1. Computer Engineering Department Islamic University of Gaza ECOM 6301
Advanced Computer Architectures
Graduate Course
Fall
Prof. Dr. Eng. Mohammad A. Mikki
Computer Engineering Department Chair
College of Engineering
Islamic Universoity of Gaza, Gaza, Palestine
Homepage:
Tel.: Ext. 2883

2. Course Research Project

3. Purpose
The purpose of the course research project is to familiarize the student with recent and important research topics and advances in the field of computer architecture.
This research oriented project has numerous advantages. To name only a few would be the ability to use your background knowledge for further study in an area, preparation for master’s thesis research, familiarity with recent advances in the field, self study in an interest area, and the opportunity to communicate research ideas to others.

4. Purpose
The research project includes original, novel, and significant contribution in the topic selected.
Projects will be carried out either individually or in teams (size to be determined depending on class size.)
You will be graded based on your work, organization, report, and clarity of your project paper.
You may select a research topic to investigate and present to class. You must try to choose your research topic so that your studies will enhance your knowledge in support of your selected project. 

5. Project Proposal
Your research project proposals should be one typed page long that includes:
Research project title
Project team members
Description of the research/project objectives briefly
References
It should describe what will be covered in your research/project.
If you work in teams, then submit one proposal with your team-member names. Describe as much as possible the areas of responsibilities.

6. Project Outcomes/Objectives
A report in your own wording on the final project is needed. 
I would need a copy of the program, test data sets, and instructions for running the program.
The report must explain your methods, findings, comparisons, and your learning experience.
An adequate list of references should be included with each project report.
Keep all formats simple, use MS Word for you documentation.

7. Research Topic
Your proposed research topic should be studied in depth. You may investigate any area within the scope of computer architecture. 
Plan ahead so you can select a topic.
This will allow you to study a topic, propose a related experiment and design, implement and analyze your results which will give you and your classmates a more in-depth understanding of your topic of interest.

8. Nature of the selected topic
You may choose to:
Modeling, simulation, of a technique/aspect/feature/component in advanced computer architecture that is discussed in the class.
Design/upgrading/enhancing/improving a technique/ aspect/ feature/ component in advanced computer architecture that is discussed in the class.
Compare different techniques/aspects/features/components in advanced computer architecture that are discussed in the class.
Measure performance of different techniques/ aspects/ features/ components in advanced computer architecture that are discussed in the class.
Develop a set of benchmarks to measure performance metrics of techniques/aspects/features/components in advanced computer architecture that are discussed in the class.

9. What your work should include
The work should include validation/ proving the correctness of the proposed work through measurement/simulation/analysis etc.

10. Suggested Topics
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Memory system/hierarchy/storage systems
Cache memory/strategies
Parallel architectures
Performance modeling
Hardware synchronization mechanisms
Hardware simulations
Cache Coherence Protocols in Multicore architectures
Multicore Architectures
Multicore memory hierarchy

11. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Use SimpleScalar tool set  to model and analyze performance. [This tool set from SimpleScalar LLC includes sample simulators ranging from a fast functional simulator to a detailed, dynamically scheduled processor model that supports non-blocking caches, speculative execution, and state-of-the-art branch prediction.]
Simulate Cache policies/performance experimentation
Simulate Cache coherence policies and compare performance
Simulate Various Pipeline processors and compare performance (Superscaler, super pipeline, etc)
Simulate Brach Prediction policies and compare performance

12. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Experiments on GPU Memory hierarchy and performance
Experiments on Multicore Cache coherence and performance
Experiment on shared memory and cache memory hit/miss and access performance and also overall execution performance due to memory access patterns, optimization, parallelism, etc.
Experiments on the effects of OS management (process and memory) in multicore
Memory to memory copying from server to GPU and its effect on performance
Networking
Clusters
Fault Tolerant Designs

13. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
A GUI Cache Analysis Program
CPU vs. GPU with Chaos
Cluster Scheduling Methods & Programming Practices
picoJava-II Simulation
Compiler Optimization & Impacts on Program Execution Time
Microcontroller I/O
Cache Architecture & Policy Simulator
Prototyping Parallel Software from a Complicated Sequential Software and its
Implementation on a Multi-Core Server
Cache Coherence Protocol Performance Comparison
Testing Effect of Cache Coherence Protocols on Memory Hierarchy

14. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Multi-threaded Java Applications on Multi-core Architectures
Comparing an Application Using Trusted Platform vs. Traditional Method
Simulating Tomasulo Algorithm
Software Cache-Coherence Simulator
GPU Programming Optimization Analysis Using the Equalizer Framework
CPU-GPU Performance Comparison and Analysis 
Multi-Core Cache Performance impacts in a Matrix Inversion Implementation
Smart Code Adjusting Tool Based on Machine Architecture
CUDA and Parallel Processing – A GPU Approach

15. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
The Java Computer, the LISP Machine and other Language Oriented Processors
The Connection Machine
DNA Computing
The Transputer
Systollic Arrays
The Relationship between Compilers and Computer Architecture
Thick Code and rich functions in Computer Architecture
Neural Computation
Self-Organization in Computer Architecture
Fault-Tolerance in Computer Architecture

16. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Direct Implementation of Object Oriented Computation
Dataflow Computation
Tagged-Data Architecture — Direct Typing of Data
Intelligent Memory Computers — Imbedding Processors Directly in the Memory
Associative Memory Computation
Parallelism and Pipelining of Sequential Programs
Shared-Memory and Shared-Database Systems
Cache-Only Memory Architecture
Message Routing and Process Management in Multiprocessor System
Compare Shared Memory and Message Passing for process distribution and synchronization in a multi-processor System.

17. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Active Networks as a Computer Architecture.
Caching Strategies and their effect on Multi-Processor Systems.
Massively Parallel Computation using Local Radio Links.
Quantum Computation.
Resynchronization of Parallel Statement Execution of a Sequential Program.
Optical Computers.
Random Methods in Computation.

18. Suggested Topics (Cont.)
Following are a few suggested topics for you look into:
Analog Computer
Hybrid Analog-Digital Computers.
Computer Architecture Based on Multi-Value Logic.
Mechanical Computation with Nano-Machines.
The Effect of Coupling and Coupling Strategies in Concurrent Computation.

19. Instructions to prepare Final Project Report
Include an abstract that is less than one page long.
Include an introduction section that presents the background of your work.
Include a “related work” section
You need to add a conclusion section
State the motivation behind your project. What do you need to prove and why.

20. Instructions to prepare Final Project Report (Cont.)
Describe your approach thoroughly and clearly in detail. Use flowcharts, block diagrams, pseudo code, algorithms, etc.
Include a section that validates your approach. This section should include the design of several experiments that test all components of your design. Include a thorough and detailed analysis of the results/experiments/graphs. Add comments and reasons behind the difference in performance for each experiment.
Compare performance of your approach with similar approaches found in the literature.

21. Instructions to prepare Final Project Report (Cont.)
Add several references , especially recent references (last 10 years).
Please number the figures e.g., “Figure 1: zzz vvv nnn”.
In the text you should reference the figures as follows: “In Figure x we show …”.
Add the references within the report text as follows: “…. as found in [2]”.
Submit your final report in MS word format.
Submit all source code. Include the source code of the experiments
There should be no Arabic in the report including in Figures, images and tables.
The Y-axes of the plotted graphs should be to the left not to the right. Titles of the x and y axis in graphs should be in English.

22. Project Presentation We will organize and schedule 2 presentations:
One in the middle of the semester
One by end of the semester.
While preparing for your presentation, keep the following questions (in next slides) in mind.
These are provided to give guidance for your presentation effectiveness.
After you are prepared, grade yourself with a number between 0-10 on each question and give an overall letter grade (A-F) on each of the 3 areas.

23. I. Communication [Letter Grade =]
 1. Is the “problem” defined clearly?  2. Are explanations clear?  3. Is it clear how the system was developed?              (i.e.: Language, Architecture, Commercial Software, Algorithms,....)  4. Is the material well organized? (Both individual and team work)  5. Effective visual aids?  6. Creative and interesting?

24. II. Research [Letter Grade=]
 1. Good knowledge of the field?  2. Clear comparison between well known related systems or topics?  3. Has clearly identified the technical successes, failures, and limitations of their system?  4. Relates clearly and precisely to advanced computer architecture problems?  5. Specific references to material discussed in class?  6. Appropriate and accurate use of technical words?

25. III. Analysis [Letter Grade=]
 1. Problem is well analyzed, bringing out the critical issues?  2. Use of graphs, charts, statistics, equations, examples, etc.?  3. Logical structure of the problem is well analyzed?  4. Distinction made clearly between the use of logic versus the use of probability?  

26. Any Questions