Schedule

The following is a very tentative schedule, which should provide a sense of direction as we move from well defined and structured lab exercises for the first few weeks on to less well defined, but more demanding,  exercises and projects later.  The latter portion of the course is dedicated specifically to project work.   The last I heard before preparing this tentative schedule was that there 20+ students taking 468 this semester.  The schedule is set out accordingly.

Week 1  Sep. 3rd

INTRODUCTIONS (many of them) ECE 468 to students, Schowalter to Students, Shoaib to Students,  Students to each other (about 5 minutes each, possibly interactive).  A LabVIEW demonstration.  Distribute first LabVIEW Exercise.

Continue introductions.  A first look at LabVIEW.  Set out project thoughts. 

Week 2  Sep. 10th

Continue introductions.  Discussion of potential projects. Introduce LabVIEW "Case" structure.   

Finish up introductions.  Review of past projects.  Team formation and Team work.  Introduce Sub-VIs.

Week 3  Sep. 17th

 More project thoughts.  Consider "Arrays" and array manipulation functions that are available in LabVIEW.

Statement of broad project interest area due.  Possible team members to be included.  This will be summarized and passed out at the next class.  

Week 4  Sep. 24th

Introduction to LabVIEW FFT/DFT.  Issues of time and frequency scaling in graphs.

Looking at various aspects of LabVIEW operations.  Stress on "tuning of FFT routines".

Week 5  Oct. 1st

The structure of D/A and A/D convertors.  Analog to Digital Data Acquisition.  Digital to Analog operations.

More LabVIEW (Digital I/O).  File I/O using LabVIEW. 

Week 6  Oct. 8th

Differential equation simulation in LabVIEW.  Introduction to Function Nodes.

Various signal processing LabVIEW routines.  Reinforcing ECE 330 concepts: sampling rates, aliasing, etc.

Week 7  Oct. 15th

LabVIEW signal processing routines in support of ECE 430 and/or ECE 431.  Z-transform techniques for developing digital filters.

Introduction to Sequence structure in LabVIEW.  Example of the use of Local Variables

Week 8  Oct. 22nd

"Formal" Project proposal due. This should list team members and show a  proposed schedule for the entire project.  

Review.

Mid-term"?? EXAM ??",  an exercise centering on the basic  use of LabVIEW in data acquisition,  storage, processing, etc.  If projects and coursework are on schedule, no EXAM may be needed.

Week 9  Oct. 29th

Special aspects of LabVIEW pertinent to projects / lab visits.

Depending on what projects are being carried out, there may be special aspects of LabVIEW that should be detailed in class.  If Marleau or Krosschell are going to be presenting lectures or demonstrations centering on these topics, every student is expected to attend.  If attendance is lacking at this time, this action invites a final exam.  If, however,  the whole class so chooses, we can schedule lab meetings with select groups.

Week 10  Nov. 5th

Special aspects of LabVIEW pertinent to projects / lab visits.

Week 11  Nov. 12th

Special aspects of LabVIEW pertinent to projects / lab visits.

Week 12  Nov. 19th

Special aspects of LabVIEW pertinent to projects / lab visits

Thanksgiving Break 11/22 - 11/25

Week 13  Nov. 26th

With 20 students signed up for 468 at the beginning of class, 4 class days have been reserved for fifteen-minute In-Class presentations.  Sign-up schedules will be posted outside Marleau's office at 1437 EH.  All are expected to attend presentations.

In-Class  presentations.          

In-Class  presentations.

Week 14  Dec. 3rd

In-Class  presentations.           

In-Class  presentations.

Week 15  Dec 10th

In-Lab technical presentations throughout the week.  No regular class meetings.