Overview

The primary goal of this unit is to have a group of students choose an open- ended capstone project and use a top-down design approach for design and implementation.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Plan, manage and conceptualize a broad Electrical Engineering project with requirements and constraints including time and resources using knowledge and skills developed during the course (K1, K2, K3, K4, S1, S2, S3, S4, A2, A3, A4, A6, A7)
  • Formulate a concept solution by applying, researching and synthesising the knowledge gained throughout the course and apply problem-solving methodologies to generate, evaluate and justify proposed concept solution (K1, K2, K3, K4, S1, S2, S3, A3)
  • Debate, negotiate, justify, clarify and respond to questions and statements concerning the proposed concept, integrating power generation, transmission and distribution for each team member (K5, K6, S4, A1, A2, A5, A6, A7)
  • Reflect on professional engineering practice and its impact on the project, including safety, ethical, legal, social, cultural and sustainability considerations, along with standards and codes of practice (K5, K6, S4, A1, A2, A4)
  • Generate high quality documentation that incorporates a literature review, requirements analysis, project planning and a concept proposal (S4, A2, A4, A7)
  • Use project management processes and tools, and self-management skills, communication skills, to plan and manage project work (K5, K6, S4, A2, A4, A5, A6, A7)

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture		2.00 12 weeks 24
On-campus
Lab		3.00 8 weeks 24
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		8.50 12 weeks 102
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
PresentationGroup 30% 1,2 
Project DeliverablesIndividual 20% 1,2,3,4,5,6 
ReportGroup 50% 1,2,3 

Hurdle

As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass a unit and meet all ULOs to a minimum standard, an undergraduate student must have achieved:

an aggregate mark for the unit of 50% or more.

Content

The primary goal of this unit is to have a group of students choose an open- ended capstone project and use a top-down design approach for design and implementation. Students integrate and apply knowledge and skills acquired in earlier units to a substantial real world design challenge relevant to their discipline. Students work in teams, typically with four to six members, and are supervised by an academic. Teams are responsible for managing their project as well as reporting against milestones and preparing the necessary design documentation. Students explore the generation of alternative solutions and evaluate these alternatives. In addition, each student will serve on a design review team that will analyze other projects.

The projects are identified based on multidisciplinary team effort to identify a market need based on realistic constraints; propose an electrical or electronic, telecommunication product to meet the need.

The project should also focus on entrepreneurship and business plans, project management, finance, marketing, teamwork dynamics and interpersonal skills, product liability, legal regulations, Innovation and risk management, sustainability and professional ethics.

Samples of Projects:

  1. Power Plant Design
  2. Smart Grid designs
  3. System on Chip Design
  4. Real-time DSP applications
  5. Design of autonomous robotics
  6. Design of Communication Networks

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.