The Computer Architecture Laboratory is equipped with a variety of hardware and software to support state-of-the-art teaching and research and development activities. The lab consists of a diverse range of networked personal computers, engineering workstations, and other laboratory equipment for use by the students and faculty. The hardware and software tools encompass different areas of Computer Engineering: General Purpose, Special Purpose, and Application Specific Computer Architectures including Uniprocessor, Parallel, Distributed, Data-Driven, Hybrid, Reconfigurable, and Dynamic Computer Architectures); Computer Aided Design; Specification and Verification of Digital System Models and Designs; Computer Performance Modeling and Evaluation; Co-Hardware and Software Development, Design, and Verification; Modeling, Design, Synthesis. Laboratory equipment and Computer Aided Design (CAD) software allows simulation, synthesis, and rapid system prototyping, testing, and evaluation of digital systems using the latest Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. The Lab hosts various hardware/software including:

1. Intel Windows-based PCs
2. Virtex-II PRO development system
3. ML310 Embedded Development Platforms
4. IP Cores from Xilinx
5. Xilinx Webpack
6. Xilinx Modelsim II
7. Xilinx ChipScope Pro
8. Xilinx System Generator
9. Matlab Core
10. SPIM and DLX
11. Dragon 12 Plus boards for Embedded System Design

The lab supports the following courses: computer architecture, advanced computer architecture, platform architectures and technologies, digital design with HDL, hardware testing and fault tolerance.

The circuits and digital labs provide an intuitive environment for designing and simulating digital and analog circuits. The labs feature state of the art equipment such as:

1. ntel Windows-based PCs
2. Agilent  DSO 6032A Oscilloscope-300 MHz
3. Agilent 3458A 8 ½ Digital Multimeter
4. Agilent 34410A 6 ½ Digital Multimeter
5. Agilent E3633A 0 – 8V/0 – 20V, 10A DC Power Supply
6. Agilent 80 MHz 3325OA Function/ Arbitrary Wave Generator
7. National Instruments bread board (test board)with prototyping board base
8. National Instruments USB 6251with 16 Inputs, 16- bits, 1.25 MS/s Multifunction I/O with Correlated Digital I/O fir USB
9. Breadboard with built in power source
10. ICs, Switches, LEDs, Wires and basic components of electrical circuits
11. Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGA board kit with ISE version 9.1
12. Xilinx Virtex II pro XC2VP30 with 30,816 logic cells
13. Altera Cyclone FPGA UP3 Education Kit-UP 3-2004
14. Altera Design Software Suit Version 5.1 –Quartus II
15. Max Loader Universal EPROM Programming Unit, TopMax II
16. Lab Volt Circuits Fundamental Board
17. National Instruments Lab View Software
18. MTS 8086 Microprocessor Trainer Board

The labs have been designed to give students and teachers a unique opportunity to conduct creative experiments in order to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical aspects of circuits design and simulation. These labs support the following courses: circuit fundamentals, digital design and computer organization, digital design with HDL and hardware testing and fault tolerance.

The lab will support the following courses: Digital Design and Computer Organizations, Platform Architecture, Embedded Systems Programming, Digital Design with HDL, Circuits Fundamentals

There are two VLSI/ASIC Design Labs hosted at the CIT providing hands-on education to CIT students with interest in integrated circuits design and validation. These labs will prepare students for the future developments of nano-electronics with several education and research benefits such as VLSI System Design, ASIC Design and Validation, Chip Design, Nano-circuit Design, Fault Diagnosis, BIST, Mixed-signal Design, Custom Layout, Back Annotation Techniques, CAD Algorithms for VLSI. These two labs host state of the art hardware/software including:

1. Fourteen Powerful SunUltra 45 Workstations with 24 inch high resolution LCD monitors. (10 at the women’s lab and 4 at the men’s lab)
2. Cadence EDA tools

The CIT hosts two network fundamental Labs. These labs are specifically designed to provide students with the needed hands on experience in designing, configuring, testing and troubleshooting Local and Wide Area Networks. Each Lab hosts various hardware devices such as:

1. Four 24-ports Cisco POE Catalyst 3560G switches
2. Six Cisco 2811 and two 3825 Integrated Service Routers with various interface cards including AON, Wireless, Gig Ethernet, 10/100 Ethernet, Serial, ISDN and FR.
3. Spirent hardware traffic generator analyzer portable unit, the Avalanche software
4. Intel Windows-based PCs
5. The Labs are designed with MK skirting and open two post frame racks with patch panels.
6. Crimping tools and Fluke UTP cable testing devices as well as ISDN/FR emulators are also included as part of the equipment hosted in each of these two labs.

This arrangement makes it optimal for students to practice fundamental networking concepts needed in today’s networking job market such as: Ethernet Switching, Routing Protocols (OSPF, RIP, IGRP), TCP/IP, VLANs, STP, ARP, ICMP, Network Performance etc. The Network Fundamental Labs are utilized to deliver two main courses: Communication and Network Fundamentals (ITBP 210) and Network Protocols (NEBP 310). In addition, these two labs are used for the delivery of training courses such as the CCNA Discovery and CCNA Exploration which are delivered as part of the Regional Cisco Academy Program hosted at the College of Information Technology.

The CIT hosts one Wireless Communication and Security Lab. This lab is designed to provide students with the needed hands on experience in designing, configuring, testing and troubleshooting wireless systems such as GSM, CDMA and WLAN. Each of these labs hosts various hardware and software from Cisco System, Juniper, Agilent Technologies, Air Magnet, Lab volts and Matlab. The labs host the following:

1. Four 24-ports Cisco POE Catalyst 3560G switches
2. Two Cisco ASA firewalls
3. Three Cisco 3845 integrated service routers with intrusion detection network module and various interface cards including AON, Gig Ethernet, and 10/100 Ethernet.
4. Four Indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi thin client Cisco Access Points
5. Two Cisco WLAN controllers
6. Two Lab Volts antenna training and measuring system and desktop PCs.
7. One Advanced Agilent Spectral Analyzers
8. One Juniper wireless firewalls
9. POE Cisco Switches
10. One Mote Classroom Kit
11. Intel Windows-based PCs.

This Lab is used in teaching the wireless and mobile communication (NEBP 441) course and for senior graduation projects in the information security track and the networking track. Faculty members also utilize this lab for research in the area of wireless communications/networking and wireless security.

The IP Telephony and Multimedia Communication Lab (IPTLab) is used for teaching and to provide a research and working environment for senior students and faculty. The IPT Lab allows students to do their senior projects in the area of IP telephony and multimedia where they can design, experiment and test voice over IP applications and voice-deployed networks. The IPT Lab will be used for teaching the NEBP 421: advanced network services course which is designed to introduce students to IP telephony and QoS IP networks. The IPT Lab hosts a variety of software and hardware devices from various vendors such as:  

1. Four 24-ports POE catalyst 3560G switches
2. Three Cisco 281 integrated service routers
3. SIP H323/SIP gateway
4. VOIP-aware firewall
5. Digital cameras and handsets
6. CISCO’s call manager & unity
7. Touchstone’s VOIP analyzers and call generators
8. Various development kits for the development of Hospitality applications such as VoiceXML
9. Intel Windows-based PCs

The IPT Lab provides support to faculty to carry out their research in the field of VoIP and multimedia communication. Projects that have been conducted in this lab by students and faculty include: Analysis of VOIP quality in WLAN environment; performance analysis of the effect of hand-over on voice quality in WLAN environment; Design and deployment of VOIP network in WLAN-based campus; and the performance analysis of the effect of security on VOIP applications over a WLAN.

The Drone Research Lab is designed to provide collaborative research environments to meet the increasing needs for developing UAV technologies to be integrated into civil and commercial applications.  The lab mainly facilitates interdisciplinary research projects with UAV requirements and student senior projects on UAV technologies.  The lab includes the following hardware and software:

1. Parrot AR.Drone 2
2. Parrot Bebop Drone
3. 3DR Iris Drone
4. DJI F550 Drone
5. APM Mission Planner
6. MAVLink QGroundControl
7. PaparazziUAV Autopilot
8. 3D SmartTV Projection System
9. Google ChromeCast + Android EZCast + Apple TV
10. Raspberry Pi B+ and Raspberry Pi 2