Electronic Engineering Department

Final Year Projects

September 2008

Project Selection(ECE Students)

• All ECE students MUST make a selection to do either an EE or IT supervised project

• This MUST be done before FRIDAY, September 12th, 2008

• Complete a Project Selection Form in the Electronic Engineering Departmental Office

• Any students who do not complete the form by this date will be assigned at the discretion of the EE Department

Project Selection(ECE Students)

• This is an official university module selection procedure and cannot be changed

• If an IT project is selected:– Procedures laid down by IT department– Up to IT department to supervise, fund, technically

support and mark the project– Any issues with the project must be dealt with by IT

department in the first instance

Project Specification

• All EE supervised projects will be outlined in a project specification document

• This short document will:– Describe the project in sufficient detail such that the

student can immediately start researching– Identify milestones which must be achieved in order

for the project to be considered (1) Pass, (2) Average, (3) Good, (4) Very Good and (5) Exceptional

Project Specification

• This document will be given to the student at the start of the project

• The “milestones” may be changed during the project

• The milestones are only indicators regarding final marks

• Final mark will be based on overall performance

Deliverables

• Initial Project Presentation (Week of September 29th, 2008)

• Maintain a project Web Page (October 27th, 2008) • Maintain a project notebook• Progress report (January 12th, 2009)• Project Progress Presentation (Week of January 12th,

2009)• Progress meeting (Week of January 19th, 2009)• Draft final report (March 19th, 2009)• Final report (March 25th, 2009)• Oral and practical presentation (Week of March 30th,

2009)

Initial Project Presentation

• The Initial Project Presentation should – Last no more than 10 minutes– Be prepared by the student after discussion with

their supervisor– Be a based on project specification– Illustrate initial research carried out on the project

area and identify alternative designs– Include a project timetable

• There is an expectation that some actual work will also have been undertaken at this stage!

Project Notebook

• Project notebook must be a hard bound copy or notepad

• Outline planned work for each week/two weeks• Outline completed work for each week/two

weeks• Detailed design material should be maintained

in notebook• Meeting attendance sheet will be provided and

must be permanent attached to the notebook

Progress Presentation

• Progress Presentation should be– Concise (no more than 10 minutes)– Summaries aims of project– Outline details of all work completed to date– Proposed a schedule on how the remaining

time is going to be spent

Progress Meeting

• Exclusively carried out by the co-supervisor

• Aim is to provide the student with an unbiased view of their progress to date

• A brief report must be compiled outlining the opinions of the co-supervisor– Student is provided with a copy of this

report

Progress and Final Report

• Progress report should be emphasised as potentially forming the basis of the final report

• In addition to background material on the project, it should clearly identify the progress made to date

• The format of both reports will be standardised and students MUST adhere to these guidelines

Final Report

• A draft version of final report must be submitted to project supervisor by March 19th, 2009

• This must be a single printed document which will be reviewed and returned to the student

• The final project report must take into account all comments made by the supervisor after reviewing the draft report

Final Report

• The final report must be submitted by March 25th, 2009• TWO copies must be submitted

– The departmental copy must be a single printed SOFT BOUND report

• Any software developed must be included by means of a CD/DVD included in a pouch at the back of the report

• Submitted to the departmental secretary– The supervisor’s copy must be a single PDF document

submitted directly to the supervisor by email• Any software developed should be included in an additional

ZIP file

• Please review information concerning report structure on project web-page– Particular emphasis on use of references and appendices

Oral and Practical Presentation

• This final presentation will combine– Oral presentation by the student– Practical demonstration of project– Detailed Q&A session

• Both supervisor and co-supervisor will attend the presentations

• Held soon after submission of final report

Marking Process

• Overall mark is calculated based on – Milestones achieved (65%)– Overall Student Performance (35%)

• The latter will take into account issues such as:– Quality of reports– Student’s commitment to the project– Student’s design input into the project– Maintenance of notebook and web-page– Attendance in labs and at meetings – Other items

Project Procedures

• Formal project procedure document is displayed on the departmental web-page in due course

• This will outline– Deliverables and dates– Responsibilities of student– Penalties for late submission and plagiarism– Required structure of progress and final

reports

Project Prizes

• Ryan Hanley/Siemens Prize– Faculty level prize (typically held in March)

• Nortel Prize– Department level prize held after written

examinations

• Several other national prizes for EE/ECE related projects