HardwareSoftwareGuidelines on Approach document from Ms. Alexis Powe, Dr. R. Reese Spring 2006. Will be followed for other semesters unless noted otherwise. Paper 3 - Approach Deadlines: For first and final draft deadlines, please see the course syllabus. Peer revision instructions: As in previous peer revision sessions, each group will be assigned a partner group; however, unlike in previous sessions, first drafts must be posted to each group’s web site the day prior to the peer revision session. This is so each group may review their partner group’s draft outside of class. To receive credit for the peer revision exercise, each student must print out and provide thorough written comments on his/her group’s assigned draft and bring the hard copy to class (where I will review it). Length Requirements and Target Audience: For the rough draft, each group must submit a minimum of 7-10 full, single-spaced pages (Times New Roman, 11-point, left-justified text that conforms to the template guidelines). For the final draft, the minimum length is 10 full, single-spaced pages, and the maximum length is 25 pages. This document should not be targeted to a lay audience but rather to fellow ECE students (i.e., people whose knowledge levels are similar to your own). Dr. Reese’s requirements for the content of the approach section are specified below: Begin the approach section with a paragraph that provides a general overview of your design, thus providing continuity and flow of this section with the preceding sections (similar to what you did for paper 1). The approach document discusses, in great detail, the hardware and software subsystems used in your design to meet the technical and practical specifications of your project. Hardware For the hardware subsystems, you must discuss the different approaches to the key technological elements of your design and their tradeoffs. In discussing the tradeoffs of each technological approach, present enough background theory on each approach so that the reader becomes familiar enough with each approach to understand your justification for selecting a particular approach. To reiterate, for the major hardware subsystems in your design used to meet the technical and practical constraints of your design, you must present the theory behind the different technological approaches, the associated tradeoffs associated with each approach, and your justification for selecting a particular approach. Software For the software section, please review the lecture titled “Software Engineering” at this link: http://www.ece.msstate.edu/courses/ece4512/des1_syllabus/current/Software_Engineering.ppt At a minimum, your software section must include the following: • A few “sunny” and “rainy” day usage cases, along with a model data flow for a couple of representative cases • A physical model diagram that shows how the user interacts with your system • A flow chart that shows the basic top-level state machine for your software• A discussion of the data types and data storage with which your software interacts You do not have to present an object model or an object-oriented view of your design; however, you may do this if you are comfortable with this approach. The approach document must present a complete picture of how your project meets all of the technical and practical constraints, as well as the operation of the hardware and software subsystems to provide the functionality needed for your project. The link http://www.ece.msstate.edu/courses/ece4512/templates/doc/design.pdf provides more information about the approach. Regarding the actual writing, my interests in your document are three-fold: 1. Detailed, organized, and logical explanation of the approach components that Dr. Reese specifies 2. Coherence of sentences, paragraphs and sections, with logical transitions between ideas to provide flow to the overall document 3. Soundness of grammar and mechanics The SECON design document from spring 2005 (http://www.ece.msstate.edu/courses/design/ece4542/2005_spring/secon/deliverables/final_design_document.doc) contains a good example of an approach section. I recommend reading this section closely to see how the authors executed these components and how their strategies might benefit your document. Note, however, that guidelines and requirements change from semester to semester, so if the sample document violates guidelines that Dr. Reese or I have given you this semester, then follow our guidelines instead of the sample document. As always, do not “borrow” passages or sentences from the sample document, which constitutes
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