experiences from a multi-cultural design, build, test project thomas gustafsson school of...
TRANSCRIPT
EXPERIENCES FROM A MULTI-CULTURAL DESIGN, BUILD, TEST PROJECT
Thomas Gustafsson
School of Engineering, Jönköping University
Adam Lagerberg
School of Engineering, Jönköping University
5th International CDIO Conference, 7-9 June 2009, Singapore
Outline
DBT Project Context
DBT Project Task
Experiences round one and adaptations for round two
Experiences round two
Conclusions
3
DBT Context
2 year Master’s program in embedded systems
Prerequisites include bachelor degree in Electrical engineering
No room for a separate DBT project in the curriculum
DBT project given in the context of laboratory work of two parallel 10-week courses• Software engineering: Software project
management• Mechatronics: Control theory and Hardware
4
Mechatronics and Signal Processing
Sensors, ActuatorsDynamic modeling
Control theory
Software EngineeringRequirement specifications
Project model
Lab/project
Lab/project
DBT Context, continued
100 % foreign students (middle East, Africa, east Asia, Europe, north America)
Often not used to work in groups or on open problems
Students took a course in Multicultural communication
The DBT project has been given two times
5
Course-related goalsWork in a (multicultural) project group
Practice project model
Technical goalsMicroprocessor based control system for hanging or inverted pendulum
Graphical user interface for pendulum
DBT Task
Model driven development approach
Controller model
Pendulum model
Sim
ulat
ed e
nviro
nmen
tP
C, W
indo
ws,
Mat
lab/
Sim
ulin
k
User-interface
Controller model
DBT Task, continued
Students were randomly divided into groups
Each group should deliver some artifacts:• Project documents, e.g., software requirements specification• Presentations• The end product
8
Grading
Group grade = weighted average ofProject documents
Presentations/demonstrations
Meetings
Individual grade = weighted average ofFellow assessment average
Supervisor adjustment
Final project (individual) gradeGroup members’ average grade adjusted to the group’s grade.
Course gradingWeighted average of Project and Written Examination
9
Experiences Round One
Students have problems in• Dividing a problem into subproblems• Working independently on subproblems• Move on even if stuck on some part of the problem
The amount of documentation seemed to, partly, hinder the students to focus on the problem solving
Some students thought it was awkward to do peer student assessment
10
Project management documentSoftware requirements specificationSoftware architectureSoftware designSoftware test specificationSoftware test reportSoftware requirements tracing document Hand-over documentation
Adaptations for Second Round
Reduced amount of documentation required from each group
Control free hanging pendulum instead of inverted pendulum
Early presentation, which could force the student groups to work more iteratively
Each group had to include the risk ’student is not doing allocated task’
11
Experiences from Second Round
Many students didn’t work independently• It seems the students cannot divide the problem into subproblems and
then work on these problems independently• One effect was that the groups got stuck in developing a plant model
and running experiments in Matlab/Simulink, even though their time plans had independent branches
Reducing the documentation gave the effect that students didn’t see the benefits of working systematically – The task too ’simple’/uncomplex??
12
Conclusions
Multicultural aspects: Project execution could have been better
When is a DBT project succesful?
Course-related goalsWork in a (multicultural) project group – got the experience
Practice project model – got the experience, often good results
Technical goalsMicroprocessor based control system for hanging or inverted pendulum – got the training, mostly failed results
Graphical user interface for pendulum – got the training, mostly success
Motivate students to work hard and independently – failed (partly)
13
Questions?
Equipment
NI I/O board
FPGA reading angle sensor and position sensor
FPGA communicates sensor values to MCU using SPI
MCU communicates motor value using SPI
MCU should send sensor values on serial comm. port to PC
15