Computer Engineering Courses

The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces new Gonzaga students to the University, the Core Curriculum, and Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission and heritage. While the seminars will be taught by faculty with expertise in particular disciplines, topics will be addressed in a way that illustrates approaches and methods of different academic disciplines. The seminar format of the course highlights the participatory character of university life, emphasizing that learning is an active, collegial process.

Number systems and codes, Boolean Algebra, Logic gates and flip-flops. Verilog HDL. Combinational and sequential Logic Design using CPLDs. Three lecture hours per week.

Three laboratory hours per week. Taken concurrently with CPEN 230.

Study of components of simple computer systems: CPU's memory, registers, busses, computer control, microprogramming, assembly language programming. Three lecture hours per week.

Three laboratory hours per week. Taken concurrently with CPEN 231.

Reviewing main programming concepts. Introducing network models, services and applications. Processes Communications. UDP and TCP Client/Server Sockets. Offered during Spring semesters.

The microcontroller as an engineering component. Hardware expansion with analog and digital devices. Board-level design of real-time systems. Design of user-friendly interactive displays. Design project. Troubleshooting with logic analyzers and in-circuit emulation. Three lecture hours per week.

Three laboratory hours per week. Taken concurrently with CPEN 342.

Modern methods of digital design realization. Technology independence. Designs utilizing gate arrays and custom integrated circuits. Use of high-level design software. Extensive use of Verilog hardware design language for system description, simulation, and implementation. Three lecture hours per week.

Three laboratory hours per week. Taken concurrently with CPEN 430.

Understanding the design techniques, machine structures, technology factors, evaluation methods that will determine the form of computers in 21st century. Three lecture hours per week.

Parallel Programming platforms; principles of parallel algorithm design; basic communication operations; programming using the message-passing paradigm (MPI); programming on shared address space platforms (POSIX Thread and OpenMP); cloud computing; big data analysis; and other advanced topics. On sufficient demand.

Investigation of the role of computers in the provision of medical services; machine learning algorithms for regression, classification, clustering, and anomaly detection; medical decision-making support; genomic medicine and its techniques. On sufficient demand.

Principles of real-time systems and robotics. Thread management and inter-thread communications. Semaphores and thread synchronization. Design and simulation of simple robotic systems. Cooperation, blocking semaphores, FIFO queues, and deadlocks. Thread sleeping and scheduling. File system management, solid-state drives (SSDs), Controller Area Network (CAN). Robotic control systems and fuzzy logic.

Introducing the principles of robotic sensor integration, mobility, real-time systems, line tracking, data acquisition systems, cognition: object detection and tracking, robotic wireless control, tachometers, and odometry. This course will be offered every spring semester

Courses of special interest may be offered from time to time. Prerequisites will depend on the nature of the material offered and will be announced.