TDC 311
Computers in Telecommunications Systems
Winter 2009
Instructor:Dr. C.M. White
Loop office: 715 CDM
Loop phone: (312) 362-5175
Office hours: Tuesday 5:00-5:45
Web page:
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to computer organization and operating systems with an emphasis on telecommunication systems. Topics include computer components and functions, basic electronic circuits, logic circuits, internal processing, multiprogramming, timesharing, memory management, file management, interrupts and I/O peripheral devices.
Course Breakdown:
2 exams25% each
n homeworks50%
Assignments are due at the beginning of class. All assignments will be graded and returned one class period from the day it was due. Late homework assignments will not be accepted after that point. No exceptions!
Assignments may be handed in electronically if desired. You may send the homework as an email or as an email attachment in text, Word, Word Perfect, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. format. Please be sure that the file name ends with the appropriate type. For example, Word files end with .doc. Shortly after receipt of the emailed homework, I will respond with an email acknowledgment. If you do not receive an acknowledgment within 24 hours (48 on the weekend), you may have to resend. CTI=s email system records every email received, sent, and deleted. This feature will help should an assignment come up missing. As a safety precaution, it is usually a good idea to also print a hardcopy of all assignments in case everything else fails. If possible, do not send zipped files.
Textbook:
Systems Architecture, 5th ed., Burd, Course Technology
Grading Scale:
92 - 100A
90 - 91A-
88 - 89B+
82 - 87B
80 - 81B-
78 - 79C+
72 - 77C
70 - 71C-
68 - 69D+
62 - 67D
60 - 61D-
0 - 59F
Objectives of the Course:
$To delineate the basic elements of computer organization, including processors, memory, input and output, and parallel architectures
$To recognize the basic elements of electricity and electrical circuits
$To identify and create simple digital logic circuits, including combinational and sequential circuits.
$To recognize modern microprocessor designs and bus designs.
$To specify the computer at the microarchitecture level and be able to create simple microcoded instructions.
$To cite the operations at the instruction set level, including op code and operand design criteria.
$To identify the services of a computer operating system.
$To specify the operating system process, its description, its states, and its scheduling.
$To understand process synchronization using semaphores and be able to use a semaphore in a simple scenario.
$To describe operating system virtual memory concepts including paging and segmentation.
$To differentiate operating system file and device management.
$To cite the operations at the assembly language level
Approximate schedule:
WeekTopicsNotesReadings
1History / terminology / binary systemsIntroduction2, 3
2Basics of electronic circuitsElect.circuitsnone
3Digital logic levelDig.logicnone
4Microarchitecture levelMicroarch4
5Data storagenone5
System integrationnone6
6Midterm exam
Intro to OSIntro OS11
7 OS processor synchronizationProcess.syncnone
8OS memory allocationOS mem.alloc.none
9Files and secondary storagenone12
10Internet and distributed application servicesnone13
11Final exam
As a courtesy to the other students and the instructor, students with pagers are asked to turn pagers to silent mode. If you must keep your cell phone on, please turn the ringer off and set the phone in front of you.
Please keep an eye on the class web page ( for the latest updates and information about this course.
All of the lecture notes used during lecture are available on the course web site. A hard copy of the first week=s lecture will be handed out in class. All future hard copies are your responsibility.
While attendance is not mandatory, it is highly recommended. Despite the fact that all notes are on the instructor=s web page, they can be terse at times. Details given during lecture can fill in many missing pieces and aid in understanding of the more difficult concepts. Attendance will be taken on a random basis and may be used during final grade determination.
This course will follow the school’s and university’s policy on plagiarism. You may work together on homework assignments, but it is highly recommended that you write-up your own answers and use your own words. Answers on assignments that are identical to answers from other students in the course (within reason) will be graded more “closely”.