Perhaps the most important part of the course is the course project. Rather than having more homeworks and a final exam, the course project allows students the flexibility to explore some aspect of reconfigurable computing on their own. The project involves the development of a proposal, experimental results, and a final report. In proposing a project please keep the following in mind: it is better to propose a reasonable project you can complete rather than a huge project that will be in an intermediate state at the end of the term. In order to receive a final grade for the project, there must be an experimental result that is shown (e.g. a graph, table, or chart) based on experiments that you perform.

Project Proposal

The purpose of the project proposal is to provide background material for the work you are to complete and to describe the actual experiments and expected results. The proposal should be sufficiently detailed so that I can understand specifically what you are going to do. An important part of the proposal is my understanding of your proposed work. If I think the project is too large I will ask you to trim it down. The following is a general outline for the proposal. All page counts are for 11pt. font, single spaced, not counting pictures, tables, or other graphics.

1. Topic introduction (0.5 - 1 page)

2. Discussion of previous work and how it relates to your topic. I suggest at least two references, preferably three. Note that your project and transcription assignment should be different. If it is not, you should come and see me before submitting the proposal. (3 pages)

3. Discussion of your experimental approach (including specific tools, methodologies, experiments, etc.). Try to be as specific as possible. (2 to 3 pages)

4. Expected results. What exactly will your result be? What will you show in a table or chart? Be specific. (1 to 2 pages)

5. Project Summary (0.5 to 1 page)

6. References

Project Final Report

The final project report primarily describes your experimentation and results. Please try to form conclusions rather than simply reporting numbers. It is not necessary to do something "thesis quality" but it would be nice to show at least one conclusion as a result of the experiments.

1. Project Introduction. This can be the same as for the proposal.

2. Discussion of experimentation. How did you perform the experimentation? (2 pages)

3. Discussion of results. (2 pages)

4. Problems encountered. (1 to 2 pages)

6. Project summary (1 to 2 pages)

7. References