GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING

 

SYST 495/201 Senior System Design Project (2004/2005)

1/20/2005

Instructor: Dr. George L. Donohue

Office: Rm 121 S&T II

Lecture: Innovation Hall Rm. 205

Time: MW 09:00 – 10:15

Lab: Rm 16 Central Module

Office Hours: Monday 10:30 to 12:00,

                        Wednesday 10:30 to 12:00

 

FE Review Manual, Michael Lindeburg, 2002

http://www.ncees.org/exams/study_materials/fe_handbook/  (17.5 Mbyte pdf file)

 

Objective:  Systems 490/495, together, provide the Capstone experience to the Systems Engineering undergraduate program.  It provides the students with the opportunity to put all of the course material that they have covered in the last 4 years into practice.  It also provides the faculty with the opportunity to test the student’s ability to assimilate the course material and certify that the students are ready to receive the Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering.  In addition to providing the students the opportunity to utilize the systems engineering processes (e.g. requirements determination, work-breakdown structures, Pert Charts, test and evaluation, life cycle costing, etc.) it requires them to use their analytical skills in system modeling, simulation and decision making.  Emphasis in these courses is also placed on written and verbal communication skill development and the creative process of engineering design.  The students should now have the basic skills that allow them to create new systems that are technically sound, affordable, environmentally compatible and safe.  The students are asked to determine whether a Business Case exits for their designs in the Final Report that they submit in early May.  They are required to manage a complex, unstructured project using the management and teamwork skills that they have developed.  The class has been divided into three project teams, each working on a real problem.   Each student MUST maintain a personal log of all design activity, to be inspected upon demand.  Each student MUST submit a weekly time sheet to their team timekeeper.  This team timesheet is to be submitted to Dr. Donohue weekly (via e-mail) and is open for discussion at all major program reviews as part of the EVM review.  All teams will be entered into inter-scholastic senior design competitions at the end of this semester. 

 

A significant part of the individual SYST 495 grade will be based upon a (2hour 45 min.) final comprehensive team project exam.  This exam will test the student’s individual overall knowledge of the team problem (including requirements development process, critical path, analytical approach, modeling assumptions and results, etc.). Students who did not take the FE exam in the Fall are all strongly encouraged to take the FE exam this semester.  Those who did so in 490 (and submitted their test results in Jan. 2005) will receive a 0.5 increase to their SYST 495 grade.  Those who passed the FE exam will receive a 1.0 grade increase in SYST 495.  Those who take the exam this semester may still get a grade increase of 0.5 on their final grade.

 

Grading:  Each student’s final grade will be determined as follows:

 

30% Team Individualized Final Exam

25% Final Project report (written)

25% Faculty / Sponsor Evaluation of Team Presentation

10% Team Project productivity self evaluation

5% Individual presentations

5% Timesheets/Notebooks

 

Team Assignments:

 

Team A: Janet Geldermann, Yusuf Mohamed, Robert Smith, Mahmoud Yessad

Design an FAA airport safety Monitoring System, SENSIS Corp. Sponsor , Mr. Tod Donovan POC, (Dr. Lance Sherry GMU technical liaison).

 

Team B: Mohamed Ashparie, Oluwaseyi Bashorum, Gregory Koch, Gregory Siegel, Petko Stoyanov

Design a National Infrastructure Security Indication and Warning System with an emphasis on the interactions between the Metropolitan Washington Airports, Power grid and Telecommunications networks, Sponsor GMU, (Dr. Andrew Loerch GMU technical liaison).

 

Team C: Jorge Bonilla, Hassan Mohamed, Joel Norris, Thang Phung, Ingrid Zegada-Frias

Redesign the SENSIS United Airline Ground Asset Tracking System (Donohue and Sherry POC).

 


Semester Schedule:

 

January 24. Review Spring Semester Schedule (draw for sem. Pres order)

January 26-28. Application deadline for Spring FE Exam

January 31. Detailed CP and EVM Presentations (all teams)

Feb. 2. submit UVA abstracts for review prior to Feb 4 submission deadline

Feb. 7. Detailed Critical Path Interim Report due

Feb. 9. Individual team discussions should be scheduled

Feb. 14. Detailed Presentation on Simulation and Analysis Status*

Feb. 16. Detailed Presentation on Simulation and Analysis Status

Feb. 21. Individual team discussions should be scheduled (Feb 23 no class)

Feb 28. Detailed Presentation on Simulation and Analysis Status

March 2. Detailed Presentation on Simulation and Analysis Status

March 7. Detailed Presentation on Simulation and Analysis Status

March 9. Detailed Presentation on Simulation and Analysis Status

March 13-20 Spring Break

March 21. Team Presentations on Simulation and Analysis Results to Date

March 23. Team Presentations on Simulation and Analysis Results to Date

March 28-30. Individual team work

April 4. UVA paper to Donohue for final review prior to submission

April 6.  UVA paper pass-back for final changes

April 8. UVA Manuscript sent to UVA for peer review

April 11. Individual team discussions of project status

April 13. Individual team discussions of project status

April 18. USMA Abstract due

April 20. DRY RUN for USMA presentation

April 25. DRY RUN for USMA presentation

April 27. DRAFT Final Report due for internal review

April. 29 UVA Conference

May 2.  Reports submitted for Faculty and Sponsor evaluation

May 4.  leave for USMA at noon

May 5. USMA Conference

May 9. Final Report Presentations to Faculty and Project Sponsors (team and course eval)

May 16. 7:30-10:15 each individual will take a closed book final exam customized to each team’s problem. 

 

* Actual presentation order will be determined by random draw