FC3P01N Final Year Project

Module Guide

For students starting their project September 2011.

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1. Introduction FC3P01N is a double module which runs throughout your final year and is taken by all students in the Computing subject area and the Communications Technology Subject Areas. You must have passed six intermediate (second year) modules in order to be eligible to start your project. If you do not think you should be taking this module, see the project co-ordinator and your PAA as soon as possible.

The Final Year Project is a substantial individual project and a chance for you to demonstrate the full range of technical and academic skills you have learned during your course. Depending on the exact specification for your project you may find that you employ techniques from a number of modules you have studied on the course, together with new skills learned specifically as part of this project.

The aim of this document is to give you a general overview of the project, and provide useful general information.

At the start of the project you will be provided with a number of documents including, your project specification and the project itself. Additionally, engineering students who are required to construct a circuit as part of their project will be given information about procedures such as ordering components, and guides to standard components

The time allocated to your project amounts to one quarter of you final year’s work. As such you should anticipate spending about 1 to 1½ days per week actively engaged in your project. This is equivalent to about 45 days work.

Although, in the majority of cases, the project title has been allocated to you, you should very much consider the project to be yours. It is your responsibility to ensure that the project is completed on time and it is your responsibility to drive the project forward in order to achieve the stated objectives. Your supervisor acts as a mentor through this process, using their experience to ensure that you keep on course and don’t get distracted from the task in hand.

You should aim to complete the project on time, and to the highest of professional standards.

Contained alongside this module guide is a project specification which details the exact title of your project. This document sets out the requirements for your project and the objectives or deliverables required at the end.

2. What you will need One of the biggest issues with a project of this size and duration is keeping track of the information generated. As you progress through the project you will undertake literature searches in the library or on the Web, design hardware or software, perform simulations, produce documentation and so on. In addition, it is not always clear at the time what information will be of relevance later on. It is therefore desirable to have all information clearly organised. This not only helps during project tutorials because both you and your supervisor will be able to clearly follow your progress but also when you come to writing up because you will quickly be able to look up what you have done, and follow through the mental processes which led to the final solution. If you have to spend time hunting for a

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relevant piece of information whilst writing your report it can both slow progress and interrupt the flow of the report.

Before you start any work on your project you should obtain the following:

• Lab book- ALL INFORMATION related to your project should be kept in a properly bound lab book. You should not keep anything to do with your project on loose sheets of paper as these can easily get lost or out of order. Every entry should be dated so that you can follow through your progress in the project and review it at any time. You will be required to submit this alongside your final report and this will be used as supplementary information for grading your continuous assessment.

• Computer project folder- A lot of the information you gather relating to your project will be computer-based but the same principles apply in the virtual world. You should set up a final year project folder and use this to store all your computer-based information. This may include:

o Information and searches from the Web

o Copies of reports and submissions

o Simulation files

o Circuit and PCB designs

o Software programmes

o Email correspondence with your tutor

Remember that computer storage can be volatile, so make sure you back up anything you store on disk on a regular basis.

You will need to burn this folder on to a CD-ROM and submit it alongside your final report at the end of the project. This will be used as supplementary information for grading your continuous assessment.

• Lever-arch or box file- You may have printouts of references or from simulators which you need to keep. Use a lever arch or box file to keep these tidy and organised. It is not necessary to bring this file on to campus with you every week, but you may find a pocket file would be useful to carry current documents around. Again, you will need to submit this alongside your final report and this will provide supplementary information for grading your continuous assessment.

If you are undertaking a hardware-based project you will also require:

• Tools- If you are working on a project which requires you to build a circuit you will need a set of tools. Something like the Electronic Tool kit from Maplin (QE93B) at around £19.99 (3rd May 2011) http://www.maplin.co.uk/precision-electronic-tool-kit-26200.

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3. The Project It has been variously stated that design is ‘…the antithesis of accident’ [1], that ‘…design is the systematic activity necessary… to satisfy that need…’ [2] and that design is:

The act by which, within a framework of bounding constraints, and by the arrangement of a suitable selection from a set of available component parts and including invention, intentional progress is made towards the realisation of a vision resulting from a situation found to be wanting; and the result of that process. [3]

This applies not only in the world at large, but also in terms of your final year project. You have been presented with a problem by way of your project specification and you need to produce an authoritative solution to that problem by the use of some structured approach. The structure of the project, and the documentation you provide as you go through, is all designed to fit alongside that methodology. The project can be broken down into a number of phases:

• Understand the problem as specified.

• Determine a process by which you will solve this problem.

• Search for alternative solutions to the problem.

• Select the most appropriate solution to the problem in such a way that the selection is quantifiable and defensible in the final report.

• Develop the selected solution.

• Test the selected solution to prove conformance to the specification.

• Evaluate the selected solution. [4]

Alongside this there is an ongoing review process to ensure that you maintain progress against your plan.

The easiest way to understand how the project works and what is expected of you is by going through the project in order. In this section we will follow through the project timetable, highlighting general activities during each period, and submission dates. In order to prevent this document getting too long, separate documents have been produced to give guidance on what is required for each of the submissions.

As Part of a ‘Project Preparation’ Module

The start of the project module this year will be slightly varied depending on what has happened previously.

Many of you will have done some preparation for the final year project in your second year, and may have been allocated a supervisor, and/or a project title. For example, students in the communications technology subject area have already been allocated a project title and supervisor as part of the CT2039N module, and although the project module has changed,

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nothing resulting from that change will conflict with the information you have already been given in regard to your project. The same is true for those students in the computing area who have been given information already.

You should take note of the assessments for the new module, however, as some of these will have changed as we have worked to harmonise the assessment across the various projects. You should double-check dates also, since these may have changed.

FC3P01N Week 1

It is anticipated that this will be the first one-to-one meeting with your supervisor. You will have absorbed the information on the project specification and undertaken the tasks directed for the summer, and so should have identified any areas about which you are unclear. You can use this session to find answers to these questions and your supervisor will be able to give you more detailed information about your project.

Having understood the project specification, you should also be giving thought to the process by which you will tackle the project. Since it is important that you have this process in place before undertaking any substantive work on the project, your first task is to develop a project plan.

Since a number of changes are occurring as we move to the unified project module, it is proposed that a lecture will take place in week 1 to introduce students to the structure of the new module.

Week 3

Submission of project plan- deadline 1pm Wednesday, submit electronically.

The project plan can be developed using any standard project management technique, for example a Gantt chart, critical path analysis and so on. It will form the benchmark against which both you and your tutor will assess your progress throughout the module.

A separate document gives guidance on producing your project plan.

Having submitted your project plan, your tutor will discuss it with you and highlight any immediate areas of concern. You will then set to work in earnest with your project.

Weeks 4 to 10

During this period you should meet with your tutor as arranged and continue work on your project. Keep in mind your project plan and ensure that you are making consistent progress towards your final objectives.

Week 11

Submission of interim report- Deadline Wednesday 5pm, Undergraduate Centre

A separate document gives guidance on producing both the interim and final reports, and there are report templates on WebLearn for both, which you should use, together with detailed guidance both as to what the report should contain and on how to use Word

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efficiently in the production of the report. Your interim report details progress to date, assesses progress against your project plan, discusses work still left to do and amends the project plan as required to take account of any slippage to date.

Over Christmas/ Summer break

As part of your final project you are also required to continue work on your PDP and start to reflect on life after graduation. If you start your project in Semester 1 you should use the Christmas break to do this, if your start in Semester 2 you should use the summer break to do this.

Reflect on your strengths and weakness, how you have developed both intellectually and as a person, where you wish to go next and what steps you need to take to get there. From this you can formulate a plan which may involve discussions with the careers centre, looking through trade journals or searching company websites for opportunities. You are required to collect these thoughts together and present them as a piece of reflective writing which is submitted and marked but can then form another chapter in your PDP.

Week 16- the first week of your second semester

Submission of PDP document- Deadline Wednesday 5pm, Undergraduate Centre

Return of Interim report with mark and comments

Week 16 is important because students lose a lot of time at the start of the second semester of their project. Remember that you only have ten weeks in which to complete and submit. You should meet with your supervisor this week to review your interim report, and discuss any changes to your project plan which result. Take time before your meeting to refresh your memory of where you were with your project so that you are ready to take the project on immediately.

Weeks 17- 23

During this period most of your detailed work on your project should be carried out to completion.

Week 23

Final practical work completed, start writing final report.

Week 26

Final submission- Deadline Wednesday 5pm, Undergraduate Centre

What to submit:

• Final report- 2 copies, bound

• Interim report- if this has been returned to you (generally we keep hold of the hard copy and return feedback via WebLearn)

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• Log Book

• CD-ROM containing project folder from computer

• Project file containing any printouts relating to the project

• Final circuit if appropriate.

During the exam period, the project will be marked by both your first and second supervisors and you will then be called for a viva. This will usually take place shortly after the end of the exams, and you must attend the viva before your marks can be released.

4. Assessment There are a number of assessment instruments used in this module. These are detailed in the project timetable above and are summarised in table 1 overleaf.

Details of the exact requirements for each of these submissions are given in separate documents.

To pass this module you must achieve at least 40% in the continuous assessment, the final report, the Personal Development Portfolio, and in assessment group 1 (the oral and poster presentations and the interim report). All of these four elements must be passed in order to pass the module.

You will notice that some of the elements do not contribute directly to your final module mark. The project plan and the additional items under ‘Final submission’ which you submit with your final report, are used to moderate your continuous assessment and if you do not submit these items on time, it may affect your continuous assessment mark. The project viva is a final moderation tool, which you have to have attended before your mark can be submitted to the exam board. Failure to complete these assessments may result in your mark being deferred.

Note that in order to gain IET accreditation for your degree, you MUST pass the project at the first attempt, not at reassessment, or having previously taken the project module.

If you are studying a BCS accredited degree, you MUST consider the social, legal and ethical implications of your project as part of your final report.

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Deadline Assessment Weighting Submit to Comments

19/10/11 Project Plan 0% Tutor Contributes to continuous assessment.

14/12/11 Interim Report 20% TB21 Assessment group 1

8/2/12 Personal Development Portfolio

0% Tutor

9/5/12 Final Report 40% TB2

9/5/12 Final Submission 0% TB2

Includes: Log Book Project Folder CD-ROM of computer-based project work Hardware

Contributes to continuous assessment

w/c 28/5/12

Project Viva 0% Class-based Date confirmed by tutor

- Continuous Assessment

40% -

Table 1: Summary of Assessments.

1 TB2- Undergraduate centre

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5. Reassessment The regulations governing reassessment have changed considerably in recent years. As a result it is not possible to give clear guidance at this stage regarding the reassessment of a module in the summer of 2012. You are advised, however, that the best policy is always to submit work on time. Non-submission, no longer entitles you to a reassessment in that component. Also, this may affect your eligibility for IET/BCS accreditation.

6. Tutorials During the course of your project, you are expected to have six formal meetings with your supervisor at which progress to date is discussed and goals for the next period are set. Traditionally, these meetings have taken place on Wednesday mornings. That having been said, you can, by mutual agreement, meet at any time during the week which is convenient. You may well find that meetings will happen more frequently early on in the project.

6.1. The Staff Perspective The main concern of staff in meeting with you is to ensure that you are making appropriate progress towards your final objectives. One of the requirements of the project is that your supervisor marks you on your performance throughout the duration of the project and that is primarily assessed through the tutorials.

During the meeting, your tutor will be interested to know:

a. What progress you have made since the last meeting

b. Any problems or issues which have arisen and with which you might need assistance.

c. What you intend to do between now and the next meeting.

During the discussion, your tutor will make notes of what is said in a logbook, which will then be used as an aide memoir when generating the continuous assessment mark.

Finally, a date for the next meeting will be arranged.

6.2. The Student Perspective The meeting is the confirmed contact you have with your tutor and the time should be used as efficiently as possible. Make sure you are prepared before the meeting. Make sure you know what goals were set at the previous meeting and be ready to discuss your progress against them and against your project plan. Bring all relevant information with you so that you can show your progress to your supervisor. Be prepared with any questions you have, and with ideas of what you should be doing before the next meeting. You should also keep a record of the meeting in your logbook for future reference and any documentation with which you are provided at your meetings should be stored in your project file.

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Remember that staff will generally allocate 30 minutes per student. If you arrive late for your tutorial meeting, you will waste the time available to you and this may in turn impact on other students also with that supervisor.

It is possible that you may need to postpone a meeting through illness or other cause. In this case email your supervisor as soon as possible to arrange another time. If your supervisor should need to postpone a meeting, they will endeavour to contact you similarly.

If you miss your slot or arrive too late, don’t assume that your tutor will be able to see you. Many tutors fit other sessions around project tutorials, and may be booked up already.

As I have said before, remember that it is your project and you are responsible for driving it forward. Using time with your supervisor to best effect is part of that and can make the difference between an average and excellent project in many cases.

7. WebLearn WebLearn is the University’s on-line learning system. It contains an FC3P01N area and you are automatically registered for that site when you register for the module. Copies of all documentation relating to the module plus other useful information are available via WebLearn. There is one site for both Semester A and Semester B starters, but please note that the site changes over the summer, so you will start on one project site, and finish the project accessing a different site. I will ensure that all data is correctly transferred over the summer.

8. Staff The project co-ordinator is:

Dr Richard Walters, email: r.walters@londonmet.ac.uk

However, you should normally refer to your project tutor in the first instance.

9. What if… … I want to change project?

Once the project specification is issued, there is no facility for changing your project. The objectives set out in the project specification document are those against which you will be marked.

… I want a different supervisor?

Project supervisors are allocated based both on availability of staff (in order to ensure that all staff have an equal workload, those with more timetabled teaching will have fewer project students, as will those with other departmental responsibilities) and their expertise. Once you are assigned a supervisor, it is not possible to change supervisors.

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… I want to restart my project?

The only way of doing that is by withdrawing and reregistering for the project. If you wish to look at this course of action it may have other side effects such as changing your status as a student, or affecting your financial or visa status. If you are considering this, you should consult your PAA in the first instance who will either be able to advise, or point you in the direction of the authority qualified to advise on the implications of that decision.

… My objectives have become impossible to achieve?

The response to this will depend on the type of project you are engaged in and the reasons behind the problem. If the project is a research-based project where unforeseen issues have arisen preventing achievement of the initial objectives, then, in negotiation with your supervisor, it may be possible to modify your objectives. In this instance you must, as part of your final report, clearly explain the nature of the problem and the reasons for the change in objectives in order to achieve a good mark. If you do not, you will still be marked based on your initial objectives.

If, in the view of your supervisor and in discussion with your second supervisor and the project co-ordinator, it is felt that lack of effort is the cause of the problem, then your supervisor may advise a focus on a reduced number of the objectives, but you will still be judged based on the full set of original objectives.

In any case a change of objectives is a formal process which cannot be undertaken unilaterally.

… I miss a deadline?

You will be reassessed according to the requirements of the undergraduate scheme and in accordance with the reassessment information provided in this module guide.

… My tutor is never there?

If you have a problem with your tutor constantly missing appointments, contact the project co-ordinator who will seek to resolve the problem.

10. References [1] Barber V., as Quoted by Baynes K., About Design, Design Council Publications 1976, p30

[2] Pugh S., Total Design, Addison-Wesley, 1991, p5

[3] Walters R., The High Level Design of Electronic Systems, Lancaster University 1996, p12

[4] After French M. J., Conceptual Design for Engineers, Design Council Publications, 1985, ch1