Scope

In depth coverage of several advanced computer architecture topics obtained by reading and discussing seminal and current papers in the field and performing a comprehensive semester long project. Topics include but not limited to: Advanced Microarchitecutres, Parallel Archiectures, Interconnection Networks, Virtualization, Security, Emerging Technologies, Hardware Specialization, I/O & Storage Systems.

Outcomes

After completion of this course students will demonstrate the following:
  • Ability to critically evaluate papers in the field.
  • Ability to present concepts and ideas clearly and concisely in written and oral forms.
  • Ability to select and utilize appropriate evaluation methods in the field.
  • Abilty to perform original, creative thinking through a semester long project.
  • Ability to synthesize solutions based on foundational concepts.

    Text / Readings

  • Papers from recent conferences/journals, Synthesis Lectures, etc.

    Grading

  • 10% Leading Class Discussion (presenting papers)
  • 10% Class Participation during discussions
  • 25% Midterm Exam
  • 55% Project

    Paper Presentations and Discussion

    Each class will cover the concepts in two papers from the field. Each student will present 3 or 4 papers over two class sessions. Presentations are oral with projected visual aides (power point or similar), must be your own creation and should be well prepared and organized (e.g., not the authors slides, not a series of text only slides). The goal of the presentation is to both present the main ideas of the paper, appropriate related work/context, and to foster discussion. See Mark Hill and David Patterson's Oral Presentation Advice, the "How to Give a Bad Talk" is written in a humorous manner but has excellent advice.

    Discussion of the papers can take many forms. Students are expected to read the papers before class. You should come to class with a set of discussion points, this can include how the work relates to what you know in the field, questions, clarifications, or any item of your choosing related to the paper(s).

    Project

    The project is any advanced computer architecture topic of your choosing. Projects can leverage your work in another course and/or your research; however you must obtain approval from all faculty / mentors involved. There are four main components to the project grade:
  • written proposal (no more than 3 pages) (due Feb 11)
  • written progress report (no more than 3 pages) (due Mar 25)
  • final presentation (in class) (April 18-20)
  • final report (due Wednesday April 27 5pm)

    • All project documents should conform to the following formatting: 11pt font, single space with 1 inch margins.

    Final Presentation

    Eeach group will present their results in class at the end of the semester. This presentation shoudl be well prepared and you need to practice. There will be a strict time limit, to be determined by how many groups there are, and you will be held to that limit. The goal of the presentation is to cover the highlights and main results of your project, not to cover low level details.

    Final Report

    The final report is due approximately one week after the presentations, and thus should contain much more detail than the presentation. Reports should be well organized, with good formatting and no typos. Typical organization will follow something like a research paper with the following sections:
    1. Introduction/Overview
    2. Background/Motivation
    3. Related Work
    4. Description and justification of approach
    5. Evaluation Methodology
    6. Discussion of Results
    7. Conclusion
    Final reports should be a minimum of 8 pages and a maximum of 10 pages, following the formatting instructions above, and including all figures and bibliography. Be sure to properly cite work and do not directly copy text.

    Academic Misconduct

    I will not tolerate any academic dishonesty. This includes cheating on the homework, quizzes and exams. I will refer all suspected cases of academic misconduct to the Graduate School or Duke Office of Student Conduct, as appropriate. If you have not worked on projects of the type expected in this course, then you need to particularly careful about citing previous work and crediting others' research.

    What constitutes Academic Misconduct

    These are examples and do not represent an exhaustive list of what is considered academic misconduct.
  • Copying solutions or text in reports from another person/group or from any archive of material including, but not limited to, online and paper archives.
  • Receving help from another person/group in any detail lower than high level concepts, such as description of general structure of code, pseudo-code, specific lines of code or steps to solve a problem, line by line help, etc.
  • Searching for the topic, looking at another solution and then typing it or parts of it as your own.
  • Copying on an exam.
  • Providing another student/group solutions.
  • Providing solutions to any archive (online, paper, etc.)
  • Assisting another student/group with more than high level discussion.