This is the document that gets your project approved. Base it on your project topic and the feedback you got on it.
Cover all six:
a. The problem. What need are you meeting, and who has it? Start with the larger problem, then narrow to the specific thing you’re solving.
b. Your constraints and criteria.
c. At least two alternative ways to solve your problem. Different approaches to the same problem, not two versions of the same design. Describe each one well enough that I could picture it.
d. How you chose. Use a decision matrix (the spreadsheet template from class, or your own). Show the weights and say why they’re what they are.
e. How you’ll test it. What measurement tells you it worked? What’s the number, and what tool are you using to get it? “It works” is not a test.
f. Rough budget and schedule. The main parts with rough prices and a total, and what you’ll have done by roughly when. A few lines each, and it can change.
Include at least one technical diagram, made with software (PowerPoint, Google Slides, draw.io, Tinkercad, a CAD program, whatever you have), not a hand sketch: a block diagram, a circuit schematic, a flow chart, a timing diagram, a dimensioned drawing, or a CAD view.
Two to four pages. Submit one PDF.
How it’s graded
| Criterion | Full | Most | Some | Little |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The problem and who has it (20) | A specific need, a specific customer, narrowed from a larger problem to the thing being built | Clear need, customer vague or the narrowing missing | A topic rather than a problem | Little or no description of the problem |
| Constraints and criteria (25) | Constraints have numbers and units; criteria have weights that add to 100 and a reason for each | Numbers on most constraints; weights present but not explained | Constraints are wishes (“affordable”, “strong”); criteria and constraints mixed together | Missing or unusable |
| Alternatives (20) | At least two genuinely different ways to solve the problem, each described well enough to picture | Two alternatives, one thin | Two versions of the same idea, or one alternative clearly there to lose | One design only |
| The decision (20) | Matrix shown, scores and weights visible, the weights explained, and the choice follows from it | Matrix shown, choice follows, weights not explained | Matrix present but the choice was clearly made first | No ranking |
| Test plan (20) | A measurement for each main requirement, a number that counts as passing, and the tool that will produce it | Measurements named, pass numbers missing | “I’ll see if it works” | No test plan |
| Technical diagram (10) | At least one of the types listed above, made with software, legible, labeled, and specific to this design | Present and legible, but generic or adds little | Hand sketch, or hard to read or unlabeled | None |
| Budget and schedule (10) | Main parts priced, a total, and the main steps with rough dates | Most of that, one piece thin | A total with no breakdown, or dates with no steps | Missing |
Grading and the AI policy are in the syllabus.