BISON ACADEMY

Courses taught in the

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

North Dakota State University

ECE 401: Senior Design I

Syllabus Fall 2025

Updated 06/11/2025

Syllabus - Resources - ECE Parts Inventory - Comments

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Instructor: Jeff Erikson, Jake Glower

Office: ECE 209 (Erickson), ECE 201 (Glower)

Office Hours: Mo-Th 9-10am

Class Times: We 3pm, Offerddahl West 123 (ECE 123) & Zoom

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We	Lecture	Videos YouTube Playlist	Project (homework)
Aug 27 Week 1	0. Syllabus Week #0 Slides - 1. Project List	1: Syllabus & Project List - HW1 Description	Project List - HW1: Project Selection (10%) Which project you want to work on Pick your lab partner (2/group) Due Week #2
Sep 3 Week 2	2. Project Management & OneNote Week #2 Slides Sample OneNote Document	2. Project Management & OneNote - HW2 Description - Beginners Guide to OneNote	HW2: Work Breakdown Structure (10%) Set up One-Note (one per group) Share with partners & instructors Outline Level 3 (sections) Outline Level 4 (pages) Due Week #3
Sep 10 Week 3	3. Breadboards and Pi Pico Week #3 Slides	3. Breadboards & Pi-Pico - HW3 Description	HW3: Paper Design (10%) Circuit Schematic Calculations for Rs Calculations for voltages and currents Due Week #6
Sep 17 Week 4	Career Fair No class -
Sep 24 Week 5	4. CircuitLab & Op-Amps Week #4 Slides - LM555 Datasheets MCP602 Datasheets	4. CircuitLab & OpAmps - HW4 Description - CircuitLab Demo	HW4: Simulation (10%) CircuitLab Schematics CircuitLab Results Main IC Datasheets Due Week #8
Oct 1 Week 6	5: Diodes & Transistors Week #5 Slides	5. Diodes & Transistors - Fun with Transistors (HackMakeMod)	HW5: Breadboard (10%) Breadboard Photo Schematics Lab Data (multimeter, oscope, etc) Analysis & discussion of lab data Parts List Due Week #10
Oct 8 Week 7	6: Fusion 360 Schematics Week #6 Slides - Fusion 360 Schematic Worksheet -	6. Fusion 360 Schematics -
Oct 15 Week 8	7. Fusion360 PCB Layout Week #7 Slides - Fusion 360 PCB Worksheet - Digikey: Trace Width Calculator	7 Fusion 360 PCB Layout -	HW6: PCB Layout (10%) Gerber Files PCB Schematics BOM in Excel format 3D drawing of pcb Updated lab notebook Due Week 12 sample bill-of-materials
Oct 22 Week 9	8: Through-Hole Soldering - Soldering Basics Using the SD401 Kit	Soldering Through-Hole Soldering Tutorial - Soldering Basics with SD401 Soldering Kit	HW7: Practice PCB (10%) Solder a practice PCB Through hole & surface mount parts Lead and Lead-Free Solder Due Week #13
Oct 29 Week 10	Test Equipment Groups 1-9 Meet in ECE 237	DMM Tutorial - O-Scope Tutorial (SparkFun) - O-Scope (ElectroBoom)
Nov 5 Week 11	Test Equipment Groups 10-19 Meet in ECE 237		HW8: Test Equipment (10%) Use of Lab Equipment Measure gain & phase of RC circuit Due In-Class Can redo
Nov 12 Week 12	9: Final Report	HW9: Final Report	HW9: Final Report (20%) Group demo Functioning PCB Poster (Due Dec 8th) Updated lab notebook Due Week 16 (Friday)
Nov 19 Week 13	No Class Sign up for final presentation time and date
Nov 26 Week 14	Holiday		PCB boards might be in - Populate PCBs - Create poster
Dec 3 Week 15	No Class Sign up for final presentation time and date		PCB boards should be in - Populate PCBs - Create poster
Dec 10 Week 16	Sr. Design Expo Week #16, noon-3pm. MU Ballroom Demonstrations M-F, ECE Room 201 Sign up for times outside ECE 201 One presentation per group		Poster Template (ppt) Sample Poster 1 Sample Poster 2