ECE/RS-493: SENIOR ADVANCED DESIGN PROJECT
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Volgenau School of Engineering
George Mason University
1. The purpose of ECE/RS-492/3 courses is to provide you with the experience of conceiving,
designing, and implementing a hardware project or hardware-related software project, considering
all aspects of an engineering project, non-technical as well as technical, and of presenting your
results in both oral and written form. The project may consist of either design and construction of
hardware or the production of software that has basic engineering significance.
2. Prerequisites: Completion of ECE492, and completion or concurrent enrollment in all required
General Education courses.
3. ECE/RS-493 is designated as Research and Scholarship (RS) intensive course, which means that
students are given the opportunity to actively participate in the process of scholarship and will make
a significant contribution to the creation of a disciplinary-appropriate product. The RS outcomes for
this course are:
a) Identify/formulate a problem
b) Develop an engineering solution to the problem
c) Design a system/component/process
d) Apply engineering and scientific principles
e) Organize a team effectively, define and execute a plan
f) Build a system/component using engineering practice
g) Test and evaluate the design/system/component
h) Recognize interdisciplinary aspects
i) Present the project and results to wide audience
4. The ECE/RS-493 class has one kick-off meeting and several subsequently scheduled meetings
throughout the semester (see “Schedule and Due Dates”). All scheduled meetings are mandatory.
5. For each team, one of the students will act as a Project Manager and carry administrative duties
including contacting the Course Coordinator. Engineering employers do consider teaming
experiences vital. All team members must have some familiarity with all technical aspects of the
project.
6. ECE/RS-493 students must turn in the form with the title of their project, and the name and
signature of the faculty member supervising the project to the Course Coordinator and the Faculty
Supervisor. Submission should be in accordance with the attached schedule. Students not turning in
the form by the deadline (or not making other arrangements with the Course Coordinator) may be
penalized when the final grade is determined.
7. All students are required to meet every week as a team and periodically with their Faculty
Supervisor and Course Coordinator throughout the semester. While the attached schedule must be
adhered to, it is a minimum and individual faculty members may require additional contact/efforts
from their students.
8. Team evaluation forms are due twice a semester. Each form must be completed individually.
This is not a “group’ or “consensus” evaluation.
9. ECE/RS-493 class activities will be monitored through Progress Reports. First report has to be
written in a narrative form and contain the following sections:
Progress Report (maximum 7 pages)
1. Cover page with the report number.
2. Technical Section:
Description of progress for each task/subtask undertaken in the reporting period. Include
sample designs/results achieved in the reporting period.
3. Administrative Section:
a. Progress summary table – list of all tasks and subtasks in a table format with
graphical (bar) and numerical (percentages) progression indicators. Mark
milestones on the table as well. (See “Sample Progress Report Table.”)
b. Funds spent (out-of-pocket, in-kind, etc).
c. Man-hours already spent.
4. Plans for the next period.
5. Problems/surprises you encountered including answer to the following questions:
a. Is the project on schedule?
b. Are there any problem areas causing project delays, etc.?
c. Plan to deal with problems/delays.
The second report is a set of presentation slides for the In-Progress Review oral presentation and
follow up discussion.
10. Each team must complete an In-Progress Presentation and Review meeting (with oral
presentation and follow-up discussion) with their Faculty Supervisor and one or more other faculty
members, not later than the 10th week of the semester. In-Progress Review slides must be submitted
accordingly as a Progress Report #2. They must include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Short introduction to the project, Level-1+2 architecture, system models, etc.
Task-by-task discussion of the progress
Summary of achievements in comparison to the original schedule
Demo(s) of system integration effort, implemented modules, etc.
Test plan and timeliness
Funds spent and man-hours worked
Conclusions - in relation to the final presentation in Week#14
11. On the scheduled presentation date each ECE/RS-493 student will make an oral presentation on
the project to the entire Senior Design Project class, all Project Team Faculty Sponsors and to any
guests. The presentation is open to all students, faculty and industry representatives who desire to
attend. It is expected that you will be able to extract the important elements of your work such that it
can be presented in 15-20 minutes. Students must make contact with their Faculty Supervisor two
weeks before the tentatively scheduled presentation date to discuss final details of the presentation.
Computer based presentation materials and visual aids must be of high presentation quality (created
using presentation software). Students will be appropriately attired for this formal presentation or
they will not be allowed to complete their presentation. All students must come on time and be in
attendance for all presentations.
12. The final written report for ECE/RS-493 is due on the Oral Presentation date unless other
arrangements have been made (see the distribution list). Demonstrations of the projects will be
made to the faculty supervising the project at a time specified by the faculty member.
Demonstrations of the project to the other students and faculty following the presentations is
encouraged. Be proud of your work! The Document Tracking Form is due to the Course
Coordinator at the same time that the Final Report is submitted. Second copy of the final written
report must be provided to the Associate Chair at this time as well. Delivery must be made in the
form of a single envelope containing all required documents. Subsequent delivery of missing
documents will not be accepted.
13. ECE/RS-493 students will summarize their project in a form of a poster. This Project Poster CD
must be delivered to the Course Coordinator in the 15th week.
14. Project issues that must be addressed during the Project and documented in the ECE/RS-492
Design Document and ECE/RS-493 Final Project Report:
a. Reason for the project. Who would benefit, how would they benefit and what would the
benefit be? What could be the impact of success? Engineers solve problems to the benefit of
humanity.
b. Potential use of the project. Could the project lead to a marketable product, service or
function? Who might the users or purchasers of this product/service/function be? Would the
product/service/function serve only local needs or could it be applicable on a wider,
potentially global, range of users?
c. Cost figures for the project. Include parts, rough assembly/coding time/costs, student time
spent on design and implementation of the project, and (based on the student time spent)
estimated cost of design and this first prototype.
d. Alternatives to the implemented design that could impact costs and effects on resources use
and the environment and community. Alternatives to the chosen design solution.
e. Maintainability/maintenance of the final design solution. (Note, software must be
maintained as well as hardware.)
f. Retirement, replacement, or disposal of the project at the end of its “lifetime”, i.e.
environmental disposal of parts such as batteries, recyclability of parts at time of disposal,
documentation needed to allow a replacement or upgrade to be designed.
g. The Final Report must include the ECE492 Proposal as an Appendix A, and Design
Document as an Appendix B.
Lack of clear and complete discussion of these aspects will result in a grade penalty.
References, personal communications, web based sources, etc should be properly cited.
15. The ECE492/493 sequence fulfills the George Mason General Education "Synthesis" course
requirement in the electrical engineering, computer engineering and bioengineering majors. The
Goal of the Synthesis course is that:
“Students will engage in the connection of meaning and the synthesis of knowledge. Synthesis
courses may link issues in the student's major to wider intellectual and community concerns.
This course may be a capstone course in the major. This component also requires students to
demonstrate advanced skills in oral and written presentation. This demonstration will build not
only on the communication and synthesis experience of the third year but also on the recurrent
attention to these skills in the whole General Education program from the foundation courses
onward.”
ECE492/493 satisfies this requirement through the several "non_technical" aspects of the project
required in the previous paragraphs. It is the student's responsibility to address these issues fully.
Failure to satisfy this aspect of the project may result in the student not being approved to graduate.
16. The ECE492/493 sequence fulfills the Writing_Intensive requirement in the electrical
engineering and computer engineering majors. It does so through the periodic activity reports, the
ECE492 Design Document and the ECE/RS493 Final Report. The Project Plan and Final Report will
be completed through a draft/feedback/revision process. Make sure you submit appropriate draft
document early enough that your Faculty Supervisor has time to review and provide comments back
to you. Failure to satisfy this aspect of the project may result in the student not being approved to
graduate. The due dates for the periodic activity reports, the Project Plan and the Final Report are
shown in the Due Date Schedule for ECE/RS493 Documentation. The "flow" of project documents
to your Faculty Supervisor and resultant feedback is tracked. It is the student's responsibility to meet
the scheduled deadlines, to obtain all appropriate signatures, and to deliver the signature sheet.
17. Faculty supervising each project will propose a grade for a project and individual team
members. A feedback from the Final Presentation will provide an important base for the project
grade. The Course Coordinator may also be involved in decisions on grades. However, the final
grade is issued by the ECE Department. Each group member will be graded according to his/her
contribution to the design and implementation of the project. Not meeting specified deadlines and
required submissions or delivering documents in poor quality will adversely affect the final grades of
all team members. The best projects will qualify for an extra grade upside adjustment.
Project Title Form
ECE/RS-493 SENIOR ADVANCED DESIGN PROJECT
This form must be completed and returned to the Course Coordinator by 5:00 p.m. on Friday of the
second week of the semester. (See “Schedule and Due Dates”.) The faculty member supervising
this project must sign this form before it is turned in.
Email will be used to contact you during this course. You must check it regularly. If you do not
respond to an email request related to ECE/RS-493, the entire project team will be "adversely
rewarded" when the final grade is determined.
TYPE carefully and clearly (particularly email addresses), all information requested below. Use
only GMU email addresses.
STUDENT NAME(s):
email address
email address
email address
email address
TITLE OF PROJECT:
Faculty Supervisor Name:
Faculty Signature:
Date:
COVER PAGE FORMAT
ECE/RS-493
FINAL REPORT
TITLE OF PROJECT
ABSTRACT/
SUMMARY
( ~1/2 page)
Date of Submission:
Faculty Supervisor:
Team Members:
ECE/RS-493 In-Progress Review Evaluation
Please bring this form to your presentation, ask at least two ECE faculty to attend and submit this form to
the Course Coordinator.
Project Title: ____________________________________________________
Date:
__________
Team members: ____________________________
_____________________________
____________________________
_____________________________
1 = Strongly Disagree
2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 =Strongly Agree
1. Presentation was clear and technically explained the project well.
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
2
3
4
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
6. The team demonstrated problem solving and organizational skills (Project run
smoothly. Encountered problems approached promptly and resolved adequately) 1
2
3
4
7. All team members demonstrated deep understanding of their project. All
questions and concerns were answered/addressed adequately.
1
2
3
4
8. The load is equally distributed across all team members (i.e., every member
contributes substantially to the success of the project)
1
2
3
4
9. This project is on schedule. The project has a high probability of success.
(No significant delays impairing the implementation and testing)
1
2
3
4
2. Presentation was well done in a non-technical sense (i.e., appropriate visual
aids, easy to follow organization, voice clear and loud enough, no distracting
mannerisms.)
3. The implementation effort is carried out professionally, using engineering
tools and practice (Use of simulations, modeling, proper bread-/vector-boarding, 1
instrumentation, and other tools. No ad hoc, trial&error activities.)
4. Testing plan was presented and discussed (Adequate testing plan in place to
demonstrate system compliance with requirements – a plan to show the success of 1
the project)
5. This presentation included a demo (real-time demo, a video recording etc.)
CERTIFICATION:
Team is promoted to the final presentation
(please mark one)
Team is NOT promoted to the final presentation and needs to give
another In-Progress Review by ____________ (no later than Week#12)
Comments:
Faculty Reviewer: ____________________________________________
ECE/RS-493 Weekly Task Allocation/Delivery
This form must be completed by the PM during each team meeting. Filled forms must be kept by the PM
and submitted to the FS/CC upon request.
Project Title:
_____________________________________________ Meeting Date:
__________
Team members present: _______________________________________________________________
Team members absent: _______________________________________________________________
Task progress report for the last week effort:
Line#
Task description
Team member
assigned
Progress
0%-100%
Delivery proof
Task allocation for the next week:
Line#
Task description
Team member
assigned
PM name: _____________________
___________
Date
Student Name
Senior Design Project Team Evaluation
ECE/RS-493
This should be done individually. It’s an honor code violation to have any team orders,
arrangements/guidance regarding individual evaluations.
Project Title:
Please list each team member (yourself included) and indicate to what extent each member
contributed (as a team member) to the progress/success/completion of the project. You have to use
approximate percent (should add up to 100%) to express their contribution.
Team Member
Comments:
Contribution in %
Specific Contributions
Document Tracking Form
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ECE/RS-493 Senior Advanced Design Project
Student Name(s):
Project Title:
Faculty Supervisor:
1. Week 5: Progress Report #1 delivery.
Faculty Signature
Date
Faculty Signature
Date
Faculty Signature
Date
Progress Report#1 returned to students.
2. Week 10: In-Progress Oral Presentation
and Review. Progress Report #2 delivery.
Second Faculty Member Signature
3. Week 12: Draft Final Report delivery.
Faculty Signature
Date
Faculty Signature
Date
Draft Final Report returned to student(s).
4. Week 14: Final Report delivery. Cover
Page with Abstract to appropriate faculty.
No need for signature
5. Week 15: Project Poster CD delivery.
No need for signature