EE 403W – Electronic Designs and Analog and Digital Interfacing

Designation:

Required (or replaced by EE 402W) for Electrical Engineering students

Catalog Data:

Project designs of analog and digital systems, interfacing, and relevant electronic circuits, with an emphasis on technical communication skills.

Prerequisites by topic:

  1. Fundamentals of technical writing
  2. Fundamentals of public speaking and discussions
  3. Competency in all core EE "C-or-better" material
  4. Competency in two EE technical electives.

Course Objectives:

  1. Complete a capstone design project that is often interdisciplinary in nature, integrating the knowledge obtained in previous EE classes
  2. Accurately communicate their project results, both in written report and in oral presentation formats
  3. Understand how teams work and how to interact in a team setting
  4. Understand schedules and deadlines
  5. Understand what it is like to work in industry
  6. Appreciate the role of engineering in society, and the complexity of ethical issues

Topics:

Throughout the semester, most of the lecture periods are devoted to general topics concerning professional engineering issues. The subjects of these lectures vary but generally are concerned with “life as an engineer” topics that are not purely technical in nature. Topics typically include entrepreneurship, job interviewing, whether to go to graduate school, ethics, intellectual property, presentation techniques, technical writing, project management, engineering economics, etc. Many of these lectures are held jointly with students from EE 402W, which is an alternative course. Roughly one half of the weekly lectures are provided by the instructors of the course, and the remainder of the lectures are provided by guest speakers from industry.

Class/laboratory schedule:

Two 50-minute lectures, one 180-minute laboratory per week

Computer Usage:

The use of a computer in providing a technical solution varies by the choice of the particular project that a team develops. All teams use application software to prepare written reports and create presentations.

Laboratory projects and assignments:

In the “standard sections” of EE 403W, several two-week projects are assigned to each team at the start of the course. These assignments focus on interfacing techniques, such as interfacing between multistage analog systems or between analog and digital systems. The experiments involve design, construction, testing, analyzing and writing engineering reports of circuit subsystems. The intent is for the student to gain experience with the difficulties that can occur when projects are designed that are more complex than simple subfunctions. The remainder of the course laboratory work is devoted to a student-specified, instructor-approved, project. These projects may require subdivision of the work between the team members, which is often done by the specialty interests of the individual team members, (software vs. hardware, for example).

In the “industrial strength” sections of EE 403W, the laboratory work immediately starts at the beginning of the semester on a project that is specified and supported either by an industrial sponsor or by a community service organization (EPICS – Engineering Projects in Community Service). Often the student design teams include members from ME, Aero, IE, or CSE in addition to EE. In all sections, the student teams report their progress to the instructor in a weekly management review format.

About one third of the course is devoted to technical communication issues. The students must develop good laboratory documentation techniques. Copies of their laboratory notebooks are collected, evaluated, and returned to the student. Students must also prepare a detailed project proposal. Engineering reports are required on completion of each of the required assignments in the “standard” sections, while biweekly reports are required in the “industrial” sections. Oral presentations are required for the preliminary and critical design reviews. The students must also submit a final written report, and each student team makes either a final oral presentation (“standard”) or product showcase poster (“industrial”) at the end of the semester.

Contribution to meeting the professional component:

Most of the course is devoted to a major design experience that builds on knowledge gained in previous courses. Text material that was covered in ED&G 100 (The Design Process, Development Processes and Organization, Identifying Customer Needs, Product Specifications, Concept Generalizations, Concept Selection, The Role of Ethics in Engineering Design, Engineering as Social Expression, Workplace Responsibilities and Rights, Global Issues) is provided again as a required reference for guidance during the design process. “Life as an engineer” lectures and discussions are provided to help change the mindset of the participants from “I am a student” to “I am an engineer.”

Relationship to program outcome:

EE 402W/403W require the student to integrate knowledge obtained in various courses into a capstone design project (Outcome 3.1.2). Practicing engineers are brought to the classroom for discussions with students on the role and responsibilities of the professional (Outcome 4.1). Outcome 4.2 (appreciation of life-long learning) naturally occurs when the students recognize that they must find needed information on their own (as often mentioned in their reflective writing assignment) and through an explicit discussion during a lecture. Successful project completion requires good teamwork skills (Outcome 5.1). Guidance is provided for required oral presentations, written reports, and laboratory notebooks, which are major parts of these course experiences (Outcome 5.2). Outcome 6 (an understanding of the practicing engineer’s role and responsibility to society) is reinforced through several classroom discussions about ethics, team diversity, economics, etc.