The Basic Engineering Project is a second year subject which represents the second of four steps in the design-implement subjects path of the Telecom BCN curricula. The first one is included into the Introduction to Engineering subject and the last one is the degree Thesis.
While the first and third year projects have a wide scope (from client specification to business idea), the second year project emphasizes on the technical design, implementation and characterization of a given block from its specifications but understanding the whole system concept and has a higher technical difficulty. A complex ICT system is split in blocks. All students should know the block structure but a given work team will only develop one of the system blocks. The structure of laboratory groups allows that students could select the block according to the major they will choose the following year (electronics, networks, audiovisual systems and communications). The course structure design includes three initial sessions oriented to provide disciplinary contents related with the project topic using the puzzle methodology. Then the block to be designed is fully specified and documented in the Requirements Specification document.
The following 10 sessions are devoted to the design, prototyping and validation of the chosen system block. Their schedule is determined by the time plan and work package organisation that the work teams prepare and write in the Project Plan document. The preliminary and critical design reviews are performed during two progress meetings in the 7th and 11th week. This first year of implementation, the product to be designed, that has been divided in blocks is an in-home audio system component. Given that the course is running this first year with a pilot group of 24 students, only the amplifier and preequalizer blocks have been designed and built by the students.