Undergraduate Course: System Design Project (INFR09032)
Course Outline
| School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Informatics |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/sdp |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The System Design Project is intended to give students practical experience of (a) building a large scale system (b) working as members of a team. The project involves applying and combining material from several courses to complete a complex design and implementation task. At the end of course each group demonstrates its implemented system and gives a formal presentation to an audience of the students, supervisors, and visitors from industry. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Students MUST have passed:
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Successful completion of Year 3 of an Informatics Single or Combined Honours Degree, or equivalent by permission of the School. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 2, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
WebCT enabled: No |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Laboratory | | 1-11 | | | | | 14:00 - 15:50 |
| First Class |
Week 1, Wednesday, 09:00 - 09:50, Zone: Central. Med Sch Tev. Meadows LT |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1 - Working as members of a team.
2 - Planning and monitoring the effort of a project to meet milestones and deadlines.
3 - Designing and implementing a complex and multi-faceted system.
4 - Attempting to achieve a difficult objective within a limited time-scale.
5 - Drawing together knowledge and understanding of wide areas of software and hardware systems.
6 - Demonstrating and presenting the outcome from a practical project.
7 - Documenting the feasibility, design and development of a potential product. |
Assessment Information
Written Examination 0
Assessed Assignments 90
Oral Presentations 10
Assessment
The assessment is based on the achievements of the project work described above and its documentation, typically a design specification, a feasibility report, a management report and an implementation report. Each group member also submits an individual document describing his/her contribution to the project.For each student, 50% of the marks will be based on the achievements of the group and %50 on his or her individual report. Students who make no contribution to the work of the group will receive a mark of 0%. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
During this project students work in groups of about ten on the design and implementation of a complete system to solve some practical and useful problem. All groups perform the same task. This primarily involves software implementation but may potentially also involve hardware design and construction where this is relevant. Recent examples of projects include: an automated on-line supermarket; building webcam-based home and commercial security systems; constructing Mars and Lunar rovers controlled from an Earth-based web browser interface, etc.
Each group is provided with the same facilities. These include one or more PCs dedicated to them and other equipment depending on the particular project, for instance a webcam, a Lego robot construction kit, hardware prototyping kit, diagnostic equipment etc. They also have a small amount of money to spend in any way they choose on any extra items they feel might enhance their particular design. Project management software is also available to them.
A staff member is assigned to each group as a supervisor. The supervisor's task is to advise and provide feedback on the progress of the group during the project but not to provide technical support. Consultants from amongst the academic and support staff are made available to advise on aspects of the task such as management, specific pieces of software and hardware etc. Groups meet with their supervisors at least once a week. They also meet amongst themselves more frequently to plan and coordinate their activities.
Towards the end of the semester, a day is set aside for groups to demonstrate their implemented system and to give a formal presentation of it to an audience of the students, supervisors, and visitors from industry.
Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Computer Based Systems, Systems Analysis and Design |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
References to appropriate literature are given on the course web page |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Lectures 4
Tutorials 8
Timetabled Laboratories 10
Non-timetabled assessed assignments 178
Private Study/Other 0
Total 200 |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Nigel Goddard
Tel: (0131 6)51 3091
Email: Nigel.Goddard@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Tamise Totterdell
Tel: 0131 650 9970
Email: t.totterdell@ed.ac.uk |
|
© Copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 16 January 2012 6:16 am
|
University Homepage