Senior design project: undergraduate thesis

Engineering design has become a critical element of the undergraduate engineering curriculum. To become accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) requires that at least 24 credits of design content be included in the four-year undergraduate engineering curriculum. Senior design is the principal course in which students apply their knowledge in several disciplines to one project assignment and is a significant step towards meeting ABET requirements. Engineering experience acquired in the senior design course is a valuable aid to students as they learn how to apply theory to an actual design project. The senior design course develops project management and oral and written communication skills and enables students to learn scheduling, team coordination and cooperation, parts ordering, and cost/performance tradeoffs. Ten senior design projects that have won IEEE and SME student paper contests are presented herein as a guide in the difficult selection of suitable design topics. The unique nature of the senior design course requires certain departures from usual engineering course organization if students are to derive the maximum benefit. Senior design is nearly equivalent to an industrial internship and may be more valuable as the first step a student takes in making the transition to working engineer     

A Senior-Level Course in Hardware–Software Codesign

Modern electronic system design makes extensive use of programmable architectures, and requires designers to consider hardware and software jointly in their design. A senior-level course named Hardware/Software Codesign provides a practical introduction to these complex system design issues. The challenge is to bring a subject, which is traditionally covered as a graduate-level course, to senior undergraduate students without overly narrowing down the scope, and without turning the course into an ad-hoc design project. The course combines an incremental, structured overview of hardware/software codesign with practical assignments that emphasize key concepts. This paper reviews the motivations for this course, the curriculum, the lab materials and tools used, and the results of the first offering of the course in fall 2006.      

An engineering practices course

A so-called capstone design course at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) that maximizes engineering practices is described. The central design project is essentially used as a vehicle for the presentation and experience of engineering practices. To the extent possible, the students are afforded a real-life industry experience. They work in teams, select and propose their systems/projects, specify their systems, plan their projects in depth, design and test their systems, document and orally present their project, and demonstrate their systems. Where appropriate, practices lecture topics are synchronized with the project requirement, providing student preparation and reinforcement. Although the course is part of the Computer Science Engineering program (continuously ABET accredited since 1983), the format and most of the specifics can be applied to any engineering discipline     

Multiple Case Studies to Enhance Project-Based Learning in a Computer Architecture Course

The IEEE/Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Computing Curricula and the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) Evaluation Criteria 2000 emphasize the use of recurrent concepts and system design/evaluation through projects and case studies in the curriculum of Computer and Electrical Engineering. In addition, efficient teamwork, autonomy, and initiative are commonly required qualifications for a professional in this field. Project-based learning approaches that require the students to handle realistic case studies are adequate to pursue these objectives. However, these pedagogical approaches tend to be rejected because they promote deep learning but focus on a restricted set of concepts, whereas many engineering curricula require a broad range of concepts to be covered in each course. The introduction of multiple case studies carried out simultaneously in the same course by different teams of students can broaden the set of concepts studied, but collaboration at different levels must be strongly enforced to achieve effective learning. This paper describes a multiple-case-study project design that has been applied to a computer architecture course for four years. After systematically evaluating the experience, the authors conclude that students achieve a deep learning of the concepts required in their own case study, while they are able to generalize their knowledge to case studies of different characteristics from those considered during the course. Furthermore, a number of collaborative skills and attitudes are developed as a consequence of the proposed environment based on multiple levels of collaboration.     

RFID Student Educational Experiences at the UNT College of Engineering: A Sequential Approach to Creating a Project-Based RFID Course

This paper describes radio frequency identification (RFID) projects, designed and implemented by students in the College of Engineering at the University of North Texas, as part of their senior-design project requirement. The paper also describes an RFID-based project implemented at Rice Middle School in Plano, TX, which went on to win multiple prizes both at the school and regional level. The goal of the RFID endeavor is to develop an RFID elective course that is current, industry-oriented, and methodically built to enable faculty to design, develop, and deliver the course to a diverse group of engineering students. The sequence of events through which the course evolved was as follows: conduct an industry-supported workshop for students in the College of Engineering with funding received from the National Science Foundation (NSF);      

An undergraduate microcontroller systems laboratory

This paper discusses a course in microcontroller system design which was revised to facilitate improved student learning outcomes. The course aimed to develop design and technical skills, as well as communication and team management skills. A problem based learning (PBL) approach was taken, and the focus of the course was on the laboratory where the students worked on a major design project. Hardware was developed for the laboratory using the Motorola 68HC11 microcontroller which enabled the students to undertake a range of design activities. The students formed groups and were assigned a realistic design project to undertake over a semester. Evaluation of this course was obtained from students, staff and an external reviewer, and the results show that the revised course achieved its educational objectives     

Senior Design

Lecture topics can play an important role in the senior capstone design course. They allow instructors to present information needed by students to properly execute their projects and/or prepare them for their careers and can be used to supplement reading assignments or introduce new material not presented elsewhere in the course or biomedical engineering curriculum. To ensure that students are presented with the most accurate, up-to-date information, faculty or working engineers with expertise in specific knowledge areas can be asked to be guest speakers.     

A Digital Computer Engineering Laboratory

The course and laboratory discussed in this paper offer students an opportunity to gain realistic experience in the engineering of digital computers. The laboratory provides a sufficient number of logic elements to allow students to construct general purpose digital computers of modest design; only a few assemblies of fixed design are provided. The course progresses from work with basic combinational and sequential circuits through the design and testing of digital subsystems, to a project in which groups of students are challenged to specify, design, test, program, and demonstrate their digital computer. Two years of experience indicate that students are willing to enthusiastically expend a great deal of effort to meet this challenge.     

Teaching practical design of switch-mode power supplies

An effective course in switch-mode power supplies (SMPs) should ideally contain an element of hands-on design and experimental work in addition to the study of the theory and simulations. This element should complement the study of the theory of SMPs and simulation of their operation. However, this approach is extremely time consuming and expensive and can only be offered to a very few number of students. This paper details a course structure that is a compromise between a time-intensive and expensive practical approach and a purely theoretical simulation-based course. The proposed course structure reduces the costs and the staffing/space commitments while still maintaining a very strong emphasis on practical design and experimental work.     

Power Electronics Design Laboratory Exercise for Final-Year M.Sc. Students

This paper presents experiences and results from a project task in power electronics for students at Chalmers University of Technology, GÖteborg, Sweden, based on a flyback test board. The board is used in the course Power Electronic Devices and Applications. In the project task, the students design snubber circuits, improve the control of the output voltage, improve the gate drive of the main MOSFET transistor and study the influence of stray inductance. The project goals (the circuit improvements) are given, but the procedure for solving the problems and obtaining the results is not specified. Instead the students have to make their own specification in order to reach the goals. “Tools” that are given to the students are the hardware, measurement equipment, an example of the circuit in the circuit simulation software PSpice, and lastly lectures covering the material needed in order to attain the project goals. The project design builds on the ideas from the CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) initiative, where students are encouraged to consider the complete process structure. The result found was a substantial engagement by the students, who had both positive and negative reactions. The negative reactions were mainly that the project specification was too vague, in other words in the (C=Conceive)-phase of the CDIO structure. Further, the teachers observed increased learning, which also was noticeable for the students performing their M.Sc. thesis within the power electronics design area. Finally, it was found that a final written exam is definitely still needed to assess students adequately in the course.      

Undergraduate Instruction in Bipolar Integrated Circuit Design and Fabrication Using "Masterslice" Integrated Circuits

Few undergraduate students have the opportunity for actual laboratory experience fabricating solid-state devices. In this paper we describe the integrated circuit fabrication technique used in our undergraduate integrated electronic circuit design course which allows students to not only learn the theory of integrated circuit design but to actually implement their own designs as integrated circuits; all in a one-quarter three-credit course. Thus, valuable industrially relevant experience is obtained by these undergraduate students at a reasonably low cost to the department.     

Teaching Object-Oriented Programming Laboratory With Computer Game Programming

This paper reports the experiences in the design and execution of an object-oriented programming (OOP) laboratory course. In this course, the students are required to implement a small-to-medium scale interactive computer game in one semester, making use of a game framework. The students begin with a small number of the most tangible objects of an immediate concern. Then, as the semester unfolds and the game becomes increasingly sophisticated, OOP principles and design patterns are introduced as the means to cope with design complexity. The experience has indicated that framework-assisted, computer-game programming is a highly effective way to keep the learners engaged and facilitated in broadening and deepening their OOP skills. The ability to design nontrivial computer games that actually work has induced a consistently high level of sense of achievement among the students.     

Integrating a Nanologic Knowledge Module Into an Undergraduate Logic Design Course

This work discusses a knowledge module in an undergraduate logic design course for electrical engineering (EE) and computer science (CS) students, that introduces them to nanocomputing concepts. This knowledge module has a twofold objective. First, the module interests students in the fundamental logical behavior and functionality of the nanodevices of the future, which will motivate them to enroll in other elective courses related to nanotechnology, offered in most EE and CS departments. Second, this module can be used to let students analyze, synthesize, and apply their existing knowledge of the Karnaugh-map-based Boolean logic reduction scheme into a revolutionary design context with majority logic. Where many efforts focus on developing new courses on nanofabrication and even nanocomputing, this work is designed to augment the existing standard EE and CS courses by inserting knowledge modules on nanologic structures so as to stimulate student interest without creating a significant diversion from the course framework.      

Integrating the classroom and laboratory: an approach to capstonedesign

A two-quarter senior-level sequence in control systems is described. The first course covers classical control and is accompanied by a laboratory. A parallel activity is the planning of a capstone design project which students execute as part of the second course. The second course offers students new material on modern control theory plus a capstone design experience that includes implementation and testing of the design project in the laboratory. These capstone design projects provide the basis for new experiments for the laboratory that accompanies the first course     

Self-Paced and Error-Free Code Microprocessor Courses

This short note describes two courses that dealt with microprocessors in an electrical engineering curriculum. The first course, taught at the junior level at Notre Dame, was in logic design. Training students in error-free microprocessor realization of logic circuits was a major course objective. The course was unique in that the first half was that of a "standard" logic curriculum, while the second half was devoted to microprocessor realization of combinational and sequential logic circuits. This second half included material on the Intel 8080 microprocessor, structured programming, a high level programming language (PL/M) and the application of skills in these areas to create microprocessor logic circuits. The course was self-paced. It achieved its primary objective and received an enthusiastic response from the students. The second course, taught at a senior/graduate level at the University of Tulsa, was titled "Advanced Microprocessor Systems Design." Its objectives were to introduce students to the 16 bit Intel 8086 microprocessor and associated integrated circuits, to develop student skills in both an assembly language (ASM-86) and a high level language (PL/M-86), and to teach the students the concepts of top-down structured design. Each student designed a small microcomputer based on the 8086 and its associated integrated circuits. In both courses, students learned new microprocessor and programming skills quickly and efficiently. As hoped, use of disciplined techniques such as careful problem statement and structured programming led students in both courses to error-free microprocessor logic circuits.     

A Progressive Design Approach to Enhance Project-Based Learning in Applied Electronics Through an Optoelectronic Sensing Project

In this paper, a progressive design learning approach is proposed in the course of ldquoapplied electronicsrdquo to help students to develop system design skills through an optoelectronic sensing project. This project offers a progressive guideline to lead student teams to design, build, and troubleshoot their optoelectronic systems. Such a system contains a light-source current stabilizer, a photodiode amplifier, a microcontroller system (including input and output), and optomechanical devices. In this approach, students are motivated to learn the required knowledge and skills in a future professional capacity. Those skills include designing specification, realizing teamwork and communication, and developing a variety of optoelectronic sensing techniques. Through this project, an optoelectronic sensing system is established called a spatial radiance distribution measurement system for various light sources. In particular, this kind of system is useful and important for LED industries. The course evaluations have been obtained from classmates and instructors and these results indicate that the objectives of this course are achieved.     

FFT Spectrum Analyzer Project for Teaching Digital Signal Processing With FPGA Devices

This paper presents a course on digital signal processing with field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) devices. The course integrates two separate disciplines, digital signal processing (DSP) and very large scale integration (VLSI) design, and focuses on the development of a sophisticated DSP design from simulation to fixed-point implementation. The structure and methodology used in the proposed course are oriented to the design and implementation of an fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum analyzer. This application covers most topics included in a DSP course and gives better results that those obtained with typical courses performing independent multiple simple experiments. The project is divided into modules that show specific learning necessities and determine the course contents and organization. Each laboratory part is dedicated to design and implements the block of the analyzer related to the theoretical content presented in the class. At the end of the course the students have designed all the pieces in the DSP project and have completed and verified the system. The used methodology enables students and engineers to understand and develop complex fixed-point applications, looking for the best signal processing algorithms on hardware implementations, and also results in more motivated and active students.     

Teaching digital design to computing science students in a single academic term

How should digital design be taught to computing science students in a single one-semester course? This work advocates the use of state-of-the-art design tools and programmable devices and presents a series of laboratory exercises to help students learn digital logic. Each exercise introduces new concepts and produces the complete design of a stand-alone apparatus that is fun and interesting to use. These exercises lead to the most challenging capstone designs for a single-semester course of which the authors are aware. Fast progress is made possible by providing students with predesigned input/output modules. Student feedback demonstrates that the students approve of this methodology. An extensive set of slides, supporting teaching material, and laboratory exercises are freely available for downloading.     

An optical communication design laboratory

A senior-level design laboratory course is described, in which an optical fiber communication network is expanded or improved by successive generations of students. In this evolutionary approach, student teams base their work on the final written reports of students in previous course offerings. In addition to its primary goal of providing a high-level technical experience, the course requires multidisciplinary teamwork and provides incentive for the development of effective oral and written communication skills. Results of four offerings of the course are presented     

A spectrum analyzer laboratory project

A laboratory project in which the students build a simple DC1 MHz spectrum analyzer using only an oscilloscope, function generator, and a custom built-mixer/IF section is described. After assembling the spectrum analyzer, the students use it to explore the spectra of a number of different waveforms including amplitude- and frequency-modulated sine waves. The laboratory helps the students develop a feel for the meaning and significance of the mathematics they have learned relating the time- and frequency-domain representations of signals (i.e., the Fourier series, and Fourier and Laplace transforms). In addition, the laboratory introduces the students to mixing (i.e., heterodyning) and improves their understanding of their test equipment and its possible uses. The laboratory is suitable for use in a typical junior-level signals and systems course, a junior-level circuits course, a communication course, or a measurement course