Senior Project

Robbrad

I·will be·a high school senior next year and am currently looking into colleges.· I would like to have an SX project for the summer to show colleges my skills in electrical engineering.· Does anyone have any ideas for an impressive project?· I'm looking at using the SX28AC-DP.

Thanks,
Robbrad

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Post Edited (Robbrad) : 2/25/2007 2:00:01 AM GMT

Clock Loop

It really depends on what you have already done with electronics.. Take your skills that you already know and combine them, and include some areas that you don't know, forcing your self to figure those areas out.

I do EE for a job, and I am always on my toes, learning new things, using my known skills, and putting new skills to work for me in my job, less than a week after cramming my brain with a new area of study over a weekend.

I have found that being an EE is almost like being an artist, you have a final end result you need done. Its up to you as an EE or an artist to use your creative genious to accomplish that project as cheaply as possible, while maintaining functionality and quality product.

Todays EE world, demands that we get the job done asap, get it done correctly, and get it done cheaply.

Follow those guidelines and your project will most likely be a success.

As for ideas on WHAT to do. Again you need to tell us what things you have already done so we may suggest ideas.

The best ideas are the ones that benefit those around you or yourself. When its more than just a project, or task, when your outcome will benefit you, you tend to have a stronger desire to accomplish what you set out on.

So what do YOU want?

I currently am working on an alarm system that uses parallax's PIR sensors, a touch screen lcd, and the SX chip. You could do that, and then acutally use the project in your daily life...

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Meh. Nothing here, move along.

Robbrad

I have done entry level analog/digital circuitry and low level BASIC programing. I expect to learn quite a bit working on it. All I want is a project that will be impressive to most if not all people. Any ideas at this point would be appreciated.

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Mike Green

I don't think it matters very much exactly what your project is. People will be impressed by what you know (and you can't tell them that ... they will discover that for themselves in conversation), what you've learned, what you understand. You won't impress people by showing them a box or telling them what you know. They'll be impressed when they ask you questions and get thoughtful, sometimes knowledgable answers sprinkled sometimes with an acknowledgment that you don't know something, but have an idea how to find out or where to look.

Do pick something that you're personally interested in or would like to learn more about.

John R.

Echoing some of Mike's points, and expanding some:

The specific project doesn't need to "impress" anyone. What will impress them is how well it was done, and what thought process when into creating and executing the project.

If the project looks like someting from Rube Goldberg, and it "sorta-kinda" works, regardless of how sophisticated and "impressive" the project is, it will not impress your target audiance.

On the other hand, a simple project, well executed (including functioning fully and correctly), neatly put together, including a "report" on what the design process was, what research you did, problems encountered and solved, etc., now THAT would be impressive.

It should be someting that actually "does something", not just a collection of parts that makes a circuit. For example a functioning volt meter, not just a circuit that measures voltage and passes the value to "something else".

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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log

Bean

Robbrad,
I would suggest looking at the "List of Stamp Applications" to get some ideas.
http://www.hth.com/filelibrary/TXTFILES/losa.txt

As was mentioned before, choose something that interests you personally.

It's really hard to get excited about a project that you have no interest in.

Bean.

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Cheap used 4-digit LED display with driver IC·www.hc4led.com

Low power SD Data Logger www.sddatalogger.com
SX-Video Display Modules www.sxvm.com
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