Suggested Books:

 Dorf, Modern Control Systems
 Phillips and Harbor, Feedback Control Systems
 Raven, Automatic Control Engineering
 
 

Topics:
1. Mathematical Models of Dynamic Systems: d.e.’s and transfer functions
2. Stabilization, Set-Point Regulation and Servo-Tracking Control Problems
3. Design of P, PD, and PDI and Feedforward Controllers:  based on ideal, closed-loop poles and/or response models
4. Routh-Horwitz Criterion
5. Block-diagram algebra, steady-state error analysis
6. Design of series , feedback and feedforward compensator transfer-functions to meet closed-loop specifications
7. Root-locus methods
8. Frequency-response techniques for system analysis and compensator design; Nyquist stability criterion, Bode plots
9. Time-domain and frequency-domain performance specifications
 
 

Suggested Books/Chapters:

Poularikas and Seely, Signals and Systems, 2nd Edition (Chapters 1-6 and 8-9).
Ziemer and Tranter, Principles of Communication, 4th Edition (Chapters 1-3).
Cooper and McGillem, Probabilistic Methods of Signal and System Analysis, 2nd Edition     (Chapters 1-3 and 5-6).
 
 

Topics:

     Random Processes
     Hilbert Transforms
     Difference Equations
     Basic Modulation/Demodulation Techniques Including AM, FM, PM, DSB, and SSB
     Narrow Band Signals and Systems and their Low Pass Equivalents
     Applied Probability
     Gaussian random Variables/Vectors
     Bayes Theorem
 
 

Text:

Larry L. Peterson, Bruce S. Davie, "Computer Networks, A
Systems Approach", 2nd edition, Morgan Kaufman Publishers,
Inc., 2000.

Topics

Network architecture
Network software
Direct Link Networks
Packet Switching
Internetworking
TCP/IP, UDP protocols
Congestion Control
Network Security
 
 

Suggested Books:

 Sung-Mo Kang & Yusuf Leblebici, CMOS Digital Integrated Circuits, Third Edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003

Reference:

 David A. Hodges & Horace G. Jackson, Analysis and Design of Digital Integrated Circuits,  McGraw-Hill, 1988.
 

Topics:

1. Introduction to Digital Electronics

2. Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS Transistor):  Structure and Operation of the MOS, Threshold Voltage of the MOS Transistor, Current-Voltage Characteristics, SPICE MOSFET models

3. MOS Inverters and Gate Circuits:  Static NMOS Inverter Analysis, Transistors as Load Devices, Switching Time Analysis and Power-Delay Product, Complementary MOS for the Static Characteristics and Switching Characteristics of the CMOS Inverter

4. Combinational MOS Logic Circuits:  MOS Logic Circuits with Depletion NMOS Loads; CMOS Logic Circuits

5. Bipolar Junction Transistor:  The Bipolar Junction Transistor, The Ebers-Moll Model, Modes of Operation, SPICE BJT Model

6. Bipolar Transistor Inverter:  Static Characteristics, BJT Inverter Switching Times

7. Bipolar Digital Gate Circuits:  Emitter-Coupled Logic

8. Semiconductor Memories:  Introduction and Definitions, Static Read-Write Memories, etc.
 
 

Book:

David K. Cheng, Fundamentals of Engineering Electromagnetics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, Mass., 1993.
 

Topics:

1. Vector Analysis
 Curl,  Stokes' Theorem, Divergence Theorem, Line Integral

2. Electrostatic Fields
 Gauss' Law, Electrostatic Potential, Capacitance, Poisson's and Laplace's Equations

3. Steady Electric Currents
 Current Density, Ohm's Law, Equation of Continuity, and Kirchoff's Current Law

4. Magnetostatic Fields
 Ampere's Law, Biot-Savart Law, Magnetic Circuits, Magnetic Vector Potential, Inductance

5. Maxwell's Equations
 Faraday's Law, EM Boundary Conditions, Poynting Vector

6. Plane Wave Solutions
 Plane Waves in Lossless and Lossy Media, Phase and Group Velocity, Reflection and Transmission of Plane Waves

7.  Transmission Lines
 Transmission Line Equations, Steady State and Transient Solutions, Standing Waves, Line Impedance, Impedance Matching, and Smith Chart

8.  Waveguides and Cavity Resonators
 Parallel Plate and Rectangular Waves, Modes of Propagation, Cutoff Frequencies, Power Flow

9.  Antennas and Radiation
 Elementary Electric Dipole Antenna, Loop Antenna, Radiation Fields, Radiation Pattern
 
 

Suggested Book:

Signal Processing and Linear Systems, B. P. Lathi, Berkeley Cambridge Press, 1998
 
 

  Topics:

Signal and System Modeling Concepts
System Modeling and Analysis in the Time Domain
The Fourier Series
The Fourier Transform and its Applications
The Laplace Transform and its Applications
Sampling and Quantization
Analog to Digital Conversion and Digital to Analog Conversion
Difference Equations
The Z-Transform
The Discrete Fourier Transform and Fast Fourier Transform
FIR and IIR Filer Design
 
 

Part I: Operating Systems

Suggested Book:

Operating Systems Concepts: 6th Edition, Silberschatz,  Galvin, Gagne, John Wiley, 2002

1. Operating systems taxonomy: general purpose, real time, embedded.
2.   Operating system functionality
  Resource management: memory, time, space
  File system management
  I/O system architecture
3.    Processes, Threads
  Creation, destruction, collaboration
4.    CPU Scheduling
  Basic concepts, algorithms, real time scheduling
5.    Process Synchronization
  Critical sections, semaphores, hardware support
6.    Memory systems
  Memory management
  Virtual memory: structure and algorithms
7.    File Systems
  Directory management
  Free space management
  Buffer cache management
8.     I/O Systems
  I/O Hardware support
  Application interfaces
  Device drives

Part II: Real Time and Embedded Systems

Suggested Book:
Computers as Components: Principles of Embedded Systems Design, Wayne Wolf, Academic Press, 2001

1. Introduction to software design:
 Requirements, specifications, structural and behavioral descriptions,
             UML
2. Embedded Processors
 Risc, super scalar, and VLIW architectures
3. CPU architectures
 Input/Output, interrupts, modes, cache memories
4.  Embedded bus architectures
 Bus architectures and transactions
 Serial interconnects
5.  Program design and analysis
 Compilers and optimization
 Testing
 Performance Analysis
6.  Operating Systems (covered in the labs)
 Tasks, context switches
 Operating system support (inter-process communication, networking)
 Scheduling, Development environment
7.  Hardware Accelerators
 FPGA architectures
 RISC IP Cores
 Verilog HDL
 
 

Suggested  books:

    • Object-Oriented & Classical Software Engineering, Seventh Edition, by Stephen R. Schach
    • Software Engineering, 8th Edition, by Ian Sommerville
    • Software Engineering: A Practioner’s Approach, Fifth Edition, by Roger S. Pressman
    • C++ Plus Data Structures, Fourth Edition, by Nell Dale

Overview:

The following list of major topics is provided as a general study guide to graduate students taking the Software Engineering Preliminary Exam.  It is important to note that not every topic listed below will be covered on every preliminary exam, and that those topics which are addressed on a particular exam may not be weighted equally.
Students are expected to demonstrate an undergraduate level-of-knowledge on this exam consistent with that obtained from the undergraduate CPE software engineering courses (CPE 212, CPE 353, and CPE 453) along with their associated prerequisite courses.
 

Outline of Major Topics:

    • Software Architecture, Design Principles, and Methods
    o Structured programming with C/C++
    o Object-oriented development including C++ classes, inheritance, polymorphism, dynamic binding, pointers, recursion, templates, overloading, and dynamic memory allocation/deallocation
    o Data structures including array and linked implementations of lists, stacks, queues, trees, and heaps; graphs including adjacency list and adjacency matrix representations
    o Algorithms including searching, sorting, and complexity analysis
    • Software Modeling
    o Unified Modeling Language (UML) including use case modeling and basic UML diagrams (use case diagrams, class diagrams, sequence diagrams, and statecharts)
    o State machines
    o CASE tools including coverage tools and test tools
    • Software Life-Cycle Models and Phases
    o Waterfall, extreme programming, unified process, spiral development
    • Software Process and Terminology
    o PDR, CDR, SQA, peer reviews, inspection, artifacts, IEEE J-STD-016-1995, defect tracking
    o Software estimation
    o Team organization
    o Risk analysis and management
    • Requirements Engineering
    o Requirements elicitation, documentation, and validation
    o Rapid prototyping
    o Role of test planning
    • Testing, Analysis, and Verification
    o Functional testing including boundary value analysis, equivalence class partitioning, and decision table testing
    o Structural testing including statement coverage, branch coverage, and path coverage
    o Test set selection, McCabe’s Cyclomatic Complexity
    o API testing
    o Validation and verification
    • Configuration Management
    o Source control tools
    o Configuration requirements testing                                                                                               February 2009
 
 

Suggested Books:

 Hecht, E.. and A. Zajac, Optics, Addison-Wesley, 1974.
 Klein, M. V., and T. E. Furtak, Optics, Wiley, 1986.

Topics:

1.  Geometrical Optics
 Germat’s principle and Huygens wavelets
 Reflection and refraction: Snell’s law
 Ray tracing, y-nu charts and matrix methods
 Gaussian imaging and paraxial optics
 Conjugate elements, cardinal points, and object-image relations
 Stops and pupils, chief and marginal rays, vignetting
 The y-y bar diagram, design of common optical systems
 Aberrations; spot diagrams and ray fan plots

2.  Physical Optics
 Optical propagation: polarization, plane, cylindrical and spherical waves
 Dispersion, Poynting vector, irradiance
 Boundary conditions and the Fresnel equations
 Interference, interferometers, multiple beam interference, Fabry-Perot etalons
 Fresbek-Kirchoff and Rayleigh-Sommerfield integral formulation of diffraction;
 Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction
 Properties of Fourier Transforms, linear systems, and simple applications to optics
 
 

Suggested Book:

Computer Organization and Design, Patterson and Hennessey, 1998

Topics:

1.  Basic instruction set design (RISC, CISC)

2.  Basic bus design (data transfers, DMA, interrupts)

3.  Basic instruction processing (random logic, micro-programmed, instruction
 pipelining, datapath pipelining, out of order execution)

4.  Basic memory architecture design
 Ram architectures:  SRAM, DRAM
 Cache architectures
 Virtual memory architectures
 
 

Suggested Books:

Principles of Computer Security: Security+ and Beyond, ISBN-10: 0072255099
Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems, ISBN-10: 0470068523

Topics:

1. General Information Assurance Concepts
2. Authentication and Access Control
3. Security Baselines and System Evaluation
4. Network Attack and Defense
5. Security Policy and Law
 
 

Reference Text:

 Parallel Programming Techniques and Applications Using Networked Workstations and Parallel Computers, Second Edition, Barry Wilkinson, Michael Allen, Prentice Hall, 2005.
UAH Reference Course: CPE 412/512 Introduction to Parallel Programming

Introduction Material:

•   Performance metrics, Speedup Factor, Efficiency, Cost, computation/communication ratio, Amdahl’s law.
•  Flynn’s Classification of computer systems (SISD, SIMD, MIMD)
•  Networks
 Static topologies (Mesh, hypercube) -- bisection width, diameter, e-cube routing
 dynamic networks (crossbar switch, multistage interconnection networks)
•  Message Passing
 message latency, bandwidth

Message Passing Programming with MPI:

•  Process Creation (static/dynamic)
•  Message Passing (Blocking and Nonblocking)
 Point to point message passing routines
 Collective Communication Routines (Broadcast, Scatter, Gather)
•  Understanding of the SPMD Computational Model
•  Time Complexity
 Big O notation
 Parallel time complexity
 Fixed workload, fixed time computation models
 How to empirically measure the time of computation and communication routines

Simple Parallel Processing Algorithms/Environments:

•  Embarrassing parallel computations
 General definition/understanding of these types of problems
 Monte Carlo Methods

Partitioning Methods:

•  Divide-and-conquer techniques
 General definition of these types of problems
 Time complexity analysis of Tree structured problems (through page 117)

Temporal Parallelism:

•  How pipelining works, Temporal versus Spatial Parallelism
 The conditions necessary for performance to be improved.
 Pipeline speedup, efficiency, and cost
 Example applications: in-place sorting, prime number generation using sieve of Eratosthenes, back substitution for a system of linear equations

Distributed Shared Memory Programming:

•  Barrier implementations, counter, tree, and butterfly
•  Benefits of local synchronization over global
•  Deadlock, definition, how it can occur in message passing programs
•  Data parallel computations
      examples:
  prefix sum,
  iterative solutions of linear equations (with termination conditions),
  heat transfer problem (square block and strip partitioning)
 cellular automata (e.g. game of life)

Load balancing Techniques:

 Static versus dynamic (advantages/disadvantages)
 Dynamic
    centralized versus decentralized
    load balancing using a line structure (p208).
    required termination conditions
    line structures (p 207-209), ring termination, tree structures, fixed energy methods
    example Moore’s algorithm

Shared memory multiprocessors:

•  Shared memory multiprocessors
  Uniform Memory Access (UMA) Model
 Nonuniform Memory Access (NUMA) Model
•  Concurrent Processes
 Heavyweight Processes versus Threads
 Fork/Join Model
•  Shared data access and mutual exclusion
 Locks
    critical sections (what are they how can they be protected)
    spin locks
 Semaphores
    how they differ from locks
    producer consumer example
 Monitor
    what is it, how can it be implemented
 Conditions variables
•  Dependency Analysis
 Bernstein’s Conditions for parallelism
 Sequential consistency (definition and application to modern hardware/software systems)
•  Basic differences between pThreads and Open MP based standards
•  Be able to analyze and create small pThreads programs in pseudocode given the basic pThreads system calls.
•  Basic ideas behind synchronous computation, barriers, etc. Basic Dynamic/Static Load Balancing and termination ideas.
 
 

Suggested Books:

VLSI Design - A Systems Approach, Weste and Esragahan.

Topics:

1.  Basic VLSI  design (CMOS gates, processing physical layout)
2.  VLSI architectures: pla, standard cells, block compiled designs
3.  Programmable logic (FPGA)
4.  Advanced design methodologies (VHDL, automatic, synthesis)
5.  Testing
 
 

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