engineering project by shanmughavel hcl

7/31/2019 Engineering Project By Shanmughavel HCL

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Fin a l Yea r Project

Handbook

En gin eerin g Stu dents

S.Shanmughavel

HCL

Revision 3.0

November 2011


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Ta ble of Cont en ts

1. Th e Imp orta n ce of Fina l Yea r Projects 3

2. Ch oosing You r Project 4

3. Plan n ing, Execu ting, an d Mana gin g Your Project 5

3.1 Problem Iden tification 5

3.2 Requiremen ts Elicitat ion 6

3.3 Problem Modellin g 7

3.4 System s Ana lysis an d Specification 8

3.5 System Design 9

3.6 Modu le Imp lemen ta t ion an d System Integra t ion 103.7 Test ing an d Evalu at ion 10

3.8 Docu men ta t ion 11

3.9 Good Engineerin g Practice an d Safety Regu lations 11

3.10 Back to th e Begin n ing Mana ging Your Project 12

4. Docu m ent ing Your Project 15

4.1 Project Sp ecificat ion 15

4.2 In terim Progress Report 17

4.3 Final Report 19

4.4 Presenta t ions 22

4.5 A Very Sh ort Gu ide to Good Writin g 23

5. Projec t Assess men t an d Marking 25


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1. Th e Imp orta n ce of Fina l Yea r Projects

Your fina l year project is one of th e most importan t as pects of you r engineering degree. To

see why, lets look at a definition of engineering, taken from the IEEE.

En gineering is th at profession in which kn owledge of the m ath ema tical,compu tational, an d n atu ral sciences gaine d by stu dy, experience, an d practice is

ap plied with ju dgemen t to develop econ omically effective u se of ma tt er, ene rgy, an dinformation to the benefit of humankind.

En gine ering is first and foremost the ap plication of knowledge. However, th e app lication

mu st be carried out with judgement , to ensu re that the resu l tant system is effect ive andefficient, a nd th at it is of benefit (which raises th e issu e of th e ethical respon sibilities ofen gineers a topic for an other day). The final year project is one of the primary th e

mech an isms us ed by th e College to provide you with an opportu nity to gain experience inth e practical, effective, efficient, an d beneficial application of what you ha ve been stu dyingfor the past several years. Natura lly, you will continu e to gain engineering experience after

you gradu ate bu t th e final year p roject will be your first exposur e to the full rigour ofen gineerin g pra ctice. It is essen tial th at you learn from this exposu re an d pra ctise all ofth e engineering meth odologies involved. It is particu larly importan t th at you learn n ot just

to apply wha t you kn ow, but to apply it with jud gemen t, with the ability to ass ess what you

are doing a nd to be critical of it .

There is an other r eason why your fin al year project is so importa nt : it will inevitab ly be

u sed as a discrimin ator to decide h ow good an engineering stu dent you are. If you end u pwith a resu lt in you r degree examinations which is on th e borderline between one grade an dan other, the examiner s will look at how you performed in your project an d th en they will

make a decision as to which grade you should be assigned.

Finally, your final year project counts for 25% of your 5 t h Year ma rks an d 17.5% of you roverall degree mar k.

So, for the next 8 mont hs , you sh ould devote your self totally to your fin al year p roject.Think of it as your pa ssp ort to th e engineering profession your formal stu dies ar e yourticket bu t withou t you r pa ssp ort, you can t tra vel. Note, however, tha t you sh ouldnt

ne glect you r other studies in th e pu rsu it of your project: a pa ss port is u seless withou t aticket!

Now tha t we ha ve esta blish ed th e importan ce of you r fina l year project, lets look at th eimportan t issues in purs u ing it . Ther e are four principal concern s:

1. Choosing a project

2. Plan ning, executing, an d man aging your project3. Docum enting you r project

4. Assess men t of your project

We will look at each of these in the following sections.


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2. Ch oosing You r Project

Given th at you are going to spend a lot of time working on your pr oject, it is essen tial th at

you pick a project which you like an d which you ar e capa ble of doin g. Note tha t th ese are

n ot neces sar ily th e sam e thin gs: just becau se you like a part icular project doesnt meanyou are qualified to do it . You may not ha ve tak en all of th e requisite cours es or it may be

a more theoretically-aligned project whereas you might be a more pra ctically-orienteden gineerin g stu dent (or vice versa). Thin k long and ha rd before ma king you r final choice.At the very least, you sh ould take the following steps in as sessing an d choosing an

appropriate topic.

1. Find out wha t are you r options.

A list of projects pr oposed by aca demic staff will be distributed t o you in week 1.You sh ould:

Read all the d escriptions

Identify the ones th at interest you

Read them a gain

2. Make a sh ort-list of thr ee pr ojects.

3. Thin k abou t proposing your own project. Using the descr iptions you h ave rea d as aguideline, write your own proposa l. Note, h owever, th at the feasibility an d su itabilityof your proposal will ha ve to be ass essed before it can be added to you r list. Su bmit

you r proposa l to the Project Coordina tor who will ha ve it reviewed by an a ppropr iatemem ber of sta ff.

4. Go an d talk to th e su pervisors (i.e. the member of sta ff who proposed the project or th epers on nomin ated by the pr oject coordina tor in th e case of you r own proposal).

5. Go away an d write down what you th ink the project is about .

6. Su bmit a ran ked project selection form to th e project coordinat or by th e end ofWeek 2.

7. Your selections will n ow be reviewed by the project coordina tion pan el.

8. A list of allocated projects will b e pu blished in Week 3.

9. Now you can begin your project in earn est you sh ould begin by m aking aprelimina ry plan (see n ext section).


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3. Plan n in g, Executing, a n d Man a gin g You r Project

Most stu dent s ha ve no idea how to begin their project. This is u nd ersta n dable: it is th efirst time they will have had t o tackle a lar ge amou nt of work th at is proba bly poorly defined

(th e project descriptions provided by lecturers a re rarely complete!) To get star ted, it helpsto know th e key activities tha t resu lt in a su ccessful project. Th ey are:

1. Problem ident ification2. Requirements elicitation

3. Problem m odelling4. System an alysis an d specification

5. System design

6. Module implementa tion an d system integration7. System test and evaluat ion

8. Documentat ion9. Project man agement

3.1 Problem Iden tification

Problem Identification involves a lot of backgroun d work in the gen eral area of th e problem.

Norm ally it calls for th e us e of prior experience, typically experience you m ay not yet ha ve.It requ ires an a bility to look at a dom ain (e.g. telecomm u nications or engine cont rol) an d toidentify th e iss u e th at nee ds to be ad dress ed an d the problem to be solved (e.g. elimina tion

of noise or cross-ta lk on a commu nication chan nel, or en gine control fortemp eratu re-depen dent fuel efficiency). It also requ ired an un dersta ndin g of the theoreticalissu es by which we can model the problem. So, th e first thin g you n eed to do in your

project is become an expert in the problem at ha nd : a problem-doma in expert.

At the s am e time, you a lso need to kn ow how to ha n dle th e tools th at will enable you to

solve th e problem. Thes e might include the operat in g system , th e programm ing lan gu age,

th e a pplication program m ing inter face (API) definitions , class librar ies, toolkits, or anyap plication-specific an alysis u tilities. Tha t is, you also nee d to become a solution-domain

expert.

The only way to become an expert in both the problem domain an d the solution domain

is to learn a s mu ch as possible ab out the area an d to learn it as qu ickly an d efficiently aspossible. Many people come un stuck at this fi rs t s tep an d they launch thems elves intoa frenzy of u nst ru ctur ed resear ch, read in g mu ch but learnin g little. Here are some tips

to avoid th is hap pening.

Collect an y pa pers, articles, book chapters you can on the area an d make a copy foryour own personal archive.

Make su re you keep a fu ll citation index, i.e., you m us t record exactly where every

ar ticle you copy comes from . Typically, you n eed to record th e title of th e ar ticle, th eau thors , the nam e of the magazine/ jour nal / book, the volum e an d nu mber of theourna l or ma gazine, an d the page nu mbers. If i ts a cha pter in a book an d the au thor

of th e chap ter is different from t he editor of th e book, you n eed to record both sets ofn am es .

Not all th e art icles you collect will be equa lly relevan t or imp ortan t. Cons equen tly, itsnot efficient to give each of th em the sa me atten tion. But its not easy to know


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super v i sor iden t i fy exact ly what he want s . That s what good engineers do : th ey helpp eo p l e u n d e r s t an d wh a t t h ey wan t an d t h en t h ey b u il d it fo r t h e m . H ere s h o w y ou d o i t .

1. Ta lk t o your sup e rv i sor .

2. Wri te down every th ing he or she says (by write down I me an tak e no tes o f h i s o rher words).

3 . Wri te up every th ing he or she says (by write up I m ean express what your

supe rv i sor sa id in your own words).

4. Bui ld a docum ent de sc r ib ing wha t you t h ink i s r equi red .

5 . G o b a c k t o y ou r s u p e r vi s o r a n d a s k fo r h e r o r h i s co m m e n t s .

6 . R e t u r n t o s t e p 1 , a n d k e e p r e t u r n i n g u n t i l y o u a r e b o t h h a p p y w i t h y o u r

r e qu i r e m e n t s d o c u m e n t .

T h i s a l l t r an s l a t e s i n t o on e s i m p l e ru l e : f in d ou t w h a t y ou w an t t h e fi n a l s y s t em t o d o an d

how i t should behave, wr i te i t down, andget everyone involved to agree to i t in wr i t ing .And dont spar e th e det a i l : every s i n g l e a s p e c t o f w h a t s w a n t e d s h o u l d b et e a s e d o u t a n d a g r e e d : w h a t it d o e s , w h a t it d o es n t d o , h o w t h e u s e r is t o u s e i t or h o wi t co m m u n i ca t e s wi t h t h e u s e r , wh a t m es s ag es it d i sp l ay s , h o w i t beh av es w h en t h e u s e ra s k s i t t o d o s o m et h i n g it ex p ec t s , an d e s p ec ia l ly h o w i t b eh av es w h en t h e u s e r a s k s i t

t o d o s o m et h i n g i t d o es n t ex p ec t .

This p rocess i s ca l l ed requi rements generat ion . I t s a l so cal l edrequi rements el ic i ta t ion

b ecau s e it r e f l ec t s b e t t e r t h e f ac t t h a t y o u h av e t o w o rk ac t i ve l y wi t h t h e c li en t t o fi n d o u tw h a t t h ey r ea l l y wan t ( a s o p p o s ed t o w h a t t h ey i n i t i a l ly s ay t h ey w an t , w h i ch i s aco m p l e t e l y d if fe r en t t h i n g). Pe rh ap s i t s h o u l d b e ca l led req u ir em en t s ex t r ac t i o nbecause i t s

som e t imes l i ke pu l li ng t ee th (bu t , o f course , no t i n t h e ca se of any of t he E t i sa l a tUniver s i ty College sup ervisors!) Once you h a v e be e n t h ou g h t h e r e qu i re m e n t s

e l ic i t a t i o n p ro ces s s ev e ra l t i m es an d y o u a r e h ap p y t h a t y o u r ea l ly k n o w wh ere y o uw an t t o g o , y o u m u s t w r it e it d o w n a n d g e t e ve r y o n e c o n c e r n e d t o a gr e e t o i t . T h i st h e n b e c o m e s p a r t o f t h e s y s t e m s p e c i fi c a t i o n : i t s a y s w h a t y o u a r e go i n g t o d o . B u t

t h a t s t h e s u b j e c t o f t h e s e c t i o n a f t e r n e x t .

3 .3 Prob lem Mode l ling

O n ce y o u k n o w t h e r eq u i r em en t s , an d a r e an ex p e r t i n t h e p ro bl em d o m ai n , y o u canab s t r ac t t h e p ro b lem fro m t h e p ro b lem s p ace an d m o d e l i t co m p u t a t i o n a l ly : t h is m ean sw e can i d en t i fy t h e t h eo re t i ca l t o o l s we n eed t o s o lv e t h e p ro bl em . E x am p l esi n c lu d e s t a t i s t i ca l an a l y s is for t h e e l im i n a t i on o f n o i s e o n t h e co m m u n i ca t i o n ch an n e l ,ch a rac t e r i za t i on o f t h e r e la t i o n s h i p b e t w een fu e l co n s u m p t i o n an d en g in ee r c y li n d e r

t em p era t u re fo r t h e en g i n e co n t ro l ; t h e ex t ract ion of fac ia l fea ture s from images , and th e

s t a t i s t ica l c l as s i fi ca t i o n t ech n i q u es u s ed t o m a t ch t h es e fea t u re w it h f aces in a d a t ab as e .

This is the foundat ion of a l l eng ineer ing an d sc ience: th e creat ion of a r igorous usu al lym a t h em at i ca l d es c r i p t i on o f t h e r ea l p h y s i ca l p ro b lem t o b e ad d res s ed , b e it co n t r o l,

co m m u n i ca t i o n s , e l ect ro n i c s , o r s o m e c o m p u t a t i o n a l m o d e l . F o r e x a m p l e , i f y o u r p r o b le m c o n c e r n e d w it h p a c k e t r o u t i n g , y o u m i g h t r e p r e s e n t i t u s i n g a gr a p h a n d


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deploy form al graph t he oret ic t oo l s fo r it s a nalys i s ; i f your p rob lem i s conce rne d withs ignal analys i s , you might choose a Four ier represen ta t ion or an e igen-vector

r ep res en t a t i o n an d d ep lo y t h e ap p ro p r i a t e t h eo rem s i n Fou r i e r an a l ys i s o r li n ea r s y s t emth eory . I f your p rob lem i s to do with bu i ld ing a database , you wi l l p robably m odel th e

s y s t em wi t h an en t i t y - r e la t i o n s h i p d i agram an d v a li d a t e t h e m o d e l b y n o rm a l iza t i o n .

The k ey to a l l suc cess fu l engineer ing i s theu se of an expl ic i t m odel : if you dont h ave a

m odel , you are p robably no t do ing en gineer in g . Conn ect ing comp onent s (o r l ines o f code)t o g e t h e r i s n o t en g in ee r i n g , i r r e sp ec t i v e of wh e t h e r it w o rk s or n o t . Wit h o u t t h e m o d e ly o u wo n t b e ab le t o an a ly ze t h e s y s t em an d , t h e reb y , m ak e fi rm s t a t em en t s ab ou t i t s

ro b u s t n es s , o p e ra t i n g p a ram et e r s , an d l i m i t a t i o n s .

You m ay a l so wish t o cons ide r t h e use of a s y m b o l ic m a t h e m a t i c s p a c k a g e s u c h a sM a p le i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f y o u r m a t h e m a t i c a l m o d e l .

3 . 4 Sy s t e m s An a ly s i s a n d Sp e c i fi c a t i o n

Wi t h t h e r eq u i r em en t s d o cu m en t , p ro bl em d e f in i t i o n , an d co m p u t a t i o n a l m o d e li d en t i fi ed , w e can n o w s ay ex act l y wh a t o u r s y s t em w i ll d o an d u n d e r w h a t c i r cu m s t an ces

i t wi ll do i t . This i s th e sys tem speci f ica t ion . In wr i t ing th e speci f i ca t ion , you should

b egi n wi t h t h e r eq u ir em en t s d o cu m en t an d t h en y ou sh o u l d i d en t i fy t h e fo l lo wi n g .

T h e s y s t e m fu n c t i o n a li t y

Th e ope ra t i ona l pa ram e te r s (condi t i ons un de r wh ich your sys t em wil l ope ra t e ,

i nc lud ing requi red sof tware and h a rdware sys t ems ) Fa i lur e modes and a c t i ons on fa i lu re

Lim i t a t i ons & re s t r i c t i ons

User i n t e r face or sys t em in t e r face

I t sh ould a l so i nc lude1

1. A fun c t i ona l mode l . Thi s will usu a ll y t ak e t h e form of a func t i ona l decom pos i t i on :a h i e ra rch i ca l b reakdown of t h e m a jor func t i on a l b locks i nvolved i n t h e

process ing / ana lys i s / t r an s forma t ion . Typi ca ll y , t h i s wi ll be a m odula rd e c o m p o s i t io n of t h e c o m p u t a t i o n a l m o d e l . E a ch le a f n o d e in t h e fu n c t io n a l

decomp os i t i on t r ee shou ld have a shor t de sc r i p t i on of t h e fun c t i ona l i t y p rov ided ,

t h e i n form a t ion (da t a ) i npu t , and t he i n form a t ion (da t a ) ou t pu t .

2 . A d a t a m o d e l . T h e id en t i f ica t i o n of t h e m a j ord a t a - s t ru c t u res t o be u s ed t o

r ep res en t i n p u t , ou t p u t , an d t em p o ra ry i n form a t i on . Th i s i s s o m et i m es k n o wn as ad a t a d ic t i o n a ry . N ot e t h a t we a r e n o t i n t e r e s t ed h e re i n t h e i m p l em en t a t i o n o f

t h e d a t a -st ru ctu res (e .g . linked l is t , t rees , ar rays ) bu t with th e

iden t i fi ca t ion of th e data i t se l f .Ve r y o ft e n , i t i s u s e fu l t o u s e e n t i t y -r e l at i o n s h i p d i a g r a m s t o c a p t u r e t h e d a t a m o d e l.

3. A process - flow mode l . This m odel speci f i es what data f lows in to and ou t o f each funct ional b lock ( i. e . in to an d ou t o f t h e l ea f n o d e s i n t h e fu n c t i o n a l

1 T h es e t e rm s r e fe r t o t h e p ro ced u ra l or i m p era t i ve p ro g ram m i n g m o d e l; d if fe r en t b u tr e l a t ed t e rm s ap p l y t o t h e o b jec t -or i en t ed m o d e l.


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decom pos i t ion t ree) . Norm al ly , data- f low d iagrams are use d to convey th i s

in format ion , and ar e o rganized in several l evels (i . e . DFD level 0 , DFD level 1 , e tc . )T h e lev e l ze ro DFD i s equ i v a len t t o t h e s y s t em a rch i t ec t u re d i agram an d s h o w st h e s o u rces an d s i n k s o f i n fo rm a t i o n o u t s i d e y ou r s y s t em .

4 . A behavioural m odel . This wi ll typ ical ly use a s ta t e- t rans i t ion d iagram tos h o w t h e b eh av i o u r o f t h e s y s t em o v er t i m e , i . e . t h e d i ff e r e n t s t a t e s i t ca n b e i n , t h ee ve n t a n d t r i g ge r s t h a t c a u s e a c h a n g e i n s t a t e , a n d t h e fu n c t i o n a l b lo c k s a s s oc i a t e d

w it h e a c h s t a t e . I t i s a l s o o f t en us e fu l to c rea te a con t ro l - f low

d i a gr a m : a v e r s i o n o f t h e d a t a - fl o w d ia g r a m w it h e v e n t s a n d t r i g ge r s

s u p e r i m p o s e d o n e a c h p r o c e s s .

5. A c lear an d deta i led defin i t ion of a l l th e use r and sys tem in t er faces ; one of th e

b es t w ay s o f en cap s u l a t i n g t h i s i n fo rm a t i o n i s t o c r ea t e a u s e r - m a n u a l .

Al l t h i s i n form a t ion i s co l l ec t ive ly kn own a s t he s y s t e m s p e c i f ic a t i o n a n d i s t h er e s u l t o f a n a c t i v i t y k n o w a s s y s t e m s a n a l y s i s.

Once you h ave t h i s spec i f ica t i on , be fore pro ceed i n g y o u m u s t r e t u rn an d s ee i f i t a c t u a l l ym a t ch e s wh a t t h e u s e r n eed s : i. e . y ou n eed t o v a li d a t e t h a t t h e s y s t em s p ec i fi ca t i o n sa t i s fi e s

t h e r eq u i r em en t s (y o u w ou l d b e s u rp r i s ed h o w o ft en i t d o es n t ).I f i t d o es , yo u can p ro ceed t o t h e n e x t ac t i v it y : s o ft w are d es i gn . I f i t d o es n t , t h en e it h e r t h ereq u i r em en t s w ere wro n g an d n ee d t o b e c h a n g e d , o r t h e s p e c i fi c a t i o n wa s w r o n g , a n dn e e d s t o b e c h a n g e d , o r , m o r e l ik e l y ,b o t h w e r e w r o n g a n d n e e d t o b e c h a n g e d .

Yo u s h o u l d g e t t h e e x p li c it a g r e e m e n t o f yo u r s u perv i sor that a l l i s in o rder . I f i t i sn t ,t h en y o u m u s t g o b ack t o r eq u i r em en t s i f n eces s a ry an d r ev i s e t h em an d t h e s p ec i fi cat i o n s(wi th your superv i sors agreeme nt on every th in g). Af ter th i s , you val idat e again , and you

k eep d o i n g t h i s u n t i l ev e ry o n e agrees . Th en , an d o n l y t h en , sh o u l d y ou p ro ceed t o t h e n ex tpha se of th e execut ion of your p ro ject : Des ign .

3 . 5 Sy s t e m D es ign

Yo u a re n o w i n a p o s it i o n t o d es i g n y o u r s y s t em u s i n g wh a t e v e r d es i gn m e t h o d o lo gy i sappr opr ia te fo r th e area (an d th ese wi ll inev i tab ly be speci f ic to the par t i cu lar area , be i tf il t er des ign , ampl i fi er des ign , soft ware des ign , an d so on). That sa id , th ere are a few

g en era l g u id e l in es t h a t ap p l y t o a l l a r eas :

Iden t i fy seve ra l de s ign op t i ons a lgor i t hm , da t a - s t ruc t ure s , fi le s , in t e r face

p r o t o c o ls a n d c o m p a r e t h e m .

Ana lyze your des ign t o ensu re i t i s t e chn i ca ll y fea s ib le (i . e . va l idate i t sreal i zab il ity ) . Rem embe r , you can t a lways bu i ld every t h in g you des ign , e i ther fo r

th eoret ica l reasons (ideal f il t ers , fo r example) o r for p ragm at ic rea sons (a 1 - Faradcap ac i t o r w o u ld m ak e fo r s o m e in t e r e s t i n g i m p l em en t a t i o n p ro b lem s ) .

Ana lyze your d es ign t o e nsu re i t m ee t s t he sp ec i fi ca t i ons (i . e . va li da t e i t s

opera t ional viabi l i ty)

C o s t y o u r sy s t e m (i . e . va li da t e i t s e conom ic v i ab il it y )

Choose t he bes t de s ign .You wi ll have t o d e fi ne wha t be s t m eans for you r

p ar t i cu l a r p ro j ec t . It m i gh t m ean t h e ch eap es t t o m an u fac t u re , i t m i g h t m ean t h efas t e s t , an d it m i g h t m ean t h e s m a l le s t i t a ll d ep en d s . It s u p t o y ou t o i d en t i fyt h e t e s t f or o p t i m a l i t y . As J o h n C a n n y i n MI T o n c e p u t i t wh e n


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comparing different filtering techniques: you choose your optimality criterion,

and you take your choice.

Note well that this is t he hallmark of good engineering: the practice of

qualitative and quantitative assessment of different options. Note too that ouroriginal definition of engineering is reflect ed in this design pr ocess: the creation

of effective, efficient, and beneficial systems.

3.6 Module Implementation & System Integration

Finally, we are at the point where we can build the hardware and/or write the software.There is not much to say here since the construction methodologies are so domainspecific, even more than in the case of design. However, there is one small piece ofadvice which is applicable to all areas:

use a modular constructi on approach. Dontattempt to build the entire system in one go in the hope that, when you switch iton or run it, it will work. This is the so-called Big Bang approach (everything comesinto existence at one instant) and its name is very appropriate for it almost always

results in initial chaos. It is much better to build (and test) each component or

modular sub-system individually and then link them or connect them together, againone component at a time.

3.7 Testing and Evaluation

Most undergraduate engineers (and some graduate ones) misunderstand the meaning ofthe word testing . They think it means showing that something works: their project,

for example. But it doesnt. Testing means much more than this. Certainly , youneed to show that it works ( i.e. t hat it meets the r equiremen ts and operat es according

to the specification), but a good testing strategy also attempts to break the system: toshow not where it works but where it fails. This is sometimes referred to as stresstesting. A well-engineered system will always have been stress-tested: that is, taken

beyond the point at which it was expected to operate to see how it behaves underunexpected circumstances. This is partic ularly important for safety-critical systems

(e.g. a heart pacemaker, an airline navigati on system, a stock-exchange transac tion processing system ). In engineering, we normally formalize the testing process by

referring to three distinct goals:

1.ValidationSimply stated, this test answers the questions: Have I built the right system? Does it

satisfy the requirements?

It may seem obvious, but youd be surprised the number oftimes that the system which is built isnt what is wanted at all. You shouldcompare the systems behaviou r with th e original requirements and system

specification. Validation is extremely im portant and it should be carried out with

great attention to detail.

2.VerificationIn this case, the questions are: Have I built the system right? Is it computing the

right answer? This is what most people understand by testing.

3.EvaluationFinally, we ask: How good is the system?

Again, the hallmark of good engineering: weseek to assess the systems performance and compare it to that of other similarsystems. Ideally, you should identify some quantitative metric by which to


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compare the systems, s ince num bers are the best an d perha ps the only way to

objectively describe perform an ce. For examp le, the mean time between failu res(MTBF) or the nu mb er of incorrect rejections in a pa ttern recognition system . Quiteoften, we use s tat ist ical measu res as our compar at ive metric, e.g. the m ean a nd

stan dard d eviat ion of some performance m easu re when th e system is su bjected to alarge variety of input parameters and conditions.

3.8 Documenta t ion

We n oted ear lier that writin g is an essen tial par t of un dersta nd ing. We note it againhe re but in a different sens e. In this case, writing is essential in order for others to

un derstan d wha t you ha ve don e. There are two reasons why you want others tounderstand your work:

1. So tha t you can be given credit for i t (you r fin al mar k depen ds on it );

2. So tha t others can carry on you r work an d develop or ma in tain your system.

It is extrem ely imp ortan t tha t you docum ent you r work at every stage of your project. Wesaw already that documenta t ion is essent ial in the ini t ial reading-in, requirements , andspecification pha ses bu t it is equ ally importa nt in the design, implement ation, test, an d

main tenance phases .

The best way to organ ize you r writing is to keep a log book of all work in pr ogress . Yoush ould go out a nd bu y a nice ha rd-cover notebook an d write everything you do on theproject into this log book every day . Every thou ght and obs ervation you ha ve on you r

project should go into this book, along with n otes of meetings with your su pervisor, resu lts,th eoretical developmen ts , calcu lations , everythin g. Th is log book will becom e an

invalua ble sour ce of ma terial when you come to write up your pr oject in th e final report.

However, dont wait u ntil the end of th e project to begin the process of form al

docum enta tion. At th e en d of each phas e of th e project (or at th e end of each task) yoush ould write up a formal report on that ph ase. These reports will , in turn, become anexcellent bas is for you r fina l report.

Finally, there is one other form of documen tation which you will ha ve to create du ring

your project. This is th e project present ation. Since the final report and th e projectpres enta tions a re so imp ortan t, we will devote all of th e section 4 to these topics.

3.9 Good Engineering Practice an d Safety Regu lations

Projects requiring the constr uction of ph ysical models will be allocated dedicatedben ch-sp ace in th e labora tory. If an y other sp ecial facilities ar e requ ired, you shou ld

inform the Superinten dent Techn ician. In ch oosin g electronics componen ts for

experiments you sh ould try to ma ke us e of sta n dar d componen ts. Orders for specializedcompon ents m ay be su bmitted to the Project Techn icians if th ere is no equivalent stock

item. However, n o responsibility is accepted for the effects of su pply lead time.

A record of all compon ents a nd pa rts u sed an d their cost will be entered on you r projectrecord card . Expenditu re ab ove a quoted ma ximu m limit mu st be referred to th e Project

Coordinator for signatu re.


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As we noted above, you m us t keep a log book during you r project in which to keep a fullda ted record of design work, th eoretical work, experimenta l resu lts, an d conclusions.Note instru ment n um bers in case the experiment has to be repeated in ident ical

circum stan ces. Project su pervisors , assessors , and examiners may ask to inspect yourlog book at an y time.

Projects involving the design an d const ru ction of equ ipment sh ould be performed in a

competen t an d well-engineer ed fashion with due regard to all relevan t safety regulations.If mech an ical constr uction is required, you sh ould apply to the technician who will advise

on the most sui table ma terials to use an d the meth ods of con struct ion. Th ereafter, a clear

sketch, drawn app roximately to scale, is required, with dimens ions included in metric un its .

In view of the requ irements of the Health & Safety Regulation s you ar e not allowed towork in an y room a lone if your work involves exposed live cond uct ors a t da ngerous

voltages or large moving mecha nical par ts.

You sh ould familiarize yours elf with the cont ents of th e Electrical Sa fety Han dbook,acopy of which wa s issu ed to you in Year 1, a nd you sh ould condu ct all your work inaccordance with i ts recommenda tions.

3.10 Back to th e Beginn ing: Mana gin g You r Project

One of th em mos t imp ortan t things you will learn when doing you r project is the need toma na ge you r time. Final Year Projects require a cons idera ble am ou nt of time. Yoush ould expect to spend at least 150 hour s working on it , an d probably 200 or more. An y

att empt to try to complete a project in the last cou ple of mon ths or so of th e secondsem ester is doomed to failure. Th ey are complex an d require car eful thought an d an alysisto identify manageable component parts.

Consequ ently, it is essen tial th at you begin your pr oject early, work cons isten tly at itth rou ghou t th e year, an d tra ck your progress closely. Natu rally, th e best way to do this

is to plan your pr oject in consider ab le deta il. We will iden tify h ere one of th efundamentals of good project management: scheduling.

A project sche du le is an indispens able tool: bu ilding it forces you into th in king ab out allth e th ings you need to do, their inter -relations hips, the time each will take, an d wha t each

one wil l be used for. So, draw up a schedule:

Identify all th e ma jor ta sks; break these down into su b-tas ks. Note well th at the best

inpu t for this task is your system s pecification: there will be a tas k for each fun ctionalblock and each d ata-stru cture, as well as su b-tasks for analysis , design,implementa tion, test, integra tion, an d documen tation. Ther e will also be tasks for

system test an d evalua tion, as well as docum enta tion an d report writing.

For each t a sk and su b t a sk

estima te how mu ch effort you expect it to tak e (h ours) an d over wh at period you will

spr ead th at effort (days): this is th e tas k effort & dur ation

ident ify the required inpu ts in formation, software, hardware, and , most


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importan t of al l, the r esults of other tas ks in you r p roject .

Iden tify the expected ou tpu ts

Identify a cou rse of action t o ta ke if the tas k fails for some reas on (e.g. thesoftware or h ar dware doesn t a rrive in time)

Now try to identify the sequence in which you should do each task . In this, you willha ve to consider the relat ionsh ips between each task an d the use of the outpu t of one

task as th e inpu t to an other.

In drawing up your project schedu le, you m ay find it us efu l to us e a stan dard projectma na gement tool (su ch a s Microsoft Project). The se tools make it eas y to draw the

sch edu le an d to tra ck your p rogress. However, they wont do th e plann ing for you, i .e.th ey cant identify tas ks, subt as ks, effort, durat ion, etc. Tha ts something you have to do

yourself. You sh ould be able to ma ke a good attemp t at this by th e time youve finishedreading this ha ndbook.

Project ma na gement tools u su ally repr esent a finished sch edu le in one of two ways, a

PERT cha rt a nd a GANTT cha rt

PERT sta n ds for Progra m Evalu ation Review Technique. A PERT cha rt represen ts eachtask / sub task as a box conta ining its ident ity, dur at ion, effort , s tart da te, and en d date

(among other things). It displays n ot only project timings but also th e relationships am ongtas ks (by arrows joining th e tas ks). It identifies th e task s to be completed before otherscan begin a nd it identifies th e critical path , i.e. th e sequence of tas ks with the longest

completion time. Th e critical path is importa nt as it defines th e absolute minimu m timeneeded to complete the project . Note that the crit ical path can chan ge as task s tart -datesan d dura tions ar e cha nged. Figure 1 sh ows an example of a PERT cha rt for simple project.

On the other ha nd, a GANTT chart represents tasks by horizontal bars and lines are us ed to

sh ow th e depend encies; see figure 2.


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Figur e 1: An Exam ple of a PERT Cha rt. The Critical Path is shown in red.(Sou rce: Comp u ting Es sen tials, T. OLea ry & L. OLeary, McGraw Hill, 19 99)

Figur e 2: An Exam ple of a GANTT Cha rt. The Critical Path is sh own in red.(Sou rce: Com pu ting Es sen tials, T. OLeary & L. OLea ry, McGraw Hill, 1 999).


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4 . Docum en t in g Your Pro jec t

Dur ing t he course of t he yea r , you have t ow r it e t h r e e r e p o r t s . T h e s e a r e t h e P r o je c tS p e c i fi c a t i o n , t h e I n t e r i m P r o g r e s s R e p o r t , a n d t h e F i n a l R e p o r t . T h e s e r e p o r t s a r e

i m p o r t a n t f or se v e r a l r e a s o n s . F i r st , t h e y a r e fo r m a l c om p o n e n t s of t h e a s s e s s m e n te x e r c i s e . I n o t h e r w o r d s , t h e y c o n t r i b u t e t o wards t he overal l mark y ou wi ll receive fory o u r wo rk . Seco n d , an d eq u a ll y i m p o r t an t , t h es e r ep o r t a r e va l u abl e m i le s t o n es for y ou :

t h ey h e l p y o u focu s o n ach i ev in g con c re t e o u t co m es as y ou r p ro jec t p ro gres s es . T h ed o cu m en t a t i o n o f t h e s e ou t co m es i s a d i ff i c u lt a n d t i m e -c o n s u m i n g p r o c e s s : d o n o tu n d e r e s t i m a t e t h e im p o r t a n c e o r t h e m a g n i t u d e o f t h e t a s k .

4 . 1 P r o je c t Sp e c i fi c a t i o n

The f ir s t r epor t you have t o wr it e i s r ea l ly anex t en d ed d e f in i t i o n of w h a t t h e p ro j ec t i s a ll

about . Note th at th i s i s a p ro ject speci f ica t ion and no t a sys t em speci f ica t ion . That

i t , it m u s t ad d res s n o t j u s t t h e s y s t em w h i ch w ill be c r ea t ed a s a r e s u l t of t h e p ro j ec t , b u ta l so th e en t i re developmen t p rocess by which i t wil l be creat ed . Of course , i t wil l a l so

i n c lu d e a m a j o r s ect i o n o n t h e s y s t em s p ec i f ica t i o n bu t i t m u s t a l s o ad d res s o t h e r i s s u ess u ch a s t h e r equ i r em e n t s e l ic i t a t i o n , t h e d ev e lo p m en t l if ecyc l e , t h e t a s k s t h a t m u s t b eu n d e r t ak en t o a ach i ev e s u cces s fu l co n c l u s i on , a d es c r i p t i on o f t h e p ro b lem d o m ai n , a

d es c r i p t i o n o f t h e s o lu t i o n d o m ai n ( i .e . e n v i r o n m e n t i n w h ic h t h es y s t e m w il l o p e r a t e ) , a n d t h e t h e o r e t i c a l fo u n d a t i o n s f o r t h e s y s t e m .

S i n c e t h i s r e p o r t m u s t b e p r o d u c e d a p p r o x i m a t e l y s ix w e e k s i n t o y o u r p r o j e c t , it i s n o t

l ik e l y t h a t y ou r s y s t e m s p e c i fi c a t i o n w il l b e e x t r e m e l y d e t a i l e d . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e s c h e d u l e

o f p r o j e c t t a s k s wi ll pr o b a b l y b e o n l y g o o d e s t i m a t e s a n d w il l h a v e t o b e r e f in e d a s t h e

p r o j e c t p r o c e e d s .

T h e u lt i m a t e g o a l of t h i s r ep o r t i s t o p re s en t a c l ea r an d ex p li c it d e fi n i t i on o f t h ereq u i r ed s y s t em , t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e s t ep s t h a t y o u w il l t ak e t o r ea l ize t h i s s y s t em .

The fo l lowin g i s an ou t l ine of a t yp i ca l P ro j ec t Spec i f ica t i on Repor t .

T i t l e Page

Spec i f i c T it l e o f the Pr o jec t (e . g. Au t o m a t i c T e s t P a t t e r n G e n e r a t i o n f o r D ig it a l C i r c u i t s )

Genera l T i t l e (i . e . Pro jec t Spe c i f ica t ion )

Degree (e . g . B . Eng . in Com put e r E ng inee r ing)

A u t h o r ( n a m e a n d s t u d e n t i d e n t i f i c a t i o n n u m b e r )

I n s t it u t i on (i . e . E t i s a la t Co l lege o f E ng inee r ing)

S u p e r v i s o r

D a t e

T ab le o f Con ten t s

S e c t i o n 1 . I n t r o d u c t i o n

1 . 1 B r ie f s u m m a r y o f t h e p r o b l e m b e i n g a d d r e s s e d .

1 . 2 O v er v i e w o f t h e t a r g e t d o m a i n fo r t h e f in a l s y s t e m (w h e r e i s i t g o i n g t o b e u s e d ? )

1 .3 O v e rvie w of t h e t e c h n ic a l a r e a , i . e . b a c k g ro u n d t e c h n ic a l a n d th e o re t i c a l c o n te x t .1 . 4 S u m m a r y o f t h e s y s t e m f u n c t i o n a li t y (w h a t i s i t g o in g t o d o ? )

1 . 5 O v er v i e w o f t h e r e p o r t : w h a t m a t e r i a l w i ll y o u b e c o v e r i n g a n d h o w i s i t a r r a n g e d ?


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S e c t i on 2 . S ys t e m R e q u ir e m e n t s

2 . 1 R e q u i r e d s y s t e m f u n c t i o n a l i t y : f o c u s o n t h e f u n c t i o n a l it y t h a t a u s e r

r e q u i r e s o f t h e s y s t e m , r a t h e r t h a n o n h o w t h e s y s t e m w i ll d el iv e r t h a t

f u n c t i o n a l i t y .

2 .2 Lis t o f c r i t e r i a t h a t d e f in e a su c c e ss fu l p ro je c t : e x p e c te d o u tc o m e s , r e q u i r e dsy s t e m b e h a v io u r , a n d e sp e c ia l ly p e r fo rm a n c e m e t r i c s .

S e c t i o n 3 . T h e o r e t i c a l F o u n d a t i o n s : T h e E n g i n e e r i n g M o d el

3 . 1 I n t r o d u c t i o n

3 . 2 D e t a i ls o f t h e o r e t i c a l m o d e l

Ma t h e m a t i c a l/ c o m p u t a t i o n a l m o d e l

D is c r e t e o r o t h e r a p p r o x im a t i o n s

Li m i t a t i o n s a n d a s s u m p t i o n s

P o s s i bl e a l g or i t h m o p t i o n s

S e c t i o n 4 . S y s t e m S p e c i fi c a t i o n

4 . 1 F u n c t i o n a l it y p r o v id e d b y t h e s y s t e m

4 . 2 S y s t e m i n t e r f a c e s , i n p u t s , a n d o u t p u t s

4 .3 S ys t e m m o d e l s :F u n c t io n a l d e c o m p o s i t i o n

E n t i ty -R e la t io n sh ip s

Da ta -F low Mode l

B e h a v io u ra l M o d el - S t a t e T ra n s i t i o n D ia gra m

4 . 4 Spec i f i ca t ion o f us e r in t e r face

4 . 5 F a i lu r e m o d e s a n d a c t i o n o n f a il u r e

4 . 6 T a r g et a r c h i t e c t u r e

Sec t ion 5 . T as k Ana lys i s an d Sch edu le o f Ac t iv i t i e s

5 . 1 T a s k d e c o m p o s i t i o n

5 . 2 P r o je c t s c h e d u l e

5 . 3 T a s k s p e c i fi c a t i o n : f o r e a c h t a s k , i d e n t i f y g o a ls , i n p u t s , o u t p u t s , e s t i m a t e d e f fo r t

a n d d u r a t i o n , a n d t a s k d e p e n d e n c ie s .

S e c t i o n 6 . P r o je c t M a n a g e m e n t

6 . 1 M ee t i n g s w it h s u p e r v i s o r

6 . 2 M aj o r r i s k s a n d c o n t i n g e n c y p l a n s

6 . 3 P r in c i p a l l e a r n i n g o u t c o m e s

R e f e r e n c e s

Append ices

P r o j e c t d e s c r i p t i o n f r o m t h e p r o j e c t l i s t


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4.1 Final Report

Your final report is a critical pa rt of you r project. It defines wha t you ha ve done and whyyou ha ve done it . It is also one of the chief ways tha t you r project is exam ined an d

as sess ed and it on the ba sis of th e project th at you will receive a lar ge proportion of you rm ark s .

In writing you r Fin al Report, you will need to decide on its cont ent an d on its stru ctur e. We

will look at both of these as pects in turn , beginn ing with th e conten t. We will conclude witha few guidelines on good writing practice.

4.1.1 Cont ent of the Report

Clearly, th e conten t of th e report is going t o vary from project to project an d it is difficultto ma ke an y strict recomm end ations. However, we can ma ke a few general

observations ab out th e content of your r eport. We retu rn a gain to the definition ofengineering at the beginning and highlight the phrase:

Kn owledge is ap plied with judgem ent

Your fina l year project provides you with a n opportu nity to demon strat e your a bility to u se

your judgement . This means tha t you mus t show your ski ll at

Assimilating

Synthesizing

Critically Appraising

all material relevan t to the en gin eering project.

Your ma in opportun ity to display your talen ts at as similation an d synth esis comes when

you describe th e ba ckgroun d material you read, the requirement s, specification, an d designpha ses of your work. Needless to sa y, synth esis means th at you mus t write the textyourself, expressin g your u n dersta n ding of the m ater ial in your own words.

Resist th e tempta tion, n o mat ter how stron g, to copy sen tences or par agraph s (or wholesections) from other books or articles. Copying is n ot synth esis an d it dem on stra tes

neith er your ass imilation of ma terial n or you r u nd erstan ding of it . If you do come across asenten ce or paragraph which is so good that is just has to be us ed, then do so and include

it as a direct quotation, providing a reference to the origina l sou rce.

It is extrem ely imp ortan t tha t you also ap pra ise, or as sess, you r work critically, i.e. withobjectivity an d with a view to seeing how it cou ld be improved. Su ch h one st criticism does

n ot mean you will receive fewer mar ks ; in fact , it is likely th at you will rece ive more.Typically, you exercise your talents of critical app ra isal at the end of the report in a

discus sion chapter but you can a lso exercise it throughou t the report wherever it seemsap propriate. Note th at this exercise of critical ap praisa l is differen t from the testing

process es of verification, validation, an d evalua tion, which refer to the fu nctiona lity of thesystem you have des igned . The critique you write a pplies less to the system an d more to

th e overall objectives, meth odologies, an d find ings of th e pr oject.


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4.1.2 Stru ctur e of the Rep ort

The stru ctur e of you r report is critical to the impact you ma ke in your writing. Rememberth at you are tryin g to convey a mess age to th e read er an d, since this mes sa ge is likely to be

quite complicated, you mu st as sist him or her by ma king you r points clearly an d in alogica l order. Th ink of it as telling an exciting st ory: you wan t to tell enou gh ea rly on toatt ract th e rea ders interest bu t not too mu ch otherwise he will become confused. You want

to bu ild u p to a climax, incremen tally revealing more and more of you r mes sage, bu t doing soin a way which builds on wha t you ha ve alread y sa id. This is what we mean by a logicalstr u cture: brea king u p the story int o a sequen ce of mess ages which follow natu ra lly one from

th e other an d which lead to an int eresting conclusion (i.e. a conclusion you cou ldnt have

guess ed from reading pa ge 1).

Beca us e all en gine ering projects involve (or shou ld involve) th e exercise of a fairly st an da rden gineerin g methodology (requ irements , specification, m odellin g, realization, testing &

evalu ation), you can, if you wish , adopt a fairly sta n dard stru ctur e. Note well, however,tha t this does n ot mean tha t you just s imply ha ve to fil l in the gaps in a general reporttemplate: this s tan dard s tru ctur e simp ly provides you with a place to sta rt as you begin to

design the final str uctu re and conten t of you r report. You will still ha ve to do quite a lotof work to ma ke it fit you r own pr oject. A typical out lin e of a fin al year project report isprovided on th e next page.

You sh ould design your own report to th e level of detail given in the proposed stru ctur e,

ad aptin g it to you r own particu lar needs . Note th at you sh ould do th is before you sta rtwriting an ything. Its just like designin g a piece of software: the sooner you sta rt coding,th e longer it will ta ke (and the m ore likely it is to be wrong). Try to ach ieve mod u larity

an d independence amongst your cha pters an d sect ions. At the sam e t ime, remember youar e trying to convey a convin cing m ess age to th e rea der. Again, its like tellin g a good story:

you ha ve to keep the reader interest ed an d h e ha s to be able to follow th e story-line(which means there has to be one: mak e su re there is). Keep the thread of the s torygoin g continu ously, from section to section, an d from ch apter to cha pter by providing link

senten ces or para graphs: at the end of a cha pter, for example, remind the reader of theimportant messa ges, tell him why they are important , and then s ay what you need to look

at next, an d why, in order to continu e with the story. Tha ts your cue for the next cha pter.

In gener al, your final report sh ould be between 4 0 an d 80 pages lon g, not count ingap pen dices and front ma tter. The report sh ould be printed on A4 paper, sin gle-sided,

u sing either in spa ce-an d-a-ha lf or double line spacing, and leaving left and righ t ma rginsof appr oxima tely 25m m. You are required to su bmit three copies (one for th e Library, onefor your su pervisor, and one for th e Academ ic Director). You sh ould also ma ke a four th

copy for your own records. Note th at copyrigh t of th e projects rests with the EtisalatCollege of En gineering as do all intellectua l property rights a ssociated with th e project. Iness ence, th is mean s that the report is confidential to the College an d ma y not be copied,

pu blishe d, or otherwise dissemina ted with out the prior written permiss ion of th e College

management .


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T y p ic a l S t r u c tu r e o f a F in a l Ye a r P r o j e c t Re p o r t

T i t l e Page

Spec i f i c T it l e o f the Pr o jec t (e . g. Au t o m a t i c T e s t P a t t e r n G e n e r a t i o n f o r D ig it a l C i r c u i t s )

Genera l T i t l e (i . e . F ina l Yea r Pr o jec t Repor t )

Degree (e . g . B . Eng . in Com put e r E ng inee r ing)

A u t h o r ( n a m e a n d s t u d e n t i d e n t i f i c a t i o n n u m b e r )

I n s t it u t i on (i . e . E t i s a la t Co l lege o f E ng inee r ing)

S u p e r v i s o r

D a t e

Abs t rac t

Wh a t i s t h e s u b je c t m a t t e r o f t h e r e p o r t : w h a t d i d y o u d o ?

Mot iva t ion : why d id you do i t ?

S i g n if ic a n c e : w h a t a r e y o u r f i n d i n gs a n d c o n c l u s i o n s ?

T h e a bs t r a c t sh o u ld b e a p p ro x im a te ly 2 0 0 w ord s lon g . I t n o rm a l ly t a k e s a t l e a s t fo u r

r e v is i o n s t o a c h i e v e a g o o d a b s t r a c t .

T ab le o f Con ten t s

C h a p t e r s

S e c t i o n s

A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

Help from f r i ends , co l l eagues , an d s t a f f .

S u p p o r t f r o m E t i s a la t

S u p p o r t f r om P a r e n t s , e t c

C h a p t e r 1 . I n t r o d u c t i o n

1 . 1 Goa l s & Objec t ives :wha t was t o be ach ieve d?M ot i v a t i o n : wh y u n d e r t a k e t h e p r o j ec t ?

M et h o d : h o w w a s it u n d e r t a k e n o r c a r r i e d o u t ?

1 .2 O v e rvie w o f t h e t e c h n ic a l a r e a , i . e . b a c k g ro u n d t e c h n ic a l c o n t e x t

1 .3 O v e rvie w o f t h e r e p o r t : w h a t m a te r i a l w i l l y o u b e c o v e r in g a n d h o w i s i ta r r a n g e d ?

C h a p t e r 2 . S y s t e m O v e r vi e w

2 . 1 R e q u i r e m e n t s

2 . 3 S y s t e m S p e c i fi c a t i o n

C h a p t e r 3 . T h e o r e t i c a l F o u n d a t i o n s : T h e E n g i n e e r i n g M o d el


3 . 2 D e t a i ls o f t h e o r e t i c a l m o d e l

Ma t h e m a t i c a l m o d e l

D is c r e t e o r o t h e r a p p r o x im a t i o n s

Li m i t a t i o n s a n d a s s u m p t i o n s


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C h a p t e r 4 . S y s t e m An a l y s i s: S y s t e m M o d e l a n d S y s t e m Ar c h i t e c t u r e

4 . 1 F u n c t i o n a l D e c o m p o s i t i o n

4 . 2 E n t i t y - R e l a t i o n s h i p s

4.3 Data-Flow Model4 . 4 B e h a v io u r a l M od e l - S t a t e T r a n s i t i o n D ia g r a m

Chap t e r 5 . Des ign I s s ues


D if fe r e n t d e s i g n o p t i o n s

5 . 2 Phys ica l Rea l i za t ion

Circu i t Des ign

Algor i thms

M e c h a n i c a l S u p e r s t r u c t u r e

5 . 3 As s es s m en t o f Des ign

C h a p t e r 6 . I m p l em e n t a t i o n

6 . 1 S o ft w a r e d e v e l o p m e n t p l a t f o rm

6. 2 Code des ign

C h a p t e r 7 . T e s t i n g

7 . 1 Ver i f i ca t ion :

D id I c o n s t r u c t t h e c o r r e c t s y st e m (i .e . d o e s i t s a t i s f y t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s ) ?

7 . 2 Va l ida t ion :

D id I d o c o n s t r u c t i t c o r r e c t l y (i .e . d o e s i t m e e t t h e s p e c i fi c a t i o n )?

T e s t s c e n a r i o s ( si m p l e a n d c o m p l ex )

7 . 3 E va lua t ion :

H o w d o e s i t c o m p a r e wi t h o t h e r s y s t e m s

Q u a l it a t i v e a s s e s s m e n t o f p e r fo r m a n c e

Q u a n t i t a t i v e a s se s s m e n t o f p e r f o r m a n c e

Me t r i c s f o r m e a s u r i n g p e r f o r m a n c e

C h a p t e r 8 . D is c u s s i o n

8 . 1 S u m m a r y o f w o r k d o n e

8 . 2 Cr i t i ca l appra i s a l o f work don e

8 . 3 P r o p o s a l f o r e n h a n c e m e n t o r r e -d e s i g n

R e f e r e n c e s

Append ices Sof tware l i s t ings

C ir c u i t d i a g r am s

M e c h a n i c a l s c h e m a t i c s

M at h e m a t i c a l p r o o fs

S u m m a r y o f P r o j e c t Ma n a g e m e n t

Orig ina l Sys tem Spec i f i ca t ion

I n t e r i m P r o g r e s s R e p o r t


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4.2 Presenta t ions

Dur ing the cour se of you r p roject , you will be requ ired to give th ree presen tat ion s:

1. a sh ort su mm ary of your system s specification mid-way throu gh Semes ter 1 2.a progress r eport early in Semester 2

3. a fina l presen tat ion on you r finish ed project at the end of Semester 2.

You h ave learn ed mu ch a bout p resen tation skills du ring your t ime in th e College and itwouldnt be a ppr opriate to attem pt to review everything you ha ve been ta u ght alrea dy.However, a few point ers m ay help you give a profess iona l an d impres sive presen tation.

Dont depen d too mu ch on Powerpoint slides: your speech is the presenta tion an d the

slides support you (not the other way around).

Take you r time: pa us e frequen tly. Sometimes, the best thing to say is noth in g.

Short one-second rests create dramatic impact and also give your audience time toas similate wh at you ve sa id. Of cour se, you also h ave to ma intain continuity and flow;otherwise people forget what you ar e talking abou t. Its a qu estion of balan ce.

Use a m icrophone (an d pr act ice using i t before you r presen tat ion).

Arrive early and ma ke sure you know wher e all th e equipm ent is. Know how to use it .

Look at th e aud ience, not at your sl ides.

Project you r voice (bu t d ont sh out ).

Sm ile: enjoy givin g your pr esen tation.

Be confident: youve done some great work here is you r opportu nity to get creditfor it.

The people in th e au dience are on your side (th ough sometimes they disguise it well!)They want you to su cceed. If th ey as k you a question you dont u nd ersta nd , say so

an d as k their help. Ask them to explain, and ask nicely. If you still dontun dersta nd, dont bluff. Adm it your ignoran ce an d su ggest ways of how you willovercome th at lack of knowledge.

Nobody kn ows everyth in g; bu t tha ts no excuse for not trying to kn ow everything. Akn owledgeable person knows enou gh to do his job well, a wise person kn ows tha t h e

doesnt know everything, an d an int elligent person knows how to find out wh at hedoesnt know. Be kn owledgeable, wise, an d intelligent: be an engineer.


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4.3 A Very Sh ort Gu ide to Good Writin g

Good writing is difficult. It tak es pra ctice an d a willingnes s to revise your work, man y

times. One of th e bes t ways to learn how to write well is to read. Almost an y rea ding

ma terial will do, as long as its well written. For techn ical writing, you sh ould at leastrea d several previous project reports, conference papers, jou rn al pap ers, magazine ar ticles.

The popu lar scien tific pres s, e.g. Scient ific Amer ican or New Scien tist, em ploys a

pa rticu larly sim ple an d effective form of written express ion . Try to emu late th eir style.

So wh y is writing well so difficult? Th e goal of writing is to con vey a mes sa ge to th e rea der.However, writing, an d readin g, are sequen tial processes. Therefore, you h ave toconstr u ct the mean ing of you r mes sage, piece by piece, in a linear time-line. However, the

mea nin g you int end to convey ma y emer ge from man y sour ces, not all related in a niceorderly fash ion. This creates a problem for th e writer: h ow to order th e mess agesconta ined in each s enten ce effectively. The job of a writer is to make the sequ ence of pieces

as mu tua l ly-relevant as possible so that the s tory or messa ge bui lds na tura l ly, each piecead ding to th e previou s one. When the pieces a re presen ted ou t of order (e.g. pa renth etical

express ions in the wrong place, or two related sentenc es split by a third) th e impa ct on th e

rea der is less ened. An d rem ember the golden ru le in writing: keep it simp le.

The following a re s ome pointers to help you in you r tas k.

Use short sentences and make su re the sentences are comple te .

A complete sen tence ha s a su bject followed (u su ally) by a verb, an d then an object. Forexamp le: The compiler identified two synt ax errors. Of cours e, we can add other

words to enh an ce the descriptivenes s an d richn ess of th e sen tence: The C++ compileridentified two su btle synta x errors, an d we can even additiona l phr as es (which willnorm ally ha ve a sub ject-verb-object stru ctur e of its own). For example: The C++

compiler identified two su btle synta x errors bu t, un fortun ately, it was un able to find theseman tic errors in my program.

Remember tha t, if you rem ove all of the an cillar y words, you sh ould be left with avalid sen ten ce; if not, th en you h avent written th e senten ce correctly. Its a goodidea to check all your sen tences th is way.

Good writing strikes a balance between short senten ces an d longer more descriptive

ones. J ust as in oral commu nicat ion, the ful l s tops mean pau ses: too ma ny pau sesan d the text sound s disconn ected, too few an d it can be ha rd to follow the story line.Strike a balance but favour brevity over complexity.

If you use pictures an d diagrams (and you sh ould), ma ke sure each one ha s a self-

conta in ed explana tory caption. Never refer to a picture or diagram in the main textwithou t sayin g what it is. For exam ple, never sa y Figu re 2.3 shows the resu lts of the

noise test an d then carr y on to another topic. Help the reader. Su mm arize the

content of the figu re in a sh ort senten ce: Figu re 2.3 shows the resu lts of the n oise testwhich demonstrate the robustn ess of the system to Gauss ian noise with a s tan darddeviation of 2.3 or less. If you h ave copied th e figur e from a book or ar ticle you

mu st cite the source.

Several of th ese guidelines are ada pted from The Elemen ts of Style by W. Stru n k & E.B. White,

Macmillan 1979.


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Make the para graph your un i t of construct ion. Each para graph s hould bind one ormore sent ences ab out a given su bject or idea. If th e su bject or idea chan ges, star t a

new paragraph.

Omit needless words. Unn ecessa ry words distra ct the reader. Dont write, Thisis a system th e performa nce of which is very u seful. Ins tead, write, This is a u sefu lsystem.

Write in a way th at comes natu ral ly. Speak the sentence. If i t soun ds correct ,

t ru st your ear an d use the sentence. If i t soun ds unn atur al , rewrite it .

Avoid fancy words ; th ey dont impr ess a n yone.

Be clear in your expression. If the idea you are trying to convey is getting lost in a seaof words and ph rases, draw a l ine th rough the sentence an d start a gain.

Dont tak e sh ort-cuts . Explain what you mean. Dont leave the reader to str u ggletryin g to figu re out what is th e real mean ing of you r carefully constr u cted bu t

concentrated sentence. He ma y conclu de there is n one. Explain al l acronyms the

first time you use them.

Revise an d rewrite. It is highly u nlikely tha t you will ma na ge to find the best way ofexpressing an idea with your fi rs t at tempt. Nonetheless , ma ke that at tempt and then

be prepa red to revise it , again an d again.

Rememb er, if you want to learn h ow to write a good report, you n eed to do two things: youneed to read other good reports an d you need to pra ct ise your own writ ing.


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5. Project Assessment and Marking

Projects are assessed according to several criteria and at several points during theyear. This assessment will be based both on your report and on presentations. The

assessment criteria are as follows:

Section Percentageof Total

Mark Awarded

(0-100)Date

Project Specification 5 %

Project Execution (15%)

Interim Progress 10 %

System Design 15 %

System Implementation 20 %Final System (45%)

Testing and Evaluation 10 %

Organisation and Clarity 10 %

Technical Content 10 %Project Report (30%)

Conclusions and Future Work 10 %

Final Presentation (10%) 10 %

TOTAL* 100 %

* Classification:80% - 100% Project is an outstanding piece of work of a standard that should lead to an

internationally recognized publication. Presentation is reaching professionalstandard.

70% - 79% Project is excellent and may contain publishable material. Presentation isexcellent.

60% - 69% Project and presentation are very good. All design aims are met.

50% - 59% Project and presentation are good. Most design aims are met.

40% - 49% Minimum core of design aims has been met. Presentation is satisfactory.

0% - 39% Most design aims are not met and implementation does not work. Presentation isnot satisfactory.

The project is assessed by both theProj ect Supervisor and the SecondMarkeraccording to all of the above criteria. You must provide sufficient information in your

project report to allow the Second Marker to make an appropriate assessment. If youdont provide the information, you cant be awarded marks.

Students may also be required to give a demonstration of their project and they may also be interviewed by the

External Examiner.

engineering project by shanmughavel hcl

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