Senior Capstone Design
This capstone design course serves as the culminating experience for undergraduate Electrical Engineering students, integrating knowledge and skills acquired throughout their B.S. program. Students will work in teams to conceptualize, design, implement, and test a complex electronic system that addresses a real-world engineering problem. The course emphasizes practical application, project management, ethical considerations, and effective communication, preparing students for professional engineering practice. Through a structured design process, students will gain hands-on experience with advanced hardware and software tools, ranging from schematic capture and PCB layout to embedded programming and system integration. The course covers critical aspects of product development, including requirements gathering, risk assessment, prototyping, verification, and validation. Strong emphasis is placed on independent problem-solving, teamwork, technical documentation, and presenting design choices and results to a professional audience.
Prerequisites
Course outline
Lectures, virtual labs, and graded assignments — completed in your browser.
Syllabus
Course Objectives: By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1) Formulate design specifications for complex electronic systems. 2) Apply advanced engineering principles to design and implement hardware and software components. 3) Select appropriate tools and methodologies for prototyping, testing, and debugging electronic systems. 4) Evaluate design choices considering technical, economic, environmental, and ethical factors. 5) Effectively manage a multi-disciplinary engineering project within team constraints. 6) Communicate technical information clearly through written reports and oral presentations. Topics by Week: Week 1: Introduction to Capstone, Project Selection and Team Formation Week 2: Requirements Definition, Project Planning and Management Tools Week 3: System Architecture and Block Diagram Design Week 4: Component Selection and Trade-off Analysis Week 5: Detailed Circuit Design and Simulation Week 6: PCB Design Principles and Layout (Part 1) Week 7: PCB Design Principles and Layout (Part 2) Week 8: Midterm exam Week 9: Embedded System Design and Firmware Development Week 10: Prototyping, Assembly, and Initial Bring-up Week 11: Testing, Debugging, and Verification Methodologies Week 12: System Integration and Validation Week 13: Technical Documentation and Professional Presentation Skills Week 14: Final project Grading Policy: Project Proposal (10%), Design Review (20%), Midterm Exam (15%), Bi-weekly Progress Reports/Presentations (20%), Final Project Demonstration (20%), Final Report (15%). Team contributions will also be assessed.