Lab
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In addition to the resources that the course provides, students may find it useful to obtain the tools below:
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Lab Resources
The Senior Design Lab is located at ZJUI room D225. This lab provides you access to various equipment, some spare parts, computers, and a space to work on your senior design project. In addition, course staff will make themselves available in this lab during their office hours to provide guidance on your project throughout the semester. Your weekly meetings with your TA will also likely be at this location.
It is our intention that this laboratory space provides you and your team with all the tools you would need to develop and test your project (within reason, of course!). If there is something that you require in the lab to complete your project that does not exist in the lab, talk to your TA and we will see how we can solve your issue.
Lab Rules
There are two overarching rules of working in the Senior Design Lab (and, frankly, any shared lab). First, be safe, and second, be courteous. Lab privileges will be revoked if you fail to complete the required laboratory safety training or if you break any of the lab rules. Specific points and examples of what we expect:
- Clean up after yourselves. After finishing up in the lab, all cables should be returned to the cable racks. Be sure to notify the lab staff of any broken cables. Throw out any trash that has been generated (wire clippings, scrap paper, packaging, etc). Trash and recycling bins are provided in the lab. Books and lab manuals should be put back on the shelves and kept organized.
- The lab is a shared resource. Do not keep any cables from the lab with you after leaving the lab. Log out of computers after you are done (or are leaving the lab for more than 5 minutes).
- Report any broken equipment immediately. If any equipment is broken, notify the lab staff and your TA immediately. if you break equipment, you must tell lab staff and your TA before the end of the day. Any attempts to conceal breakage will result in a failing grade for the course.
- The lab is a food-free zone. Please do your part in helping keep the lab clean. Drinks are OK as long as they are in a spill-proof container (e.g. closed water bottle, plastic bottle).
Lab Bench Reservations
We do not expect the lab to become so crowded such that finding a lab bench to work at becomes difficult. However, in the case that this does happen (particularly in semesters with very high enrollment), we will move to a Lab Bench Reservation system. Reserving a bench guarantees that spot for you, however each team may only book one lab bench at a time, and for a maximum of 4 hours per day.
If the lab needs to move to a reservation-based system, you will be notified ahead of time.
A few ground rules:
- You may use a lab bench (a) during a time for which you have it reserved or (b) any time during which it is not reserved in the system (on a first-come-first-served basis). However, if you are working at a bench that is unreserved and somebody reserves it using the online system, the group with the reservation gets the lab bench.
- There is a limit on the amount of time for which you can reserve benches in ZJUI D225. The limit is currently a total of 4 hours of total bench time in the lab per group per day (e.g., 2 hours at Bench A and 2 hours at Bench B would max out your team's reservations for the day). While this may seem restrictive, keep in mind that the course serves more than 30 groups in a typical semester and the lab has only 14 benches. Also keep in mind that you can work at a bench if it is unreserved.
- Some lab benches have specialized equipment at them, such as digital logic analyzers. Try to reserve the lab bench that has the equipment that you need.
- Cancel reservations that you will not need as soon as possible to give other groups a chance to reserve the lab bench. You can cancel a reservation up to 1 hour before time and not have it count against your daily allotment.
- Conflicts and/or reports of people not following these rules should be sent to your TA with the course faculty in copy.
- Above all, be courteous. Especially near the end of the semester, the lab will be more crowded and many teams are stressed. Clean up the lab bench when you are done with it. Start and end your sessions on time. Be patient and friendly to your peers and try to resolve conflicts professionally. If we notice empty lab benches that have been reserved, we will cancel your reservations and limit your ability to reserve lab benches in the future. Similarly, do not reserve more time than you will need. If we notice that you are frequently canceling reservations, we will limit your ability to reserve lab benches in the future. Finally, do not try to exploit the system and reserve a bench for 30 minutes every hour for eight hours. We will notice this and revoke your ability to reserve a bench.