Engineering Group Project - ELE00101H

Department: Engineering
Credit value: 40 credits
Credit level: H
Academic year of delivery: 2026-27

Module summary

This module develops advanced skills in engineering design, system integration, and control through the design, fabrication, testing, and validation of an autonomous water-surface vehicle that autonomously navigates and maps the chemical and/or physical characteristics (e.g., pH, temperature, turbidity) of a closed body of water. Students will advance their teamworking skills by developing and testing practical engineering solutions to real-world problems, integrating mechanical, electrical, electronic, and software subsystems into a fully functioning product. The module places strong emphasis on sustainable engineering practices, ethical design, and system-level integration, while helping students develop essential skills in teamwork, time management, and project management.

Related modules

This is for MEng students only

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2026-27 to Semester 2 2026-27

Module aims

Subject content aims:

The third-year MEng design group project provides the final step in the sequence of projects before the capstone individual project. It aims to develop all the engineering design and transferable skills described in the programme documents and detailed in the MLOs below.

Graduate skills aims:

To integrate and apply multidisciplinary engineering knowledge to a complex design and build challenge.
To develop proficiency in control systems, navigation, and sensor integration for autonomous systems.
To demonstrate systems engineering principles, including requirements definition, design verification, and validation.
To apply sustainable and ethical design principles across the full product lifecycle.
To develop transferable skills in teamwork, communication, project management, and technical reporting.

Module learning outcomes

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

Select and engage with technical literature in the pursuance of the project, critically evaluating and applying the information as appropriate.
Analyse a complex requirement document, and devise specifications and a response to the tender document for a self-driving vehicle to autonomously sample, test and report on water quality at predetermined waypoints. The product should be considered as one that may be offered for sale as a finished product.
Apply knowledge of mathematics, mechanical, electrical, electronic and software engineering principles to the design of a complex system for data gathering, storage and safe communication. The data will be processed and relayed back to a base station wirelessly in real time.
Apply a systems approach to develop innovative solutions for a complex engineering problem involving hardware, software, and system interconnections, while addressing stakeholder requirements, including commercial, legislative, and user diversity considerations.
Apply knowledge of engineering management principles to a successful project, specifically including project planning and management.
Select and apply appropriate mechanical, computational and analytic techniques to model complex systems, and recognise and discuss in reports the limitations of the approaches. Solutions are required to navigate a known water course and gather water samples. Sensors should be designed to autonomously test the samples. Tests may include pH, turbidity and temperature.
Design and implement integrated hardware and software systems to detect anomalies and perform automated water sampling for field testing.
Develop and apply an autonomous navigation and control framework that enables vehicles to operate fully autonomously, efficiently and reliably in real-world environments.
Demonstrate the technical and practical impact of engineering design on new products on society, planning a business and product with respect to sustainability (including the full product lifecycle), ethical design, inclusion (especially in user design), risk (by following and documenting a risk management process) and security. A particular focus should be made on the environmental impact of your prototype.
Describe and reflect on the role and effectiveness of quality management systems in 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.
Plan and record self-learning and development, via weekly record-keeping, and reflection on the team and their own skills in the final report.
Discuss security measures generally and specifically those employed with respect to the safety and protection of the product's intellectual property.
Discuss any general ethical issues which may be present in the conduct of this project. You should also consider the ethics of the profit motive in commercial engineering.

Module content

This group project will require individual groups to develop a self-driving floating vehicle(s) that can navigate a closed body of water, collect water samples at well-defined locations and perform analysis of the physical, chemical and/or biological characteristics of the sample. In the first semester of the project, groups will design a comprehensive specification and management plan, develop subsystems including sensors, an actuation system, a control framework, localisation, and communication, and test them. While the students will work on these subsystems, they will carefully consider customer requirements, ethical and legal aspects, costs, sustainability, and security. Specifically, groups will:

Requirements analysis and system specifications.
Subsystem design (mechanical, electrical, control, and software).
Prototyping, simulation and fabrication (sensors, actuators, control models, localisation).
Risk assessment, sustainability and ethics review.
Preliminary testing and verification of individual subsystems.
Identify limitations and improve prototypes.
Develop a comprehensive project and time management plan to ensure delivery of the project.

In the second semester, the groups will manufacture the final system, develop and implement integration frameworks for individual subsystems, test, refine and deploy the final system. They will also evaluate the performance of the complete system against design specifications. Specifically, the groups will:

Evaluate subsystems for integration into the larger system (autonomous vehicle).
Perform system integration and closed-loop testing.
Performance validation against technical and environmental requirements.
Lifecycle and sustainability evaluation.
Technical presentation, demonstration, and final reporting.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	30.0
Essay/coursework	70.0

Special assessment rules

Non-compensatable

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

Formative feedback:

Supervision meetings will provide an opportunity for groups and individuals to discuss their project and assignment plans with academics

Regular laboratory sessions allow you to engage with the project and receive verbal help and feedback on your designs.

Emails to the Module Coordinator with questions/comments will be answered as soon as possible.

Summative feedback:

Written feedback on coursework will include discussion of evidence of critical thinking, justification for critical technical decisions, group structure and report structure and style.

'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 clearer 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. Students are provided with their examination results within 20 working days of the end of any given examination period. The School will also endeavour to return all coursework feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. 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.