Facilites
Network Infrastructure
The Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department on the third floor of Science III is connected to the campus network over redundant gigabit fiber optic connections. All internal machines (faculty workstations, and lab computers) are connected to gigabit switches in the computer science department's server room. All critical servers are connected via a gigabit switch and protected by UPSs and housed in a secure machine room.
Servers
Laboratories and activites are administered in the traditional way using a remote environment over SSH and X11 forwarding. The deparment maintains mostly physical infrastructure. The primary server for the department has a variety of essential build tools, and a LAMP stack environment for web development. It has an Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2630 with 64GB of RAM and 14 TB of storage. A secondary server, also with a LAMP stack, is used for archival data purposes, DNS, and mail. It has an AMD Opteron Processor 8222 SE with 64 GB of RAM and 3 TB GB of storage. Both systems use Debian Linux. A wide range of compilers (C, C++, Fortran, Ada, Java, etc.) and the full suite of Unix programming development tools (debuggers, make, etc.) are available on both servers. Students taking 2000-level programming courses programming courses are instructed in the Unix environment on odin.
The department maintains only one remote-infrastructure server. It is an Amazon AWS EC2 a1 instance. It uses Amazon's proprietary ARM microprocessor architecture to facilitate labs in Computer Architecture courses using the ARM ISA. This enables authentic experiences with assembly-level development, our curriculum does not use a simulator.
Two servers are used for classes on database systems and senior projects. They have two 6 core 1.7GHz Opteron processors, 16GB RAM, and 500GB storage. The primary server hosts a LAMP stack. The secondary server hosts Oracle, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
There are three servers used variously for research and alternative protocol stacks for senior projects. The oldest server has an Intel Xeon E5-2630 microprocessor, 128GB of RAM and 2.4TB of storage. It has an Nvidia K6000 Quadro GPU with 12 GB of VRAM. For senior projects, this server offers an Nginx web server and node.js back-end to facilitate apps that may require GPU processing. It is also the department's MATLAB Distributed Computing server. A second server has an Intel Xeon CPU E5-2695 v4, 192 GB of RAM and a Nvidia Tesla K80 with 22 GB of VRAM. It too offers an alternative protocol stack with Nginx, MySQL and a Django/Python backend. The latest server to be purchased by the department has an Intel Xeon Silver 4210R, 192 GB of RAM and a Nvidia Tesla V100S with 32 GB of VRAM. It does not offer a web-stack and is used strictly for research purposes (local GPU-compute).
The CEE/CS server room also hosts some rack-mounted servers for other departments with the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering. Primarily, these are servers for mathematics faculty.
Robotics and Control Systems Lab
The Robotics and Advanced Hardware Lab, situated in SCI III Rm 312, is a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to research and study in the field of robotics. The lab houses an impressive collection of equipment, including 10 autonomous amigobots and one autonomous patrol robot. The red amigobots are equipped with sonar sensors for autonomous navigation, while the patrol bot possesses mapping capabilities that aid the amigobots. Moreover, the lab boasts a wide range of National Instruments equipment, including Dell Precision T5810 computers, the NI Elvis II+ platform with various plugin boards, and NI Quanser QNET 2.0 boards for different applications. Students can explore topics such as analog and computer-controlled systems, classical and modern system design methods, transfer function models, state space analysis, and frequency domain techniques. In addition, the lab features humanoid robots, mobile robot platforms, EEG interfaces, wind anemometers, and drones of various types. This comprehensive assortment of equipment provides students with a rich learning environment, allowing them to delve into advanced robotics concepts and instrumentation control using cutting-edge technology. For photos see this page. For videos, see this page.
Cybersecurity and Isolated Network Lab
Located in Sci III 314, the network security laboratory serves as a research facility focused on exploring various network security topics within an isolated network environment. Leveraging virtualization technology, this laboratory enables the modeling of extensive networks consisting of several hundred hosts. Students engage in diverse educational activities, including immersive "Capture the Flag" and "Red Team, Blue Team" contests, where they can test offensive and defensive network security techniques. The heart of the laboratory lies within the isolated network rack, securely situated behind a protective security cage. The rack houses essential equipment, such as redundant UPS units for power conditioning and backup, a Windows Server 2008 management server facilitating Windows-specific management tools, and a console unit providing KVM access to each server. The workhorse of the rack is the VMware vSphere server, boasting four 12-core CPUs, 256GB of RAM, and substantial internal RAID arrays totaling nearly 3TB of disk space for virtual machines. Additionally, a Debian Linux-based server handles critical network-related daemons, including DNS, DHCP, NTP, backup, and print services. Students have access to seven Mint Linux-based workstations, connected to the isolated network, where they can utilize VMware Workstation to create and manage their security-focused virtual machines. Despite being disconnected from the Internet for enhanced security, the laboratory provides a dedicated printer within the facility. This lab is managed by Dr. Melissa Danforth and more information can be found at this page.
Power Systems Lab
The lab, managed by Dr. Saeed Jafarzadeh at California State University Bakersfield (CSUB), is a hub for power systems research and coursework. It is furnished with five LabVolt/Festo Didactic electromechanical training systems and one home energy production training system, procured through grant funding, which simulate real-world power scenarios. These systems provide hands-on experience, featuring components and modules that enhance practical understanding of power systems. This lab enables research in renewable energy systems, micro-grid applications, smart-grid technologies, electric drives, and control systems.
Digital Communications and DSP Lab
This lab is managed by the ECE faculty. It is used for research in digital and wireless communications, as well as courses in communications and digital signal processing. It is equiped with signal generators and analyzers, NI Elvis II systems, scopes, function generators, and software defined radios. This lab is also used for engineering outreach for high school students during the summer.
Computer Perception Lab
This lab is managed by Dr. Albert Cruz. It is used for research and advanced coursework in AI, computer vision, and image processing. It is equipped with high-definition digital cameras and PCs.
XR Lab
The XR lab is managed by Dr. Nick Toothman. It is used for research in virtual, augmented, and cross-reality applications, computer graphics and animation, and human-computer interaction. The lab contains workstations with high-end GPUs to run XR applications and various XR devices, including Meta Quest and Quest 2, HTC Vive Elite XR, and Valve Index headsets.
VLSI/Circuits Lab
The VLSI/Circuits Lab has DELL PCs, NI Elvis II electronic bread boards, and Altera VHDL boards. This lab is used to teach digital circuitry, analog circuitry, and VHDL courses. It is also used to teach Introduction to Engineering activity sections.
State Farm Advanced Computing Lab
The equipment in this lab was purchased through a donation by State Farm. The advanced workstations are designed for state-of-the-art computational and graphical usage. The lab is optimized for graphics, with 30" flat panel monitors capable of a resolution of 2560x1600.
Unix Workstation Lab: Sci III 311
The lab in room 311 houses 35 Dell T5400 PCs running Linux. A Windows XP VMWare image is accessible via VMPlayer and is loaded with computer science specific software (MatLab, LabView, Simulink, OpenGL, and MSDN Software Engineering packages, SQL Server). All machines are optimized for graphics work, with 22" flat panel monitors. Room 311 is equipped with an overhead projector and projection screen for data, video, DVD, and VHS. This room is also optimized for Java platform development and is used for summer outreach in Java for local high school students.
PC Instruction Lab: Sci III 240
Room 240 is used for instruction and shared by computer science and mathematics. There are 35 Dell T3400s running native Linux and a VMWare image of Windows XP in this lab. All machines have 22" widescreen monitors. Room 240 is equipped with an overhead projector and projection screen for data, video and DVD.
Tutoring Center and Walk-In Lab: Sci III 324
Room 324 houses DELL 3400s. The software installed in the Unix Workstation Lab is also installed in this lab. Wireless access to the campus network from this lab is avaialable. Room 324 is open for walk-in CEE/CS students and also serves as the tutoring area for department courses. The department offers tutoring for students in 2000-level courses. Exact hours vary from term to term. For the current schedule see the posted tutoring schedule on the department web page.
Major Study Room and Library: Sci III 341
The major study lounge and library holds recent and current copies of computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering texts, magazines and journals. The library is also filled with a generous donation of computing books from the Linux Users Group of Davis (LUGoD).