Project engineering

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

Work in progress — Project-Based Service Learning in engineering: Investigating partner relationships

Abstract: Project-Based Service Learning (PBSL) is increasingly popular in engineering programs as a way to develop key student skills and address community needs. Since most PBSL projects have the intention of providing a service to a community, it is critical that partner voices are heard. However, there has been little research examining the roles and motivations of project clients. To address the community perspective, the authors have identified six organizations with longstanding (over five years) partnerships with Purdue University's Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) program, and will interview 1–3 individuals associated with each. These partners have been involved with numerous EPICS projects over multiple years. Our major objectives are to investigate why organizations maintain long-term partnerships with EPICS, and develop recommendations for enhancing benefits to all stakeholders. Here we present a background literature review and description of the project scope and methods.

Simulating corporate project engineering for freshmen

Abstract: A novel approach to project engineering at the freshmen level is presented. For the past two years a pilot offering of a two-course sequence has been implemented. The goal of the sequence is to present a realistic view of mechanical engineering, provide the students with a set of basic skills, and develop team skills through the use of a simulated industrial environment. Practicing engineers and experts meet with the students to exchange ideas and discuss career paths. Technical writing, oral presentations, graphics, Internet access, and spreadsheets are also covered in skills labs. In the projects portion of the course students play the role of design engineers within a "class corporation". Incentive-based grades, peer evaluation, and the ability to sub-contract work to other teams are key components. Students must communicate their designs to both their peers and invited industrial representatives in written, oral, and electronic formats, Results from the first two years are promising and student feedback has been excellent. The web-based courses have been team taught and developed by both senior and junior faculty. The project topics and outcomes from the first two years are presented along with the lessons learned from each of the four offerings. Since the courses were developed for a small engineering school, where the typical freshmen class size is 50, possible methods to replicate the course structure within other (larger) departments and institutions are also discussed.

Unified Telerobotic Architecture Project status report

Abstract: Air Force depots are prime examples of an industrial environment where small batch sizes, feature uncertainty, and varying workload conspire to make classical industrial robotic solutions impractical and telerobotics a key enabling technology. The United States Air Force, Air Force Material Command, Robotics and Automation Center of Excellence (RACE) has launched the Unified Telerobotics Architecture Project (UTAP) to champion the development of the support infrastructure necessary to foster creative development and innovative utilization of emerging telerobotic technologies for depot applications. Recently, this focus has been expanded to include more diverse environments, such as the flightline and shipyard, as well. The status of the UTAP program is the focus of this paper. >

Design projects in an undergraduate DSP course and laboratory

Abstract: Summary form only given. Design projects provide important vehicles for learning. During the last seven years an undergraduate DSP course has been offered as a senior technical elective to electrical and computer engineering students at Cal Poly State University. In parallel with theory and experiments, teams of two or three students propose, design and implement a DSP project and demonstrate the product. The effort and time that is required to complete a project is comparable to three or four experiments. Interested students pursue further DSP work as a senior project, which is a two quarter activity equivalent to 5 quarter units. More DSP design may be carried out under the category of individual-study. In terms of complexity, novelty, challenge and relation to real-world applications, the projects vary. Some are done minimally to satisfy the DSP course requirement at the passing level. Some are innovative, sophisticated, and worthy of industrial consideration, indicating students' facility with the hardware and programming and advanced use of computers. The paper analyzes the experience with undergraduate DSP projects, describes some examples, and draws conclusions. One conclusion is that the project is an essential component of a comprehensive learning experience in DSP. For this to materialize, the project needs to be planned according to the qualification and interest of individual teams and students. The aim of the paper is to document and summarize the Cal Poly experience, disseminating the results, and to present roadmaps for similar activities to interested colleagues elsewhere.

100% product-oriented work breakdown structures and their importance to system engineering

Abstract: This paper characterizes systems and system development and in the process develops a generic 100% product-oriented work breakdown structure (WBS) that can be tailored to any system development project. It also describes how such 100% product-oriented WBSs can facilitate good system engineering.