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NetFPGASummer School 2017

Murali Ramanujam edited this page Jul 7, 2017 · 7 revisions

For a travel info see instructions below. Exact location is here.

The event will be held in room FW11 (first floor, west side of the building).

Dinner on Monday will be held at Sidney Sussex College, Old Library. Sidney Sussex College, Sidney St, Cambridge CB2 3HU

Travel

By Plane

The nearest and most convenient airport is London Stansted (STN), followed by London Luton (LTN), London City (LCY), and London Heathrow (LHR).

From Stansted Airport

  • By coach: Coaches run fairly regularly from Stansted to Cambridge. Visit the National Express website for details. The journey is approximately 60 minutes and you arrive at Parkside, by Parker's Piece. From here you will need either to take a taxi or walk to Drummer Street and catch a Citi 4 local bus from Bay D3.

  • By train (see National Rail Enquiries for more information): Trains run hourly between Stansted and Cambridge with a journey time of about 40 minutes. Enquire about buses or trains at the airport.

From Luton Airport

For information on how to get to and from Luton Airport by train, road or coach, visit the airport pages of the Luton Airport website.

From London City Airport

For information on how to get to and from London City Airport by train, road or coach, visit the airport pages of the London City Airport website.

From Heathrow Airport

  • By coach: There is a fairly frequent coach to Cambridge which leaves from Heathrow Central Bus Station; some coaches also call at Terminals 4 and 5. Enquire at the airport for stops and bus times, or check the National Express website. The journey is a little over two hours and you arrive at Parkside, by Parker's Piece. From here you will need either to take a taxi or walk to Drummer Street and catch a Citi 4 local bus from Bay D3.

  • By train (see National Rail Enquiries for more information):

Either: Take the Underground (Piccadilly Line) to King's Cross station (about 45 minutes) and take a train to Cambridge station.

OR: Take the Heathrow Express to Paddington (15 minutes) and then the Underground (Circle Line or Hammersmith & City Line) to King's Cross (another 15 minutes), and take a train to Cambridge station.

From Gatwick Airport

  • By coach: You are advised to go by train, as coaches between Gatwick and Cambridge can take up to 4 hours.

  • By train (see National Rail Enquiries for more information): Take the train from Gatwick to London St Pancras (formerly the Thameslink service, but now operated by First Capital Connect) and take a direct train from King's Cross to Cambridge (St Pancras and King's Cross stations are adjacent). Alternatively, you can take the Gatwick Express train to London Victoria station and take the Victoria Underground line to King's Cross station for a direct train to Cambridge.

Tip: Coming from north-western Europe, the Eurostar service to London St Pancras International followed by a train from King's Cross, which is adjacent, is often more convenient than flying.

By Train

Cambridge train station is located one mile south-east of the City Centre.

There is a frequent train service between Cambridge and London:

  • London King's Cross station (45 - 60 minutes journey)

  • London Liverpool Street station (60 - 90 minutes journey). The fast trains leave roughly every half hour between 6.00 am and midnight. For more information, visit the National Rail Enquiries website.

Getting from the station to the Computer Laboratory

Unfortunately, there is no direct bus from the railway station to the West Cambridge Site, and if this is your first trip, we recommend getting a taxi, i.e., PANTHER taxi 00441223715715.

However, should you want directions:

EITHER: Take any bus to the City Centre (nos. 1, 3, 7) from the station to St Andrew's Street. Then take a Citi 4 bus from Bay D3 in nearby Drummer Street. Bus runs every 20 minutes. For this option, a Dayrider ticket from the station will save you money and can be used on any Stagecoach service in Cambridge all day.

OR: Walk from the station up Station Road, then right and left into Bateman Street and thence to Trumpington Road (15 minute walk), and get the Universal bus from outside the Leys School. Bus runs every 20 minutes. Monday to Friday only.

By Taxi

There are few taxi companies in Cambridge, you can call, i.e., PANTHER taxi 00441223715715.

You might find it useful to have a copy of the surrounding area of the William Gates Building map with you for guidance.

By Coach

All national bus services currently stop in Parkside, by Parker's Piece. From here you will need either to take a taxi or walk to Drummer Street and catch a Citi 4 local bus from Bay D3.

Tip: If your bus (e.g., the X5 from Oxford, or coach from Stansted or Heathrow airport) stops at the Madingley Road Park and Ride Site, which is only 800m west of the Computer Laboratory, then getting off there is far faster and more convenient than going to the City Centre followed by the 3 km back out.

By Local Bus

There are two regular bus services from the City Centre to the William Gates Building, and a third to the nearby Park and Ride Site, 10 minutes' walk away:

  • Citi 4 The Citi 4 bus runs between Kings Hedges/Arbury Park and Cambourne, via the City Centre and the West Cambridge Site.

  • Universal The Universal bus runs between the Madingley Road Park and Ride Site and Addenbrooke's Hospital via the West Cambridge Site, the City Centre and the railway station.

The Universal and Citi 4 buses stop on the West Cambridge Site itself.

For Citi and Universal bus timetable details, visit the Stagecoach website.

  • Madingley Road Park and Ride

This Park and Ride service runs every 10 minutes between Newmarket Road and Madingley Road, via the City Centre. Make sure that you catch the bus travelling in the right direction, to Madingley Road. If in doubt, ask the bus driver. The bus stop in the City Centre is Stop D2 in Drummer Street. The bus terminates at the Madingley Road Park and Ride Site which is approximately 10 minutes' walk from the William Gates Building.

For further route and timetable information, visit the County Council website.

For more information about all three bus services, see the links from the Bus Services page maintained by the Estate Management and Building Service.

Anyone planning to make three or more journeys in a day on Stagecoach buses will find it cheaper to purchase a Dayrider ticket, which can be used on any Stagecoach route within the city.

On Foot or by Bike

The William Gates Building is 2 km (1.3 miles) west of the City Centre, along Madingley Road, towards the American Cemetery.

For a map of directions from the City Centre you can view the Googlemap Cycle and footpath route from City Centre to JJ Thomson Avenue.

From the City Centre:

  • Go west on Garret Hostel Lane
  • Cross Queen's Road into Burrell's Walk (past the University Library)
  • Cross Grange Road into Adams Road
  • Continue at the top onto the Coton cyclepath
  • Turn right into Clerk Maxwell Road
  • Turn left beside the Centre for Applied Photonics and Electronics to the William Gates Building.

The official university map should help you to trace this route. A map of the area surrounding the William Gates Building shows the final part of this route.

Tip: For routes from anywhere in Cambridge, consult the Cambridge Cycling Campaign online journey planner.

Accommodation

Cambridge is relatively small, all city centre hotels should be suitable. Additionally, Cambridge University colleges provide accommodation during the certain time of the year. The http://www.cambridgerooms.co.uk/ website could be useful for booking accommodation in one of the colleges.

There is a variety of Bed & Breakfasts, guesthouses & serviced apartments available in Cambridge. http://www.accommodation.cam.ac.uk/VisitingCambridge/Listings.aspx allows making enquiries directly from the website.

http://www.visitcambridge.org/accommodation allows booking of accommodation online as well.

Preparing for the Summer School

There are two information sources that may prove useful in your preparation for the summer school. The first is a online training system with two distinct parts. First is a gentle introduction to Verilog. If you are familiar with Verilog, you can proceed to the NetFPGA specific sections directly. Here is the url for the training system - https://www-netfpga.cl.cam.ac.uk Email us at ms2453 at cam.ac.uk to get an account created at this website.

The second is an introduction to P4. P4 is an open source, domain specific language to describe packet processing. It can be used to explicitly describe the data-plane of programmable packet processing devices such as CPUs, NPUs, FPGAs, and programmable ASICs. Please review the following slides for an introduction to the P4 programming language: http://p4.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/p4_d2_2017_p4_16_tutorial.pdf (Slides 27-66)

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