ECE 4334: Capstone Design Fall 2009 Welcome ! Facilitator: Dr. Len Trombetta

The Idea…  Students work on team projects sponsored by UH, industry, and government.  The atmosphere is as much like a real- world working environment as possible.  Communications skills (both written and oral) are important to the success of any project, and will be emphasized here.

The Bottom Line…  You and your team are responsible for your project and its success. You are expected to act professionally, which means…  You take your work seriously and do what is necessary to get the job done: no excuses.  You show up on time for class, writing center activities, and meetings with your faculty and industry consultants.  You “pull your weight” on the team.

Organization  Teams: Three or four students.  Cohorts: Three to four teams with similar technical issues.  Your project will be assigned one or more of the following.  Engineer: A technical contact who is familiar with your project.  Faculty Consultant: A UH faculty member who is familiar with the project.  Facilitator: A course instructor who will provide overall guidance and handle administrative issues.

Course Web Sites  : Posting of all documents: assignments, instructions, syllabus, schedule…  Blackboard: Used for and grade posting  Be sure your account is set up properly for forwarding  Drop Box on /…/ece4334  Submission of reports and presentations.  DO NOT send files to instructors by , unless instructed to do so.

Projects and Proposals  Teams that have not had projects approved by the facilitators will compete for projects by submitting a brief proposal.  Proposal Contents:  Who is on your team?  Why is your team the best choice?  How are you going to approach the project?  Provide 1-2 paragraphs for 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd choices.  Bring to class on Wed morning, Aug 26 th.

Assignments Major Presentations (see schedule):  Individual  Progress Reports  1 written; 1 oral  Evaluation of oral presentation by students  Team  Project Prototype Demo (early November)  Technical Report (final report on project results)  Poster and Oral Presentations  Final Project Demo (finals week)

Assignments Other Oral/Written Assignments  Team Planning Reports  Brief presentation during Cohort meetings  Progress, time, and budget information  Other reports  Terms of Reference  Statement of Work (with mid-semester Prototype)  Other duties as assigned

Writing Instruction  UH Writing Center: You will schedule a one-time individual writing instruction session with a consultant just prior to submitting your written report.  Dr. Chad Wilson will be presenting class instruction on report writing, poster presentation, and oral presentation.

Writing Center Consultation  Consultation: Schedule this one week prior to the due date of your written assignment.  Requirement: bring completed draft to your consultation.  Electronic copy to DropBox before your consultation (see schedule).  Evaluation by facilitators to determine that a complete draft was prepared.

Meetings  Facilitator meetings (by Cohort)  Two cohorts per MW Section (9 – 10:30; 10:30 – noon)  Group technical discussion  Lecture material, guest lectures  Administrative issues  Presentations  All cohorts attend all presentations  Progress Reports by individual students  Technical Report by teams (end-of-semester)

The First Week  Monday Aug 24 th  Review Projects  Begin forming teams  Wednesday Aug 26 th  Q & A  Submit Proposal requesting project  Friday Aug 28 th  Project assignments posted on web site  Cohort, student letter assigned

First Facilitator Meeting  Due midnight Fri Sep 4 th to Drop Box :  Terms of Reference  Business and technical content of your project.  Time and budget estimates.  Project Template  Scheduling  Budgeting

Project Management  Proper project management …  …greatly improves the probability of success.  …is very “real world”- you will be expected to do it for your employer.  Scheduling  Budgeting: personnel as well as equipment costs  Terminology…

Terminology  Goal: A succinct statement of what it is you are trying to accomplish; the bottom line.  Customer: Who you are doing this for.  Phase: A period of time during which certain major tasks are expected to get done or milestones reached.  Milestone: An intermediate accomplishment. It is specific, concrete, verifiable, and important to the project. Your project should have 3 – 5 of them.  A milestone is a specific date, not a range of dates.  Deliverable: What the customer wants.  Tasks: The daily things you do to get the job done.

Example  Goal: Build an autonomous robot that traverses a maze until it locates a STOP sign.  Customer: Faculty consultant (Dr. Glover)  Milestones (some examples):  Demonstrate a working vision system that recognizes a stop sign.  Microprocessor algorithm guides robot through turn at an intersection.  Robot stops at STOP sign.

Example  Deliverables:  Designs for mechanical and electronic subsystems.  A working prototype of the robot.  A flowchart of the algorithm for traversing the maze systematically.  A report to your customer outlining your progress and any problems you may be having.  Tasks (NOT milestones):  Ordering parts.  Researching microprocessor possibilities.  Assembling the robot.