NATCAR

EEC195 Schedule

General Information:

Class Schedule:

On-Line Lectures:

Laboratories:

Homework:

Data Sheets Etcetera:

Announcements:

 

  

Spring Quarter Pre-Race Schedule:

For those of you who are going on with the project, we have some practice and demonstration times available prior to the race on May 27th. I will NOT set up a track for these times unless I have help and someone willing to be responsible to make sure the room is completely cleaned up and restored to its normal state at the end. If we ever leave the room a mess, we will not be allowed to use it in the future (there are often meetings scheduled the next morning). The practice times I have reserved are:

Thursday, April 15th, from 5PM to 8AM on the 16th.
Saturday, April 17th, Picnic Day Demo, 1-3PM
Thursday, May 6th, from 5PM to 7AM on the 7th.
Thursday, May 13th, from 5PM to 8AM on the 14th.
Thursday, May 20th, from 5PM to 8AM on the 21st.
Wednesday, May 26th, from 5PM to 10AM on the 27th (registration for the final race starts at noon on the 27th).

Fall Quarter Class Schedule:

The lecture and lab are back to back from 9 AM to 1 PM. Some days the lectures will spill over into part of the lab period. On days without lectures, the lab period will start at 9 AM.

Date

 

Day

Topic

Online
Lectures
(Note 1)

Sept.

25

F

Lecture: Introduction to design project and opamp circuits.
Introduction slides
Opamp slides
Laboratory: Safety, basic measurements, and a lecture on practical design and construction information. Practical lab tips.
Lab lecture slides

The introduction lecture is not recorded. The opamp lecture is #1, the lab lecture is #11

Oct.

2

F

Lecture: Power conditioning, PWM & DC motors.
Power cond. slides
PWM slides
Laboratory: Lab 1: Build and test a DC-to-DC converter.

The power conditioning lecture is #2 & the PWM lecture is #3

 

9

F

Lecture: DC motor control, track sensing, control loops
Motor control & sensing slides
Feedback control slides
Laboratory: Lab 2: Build and test a motor drive circuit.

The motor control & sensing lecture is #4, the feedback control lecture is #5

 

16

F

Lecture: PID controllers part 1, modeling the car
Lecture slides
Laboratory: Lab 3: Build and test a motor drive circuit with feedback.

The PID control lecture is not recorded.

 

23

F

Laboratory: Lab 3: Continued.

 

 

30

F

Lecture PID controllers part 2
Lecture slides
Here is a good tutorial on PID controllers.

Laboratory: Lab 4: Build magnetic and optical track sensing circuits.
Here is an interesting paper on sensor modeling.

This lecture is not recorded.

Nov.

6

F

Laboratory: Lab 5: Build and test a track sensing circuit.

 

 

13

F

Laboratory: Lab 6: Build and test a proportional steering control loop.

 

 

20

F

Lecture: Reliability & manufacturability
Lecture slides
Reliability handout
Laboratory: Lab 6: Continued.

The reliability lecture is #10.

 

27

F

Thanksgiving Holiday

 

Dec.

4

F

Mr. Halsted will lecture on the different microcontroller options available to you.

Laboratory: Final demonstration for quarter (you may also demonstrate your car at the end of the final exam time).

 

 

10

Th

3:30-5:30 PM Final written examination The exam will be from 3:30-4:30 and you can demonstrate your car running from 4:30-5:30.

I have prepared a handout to help you prepare for the exam. Also, here is the final exam solution from last year.

Here are the solutions to this year's exam.
 

 

 

Note 1:

I have updated the lectures somewhat, but the ones available on-line are mostly the same and are available to help you review material whenever you need to. You can jump to given locations in the lectures, so you don’t need to watch an entire lecture to review one part. Also, lectures 7 & 8 will not be given in class; they are provided as a service to students using the Adapt9S12E128 microcontrollers and are only available online.

 

Winter Quarter Class Schedule:

Class is scheduled from 12:10 to 1:00 PM on Mondays and Fridays, but we will not meet on Mondays (that time was set only to reserve a final-exam time for us). The TAs' lab hours will be posted when available. Prof. Spencer will be available during class, by arrangement and from 10-12 on Fridays.

You will be required to demonstrate your car running at the appointed class time every other week during the winter quarter (on 1/15, 1/29, 2/12, 2/26 and 3/12). The purpose is to get you used to having deadlines, so we will not give any credit unless your car runs at the appointed time. You are expected to be able to show some progress at each of these demonstrations as well, but the car must run each time.

We will hold our internal race, which is the race on which your grade depends, during the scheduled final exam time for our Monday 12:10 PM class time, which is 6:00-8:00 PM on Wednesday, March 17. It will be in 1065 Kemper Hall.

There will be practice tracks set up in 1065 Kemper Hall from 5PM Thursday until noon on Friday on the following Thursdays: 2/25, 3/4 & 3/11.

You will receive a score for your car's performance based on the following scale: 20 points for going >9.5 ft/s, 18 pts for > 9 ft/s, 16 pts for > 8.5 ft/s, 14 pts for > 8 ft/s, 12 pts for > 7 ft/s, 10 pts for > 6 ft/s, 8 pts for > 5 ft/s, 6 pts for > 4 ft/s, 4 pts for > 2 ft/s, 2 pts for completing the course.

In addition, I will be looking at your cars and giving you a final grade for the quality of your construction.  Both your performance and quality of construction grades can be improved if you do better for the final competition in May, but you will need to tell me that you plan to compete then so that I can give you an incomplete for your grade.

The preliminary report is due by 5PM on Friday, February 19, 2010. I will provide you with written comments by 5PM on Friday, March 5, 2010, and the final reports are due by 5PM on Friday, March 19. The report guidelines detail exactly what must be in the report and all the details of the required format.