Electronics Project 1 - ELE00046C

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Module summary

This project provides an opportunity to ‘learn by doing’ by applying theory into practice. It enables students to work systematically from high-level goals to detailed design and implementation. Students are encouraged to draw upon and integrate knowledge and skills learnt in other modules. The project will require students to address a real-life problem. In doing so, they will be able to use creativity, technical and management skills to design, build and test a prototype of an electronic product. Students will work as part of a team enabling them to develop transferable skills such as problem-solving, time management, project management and teamwork. Students will undertake a project with due consideration to the QAA engineering benchmarks on Sustainability, Ethics, Equality and Inclusion, Risk and Security (SEERS)”.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2025-26

Module aims

Subject content aims:

• To introduce students to the typical skills needed in group project working whilst designing and building an engineering solution to a technical specification

• To develop general learning skills in team working, research, business practice, intellectual property, impact of technology on society, ethics, and project management

Graduate skills aims:

• To capture high-level customer requirements to produce a set of design specifications

• To build and test an engineering solution

• To integrate and apply theory into practice

• To carry out independent investigations and research

• To use creative and innovative thinking to solve problems

• To develop skills in gathering and presenting information from reliable sources and technical writing

• To develop transferable skills such as planning, time management team working, project management and ethical work practices

Module learning outcomes

After successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Apply their knowledge of mathematics and electronics to the design of a complex system including interface controls, analogue to digital conversion, and microprocessor coding

• Analyse a complex requirements document, and devise specifications and a response to tender document. Create a detailed project requirements specification from the client requirements, including a work breakdown structure with activity durations and Gantt charts

• Select and apply appropriate computational and analytic techniques to model a complex electronic & computer system, and recognise and discuss in their reports the limitations of their approach

• Select and engage with technical literature in the pursuance of the project, critically evaluating and applying the information as appropriate

• Design an innovative solution to a complex problem involving hardware, software, and system interconnection, taking into account stakeholder requirements (government, and diverse users)

• Apply a systems approach to the design of a complex system, applying skills of analogue and digital electronic design, software design, and integration with an embedded processor

• Demonstrate the technical and practical impact of engineering design on new products on society, planning a business and product with respect to sustainability, ethical design, inclusion (especially in user design), risk (by following and documenting a risk management process) and security

• Apply theories, laboratory, and programming skills to design, build and test a solution to an engineering design problem. Use workshop tools and laboratory test gear to evaluate and debug designs

• Select appropriate materials and engineering technologies and processes to put their design into production

• Apply knowledge of engineering management principles to a project

• Function effectively as part of a team and describe the skills required for successful team-working, evaluating and reflecting on their own performance and that of the group

• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences on complex engineering matters, and discuss the effectiveness of that communication in mentoring meetings. Produce tendering response documentation, and demonstration video presentations suitable for a non-technical audience

• Plan and record self-learning and development, via weekly record-keeping, and reflection on the team and their own skills in the final report

Module content

Working in groups of about 4-5, the students will work to deliver on a given project brief. After submitting an initial report, students will continue to work on prototyping their electronic product with a progress report submitted half way through the project. At the end of the project, the students will deliver a final report and present their findings through a formal presentation. It is important for students to work collaboratively by maintaining good communication and adopting good project management skills

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	70.0
Groupwork	30.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Student teams will be asked to come up with a design for an electronics product. Teams design a user-interface, which is typically made up of electronic components such as switches, knobs, sliders, accelerometers etc. These are electrically connected to the microprocessor, which reads the inputs and processes them (via code written by the students). Students are encouraged to build on technical knowledge and skills developed during the first semester and independent and investigation. They are encouraged to demonstrate good project management and team working skills and are assessed.

The group tasks that make up 30% of the assessment include an initial report (group), an interim presentation (group video) and a final demonstration (group video)

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

'Feedback’ at a university level can be understood as any part of the learning process which is designed to guide your progress through your degree programme. We aim to help you reflect on your own learning and help you feel more clear about your progress through clarifying what is expected of you in both formative and summative assessments. A comprehensive guide to feedback and to forms of feedback is available in the Guide to Assessment Standards, Marking and Feedback.

The School of PET aims to provide some form of feedback on all formative and summative assessments that are carried out during the degree programme. In general, feedback on any written work/assignments undertaken will be sufficient so as to indicate the nature of the changes needed in order to improve the work. The School will endeavour to return all exam feedback within the timescale set out in the University's Policy on Assessment Feedback Turnaround Time. The School would normally expect to adhere to the times given, however, it is possible that exceptional circumstances may delay feedback. The School will endeavour to keep such delays to a minimum. Please note that any marks released are subject to ratification by the Board of Examiners and Senate. Meetings at the start/end of each term provide you with an opportunity to discuss and reflect with your supervisor on your overall performance to date.

Formative Feedback

• Regular labs allow you to engage with the electronic interfacing and programming material and receive verbal help and feedback on your coding and design.

• Emails to the Module Staff with Questions / Comments will be answered as soon as possible.

• Questions can also be submitted at any time via the Question Box on the module Wiki page.

• Weekly Meetings with the group’s Supervisor allows regular progress to be tracked, problems ironed out, questions to be asked, and plans to be made and checked.

Summative Feedback

• You will receive a customised feedback sheet, showing the mark breakdown in each of the key areas being assessed:

  • For the Initial Report (Group): Product idea & Design; Specification; Group Organisation; Report quality.

  • For the Interim Presentation (Group): Quality of presentation; Demonstration of group work and cooperation; Artists’ impressions of final product; Answers to Questions.

  • For the Final Report (Individual): Detailed description of Product idea, Design and Specification; Descriptions of Individual Contributions; Critical Analysis of Group Organisation; Overall Report quality.

  • For the Demonstration (Group): Effective demonstration of working (or partially working) product.

• For each assignment, personalised feedback is given along with suggestions for improvement. The comments explain how well you have met the learning objectives, and also give you feedback about the things you could improve in future assignments.

Indicative reading

Some guidance notes, datasheets and wiki links will be provided to support the undertaking of the project