August 25, 2014

Course Syllabus
ECE 4436 Microprocessor Systems
Fall 2014

Class Number: 26767 (w/ lab 26768)
Time: TTH 1:00 2:30 pm
Room: E323 D3
Instructor: Dr. John R. Glover
Office: W308-D3
Phone: (713) 743-4430
Email: glover@uh.edu
Office Hours: TTH 2:30-3:30 pm; or call/email for appointment

Class Number: 11206 (w/ lab 11207)
Time: TTH 4:00 5:30 pm
Room: E321 D3
Instructor: Dr. Xin Fu
Office: W344-D3
Phone: (713) 743-4400
Email: xfu8@Central.UH.EDU
Office Hours: TTH 5:30-6:00 pm; or call/email for appointment

Catalog Description:
ECE 4436: Microprocessor Systems. Cr. 4 (3-3). Prerequisites: ECE 2300 and credit for or current
enrollment in ECE 3331 (new, not shown in UH catalog yet). Semiconductor memory devices and
systems, microcomputer architecture, assembly language programming, I/O programming, I/O interface
design, I/O peripheral devices, data communications, and data acquisition systems. Several laboratory
exercises will be assigned both in assembly language programming and hardware system design.

Course Topics:
Microprocessor architecture, instruction set, addressing modes
Assembly language programming, debugging
Input/output devices, programming and interfacing

Expected Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this course are expected to meet the following course outcomes.

Students should be able to describe the architecture and organization of a microcontroller.
Students should be able to write structured, well-commented, understandable programs in
assembly language and in a higher-level language.
Students should possess the skills to test and debug microcontroller programs in the laboratory.
Students should understand techniques for interfacing I/O devices to the microcontroller,
including several specific standard I/O devices.
Students should be able to write programs in the laboratory to perform I/O using handshaking and
interrupts.
Students should be able to use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) as a modern
software tool for application development.

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Students should understand the hardware/software tradeoffs involved in the design of
microprocessor-based systems.

Textbook (required):
Software and Hardware Engineering: Assembly and C Programming for the Freescale HCS12
Microcontroller, by Fredrick M. Cady, Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-19-530826-6

Laboratory Work: Laboratory work will consist of several lab assignments performed on experimenter
boards in the Embedded Systems Laboratory. The laboratory assignments will be worked in teams of two
(2); however, there should be no collaboration between teams. Room S391-D is the lab for the course
(enter through S385-D). The stations have a computer, microcomputer board, and other equipment as
necessary. Complete laboratory procedures will be provided to you. Lab assignments demonstrated or
turned in late will be penalized 25 points for each calendar day, or fraction thereof, that they are
late. Beginning with Lab 3, lab assignments demonstrated and turned in at least one day early will
receive a bonus of 5 points. All teams, with both team members present, must demonstrate and explain
their design and results to the TA to obtain a grade. Both students in a team will receive the same grade
for the assignment unless it is evident that one team member did not fully participate in the assignment.

Attendance: Attendance at every class is expected. All material covered in class, whether in lecture or
examples, is testable. The Student Handbook* states: It is the responsibility of the individual
professor to set attendance guidelines for a course. Most, but not all, professors will drop
students from the class roll if the student has an excessive number of absences. Non!attendance
may also result in a grade of F. Unavoidable absences should be reported to the instructor
immediately after, if not before, the absence occurs.
Homework: There will be several graded homework assignments. Similar problems will be included in
the exams. Homework turned in late will be accepted only under extraordinary circumstances.

Exams: There will be two mid-term exams; they will be given during the regular class period at the
times shown in the schedule. The Final Exam has also been scheduled: Tuesday, December 9, 5-8 pm.
(NOTE: This is on the first day of Departmental Finals.) A missed exam will result in a grade of zero
unless you received prior approval, or you immediately produce written documentation of an unavoidable
emergency beyond your control that caused you to miss it. If your excuse is approved, the instructor will
determine whether (a) your grade on the final exam will be substituted for a maximum of one missed
exam grade; or (b) you will be given a makeup exam, either written or oral, at the instructors discretion.
Exam questions will come from all course material, especially from the lab assignments.

Grading: The course grade will be based on course work and exams weighted approximately as follows:
Homework 5%
Labs/Project 20%
Mid-term exams 40%
Final Exam 35%
Factors during the semester may change these percentages. After applying the weighting factors above
and averaging, your final grade in the course will be assigned as follows:
90:A 85:A- 80:B+ 77:B 74:B- 71:C+ 67:C 60:C- 55:D+ 50:D 45:D- <45:F

Course Web Site: This course utilizes two web sites:
The legacy web site for this course is: http://www.egr.uh.edu/courses/ece/ece4436/
The Blackboard Learn system.


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It is recommended that you consult these sites often for material related to this course. Among the
documents that are available are the latest version of the class schedule, sample exam questions, copies of
assignments, copies of some class handouts, and many other documents.

Religious Holy Days:
Students whose religious beliefs prohibit class attendance on designated dates or attendance at scheduled
exams may request an excused absence. To do this, you are strongly encouraged to request the excused
absence, in writing, by Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2014. Please submit this written request to your instructor to
allow the instructor to make appropriate arrangements. For more information, see the Student
Handbook*.

Students with Disabilities:
Students with recognized disabilities will be provided reasonable accommodations, appropriate to the
course, upon documentation of the disability with a Student Accommodation Form from the Center for
Students With Disabilities. To receive these accommodations, you must request the specific
accommodations, by submitting them to the instructor in writing, by Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2014. Students
who fail to submit a written request may not be considered for accommodations. For more information,
see the Student Handbook*.

Withdrawal Policy:
You may drop the course without receiving a grade until 11:59 pm Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2014, which is
the University's last day to drop without record. After this date and until 5pm, Friday, Oct. 31, you may
drop with a W if you have not exceeded your total W limit. Do not assume that you will be dropped by
the instructor if you stop attending class. You are responsible for completing the withdrawal procedure.
Detailed information about these issues is available in the Student Handbook*.

Academic Honesty Policy:
Students in this course are expected to follow the Academic Honesty Policy of the University of Houston,
as described in the Student Handbook*. It is your responsibility to know and follow this policy. You
must sign the Academic Honesty Statement on the last page of this handout, detach it, and submit it by
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2014. If you fail to do this, you may be dropped from the course.

ECE 4436 Lab Policy on Academic Honesty:
For ALL laboratory assignments, the lab team members must work together, and they must NOT work
closely with other students. Your team must design, write, test, and debug the program alone.
Discussions with other students must be limited to understanding concepts taught in the class, or
understanding how the processor and lab equipment work, i.e., general stuff, not stuff specific to this lab.
Similarly, using any part of a lab solution from a previous semester is not allowed. Failures to
observe this policy will be pursued as academic honesty violations.

*The Student Handbook is found online at the Dean of Students web site: http://www.uh.edu/dos/ .