A grasp of a body of theory on which to base a project such as provided by a fundamental feedback control system course, a signal processing course, or an instrumentation course. The student is interviewed to determine whether they have such strengths and interests. It is also very desirable for them to have a facility with tools, electrical instruments, and some experience in fabricating devices.

Textbook: Depending on the orientation of the student's projects, various National Instruments LabVIEW guide books are suggested. National provides an extensive on-line library.

Reference: Most students make extensive use of library resources, catalogs and handbooks appropriate to their project.

A design-project laboratory course: To become familiar with the operation of a sophisticated computer system, including high- performance peripheral interfaces (250 ksample/sec A/D, 250 kHz D/A, 1 MHz 16- bit parallel interface programmable clocks) and extensive signal processing and graphics software in the first one-third of the semester. Establish teams of two or three members to conceive a project, plan its execution, and carry this project to completion, presenting demonstrations of the project to classmates, instructional staff and guests. As the course proceeds advanced aspects of labVIEW pertinent to the projects being developed are are presented. There is great stress on the project making effective use of the computing resources leading to a functioning system at semester's end.

Use of and programming Analog to Digital Converters, Digital to Analog Converters, Serial and Parallel digital interfaces and programmable clocks. Gain an appreciation for the care and handling of such devices.

The discrete Fourier transform and its many idiosyncrasies when applied in the real world

PID control algorithms

Digital filter techniques

Regression analysis methods applied to a variety of systems

Project management

The above is presented to all students by the instructional staff, and many students will head off in their direction looking into the many sophisticated resources offered in LabVIEW

Two 75 minute lectures per week; open laboratory (3 plus hours per week) throughout the semester.

The following statement indicates which of the following considerations are included in this course: economic, environmental, ethical, political, societal, health and safety, manufacturability, sustainability.

Although this course makes extensive use of sophisticated well equipped computing systems, the students make use of them as developemnt systems, always with the thought in mind as to how this could, and at what cost could this be implemented ussing microprocessors.

There is considerable emphasis on the ethical structure and performance of project teams in this course, with each student appropriately contributing to the project.

Over the years a variety of the course projects have directly addressed computer use in suport of projects supporting measurements in the medical community, and considerable emphsais has been placed on the safety of systems that are being automated with the aid of on-line computers.

In that the end result of this course centers constructuing a finished project the student community must often think about the realizablity of a commercial version of their project and the cost of its manufacture.

ECE 468 serves primarily Electrical and Computer Engineering students, but has served students from a variety of other engineering departments and computer science. It brings students with varied backgrounds and interests together in teams to conceive and develop real functioning projects based on the extensive library of signal processing outlines available in the LabVIEW library.

This certainly does call on the students' experience with aspects of physics and mathematics along with electrical and mechanical hardware assembly skills.

At the conclusion of this course the project teams make three forms of project presentations, first a selling of their project concept to fellow classmates, second a highly technical presentation to their TA and professor, much like a presentation to management seeking funding for continuation of the project, and third a written engineering report suitable to someone continuing their project.

This is specifically a design course requiring the student to call on the tools of their trade, with concern for the realizability of the end product. All projects are based on the instrumentation and control services provided by the LabVIEW software. This course provides the student a confidence in the use of sophisticated instruments and simulations thereof.

The above certainly calls on the folowing:

- advanced expertise in design, analysis, and fabrication techniques within a student-selected electrical and computer engineering concentration area

- strong skills in problem solving, leadership, and communication

- the ability to make thoughtful, well-informed career choices

The student's assessment of the course presentation and the manner in which it aided them as they interview for professional positions, serves to suggest enhancements for the next semester's presentation.

Laboratory Projects: This course starts with the students performing introductory exercises to learn the operation of the computers and peripherals. The main part of the course centers on a project of the student's own conception. The lab is well supplied with a variety of instruments, control systems hardware, and audio equipment. Many times students bring in hardware obtained elsewhere on campus. The students' project effort is the order of 60% of the course program.