Name: ____________________ ECE 4534 Fall 2006
Please explicitly state the assumptions that you make (if any) when answering the following
questions. If you are writing more than a page per ans wer, then you are probably saying too
much… on the other hand, a few sentences won’t do it either. You will likely need to draw one
or more diagrams to clarify your answers. Please answer the three questions below on your own
paper and return the exam sheet with your name on it. Please answer the extra credit questions in
only the space provided.
(1) (50 points) You are tasked with developing the next version of Loconet. In phase I of the
plan, you can increase the baud rate as high as our S3E board can process, but you cannot
change anything else about the standard or add new hardware. Loconet will still go
through a UART and it will still be interrupt driven as it is now. Assuming that our
S3E/MicroBlaze system is exactly as it is now (with just a faster baud rate on the UART)
and assuming that each transaction on the OPB bus requires 6 cycles (read or write), what
is the maximum baud rate that our system can handle? You have to include all aspects of
the hardware/software in your computation, but you can assume that you can devote
100% of the system to simply reading/writing Loconet. For phase II, you can add a
custom peripheral to the system – this peripheral can connect to Loconet on one side and
the OPB bus on the other. Specify exactly what you would have this peripheral do and
analyze how much faster it will allow the baud rate on Loconet to be.
(2) (50 points) You are tasked with developing a system for analyzing the use of the CEL by
students as well as improving the security of the CEL. You are given the following
directives:
a. It should require nothing active on the part of the students using the CEL. You
may require them to carry their HokiePassport or an augmented version of a
HokiePassport. They cannot, however, be asked to do anything as taxing as
swiping their card in a card reader.
b. It should be as inexpensive as possible. Anything that requires more than $1K in
parts is too expensive. You may assume that an S3E board is available for your
use for free.
c. You must record when a particular student leaves or enters a lab.
d. You must record when a particular student sits in a chair (and which chair).
e. You must record when a given student is near a given train table or the soldering
station.
f. The door to a CEL lab should not open unless a student has the correct
credentials with them.
g. The soldering station should not work unless a student is on an approved list.
h. An alarm should go off when any of the train equipment leaves the CEL lab.
Specify exactly how your system will work, indicate ho w well it meets each of the given
directives, and analyze whether the S3E bo ard (as configured for this class) can handle
the sensing/actuating load.
Extra Credit [Please answer in the spac e provided]
(2 points per quality answer)
(1) List one piece o f equipment not already in the train room that would have been useful to
you and what would you have used it for?
