL technologies will be discussed in this course. Circuit design and their electrical characteristics such as the transfer function, propagation delay, output rise and fall times, noise margin, fan out, and power dissipation will be emphasized. Circuit configurations which implement combinational logic, flip-flops, memory structures, logic arrays, analog to digital and digital to analog conversion will be discussed. (3-0) T

• EE 6355 RF and Microwave Communication Circuits (3 semester hours) Design of high-frequency communication circuits. Prerequisite: Knowledge of electromagnetic theory. (3-0) R

• EE 6360 Digital Signal Processing I (3 semester hours) Analysis of discrete time signals and systems, , Z-transform, discrete Fourier transform, fast Fourier transform, analysis and design of digital filters. Prerequisite: EE 3302 or equivalent. (3-0) Y

• EE 6367 Applied Digital Signal Processing (3 semester hours) Implementation of signal processing algorithms, graphical programming of DSP systems, fixed-point versus floating-point, DSP chip architecture, DSP software development tools, code optimization, application project. Prerequisites: EE 6360, knowledge of C. (2-3) Y

• EE 6370 (CE 6370) Design and Analysis of Reconfigurable Systems (3 semester hours) Introduction to reconfigurable computing, programmable logic: FPGAS, CPLDs, CAD issues with FPGA based design, reconfigurable systems: emulation, custom computing, and embedded application based computing, static and dynamic hardware, evolutionary design, software environments for reconfigurable systems. Prerequisite: EE 3320 or equivalent. (3-0) Y

• EE 6375 (CE 6375) Design Automation of VLSI Systems (3 semester hours) This course deals with various topics related to the development of CAD tools for VLSI systems design. Algorithms, data structures, heuristics and design methodologies behind CAD tools. Design and analysis of algorithms for layout, circuit partitioning, placement, routing, chip floor planning, design rule checking (DRC). Introduction to CAD algorithms for RTL and behavior level synthesis, module generators, and silicon compilation. Prerequisite: CS 5343. Corequisite: CE 6325. (3-0) Y

• EE 6390 Introduction to Wireless Communication Systems (3 semester hours) Principles, practice, and system overview of mobile systems. Modulation, demodulation, coding, encoding, and multiple-access techniques. Performance characterization of mobile systems. MMIC and low-power mobile devices. Prerequisite: EE 4350 or equivalent. (3-0) Y

• EE 6395 Advanced Radio Frequency Engineering (3 semester hours) Sources, components, antennas, and detectors used in wireless communication systems. Microwave-frequency component technology. Propagation paths and their effects on communications. Prerequisite: EE 5305 or equivalent. (2-3) R

• EE 6398 (CE 6398, CS 6398) DSP Architectures (3 semester hours) Typical DSP algorithms, representation of DSP algorithms, data-graph, FIR filters, convolutions, Fast Fourier Transform, Discrete Cosine Transform, low power design, VLSI implementation of DSP algorithms, implementation of DSP algorithms on DSP processors, DSP applications including wireless communication and multimedia. Prerequisite: CS 5343. (3-0) Y

• EE 6481 Numerical Methods In Engineering (4 semester hours) Numerical techniques in engineering and their applications, with an emphasis on practical implementation. Topics will include some or all of the following: numerical methods of linear algebra, interpolation, solution of nonlinear equations, numerical integration, Monte Carlo methods, numerical solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, and numerical solution of integral equations. Prerequisites: EE 2300 and EE 3300 or equivalents, and knowledge of C or C++. (4-0) T

• EE 7304 (CE 7304) Advanced Computer Architecture (3 semester hours) Advanced research topics in multi-processor, network and reconfigurable architectures. Focuses on current research in the area of computer system architecture to prepare students for a career in computer architecture research. Course will use articles from current technical literature to discuss relevant topics, such as digital signal processors and VLIW processors. Prerequisites: EE 6304, CS 5348, EE 3341 and knowledge of C/C++. (3-0) R

• EE 7325 (CE 7325) Advanced VLSI Design (3 semester hours) Advanced topics in VLSI design covering topics beyond the first course (EE 6325). Topics include: use of high-level design, synthesis, and simulation tools, design for testability, clock distribution and routing problems, synchronous circuits, low-power design techniques, study of various VLSI-based computations, systolic arrays, etc. Discussions on current research topics in VLSI design. Prerequisite: EE 6325 or equivalent. (3-0) R

• EE 7326 Analog Integrated Systems Design (3 semester hours) Introduction to the types of systems environment in which analog integrated circuit design is employed. The topics are A/D and D/A converters, including over-sampled S-D A/D converters, switched capacitor amplifiers, multipliers, wave-shaping circuits, oscillators, PLLs, and the design of filters. Prerequisite: EE 6326 (3-0) Y

• EE 7327 Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog Converters (3 semester hours) This course provides the basic and the specific knowledge for the design and the use of data converters. Topics include fundamentals on sampling and quantization, Nyquist-rate and oversampled techniques, circuit design issues, testing, digital calibration and correction. Prerequisite: Analog Integrated circuit design. EE 6324 and EE 6325. (3-0) Y

• EE 7328 (CE 7328) Physical Design of High-Speed VLSI Circuits (3 semester hours) Techniques for the physical design of high-speed VLSI circuits. Topics related to interconnection circuit modeling, performance-driven routing, buffer and wire sizing, placement and floor planning, technology mapping and performance evaluation issues encountered in high-speed VLSI circuit designs. Discussion of state-of-the-art practical industrial design examples. A project related to the development of a prototype CAD tool. Prerequisites: EE 6325 and knowledge of programming in C. (3-0) T

• EE 7329 Advanced Analog Integrated Circuit Design (3 semester hours) The course will cover, but not be limited to, advanced architectures for voltage references, current references, operational amplifiers (including voltage, current, transconductance, and transresistance), comparators, linear regulators, etc. Emphasis will be on why one topology might be better than another for a given set of specifications or applications. Prerequisite: EE 6326 (3-0)

• EE 7331 Physics of Noise (3 semester hours) The physics of fluctuation phenomena, generically called Noise. The class will cover the fundamental physical principles underlying generation-recombination, thermal, shot, 1/f noise and other, related fluctuation phenomena. The statistical nature of these physical processes will be developed. The physics of noise in resistors, diodes, bipolar, JFETS, and MOSFETs will be discussed and how to model it in circuits. Approximately two thirds of the class will be devoted to the physics of noise and the rest will cover how to use this knowledge to design low-noise integrated circuits. Prerequisite: EE 6326. Y

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Undergraduate Courses:

• EE 2110 Introduction to Digital Systems Laboratory (1 semester hour) Laboratory to accompany EE 2310. The purpose of this laboratory is to give students an intuitive understanding of digital circuits and systems. Laboratory exercises include construction of simple digital logic circuits using prototyping kits and board-level assembly of a personal computer. Corequisite: EE 2310. (0-1) S

• EE 2310 Introduction to Digital Systems (3 semester hours) Introduction to hardware structures and assembly-language concepts that form the basis of the design of modern computer systems. Internal data representation and arithmetic operations in a computer. Basic logic circuits. MIPS assembly language. Overview of PC architecture. Prerequisite: CS 1337. Corequisite: EE 2110. (3-0) S

• EE 3101 Electrical Network Analysis Laboratory (1 semester hour) Laboratory to accompany EE 3301. Design, assembly and testing of linear electrical networks and systems. Use of computers to control electrical equipment and acquire data. Prerequisite: EE 1102. Corequisite: EE/TE 3301. (Same as TE 3101) (0-1) S

• EE 3301 Electrical Network Analysis (3 semester hours) Analysis and design of RC, RL, and RLC electrical networks. Sinusoidal steady state analysis of passive networks using phasor representation; mesh and nodal analyses. Introduction to the concept of impulse response and frequency analysis using the Laplace transform. Prerequisites: MATH 2420, PHYS 2326. Corequisite: EE/TE 3101. (Same as TE 3301) (3-0) S

• EE 3102 Signals and Systems Laboratory (1 semester hour) Laboratory based on MATLAB to
  accompany EE 3302. Fourier series and Fourier transform analysis, implementation of discrete-time linear time-invariant systems, applications of Fast Fourier Transform, design of digital filters, applications of digital filters. Prerequisites: MATH 2420, EE/TE 3301, and CS 1337. Corequisite: EE/TE 3302. (Same as TE 3102) (0-1) S

• EE 3302 Signals and Systems (3 semester hours) Introduces the fundamentals of continuous and discrete-time signal processing. Linear system analysis including convolution and impulse response, Fourier series, Fourier transform and applications, discrete-time signal analysis, sampling, z-transform, analysis and design of digital filters. Prerequisites: MATH 2420, EE/TE 3301. Corequisite: EE/TE 3102. (Same as TE 3302) (3-0) S

• EE 3111 Electronic Circuits Laboratory (1 semester hour) Laboratory to accompany EE 3311. Design, assembly and testing of electronic circuits that use diodes, transistors and operational amplifiers in configurations typically encountered in practical applications. Prerequisite: EE/TE 3101. Corequisite: EE 3311. (0-1) S

• EE 3311 Electronic Circuits (3 semester hours) Analysis and design of electronic circuits using diodes, transistors and operational amplifiers with feedback. Gain and stability of basic amplifier circuits using BJT’s, JFET’s and MOSFET’s; classes of amplifiers; performance of ideal and non-ideal operational amplifiers. Prerequisites: EE/TE 3301, EE 3310. Corequisite: EE 3111. (3-0) S

• EE 3120 Digital Circuits Laboratory (1 semester hour) Laboratory to accompany EE 3320. Design, assembly, and testing of logic circuits. Prerequisite: EE 2110. Corequisite: EE 3320. (0-1) S

• EE 3320 Digital Circuits (3 semester hours) Boolean logic. Design and analysis of combinational logic circuits using SSI and MSI. Design and analysis of synchronous state machines. State minimization and assignment. Design of arithmetic circuits: adders, multipliers and shifters. Use of programmable logic devices and simple CAD tools. Prerequisite: EE 2310. Corequisite: EE 3120. (3-0) S

• EE 3150 Communications Systems Laboratory (1 semester hour) Laboratory to accompany EE 3350. Fundamental elements of communications systems hardware; use of spectrum analyzers and other measurement instruments typically encountered in communication systems; design of active filters in communications systems; analog frequency and amplitude modulators and demodulators; data communication systems. Corequisite: EE 3350. (0-1) S

• EE 3350 Communications Systems (3 semester hours) Fundamentals of communications systems. Review of probability theory and Fourier transforms. Filtering and noise. Modulation and demodulation techniques, including amplitude, phase, pulse code, pulse position, and pulse width modulation concepts. Time division multiplexing. Prerequisites: EE 3300, EE/TE 3302, and EE/TE 3341. (3-0) S

• EE 4301 Electromagnetic Engineering I (3 semester hours) Introduction to the general characteristics of wave propagation. Physical interpretation of Maxwell’s equations. Propagation of plane electromagnetic waves and energy. Transmission lines. Antenna fundamentals. Prerequisites: PHYS 2326, EE 3300. (3-0) S

• EE 4304 Computer Architecture (3 semester hours) Introduction to computer organization and design, including the following topics: CPU performance analysis. Instruction set design, illustrated by the MIPS instruction set architecture. Systems-level view of computer arithmetic. Design of the datapath and control for a simple processor. Pipelining. Hierarchical memory. I/O systems. I/O performance analysis. Multiprocessing. Prerequisite: EE 3320. (3-0) S

• EE 4310 Systems and Controls (3 semester hours) Introduction to linear control theory. General structure of control systems. Mathematical models including differential equations, transfer functions, and state space. Control system characteristics. Sensitivity, transient response, external disturbance, and steady-state error. Control system analysis. Performance, stability, root-locus method, Bode diagram, log diagram, and Nichol’s diagram. Control system design. Compensation design using phase-lead and phase-lag networks. Prerequisites: EE 2300, EE/TE 3302. (3-0) Y

• EE 4340 Analog Integrated Circuit Analysis and Design (3 semester hours) Analog integrated
  circuits and systems. Analysis and design of linear amplifiers, including operational, high-frequency, broad-band and feedback amplifiers. Use of monolithic silicon systems. Prerequisite: EE 3311. (3-0) T

• EE 4341 Digital Integrated Circuit Analysis and Design (3 semester hours) Digital integrated circuits. Large signal model for bipolar and MOS transistors. MOS inverters and gates. Propagation delay and noise margin. Dynamic logic concepts. Bipolar transistor inverters and gates, regenerative logic circuits, memories. Prerequisites: EE 3311, EE 3320. (3-0) T

• EE 4360 Digital Communications (3 semester hours) Information, digital transmission, channel capacity, delta modulation, and differential pulse code modulation are discussed. Principles of coding and digital modulation techniques such as Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), Phase Shift Keying (PSK), and Continuous Phase Frequency Shift Keying (CPFSK) are introduced. M-ary signaling such as Quadrature amplitude and phase shift keying, and M-ary PSK and FSK are also discussed. Prerequisite: EE 3350. (3-0) T

• EE 4361 Introduction to Digital Signal Processing (3 semester hours) An introduction to the analysis and design of discrete linear systems, and to the processing of digital signals. Topics includetime and frequency domain approaches to discrete signals and systems, the Discrete Fourier Transform and its computation, and the design of digital filters. Prerequisite: EE 3302. (3-0) T

• EE 4365 Introduction to Wireless Communication (3 semester hours) Introduction to the basic system concepts of cellular telephony. Mobile standards, mobile system architecture, design, performance and operation. Voice digitization and modulation techniques; PCS technologies. Prerequisite: EE 3350. (Same as TE 4365) (3-0) Y

• EE 4368 RF Circuit Design Principles (3 semester hours) Transmission lines, the Smith chart,
  impedance matching, simple amplifier design, power coupling, waveguides and lossy transmission lines. Prerequisite: EE4301. Corequisite: EE 3311. (3-0) Y

• EE 4380 Microprocessor Design Project I (3 semester hours) Detailed design, architecture and interfacing of a microprocessor-based system. A balanced view of hardware techniques (e.g. using development board) and software strategies (e.g. using assembler, simulator) for developing an embedded system. All students must do laboratory experiments, propose and implement a limited microprocessor-based project, submit a written report and make an oral presentation at the
  culmination of the project. Prerequisite: EE 3320. (3-0) Y

• EE 4381 Mobile Communications System Design Project I (3 semester hours) Fundamental topics in network design including graph theory, internal and external routing protocols, reliability, availability, capacity, security, and quality of service for networks comprised of SONET, Ethernet, cable, DSL, and wireless infrastructures. All students will design and configure multi-node, multi-topology networks, complete with cost analysis, then will submit a written report and make an oral presentation of their project. Corequisite: EE/TE 4365. (Same as TE 4381) (3-0) Y

• EE 4383 Microprocessor Design Project II (3 semester hours) Advanced topics in microprocessor design, architecture, I/O, memory and interfacing. Specification and design of embedded systems. Advanced hardware and software techniques (e.g. using simulator, emulator, compiler and other sophisticated test equipment) for developing microprocessor-based system. All students must do a market survey, propose and implement a complete microprocessor-based project, submit a written report and make an oral presentation at the culmination of the project. Prerequisite: EE 4380. (3-0) Y

• EE 4384 Mobile Communications System Design Project II (3 semester hours) Radio frequency system design, propagation, antennas, traffic and trunking, technology issues, channel modeling, link bbudget, cell design principles, demographics and capacity analysis, project management, and regulatory issues. All students must submit a written report and make an oral presentation at the culmination of the project. Corequisite: EE 4390 or CS/TE 4390. (Same as TE 4384) (3-0) Y

• EE 4385 DSP-Based Design Project I (3 semester hours) Basic discrete-time signal processing concepts, hands-on experience in real-time digital communications systems, digital signal