Seminar Starting a Project

1. SeminarStarting a Project KhaledAlmotairi Modified by MajidAlgethami

3. Get started • Establish project team • Choose topics in the problem area • Determine your limits • Prepare Gantt chart (timeline)

4. Problem selection • Evaluate topics • Do a literature survey on problem area and topics • Determine existing solutions • Set your objectives and goals • Identify realistic design constraints

5. Desirable criteria for topic selection • Requires use of computer engineering prerequisites (courses) • Can be built by students • Requires use of other resources (faculty, library, computers, software)

7. Characteristics of good design practice Good design practices enable difficult design problems to be solved. • List criteria, requirements, and constraints • Identify users and their tasks • Identify effects on the environment • Generate multiple solutions • Select optimal solutions • Best practice

8. List criteria, requirements, and constraints

9. Heuristics, Guidelines, Standards and Specifications

10. Heuristics • A design heuristic is a general (and not necessarily actionable) rule-of-thumb based on experience • Heuristics lead to quick design solutions that often work well but may fail in some situations

11. Guidelines • A design guideline is a general rule based on experience and specific knowledge of the design problem that may be applied to a design solution • We mean something more specific than heuristics

12. Standard • A standard provides more direction about the acceptable solution space by stating technical requirements that must be satisfied by candidate designs • Standards do not provide a complete solution, but do dictate a set of requirements that must be satisfied by a solution

13. Specification • Specification refers to a description of a solution which provides all of the details. • Using a specification, an engineer should be able to reproduce a design exactly

14. Ideas: • an accident caused by a stray camel http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=2009072244395

15. Writing a Technical Documents

16. Technical Communications • Writing is perhaps the most important way in which you will convey your ideas to managers, other engineers, and customers • Your communication skills will therefore determine how successful you are as an engineer, perhaps even more so than your technical expertise!

17. Types of Technical Documents • Letters • Memos • Emails • Specification documents • Bids and proposals • Reports

18. Letters Introduction • Body: • - Purpose of the letter • Desired outcome • Some actions to take Closing statements http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xKFIQ5eaKf8/UK-YPllUA7I/AAAAAAAAAEs/NiAruU9v9Lg/s1600/buslet.gif

19. Memos (memorandum) • It means something to be remembered • A written communication between people within a company or an organization • It can be forma or informal written communication

21. Emails • Electronic mail is sent and received using computing devices and a network (e.g., the Internet) • It is like a memo that has not yet been printed • It can be formal or informal • Email is sent over the Internet, so it is unsecure • Don’t send unencrypted email if it contains very sensitive (classified) documents • A company or an organization inspects any incoming or outgoing email (you will lose privacy)

22. Specification Documents • The specification document is used by the engineer who design, build, or otherwise provide the product • It is basically a list of criteria or tests that determine the characteristics required of a desired product, component, process, or system • It usually contains: • Introduction and scope: the purpose of the product or service • List of requirements

23. Bids and Proposals • They are offers from engineers to provide services. • A bid is an offer to provide specified services • A proposal typically suggests a means of meeting a need that has not been specified precisely and offers to provide the required service • When accepted, they are part of legal contracts between the engineers and the clients

24. Reports • Report formats vary according to their formality, purpose, and content • It should be formal (or less formal) documents • It can be: • Journal/conference paper • Thesis • technical report, such as lab report

25. Elements of Technical Reports

26. Writing Style • Depends on the audience • More Lively Writing (usually preferred) • First Person, Active Voice, Past/Present Tense • More Formal Writing • Third Person, Passive Voice, Past/Present Tense • Never use slang

28. Writing Mechanics • Check Spelling • Check Grammar • Minimize the use of Acronyms • If Acronyms are necessary, always define them at the first use • Number all equations, tables, and figures • All tables and figures must have captions. • All figures must have labeled axes • All quantities must have units

29. Writing the Report: An Approach • Decide on a title • Create a brief outline with only main section headings • Create a more detailed outline with subheadings • Create an executive summary • Create the main body of text • Insert tables, figures, references, and acknowledgements

30. The best method for presentation of technical reports • The main key to the successful presentation is to repeat your ‘story’ four times: • Title (10 words) • Abstract (100 words) • Introduction (1000 words) • in the text (10,000 words) • Estimations show that • 80% will see only title • 15% will read the abstract • 4% will read also introduction • the surviving 1% will read the whole paper http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~ivan/presentstyle.pdf

31. Abstract (Executive Summary) • Repeat the story of the title (What) • Why the work was done (Why) • How it was done (How) • Key results, with numbers as appropriate, conclusions, recommendations

32. Introduction • This is not a substitute for the report, and so does not echo the abstract • Here is the place for context, relation to prior work, general objective, and approach

33. Related work • Some information on previous work • Place the most similar works to what you do • How your work is different from others

34. Theory and Analysis • Briefly describe the theory relevant to the work • Provide design equations • Include calculations and computer simulation results • Provide values for all key parameters

35. Experimental Procedures • Describe Apparatus and Materials • Show test setups • If this section is well written, any electrical or computer engineer should be able to duplicate your results.

36. Results and Discussion • Use tables and graphs • Consider moving large quantities of raw data, detailed derivations, or code to an appendix • Methods of plotting which produce well delineated lines should be considered • Results should be critically compared to theory • Consider limitations in the theory and engineering tolerances

37. Conclusion • Similar to executive summary • Repeat the story • Must be concise • Reinforces key ideas formed in discussion • Includes recommendations for future work, such as implementation of a design

38. Figures and Tables • Every figure must have a caption • All tables must have a title • Figure/tables are placed after they are mentioned in the text (all must be mentioned/discussed) • Make figures/tables first, and then insert into the text • Put the figure/table number beside its title, and put this in a standard location • Don’t start a sentence with an abbreviation: Figure vs. Fig.

39. Acknowledgements • Keep track of those to be acknowledged-keep a diary so that you don’t forget anyone • Include: your sponsor, outside sources (companies or agencies), other departments on campus, individuals outside of your team who have helped • Be brief

40. References • Various formats have been developed. Pick one you like such as the IEEE Transactions format • Decide on a sequence, such as the order they appear in the text • Always give full references such that others may find the item

41. References (examples) • [1] A. Student and B. Professor, “Very Important Project,” in Journal of Irreproducable Research, vol. 13, no. 9, pp. 25-31, Nov. 2004. • [2] C. Dean, The Book of Earth-Shattering Research, Husky Press, Storrs, CT, 2005.