Practical Engineering

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I

understand. - Confucius
Ashwith Jerome Rego
ashwith@ieee.org
http://ashwith.wordpress.com
What is it?
College lab experiments - not the way you're
doing it now.
Smaller experiments - because the labs
cannot cover everything.
Projects - That's why you're here today.
Exploring beyond the syllabus
Teaching is the best way to learn
Why should you care?
Improves your Rsum (That's what everyone
really cares about isn't it? ;-))
Get a feel of how R&D works.
What did Confucius say again?
Strengthens understanding - Interviews will be
a piece of cake!
Bragging rights! :-)
Syllabus becomes more interesting.
Marks aren't everything. Projects really show
what you know.
That's how things get discovered or invented
The most important reason - It's fun!
What's important?
Know the theory first - know it well.
Try to create something small from what
you've just learned.
Build up from here.
DO NOT COPY! Work hard, struggle, design
it yourself. It feels great in the end!
Share what you create. Teaching is the best
way to learn.
Keep it Simple. Have Fun.
The Fun part: Projects
Do your homework. Study the required
material. Do a thorough literature survey.
Plan a schedule (with your mentor). Set
deadlines and stick to them.
Document your work from the
beginning.
Work hard. "Pick a formula and substitute"
doesn't always work. Get your hands dirty.
That's how we had fun as kids :-)
Be independent. If you don't get it right do
everything you can to figure it out yourself. Your
mentor should be your last resort.
Regular updates - Keep your mentor informed.
Where do I start?
If you want to build circuits, learn to solder.
It's easy, takes a few minutes to learn and
only a day or two to master.
If you're going to code, learn to do it right.
Your college lab. Don't complain. It's much
better than you think.
Simulation tools.
Cheap boards and equipment.
Contests, tech fests.
Workshops.
Basic Equipment
Multimeter x 2
Soldering Iron
Breadboards
General Purpose PCBs
Basic components: assorted resistors,
capacitors, op-amps, transistors, wires (or
any analog starter kit), sensors, motors.
Batteries: 12V, 9V, 5V.
Basic Equipment
More Equipment
Power supply
Soldering station
Oscilloscope
Embedded Systems
Platforms: 8051, Arduino (or any other Atmel platform),
MSP430, PIC.
Software: Keil evaluation edition, Arduino IDE, CCS
Studio limited edition, GCC.
First learn to read from various sensors as well as
control actuators such as motors, LCD displays and
simple display LEDs.
Start with simple projects which directly use these
sensors. Thermometers, light detectors and motion
sensors.
Move to the next level: Robots, manufacturing plant
controllers (remember what you've learned in Control
systems).
Embedded Systems
Analog Design
Be thorough with the theory first. Analog
circuits, signals and systems, controls
systems are important subjects.
Simulation tools:
o gEDA: http://www.gpleda.org/
o Online Tools: https://www.circuitlab.com/
Design on paper. Verify with simulation.
Then go ahead and build.


Analog Design
Digital Design
Platforms: Discrete ICs, PLDs, FPGAs.
Pick either Verilog or VHDL.
Design + Verification. Very few know the
latter.
Understand the entire workflow - from
architecture specification to synthesis.
Automation using Scripts. Perl, Shell
Scripting.
OVM, UVM and SystemVerilog, SystemC.
Digital Design
Software
Get familiar with any *nix environment. Then
slowly become an expert.
Concentrate more on how to design and think
about a program. Languages are secondary.
Learn to write fast efficient programs
(Algorithm design/selection). Not everyone has
a fast multi-core CPU with a lot of RAM.
Coding style and standards compliance is
important.
Raspberry Pi: http://www.raspberrypi.org/
Gertboard
Android/iOS/Windows Mobile/Java.
Software
Fedora Electronic Lab (GNU/Linux)
Scilab, Octave
Maxima, Sagemath
Libraries: LAPACK, OpenCV, NumPy, SciPy
Online Courses
o edX: https://www.edx.org/
o Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/
o Udacity: http://www.udacity.com/
Use the right books!
Use the right software!
Free Resources
Blogs and websites:
o Ashwith http://ashwith.wordpress.com/
o Flip flop http://msuraj.wordpress.com/
o Infinity Redefined
http://msharmavikram.wordpress.com/
Workshops
Online Forums
Remember: Teaching is the best way to
learn! (I won't repeat that again :-))
Rsum boost.
Sharing is caring
Rewind...
Always start small.
Understand why things work.
Plan thoroughly. Break everything into manageable bits.
Be patient. Projects are hard and it takes time. That's
how the industry is as well.
Learn because you want to and you like it.
If it's not fun it's not worth it. Find out what really is
your passion.
Share what you learn.
Open-hardware, Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS).
Protecting your work - licenses.
Learning never stops after college!
Any questions?
Don't be shy!
Thank You!
This is the part where you clap ;-)