Computer, Network, Software, and Hardware Engineering with Applications

Norman F. Schneidewind

• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781118037454
• eBook ISBN: 9781118181270
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Cyber Security
• Index: Computer Science

There are many books on computers, networks, and software engineering but none that integrate the three with applications. Integration is important because, increasingly, software dominates the performance, reliability, maintainability, and availability of complex computer and systems. Books on software engineering typically portray software as if it exists in a vacuum with no relationship to the wider system. This is wrong because a system is more than software. It is comprised of people, organizations, processes, hardware, and software. All of these components must be considered in an integrative fashion when designing systems. On the other hand, books on computers and networks do not demonstrate a deep understanding of the intricacies of developing software. In this book you will learn, for example, how to quantitatively analyze the performance, reliability, maintainability, and availability of computers, networks, and software in relation to the total system. Furthermore, you will learn how to evaluate and mitigate the risk of deploying integrated systems. You will learn how to apply many models dealing with the optimization of systems. Numerous quantitative examples are provided to help you understand and interpret model results. This book can be used as a first year graduate course in computer, network, and software engineering; as an on-the-job reference for computer, network, and software engineers; and as a reference for these disciplines.

Part One: Computer Engineering

Chapter 1

Digital Logic and Microprocessor Design

This chapter focuses on the fundamentals of digital logic and design, with numerous examples from both computer hardware design and “everyday life” events to demonstrate that digital logic is not confined to designing computers. My objective is to equip the engineer or student with sufficient knowledge of design principles to be able to design a digital computer. In addition, I integrate the important role that software plays in modern computer systems with the hardware design principles. Numerous design examples and solved problems are provided to support learning objectives.

MICROPROCESSOR DESIGN

Functions

Using its arithmetic logic unit(ALU), a microprocessor can perform mathematical and logic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and comparison. Modern microprocessors contain complete floating-point processors that can perform extremely sophisticated operations on large variable-length numbers. In addition, a microprocessor can perform the following functions:

Move data from one memory location to another.

Make decisions and jump to a new set of computer program instructions based on those decisions.

Use an RD (read) and WR (write) line to tell the memory whether it wants to read from or write to the addressed location.

Use a clock line to transmit clock pulses (CPs) to sequence the microprocessor. For example, when numbers are added by the microprocessor, which you will see later, addition takes place bit by bit, and the clock triggers each binary bit addition to ultimately form a decimal result.

Uses a reset line to reset the program counter to zero and restart execution.

Components

Microprocessor components are the building blocks of modern computers. These components are the following:

• ALU. Consists of accumulators, registers, and control unit.
  • The ALU executes instructions and manipulates data.
  • An 8-bit ALU can add, subtract, multiply, and divide two 8-bit numbers, while a 32-bit ALU can manipulate 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit numbers.
  • An 8-bit ALU would have to execute four instructions to add two 32-bit numbers (four add instructions, each of which adds 8-bit numbers), whereas a 32-bit ALU can do it in one instruction.
• Accumulator. Holds data and instructions for processing by the ALU.
• Register. Temporary storage of instructions and data.
  • Program Counter (PC). Contains the address of next instruction to be executed
  • Instruction Register (IR). Holds address of current instruction being executed
  • General Registers. Holds operator (e.g., code for add instruction), operands (e.g., numbers to be added), and data while an instruction is executed
• Stack. Temporary storage of instructions and data, usually on a last in, first out (LIFO) basis. Also called push-down stack.
• Control Unit. Fetches and decodes instructions, generates signals for the ALU to execute instructions
• Busses
  • Address Bus. Path over which addresses flow for directing memory and input/output (I/O) data transfers. An address bus may be 8, 16, or 32 bits wide that sends an address to memory or I/O for accessing memory or I/O.
  • Data Bus. Transfers data. A data bus may be 8, 16, or 32 bits wide that can send data to memory or I/O and receive data from memory or I/O. The number of address bus lines determine the amount of addressable memory (n lines = 2ⁿ addressable words).
  • Control Bus. Communicates control and status information.
• Chip. A chip is also called an integrated circuit. Generally it is a small, thin piece of silicon onto which the transistors making up the microprocessor have been etched. A chip might be as large as an inch on a side and can contain tens of millions of transistors. Simpler processors might consist of a few thousand transistors etched onto a chip just a few millimeters square. Microns are the width of the smallest wire on the chip. For comparison, a human hair is 100 µm thick. As the feature size on the chip goes down, the number of transistors rises.

Characteristics

Microprocessor characteristics govern the speed and functionality of computer operations. Important characteristics include the following presented in the succeeding paragraphs.

Smaller microprocessors can be combined into a larger one (four 4-bit microprocessors combined into one 16-bit microprocessor).

A crystal-controlled clock sequences the operations of a microprocessor (e.g., the sequence of computer program instruction execution) by generating CPs. Clock speed is specified in cycles per second, where 1 MHz is equal to 1 million cycles per second. Clock speed is the maximum speed of the chi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Preface
• About the Author
• Part One: Computer Engineering
• Part Two: Network Engineering
• Part Three: Software Engineering
• Part Four: Integration of Disciplines
• Part Five: Applications
• Practice Problems with Solutions 1
• Practice Problems with Solutions 2
• Index