DESL: Glossary

• Assembly Language: Programming language which an assembler can turn into machine code for a processor to read.
• CODEC: A device that converts digital signals to and from analog form, commonly used when processing audio.
• DE1-SoC: The blue board attached to every DESL board on every station in the DESL labs. This board contains many peripherals and an FPGA which is connected to all of them. For more information, see the DE1-SoC section.
• FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array. A regular network of logic that can be programmed and reprogrammed to implement any circuit (within its capacity).
• Interrupt: A signal that stops the execution of a running program so that another action can be performed.
• LEGO Controller: Is connected via a 40 pin ribbon cable to the General Purpose I/O port (GPIO) of the DE1-SoC board. The Lego motors and sensor signals are sent and received by the lego controller and sent to the DE1-SoC board.
• Machine Code: The binary code that the processor is able to read, created by an assembler.
• DESL: Digital Embedded Systems Lab. The 4 labs in the Bahen Center in rooms 3135, 3145, 3155, and 3165.
• DESL board: The black board sitting at ever station in the DESL labs. The boad consists of a power supply, a breadboard, a set of switches/LEDs (known as the Digital Protoboard), and the DE1-SoC board. Every DESL board has a unique bras plate with its identifying number.
• Nios II: The name of Altera's processor designed for implementation on FPGAs
• UART: Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter unit, provides keyboard and screen I/O services for the board (serially).
• USB: Universal Serial Bus, a more modern serial protocol for connecting devices to computers. Devices include mouse keyboard and USB stick.