Grading Scheme :: ECE 445 - Senior Design Laboratory

Grading Scheme

 

The grading scheme for the course, as well as links to specific requirements for each assignment/deliverable and evaluation sheets, are given in the table below. Due dates for each assignment/deliverable can be found on the course Calendar. Please note:

Below is the points breakdown for all assignments/deliverables for the course, sorted chronologically:

Item Team / Individual Score Points Evaluation Sheet**
Initial Post Individual 5  
Early project approval Individual 5  
Lab Safety Training Individual Lab Access  
Lab Notebook Individual 50 PDF
CAD Assignment Individual 10 PDF
Soldering Assignment Individual 10
Request for Approval Team 5  
Weekly TA Meetings     Participation
Proposal document Team 25 PDF
Design Document
Requirements and Verification
Team 40 PDF
Design Review Team 20 PDF
Peer review Individual 5
Team Contract Team 10  
Breadboard Demo I * Team 20 PDF
Breadboard Demo II * Team 20 PDF
Team Evaluation I Team 5 Canvas
Board Review     Participation
Individual Progress Report Individual 25 PDF
Team Contract Assessment Individual Participation
Mock Demo Individual 5  
Mock Presentation Individual 5  
Final Demo * Team 150 PDF
Final Presentation * Individual 50 PDF
Final Report: Technical Team 30 PDF
Final Report: English/Format Team 20 PDF
Checkout     PDF
Continuing your project   Priceless  

* Grades for these will be the average of the TA and Instructor grades; peer review grades will be used to provide feedback.
** Evaluation Sheets are subject to minor changes.

The Marching Band Assistant

Wynter Chen, Alyssa Louise Licudine, Prashant Shankar

The Marching Band Assistant

Featured Project

NetID/Names

wynterc2 (Wynter Chen), alyssal3 (Alyssa Licudine), shankar7 (Prashant Shankar)

Problem

Drum majors lead and conduct marching bands. One of their main jobs is to maintain tempo for the musicians by moving their hands in specific patterns. However, many drum majors, especially high school students, need to learn how to conduct specific tempos off the top of their head and maintain a consistent tempo without assistance for performances. Even those with musical experience have difficulty knowing for certain what tempo they're conducting without a metronome.

Solution Overview

Our project consists of an arm attachment that aids drum major conducting. The attachment contains an accelerometer that helps determine the tempo in beats per minute via hand movement. A display shows the beats per minute, which allows the drum major to adjust their speed as necessary in real time. The microcontroller data is wirelessly transmitted, and a program can be downloaded that not only visualizes the data in real-time, but provides an option to save recorded data for later. There is also a convenient charging port for the device.

This project is a unique invention that aims to help marching bands. There have been previous projects and inventions that have also digitized the conducting experience, such as the Digital Conducting Baton from Spring 2015. However, these have been in the form of a baton rather than a glove, and are used to alter music files as opposed to providing feedback. Additionally, orchestra conductors use very delicate motions with a baton, while drum majors create large, sharper motions with their arms; thus, we believed that an arm attachment was better suited for marching band usage. Unlike other applications that only integrate digital instruments, this project seeks to assist live performers.

Link to RFA: https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=37939

Project Videos