Lectures :: ECE 445 - Senior Design Laboratory

Lectures

Spring 2024 Lecture Material:

 

Pre-Lecture #1:


(before the first lecture)

 

 

Brainstorming and Ideation

  • Brainstorming and Ideation slides (pptx)
  • Videos (watch before coming to class)

 

 

Lecture #1:


(January 16th)

 

 

Getting Started

  • Welcome, Course Overview, and Request for Approval (link)
  • Conflict Management Workshop (link)
  • Pitches
    • Sound Asleep (link) – Maggie Li (mtli2@illinois.edu)
    • AUVI- Continuous Fistula Monitor (link) – Richie Li (rlli4@illinois.edu)
    • Custom Cameras and Sensors for Medical Applications (link) – Professor Viktor Gruev (vgruev@illinois.edu)
    • Custom NIR and Visible Light LEDs for Surgery (link) – Professor Viktor Gruev (vgruev@illinois.edu)
    • Autonomous Underwater Drone (link) – Professor Viktor Gruev (vgruev@illinois.edu)
  • Brainstorming

 

 

Pre-Lecture #2:


(before the second lecture)

 

 

Beyond Ideation

 

 

Lecture #2:


(January 23rd)

 

 

Moving Forward

  • Introduction
  • Current Sensing for Electric Vehicles(link) Professor Olga Mironenko (olgamiro@illinois.edu)
  • Machine Shop – Gregg Bennett (gbenntt@illinois.edu)
  • Pitches
    • Autonomous Sailboat (link) – Professor Arne Fliflet (afliflet@illinois.edu)
    • The Watt Balance (link) – Daniella Pope (ddpope2@illinois.edu)
    • GPS Tags for Bat Conservation(link) – Josie Hoppenworth (jch8@illinois.edu)
    • ECEB Submetering(link) – Professor Jonathan Schuh (schuh4@illinois.edu)
  • Senior Design and Lab Safety (link) – Casey Smith (cjsmith0@illinois.edu)
  • PCB Tips (link)

 

Pre-Lecture #3:


(before the third lecture)

 

 

Design and Writing Tips

 

 

Lecture #3:

(January 30th)

 

 

Last Stop Before RFA

  • Intellectual Property – Dr. Michelle Chitambar (mchitamb@illinois.edu) (link)
  • Writing Center – Dr. Aaron Geiger (ageiger2@illinois.edu) (link)
  • Ethics (link)
  • Lionfish Trap project pitch – Katharine Klugman (klugman3@illinois.edu) (link)
  • Lab Notebook (link)
  • Modular Design (link)
  • R&V Table (link)
  • Proposal (link)
  • Design Review (link)

Spring 2023 Video Lectures:

Brainstorming

Finding a Problem (Video)
Generating Solutions (Video)
Diving Deeper (Video)
Voting (Video)
Reverse Brainstorming (Video)
Homework for Everyone (Video)

Important Information

Using the ECE 445 Website (Video)
Lab Notebook (Video , Slides)
Modular Design (Video, Slides)
Circuit Tips and Debugging (Video , Slides)
Eagle CAD Tutorial (Video)
Spring 2018 IEEE Eagle Workshop (Slides)
Spring 2018 IEEE Soldering Workshop (Slides)

Major Assignments and Milestones

Request for Approval (Video, Slides)
Project Proposal (Video, slides)
Design Document (Video, slides)
Design Review (Video, slides)
Writing Tips (Video, slides)

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