CSCE
486/8 Computer Science & Engineering Professional Development
Topical Research
Senior design projects require focused research on technologies
related to and required by the project.
This assignment is intended to give you practice in carrying out
research on a topic of your choice.
Here is a list of some research topics, some from past projects:
- Low-cost range sensors
- Reconfigurable computing platforms
- Handwriting recognition for PDAs or tablet devices
- Continuous speech recognition in constrained environments (e.g.,
airline arrivals and departures)
- GPS devices that can be embedded in applications
- Video cameras to provide vision for autonomous robots
- Low-cost robotics
- Small sensor devices, such as motes that can form ad-hoc sensor
networks
- Standard wireless networks: 801.11x and Bluetooth
- On-board diagnostic (OBD) standard interface for automobiles
- RFID
- Face recognition
- Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)
- Image databases
- Speech Recognition
- Biometrics
- Specialized computing platforms, such as game consoles or mobile
phones
Clearly, the list is limited only by the imagination of the teams to
come up with a project topic.
You may choose your topic from this list, refine or elaborate a topic
from this list, or choose some thing entirely different.
However, you must have the topic approved by the instructor (preferably
before you work on it).
Your research work should include the following:
- 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, journals or conference proceedings 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.
- Research the state-of-the-art (latest research) for your chosen
topic.
- 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 "Resources" list has several links that may be helpful.
Submit your report via handin by midnight Tuesday, September 6,
2011.