Vertical integration of system-on-chip concepts in the digital design curriculum

The rapid evolution of System-on-Chip (SoC) challenges academic curricula to keep pace in instilling multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary system thinking. This paper presents such a curricular prototype that cuts across artificial course boundaries and provides a meaningful exploration of diverse facets of SoC design. More specifically, a series of experimental contents towards a digital flow SoC product design — a simplified transmission control protocol (TCP) stack are systematically developed and implemented at all levels of the Rowan Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) curriculum. The detailed project and its laboratory modules of progressive complexity are discussed. Its implementation in the existing ECE curriculum is also presented.

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