Project Guidelines

The project in this course is to do some research to advance the state of the art in computer architecture. Projects should be done in two-person teams. Talk to me if you want to work alone or in a different sized group.

The projects will be graded in the same way that I referee conference papers -- by what you discover in doing the project, how coherently you present your results, how well you put your work in perspective with other research. The goal to shoot for is a conference paper like those published at ASPLOS or ISCA. Since time is limited, however, that goal is hard to reach, and I will reward those that aim high even if they do not completely succeed. The key is ensuring that some aspects of your work are completely done; it is hard to grade a project where the simulator did not quite work.

In keeping with the quantitative nature of computer architecture, projects should be designed with a rigorous experimental focus. Build your project should around a falsifiable hypothesis. You should measure some aspect of a real system or simulate some architectural approach. For example, you could examine a modest extension to a paper in ASPLOS or ISCA or simply revalidate the result of some paper with your own simulator.

The bulk of the project will be organized around a project talk and paper like a traditional conference. In addition, there will be a few intermediate checkpoints to encourage you to get started early and to provide feedback.

Topic interests (Jan 27)

Turn in your name, e-mail address, and a list of 2 or 3 project areas in which you are most interested in working. I will create a list of what everyone in the class is interested in and distribute it. You can use this list to find other people who are interested in similar topics and with whom you might want to work with on the project. If you have already formed a team, your team can turn in a single topic interest list with both names on it.

Topic selection (Feb 5)

Turn in the names of the people in your group and the name of your project with a 1 paragraph description of the hypothesis you plan to test and the general approach you plan to take. To get the ball rolling, below is a list of possible topics. You should also look at recent ASPLOS, ISCA, IEEE Transactions on Computers, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, IEEE Computer, IEEE Micro, and Microprocessor Report for ideas. I also like topics that apply to your own research strengths to architecture. For example, if you are a database student, you could study the interaction between a database and an architecture.

Here are a few ideas to get you started

Project proposal (Feb 26)

Proposals should include (1) a crisp statement of the hypothesis that you will test, (2) a description of your topic, (3) a statement of why you think the topic is important, (4) a description of the methods you will use to evaluate your ideas, and (5) references to at least three papers you have obtained with a critique of their approaches as they relate to your work. Proposals should not exceed 2 pages in length.

Project checkpoint (April 9)

In 2 pages or less, summarize your progress. Describe any initial results. Describe any changes in your project's scope or direction now that you know more about the topic. List the major milestones you have completed and the milestones that you must complete to successfully finish your study.

Project presentations (May 3 - May 7)

We will divide up the last couple lectures into 20-minute-ish conference-style talks. We will probably have to schedule some additional class time to complete the talks. All group members should deliver part of the talk. The talk should give highlights of the final report, including the problem, motivation, results, conclusion, and possible future work. Time limits will be enforced to let everyone present. Please, practice your talk to make it better and see how long it is. Have a plan for what slides to skip if you get behind. I will provide more advice on the talks later in the semester.

Written report (May 12)

The written reports should follow the same outline you would follow for a conference paper, and they should be 20 or fewer pages in length (double-spaced; shorter if single-spaced). I'll give more suggestions and details later in the semester.