Class Information

Spring 2007 Schedule:	TR 2:00pm-5:00pm in Workman 117
Instructors:	Aly El-Osery Office: Workman 207, Phone: 505-835-6432, email: elosery@ee.nmt.edu Dr. Rene Arechiga Office: Workman 247, Phone: 505-835-6881, email: rene@ee.nmt.edu

Course Objectives

Learn an approach to design, project management and team work.
Learn to use spec sheets and design according to available components.
Learn how to write technical documents and give presentations.
Perform various case studies.

Project: Communications and Coordinated Behavior

The task this semester is to coordinate the behavior of two robots. The goal is to have these two robots push a long bar in a straight line. The robots are to behave autonomously, and through communication they should be able to push the bar in a straight line to reach a final destination. All of the communication and the control commands are to be transmitted to a remote basestation to be displayed on a monitor. The distinct subsystems of this project are:

Low level control subsystem to navigate the robot.
Communication subsystem to manage the transfer of data back and forth between the robots and each other and between the robot and the basestation.
High level control subsystem responssible for coordinating the behavior of the robots.

The processor and radio platform chosen is MICAz from Crossbow Technology, Inc. MICAz is a 2.4GHz, IEEE 802.15.4 compliant with 250kbps data rate and runs TinyOS which is an open-source, energy-efficient, operating system. The MICAz has 51-pin expansion connector that supports analog inputs, digital I/O, I2C, SPI, and UART interfaces.
The H-bridges, gearboxes and the wheels will be supplied.

The class will be divided into four to five teams. Each team will consist of 6-7 students and it will be each teams responsibility to divide themselves to work on the different project tasks. This will provide the students with an experience with team work and project integration.

Course Prerequisites

EE308 & EE308L (Microcontrollers)
EE321 & EE321L (Analog Electronics)
EE341 (Continuous-Time Signals and Systems)

Topic Prerequisites

In-depth knowledge of microcontrollers.
Analog and digital circuit design.
Principles of linear time-invariant systems.
Proficiency in C programming.

Reference Texts

see resources page

Grading

Assignments:	10%
Preliminary Design Review:	10%
Midterm Functionality & Design:	25%
Final Functionality & Design:	25%
Final Presentation:	10%
Final Report (including electronic version):	10%
Group Members Evaluation:	10%