The chart below identifies the classes you can enroll in if you pass an exam:

Exam	Course Options
441	553, 559 (Co-requisite), 562a, 568, 585, 595
450	532, 550, 555, 652
457	554, 557, 560
464	549*, 559, 562a, 565a, 568, 595
465	549*, 550, 555
477	552, 577
479	536a

* The prerequisite for 549 is 464 OR 465

The chart below identifies exam(s) you need to pass in order to take specific classes:

Class	Necessary Placement Exam
532	450
536a	479
549	464 or 465
550	450, 465
553	441
554	457
555	450, 465
557	457
559	441, 464
560	457
562a	441, 464
565a	464
568	441, 464
577	477
585	441
595	441, 464
652	450

All graduate students (transfer, new, continuing) must take placement exams or take the course in order to satisfy the prerequisite requirement. NO EXCEPTIONS.

D-Clearance for classes requiring a prerequisite will only be given after passing the placement exam OR passing the prerequisite course. 

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Date: Monday, May 19, 2008
Location: OHE 122

Placement exam registration will close at 12:00 am on May 12, 2008.  If you have not registered by the deadline, then you will not be permitted to  take the exam. 

You will be notified of the exam times no later than May 15, 2008.

 

 

 

Important for Fall 2008 Semester:  If you know now or think that you will not be able to take the placement exam on August 20, 2008 please begin prepairng for the May 19th Placement Exam. If you miss both exams you must either take the course or wait for the next placment exam date.  

Items to bring:
- USC I.D. (passport or Driver's license is sufficient)
- Pencil with an eraser (no sharing of erasers)
-NO CALCULATORS or SCRATCH PAPER ALLOWED (you will use the exam)

-You will be able to login to view your results within 3 business days after taking the exam.

**All exams are 50 minutes and will begin promptly at the designated start time**

Time Exam TBD 441 TBD      450 TBD   457 TBD   464 TBD   465 TBD   477 TBD   479

Click Here for Online Registration

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EE 441: Applied Linear Algebra for Engineering

Recommended Textbooks

• Linear Algebra with Applications by Gilbert Strang (3rd Edition) Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1988.

Brief Syllabus

• Vectors and Matrices, Gaussian elimination; LDU factorization,singular matrices; singularity & inverse
• Vector spaces; subspaces, all solutions to a general system, of linear equations, linear independence & dimension, rank
• Length, orthogonality, Schwarz inequality, least-squares approximation & projection, Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization & orthogonal matrices, sum and intersection of vector spaces
• Determinants
• Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, use in solving di.erence and di.erential equations, Hermitian and Unitary matrices

EE 450: Introduction to Computer Networks

Recommended Textbooks

• Computer Networks by Peterson
• Data & Computer Communication by Stallings
• Computer Networks by Tannenbaum

Brief Syllabus

• Communications networks and services, classifications of networks, performance measures such as Throughput and Delay. The public Internet and PSTN. Convergence of services. Networking topologies.
• Network layered architecture, protocols and interfaces. OSI model, TCP/IP model, two- and three-tier client-server models, peer-process communications
• Data communications: Analog and digital signaling, sampling theorem, data and signaling rates, modems, time division and statistical multiplexing, link capacity, transmission media, line coding.
• Link layer Procedures: Error detection and control, flow control, sliding window procedures. Examples of link protocols including PPP and HDLC.
• Local Area Networks: Ethernet, Token rings and wireless LANs. Media access control procedures, CSMA/CD, Token Passing and CSMA/CA. Shared vs. switched LANs. LAN hardware and software components. LAN performance analysis
• TCP/IP and the Internet: The Internet Protocol, packet format, IP addressing and subnetting, fragmentation and re-assembly, address resolution protocol, routing and forwarding tables, routing algorithms (RIP, OSPF and BGP), transport layer protocols, TCP and UDP, connection establishment, end-to-end flow and error control procedures, advertised windows, slow-start, long-fat networks, congestion control, port and socket addressing, etc…

EE457: Computer Systems Organization

Textbook

• Computer Organization & Design - The Hardware and Software Interface (2nd edition) by D. A. Patterson (Berkeley) and J. L. Hennessey (Stanford)

Brief Syllabus

• EE102L review: Basic digital system design -- Datapath unit design and Control unit design
• Basic concepts of assembly language, unsigned and signed numbers, Booth's multiplication and restoring and non-restoring division algorithms.
• CPU performance: relation between execution time of a program and the CPU specs (instruction count, clocks per instruction, and clock period).
• Compare and contrast CISC and RISC instruction sets, simple ALU design, CLA (carry look-ahead adder), CSA (carry save adder) and application to multiplication.
• CPU design: Single cycle CPU design, multi-cycle CPU design, pipelined CPU design including dependencies, hazard detection, stalling, forwarding, branching, flushing, branch penalty due to flushing, branch delay slots.
• Memory and cache organization: fully associative, direct, and set associative mappings, cache TAG RAMs, and cache DATA RAMs, interleaved main memory to facilitate fast block transfer between main memory.
• Virtual memory: page tables (single-level, multi-level), TLBs, introduction to multiprocessors, cache coherency (MESI protocol).

EE 464: Probability Theory for Engineers 

Recommended Textbooks

• Probability and Random Processes for Electrical Engineering, Second Edition, Addison-Wesley, 1994 by Leon-Garcia, A.

Brief Syllabus

• logic and sets, set algebras, probability axioms
• conditioning, independence, Bayes theorem
• combinatorics, binomial theorem, Poisson theorem
• random variables: set definition, densities and cumulative distributions
• expectations and moments of random variables
• covariance, correlation, uncertainty principles
• stochastic convergence: mean-square, almost sure, in probability and distribution
• laws of large numbers, conditional expectations.
• transformed densities, Gaussian random vectors.
• characteristic functions, central limit theorem.
• mean-square and maximum-likelihood estimation

EE 465: Probabilistic Methods in Computer Systems Modeling 

Recommended Textbooks

• Queueing Systems, Vol. 1 by Kleinrock
• Introduction to Probability Models by Ross
• A Course in Simulations by Ross

Brief Syllabus

• Probability models, joint and conditional probabilities, independent events, Bay's rule, permutations, combinatorics binomial coefficients, generating functions. Distribution and density functions, basic queueing theory.
• Queueing theory, analysis of several queuing models including M/M/1, M/M/c, M/M/c/c, M/D/1, etc…. Little's theorem, trunking theory including Erlang B and Erlang C models

EE 477: MOS VLSI Circuit Design

Recommended Textbooks

• Principles of CMOS VLSI Design by Weste and Eshroghian

Course description

• Analysis and design of digital MOS VLSI circuits including area, delay and power minimization. Laboratory assignments including design, layout, extraction, simulation and automatic synthesis.

Brief Syllabus

• Static characteristics: structure and (V-I) characteristics of MOSFETs, operation as a switch (including weak values), example CMOS and pass transistor circuits, static characteristics of CMOS and pseudo-nMOS inverters.
• Layout preliminaries: Introduction to semiconductor processing, layout, and design rules.
• Parasitics and performance: Estimation of parasitics from layout, analytical as well as empirical delay models for gates, wires, and pass transistors. Estimation of power dissipation.
• Design of complementary CMOS, pass-transistor and dynamic logic circuits.
• Design optimizations: Preferred gate types for various logic styles; buffer design for high fan-out, buffering long wires; transistor level optimizations --- body effect, charge sharing, diffusion capacitance minimization, and transistor sizing; custom layout optimization.
• Clocking; latch and flip-flop designs, clocking strategies.  

 

EE 479: Introduction to Integrated Circuit Design

Recommended Textbooks 

• Analysis & Design of Analog Integrated Circuits, P. Grey, R. Meyer, et al., 4th Ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2001.
• Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits, B. Razavi, McGraw Hill, 2001. 

Brief Syllabus (required material for the EE 536a placement exam) 

• Active devices principles of operation and modeling
  • Large signal and small signal models for MOS and BJT
• Single- and multi-stage transistor level amplifier design
  • Common source/emitter, common gate/base, source/emitter follower, cascode, etc.
• Differential circuits
  • Differential pairs, common-mode and differential-mode analysis, half circuit concept, etc.
• Current mirrors and active loads
• Biasing and voltage/current references
  • Voltage and temperature insensitive biasing, etc.
• Frequency response of amplifiers
  • Dominant pole, open circuit time constant analysis, short circuit time constant analysis, associating poles to nodes, etc.
• Noise in integrated circuits
  • Noise models in passive and active devices, circuit noise analysis, input referred noise sources, etc.
• Feedback
  • Basic concepts, circuit feedback models, etc.
• Frequency response and stability of feedback amplifiers

Note 1. In addition to the aforementioned syllabus, prospective EE 536a students are expected to have complete knowledge of EE 348L and EE 202 material. 

Note 2. Students who don’t pass the EE 479 placement exam, should enroll in EE 479. A minimum letter grade of “B” in EE 479 is required to allow for EE 536a registration without another placement exam. Students who pass EE 479 with a letter grade lower than “B” must pass the EE 479 placement exam as well.

 

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There are two dates for placement exams for the Spring semester: December 4th and January 3rd.  The times of the exams for December 4th will be announced when the registration period ends on November 17th.  Please register for the January exams by December 21st.  You may register for either date by clicking the link below.