ECE 4810 ELECTRICAL/COMPUTER ENGINEERING DESIGN I

 

Fall 2008
updated 23 December 2008

The online version of this syllabus at http://homepages.wmich.edu/~miller/ECE4810.html provides hyperlinks and will be updated as needed.  In case of conflict, information in this syllabus supersedes all other course documents.

 

Instructor:
Dr. Damon A. Miller, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western Michigan University, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Parkview Campus, Room A-240, 269.276.3158, 269.276.3151 (fax), damon.miller@wmich.edu, www.homepages.wmich.edu/~miller/.

Course Coordinators:
Dr. John Gesink (john.gesink@wmich.edu) and Dr. Damon A. Miller

 

Acknowledgment:
Dr. John Gesink developed and collected much of the material used in this course.

 

Office Hours:
Guaranteed office hours are posted on Dr. Miller’s door and at http://homepages.wmich.edu/~miller/. Please respect my office hours.  Other times are available by appointment.

WMU Catalog Description:
ECE 4810 Electrical/Computer Engineering Design I (1--3), 2 hrs. First of a two-semester sequence on engineering design in which students work in teams on approved design projects. A preliminary design is expected at the conclusion of this course. This course, along with ECE 4820, are approved as writing-intensive courses which may fulfill the baccalaureate-level writing requirement of the student's curriculum.  Prerequisites:  IME 3160; consent of department chair.

Consent of the department chair is obtained by completion of an application to enroll in ECE 4810 and is based on:

1.      completion of IME 3160/ECE 3550/ECE 4510 (for CpE students);

2.      completion of ECE 2510/IME 3160/ECE 3200 or ECE 3300 (for EE students); and an

3.      ability to work independently and as part of a design team, accepting responsibility for specific portions of a design project.

 

Project Constraints:

Projects requiring knowledge of subject matter presented in courses not yet successfully completed by at least one project team member will not be approved.

 

Course Tasks and Description:

Students will be responsible for selecting a design project, forming a three-person design team, and for writing a formal proposal, which describes the project as well as its implementation. The designed device or system will be constructed in ECE 4820 based on this proposal. Lectures and assignments will examine topics relating to engineering design such as needs and specifications, patents, feasibility, engineering design methodology, project scheduling, and human factors engineering. Students will explore topics critical to the practice of engineering, including engineering ethics, intellectual property, and professional registration.  Written communication skills are also emphasized throughout the course.  Each student is urged to keep a permanently bound journal/log/lab notebook in which individual contributions to the design proposal are recorded.  Students are required to attend all seminars as noted in the course schedule, all ECE 4810 class meetings, and are required to register with the WMU Career Services office (See Bronco Jobs Plus at broncojobs.wmich.edu).  Religious observances will be accommodated with advanced notice.

 

Department and Course Level Learning Outcomes:

 

Department Level Learning Outcomes1:

 

Graduates must have:

a.       an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering;

b.      an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data;

c.       an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs2;

d.      an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams;

e.       an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems;

f.       an ability to understand professional and ethical responsibility;

g.      an ability to communicate effectively;

h.      a broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context;

i.        a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in, life-long learning;

j.        a knowledge of contemporary issues; and

k.      an ability to use techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice and/or further graduate study.

 

In addition to these learning outcomes ECE 4810/20 is designed to contribute to the professional component3 (PC) of the student's education.

 

 

1The following is adapted (with only slight modification) from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Engineering Criteria 2000, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering:

 

Criterion 3. Program Outcomes and Assessment Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have: (a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering (b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data (c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs (d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams (e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems (f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility (g) an ability to communicate effectively (h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context (i) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning (j) a knowledge of contemporary issues (k) an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

 

2Defintion directly from the Annual Report of the ABET circa 1992-93:

 

(3) Engineering Design. (a) Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs.  It is a decision-making process (often iterative), in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated objective.  Among the fundamental elements of the design process are the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and evaluation.  The engineering design component of a curriculum must include at least some of the following features: development of student creativity, use of open-ended problems, development and use of modern design theory and methodology, formulation of design problem statements and specifications, consideration of alternative solutions, feasibility considerations, production processes, concurrent engineering design, and detailed system descriptions.  Further, it is essential to include a variety of realistic constraints such as economic factors, safety, reliability, aesthetics, ethics, and social impact.

 

3The following is taken from the ABET Engineering Criteria 2000, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering:

 

Criterion 4. Professional Component. The professional component requirements specify subject areas appropriate to engineering but do not prescribe specific courses. The engineering faculty must assure that the program curriculum devotes adequate attention and time to each component, consistent with the objectives of the program and institution. 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.  The professional component must include (a) one year of a combination of college level mathematics and basic sciences (some with experimental experience) appropriate to the discipline (b) one and one-half years of engineering topics, consisting of engineering sciences and engineering design appropriate to the student's field of study (c) a general education component that complements the technical content of the curriculum and is consistent with the program and institution objectives.

 

 

ECE 4810 Course Learning Outcomes

 

The course level learning outcomes contribute to the departmental learning outcomes as indicated below. The relevance of specific course activities to the departmental learning objectives is indicated in the course schedule at the end of the syllabus.  Graduates of ECE 4810 must have:

1.      an appreciation of the importance of using notebooks to document engineering research and development work (ABET: g);

2.      an ability to develop a needs analysis (ABET: a,c,e,h,j);

3.      a working knowledge of the sources of engineering design specifications (e.g. consumers, companies, groups having authority) (ABET: c,e);

4.      an ability to develop a comprehensive set of quantitative and qualitative engineering design specifications based on a needs analysis (ABET: a,c,e,h,j);

5.      an ability to apply and understand the advantages and disadvantages of the three primary methods of engineering design: synthesis, repeated analysis, and device evolution (ABET: a,c,e,k);

6.      an ability to conduct a physical and economic feasibility study for a proposed device or system (ABET: a,b,c,e,k);

7.      an ability to conduct a literature and patent search to support an engineering design project (ABET: a,b,c,e,k);

8.      an ability to design a device or system to meet a specified need using knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering, while considering (as listed by ABET Engineering Criteria 2000) “economic; environmental; sustainability; manufacturability; ethical; health and safety; social; and political” issues (ABET: a,b,c,e,h,j,k);

9.      an ability to effectively function as a member of a design team (ABET: c,d,g);

10.  an ability to develop a strategy for designing a device or system based on a precedence matrix (ABET: a,b,c,e,k);

11.  an ability to use physical and/or mathematical models to verify that a designed device or system satisfies the design specifications (ABET: a,b,c,e,k);

12.  an ability to provide effective documentation for an engineering design project (ABET: g);

13.  an ability to estimate time needed to complete an engineering project using the critical math method and the program evaluation and review technique (ABET: c,k);

14.  a knowledge of the role that human factors engineering has in engineering design (ABET: a,c);

15.  an ability to determine the tolerance on a device or system based on the tolerances of the individual components comprising that device or system (ABET: a,c,e,k);

16.  a basic understanding of mechanisms to protect intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, semiconductor masks, and trade secrets (ABET: c,e,k);

17.  an understanding and appreciation of engineering ethics, including an ability to cite examples where engineering ethics were compromised with disastrous consequences (ABET: f);

18.  a knowledge of the IEEE and the NSPE Code of Ethics (ABET: f);

19.  an understanding of the importance of, and how to obtain, a professional engineering license (ABET: f);

20.  an appreciation for the role engineers play in society (ABET: f,h,i,j);

21.  an awareness of basic electronic system prototyping techniques (ABET: k);

22.  and an ability to correctly and effectively communicate via the written word (ABET: d,g,k).

 

Textbook and Materials:

Required:

  1. J. Gesink and D. A. Miller, ECE 4810 Handouts, provided by course instructor, Fall 2008, all previous versions are obsolete.
  2. W. H. Middendorf, Design of Devices and Systems, Marcel Dekker, 3rd ed., 1998.
  3. Pfeiffer, Technical Writing, 5th ed. or later, 2003, Prentice Hall.

 

References:

  1. UL 372: Standard for Primary Safety Controls for Gas and Oil Fired Appliances.

2.      Student Reference Manual for Electronic Instrumentation Laboratories, S. Wolf and R. F. M. Smith, Prentice Hall, 1990 (1st ed.) or 2004 (2nd ed.).

3.      See http://www.wmich.edu/engineer/events.htm for events in the WMU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Recommended:

  1. Student Reference Manual for Electronic Instrumentation Laboratories, S. Wolf and R. F. M. Smith, Prentice Hall, 1990 (1st ed.) or 2004 (2nd ed.).
  2. Linear Technology, LTspice/SwitcherCAD III, available at no cost at http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/.  This software can be used to simulate circuits of any complexity and is available in the CAE center.
  3. A high level mathematics software suite is useful but not required for course assignments.  Such packages are practically indispensable for your senior design project.  Pick one and master it for use throughout your academic and professional career:
    1. The MathWorks, MATLAB® & SIMULINK®, student version R2007a (ISBN 0-9792239-0-3), available at www.academicsuperstore.com or the WMU bookstore.  This is a tremendous value as this package includes many toolboxes and blocksets that must be purchased separately for use in a professional version. Use this opportunity to learn MATLAB®; this is one of the most widely used software packages, especially in electrical engineering.
    2. Wolfram Research, Mathematica®, available at www.academicsuperstore.com.  This is a remarkable, unified symbolic approach to computing.  Visit http://www.mathematica.com/ to see some of the extraordinary capabilities of this package developed by Stephen Wolfram.
    3. MapleSoft, Maple®, version 11 for students, (available on main campus or at www.academicsuperstore.com).

 

Course Policies

Academic Honesty

General:

You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. [The policies can be found at http://catalog.wmich.edu under Academic Policies, Student Rights and Responsibilities.] If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with your instructor if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test. — provided by the Professional Concerns Committee of the WMU Faculty Senate

Plagiarism:

One of the most serious academic offenses is plagiarism (see definition for "plagiarize" in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary). If your institution, colleagues, or professional organization believe that you have unfairly used the work (the intellectual property) of another person, you may lose your job, be asked to leave your university, and/or have your professional career ruined [from www.ohiou.edu/Esl/help/plagiarism.html].  See that website for tutorials on how to insure that you never plagiarize another’s work.

Grading Basis

Project Proposal (written)

40%

Proposal Preparation, Preparation Process, and Homework

15%

Examination and Quizzes (announced or unannounced)

45%

Penalty for avoidable non-3-person team

15%

 

OUTSTANDING WORK might earn extra credit.  The first student to report an error in any material prepared by Dr. Miller will earn extra credit.

 

Scale: 0-60 E | 60-65 D | 65-70 DC | 70-75 C | 75-80 CB | 80-85 B | 85-90 BA | 90-100 A |

Class attendance will be factored into the final class score if unexcused absences exceed 5%.

 

Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Examination

Students that take the FE exam during this semester will earn a 10% credit added to their final grade. Proof of examination attendance attached to a memo submitted to the course instructor by the Wednesday of final exam week is required to earn this credit. See the course schedule for the examination registration deadline and test date (double check this on your own at http://www.ncees.org).  Students that have already passed this examination are eligible for this credit.

 

EXAMINATIONS AND QUIZZES will be closed-notes closed-book unless otherwise noted. You must have a WMU issued ID with you at the exam.

 

Only under extremely unusual circumstances will make-up examinations and quizzes be considered.  If an emergency prevents you from attending a scheduled examination or quiz, contact your instructor PRIOR to the test or as soon as you can reach a telephone, e-mail terminal, etc. If the instructor cannot be reached directly, leave a message with the department (276-3150).  Failure to adhere to this policy will result in zero credit for the exercise.

 

Use of Calculators
When a calculator is allowed on a quiz/exam, without exception only models accepted by the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination may be used; see http://www.ncees.org/exams/calculators/index.php#approved for a list of approved calculators.

HOMEWORK will be assigned regularly. Some of it will be collected and evaluated. Collected homework should normally be done on 8 1/2'' by 11'' sheets.  “Engineer's Pad” sheets are preferred. Solutions must be done in a neat, structured, logical, and orderly manner with frequent brief notations enabling the grader to readily verify the author's source of information, steps taken, sources of formula, equations, and methods used. USE THE PARTIAL CHECK LIST FOR SUBMITTED HOMEWORK PAGE).  Papers failing to meet these guidelines may not be graded and may be returned, with or without an opportunity for resubmission with a penalty. LATE HOMEWORK will not be accepted, except under extraordinary circumstances.

 

PARTIAL CHECK LIST FOR HOMEWORK SUBMITTED FOR EVALUATION:

 

  1. The first page must include: (a) author's name, (b) course name/number, (c) due date, and (d) name/title/identification of the assignment (e.g. R\&D problems 3,7 \& 9 chapter 4, Middendorf).
  2. Use only one side of the paper and include a brief and concise statement of the problem prior to its solution. Begin each problem on a new page.
  3. Number the pages and {\bf DOUBLE SPACE} the text.
  4. Place problems in ascending order and staple in the upper left corner.
  5. In answers to subjective questions, USE COMPLETE SENTENCES and proper grammar, punctuation, style and terminology appropriate to technical writing. Consult Pfeiffer.
  6. GRAPHS:  Entitle graphs, label and include axes, include key symbols for multiple curve graphs, and give brief notes of explanation where appropriate.
  7. Briefly but clearly annotate your document in a way which will provide the document reader with information such as:
    • which part of the assignment is this?
    • what is being done and why?
    • how was it done and what are the results?
    • how was an equation (formula) obtained and how was it used?
    • if calculation results are included, always include a set or sets of sample calculations.
    • if a computer was used in a solution, provide appropriate hard-copy documentation validating originality of author's work.  Include adequate explanatory comments, give spreadsheet cell formulas, and present sample calculations.
    • DEFINITIONS OF SYMBOLS AND PARAMETERS.
  8. You may not use circuit design software tools alone to complete homework without prior permission. You may use such tools to check homework hand analyses.

 

The author's sense of professional pride should be discernible from the manner of information presentation.

 

WEB SITES FOR PRODUCTS, STANDARDS, PROJECTS, PATENTS, ETHICS, \& OTHER INFORMATION:

 

  1. Engineering design/development information sources and aids: http://www.tinaja.com/eeweb01.html; http://eeshop.unl.edu/netsites.html
  2. EEM Local Sources: http://eemlocalsources.com
  3. Electronic Products: http://electronicproducts.com; http://www.techonline.com
  4. IC datasheets: http://icmaster.com
  5. Ethics: http://www.ieee.org/ (search on ethics); http://www.onlineethics.org/ and http://www.niee.org/pd.cfm?pt=AECM
  6. Sensors: http://www.sensorsmag.com
  7. Standards: http://www.nssn.org; http://wwwclassic.ccsds.org/ and http://www.irda.org; http://www.nema.org
  8. Electronic Design: http://www.elecdesign.com
  9. Components purchase: http://www.newark.com; www.netbuy.com; www.digikey.com space exploration: http://www.nss.org/apollo; http://www.planetarysociety.org/; Intl. Space Station: www.nasa.gov
  10. Engineering Registration: http://www.ncees.org; http://www.nspe.org/lc-home.asp; http://www.michigan.gov/engineers; http://www.els-examreg.org
  11. Human Powered Flight: http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/Daedalus/HTML/index.html
  12. Electronic Engineer Master:  http://eemonline.com

 

Waldo library has a large number of literature search databases available at http://www.wmich.edu/library/. The databases Ei Compendex Plus, IEEE Xplore, and INSPEC are particularly valuable to ECE.

 

Course Schedule
(a tentative schedule for the semester was provided in class; the online schedule will be frequently updated as the semester progresses)

H/Os = ECE 4810 Handouts

class #

date

activity

WEEK 1

        1              

9/3

course introduction

discuss course learning objectives, syllabus, plagiarism

discuss ideal 4810/20 project and importance of engineering notebooks

 

1.      read Middendorf to section 1.3 (Design Overview)

2.      read Middendorf CH 6 (Alternative Designs and Inventions)

3.      read memo on 4810/20 as a writing course (pg. 12 H/Os)

4.      academic honesty policy (pg. 13 H/Os)

5.      read plagiarism test (pg. 14 H/Os)

6.      read 4810 patent policy (pg. 15 H/Os)

7.