Course Details

• Computer Interfacing: 

 o Electrical characteristics of digital devices, power, current and voltage limitations, loading and fan-out. Two-state input/output devices, and hardware drivers.

 o Computer Interfacing standards, Microprocessor bus interfacing, motherboard expansion slots (ISA, PCI), parallel ports (LPT) and serial ports (COM, USB). 

 o Interfacing with analogue devices, Digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters. 

 o Software I/O issues, logic and mask operations, timers and timing issues, building and using software device drivers. Serial and parallel data transfers. Use of interrupts. 

• Laboratory Work: Individual or small group experiments performed with the use of special hardware attached on the computer's ports. Experiments include serial and parallel data transfer, interfacing with 2-state devices, interfacing with analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. 

• Project Work: Students are expected to built and test a board to be interfaced on a computer through a standard port, and develop the necessary software that will enable the use of a computer as the control unit of a process. 

The underlining theory of the course is delivered to the students during lecture sessions, through electronic presentations. After acquiring the theoretical background, students carry out laboratory work that includes the implementation of a predefined procedure and the completion of a design task. Typically, a 2-hour lecture session proceeds a 2-laboratory session.   

To further develop their practical/professional skills, students undertake a group project. This project includes the assembly and testing of an electronic board, which can be interfaced on a standard port of a computer, as well as the development of software that implements a real life application. Project work includes also a project report and a presentation.