PROJECT DESCRIPTION

• The project must involve design and should build on past courses undertaken in the curriculum. It

should involve many of the following features: synthesis, analysis, construction, testing,

simulations, and evaluations; and should take into account realistic constraints. The

implementation aspect of the project may take a variety of forms such as development of a

computer program, development of a hardware prototype, development of a SPICE simulation, etc.

However, all projects should have the following common aspects:

Design – Plan – Implement – Test – Evaluate - Report

• Every project must have an ECE Department faculty project advisor.

Nominal Project Time-Line

• Mar-2014 : Discuss general project requirements and concepts.

• Apr-2014 : Identify project topic, and ECE faculty project advisor.

• May-2014 : Develop initial project plan before leaving for summer vacation and

submit the same to the project coordinator

• Jun-2014 : Prepare and present written and oral project proposal for scrutinizing

and approval

• Jul-Nov, 2014 : Work on project phase-1

• Dec-2014 : Prepare and present written project progress report for phase-1

• Dec-2014 : Project work Viva-Voce for phase-1

• Jan-Apr, 2015 : Continue work on project phase-2

• Apr- 2015 : Prepare and submit written project final report for phase-2

• Apr-2015 : Project work Viva-Voce for phase-2

Can I select a Project associated with Off Campus?

• Absolutely, if you are working for pay or experience or internships at a local engineering company,

it is perfectly reasonable to select a project topic associated with that work.

• However,

– Your project must have an ECE faculty advisor, even if the project’s primary technical

advisor is not from the ECE Department.

– The aspect of your work that you use as a project must involve individual contributions

from you in all stages of design, planning, implementation, testing, evaluation and

reporting.

– Your individual responsibilities must be clearly spelled out in the proposal, progress report

and final report.

Can I change my Projects Topic once it has been approved?

• Maybe. It is possible to change projects during the beginning of the semester, however this is NOT

encouraged. For a student to change a chosen and approved project to a new project several steps

must be done.

– First the student should talk to the current faculty project advisor and discuss the reason

for the desire to change project topics.

– If the advisor agrees, then the student must find a willing faculty member to advise them

on the new topic.

– Finally, the student should discuss the matter with the Project Coordinator (instructor). If a

change is approved, the student must fill out a new project selection form. In addition, a

proposal must be pared for the new project and presented to the Instructor.

How do I find a Topic for my Project?

• attend lecture classes, invited talks, ECE Association meetings and Research Conventions where

opportunities will be discussed.

• Talk to VLSI seniors, graduate students, and faculty to find out what is going on that might be

interesting to you.

• Talk to students and faculty in other departments.

• Browse journals and conference proceedings to see what the current trend is.

• Talk to yourself to discover your own interests.

How do I find a Faculty Project Advisor?

• Schedule individual meetings with faculty members that you think may be appropriate.

• Learn a little about the topic before meeting with a faculty member, to demonstrate your interest

in the topic.

• Be enthusiastic and realistic when at the meeting.

• Sell yourself – i.e. convince the faculty member it would be interesting for them to work with you.

What should be in the Written Proposal?

• Each student must write a project proposal, which must be approved by the project advisor and

instructor.

• The proposal should include at the beginning: the project title, author, faculty advisor, courses

involved, current date, and planned finish date. This should be followed by a general problem

definition, specific design objectives, an implementation and testing plan, and a budget estimate.

• In addition, a bar chart estimating the projected schedule of the implementation and testing plan

should be attached, as well as any supporting diagrams of your design scheme.

• Although the student is allowed latitude in the preparation of the proposal in consultation with the

project advisor, it is expected that each proposal will contain the major sections that are outlined

above.

• The proposal must be submitted as both a printed document and in electronic format, as either a

PDF or MS Word document file. The electronic version of the proposal should be emailed to the

instructor prior to the oral presentation. This document will be posted on the department website.

What does the Oral Proposal consist of?

• An oral presentation of the project proposal must be given to a group of faculty and peers.

• Each student must prepare a MS PowerPoint presentation of the proposed project.

• The entire presentation should be designed to present an oral summary of the project proposal,

taking between 10 and 15 min.

• The student should be prepared to answer questions.

• The project faculty advisor should review the presentation in advance in order to help the student

in this process.

• The PowerPoint presentation file should be emailed to the instructor before or shortly after the

oral presentation. This presentation will be posted on the department website.

Who comes to the Oral Proposal?

• All students involved in the project MUST be present AND participate in the oral presentation.

• Normally the student will be presenting to the project faculty advisor, the instructor and possibly

other students and faculty.

• The student should feel free to invite others to the presentation if they desire.

Who sets up the Oral Proposal?

• Once the student and the faculty advisor are satisfied with the written proposal, and the

preparation for the oral presentation has been done, the instructor will release a time, date, and

place for the presentation.

Project Evaluation

• The evaluation gives an unbiased measure of how well the design/implementation works.

• The evaluation can involve a variety of specifications:

– Work Progress and Achievements – Technical / Professional Competence – Documentation and Expression – Initiative and Originality – Well organized, and attends meetings on time – Makes positive contributions to the overall project effort – Works well under pressure – Takes appropriate responsibility – Produces high quality work

• For each project phase

– internal assessment: 50 marks and Project Viva-Voce: 50 marks – internal assessment marks of 50 is split into 10, 15 & 25 marks for Reviews – 1, 2 & 3 respectively.

Final Documentation

• At the end of each project phase, the final implementation of the design may “exist” as a specific

piece of hardware or software.

• All of the other aspects of the design project (the goals, the implementation process, the

intermediate test results, and the final evaluation) only “exist” as expressed in the content of the

final documentation.

• The final documentation is as important as the final implementation (possibly more important).

• The final documentation exists in the form of a poster to be presented and in the form of a final

written technical report.

What should be in the Written Final Report?

Typical content items:

– Abstract – Introduction – Background – Methods

– Results – Discussion & Conclusions – References

• Each student must write a project report before the end of the semester, which must be approved

by the project advisor and instructor.

• The progress report should include at the beginning: the project title, author, faculty advisor,

courses involved, current date, and planned finish date.

• This should be followed by a brief summary of the general problem definition, specific design

objectives, and implementation and testing plan. It is not necessary to repeat the entire proposal,

but there should be enough background information to assist in understanding the remainder of

the document.

• The bulk of the progress report should accurately summarize the progress made to date, any

unexpected problems encountered, and an evaluation of the progress made to date in terms of the

proposed project schedule. Although the student is allowed latitude in the preparation of the

progress report in consultation with the project advisor, it is expected that each progress report

will contain the major sections that are outlined above.

• The progress report must be submitted as both a printed document and in electronic format, as

either a PDF or MS Word document file. The electronic version of the progress report should be

emailed to the instructor prior to the end of the semester. This document will be posted on the

department website.

Step-By-Step Final Report Process

• Complete draft version of the written final report.

• Submit draft version to project faculty advisor for review.

• Update draft version based on advisor’s comments.

• Submit final version of written final report to faculty advisor and instructor before the end of the

semester.

Prepared by: Mr. A.V.M. Manikandan, Assistant Professor (Senior Grade), Department of ECE

Dated: 28th February 2014

Revision No.: 00 Date of revision: NA Revised by: NA