Laboratory Design for Introductory Course of Microproessors

1 Shouling He, ECE department, Penn State Erie, 5091 Station Road, Erie, PA16563, [email protected] Abstract Nowadays, most engineering related departments offer microprocessor courses due to the broad applications of computers. However, understanding the basic concept of a microprocessor behind the physical device is a difficult task for most primary learners. Under this circumstance, laboratory exercises are considered to be the essential approach in enabling students to understand the basic structure and functionality of a computer. This paper proposes a way to design laboratories for the introductory course of microprocessors. The emphasis focuses on the exercises of Assembly language programming and hardware/software co-design such that through the laboratories, students can gradually understand the fundamentals of microprocessor design. Furthermore, a course project is provided to ascertain the amount of knowledge that students have gained from the labs. In review the results of the project as well as the final exam of the course, the design of labs has shown a satisfactory result.