- Department: Electronic Engineering
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
This module lets you contribute to the design and build of an audio system - from analogue data gathering through processing and mapping, to sound generation and monitoring. You'll work in teams to learn about interfacing sensors to a microprocessor, and learn how to program the microprocessor to create sound. You will undertake a project with due consideration to the QAA engineering benchmarks on Sustainability, Ethics, Equality and Inclusion, Risk and Security (SEERS)”.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Subject content aims:
To build on the previous project module and further develop student skills in group project working. In particular, students will work in groups on a product involving hardware and software using embedded processors.
To use audio generation for scientific analysis (sonification) or the creation of new sounds (synthesis) and to design and build a complete electronic system which creates sound from sensor data.
Graduate skills aims:
To develop skills in summarising and showing understanding of information from reliable sources and technical writing
To develop skills in gathering information from reliable sources and constructing technical presentations
To consolidate skills in team working, research, business practice, environmental impact of technology, engineering design and project management
To extend the students existing knowledge and introduce students to further skills they will need in a typical engineering project: the main areas of skill that will be covered include the analysis and synthesis in a technical requirements context to produce a project plan, application of knowledge to practice using project management tools/techniques, planning and time management, project design and management, analysis of sustainability, technical report writing skills, team working, and development of practical skills in hardware and software through design of a product using embedded processors.
Subject content learning outcomes
After successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
Graduate skills learning outcomes
After successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
Working in groups of 4-6, students will work to deliver on a given project brief. This module shares the main lectures and labs with the module Electronics Stage 2 Project. Music Technology students on this module have some supporting extra lectures on sound design for sonification and synthesis, which enables them to do a different assignment involving the generation of audio. After submitting an initial report, and giving an initial group presentation, students continue to work on prototyping their electronic audio product.. At the end of the project, the team produces a demonstration video of the working audio system, and individuals write up their own report, and take part in a peer feedback exercise. It is important for students to work collaboratively by maintaining good communication and adopting good project management and time management skills.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 60 |
Groupwork | 20 |
Groupwork | 10 |
Oral presentation/seminar/exam | 10 |
None
Student teams will be given a flexible remit to design an interactive audio product. This would typically be a synthesiser with a multi-input user interface, or a sonification system (the scientific portrayal of data as sound). The audio is produced by direct audio synthesis on an ARM microprocessor, for which special lectures are provided for the Music Technology students only. Teams design a user-interface, which is typically made up of electronic components such as switches, knobs, sliders, accelerometers etc. Thus students are able to design and construct a fully working synthesiser and use it for creative or scientific purposes.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
'Feedback’ at a university level can be understood as any part of the learning process which is designed to guide your progress through your degree programme. We aim to help you reflect on your own learning and help you feel more clear about your progress through clarifying what is expected of you in both formative and summative assessments. A comprehensive guide to feedback and to forms of feedback is available in the Guide to Assessment Standards, Marking and Feedback.
The School of PET aims to provide some form of feedback on all formative and summative assessments that are carried out during the degree programme. In general, feedback on any written work/assignments undertaken will be sufficient so as to indicate the nature of the changes needed in order to improve the work. The School will endeavour to return all exam feedback within the timescale set out in the University's Policy on Assessment Feedback Turnaround Time. The School would normally expect to adhere to the times given, however, it is possible that exceptional circumstances may delay feedback. The School will endeavour to keep such delays to a minimum. Please note that any marks released are subject to ratification by the Board of Examiners and Senate. Meetings at the start/end of each term provide you with an opportunity to discuss and reflect with your supervisor on your overall performance to date.
Statement of Feedback
Formative Feedback
Regular labs allow you to engage with the electronic interfacing and programming material and receive verbal help and feedback on your coding and design.
Weekly quizzes on the module Wiki page help you to gain feedback on your understanding of the key module material covered in the lectures.
Emails to the Module Staff with Questions / Comments will be answered as soon as possible.
Questions can also be submitted at any time via the Question Box on the module Wiki page.
(Weekly Meetings with the group’s Supervisor allows regular progress to be tracked, problems ironed out, questions to be asked, and plans to be made and checked.)
Three Group Meetings are planned (spread out over the semester) to allow discussion with the Module Coordinator, and will focus on:
your ideas and design,
your implementation and organisation, and
your testing and documentation.
Summative Feedback
You will receive a customised feedback sheet, showing the mark breakdown in each of the key areas being assessed:
For the Initial Report (Group)
For the Interim Presentation (Group)
For the Final Report (Individual)
For the Demonstration Video (Group)
For each assignment, personalised feedback is given along with suggestions for improvement. The comments explain how well you have met the learning objectives, and also give you feedback about the things you could improve in future assignments.
Some guidance notes, datasheets and wiki links will be provided to support the undertaking of the project