Senior Design Project II is the second course in a two-semester sequence
that constitutes the capstone design experience for undergraduate
engineers. In the ABET handbook on accrediting engineering
programs, it states:
"Students must be prepared for engineering practice through the
curriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the
knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work and
incorporating engineering standards and realistic constraints
that include most of the following considerations: economic;
environmental; sustainability; manufacturability; ethical; health
and safety; social; and political."
Your design project is expected to address as many of these issues as
possible. In this portion of the course, students will be expected to
identify a team project, and complete the proposal stage of the project.
The course will culminate with a presentation of the
proposed project to a design review committee and a detailed design
document that clearly documents all aspects of the design process.
In Senior Design II, we focus on implementation and testing. At the
end of Senior Design I, students have completed a proposed design
for their project. Students have also developed design constraints that
characterize the expected performance of the system and, most importantly,
designed a series of tests that will verify that their design meets
its design constraints.
There are three main components of Senior Design II: implementation,
testing and analysis. Students will build their system over the first
one-third of the course, conduct the tests prescribed in their design
document over the second part of the course, and then analyze theses
results and explain any discrepanices between their simulations and
their prototype. Time-permitting, students will re-design their systems
based on the results of their testing and ultimately produce a
working prototype that meets their design constraints.
Students often think that the only important goal in Senior Design II
is to produce a working prototype. As we know, with enough duct tape
and hot glue, an engineer can ultimately produce something that will
work long enough to pass a quick demo. Unfortunately, that is not
adequate for Senior Design II.
Demonstrating that your prototype meets its design constraints through
testing is the essential element of this course. For example, if you
have a design constraint that states that the system will be able to
operate reliably for one year without maintenance, you must devise and
execute an accelerated life test that demonstrates you meet this
constraint. You can then discuss what was done in your design to engineer
your system to meet this Projects are encouraged to be multidisciplinary, one of the things
that makes our program at Temple somewhat unique. Teams will be
expected to consist of engineers from all disciplines, and projects
ideally will have components from all disciplines as well.
Course Learning Objectives (CLO): Please refer to the
common program outcomes
for the College to understand the PO designations below.
- Understand how to form and manage effective teams (POs D, G)
- Understand how to propose, analyze, manage and execute a
successful project (POs E, K)
- Explain the motivation for using standards (POs H, J)
- Classify the cost components in a design and project
a realistic price to the customer (POs C, K)
- Optimize a design for sustainability (POs H, J)
- Present a professional presentation with strong technical
content and audience interaction (POs G, K)
- Interact efficiently and effectively with faculty advisor (PO F)
- Formulate a defensible design approach (POs C, E, K)
- Create an objective, testable design specification (POs C, K)
- Create and follow a test plan leading to a functional design
(POs C, K)
- Write a professional project report (PO G)
- Create a professional team Web site (PO G, K)
- Apply entrepreneurial thinking in the context of a design project
(PO H)
