Dr. Andrzej Rucinski, Course Coordinator.
Kingsbury 104 andrzej.rucinski@unh.edu

Raymond Garbos, Adjunct Professor, Project Coordinator,
Engineering Fellow, BAE Systems rgarbos@unh.edu

Derek Coppinger, ISO9000 Coordinator
Vice President, NTS dcoppinger@ntscorp.com

 Note: ECE777 satisfies a course requirement in the Computer Engineering Option and the ECE Departmental Design Experience Rule.

COURSE PHILOSOPHY AND FORMAT:

The course is an undergraduate/graduate, multidisciplinary reading course with a paper/design project and a contingent of invited speakers from academia, government, and industry. The basic purpose of this course is to introduce to the undergraduate and graduate students, modern engineering design and development emphasizing teamwork. There are three fundamentals determining this process: advanced design process strategies, engineering management techniques, and advanced topics relating to student projects. Typically, the microelectronics system to be implemented is selected to support either research or industrial applications. The entire course will accommodate the ISO9000 framework, emphasizing project documentation and the adherence to the Quality Manual, which is being developed for all project-related Design Automation Lab (DAL) activities. 

Students will be introduced to several management techniques in parallel to the technical design task. These techniques will assist students in integrating better as team members and also manage their projects better while working under the supervision of the Student Project Leader and the faculty member. Team building techniques, an introduction to ISO9000 based quality processes, advantages of using informational technology in managing a complex project will also be covered during the semester. Advanced design strategies and advanced topics in microelectronics systems, components of the class will assure that the students learn about current technology and introduce them to the latest “state-of-the-art” developments in the field. The course will also help instill in the student the vitally important “Self Learning Skills” by introducing and practicing methods of collecting and retrieving knowledge from different sources including the Internet. In addition, students will be exposed to research methodologies illustrating the linkage between their work in the course and related research taking place else-where, thereby increasing their interest in the fields of research and the continuation into graduate study. 

The entire course will be structured in accordance with the ISO9000 quality framework. Proper documentation skills will therefore be a vital part of this course, thereby enhancing a student’s communication and written skills. While it is crucially important that students understand the importance of design process flow standardization, it will also help increase efficiency and effectiveness of their work and help the smooth continuation of work for the projects. The students will also meet regularly to discuss current project issues within the ISO9000 framework. The quality manual will subsequently become the “Project Bible” for the course, with all activities being standardized accordingly.  

ISO 9000 is the world’s most accepted and practiced Quality Management System.  Over half a million organizations in over 160 countries worldwide have implemented ISO 9000.  Specific industry standards have been developed in recent years which include AS9100 – Aerospace, TL9000 – Telecommunications, TS16949 – Automotive. The course will aim to introduce the principals of ISO 9000 and the associated standards.  ISO 9000 is practiced widely in real life industry and the course will expose the students to an understanding how this effects organizations which the student may work at in the future, and what role they will play in ISO 9000 registered organizations. Internal auditing and continuous improvement are corner stones to ISO 9000.  Principles of auditing will be introduced and practiced for continuous improvement. 

The course material is organized in modules listed below to assure its maximal flexibility. While the philosophy of the course stays the same, the content of the modules may vary depending upon the actual design being pursued. 

Course Topics:

Course topics emulate “real life” environment and the modules are divided into non-technical and technical categories:  

• Project Management
• Concurrent Engineering
• ISO9000 and TQM
• Engineering Ethics
• Team Building
• Safety Training 

Sensors:  Multispectral Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Sensors.

Embedded Systems: Data Acquisition Systems

Design: VHDL; RASSP; SoC; FPGAs; Microsystems; Microelectronics Packaging

Testing in Digital and Mixed Mode Circuits: Boundary Scan; A Priori and A Posteriori Diagnosis  

Reliability: Reliability Standards

Encryption Algorithms: DES

Databases

Invited Speakers:  Speakers from industry and government are going to be invited to talk about various topics and issues relevant to the course and the project.

“True Outcomes” Assessment:

The students will evaluate the course using the “True Outcome” assessment suite (http://www.trueoutcomes.com/). True Outcomes is Web-based software that provides a universal assessment solution, linking administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and external stakeholders through flexible assessment instruments. It includes the student-driven Professional Portfolio, the faculty-controlled Juried Portfolio, the Curriculum Record, and the Survey. True Outcomes is designed for institution-wide implementation, encompassing different outcomes for different disciplines, and following the academic hierarchy from General Education to Departments, Programs and Individual Courses

Grading System: