Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

Fundamental knowledge of electrical and electronic engineering necessary for this course is covered in ENG1003, ENG1004, ENG1008, and ENG1009.

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

To develop the students’ planning, design, construction and communication skills through teamwork in a design based project

To provide students with the skills to understand the planning and management of technical projects, an appreciation of business organisation and planning, and the opportunity to practice these. To assist students with project activities within their undergraduate studies and to enable them to fulfil their roles as future engineering managers. To provide insight into issues of ethical and sustainable design.

Outline Of Syllabus

The group design and construction project within this module allows student to experience engineering project planning, demonstrate and develop teamworking and practical skills, and to create and present documentation to an appropriate engineering standard. The practical skills are developed via the design, construction, and testing of electronic subsystems for sensing and control, and the creation of programming code. System integration, fault finding, and performance optimisation will also be developed.

In addition to the project work, the business part of the module introduces key concepts in exploring, designing, and validating potential solutions to contemporary challenges which could be addressed using autonomous movement. Working within their teams, students will identify and describe an existing problem faced by a discrete stakeholder, using this knowledge of the “market” to scope a potential solution or “product” to articulate the concept of product-market fit through a value proposition. Potential solutions will be validated through primary research. Students will then present their results in a group business report.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

The mapping of certain AHEPv4 learning outcomes to each intended knowledge outcome is indicated in each point below. By the end of the project part of the module a student will be able to:



Employ knowledge of electrical engineering principles to design, select appropriate components, integrate, and construct electrical systems (M1, M2, M3, M6, M12, M13).

Present details of the system design along with experimental evaluation in the form of a technical report (M4, M17).

Work effectively in a group environment (M16).



By the end of the business part of the module a student will be able to:



Recognise and describe the macro-level factors which influence the design and commercialisation of innovative solutions, drawing from this wide viewpoint down into the specific requirements of individual stakeholders (M5, M7).

Work in a group environment to design solutions which align to stakeholder requirements through collaborative ideation. Prioritise initial solution ideas through an evidence-based validation framework (M15, M16).

Validate initial ideas through primary research directed at domain experts and/or relevant stakeholders (M17).

Present research findings and solution ideas in a business report, considering a non-technical, senior audience (M17).

Intended Skill Outcomes

The mapping of certain AHEPv4 learning outcomes to each intended skill outcome is indicated in each point below. By the end of the project part of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:



Demonstrate planning, organisational, and communication skills (M16, M17).

Interpret and describe technical information (M1, M4).

Demonstrate practical design and construction skills of electronic systems (M1, M2, M6, M12, M13).

Use laboratory instruments to examine and evaluate electronic systems (M3, M12, M13).



By the end of the business part of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:



Explore the macro context of a domain using a PESTEL analysis (M5, M7).

Identify and represent the requirements of stakeholders within a specific domain using stakeholder mapping, story, and persona techniques (M5).

Ideate and prioritise initial ideas to design solutions which align to stakeholder requirements using SCAMPER and NOW, HOW, WOW techniques (M5, M7, M8, M9).

Articulate product-market fit using the Value Proposition framework (M5).

Communicate findings in a report tailored to a professional/organisational audience (M17).

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures provide basic material and guidance. Most of the work is self-directed by the students with guidance from academic supervisors. Project work forms the major element of the module which is conducted in the school’s laboratories.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The module is entirely in-course assessed, requiring the students to work in groups.

The main aim of the engineering design is to build a prototype system for an autonomous electronic Buggy. The design tasks are systematically partitioned as three individual subsystems. Each student leads one of these subsystem designs, which is assessed based on the planning, communication, building, and troubleshooting capabilities. The subsystems and overall system demonstration allows for assessment of their design and practical skills, covering knowledge outcomes 1 (M1, M2, M3, M6, M12, M13) and 3 (M16), and skill outcomes 1-4 (M16, M17), (M1, M4), (M1, M2, M6, M12, M13), and (M3, M12, M13) respectively.
Writing skills are assessed in the project thesis which is generated as part of the module. This covers knowledge outcome 3 (M4, M17), and skill outcomes 1-2 (M16, M17) and (M1, M4) respectively.


The module also consists of business and entrepreneurial aspects, where students prepare a business case detailing an innovative solution to a contemporary challenge. The coursework gives the students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of market research, business organisation, their teamwork, and entrepreneurial skills. The group business report allows for the assessment of their innovation skills, covering skills outcomes 5-9 (M5, M7, M8, M9 and M17) and learning outcomes 4-7 (M5, M7,M15, M16 and M17)

General Notes

Original Handbook text: