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Introduction to ENSC 305/440 1 of 29

Introduction to ENSC 305/440

© Steve Whitmore & Mike Sjoerdsma

January 2013

“We suffer to learn.” –Aeschylus (c. 525-456 BC)


Learning Objectives

At the end of this module, you will understand how ENSC 305/440 is organized and graded.

In addition, you will have started to consider some basic issues related to sanity:

• You are crazy to take these courses

• You are insane to want to be an engineer

• The course instructors and TAs are also certifiable (My commitment papers to Riverview Psychiatric Hospital are hanging on my office wall)


Just How Crazy?

Gordon Morrison, David Lee, and

Kevin Maier demonstrating their

Solar Powered Hot Dog Cooker.


Even More Crazy? Chris Martens, Raul

Fernandes, Reena

Bhullar, and Tania

Kwan demonstrating

their Motorcycle

Headlight System.


Rumours What have you heard about ENSC 440?

“In my opinion, ENSC 440 has provided me with the opportunity to work more than eight hours after school each day and show up in SFU seven days a week.”

–Patrick Pun, 2000

“The technical and interpersonal communication challenge of working on a project from its inception to full completion makes ENSC 440 one of the most valuable courses that I have taken so far.”

–Veljko Jovanovic, 2000


Selected Previous Projects The ENSC 305/440 website has 14 years of projects archived

on it. Search for keywords related to your project.

Portable heart monitor

Ultrasonic measuring system

Refreshable Braille display

Robotic mail delivery system

Various submersible projects with John Bird

Dissolved oxygen sensor (for Environment Canada)

Solar Panel De-Icer (for BC Hydro)

MicroMouse competition, Arial Robotics competition,

MiroSot (robotic soccer competition)


More Projects A pedometer

Voice recognition in MP3 systems

Automated hydroponics control system

Driver monitoring system

Audio amp

Small heart imaging system

Dynamic pupil for a prosthetic eye

Tactile vision glove for the blind

Venipuncture site locator

Temperature control for showers

Phone operated home-appliance controller


Even More Projects Medication alerting system

Wireless home security system

Electronic counter-sniper system

Bacteria classification assistant

Micro fuel-cell testbench

Electronic cat toy

Individual posture inclinometer

Remotely controlled health monitor

Input device for the disabled

Temperature controlled mattress pad

Remotely accessed temperature control

Colour identification device


Accreditation Issues

ENSC 305/440 provides the Senior Design Project as

required by CEAB (Canadian Engineering Accreditation

Board).

ENSC 305W/440W is certified as the upper division

Writing Intensive Course as required by SFU.


Purpose of ENSC 305/340

To demonstrate what you have learned over the past 4 years by asking you to undertake a significant design project that allows you to integrate many of the skill sets you have learned:

• Oral and written communication

• Persuading and informing

• Graphic design and human factors

• Critical and creative thinking

• Teamwork and interpersonal skills

• Entrepreneurial and project management skills

• Design and technical skills

• Social, environmental, and ethical concerns


Method for ENSC 305/340

Guided by lectures on selected topics, you are expected to

simulate a start-up company focusing on the generation,

research, analysis, design, and development of a project of

interest to you.

Ideally, the project will also meet a social need and will

have the potential for a marketable product.

Initially, you will need to come up with the following:

• A project of interest and merit

• A team of individuals interested in the project

• A company name and logo

• A source of funds


How to Contact Me My office is ASB 9870 (I am usually in on Tuesdays and

Thursdays – feel free to drop by).

My e-mail address is [email protected] (contact me via

e-mail with questions relating to the course or to set up

an appointment to see me).

My phone numbers are 778-782-4946 (W) and 604-291-

2717 (H). The home number is only to be used in an

emergency (i.e., a personal crisis).

All course materials are provided on the website:

http://www2.ensc.sfu.ca/~whitmore/courses/ensc305


ENSC 440/305 and TAs Andrew Rawicz ([email protected]) teaches ENSC 440, but the

two courses are closely integrated and the assignments overlap significantly.

50% of your grades for the two course combined are based upon documentation (305-1: 90%; 440-4: 40%).

Treat the two courses as a single 5 credit course.

The course TAs are Lukas-Karim Mehri ([email protected]), Ali Ostadfar ([email protected]), and Hsiu-Yang Tseng ([email protected]).


Attendance

We meet from 12:30-14:20 on Thursdays in AQ 3005.

Attendance is generally not mandatory with the following

exceptions:

• At least one person from each team must attend the

scheduled lectures.

• Everyone must attend the first lecture, final lecture, and

guest speakers (missing any of these lectures except

under extenuating circumstances = 5% off your grade,

i.e., 0 for professionalism).


Topics Covered in ENSC 305

Time management and team meetings

Creative thinking and the design process

Writing project documents: professional journals,

proposals, specifications, post-mortems, progress reports,

minutes, user manuals

Collaborative writing and listening skills

Dispute resolution and group dynamics

Group demonstrations

Review of sentence style

Team oral presentations


305 Lecture Schedule

Date Lecture Material

Jan 08 Introduction, Time Management, Meetings

Creativity, Proposals, Progress Reports, Professional Journals

Jan 15 Collaborative Writing, Dispute Resolution, Group Dynamics,

Specifications

Jan 22 Listening Skills, User Manuals

Jan 29 Thesis Proposals and Theses (only for those in Honors options)

Feb 05 –

Mar 26 Guest Speakers as Scheduled (usually one or two)

Apr 02 Team Presentations, Post Mortems, Course Wrap-up, and

Evaluations


Assignments for ENSC 305/440

With the exception of the Engineering Journal, all documents must be submitted as e-mail attachments in Adobe Acrobat format. All assignments must be submitted via e-mail to [email protected] by the specified deadlines.

Professionalism 05%

Written Progress Report (1-2 pages) 05%

Oral Progress Report (15-20 minutes) 05%

Engineering Journal (length varies) 10%

Presentation/demo(1 hour) 10%

Post-Mortem (8-10 pages) 10%

Project Proposal (10-15 pages) 15%

Design Specifications (15-20 pages) 20%

Functional Specifications (15-20 pages) 20%


Grading for ENSC 305 Assignments are graded from A+ (96-100%) to F (0-50%).

Assignments must be submitted on the date they are due;

late assignments will be penalized 5% per day late).

Exception: Each team is permitted one free late

(maximum 3 days), which may only be used for one of the

following: proposals, functional specs, or design specs.

Academic Honesty Policy: passages, figures, and tables

from external sources must be properly cited in text and

referenced in the document (IEEE or APA format). Place

large excerpts (i.e., standards) in appendices. 1st infraction

= 0 on the document; 2nd infraction = recommendation to

Director for F in 305/440.


Grading for ENSC 305 (cont’d) Instructors and TAs read everything, but . . .

• Ali grades the proposals and progress reports.

• Lukas grades the functional specs.

• Hsiu-Yang grades the design specs.

• We all grade the oral progress reports.

• I grade the post-mortems.

• I grade the professional journals.

• We all grade the demos.

An A in 440 and a B in 305, or vice-versa, is possible.

A’s for some team members and B’s for others is also possible.


Workload for ENSC 305/440

13 weeks X 5 credit hours X 4 hours work per credit hour =

260 hrs/person for ENSC 305/440:

• Group of 3 = 780 hrs ( 20 person weeks)



1 person working full-time (40 hrs/wk) works 47 adjusted

work weeks in a year. (The adjustment accounts for 3

weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of statutory holidays).


Facilities Room 9846.6 (NW corner of Lab 1) can be used for projects.

Do not expect to leave projects under construction in Lab 1

(material gets stolen or damaged).

Teams can send an e-mail to [email protected] requesting a

locker for this semester. I suggest you do this ASAP.

Machine shop is available for use, but you must first meet

with Gary to ensure you know how to use the equipment.

Think Safety! Do not bring flammable materials or liquids

into the labs (including motorcycles and coffee machines!)

Do not damage or deface the surface of the lab benches (no

glue/razors) or sidewalks. Do not disassemble lab equipment.

Use some common sense. Think before acting.


Time Management

Warning: You are already behind schedule!

Keep schedules of the tasks you need to do (use a smart

phone, day planner, poster, even loose leaf). Plan as far ahead and in as much detail as you can. The better your planning in Sept, the greater your success in December.

Make prioritized “To Do” lists: A – must do, B – should do, C – like to do. Do the tasks which add the greatest value.

Say no to interruptions, friends who want to party, etc.

Combine activities wherever possible.

Analyse your commitments: Are you taking 21 credits? Working part time? Heavily involved in outside activities?


Time Management (cont’d)


Time Management (cont’d) Avoid perfectionism: An A is as good as an A+ and about half

the effort. A hand drawn circuit is nearly as good as one produced using a computer.

Learn to use Microsoft Project for Critical Path Method (CPM), so you can plan when (time) you need people, materials, etc. (resources). Identify dependencies between parts of the project.

Schedule adequate time for rest and play, or you will burnout. Ensure you eat properly.

Most of the work for 440 occurs in late November and early December – debugging and integration will drive you crazy (and inevitably takes 3 times as long as you plan for).

Divide up large tasks such as writing documentation designing systems, assembly. Modularize everything.

Ensure critical tasks are understood by two team members.


Team Meetings Meetings can waste more of your time than any other activity

unless handled properly.

Start on time.

The productivity of a meeting is inversely proportional to its

length. Restrict meetings to an hour. If you must meet for

longer, take a break each hour. Try standing meetings.

Separate occasions for socializing from business meetings. The

moment you introduce beer, it becomes a party.

Prepare and circulate a detailed agenda in advance of meetings

via e-mail. Clearly define the purpose of the meeting. Schedule

the time allotted for various subjects.

Keep minutes that list action items, who is responsible for them,

and when they will report the results of actions.


Team Meetings (cont’d) Ensure that no one dominates the meeting and that everyone

has an opportunity to be heard.

Spend a couple of minutes at the end of the meeting evaluating

its effectiveness, and setting the time and agenda for the next

meeting.

Send copies of the minutes of the meeting via e-mail to all

participants ASAP after the meeting. Everyone should agree to

respond to the minutes (either agreeing they are accurate or

making necessary corrections).

An MS Word template is provided on the website for Agendas

and Minutes. Note that agendas and minutes must be

submitted as an appendix of the post mortem.


HELP – We Are in Trouble

Make an appointment to see me if you encounter problems related to

group dynamics. The sooner you contact me, the more likely the

problem can be resolved. Do not wait until week 12 to tell me that

your team is falling apart.

Group problems will happen. Sources of conflict:

• Work sharing (most common = differential grades/failure)

• Leadership (mainly swearing = gales of laughter)

• Design approach (messiest problem = failure/lower grades)

• Personality differences (grinding of teeth = loss of friends)

But 90% of the time things work out fine!


HELP – We Are in Trouble For technical issues (design, documentation, etc.), read the

material on the website and then contact a TA. Only

contact me or Andrew after you’ve talked with a TA.

If you encounter a personal crisis (suicidal thoughts, grief,

etc.) you may phone me at home.

“One thing that we could have done better is project

scheduling. Because we started our brainstorming in

the summer, we fell into a bit of a trap thinking that we

were ahead of the schedule.”

–Erik Haberger, 2001

No one has yet died while taking 305/440, but many

have wished that the instructors would do so.


“We learn to suffer.” –Sophocles (c. 496-406 BC)

Conclusion

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