Student selected microcontroller and digital design projects

Summary form only given. The goals of the project assignments were to design, build, test, and document a microcontroller-based system or digital system. The microcontroller course is for the first semester sophomore students in electrical engineering and the digital design course is for first semester junior computer science students. Initially, students submitted a project proposal describing their system and product specifications. This proposal was reviewed by the faculty to make sure that the project could be completed in the allotted time. Once the proposal was approved, the project proposal was posted on the Web and shared with classmates and professors. Working in groups of two to four individuals, students selected the digital/microcontroller systems in consultation with the faculty members. Since the end result of this process would ideally include the actual manufacture of the design, the students were required to hand in a technical report documenting their design, a product specification data sheet for use by the marketing group, and a sales brochure. Two management professors addressed the product versus market approaches to marketing and starting up business from technology and financial perspectives. Students had the opportunity to provide the course professor with progress reports and to present their progress orally to their classmates in lab and class. A first draft was submitted and revisions were suggested. After the revisions were made, the final draft was graded and editorial comments were made.