Title: Senior Design: A Hands-on Experience with The Engineering Process
1Senior Design A Hands-on Experience with The
Engineering Process
Design I
Design II
Problem
Test Verification
Design Constraints
Hardware Implementation, Design Refinement,
packaging
Design
Test Specification
Test Verification
Prototyping
Simulation
Test Verification
This is an iterative process
2The Engineering Process
a design methodology . . .
- Problem recognize that a problem exists, and
develop a concise statement of the problem. - Objectives study the parameters of the problem,
and convert them into engineering language you
are familiar with. - Literature Survey assimilate existing knowledge
about the problem, and search for similar data
(related experiments, evaluations, etc.)
3The Engineering Process
a design methodology continued . . .
- Analysis analyze the problem based on the
knowledge gained from the literature survey,
produce a set of design constraints, and generate
test specifications to verify these design
constraints. - Synthesis manipulate the analysis to yield a
family of solutions (typically through simulation
and prototyping). - Evaluation choose the best solution and verify
it meets the design constraints. - Presentation communicate the solution to your
peers/management.
4Design I Structure
- Lectures Meets once a week
- Thursdays for Design I lectures, some weeks
Tuesdays for Entrepeneurship lectures - Lectures on team building, planning, software
design, design document - Assignments
- Writing assignments for design document in
conjunction with GE 3513 tech writing - Website (see syllabus)
- Presentations mid-term, end-of-semester
Must demonstrate working prototype of project at
end of semester!!
5Design I Structure (cont.)
- Grading Design Document, presentations, weekly
deliverables, peer reviews, web site, advisor
input, etc (see syllabus) - Team members do not necessarily all get the same
grade! - Custom grading forms for each team/presentation
- Funding Donations and other funding
- Ryan Green will handle this, 200 per team
- Lab Space Room 311, shared by Senior Design I
II - Conference Room Simrall 206
6Success in Design 1 is Up to You!
- Progress on technical goals is entirely up to the
team - Faculty advisor is not a task master only
advises - The team sets the weekly goals, measures weekly
progress - Many projects require you to explore new
technologies on your own initiative - Welcome to life-long learning!
- Take advantage of all possible resources
7Design I Pitfalls
- Design I is the critical semester
- Design II difficulty depends on Design I success
- Pitfalls
- Poorly specified goals, constraints for project
- Much time spent in semester beginning on this!!!
- Poor implementation choices for key technical
aspects - Spend time on tradeoff analysis, survey of
alternatives! - Lack of weekly progress
- Schedule a weekly meeting with your faculty
advisor NOW. - Make REAL progress connect wires, write code!
- Malfunctioning teams (more on this later)
8Design I Complaints
- Believe it or not, we do listen to you!
- Increased from 1 hour to 4 hours spread over two
semesters - Integrated Design I writing with Tech Writing
- Added lab/meeting space reserved for Senior
Design - Common complaints
- Too much work for too little credit
- Design takes time get used to it
- Work smarter to reduce effort by using faculty,
expert resources - Why do we have to do assignment X? Just let us
do our design! - Planning, documentation, oral communication all
are a real part of design!!!
9Planning Your Project
- Phase 1 System definition
- Specifications and Features
- Physical Interface
- Subsystem definition and investigation of
alternatives for each subsystem - Phase 2 Design/test of individual subsystems
- Requires prototyping of different subsystems,
perhaps even prototyping of different
alternatives. Do not be surprised when something
that you assumed turns out not to be true,
requiring you to backtrack! - agreement between team members on how subsystems
will interact - Phase 3 Subsystem integration
- Connecting subsystems together and getting them
to work correctly takes time!
10Writing Assignments vs. Project Development
- The writing assignments LAG the project
development - Your project development should be well ahead of
the writing assignments, as the due dates for the
writing assignments are spread out without regard
to project development. - Having the project development ahead of the
writing assignments make the writing assignments
easier, since you have something to write about! - Writing up the different alternatives for a
subsystem will be easy since you have already had
actual experience with the subsystems.
11Pitfalls in Project Development
- Do not assume that a circuit you find via Google
will work the way that it is documented. - Until you build it yourself, you know nothing.
- Understand the circuit! Simulate in Pspice if
that is an option! - If it is an analog circuit, when you integrate it
with other components (like a microprocessor), it
may quit operating. - Read the datasheet!!!!!!
- If the datasheet specs are unsuitable, then dont
waste your time. - Consider packaging if the part is only
available a surface mount package, it will be
harder to prototype with. - If a design has a lot of components, consider
using a PCB from the start since breadboard
wiring will drive you crazy. - Order spare parts so that if something breaks,
you will have a backup.
12Pitfalls in Project Development (cont)
- Be careful how you divide the labor
- The best way is to divide it by subsystem, with
lots of communications between the team members
on how the subsystems interact - In a hardware subsystem that has a
microcontroller, you cannot divide the software
development and the external hardware development
between multiple people - Software is needed to drive the hardware, and the
software creator needs an intimate understanding
of the hardware. - You can divide it by functionality which combines
hardwaresoftware (Joe will handle the LCD code
and LCD interfacing, Sally will handle the DAC
code and DAC interfacing). - Everybody must contribute technically. You cannot
have somebody whose only job is the web page or
documentation!
13Assign. 1 Product Specification
- One page
- Contains Applications, Features, Specifications
- Applications how can this be used?
- Features what can it do?
- Specifications quantitative measures of what it
can and cannot do, requirements for use - Visually appealing, tells all in one page
- Contains one or more graphics of product itself
and usage of product in typical scenarios - Post this on your web site (use .pdf files)
14Example Specifications
- Signal tolerances (gt 30 duty cycle clock at 1MHz
/-1) - Supply current range (.5 mA min to 100 mA max)
- Power efficiency (83 supply efficiency at rated
load) - Speed, Response time (interrupt service latency lt
10 ?S) - Conversion rate (12-bit conversion at
500Ksamples/sec) - Transmission distance (100 M with unobstructed
view) - Quantization error (,- 5mV)
- Frequency response (20 Hz to 20 KHz, /- 3 dB)
- Signal-to-noise ratio (50 dB min)
- Power requirements (7 to 12 V DC)
- Environmental (functions in range of -25 C to
125 C) - Limitations (requires Windows XP or later)
- Battery life (battery lasts for 20 hours of
constant use)