CSCE 488: Professional Development

Homework 1, Spring 2010

(Individual Assignment)

Senior design projects inevitably require focussed research on a specific topic. Here is a list of some topics that have been researched by teams in the past:

• Low-cost distance sensors
•  Reconfigurable computing platforms
• Handwriting recognition in the context of PDAs or tablet devices
• Continuous speech recognition in constrained environment (e.g. finding airline arrivals and departures)
• GPS devices that can be embedded in applications
• Video cams to provide vision capability to autonomous robots
• Low-cost robotics
• Small sensor devices, such as motes that can form ad-hoc sensor networks
• standard wireless networks: 801.11x and Blue Tooth
• On-board diagnostic (OBD) standard interface for automobiles
• RFID

Clearly, the list is limited only by the imagination of the teams to come up with a project topic. This assignment is intended to give you practice in carrying out the necessary research on a topic of your choice.

You may choose your topic from the above list, refine or elaborate it to suit your taste, or choose some thing entirely different. In the last case, be sure to get the topic approved by me before you work on it. Your research work should include the following

1. A literature search to identify articles describing the principles of operation of the main device or technology associated with  your topic. Choose from among these an article that, in your judgment, is best in terms of its accessibility and technical content and summarize it in a 100-word abstract in your own words. Find another article in an archival journal (examples include transactions or journals published by professional societies like IEEE and ACM) that may not be easy to read but appears to you to be the best source, judged from its citations. Justify your choice and reproduce the title and abstract of the article as an appendix to your report.  
2. Research the state-of-the-art (latest research) for your chosen topic.
3. Search for currently available device(s) and their specs. Then identify at least two reputable vendors for the devices, along with their prices.

Summarize the results of your research in about two single-spaced pages, including figures and references but not appendices. In the introduction include general background information about your topic and your reasons for choosing it. In writing your report follow  the best practices you have learned in previous courses for technical writing. The class web page under the heading, "Useful Info" has several links that may be helpful to you..

Submit your report via handin by midnight Monday, January 25, 2010.