Course syllabus
Welcome to MCC146 - 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
MCC146 Technical project in Electrical Engineering, LP1 + LP2 HT24 (7.5 hp).
The course is provided jointly by the department of Microtechnology & Nanoscience and the department of Communication and Learning in Science.
Contact details
Teachers:
Student representatives
| Name | Project group | |
| Lovis Abrahamsson | B8 | lovisabr@student.chalmers.se |
| Julia Arenberg | B7 | juliaare@student.chalmers.se |
| Tom Andrew Beagan | B7 | beagan@student.chalmers.se |
| Eskil Høiler Ramäng | A8 | hiler@student.chalmers.se |
| Ida Sandahl | B3 | idasand@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 different modules and relevant information pages. And here is a visual of the planned study sequence which can be helpful for your and your groups' planning.
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.
Each project member should develop her/his competence to select, read, and use source material and background reading in relevant and productive ways. A 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. We want to stress that programming the radar module is only an option and 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:
- Describe basic electrotechnical concepts related to the project task.
- 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.
- Perform systematic experiments to investigate and verify the suggested solution
- Contribute, in several team roles, to a multi-person project. This includes planning and follow-up under resource constraints.
- Apply methods for effectively working in a group.
- Reflect on experiences of group work, including aspects of equality and inclusion, and analyse group interaction from different perspectives.
- Write an academic report, with several authors, describing a problem-solving project, with correct handling of references.
- Plan and carry out an oral presentation of the project, based on both technical and ethical aspects and sustainability.
- Deliver and constructively process written and oral feedback.
Examination including compulsory elements
To reach a passing grade in the Technical Project (4.5 hp), a passing grade must be achieved for the following tasks: the dugga, the technical report, the final oral presentation. Additionally, active participation in the project and project meetings, and documentation of the work in the meeting minutes is required.
To reach a passing mark in the Technical Communication in English (3 hp), the following assignments must be completed: contribution reports, report drafts, mid-way presentation, and active participation during the feedback sessions (tutorials) and group dynamic sessions.
Below follows a list of the assignments in study period 1.
| Assignment | Learning outcomes |
| Background survey | n.a. |
| Group contract | 5 |
| Project plan | 2, 4, & 9 |
| Dugga on technical lectures | 1 |
| Meeting minutes | 4 & 5 |
| Group Dynamics "protokoll" | 6 |
| Midway presentation | 8 |
| Report: 1st draft | 1, 2, 3, & 7 |
| Contribution report to 1st draft | 4, 5, & 6 |
| Opposition on first draft | 9 |
| Group dynamics mid-point meeting | 5, 6, & 9 |
Below follows a list of the assignments in study period 2 (LP2).
| Assignment | Learning outcomes |
| Meeting minutes | 4 & 5 |
| Report: 2nd draft | 1, 2, 3, & 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, 3, & 7 |
| Contribution report to final report | 4, 5, & 6 |
In order to pass the course, all assignments must be passed and compulsory sessions attended.
Attendance
Attendance is compulsory to the course sessions listed below. If, for some reason, you cannot attend a session, you should email both the communication teacher and project supervisor in advance.
- All group dynamics sessions
- Library Introduction in week 38
- Scheduled project meetings, inform your team members and the project supervisor if you cannot attend, the absence from two meetings is accepted
- All four communication workshops, absence from one is accepted
- Midway presentation in week 42
- Joint tutoring sessions in week 43 and 48
- Oral presentation session in week 50
Technical lectures
At the beginning of the course, there will be a number of technical lectures. Although not compulsory, you are strongly recommended to attend these lectures.
- Industrial outlook, guest lecture by Veronica Lundstedt at Saab
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Radar basics
- Installing the radar module software
- Acconeer Radar technology, guest lecture by Josefin Strahl
Written test (Dugga)
The content presented at the technical lectures is tested through an obligatory written test in Canvas. The test consists of a number of multiple-select questions. It is necessary to pass the Dugga to complete the course.
Study visit to Saab
A study visit to Saab will be arranged on Friday Oct. 4th. The study visit is not obligatory to pass the course.
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.
Course summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|