University of California, Santa Cruz

Boards of Study in Computer & Electrical Engineering


CE/EE-123B: Computer and Electrical Engineering System Design II

(CE students must register for CE123A & EE students in EE123A)

 

Spring 2009

Meeting Times:  MWF 12:30am –1:40pm 

Meeting Location:  Class:

 

Instructors:
Kenneth Laws (kip@soe.ucsc.edu)

Office:  BE 129;  Office Hours: By appointment

Tel: 459-1912 (office)

 

Stephen Petersen (petersen@soe.ucsc.edu)

Office: BE 117; Office Hours: TBA, and by appointment

Tel: 459-4782 (office)

 

TA: David Munday

Office: By arrangement

Tel:

 

Description:

This is the second of a two-course sequence serving as the design capstone of the engineering departments.  It is a challenging and fitting opportunity for students to use their skills and knowledge obtained as an undergraduate engineering student in a practical, systems level engineering project.  A major aim of this course is to foster interdisciplinary teamwork and thus it is a requirement that students work in groups, the goal being that students will come to realize the productive potential of a team of motivated engineers with complementary skills.  The class will be modeled after a startup company, with the instructors serving as the VPs of engineering.  Each group will be treated as a design team with an elected team leader and possibly a deputy leader.  Students will learn about effective teamwork, mutual responsibility and project management.  Experience will be gained from the entire cycle of engineering design from the concept, the specification, experimental prototyping and verification, up to the final design and implementation (the last two begin in 123A and are completed in 123B).  

 

This second section of the course focuses on implementation of teamwork and project management skills learned during the first section.  These skills are applied toward the design and development of the group projects conceived during the first section of the class and presented at the 123A design review.  Progress toward completion of the projects will be evaluated during weekly group meetings with instructors, an informal midterm presentation and a formal final presentation and poster session.  The presentations are intended to build on presentation skills emphasized in 123A.

 

With the exception of the first week of the quarter, class meetings will not be held.  Time during the quarter will be directed toward independent team progress toward project goals, and preparation of presentations and reports as appropriate.

 

Students are expected to:

·                Exercise judgment and independence in conceiving viable solutions and necessary modifications of a design project following the iterative design cycle

·                Define a reasonable time-line with target milestones

·                Demonstrate ability to do independent research and assess suitable resources like application notes, data sheets, etc.

·                Participate in peer-group design reviews of one's own work as well as others

·                Keep technical engineering notes consistent with current industrial practice

·                Deliver satisfactory interactive oral presentations to the class

·                 Demonstrate independence in self-motivated learning to master new topics necessary to successfully complete a project's design

·                 Demonstrate technical competence in hands-on experimental laboratory work. This would include competence using all applicable laboratory test equipment for prototype concept evaluations

·                 Understand measurement limitations, accuracy and applicable use of all equipment.

·                 Understand measurement interpretation

·                 Demonstrate technical competence in mastering necessary programming languages/environments, EDA and CAD tools as required.

 

Efforts are expected to conclude with a complete written and oral summary of project work, individually and as a group along with a successful demonstration of prototype system.

 

Evaluation:

Team performance in this class will be based on the following general areas:

 

1.       Application of engineering design cycle. This should include:

a.            product design and design development

b.            cost effectiveness

c.            use of prototypes vs. final designs

2.       Application of principles of interactive project management and teamwork in engineering including

    1. Exercising judgment and independence in setting clearly defined specifications and achievable goals
    2. Creating a realistic schedule with target milestones
    3. Managing team performance and resolving conflict

3.       Ability to work effectively as a team.  Your teammates evaluation of you will have a significant affect on you letter grade.

4.       Midterm and final presentations and poster presentation.  This includes the quality of the slides, professionalism of the presentation and creativity of the delivery/slides

5.       Formal group final presentation and written report

 

Individual performance evaluation will be based on:

 

1.       Demonstrating ability in independent research

2.       Demonstrating independence and self-motivation in mastering new topics necessary to successfully complete a project, including new EDA and CAD tools

3.       Demonstrating technical competence in related hands-on experimental laboratory work.  This would include competence using all applicable laboratory equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, RF network analyzers, DVM, waveform generators, etc.

4.       Participation in peer group design reviews of each person’s work

5.       Quality and detail of laboratory notebook

 

 

Laboratory:

To accomplish the task of designing, prototyping and completing a project, students are being given the privilege of unlimited and unsupervised lab access.  This includes the use of laboratory equipment (computers, printers, scopes, etc) and resources (web-access, email, ftp, etc) in a responsible and respectful manner.  Any abuse of equipment or misuse of resources will result in the immediate loss of these privileges, and may result in disciplinary action by the University.   The University rules regarding academic integrity will be enforced in all aspects of this course.  Lab support will be provided by the Baskin Engineering Lab Support Group (bels@soe.ucsc.edu).  Please report immediately any problems pertaining to the laboratory to them, they are also an excellent resource for parts.  It is expected that you will keep the lab clean and orderly and respect other group’s equipment and space.  The lab space is reserved for student enrolled in the class only.  It is not a place for your friends to hang out. Please report any misuse immediately to the instructors.  BELS will install any special software or hardware that you acquire and need. The instructors will also have root access on the computers and can install any required software needed in an emergency. In some cases students can be give local root access to the machines.

 

Laboratory notebook:

In keeping with industry practices students will be required to purchase a bound 8 1/2 x 11engineering notebook.    You will be required to keep a daily log of all activities related to your project. You will also need a large 3-ring, loose-leaf binder to organize and protect hardcopy material, such as data sheets /specifications and printouts of material pertinent to your project.

 

A nice lab notebook is available from:  http://www.bookfactory.com/lab010.html.  Staples and Office Max also have good laboratory notebooks.  The UCSC bookstore may have some also.