THE MIT CDIO CAPSTONE COURSE

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THE MIT CDIO CAPSTONE COURSE David W. Miller CDIO
External Review June 2003
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CDIO CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE

• Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate (CDIO)
  complex aerospace systems
• Integrate and test large-scale systems
• Manage large-scale complex projects effectively
• Experience steps throughout the lifecycle
  development process
• Apply knowledge of underlying sciences and core
  engineering theories
• Demonstrate reasoning ability and problem-solving
  skills
• Model, estimate, and analyze alternative
  solutions to problems
• Experience several cycles of iterative design
• Develop communications skills in a variety of
  areas
• Communicate designs both in technical briefings
  and reports
• Demonstrate personal and professional skills and
  attitudes
• Develop teamwork skills

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THE CDIO CAPSTONE CONCEPT

• Objective
• Provide undergraduates with the experience of
  conceiving, designing, implementing and operating
  a complex aerospace system.
• Introduced a three semester, team-based capstone
  design course to provide CDIO learning
  experiences.
• Alternative to two courses to expose
  undergraduates to fuller engineering lifecycle
  experience with hardware-related problems.
• Includes formal training in communications,
  interpersonal and team skills
• Students develop research test-beds in support of
  programs sponsored by real industrial and
  governmental clients.
• Interact with graduate students and professionals
• By integrating knowledge into an immediate
  context, students will be better able to apply
  what they learned in the classroom to a
  real-world application.

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CAPSTONE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Flow customer reqts down to system and subsystem
  reqts.
• Downselect from candidate sub-system
  implementations.
• Develop increasingly mature designs and
  analytically verify reqts.
• Use CAD tools to mature designs aid
  manufacturing and procurement.

• Develop subsystem prototypes to validate designs
  refine models.
• Conduct functional and physical integration
  testing to verify interfaces validate system
  reqts.
• Plan and execute operations to demonstrate
  effectiveness operability.
• Communicate with team members, suppliers,
  technical monitors, and facility operators.

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STUDENT CHALLENGES UNIQUE TO CDIO CAPSTONE
EXPERIENCE

• Sub-system prototyping and design iteration
  Pairs of students define reqts, develop designs,
  test prototypes, compare models and data, and
  exercise the iterative laboratory process
• Interface definition and control Students
  allocate, track and trade mass, power, thermal,
  and financial budgets.
• System integration Students develop and execute
  staged functional and physical integration plans.
• Operations planning Students develop safety,
  payload integration, and operations plans.
• Aerospace industry interaction Students work
  with suppliers, technical monitors, and visiting
  reviewers.

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THE RESEARCH PROJECTS

• SPHERES
• Funded by Air Force Research Laboratory
• Micro-g satellite formation flight laboratory
• Constraint-driven design for ISS

• ARGOS
• Funded by NRO DII program
• Modular optical architecture for imaging
  satellites
• Precision-driven optical imaging system design

• EMFFORCE
• Funded by NRO DII program
• Electromagnetic satellite formation flight
• Technology insertion-driven design using HTS

http//cdio-prime.mit.edu/
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TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

• Mentoring
• A faculty, staff, or graduate student mentors
  each sub-system team
• Learn by Doing
• Most teaching and learning is conducted in a
  hands-on format
• Setting Milestones
• Provides periodic opportunities to fine tune
  their system design
• Exercises planning, presentation and
  communications skills
• Rapid and Evolutionary Prototyping
• Each student learns to execute simple yet
  productive experiments.
• Properly scoped experiments eliminate some, but
  not all, design risks.
• Model-Based Design
• Students conduct multiple cycles through
  iterative laboratory process
• Form model, design experiment, compare data with
  predictions, refine design, repeat
• Run Class like a Real Rapid Prototyping Team

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ROLE OF COMMUNICATIONS

• Communications is the most important
• systems engineering skill
• Critique viewgraphs, presentation video and
  annotations
• Exercise group writing, problem statements and
  design documentation
• Foster leadership, teamwork and time management
• Teach colleague evaluation and constructive
  criticism

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STUDENT ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• Laboratory
• The mentor allocates a laboratory grade for each
  student
• Colleague assessment
• Students are required to constructively evaluate
  their colleagues
• Documentation
• Grade Requirement and Design documents
• Grade viewgraphs and annotations

• Presentations
• Grade formal and informal oral presentations
• Modeling
• Grade sub-system models and their effective use
  in design
• Provide infrequent feedback
• Most classes provide feedback on a weekly basis
• This is not representative of the real world
• Students learn to self assess

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STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

• Success of final product enhances self-confidence
  and builds a foundation for future engineering
  endeavors
• Opportunity for students to demonstrate most of
  the Departmental program outcomes
• Culmination of a series of design-build
  experiences
• Fosters relationships with alumni and other
  partners in aerospace and related industries
• The students understand their role in the project
  as a whole
• The fact that the students get to operate the
  experiment in a unique aerospace environment has
  strong motivational pull
• The students feel and act like a team whose sum
  is greater than its parts

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INDUSTRY FACULTY PERSPECTIVES

• Industry
• Projects have real customers in the aerospace
  industry
• Industry partners serve as mentors to student
  teams
• Frequent interaction by email
• Industry customers serve as reviewers during
  TARR, PDR, and CDR
• Identifies leading candidates for employment
• Faculty
• Design-build projects can be tied to faculty
  research interests and sponsored projects
• Strong connections with aerospace research
  community
• Identifies leading candidates for graduate school
  programs
• Product is valuable to aerospace research
  community, e.g., NASA, DoD
• Product becomes a test-bed for further research
  activities after course

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LESSONS LEARNED

• Field operation is a complex but important
  activity
• Forces the students to plan remote operations
• Provides motivation at a time when seniors have
  other distractions
• Set and adhere to intermediate milestones
• Provides frequent update on progress and issues
• Allows periodic assessment of schedule issues
• Discourage the students from trying to
  do-it-all in one step
• Dynamically re-allocate tasks as needed
• Every task seems to take the same amount of time,
  regardless of difficulty
• Unforeseen issues will arise which demand
  re-allocation of resources
• Involve students in all levels of decision making
  and transition authority
• Some decisions must be made in smaller groups
• Make sure student representatives participate in
  these groups
• Scope, and sometimes de-scope, the project
  dynamically
• Time is the most precious resource
• Provide the students with the opportunity to make
  and recover from mistakes

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STEADY-STATE IMPLEMENTATION

• Alternate years between Aero and Astro offerings
• Aero is a two semester class during senior year
• Astro remains a three semester class
• Students have flexibility
• Take the integrated CDIO Capstone course
• Take the laboratory and systems design classes
  separately
• Department provides hardware funds
• Instructor can augment with research funds if
  desired

Lab Aero Astro
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SUSTAINMENT
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WALLENBERG IMPACT

• Mapped curriculum against CDIO syllabus.
• Found gaps, particularly in systems
• Some topics demand hands-on activities
• Existing Capstone subjects lacked holistic and
  hands-on systems format.
• Included no systems integration
• Little design iteration with prototypes
• Wallenberg provided the conceptual seed and
  initial resources.
• Provided necessary linkage between laboratory and
  systems engineering environments
• Enabled MIT to put undergraduates in critical
  research roles
• Have successfully completed the course three
  times
• It is now sustainable

• Where to from here?
• Remote collaboration between CDIO partner schools
  (SPHERES on ISS)?
• Collaboration with industry?
• Companion graduate course?

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VIDEO