ECE792

Senior Design Experience Semester II

Project Requirements and Timeline

ECE Senior Design Project Description• The project must involve design and should build on past course work

(mathematics, basic sciences, the humanities and social sciences, engineering topics, communications skills, etc.). It should involve many of the following features: synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, simulations, and evaluations; and should take into account realistic constraints such as time, economics, safety, reliability, functionality, social implications, etc. The implementation aspect of the project may take a variety of forms such as development of a computer program, development of a hardware prototype, development of a LabVIEW simulation, etc. However, all projects should have the following common aspects:

Design – Plan – Implement – Test – Evaluate - Report

• Every project must have an ECE Department faculty project advisor.

Project Related Courses• ECE694 – 1 Credit C/F – Semester II Junior Year– Discuss project concepts and requirements.– Identify project topic and faculty project advisor.

• ECE791 – 2 Credits – Semester I Senior Year– Plan project, prepare and present project proposal.– Work on project and prepare progress report.

• ECE792 – 2 Credits – Semester II Senior Year– Complete project.– Present project results in UNH undergraduate research poster

session.– Prepare final report.

How Are Project Courses Graded?

• ECE694 – 1 Credit – Credit/Fail based on attendance and submission of project

selection form.• ECE791 – 2 Credits– Letter grade assigned by ECE faculty project advisor.– Based primarily on written/oral proposal and written progress

report (and the progress reported).• ECE792 – 2 Credits– Letter grade assigned by ECE faculty project advisor.– Based primarily on project accomplishments, poster

presentation, and written final report.

Nominal Project Time-Line

RED tasks are required.BLUE tasks are suggested.

Spring Semester 2010

RED tasks are required.BLUE tasks are suggested.

Project Quantitative Evaluation• The quantitative evaluation gives an unbiased measure of

how well the design/implementation works.• The quantitative evaluation can involve a variety of

specifications: quantity, timing, accuracy, repeatability, …• The quantitative evaluation might involve comparison against

an existing system.– “Improve the speech recognition accuracy during license plate entry,

relative to the current Project54 system, as determined using the UNH version 2.0 alphanumeric speech test suite.”

• The quantitative evaluation might involve comparison against target performance levels.– “The speech recognition accuracy during license plate entry should be

greater than 95%, as determined using the UNH version 2.0 alphanumeric speech test suite.”

Subjective Evaluation• The final evaluation can also include subjective measures of

performance (opinions/impressions).• Subjective performance measures should complement rather

than replace quantitative measures.• Subjective performance measures are inherently subject to

bias.• Subjective performance measures can give insight into system

performance and/or problems that can not readily be quantified but are worth documenting.

Final Documentation• At the end of the project, the final implementation of the

design may “exist” as a specific piece of hardware or software.• All of the other aspects of the design project (the goals, the

implementation process, the intermediate test results, the final evaluation) only “exist” as expressed in the content of the final documentation.

• The final documentation is as important as the final implementation (possibly more important).

• For ECE792 the final documentation exists in the form of a poster to be presented at the UNH Undergraduate Research Conference – Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Symposium and in the form of a final written technical report.

UNH Undergraduate Research Conference

UNH Undergraduate Research Conference - Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Symposium

• When: Wednesday, April 21, 2010.• Do we have to register: You MUST register for the UNH URC

before March 5, 2010 in order to fulfill the project requirements for graduation. REGISTER TODAY SO YOU DO NOT FORGET.

• Does everyone on the project team have to participate? Only those who plan to use the project to fulfill the requirement for graduation in ECE have to participate (YES!).

General Information: http://www.unh.edu/urcURC-ISE Symposium: http://www.unh.edu/urc/ise.htmlOn-Line Registration: https://www.unh.edu/urc/registration/

UNH Undergraduate Research Conference

Discussion of designing research posters from ECE796 (now ECE694):http://xenia.unh.edu/ece796/TechPresentations.pdf

Who comes to the UNH URC?

• UNH Faculty• UNH Students• UNH Administrators• UNH Industry “Friends” such as members of the

ECE Department Industrial Advisory Board• Judges for the Interdisciplinary Science and

Engineering Symposium• Judges for the ECE Department• ?

What should be in the written final report?

Typical content items:• Abstract• Introduction• Background• Methods• Results• Discussion & Conclusions• References

Required Header for Final Report

ECE791/792 Final Design Project ReportProject Title: An Informative Project TitleProject Team: John Smith, Jane Jones, Peter RabbitECE Faculty Advisor: W. T. MillerOther Advisors: (only if relevant)Current Date: May 10, 2010Project Completion Date: May 10, 2010

Step-By-Step Final Report Process

• Complete draft version of the written final report.• Submit draft version to project faculty advisor for

review.• Update draft version based on advisor’s comments.• Submit final version of written final report to faculty

advisor and ECE792 instructor before the end of the semester.

When We Will Meet Again

• There will be a required class meeting on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 in the 11:10 AM time slot to discuss details concerning both the UNH URC presentations and the final report requirements.

• There will (may) be two additional required sessions with outside speakers. Dates to be announced.