6.111 Final ProjectSchedule
Grading (40 points total)
Report and Presentation: 5 points Problem Definition, Architecture, Design: 10 points Functionality (cf. Project Checklist): 15 points Complexity, Innovation and Risk: 5 points IntroductionThe final project in 6.111 is your opportunity to specify a small digital system. You will design, build, debug, demonstrate, and report on this system. This webpage sets forth our expectations and requirements for this project and makes a few suggestions which should help to make your project a success. In order to accomplish all that is expected by the end of the term, it is essential that you stay on schedule. Both the determination of grades and the project time requirements are inherently subjective. Lab 3 provides some guidance to the evaluation of project size and complexity. A reasonable guideline as to size of 6.111 projects is that it not require more than a kit and a proto board per person. 6.111 student projects often become too large because of a desire to effect computations in parallel and at high speed. Data paths are often unnecessarily wide and redundant. It is generally far better to minimize the type and extent of the data paths even though this results in more complicated control circuitry. Use of microprogrammed sequencers and FSMs implemented with PALs allows implementation of complicated control with a small number of ICs. Please remember that massive data paths that enable computation at speeds far faster than needed do not represent a good design! It is almost always better to spend more time thinking and less time wiring. InstructionsStep 1. The first step in starting your project is to find a partner with whom you wish to work. Two-person projects are preferred, but three-person projects are permitted. Individual projects must be approved by the lecturer. Step 2. The second step is to decide what you wish to do. For inspiration, look through projects from previous terms: Step 3. The third step is for each team to submit a PROJECT ABSTRACT (please use this form). The abstract and the PROPOSAL which follows are to be prepared jointly with your partner. We will use the abstract to assign project teams to members of the teaching staff. Those assignments will be posted shortly after the deadline for proposal submission. Step 4. The fourth step is to write the PROPOSAL. It is comprised of:
The project should be partitioned into separately testable subsystems, each subsystem is to be the responsibility of a single partner. The proposal should be typewritten. Typically, it should be two to five pages in length, single-spaced, plus the block diagram and any figures you may need. Step 5. The fifth step is the Proposal Conference, which is when the proposal is to be submitted. Each project proposal must also be presented orally to the staff so that both you and we understand what it is you are attempting, and whether your basic design approach is sound. Each project group should sign up for a 30 minute session. Sign-up sheets will be posted in the lab in advance of the first day of proposal conferences. Be sure to bring extra copies of your Proposal with you to the presentation so that the staff can follow your talk without your having to draw your block diagram on the chalk-board. Step 6. The sixth step is to prepare detailed MODULE DESIGNS and LOGIC DIAGRAMS for each of the blocks in the block diagram, and have these approved by your project TA at the Block Diagram Conference. Each project team must create a CHECKLIST of specific deliverables for the project and have your TA approve this checklist. These approvals are a prerequisite to your adding 6 extra units of 6.905. You and your project partner(s) are to present your project design to the rest of the class. Your presentation materials MUST be either overhead transparancies or PowerPoint slides. The presentation day will be chosen by the teaching staff and communicated to you by email and also posted on the web. Please submit PDF or HTML versions of your presentation materials so they can be posted on the web. Step 7. The seventh step is to build, debug and test your system. Project CONSTRUCTION may not begin until you have had your detailed logic diagram approved by your TA. Read through How to Make Your 6.111 Project Work for various design and construction hints that might save you a lot of debugging time! Step 8. The eighth step is to DEMONSTRATE your project to a member of the Staff. It is likely we will want to videotape your presentation. Step 9. The ninth step is to complete and submit the PROJECT REPORT. Material from the proposal can be used. The Introduction and Summary sections can be joint efforts of the project team, but the report must contain separate sections, individually written, describing subsystems for which each partner is responsible. Each section of the report should indicate the responsible author. Please submit PDF or HTML versions of your presentation materials so they can be posted on the web. See the Report Guide for general requirements for the Final Project Report. Step 10. The final step is to turn in your kit and other components. Remove all wires from the socket strips and return the chips to their places in the box. Extra Units for “Large” 6.111 ProjectsSome 6.111 students spend more hours per week than warranted by the 12 unit rating. Primarily this is due to large final projects. It is now possible to register for an additional 6 units of credit for 6.111.Our motivation for enabling the availability of these extra units is two-fold. Foremost is our desire to convince 6.111 students that they need NOT do a project which is bigger and more complicated than ever done in the past. Secondly, recognizing that many students will continue to do ambitious projects, we would like to credit 6.111 students with units appropriate to work expended. We are concerned that the availability of extra units may be taken as a signal to escalate the size of 6.111 projects. Indeed, if we perceive this to be the result, we may discontinue this procedure. While a large project is not required for the extra units, timely completion of course work is. Before you can register for the extra units, you must have completed all of the labs, submitted your proposal, had your design conference and received clearance to begin construction from your project TA. Procedures for adding six extra units (as 6.905) are described on the application form. |