SYLLABUS

Contact Information:

Time Thursday: 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM (Classroom Lectures)
Tuesday:  2:00 PM - 3:15 PM (Guest Lectures)
Place Lecture: 203 Simrall
Guest Lectures: George Eastman Auditorium (Swalm)
Meetings: Simrall 206
Labs: Simrall 323
Instructor Joseph Picone
Office: 413 Simrall
Office Hours: 8-9 TR (others by appt.)
Email: picone@cavs.msstate.edu
Class Alias ece_4522@cavs.msstate.edu
URL http://www.cavs.msstate.edu/research/isip/publications/courses/ece_4522
Required Textbook(s) G. Voland, Engineering By Design, Addison-Wesley, 1999, ISBN 0-20-14985-10.
Prerequisite Advisor and instructor approval that your Senior Design I prototype is fully functional. Also, successful completion of Senior Design I (ECE 4512).
Reference Textbook(s) P. Horowitz and W. Hill, The Art of Electronics, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, 1994, ISBN: 0-521-37095-7.

D.C. Hanselman and B.L. Littlefield, Mastering MATLAB: A Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference, 1/e,, Prentice-Hall, 1996, 542 pp., ISBN: 0-13-191594-0.

Grading Policies:

Grades are calculated using the following weights:

  Advisor Evaluation 25%
  Peer Review 10%
  Preliminary Hardware Review 15%
  Preliminary Design Review 5%
  Final Hardware Review 15%
  Design Review 5%
  Design Document 10%
  Web Site 5%
  Guest Lecture Attendance 10%

Letter grades will be assigned according to the following distribution:

A
100 - 90
B
89 - 80
C
79 - 70
D
69 - 60
See you next semester
Below 60

Description:

The goal of our two semester sequence is to provide you with a realistic design experience, and teach you the tools and methodologies that can help you be successful at this endeavor. To be considered for a passing grade in this portion of the class, your design review must convince the committee this project was finished. You must demonstrate a functional project at your design review, and that your hardware design meets your design requirements and simulation results.

The single largest component of your grade is derived from your advisor's evaluation of role on the team, and your peer review. Remember the prime directive: "Keep your advisor happy." Team members will submit a written evaluation of their fellow team members. This will include a chance to recommend individual grades for their team members, and comment on each member's contribution to the project. All claims of mutiny, insurgency, poor performance, etc., must be documented in sufficient detail to be given consideration. Team leaders will participate in a performance review conducted by the instructor during finals week. The course instructor has the final word as to how this information is interpreted - not everyone in the team must receive the same grade. The course instructor normally consults the project advisor in cases where an individual's contribution is unclear, which explains why keeping your advisor informed of your progress and contributions is so important.

The preliminary design review should be a dry-run of the final presentation. It is a 12-minute presentation by one team member that reviews project, followed by a 5-minute demonstration of your hardware. At this presentation, any deficiencies that are documented must be rectified in your final design review. At this stage of the course, you will be expected to show a fully-functional packaged version of your hardware. This is essential if you are to complete the remaining course requirements: testing, analysis, and redesign of the hardware. At the preliminary design review, your project advisor and course instructor will assess the status of your hardware.

The design review is the big enchilada. You must address all design deficiencies noted in your preliminary review, and review all aspects of the project (with technical details supporting your claims). This will be a 15-minute presentation. At the time of the design review, a project web site must be available containing all information about the project, including the documents described above and the design review presentation.

Concurrent with the design review, we will host a conference-style hardware demonstration. This will be set up in a room adjacent to the presentations, and consist of a conference booth type format where each team is allocated a table at which they will demonstrate their hardware. Each team will be responsible for constructing a poster providing an overview of the project. Faculty, student, and industrial representatives will visit each project and provide a detailed evaluation of the hardware. This portion of the final design review will last about two hours and run concurrently with the design presentations.

The design document is a comprehensive description of the entire project including: requirements, test specification, design, and test certification. It presents both simulation data and hardware measurements (for the packaged version of the hardware!), demonstrating that your design has met its goals. This document should address most of the points listed on the cover page of the course web site.

The design document must clearly state which portions of the team project were executed by which members. Each member is expected to contribute a section describing their contributions. Individual grades for each member will be assigned based on the contributions described in these sections. Of the 10% allocated to this portion of the grade, 7.5% will come from your individual contribution, and 2.5% from the overall grade on the document.

The project web site will be graded according to its comprehensiveness. A good site will contain a complete archive of the project, including all documents, presentations, data, measurements, schematics in source file format, software, etc. Web sites are graded on a competitive basis so keep an eye on your competition.

The last component of your grade comes from attending the entrepreneurship lectures. To receive credit for attendance, you must attend the entire talk (this means arrival prior to the start of the talk and departure after the end of the talk - late arrivals receive no credit for that lecture). You must also sit in the first five rows of the conference room to receive credit.

Schedule:

Class
Date
Topic(s)
1
01/10
Organization and Introductions
2
01/17
Project Overviews
3
01/22
M. Mazzola, J. Casady, C. Grayson, Founders, SemiSouth
4
01/29
TBD
5
02/05
Hines Brannan, Managing Partner, Accenture
6
02/14
Project Meetings
7
02/19
Bob Mark, CFO, Rowe, Inc.
8
02/26
Preliminary Design Review
9
03/05
Wendell Dunn, Professor, Darden Graduate School
10
03/19
Vince Allen, Carstens, Yee & Cahoon, LLP
11
03/26
Randy Russell, CEO, 121 Micro
12
04/02
Tommy Dulaney, President, Structural Steel Services
13
04/09
Hari Ravishandran, CTO, Bizland
14
04/18
Project Meetings
15
04/23
Design Review
16
04/25
Senior Exit Interviews


Deliverables:

Presentations and hardware demonstrations are due at times shown above. All other deliverables, such as the design document, the web site, and the peer reviews, are due on 04/30. The course instructor will download these documents from the web site at this time and grade them. Team leader exit interviews will be scheduled from 05/01 to 05/06.

Miscellaneous:

Here are a few miscellaneous items that need your attention: