EL E 461 - Senior Design I
2001 Catalog Data: EL. E. 461, 462.
Senior Design in Electrical Engineering, I, II. Credit 1, 2. Prerequisite: EL E 353, 368 and senior status.
| Textbook: | No textbook is required, but the textbook from the course EL E 352 may be useful in choosing the building blocks of the system. |
| References: | Alan D. Wilcox, Engineering Design for Electrical Engineers, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1990. |
| Coordinator: | Dr. Ahmed A. Kishk and Dr. Atef Z. Elsherbeni |
| Goals: | Students are given the opportunity to perform individually the theoretical and experimental steps encountered in the design of a simple electronic system. Also, an experience in writing a technical report is gained through the writing of a formal final report. Emphasis is also placed on oral presentation, and reliability, safety, and economic considerations as related to design. |
The attendance of the laboratory is compulsory until the completion of the work, but each student may proceed at his own pace and finish the work earlier. The first session consists of a lecture which describes in detail the desired characteristics of the system which is to be designed. Also, a hand-out sheet describing the desired specifications is distributed to the class.
Later sessions consist of lectures or discussion on the philosophy of design as an iterative process, safety, economics of design, individual design work, and individual consultation with the instructor. The instructor will give advice on the literature, theoretical solutions, use of instruments, etc.
Students should bring their own basic tools, such as small screwdrivers and electrician's pliers. Spare parts like transistors, resistors, capacitors and diodes may be borrowed from the Department's storage, if available. Special components, not available in the Department's supplies, should be acquired by the students.
Practical work is facilitated by the use of universal breadboards for mounting of circuit elements. Since no soldering is required, the elements are reusable. Because the same working area is used by several sections of this laboratory, students are responsible to clean the benches after each laboratory session, and store the breadboards in cabinets, and return equipment on the bench to appropriate positions. No food or drinks are allowed in the laboratory and the no-smoking regulations of the University are enforced. No equipment should be taken from other laboratories without explicit permission of both laboratory instructor and/or the Department Chair.
During the laboratory, students are required to report individually on their progress in accomplishing the scheduled objectives. These reports are verbal only and will consist of an informal oral presentation, unless otherwise specified by the instructor
Considerable emphasis is placed on the final formal report and presentation, which should contain clear description of the theoretical and experimental work which has been done on the project. Computer analysis of the design project using a circuit analysis program should be included, as appropriate. The original project assignment description should be included in the report. The style of the report should follow the format presented in the material on writing reports found in the Department of Electrical Engineering laboratory manuals. The report should be typewritten, and a section on the total cost of the project including an itemized listing of parts prices and an estimate of labor cost based on the current salary for a beginning electrical engineering graduate should be included.
After completion of the experimental work, students are responsible for restoring all materials in proper drawers in the storage room. An incomplete grade may be assigned to students who did not return the borrowed materials.
| Estimated ABET Category Content: | Engineering Design: 1 credit or 100% |
The final report is due on the last day of classes. The report should be carefully written and typed using a computer word processing program. Each figure should have a number, and it should be described at some point in the text.
The report should be typed. If you type it on the word processor, it does not cost you anything. Paper may be the ordinary computer paper. Formulas can be handwritten.
The following should be included in the report:Even if the experimental work has not been finished as planned, the students should end the experimentation by Thanksgiving and start writing the reports. The report will explain the results obtained thus far, and suggestions of what else should be done and how one would go about it. The semester has only a prescribed duration, and an honest effort should secure a passing grade, whether the original objectives have been achieved or not.