A Senior-Level Course in Hardware–Software Codesign

Modern electronic system design makes extensive use of programmable architectures, and requires designers to consider hardware and software jointly in their design. A senior-level course named hardware/software codesign provides a practical introduction to these complex system design issues. The challenge is to bring a subject, which is traditionally covered as a graduate-level course, to senior undergraduate students without overly narrowing down the scope, and without turning the course into an ad-hoc design project. The course combines an incremental, structured overview of hardware/software codesign with practical assignments that emphasize key concepts. This paper reviews the motivations for this course, the curriculum, the lab materials and tools used, and the results of the first offering of the course in fall 2006.