EE Capstone Design: ECE490 (Fall) and ECE491 (Winter)
Lecture X01 (Embedded) – Academic Year: 2016-2017
The University policy regarding course outlines can be found in §23.4(2) of the University Calendar.
Coordinator:
Loren Wyard-Scott, P.Eng. (wyard@ece.ualberta.ca)
Office:
ICE-390, 780-492-7355, Hours TBD
Meeting Space:
ECERF W6-085, 780-492-5833
Course Technicians:
Steve Drake (sdrake@ualberta.ca)
Alan Lim (alanl@ualberta.ca)
Albert Terheide (terheide@ualberta.ca)
Laboratory GTAs:
Stuart Barth (sbarth@ualberta.ca)
Mohammad Maadi (maadi@ualberta.ca)
Fatemeh Mohamadi Monavar (mohamadi@ualberta.ca)
Hao Tian (htian2@ualberta.ca)
Marker GTAs:
Yuan Liu (yuan17@ualberta.ca)
Yu (Wendy) Wan (ywan5@ualberta.ca)
ECE 490
Lecture X01: ETLC E1-017, Tuesdays 17:00 – 17:50
Lab:
ETLC E3-001, M (X11), T (X21), W (X31), R (X41) 14:00-16:50
ECE 491
Lecture X50: ETLC E1-003, Tuesdays 17:00 – 17:50
Lab:
ETLC E3-001, M (X11), T(X21), W(X31), R (TBD) 14:00-16:50
Enrollment in ECE491 Lec X50 requires enrollment in ECE490 and vice versa.
Further information may be found on the course web page, currently located at:
www.ece.ualberta.ca/~ee401
Plans exist for this page to be moved: you will be kept informed.
Recording of Lectures
Recording is permitted only with the prior written consent of the professor or if recording is part of an
approved accommodation plan.
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Academic Honesty
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty.
Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the
policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with
the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (available online at at
http://www.governance.ualberta.ca) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in
suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence.
Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
Further, as students in a professional degree program, you are bound by the code of ethics established
by the governing body, in this case APEGGA. This code of ethics can be found at
www.apega.ca/assets/PDFs/ethical-practice.pdf.
The Capstone Design Courses are potentially volatile ground for what may be considered plagiarism.
Since a healthy design process involves an extensive literature and product review, it is important to
ensure that you appropriately attribute all sources of knowledge that is not considered common. These
attributions are to be in an IEEE form, described elsewhere, and must be included even in draft work:
since attribution is so important, it should be included even during the first stages of drafting
documents. Submitting unattributed (or otherwise plagiarized) work to your group is unacceptable
and is considered an infraction under the Code of Student Behaviour. Be aware that work submitted by
a group is attributable to the entire group, and if plagiarism is suspected, all group members are held to
account.
According to University and Faculty Policy, if instructional staff suspect plagiarism has occurred, they
are required to report the suspicion to the Dean's office.
Additional Information
In order to reduce the length of this primary document, further information is held in other documents,
available from the course web page.
Document Policies, Procedures, and Standards describes:
1. Standards for Citations, References and Sources
2. Policies for Late or Missed Work
3. Policy for Readdressing Marked Items
4. Policy for Email Communications
5. Standard for Resolution of Group Issues
6. Policy for Group Membership Changes
Please refer to this document to review at least the first item which is relevant to all written work.
Document Organization of Course Personnel contains a description of the roles of the individuals
(other than you) involved in your project.
Document Projects and Groups discusses, describes the nature of projects, the formation of groups,
intellectual property, and a description of some the permissions you may have requested of you.
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Text
There is no text for these courses due to the varied nature of the projects. The course website, however,
is referred to in the lectures and is a reasonable starting-point for many tasks. Further, the library has
several books that cover general Engineering Design approaches.
Design Records: Lab Books
A hard-covered lab notebook with non-perforated pages is required for you to keep design notes,
meeting minutes, and an overall record of your project activities. Lab book entries are to be written in
pen on numbered pages (numbering the pages yourself in pen is acceptable). Leave no pages blank
when recording information in sequence. Using a lab book that has material from other courses is
acceptable, as long as the Design Course receives a dedicated section wherein all the information is
kept together. (Please be aware that you will possibly be without your lab books for approximately 2
weeks toward the end of the academic terms.) Each member of a group should have their own lab
book.
Lab books form an important medium for the recording of design decisions, meeting minutes, and
research. Although these notes are primarily for your use, they can be used as part of legal
proceedings, and so should be kept well-organized and maintained. Lengthy discussions are welcome
in the Lab Books, where some other submissions emphasize conciseness.
Course Grades
As of September, 2003, the University of Alberta uses a (4-point) letter-grading scheme. Grades for
both ECE 490 and ECE 491 are assigned under this system and are awarded based upon a combination
of absolute achievement and relative performance in class.
Documentation
Projects are marked primarily on execution and documentation of the various steps involved. Through
documentation the details of planning and implementation will be apparent and is therefore a critical
component of these projects. If a project fails to attain its objectives, but was planned, implemented,
and documented well, it could be deemed a success - progress will have been made. Conversely, a
project that meets objectives but is not well planned, implemented or documented could be deemed a
failure. Please refer to the mark allocation and grading schemes for the specific courses for more
information.
Ensure that your reports are readable and make sense to others.
Please make reports concise. Marks will be reduced for reports over the specified lengths. Conciseness
is a skill that is well-received in industry.
Overall Capstone Course Description
These two courses (ECE 490 and ECE 491) form the Capstone Design Project for Electrical Engineers.
Students are required to take these two courses in consecutive Fall/Winter terms in one academic year.
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The primary purpose of these courses is for you to learn and apply a structured engineering design
process, including project administration involving resource (time, budget, etc.) management. You
will, as part of a group, design and build a project representative of those commonly encountered in
industry. Application of practical and theoretical knowledge from prior courses is required (and will
likely be extended), but this a secondary goal.
A project will typically be directed to solve a specific problem and is expected to involve:
 problem identification and description, including interaction with a client;
 analysis of existing solutions;
 description of possible approaches to solving the problem;
 evaluation of the different approaches;
 selection of the approach, specification of goals, and determination of milestones;
 implementation of this plan with adaptations as required;
 documenting the evolution of the project; and
 testing, demonstrating, and presenting.
Please see the Projects and Groups document for more information covering the nature of projects, and
group formation.
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ECE 490: Engineering Design Project I
*2.5 (fi 6) (first term,1-0-3)
The first of two design courses that must be taken in the same academic year. Student teams research,
propose, design, develop, document, prototype, and present a practical engineering system or device;
teams exercise creativity and make assumptions and decisions based on technical knowledge. This first
course includes project definition, planning, and initial prototyping. Formal reports and presentation of
the project proposal is required. Prerequisite: ECE 312. Credit may be obtained in only one of ECE
490 or E E 400.
ECE 490: Mark Allocation
Each of the following items will be described in more detail as the term progresses. Please note the
course schedule for the due dates.
Item
Weighting
Project Requirements Specifications
15%
Critical Design Review Presentation**
30%
Revised Design Report
30%
Progress Report I*
15%
Advising Team Assessment***
10%
TOTAL:
100%
* - Individual Evaluation
** - Provision for Individual Evaluation; group-evaluated except in extenuating circumstances.
*** - Includes both group- and individual-based assessment. This component includes participation in
class exercises, meetings, and laboratory exercises.
All other items are group submissions, and the grade achieved on the item is assigned to all members of
the group.
Assessments are made by a variety of individuals as described in the documents describing these items
in more detail.
Where an evaluator marks an item for a portion of the class, the coordinator may choose to adjust
grades using Z-score correction.
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ECE 490 Schedule
Wk
M
29 Aug
1
2
ECE 490 - Design Project I: Fall 2016 Major Due Dates
T
W
R
30 Aug
31 Aug
01 Sep
Term Begins
F
02 Sep
05 Sep
Labour Day
06 Sep
07 Sep
08 Sep
09 Sep
12 Sep
13 Sep
14 Sep
15 Sep
16 Sep
Lab Orientation
19 Sep
Lab Orientation
20 Sep
Lab Orientation
21 Sep
Lab Orientation
22 Sep
23 Sep
26 Sep
27 Sep
28 Sep
29 Sep
30 Sep
03 Oct
04 Oct
05 Oct
06 Oct
07 Oct
10 Oct
Thanksgiving Day
University Closed
11 Oct
12 Oct
13 Oct
14 Oct
17 Oct
18 Oct
19 Oct
20 Oct
Requirements
Specifications Due
21 Oct
24 Oct
25 Oct
26 Oct
27 Oct
28 Oct
31 Oct
01 Nov
02 Nov
03 Nov
04 Nov
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
07 Nov
Fall Term Break
08 Nov
Fall Term Break
09 Nov
Fall Term Break
10 Nov
Fall Term Break
Progress Report I
Due
11 Nov
Remembrance Day
14 Nov
Design Slides Due
Critical Design
Review Presentations
21 Nov
15 Nov
University Closed
16 Nov
17 Nov
18 Nov
28 Nov
29 Nov
30 Nov
01 Dec
05 Dec
06 Dec
07 Dec
Last Day of Classes
08 Dec
Critical Design
Critical Design
Critical Design
Review Presentations Review Presentations Review Presentations
22 Nov
23 Nov
24 Nov
25 Nov
13
14
15
02 Dec
Parts Order I
Revised Design
Report Due
09 Dec
Lab Books Due
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ECE 491 Schedule (Preliminary)
This preliminary schedule is incomplete but is included to help you derive a project development
schedule. Please keep the day(s) indicated in blue, below, free. The date of the event will be scheduled
around the Iron Ring Ceremony.
Wk
1
M
09 Jan
Classes Commence
EE 491 - Design Project II : Winter 2017
T
W
10 Jan
11 Jan
Major Due Dates
R
12 Jan
13 Jan
F
16 Jan
17 Jan
18 Jan
19 Jan
20 Jan
23 Jan
24 Jan
25 Jan
26 Jan
27 Jan
2
3
30 Jan
31 Jan
01 Feb
02 Feb
Progress
Report II Due
03 Feb
06 Feb
07 Feb
08 Feb
09 Feb
10 Feb
4
5
13 Feb
14 Feb
15 Feb
16 Feb
20 Feb
University Closed
Family Day
Reading Break
27 Feb
21 Feb
22 Feb
23 Feb
Parts Order II
(Benchmark)
17 Feb
PCB Design
Submission
(Benchmark)
24 Feb
Reading Break
28 Feb
Reading Break
01 Mar
Reading Break
02 Mar
Reading Break
03 Mar
6
7
8
06 Mar
07 Mar
08 Mar
09 Mar
Progress
Report III Due
10 Mar
13 Mar
14 Mar
15 Mar
16 Mar
Final Parts Orders
17 Mar
20 Mar
21 Mar
22 Mar
23 Mar
24 Mar
27 Mar
28 Mar
29 Mar
30 Mar
31 Mar
03 Apr
04 Apr
05 Apr
06 Apr
07 Apr
10 Apr
Posters Due
(Paper, Electronic)
11 Apr
Design Showcase
Option (Evening)
12 Apr
Last Day of Classes
Final Report Due
Design Showcase
Option (Evening)
13 Apr
Design Showcase
Option (Evening)
14 Apr
University Closed
Good Friday
9
10
11
12
13
14
EE Capstone Design Syllabus – Lecture X01
Design Showcase
Option (Evening)
September 2016
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