King
Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department
of Computer Engineering
COE 485: Senior Design Project
Catalog
Description:
This course
is designed to give students the experience of tackling a realistic engineering
problem. The intent is to show how to put theoretical knowledge gained into practical
use by starting from a word description of a problem and proceeding through
various design phases to end up with a practical engineering solution. Various
projects are offered by the faculty members in their respective specialization
areas. The project advisor guides the student in conducting feasibility study,
preparation of specifications, and the methodology for the design. Detailed
design and implementation of the project are carried out followed by testing,
debugging, and documentation. An oral presentation and a final report are given
at the end of the semester.
Prerequisite: Senior standing plus whatever prerequisites stated by the faculty
members in their project proposals.
Reference
Book:
Robert Angus
and Norman Gundersen, ``Planning, Performing, and
Controlling Projects: Principles and Applications'', Prentice-Hall, First
Edition, 1997.
Also MS Project has a very useful help and
tutorials in Project Management.
Instructor/Coordinator:
Dr. Adnan Gutub, Office: 22/145, Tel: 1723, email:gutub@kfupm.edu.sa
Course URL: http://www.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/~gutub
Procedures
and Schedule:
1.
The
coordinator will collect project proposals from faculty members and make
it available to the students by the beginning of the term.
2.
Students are
required to carefully examine these proposals, possibly discuss them with the
faculty members and then choose a project.
3.
When a project is chosen, all parties involved (students and
supervisors) must sign a commitment form (obtained from the
coordinator). Please note the following important issues:
a.
Students are
advised to select a project based on their background, capabilities and
interest.
b.
The senior
project is not the place to learn too many new
theoretical stuff but rather how to apply the knowledge already gained to a
practical project development.
c.
Also keep in
mind that the grade does not come only from the supervisor. So the project has
to be of enough merit to get good grades from the examiners. The student bares
the responsibility of selecting a good project; poor projects get low grades
even if they are executed flawlessly.
d.
Projects are
expected to have design part. Only literature survey is not considered a
project.
e.
In the case
of multi-student project, the project description must contain enough details
to differentiate the task of each student. Also the action plan should clearly
define distinct tasks for each member of the team.
f.
All Project
presentations must be done by using Power point. Presentations are usually
15-20 minutes.
4.
By the third
week the students are required to submit a project proposal
detailing, in their own words, their project description, deliverables and
the action plan.
5.
By the ninth
week, a progress report detailing the work movement is to be
submitted.
6.
By the end
of week thirteen of the term (beginning week fourteen at
most), a final report should be submitted and a final
presentation is give.
Items
and Policies Affecting the Grades:
The grades are divided among the course
coordinator, project supervisor and the final examining committee. Below are
the items that will affect your grade.
1.
Quality
of Action plan (Week 3) and Progress Report (Week 9).
2.
Project
Implementation
§
Engineering approach: System design, critical examination of
different approaches and justification for the selected approach(s). The
utilization of basic engineering science in the design.
§
Completion of the design.
§
Design verification and testing: Simulations, modeling,
emulation, prototyping (when appropriate) and testing.
3. Work
habits
§
Motivation
§
Organization
§
self-reliance
§
planning
§
critical thinking
1.
Project
Documentation and Final Report (Week 13, 14)
§
Compliance
with the report writing guidelines
§
Clarity
of the problem description and proposed solution
§
System
design, approach selection and design segmentation
§
Implementation/Testing
report and any ‘product manuals’ if the project requires it
2.
Final
Presentation (Week 14, 15)
§
Clarity
of stated problem and solution
§
Quality
of presentation (organization, body language …etc)
§
Discussion
(how the student answers the committee questions which demonstrate his
understanding of the project and its socio-economical aspects).
Important
notes:
·
Students that
are not regularly meeting with their project advisor will receive Warnings
and a ``DN'' will be given to them if this situation persists. Students should
meet weekly with their supervisors to discuss the work progress and determine
future directions.
·
In
connection with the progress and final reports, it is prohibited to copy or
past text, figures, diagrams, or plots from other sources (books, articles,
etc.) without referencing the original source. If you absolutely need to refer
to figures, diagrams, or plots that appear in other sources, then you should
include clear reference to their authors in the caption. An ‘F’ grade will be
given to the student if this rule is not observed.
IC
Grade Policy:
An IC grade will only be granted with the supervisor's consent.
Students who do not submit a final report or an IC request (with appropriate
justification and supervisor approval) shall receive an 'F' grade.
Students who obtain an IC grade in the current term need to be in
contact with the advisor and coordinator in order to change their IC grade. If
an IC grade is not changed, the registrar will give an automatic ‘F’ to the
student. Normally, IC students will be required to submit their final report at
least three weeks before the end of the project completion term. Also,
these students should be ready to deliver a presentation on their senior
project two weeks before the term ends.