Project engineering

About: Project engineering is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 609 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8869 citations.

Interdisciplinary project work: practice makes perfect?

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of an action research study into a major interdisciplinary group project. The project was performed over one semester by some 180 third-year undergraduate students majoring in engineering and design disciplines at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom. The paper discusses the rationale behind the project, the academic background of the students and the project brief. In addition, the assessment criteria used by the academic staff to assess the work of the groups is introduced. The paper utilizes the research findings to identify and discuss a number of changes in students' performance, attitude and culture. The results of the research into undergraduate multi-disciplinary teams are compared to findings from research into multi-disciplinary projects operated in the European motor car industry. Finally, a comparison is then made with current findings of studies of student multi-disciplinary work in the American academic environment. The author concludes that multi-disciplinary product design teams yield many tangible benefits including the rapid development of marketable products. Undergraduate students also gain many intangible benefits such as improved interpersonal skills, positive emotions and an increase in personal performance and motivation through working in multi-disciplinary teams.

Code division testbed, CODIT

Abstract: The basic requirement on a third generation mobile system is to support universal high quality voice service as well as a wide range of data services, including data file transfer and high bit-rate services. The Code Division Testbed (CODIT) project is a research project within the European RACE programme that has the objective to explore the potential of CDMA for a future third generation mobile system like FPLMTS or UMTS. The main activities of the project are: To establish an advanced system concept based on CDMA including advanced radio technologies (radio interface, radio transceivers, etc.) and advanced radio subsystem architecture (micro and picocells, macro diversity, fast and soft handover, frequency management, radio network planning, etc.). To design and build a system demonstrator (testbed) comprising test mobile stations, radio base stations and a radio network controller. To validate the system concept in laboratory and field test, as well as with simulations. The results will be used to improve the concept and to compare with other radio access techniques. The project duration was from February 1992 to December 1994. During 1992 the basis for the system concept was established. The design and manufacture of the testbed were to take place during 1993 and lab and field tests to be performed 1994.

EPICS: documenting service-learning to meet EC 2000

Abstract: Engineering Projects in Community Service-EPICS-is a service-learning program that was initiated at Purdue University (USA) in the Fall of 1995. Under this program, undergraduate students in engineering earn academic credit for long-term team projects that solve technology-based problems for local community service organizations. The program has grown to include 20 project teams with approximately 300 students participating each semester during the 2000-01 academic year. With its emphasis on start-to-finish design of significant projects that will be deployed by the community customers, EPICS addresses many of the program outcomes mandated for ABET accreditation. In this paper, the authors outline the procedures and documentation that have been developed to assess and track student outcomes in the EPICS courses.

Towards the standardization of performance measures for project scheduling heuristics

Abstract: Performance measures that can be used to compare project-scheduling heuristics are presented. Quantitative measures relative to the project duration are proposed for the diagnostic analysis of activity-sequencing heuristics in PERT networks with precedence and resource constraints. The aim is to establish a basis for the standardization of performance measures for the heuristics. A project analyst can use the evaluation techniques presented in deciding which of the many available scheduling heuristics is most appropriate for a given project scenario. A comparative experiment indicates that heuristics perform almost equally well for small projects, while their performances vary considerably for large projects. Thus, small projects with mediocre complexity are not accurate performance-measurement agents for scheduling heuristics. >

Steps for proper simulation project management

Abstract: Summarizes the steps and procedures of performing a simulation study. Simulation studies are complicated by nature and without any formal procedure can present a large challenge for engineers. This paper develops a step-by-step approach to aid in the management of real-life simulation projects. A list of tasks needed to complete each step is presented to help the engineer document and validate the project. This approach has been used for the successful development and conclusion of several real-life simulation projects.