Class Project
In parallel with the regularly assigned labs, you will also have a
quarter-long project to develop an embedded system product prototype. This
quarter, the product will be an electronic book (E-Book). The class will be
divided into several groups, each group working on a E-Book independent from
other groups.
Objective
Basically, each group will be competing to built the E-Book with the lowest
cost, lowest power, and best features. Your group will need to meet regularly
starting the first week, analyze tradeoffs, purchase parts, built a series of
successively more complex prototypes, and provide a final prototype and
analysis. Thus, in addition to learning the technical aspects of building
the product, you'll also gain experience working in an engineering group and
dealing with tight product schedules, features common in embedded systems
design companies.
E-Book Specifications
At the minimum, an E-Book must be able to perform the following:
1. Connect to a PC for downloading a text document.
2. Display the text on some sort of display.
3. Allow the user to navigate through the document, i.e., go to the beginning,
go to the end, and scroll.
Your E-Book, of course, should provide more capabilities, for example:
1. Retain the text document in Flash memory.
2. Store multiple documents and provide a menu for the user to select a
particular document for reading.
3. Provide a page marker, etc.
4. Provide encryption of documents, etc.
(Hint: Since you are in a competition, remember to keep your design
specifications as confidential as possible. By the way, your TA is not your
enemy, so keep him in the loop!)
The Optimal E-Book
The key to a successful E-Book is to obtain the following goals as optimally
as possible:
1. Low power consumption.
2. Large and easy to read display.
3. High storage capacity.
4. Easy to use.
5. Light weight and low cost.
6. Quick development cycle.
Notice that some of these are conflicting goals, e.g., a large display will
consume lots of power, while a small low power display will make it hard to
read the document. The goal is to obtain an overall optimal E-Book.
Resources
You have a total of $200.00 of spending budget for parts. The computing
platform for your E-Book will be the XS40 boards. These boards have 32K
of RAM, an 8031 and a FPGA.
Your Responsibilities
Here is a what you have to do:
1. Get together as early as possible and write the specifications for your
E-Book. Also, divide the work load, evenly, among members.
2. Create a list of parts as early as possible. (See the main page for due
date and parts list form.)
3. Meet on a regular basis and share progress reports, discuss problems, and
provide solutions.
4. Demo early and final prototypes. (See the main page for due dates.)
5. Maintain a log of design decisions, problems and solutions and create
user documentation for the prototypes. This log should be maintained online
and will be examined when grading your project.
Grading
An E-Book with the minimum capabilities is required to get full credit,
however, extra credit will be given for the following:
1. Extra E-Book capabilities.
2. Quick development cycle.
3. Extra ease of use.
4. Low power consumption. (Power supply current.)
5. Low cost. (The sum of cost of all parts used in the E-Book.)
Last updated: 1/8/99