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Máster Universitario Erasmus Mundus en Transporte Sostenible y Sistemas Eléctricos de Potencia por la Universidad de Oviedo; Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra
EMSTEPS3-1-021
Generación Distribuida y Energías Alternativas
General description and schedule Teaching Guide

Coordinator/s:

JOSE MARIA LOPEZ LOPEZ
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Faculty:

LUIS ANGEL OLIVEIRA RODRIGUEZ
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(English Group)
Ángel García Menéndez
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(English Group)
Carlos González Gutiérrez
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(English Group)
David Garcia Lucas
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JOSE MARIA LOPEZ LOPEZ
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LAURA POZUECO ALVAREZ
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JOSE RAMON ARIAS GARCIA
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Contextualization:

The “Computer and Network Fundamentals” course is included in the field “Hardware and Physical Fundamentals”, within the common courses of the Computer Engineering branch in the Bachelor´s Degree in Computer Science. The skills to be acquired by the student will allow him or her to understand the basic operation of hardware components in a computer: CPU, memory and Input/Output devices. In addition, the student will be able to understand how information is represented in the computer, as well as the basic devices used to interconnect computers building networks. “Computer and Network Fundamentals” will be based on several skills acquired by the student while studying the “Foundations of Computer Science” course and “Programming Fundamentals” courses, taught in the first half of the academic year.

Skills acquired while studying “Computer and Network Fundamentals” will allow the student to acquire complex skills in future courses. For example, in the “Computer Architecture” course the student will study computer operation at a deeper level; in “System and Network Administration” the student will use previous concepts about networks. The basis provided by “Computer and Network Fundamentals” will also be useful in “Software and Web Standards”, and in “Distributed Systems and the Internet” courses.

The competences obtained by the students in the course will improve their understanding of other courses such as “Programming Fundamentals” and “Programming Methodology”, since this course explains how the computer executes the programs that the student learns to write in those courses.

Furthermore, skills related to numerical data representation will be useful in “Numerical Computation” in the second year.

“Computer and Network Fundamentals” provides key knowledge on computing which will be essential for the student to keep up to date with new technologies in his or her professional career.

Requirements:

Students registered in this course are supposed to have completed Foundations of Computer Science, taught in the first half of the year.

Competences and learning results:

Computer and Network Fundamentals provides the student with knowledge about organization, operation and interconnection of computer systems; programming fundamentals of computer systems; and how common engineering problems can be solved with computer systems.

 An IT professional should never see a computer as a black box. Thus, the competences acquired by the student while studying Computer and Network Fundamentals allow him/her to understand the operation of the main components of a computer, their characteristics, performance and interactions with the rest of the components of a computer. The competences promoted by Computer and Network Fundamentals are essential for both designing and writing programs, as well as for understanding programming languages. In addition, this course allows the student to acquire competences required for interconnecting computers forming computer networks.

 The general competences the student is going to acquire during Computer and Network Fundamentals are:

 

CG.5

Competences in analyzing, selecting and using basic and support computing tools

CG.10

Oral and written communication skills in English

CG.26

Skills on how to learn and work autonomously

 The specific competences of basic formation the student is going to acquire during Computer and Network Fundamentals are:

 

Bas.4

Basic knowledge about using and programming computers, operating systems, databases, and computing programs for engineers

Bas.5

Knowledge about computer system organization, operation and interconnection, as well as their programming fundamentals and their use in solving specific engineering problems

The specific competences common to Computer Science the student is going to acquire during Computer and Network Fundamentals are:

 

Com.8

To analyze, design, build and maintain computer applications robustly, safely and efficiently, choosing the adequate paradigm and programming language

Com.9

To know, comprehend and evaluate computer architecture and organization, as well as its components

Com.11

To know the characteristics, functionalities, and organization of distributed systems, computer networks, and the Internet, as well as to write applications based on them

The learning results expected for the student to acquire during Computer and Network Fundamentals are a subset of those assigned to the competences shown above:

RA.SFH-2(1)

To know and differentiate the types of computer architectures

RA.SFH-5(2)

To know the influence of computer architecture in programming, especially in parallel architectures

RA.SFH-7

To analyze real computer architectures

RA.SFH-8

To know the basic structure of a computer, its main components and their interconnection

RA.SFH-9

To be able of develop simple applications in assembly language, as well as to know how to support high-level languages

RA.SFH-10

To know the principles of computer networks

(1)This learning result is acquired partially in this course. Other types of computer architectures will be studied in other courses of the degree.

(2)This learning result is acquired partially in this course. The influence of parallel architectures in programming will be studied in other courses of the degree.

Contents:

Theory contents:

 

Part I: Fundamentals

 

Unit 1. Digital Information

  1.1 Computer and digital data

  1.2 Binary representations

  1.3 Logical data

  1.4 Positional numeral system

  1.5 Unsigned numbers

  1.6 Signed numbers

  1.7 Real numbers

  1.8 Characters

 

Unit 2. Digital Systems

  2.1 Concept of digital system

  2.2 Combinational digital systems

  2.3 Sequential digital systems

 

Part II: Computers

 

Unit 3: Computer Organization

  3.1 Stored-program computer

  3.2 Computer design

  3.3 The CT (Computador Teórico)

 

Unit 4: The Language of the Computer

  4.1 Instructions

  4.2 Operands

  4.3 Assignment statements

  4.4 Arithmetic and logic statements

  4.5 Conditional statements

  4.6 Loops

  4.7 Subroutines

  4.8 The language of the x86-32 computer

 

Unit 5: CPU

  5.1 CPU and program

  5.2 High-level study

  5.3 Microarchitecture-level study

  5.4 Control unit

 

Unit 6: Memory System

  6.1 Address space

  6.2 Memory devices

  6.3 Memory map

  6.4 Designing the memory map

 

Unit 7: Input/Output

  7.1 Connecting peripherals to the computer

  7.2 Peripheral interfaces

  7.3 Periodic sampling synchronization

  7.4 Interruption synchronization

 

Part III: Computer Networks

 

Unit 8: Networks and protocols

  8.1 Concept of computer network

  8.2 Protocol architectures

 

Unit 9: Local Area Networks

  9.1 Physical layer

  9.2 Data link layer

 

Unit 10: Internet

  10.1 Network layer

  10.2 Transport layer

  10.3 Application layer

 

Laboratory contents:

Lab 1. Digital Information

Lab 2. Digital Systems

Lab 3. The Language of the Computer

Lab 4. CPU

Lab 5. Input/Output System

Lab 6. Computer Networks

Methodology and work plan:

Computer and Network Fundamentals will be taught by means of:

  • Lessons: Main concepts of the course are presented in detail.
  • Seminars: Problems are solved, as well as questions about the concepts presented in the lessons. In addition, exercises or other tasks may be done.
  • Laboratory sessions: The main concepts of the course are trained in a computer to acquire skills in the use of tools such as simulators of digital systems, simulators of CPU, assemblers and protocol analyzers.
  • Group tutorials: Teachers solve students’ queries in small groups. If required by the teacher, other activities may be done in these sessions, such as teamwork organizing and monitoring.
  • Student work: Individual and teamwork, as well as preparing the evaluation sessions. Teachers expect each student to devote the following hours to each lesson or laboratory session in order to acquire the expected skills trained in the course:

 

In class activities

Distance learning activities

Unit

Total hours

Lectures

Seminars

Laboratory sessions

Group tutorials

Evaluation sessions

Total

Teamwork

Individual work

Total

1

14

2

1

2

 

 

5

 

9

9

2

16

2

1

4

 

 

7

 

9

9

3

2

1

0

0

 

 

1

 

1

1

4

21

4

1

4

 

 

9

 

12

12

5

23

3

1

7

 

 

11

 

12

12

6

7

1

1

0

 

 

2

 

5

5

7

17

3

1

3

 

 

7

 

10

10

8

10

1

0

3

 

 

4

 

6

6

9

13.5

2

0.5

2

 

 

4.5

 

9

9

10

14.5

2

0.5

3

 

 

5.5

 

9

9

*

12

 

 

 

2

2

4

8

 

8

Total

150

21

7

28

2

2

60

8

82

90

(*) Hours assigned to all the units. Its distribution is not exact, as it depends on, for example, the subject of the teamwork chosen by the student

 

 

Hours

%

Total

In class

Lessons

21

14%

60

Seminars

7

5%

Laboratory sessions

28

19%

Group tutorials

2

1%

Evaluation sessions

2

1%

Distance learning

Teamwork

8

5%

90

Individual work

82

55%

 

Total

150

 

 

Exceptionally and if health conditions require it, online teaching activities might be included. If that were the case, students will be properly notified of the changes.

Assessment of students learning:

The assessment of the student is based on:

  • Individual work of the student in the theoretical part of the course
  • Individual work of the student in the laboratory
  • Teamwork

If the sum of the weight of the assessment activities over the global assessment that the student takes is less than 50%, the student will get the mark “Not taken”.

The three evaluation parts must sum up at least 5 points out of 10 for the student to pass the course, taking into account:

Continuous assessment of the theoretical part:

Three exams based on objective questions will be done during the course in order to assess the work related to the theoretical part. This mark is called NThe and it is worth between 0 and 5 points.

Continuous assessment of the laboratory work:

Three lab exams will be done during the course with exercises similar to those carried out by the student in the labs. This mark is called NLab and it is worth between 0 and 4 points.

Teamwork assessment:

During the course, a task to be developed with classmates will be assigned to the student. Teamwork proposal and supervision will be done in group tutorials. Therefore, all the students in a team must belong to the same laboratory group. This task is assessed between 0 and 1 point, and it is called NTea. The assessment for each student in the group could be different depending on the participation of the student.

Final assessment in ordinary evaluation:

The assessment in the ordinary evaluation is the mark obtained in the continuous evaluation, but in order to consider the mark obtained in the labs, 80% of attendance rate to laboratory sessions and group tutorials is required (attendance must be active, that is, the student must carry out the tasks required). If the attendance rate is less than 80%, NLab will be 0 points. The final assessment will be calculated as follows:

If AttendanceRecord >= 80% then OrdinarySessionAssessment = NThe + NLab + NTea
else OrdinarySessionAssessment = NThe + NTea

Final assessment in extraordinary evaluation:

All the students that participate in the extraordinary evaluation must sit a final exam based on the theoretical part of the subject, which will be worth between 0 and 5 points. This mark is called NTheEx. Only those students who get more than 2.5 points in this exam can pass the course.

The students with less than 2 points in the continuous assessment of the laboratory work (NLab) and more than 2.5 points in NTheEx must sit a lab exam, which will be worth between 0 and 4 points. This mark will be called NLabEx. The students with more than 2 points in the continuous assessment of the laboratory work (NLab) and more than 2.5 points in NTheEx can keep the mark obtained in the continuous assessment; in this case, NLabEx will be equal to NLab.

There will not be an extraordinary evaluation for the teamwork, so the student will keep the mark obtained during the continuous assessment (NTea).

The final assessment in extraordinary exams will be calculated as follows:

If NTheEx > 2.5, then ExtraordinarySessionAssessment = NTheEx + NLabEx + NTea

Else ExtraordinarySessionAssessment = minimum(NTheEx + NTea + NLab, 4.5)

Forwarded extraordinary assessment:

It will follow the same rules as the normal extraordinary evaluation except that the lab mark (NLab) will not be kept; thus, sitting the lab exam will be compulsory.

Differentiated assessment

Students enrolled in the differentiated assessment will have to pass two exams, which will be compulsory in all evaluations. Firstly, a final exam based on the theoretical part of the subject, which will be between 0 and 5 points, called NTheDif. Secondly, a final laboratory exam, between 0 and 5 points, called NLabDif. NLabDif will be 0 points if NTheDif  is less than 2.5 points. The final assessment in the differentiated assessment will be calculated as follows:

Diferentiated assessment = NTheDif + NLabDif

In each evaluation session, new exams are carried out and previous assessments are not taken into account.

For all assessments:

Exceptionally and if health conditions require it, online assessment activities might be included. If that were the case, students will be properly notified of the changes.

Use of materials of illicit means:

If fraudulent behavior is detected in any assessment task, test or exam, the final assessment of the course will be 0 points, invalidating any other marks, regardless of other possible penalties that could be determined.

Resources, bibliography and documentation:

Basic

  • J. Entrialgo, J.C. Granda, J.M. López, J. Molleda, J.R. Arias, R. Usamentiaga, M. García y J.L. Díaz. Computers and Networks. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Oviedo, 2018, ISBN: 978-84-16664-86-3

Recommended

  • R. Usamentiaga, J. Entrialgo y J. Molleda. Ejercicios de ensamblador para la arquitectura x86-32. España: Ediuno. Ediciones de la Universidad de Oviedo, 2008, págs. 1-166. ISBN: 84-8317-661-D
  • J. García, M. García, J.L. Díaz, J.R. Arias, F.J. Suárez y D.F. García. Ejercicios de fundamentos de computadores y periféricos. Universidad de Oviedo, 2006. ISBN: 8483175614
  • V.C. Hamacher, Z.G. Vranesic, S.G. Zaky, M.L.F. García y G.Q. Vieyra. Organización de computadoras. McGraw-Hill, 1987. ISBN: 9684220588 [4]
  • D.A. Patterson y J.L. Hennessy. Estructura y diseño de computadores. Reverté, 2000. ISBN: 8429126163
  • W. Stallings. Comunicaciones y redes de computadores. Prentice Hall, 2004
  • Pedro De Miguel. Fundamentos de los Computadores. Paraninfo, 2004
  • J.M. Angulo. Introducción a los computadores. Paraninfo, 2001
  • W. Stallings y A.C. Vargas. Organización y arquitectura de computadores: diseño para optimizar prestaciones. Prentice Hall, 2001. ISBN: 978-8420529936
  • Intel. 80386 Guía del programador y Manual de referencia. Anaya, 1989. ISBN: 84-7614- 193-9