Project Overview

This project requires our senior design team to take the virtual version of professor Stoychev’s i281 CPU and implement it in real life as a breadboard for the lab section of Cpr E 281. By doing this, we will be improving the lab for this course by providing a physical representation of the components students are learning about in class, combined into a single computing system. This will ideally elevate their learning experience by allowing students to develop a more solid understanding of the course material as well as a more solid grasp of how each component in the CPU works. Additionally, this should also allow students to also visualize how each of these components link together when running a program, as LEDS will ideally show the progress of program execution. Prior to this, the virtual version of this CPU did not provide an adequate way for students to link together many core concepts which will be essential in higher-level classes such as Cpr E 381. We feel confident that not only is this project possible to implement, but it will also serve to further improve the computer engineering curriculum here at Iowa State.