Course syllabus
Welcome to MCC145 - Technical project in Electrical Engineering!
In CANVAS you will find all information about the course, handouts from lectures, assignments etc. The course has several different moments which are taught by different teachers. In order to make it easy to follow the course, we have divided the course into the following modules in CANVAS.
- Course information
- Introduction
- Technical lectures
- Group dynamics
- Project planning
- Communication Workshops and materials
- Project deliverables
- Literature search - Library
Course-PM
MCC145 Technical project in Electrical Engineering, LP1 HT23 (7.5 hp)
Course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience and Communication and Learning in Science.
Contact details
Teachers:
Student representatives
| Name | Project group | |
| Hugo Sahlin | A1 | hugosah@student.chalmers.se |
| Axel Åhman | B8 | axelahm@student.chalmers.se |
| Darian Belenos | B8 | belenos@student.chalmers.se |
| Ossian Bredmar | A8 | ossianbr@student.chalmers.se |
Course purpose
The aim of the course is to introduce project work as a functional and effective method for dealing with engineering problems and to introduce electrical engineering as a field. The project tasks may vary from one year to another, but the subjects deal with different applications in electrical engineering.
Project work is trained in a systematic way where, amongst other things, the difference between content and process, group dynamics, report writing, and oral presentations are worked with and practised. The course, therefore, aims to help engineering students to develop methods to carry out a technical project with others.
Schedule
TimeEdit gives you an indication of dates, times, and rooms. But for more details, see the schedule overview below, which also indicates which sessions/activities are compulsory.
The content of the lectures in week 35 and 36 is listed below. Although not compulsory, you are strongly recommended to follow these lectures. The content of the technical lectures will be examined through a written exam in week 38.
- Course Introduction
- Industrial outlook, guest lecture by Veronica Lundstedt at Saab
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Radar basics
- Installing the software
- Acconeer Radar technology, guest lecture by Josefin Strahl
Course literature
- Articles on IoT (Internet of Things) and radar technology
- Acconeer product documentation and user guides
- Session slides and other recommended materials to be provided as the course progresses
- Chalmers Writing Guide (Links to an external site.): web-based writing guide
Course design
The project illustrates a realistic engineering problem, where the project teams communicate their results in a written project report and as an oral presentation where they display their solution and the reasons for deciding on a particular solution in a competent way, that is as an engineer. This requires that they learn how to delimit an open problem and put together productive research questions to work from. In addition, this implies that they learn how to cooperate in and contribute to a realistic engineering project.
Other significant learning outcomes of MCC145 as a whole are that each project member should develop her/his competence to select, read, and use source material and background reading in relevant and productive ways. It is also important that the document contains genuine results and text. In other words, the written report should demonstrate that the group know how to cite and paraphrase other people's texts and that every member of the team can account for the result and how that result was produced.
The expectations for this project are that the students will practise and learn how to:
- Design and carry out a technical study.
- Apply a project plan to facilitate and structure the progress of the work.
- Design useful and productive research questions to base the study on
- Use information from different kinds of sources (databases, scientific journals, websites, etc.) in productive ways for this assignment.
- Design and present the project and results in the shape of a project report in English
- Design and present the results as an informative and partly argumentative presentation where they address their fellow students and/or a specific customer.
Through the project, the students will learn about a specific field in electrical engineering and apply some basic programming skills. The specific task this year is to suggest and design an Internet of Things (IoT) application where a commercial 60 GHz radar is used as a sensor. Each group will borrow a radar module during the course, and download the required software and documentation. Since the software is written in the program language Python, there will be a basic introduction to Python. We want to stress, though, that programming is only an option. It is not required for a successfully performed project. However, all groups have to install the hardware and software in order to achieve a running radar sensor.
Learning objectives and syllabus
After completion of the course the student should be able to:
1. Describe basic electrotechnical concepts related to the project task.
2. Apply her/his technical expertise to a multi-person project with an open-ended electrical engineering problem where a solution is proposed, investigated, and verified.
3. Show sufficient proficiency in the use of software tools such as MATLAB/Python.
4. Contribute, in several team roles, to a multi-person project. This includes planning and follow-up under resource constraints.
5. Apply methods for effectively working in a group.
6. Reflect on group work experiences during and after the process.
7. Write an academic report, with several authors, describing a problem-solving project, with correct handling of references.
8. Orally as well as in writing discuss and defend the proposed product, also on the basis of sustainability and ethical aspects.
9. Deliver and constructively process written and oral feedback.
These are the learning objectives listed in the syllabus in the student portal. For this year's project, the proficiency in software tools in learning objective 3 includes the installing of Python and the software provided by Acconeer on your own computer.
Examination form
The learning outcomes are assessed through a number of compulsory assignments. Written assignments may be individual or group submissions. All written assignments will be uploaded to Canvas. Make sure that you keep the deadlines since late submission can affect not only your work flow but also your group's.
All assignments in the first quarter (LP 1) are graded pass/fail (P/F).
| Assignment | Learning outcomes |
| Background survey | n.a. |
| Group contract | 5 |
| Project plan | 2, 4, & 9 |
| Meeting minutes | 3 & 4 |
| Group Dynamics "protokoll" | 6 & 9 |
| Midway presentation | 8 |
| Report: 1st draft | 1, 2, & 7 |
| Contribution report to 1st draft | 4, 5, & 6 |
| Opposition on first draft | 9 |
| Group dynamics mid-point meeting | 5, 6, & 9 |
In the second quarter (LP2), the final presentation and report version are graded F/3/4/5. All other assignments in this quarter are P/F.
| Assignment | Learning outcomes |
| Meeting minutes | 3 & 4 |
| Report: 2nd draft | 1, 2, & 7 |
| Contribution report to 2nd draft | 4, 5, & 6 |
| Opposition on second draft | 9 |
| Slides for oral presentation | 8 |
| Final presentation | 8 |
| Report: Final version | 1, 2, & 7 |
| Contribution report to final report | 4, 5, & 6 |
Final grade
The final grade is based on the final group report (60 %) and the individual oral presentation grade (40 %). There will be a retake in January for those who do not pass the presentation. A passed retake will only give a maximum of 3 on the presentation grade. You can obtain bonus points by attending the study visit and passing a written test, see below.
In order to receive a final grade, all assignments must be passed and compulsory sessions attended.
Attendance
The attendance at many sessions are compulsory. For a complete list see the schedule section above. If, for some reason, you cannot attend a session, you should email both communication teacher and project supervisor in advance. Compensation written tasks will be given to those who miss compulsory sessions.
Written test (Dugga)
The content presented at the technical lectures is tested through a voluntary written test in Canvas. The test consists of a number of multiple-select questions. By passing the test you add 0.2 to your final course grade. The result from the test is only valid for this year.
Study visit to Saab
By attending the study visit to Saab you add 0.2 to your weighted grade.
Project meetings, minutes and logbooks
During the course, there are eight scheduled project meetings, each 2 hours long, where the project groups will meet their project supervisors. Apart from these meetings, a successfully completed project requires that your project group schedule intermediate meetings.
The project supervisors will support each group as a technical coach, suggesting sources of information, providing feedback on drafts & reports, discussing advantages and disadvantages with various technical options and by asking key questions to help the group to address the most relevant questions. However, the supervisors will not provide complete lists of source materials or a “correct answer” to any of the tasks. The projects are open-ended tasks with no definite answer and this course focuses on the scientific methods applied rather than the result.
For each project meeting you decide who should be the chairman and who should be the secretary. The chairman leads the meeting. The secretary writes the meeting minutes, and makes sure that they are uploaded on the group homepage in Canvas, ideally directly after the meeting. However, sometimes some adjustments might be needed first, so the minutes should be uploaded at the latest the day after the meeting. The minutes should show clearly how the work has progressed and what will happen the following week. Each group member has to act as secretary at a minimum of one meeting.
It is strongly recommended that each student keeps a logbook and writes an entry each week with information about hours spent on the project and tasks completed e.g. team meeting 1hr; lecture 2 hrs; reading about sensor applications 4 hrs. This might make group work easier and will certainly facilitate filling in the contribution reports (see below) to be handed in on the same day as each draft.
Tollgates
The project includes a few major tollgates during the project process: e.g. report draft 1 followed by tutorial 1, report draft 2 followed by tutorial 2, and a project-status presentation before report draft 1. During each tutorial, you will receive critique/feedback on the current state of your report draft from your communication teacher, project supervisor, and a peer group. Also, you will give your peer group critique/feedback. These are great opportunities to discuss the structure and content that will help you to finish your final report well in time for the last deadline.
First and second draft
The first draft should at least contain background, purpose, scope and a brief description of your solution(s) / options (approx. 1500 words), and the second draft is considered to be very close to the final report with only minor things to add/correct such as abstract, layout, language, figures, captions, etc. Note that the 2nd draft is the last time you receive full feedback on your progress before you hand in your final report. Therefore, it can be useful to include questions and/or comments on specific items that you want your supervisors/peers to address in their feedback. Place them at the start/end of the draft or within the draft where the questions/comments are relevant.
Final report specifications
For the full specifications for the final report, see the upload slot for that assignment.
Contribution reports
On the same day you hand in each report draft, you should also submit a contribution report. In this course, we try to familiarise you with the kinds of documentation that engineering projects require. The contribution report allows you to keep track of your contributions to the project, which is standard in most engineering projects. The goal of the task is also to make sure that all group members contribute in approximately equal amounts to the project.
Group work
Group and project work are extremely important elements of company life. This is why on this course your project will be carried out in a group. This leads to certain expectations for you as a group member. These expectations are that you:
- Contribute actively to the group project
- Attend all group dynamics sessions and be prepared for them
- Attend all scheduled project meetings (with a maximum of two missed meetings)
- Listen and respond to suggestions made by the team
- Respect group members and their opinions
- Be prepared and able to report on the project on behalf of the team
- Meet outside class time in order to move the project forward
- Stay in communication with your group, including notifying your group ahead of time if you must miss a project meeting and also keeping your group apprised of the ongoing status of your individual contributions to the project.
Hand-ins connected to group work:
- Group contract
- Minutes of meeting (team)
- Contribution reports
Course summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|