Imagination has announced a complete course on RISC-V computer architecture for undergraduate teaching as part of its Imagination University Programme (IUP).

Imagination HQ

“RVfpga: Understanding Computer Architecture” includes teaching materials and practical exercises to help students understand the key elements of processor architecture, including IP cores, modifying a RISC-V core and their microarchitectures.

Professor David Patterson, who shares the ACM A.M. Turing Award with John Hennessy for contributions to RISC, says; “RISC-V is transforming processor design and software/hardware co-design. RISC-V is an open architecture, which enables open-source hardware implementations. This new option means that software development can occur alongside hardware development, accelerating the design path. The RVfpga course enhances the understanding of not only RISC-V processors but also the RISC-V ecosystem and RISC-V SoCs. This course provides a deep understanding of an industrial-strength processor architecture and system of increasing popularity, which will prove useful to students throughout their academic and industry careers.”

The course is created in association with Professor Sarah Harris, co-author of the  “Digital Design & Computer Architecture” textbook which includes an instructor’s guide, a student manual, 10 comprehensive Labs (hands-on experiments), test materials, sample exam questions, and all the associated IP and software.

“RISC-V improves on previous processor generations in every conceivable way, from power consumption to performance and even increased security,” says Harris, “as another huge step forward in computer architecture it is important for students to understand RISC-V at a fundamental level.”
Dates:

• 3rd September 2020, 2.55pm PDT – Associate Professors Sarah Harris and Daniel Chaver will be giving a presentation about the course at the RISC-V Global Forum
• 8th October 2020 – The IUP will be hosting a webinar on the course, click here to register
• November 2020 – Release of the complete course in English, to be followed by Chinese, Spanish and Japanese