Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Assignment of Projects

Possible ELE401-ELE402 Projects are offered by the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department faculty members in the spring semester. The faculty members submit the project proposals to the Graduation Project committee. The project descriptions explicitly describe the design content of the graduation project. The department Graduation Project committee approves the design content of the project. If the committee decides that the project description does not have significant design content, the committee informs the faculty that the proposal requires revision. The approved project descriptions are announced to the prospective senior year students who qualify the prerequisites of ELE401 online, at the end of the spring term. All of the prospective students are informed simultaneously about all of the possible projects offered by the faculty, and they contact any faculty member whose project they are interested in. Upon mutual agreement of the students and the faculty member, the project is assigned at the end of spring term or fall term. Any problem encountered by students during the assignment of the projects is dealt by the Graduation Project committee.

ELE401 Graduation Project I

ELE401 project can be assigned to a student or a team of students. If the project is carried out by a team, the team must submit a written statement explaining the share of workload among the team members at the beginning of the semester. If there are revisions of the sharing of the workload, the team must inform the advisor with written statements throughout the semester, explaining the reasoning of the revision.

The students submit two interim reports during the semester, and a term report at the end of the semester. All reports must be written in English. The students should have regular discussions with the advisor in order to carry out the work presented in the reports. The project supervisor guides the students to help them proceed in the correct direction, but does not perform any of the design tasks.

1. Project Logbook (ELE401)

   In addition, the students keep a project logbook during the semester where the progress is reported for each week. Therefore, at the end of the semester, the logbook should have at least 14 sections corresponding to each week. If the project is assigned to a team of students, each student fills a separate log from his/her point of view. The work done, the alternative solutions identified, the discussions made with the team member, the discussions made with the project supervisor are recorded in the log. The project logbooks are submitted to the supervisor at the end of the semester.

2. First Interim Report (ELE401)

   This report must be submitted by the end of the 5^th week of the semester.

   MS Word version | PDF version

   The report describes the design project, identifying the requirements and constraints of the problem. The students investigate the problem through available sources so that the background information is gathered and design choices are determined. The first report also presents the background information gained as a result of this investigation. The sections of this report are

   • Project description: A clear description of the design project. The motivation for the design. Statement of how and where the design can possibly be utilized.
   • Multiple realistic constraints: Multiple realistic constraints must be clearly identified. Realistic constraints include the considerations such as: economy, environment, politics, sustainability, manufacturability, ethics, health and safety, and society. Examples for the types of constraints are given in the "Project Design Constraints" document.
   • Engineering standards: One or more applicable engineering standards should be identified and how the design project should satisfy this engineering standard will be documented.
   • Background information: The design will require a background on electrical and electronics engineering topics. This section should provide the background in the related areas that will be necessary to do the design project. The background that the students have based on their earlier coursework, and the background obtained as a result of further study by the students should be presented separately.

3. Second Interim Report (ELE401)

   This report must be submitted by the end of the 10^th week of the semester.

   MS Word version | PDF version

   The report identifies and presents discussions of advantages/disadvantages of various approaches and methods to solve the design problem. Based on these discussions, the students decide on a preliminary design for the problem. Design choices and/or design parameters must be explicitly identified for the preliminary design. The sections of this report are

   • Methods: Possible solutions, advantages and disadvantages of each solution.
   • Preliminary design: The preliminary design, where the design choices/parameters are identified.

4. Term Report (ELE401)

   This report must be submitted by the last day of the final exams.

   MS Word version | PDF version

   This report documents all activities for ELE401 during the semester as a well prepared document. The contents of the first and second interim reports must be included, with possible revisions, as sections of the Term Report. Term Report must include mainly the following sections

   • Project description
   • Engineering standards
   • Design constraints
   • Background
   • Methods
   • Preliminary design
   • Team work (if the project is done by a team of more than one students)

   The team work section must describe the share of workload among the team members, the changes of workload during the semester, how each team member contributed to the project, and how the members functioned as a team.

5. Grading of ELE401

   • First Interim Report: 30%
   • Second Interim Report: 30%
   • Term Report: 40%

   The grading should reflect the students' design work presented in the required sections of the First Interim Report, Second Interim Report, and the Term Report.

   The grading policy for the interim and term reports can be found HERE.

ELE402 Graduation Project II

ELE402 project must be a continuation of the same project that was initiated in the course ELE401. The team members and the advisor must be the same. In this course, the students carry on the design process based on the preliminary design done in ELE401.

The students will perform multiple (at least two) design iterations. Iteration is, in general, defined as the act of repeating something over and over again to improve the process and eventually achieve a desired goal. In a typical design loop, first a solution is generated, second the solution is implemented, and third the result of the implementation is tested and evaluated. If the results do not satisfy the requirements, additional solutions are generated and the above three-step process starts over again. This cycle and iteration continue until satisfactory results are obtained and the desired goal is achieved.

The students have regular discussions with the advisor during the iterations of determining the parameters of the preliminary design. These discussions are reported in the final report. The project advisor guides the students to help them proceed in the correct direction, but does not perform any of the design tasks.

The students perform the following tasks as parts of the design process:

• Build a software or hardware prototype given the preliminary design.
• Test and interpret the design choices and parameters using the prototype.
• Update the design choices and parameters iteratively, making observations and interpretations at each iteration.
• Decide on a final design as a result of the iterative process.

The prototype must be presented to the project advisor, along with an Interim report.

1. Project Logbook (ELE402)

   The students keep a project logbook during the semester where the progress is reported for each week. If the project is assigned to a team of students, each student fills a separate logbook from his/her point of view. The work done for the prototype, results and the interpretation of the results, the iterative updating of the design, and arriving at the final design, the discussions made with the team member, the discussions made with the project supervisor are recorded in the log. The project logbooks are submitted to the supervisor at the end of the semester.

2. Interim Report (ELE402)

   This report must be submitted by the end of the 10th week of the semester.

   MS Word version | PDF version

   The sections of this report are:

   • The prototype: The software/hardware prototype should be described.
   • Design iterations: Each design iteration should be given as a subsection, explaining observations and interpretations made, which choices/parameters are changed with their reasons.

3. Final Report (ELE402)

   This report must be submitted by the last day of the final exams.

   MS Word version | PDF version

   The report must include mainly the following sections:

   • Project description
   • Engineering standards
   • Design constraints
   • Background
   • Methods
   • Preliminary design
   • The first prototype
   • Design iterations
   • Final design, meeting the constraints and engineering standards, cost analysis
   • Team work (if the project is done by a team of more than one students)

   The design iterations section must include the iterations in the interim report, as well as additional iterations made after the interim report.

4. Poster Presentation

   The students present their finalized project with the help of a poster. The department annually organizes a senior design project exhibition before the spring term final examinations. All students having the ELE 401/402 project assignment must attend the exhibition with their posters and demo products, if any. The exhibition is open to the public.

   The poster presentations must be made according to the Poster Presentation Guidelines.

5. Grading of ELE402

   • Interim Report: 25%
   • Presentation with poster (and demo if applicable): 25%
   • Final Report: 50%

   The grading should reflect the students' design work presented in the required sections of the Interim Report, Final Report, and the poster presentation, not the end result of the project.

   The grading policy for the interim and final reports can be found HERE.