ECE 2800 - Proposal - Spring 2022

The design does not have to be feasible - it could be pure fantasy and can make assumptions about reality which are not necessarily true. For example, it could be written from a science-fiction viewpoint of the future.

The proposal will be judged more on creativity than engineering feasibility.

Schedule

1. Register Your Group - by March 18

   groups.txt - frozen Thu Mar 24 08:16:14 EDT 2022

2. Determine Proposal Topic - by March 21 - one member of each group mail a one-line description of the project to richard.perry@villanova.edu

   Groups and Descriptions

3. Work on it

4. Presentations - April 4 (groups 1...6) & April 11 (groups 7...13)

   Upload in PDF format to one group member Proposal subdir: groups 1...6 by April 4; groups 7...13 by April 11.

   The written proposal due later must cover all of the points specified below, but the presentation should just cover the main aspects. Imagine the audience consists of investors with lots of cash to invest and you want to convince them to fund your project. So basically anything goes in the presentation.

   Each group will have 10 minutes so figure about 8 minutes plus setup and questions. Each member of the group must do part of the presentation.

5. Written Report - by April 25 - upload PDF to one group member Proposal subdir.

   Example reports from last year senior projects are available at: https://www.ece.villanova.edu/~jupina/ece4972-3/index.htm
   Those are final reports, not proposals, but most of the style and information is the same. A proposal would not have the section on achievements nor the design details, just a high-level design description. Only the components listed below are required for the proposal.

Written Proposal Requirements

Before delving into the details of a proposal, you should develop an outline which includes sketches of the important graphics such as block diagrams, flowcharts, etc. Once the graphics are finalized, use them to develop the text of the proposal.

Format

All figures and tables must be numbered and titled and referred to in the body of the proposal by number. Equations must be numbered in consecutive order, and referred to by equation number. Pages must be numbered in consecutive order.

Components

Title Page

Include project title, group members, and date.

Project Definition (What? / Why?)

Clearly define the purpose of your project, including:

Background - project purpose, motivation, prior work by others, project overview.

Objectives - a qualitative description of the specific goals of the project.

Specifications/Constraints - a quantitative description of the performance specifications and constraints.

Methodology (How?)

Clearly describe the aspects of the project, including:

Feasibility Analysis - the possible approaches and their feasibilities. This analysis should lead to a clear justification of the proposed approach that is delineated in the next section of this part.

Proposed Approach - technical aspects of the proposed approach. Each task of the proposed approach must include a description of work and some technical details supported by graphics, e.g. block diagram, flowchart, pseudocode, etc. Keep in mind that the proposal is for an idea and high-level design, not a detailed low-level design.

Non-technical Aspects - consideration of the impact of the project in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts, with recognition of ethical and professional responsibilities.

Administration (When? / How much?)

Administrative aspects of the project, including:

Major Tasks - the major tasks of the project and the personnel who will be responsible for them.

Schedule - a chart or timetable of the project schedule. and a summary description of it. The schedule should be arranged according to the tasking of the previous part.

Budget - account for both materials and labor costs.

Facilities and Resources - describe the facilities and other resources needed to implement the project. This section also presents the project personnel and brief descriptions of their relevant qualifications (you can make up fake qualifications if you want) for working on their particular tasks of the project.

References

At least four references are required. The references must be numbered, properly cited, and referred to in the body of the proposal.

Appendices

Appendices are not required, but may be used for lengthy or detailed material which is not appropriate to include in the body of the proposal, such as manufacturer's data sheets, simulation results, source code, etc. If appendices are present they must be referred to in the body of the proposal.