Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ENR3008

 
TITLE Team Project

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Systems and Control Engineering

 
DESCRIPTION The unit introduces the ideas of practical engineering project work and team collaboration to students following the B.Eng.(Hons) course in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. It includes supervised hands-on experience obtained through a significant practical task. Students work in teams to design, implement, test and validate a technical solution to a given engineering requirement taking the form of a practical project. The projects will typically include a combination of electronic/electrical hardware and algorithm/software design. As part of the unit, students shall also attend a series of formal lectures on good practice in general problem solving, design approaches, project planning, time management, team work, report writing and presentation (preparation and delivery).

At the end of the project, each team is expected to demonstrate operation of the implemented solution, submit a 20 page report and deliver a short presentation on the project. All team members shall participate in the write-up of the report and the delivery of the presentation.

The unit will be assessed through progress supervision, project demonstration, student interviews, technical reporting and public presentation on the merit of:

• Technical issues: technical research, design, implementation, workmanship and success, testing and validation procedures, project demonstration;
• Management and participation issues: project planning, project, time and resource management, individual role performance, team work, resolution of conflict;
• Presentation issues: report, interview, presentation.

Students will be rewarded for taking proactive roles and initiatives and for developing independent thinking.

Study-unit Aims

The study-unit aims to impart the following skills to the students:

• Technical skills: problem definition and formulation of specifications; analysis, design and development; implementation and deployment; testing and validation;
• Management and participation skills: project planning, time management, team work and participation;
• Presentation skills: report writing, answers to technical questions, oral presentation, project demonstration.

Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

• Produce a conceptual design that meets the requirements of the client during the product's life cycle;
• Describe how to reach technical targets within stipulated costs & time frames;
• Describe time management and human resource management skills;
• Describe the benefits and challenges of team-work;
• Describe the process for reaching compromise using conflict-resolution skills;
• Present the individual work and the team's work in a concise, but equitable manner.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

• Formulate technical requirements and specifications derived from vague goals stated in layman's terms;
• Break large problems into manageable pieces;
• Design systems to predetermined specifications which include engineering trade-offs that strikes a balance between conflicting needs for manufacturability, recyclability, cost, repeatability, autonomy, ruggedness, reliability, environmental impact, design effort, ease-of-use, etc. as well as a number of more case-specific technical requirements such weight, MTFB, efficiency, performance, accuracy, range, endurance etc.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings

Depends on the technical problem being addressed by each team. Texts and references will therefore be proposed by the team supervisor according to the task assigned to the team.

A selection of useful designer's handbooks available in the Library Reference Section includes:

1) The Electronics Handbook, Jerry C. Whitaker, CRC Press, 2005
2) The Control Handbook, William S. Levine, CRC Press, 1996
3) The Image Processing Handbook, John C. Russ, CRC Press, 2010
4) The RF and Microwave Handbook, Mike Golio, CRC Press, 2008
5) The Electrical Power Engineers Handbook, Leonard L Grigsby, CRC Press, 2007
6) The Electrical Engineering Handbook, Richard C. Dorf, CRC Press, 2006
7) Instrument Engineers Handbook, Bela G Liptak, CRC Press, 2005
8) Handbook of Automotive Power Electronics and Motor Drives, Ali Emadi, CRC Press, 2005
9) CRC Handbook of Modern Telecommunications, Morreale & Terplan, CRC Press, 2009

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture, Independent Study and Project

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Presentation See note below No 20%
Report See note below Yes 20%
Project See note below Yes 60%
Note: Assessment due will vary according to the study-unit availability.

 
LECTURER/S Alexandra Bonnici (Co-ord.)
Cedric Caruana Mifsud
Stefania Cristina
Emmanuel Francalanza
Alexander Galea
Roger Galea
Reiko Raute
David Zammit Mangion
Paul Zammit

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit