Senior Design I Syllabus (Fall 2017)

Description

The goal of our two semester sequence is to provide you with a realistic design experience, and teach you the tools and methodologies that can help you be successful. Demonstration of a fully functional prototype is required. Receiving a passing grade is not a guarantee that you will be allowed to proceed to Senior Design II. You must first demonstrate a fully functional prototype to your advisor and the course instructor. In the event that your prototype doesn't work at the end of the semester, you should plan on making up the work over the semester break. Without this approval, you will not be allowed to enroll in the second semester of this course.

In order that each team member be motivated to participate fully in the team, teams are allowed to vote members out of the group at the end of semester. For the member voted out, this might mean you have to retake this course, so you need to work to avoid this at all costs. Communication between team members and the project advisor about expectations and performance is essential. Far too often, students voted out complain that no one in the group appreciated how much work they really did.

To be considered for a passing grade in this portion of the class, your design review must convince the committee this project is ready for the fabrication stage (the following course in the two-course sequence). You also must convince the committee that you have done a sufficient amount of simulation and prototyping of your system, and that all critical design questions have been answered.

Demonstration of a fully working prototype by the end of the semester is the most critical piece of this course. Hence, a major portion of your grade is based on a binary decision about your prototype. The course instruction team and the project advisor will be involved in this decision. You cannot pass the course without completing this component of the course.

The design document is a comprehensive description of the entire project including: requirements, test specification, design, and test certification. It presents both simulation data and hardware measurements (for the packaged version of the hardware!), demonstrating that your design has met its goals. This document should address most of the points listed on the cover page of the course web site. Templates for this document are available on-line. The writing component of the design document will be coordinated with GE 3513, Technical Writing.

The mid-semester design review is a checkpoint that reports on project progress to this point in the semester. At this presentation, any deficiencies that are documented must be rectified in your final design review. At this stage of the course, you will be expected to show solid design constraints, a preliminary design, and a comprehensive implementation plan.

The final design review must address all design deficiencies noted in your mid-semester review, and review all aspects of the project (with technical details supporting your claims). This will be a 15-minute presentation. At the time of the design review, a project web site must be available containing all information about the project, including the documents described above and the design review presentation.

Concurrent with the design review, we will host a conference-style prototype hardware demonstration. This will be set up in a room adjacent to the presentations, and consist of a conference booth type format where each team is allocated a table at which they will demonstrate their hardware. Each team will be responsible for constructing a poster providing an overview of the project. Faculty, student, and industrial representatives will visit each project and provide a detailed evaluation of the hardware. This portion of the final design review will last about two hours and run concurrently with the design presentations.

Another significant component of your grade is derived from your advisor's evaluation of the team, peer review, and team self-assessment. Remember a prime directive: "Keep your advisor happy." The rationale your advisor uses to arrive at your grade is at his or her discretion. Be sure to communicate with your advisor to fully understand his or her expectations. Also, your exchanges with fellow team members should involve good listening skills, the distribution of the responsibility and, most important, follow through. Good teamwork requires care, skill, and effort.

The project web site will be graded according to its comprehensiveness and professional appearance. A good site will contain a complete archive of the project, including all documents, presentations, data sheets, schematics, source code, data, measurements, etc. It will use colors, fonts, and web features in tasteful and meaningful ways to advance your ideas and product in a manner that is reasonably compatible with existing sites within the market. Human factors such as legibility and ease of navigation are important. WARNING: If your website does not contain your complete design data (datasheets, schematics, PCBs, code, etc.) then it will be assigned a maximum of 1 point out of 5 possible points.

Your course grade will be computed using the categories and weights described above. Final grades can be adjusted by plus or minus 10% based on feedback collected from a peer review or self-assessment process. Ideally, all team members contribute equally and, as a result, the team achieves their grade goals. Occasionally, peer review reveals that contributions are markedly uneven, despite all efforts to address the project as a team. As a part of self-assessment process, team members will submit a written evaluation of their fellow team members. All claims of mutiny, insurgency, poor performance, etc., must be documented in sufficient detail to be given consideration.

We will attend some entrepreneurship lectures this semester in coordination with GE 3011; attendance at these is worth 5% of your grade. Developing an appreciation of those issues discussed in the entrepreneurship series offers the opportunity to distinguish yourself from other job applicants. The entrepreneurship lectures are one means by which we encourage you to start thinking about important non-technical aspects of your career.

Schedule

Please note that the dates below are fixed since they have been arranged to optimize a number of constraints. You need to adjust your schedules, including job interviews and site visits, accordingly.