Computer Engineering Education Experiences with RISC-V Architectures—From Computer Architecture to Microcontrollers

Peter Jamieson, Huan Le, Nathan Martin, Tyler McGrew, Yicheng Qian, Eric Schonauer, Alan Ehret, Michel A. Kinsy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

With the growing popularity of RISC-V and various open-source released RISC-V processors, it is now possible for computer engineers students to explore this simple and relevant architecture, and also, these students can explore and design a microcontroller at a low-level using real tool-flows and implement and test their hardware. In this work, we describe our experiences with undergraduate engineers building RISC-V architectures on an FPGA and then extending their experiences to implement an Arduino-like RISC-V tool-flow and the respective hardware and software to handle input-output ports, interrupts, hardware timers, and communication protocols. The microcontroller is implemented on an FPGA as a Senior Design project to test the viability of such efforts. In this work, we will explain how undergraduates can achieve these experiences including preparation for these projects, the tool-flows they use, the challenges in understanding and extending a RISC-V processor with microcontroller functionality, and a suggestion of how to integrate this learning into an existing curriculum, including a discussion on if we should include these deeper experiences in the Computer Engineering undergraduate curriculum.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number45
JournalJournal of Low Power Electronics and Applications
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2022

Keywords

  • FPGA
  • RISC-V
  • computer architecture
  • microcontroller
  • undergraduate curriculum

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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