Name:

Lab Section:

CprE 288 Fall 2015 Homework 1

Due Sun. Sept 6 (on BlackBoard-midnight)
Notes:
Homework is individual work. Adhere to the Universitys policy relating
to the integrity of scholarship. See
http://catalog.iastate.edu/academiclife/regulations/ , Academic
Dishonesty.
Homework must be typed and uploaded to BlackBoard as a PDF or Word
Document (i.e. .doc or .docx) only.
Late homework is accepted within three days from the due date. Late
penalty is 10% per day (for each 24 hours following your class).

Question 1 (15 pts)

Note: The purpose of this question is to refresh your understanding of numeric
representation from the prerequisite courses.
Complete the table below. Assume ASCII encoding of characters, and a 2s
complement encoding of negative numbers. Recall what you have learned about
2s complement encoding from other courses. When representing a number in
hexadecimal or binary, use the proper number of digits for the ATmega128
architecture (depends on type). The first row has been completed for you.

Value of x
char x = 60;
char x = 'F';
char x = 123;
char x = '7';
char x = 5;
int x = 0x288;
int x = 0xFACE;
char x = 0b10001100;
unsigned int x = 0xABCD +
0x2131;
char x = 0x7 + 3;
char x = 0x48 / 16;
signed int x = -1;
signed int x = -128;
signed char x = 9;
char x = -1;
unsigned char x = 63;

x
(decimal)
60

x (hex)
0x3c

x (binary)
0b00111100

Name:

Lab Section:

Question 2 (5 pts)
Read the Wikipedia articles related to microprocessor and microcontroller. Answer
the following questions regarding the history of microprocessor and microcontroller,
based on your own understanding and using your own language.
a. Which chip is thought to be the first microprocessor? How many transistors
roughly did it use? (2pts)

b. Todays high-performance microprocessors are very advanced. Do an Internet

search on Intels 15-core Ivy Bridge-EX, a very recent 15-core processor. How
many transistors roughly did it use, and what is its maximum worst-case
power consumption (called TDP or thermal design power)? (2pts)

c. With respect to number of transistors, how many processors from part a)

could fit into a processor of the type from part b)? (1pts)

Question 3 (10 pts)

The Cerebot II board used in lab contains an ATmega128 processor. Answer the
following questions about the processor, using Internet when necessary (give your
source, i.e. URL / Slide #). You may find the answers in the course materials listed
under Resources on the class website:
http://class.ee.iastate.edu/cpre288/resources.asp
a. Who is the manufacturer of the ATmega128 processor used in lab? (2pts)

b. What is the clock frequency of the processor? (2pts)

c. What are the types and sizes of memory available, and the uses for each type
of memory? (2pts)

Name:

Lab Section:

d. Name 4 more features of the processor, along with a concise description: (4

pts)
1. Two UARTs Serial communication over a cable or Bluetooth
2.
3.
4.
5.

Question 4 (5 pts)
Name five appliances or other products with an embedded computer that
you use in your daily life.

Question 5 (5 pts)
Read the Wikipedia article on Endianness (little-endian and big-endian). Briefly
summarize the differences in the space below.

Question 6: Basic Units Review (10 pts)

a. Fill in the units? (7pts)

Name:
ms

Lab Section:
10-3 seconds (answer given)
10-6 seconds
10-9 seconds
210 Bytes
220 Bytes
230 Bytes
103 Hz
106 Hz

b. Period or frequency (3pts)

i) What is the period of a 2 MHz clock?

ii) What is the frequency of a clock with a 1 ns period?

iii) How many positive edges of a 4 MHz clock will occur in 4 ms?