College of Engineering
ECE Curriculum Enhancements:
Senior Design Experiences
Professor David G. Meyer
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Outline
Design Context
Senior Design Options
Sample Projects
Self-Evaluation
Panel Discussion
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Definition – Senior Design Course
A Senior Design Course must provide students with a major
multi-disciplinary design experience based on the knowledge
and skills acquired in earlier course work. The design project
must be team-based and must incorporate engineering design
standards and realistic constraints that include most of the
following considerations: economic; environmental;
sustainability; manufacturability; ethical; health and safety;
social; and political. The experience must also reinforce the
students’ understanding of ethical and professional
responsibility and their ability to communicate effectively.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Definition – Major Design Experience
A major design experience is one that involves at least three
(3) credit hours of coursework with 100% engineering design
content and involves most of the following elements of the
design process:
the establishment of objectives and criteria
synthesis
analysis
construction
testing
evaluation
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Senior Design Learning Outcomes
A student who successfully fulfills the course requirements will
have demonstrated:
1. an ability to apply knowledge obtained in earlier coursework and
to obtain new knowledge necessary to design and test a system,
component, or process to meet desired needs.
2. an understanding of the engineering design process.
3. an ability to function on an interdisciplinary team.
4. an awareness of professional and ethical responsibility.
5. effective communication skills, both oral and written.
Successful demonstration of all five learning outcomes is
required to receive a passing grade.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Senior Design Reports
 Summary of the project, including customer, purpose, specifications, and a summary
of the approach.
 Description of how the project built upon the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier
ECE coursework (include course numbers).
 Description of what new technical knowledge and skills were acquired in doing the
project.
 Description of how the engineering design process was incorporated, with reference to:
establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and
evaluation.
 Summary of how realistic design constraints (economic, environmental, ethical, health
and safety, social, political, sustainability, and manufacturability) were incorporated.
 Description of the multidisciplinary nature of the project.
 Description of the project deliverables.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECE Senior Design Advisory Committee
 Review ECE senior design course certification
requests
 Review ECE senior design semester reports
 Make recommendations to ECE Curriculum
Committee regarding reviews
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Current ECE Senior Design Options
ECE 402
ECE Design Projects
EPCS 402 Senior Participation in EPICS
ECE 477
Digital Systems Senior Project
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECE 402 – EE Design Projects
Each student shall:
Develop ownership in a sub-system (or two)
Design, build, and test to meet specifications
Interface with the team system
Cause team success—by contributing technically
Cause team success—by leading and following
Get somewhere with something real
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECE 402 – EE Design Projects
› Main Features:
–
One semester design / build / test / demonstrate
–
Teams of four (ECE and some CmpE students)
–
Concepts: block and flow diagrams, schematics, printed
circuit board design, programming, packaging, RF and
Optical signal transmission, imaging, actuators, motors,
sensors, physics, and chemistry. (Not all at once)
–
Design considerations: reliability, safety factors, cost, etc.
–
Individual laboratory notebooks
–
Two Design Reviews, Two Individual Oral Progress Reports,
One Demo
–
Opportunities for teams to do special projects as feasible.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECE 402 – Sample Project
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
EPCS 401/2 – Senior Participation in EPICS
› Description: Uses service-learning to teach design within
vertically integrated and multidisciplinary teams that
design, develop, deploy and support projects that meet the
needs of their local community partners.
› Objective: To provide long-term, authentic design
experiences that exposes students to the entire design
process from problem identification to support and
retirement/disposal within a community/human context.
› Senior Design: Senior design students are distributed on
EPICS teams with appropriate project potential and fulfill
additional requirements to verify outcomes.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
EPCS 401/2 – Senior Participation in EPICS
› Main Features:
– Service-Learning Model
• Real projects for real people
– Experience the entire design cycle
– Multi-semester projects
• Senior design is a two semester experience for 3 credits with
individual documentation and presentation requirements
– Large (~15 students) and diverse teams with 3-5 active projects
– Professional development:
• Leadership; Project management; Personnel and placement;
Customer relations; Budgets; Technical reviews and Delivery
• Extensive communication requirements
• Ethics and social context
• Entrepreneurship and innovation
– Formative and summative assessments of teams and individuals
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
EPCS 401/2 –Sample Projects
› EPICS Projects are done in four broad community areas
–
Human Services
•
–
Access and Abilities
•
–
Technology for adults and children with disabilities
Environmental
•
–
Information management, improved services
Remediation designs, community education
Education and outreach
•
Designs for schools, local museums and zoos
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
EPCS 402 – Sample Project
Sensor network for Imagination Station Museum
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECE 477 – Digital Systems Design Project
› Description: A structured approach to the
development and integration of embedded
microcontroller hardware and software that provides
senior-level students with significant design
experience applying microcontrollers to a wide range
of embedded systems.
› Objective: To provide practical experience
developing integrated hardware and software for an
embedded microcontroller system in an environment
that models one which students will most likely
encounter in industry.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
ECE 477 – Digital Systems Design Project
› Main Features:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
One semester design / fabricate / test / demonstrate
Students pick own project (subject to constraints) and define own
project-specific success criteria
Work in teams of four (mixture of ECE and CmpE students)
Design components include: packaging design, schematic design,
printed circuit board design, and software design
Professional components include: design constraint analysis,
reliability and safety analysis, patent liability analysis, and ethical
and environmental impact analysis
Individual (on-line) laboratory notebooks
Extensive reporting/presentation requirements
Technical communication skills development activities
Quantitative assessment of all five course outcomes
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
Demo Video
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
Demo Video
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
Some BSCmpE Senior Design Projects...
DSDP Outcomes and Assessment
1. An ability to apply knowledge obtained in earlier
coursework and to obtain new knowledge necessary
to design and test a system, component, or process to
meet desired needs – design component report
2. An understanding of the engineering design process –
individual lab notebook
3. An ability to function on a multidisciplinary team –
project specific success criteria (functionality)
4. An awareness of professional and ethical
responsibility – professional component report
5. An ability to communicate effectively, in both oral and
written form – formal design review, final written
report, and final presentation
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Outcome Tracking Results for
Digital Systems Design Project
2 Tablet PCs
per team
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
Cohort Average
70.0%
HTML
notebooks
initiated
60.0%
50.0%
TCSP sessions
initiated
Outcom
1 Tablet PC
per team
Outcome 1 – design component report
Outcom
Outcom
Outcom
Outcom
40.0%
Outcome 2 – individual lab notebook
30.0%
Outcome 3 – project specific success criteria
20.0%
Outcome 4 – professional component report
10.0%
Outcome 5 – technical communication skills
0.0%
Spr-03
Fall-03
Spr-04
Fall-04
Spr-05
Fall-05
Spr-06
Fall-06
Spr-07
Fall-07
Spr-08
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Self-Evaluation
› Strengths
– Good diversity of design experiences afforded by current
options available to students
– Research/publications on outcome assessment
› Areas for Improvement
– Ability to handle the projected enrollment increases in
ECE 402 and ECE 477
– More consistency in outcome assessment among the
various senior design options
– More consistency in project deliverables and their
evaluation
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Opportunities for Input/Involvement
› Opportunities for input
–
How well are the various ECE senior design options
preparing students for the future?
–
What are (other) potential areas for improvement?
› Opportunities for involvement
–
Crafting ideas for senior design projects
–
Participating in the formal evaluation process
–
Supporting parts acquisition and PCB fabrication
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering