Part Orders
ECE Funding and Support
Each team in Design I and II (with no additional source of monetary support) will be allotted $1,000. For Senior Design I you may use up to $700 of your total budget and $300 in Senior Design II. Some teams already have another source of funding, and will not receive money from this donation, but the guidelines for the use of any funds are the same. These guidelines are designed to keep the bookkeeping tasks organized, and thereby ensure that you get the components you need for your designs.
Teams are urged to be as frugal as possible, both to make sure that the money lasts you throughout the semester, and to keep the cost of your design down. Don't think "we can afford a more expensive processor, board, etc." just because you won't be paying for it out of your own pocket. Major costs for Design I usually include prototype parts, while major costs for Design II usually include the production parts and PCBs (you might even want to include in your budget a second PCB revision). Also don't forget to consider the cost of any items you might need for testing your projects.
How to Order Parts
go to the ECE Intranet page or click the link: https://intranet.ece.msstate.edu/
Once there use your ECE Username and Password to login. If you have not know your username and password please contact the ECE help desk.
Once logged in, Under the senior design header click order form.
From here all you need to do is:
select your team name
Input your email address
add a description of the part
Input the quantity and the link to the part you wish to order.
Finally submit your order
Please Note that if you wish to submit multiple parts for one order please click the "Add Item" button. This will give you another line to input another part's information.
Purchasing policies
There should be only one point of contact for each team, so early on, appoint one team member to handle all parts requisition tasks. Also, please try to plan your orders with plenty of time for the items to get to you. You want to spend your budget on parts, not expedited shipping charges.
A senior design team can place order using the online form, available at: https://intranet.ece.msstate.edu/ , (after login, it will be under the header Senior Design, the Order Form).
The Department will place consolidated orders twice a week (Monday and Thursday). However, the teams are strongly advised to consolidate the parts per order and adhere to their team allocated budgets. All submitted orders will be final (unless parts are unavailable or out of stock
If parts are not received within a reasonable (3-4 days) amount of time, please send an email to: design@ece.msstate.edu with sufficient information to track the order.
Note: PCB orders won't be checked for design correctness, the ZIP file you provide will be forwarded to the PCB vendor, who will build exactly what is specified in the files. Double check your design before you order boards.
NOTE: If shipping on your item is MORE than 1/3 the cost of the item, then your order will be delayed until it can be combined with some other order. You need to work with the Senior Design TA to order from common vendors like Digi-Key, Jameco or Mouser in order to combine your small order with some other team’s order to form a larger order.
Electronic Component Suppliers
Digi-Key: Capacitors, resistors, diodes, discrete ICs, microcontrollers, and probably anything else you can think of. The only problem is that they tend to be expensive.
Mouser Electronics: another one-stop-shop for electronic components
Jameco Electronics: ICs and other components, lots of power supplies and cables
MPJA Online: large variety, cheap.
Electronix Express: large variety, cheap.
All Electronics: large variety, cheap.
Sparkfun Electronics: breakout boards and many others parts.
Crystal Fontz: best place to order LCDs of any type.
Box Enclosures: plastic boxes that are useful for final packaging.
You are forbidden to order from the following companies
Futurlec: Causes invoicing problems since they use Australian currency.
Aliexpress: unresponsive customer service; long shipping times; charges sales tax.
Printed Circuit Board Suppliers
Advanced Circuits: This company has student specials; either on multilayer boards, or no minimum quantity on 2 layer boards. This is where I will order your board by default.
PCBEX: I will use this site if you require some special board thickness or other feature.
PCB Fab Express: Inexpensive boards, requires a 5 piece minimum order
Surface Mount to DIP adapters
For simple packages like SOIC, Sparkfun has some good choices.
For more complex things like QFN, two choices are Schmartboard and E-PBoard. Schmartboard is easiest to use from soldering viewpoint, but does not match well to a breadboard (you will need to use wire jumpers to go to a breadboard). E-PBoard is better from a breadboard perspective as their adapters plug into a breadboard, but you will have to use the solder-reflow oven in the lab for to put down "tough" packages like QFNs (this has been done successfully in the past). If you need to do a QFN, talk with the senior design instructor first about the options before ordering an adapter.
Samples -- or -- FREE STUFF!!
When an engineer starts a new project and is thinking about using a new part, they don't order 5 pieces from DigiKey, they call up the vendor's representative and ask for some sample parts (and the engineer will hint that the rep should take them to lunch to discuss the new project). You may not get taken out to a free lunch, but check the manufacturer's website for information on getting sample parts. Manufacturers know that if you become familiar with their parts during school, you may use that part in one of your designs when you graduate.
If you're having trouble finding information about samples, the Southeast US representatives for most IC vendors are based out of Huntsville, AL or Raleigh, NC.
Order Checking： Students can check their team's orders on this website. The information includes tracking info, shipping address(in the invoice), your team's order history, your budget, and your spending. (the link will be updated soon)
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