{"id":377,"date":"2017-01-12T08:01:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T13:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/?p=377"},"modified":"2023-02-11T16:16:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T21:16:59","slug":"dg-ptr-tech-memo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/dg-ptr-tech-memo\/","title":{"rendered":"Prototyping and Testing Review (PTR) \u2014 Tech Memo"},"content":{"rendered":"

All content above the first section (Memorandum Overview<\/em>) is pre-filled and should need no edits by you.\u00a0 This technical memorandum is accompanied by the Technical Archive Document (TAD). \u00a0At this stage, there is no need to include your Project Planning Document (PPD) as you are on your way, or not at this point.\u00a0 The purpose of this technical memo is to allow those participating in the review meeting to (re)acquaint themselves to the problem at hand and to see a summarized preview of the content that is the subject of the review.\u00a0 As such, like your past technical memos, it begins with a section summarizing your understanding of the problem.\u00a0 That is followed by a section summarizing your technical progress that is the subject of this review (work refined and completed since the previous review).\u00a0 As with previous technical memos, this one begins with a brief Memorandum Overview<\/em> indicating these as the elements of content here with direction to the accompanying document.<\/p>\n

1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Memorandum Overview Section<\/h2>\n

Like the PCR, this is again written on your behalf.\u00a0 BUT<\/em><\/strong>, read it carefully to understand exactly what your audience is expecting to see.\u00a0 It is your final example to learn from here; though, admittedly, it is nearly identical to the previous ones in form, just updated in specifics.\u00a0 As you move beyond capstone design and into your career, you will usually be starting with a blank sheet of paper on something like this.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Problem Understanding Section<\/h2>\n

This section is comprised of the (what should be)<\/strong><\/span> four paragraphs of the \u201cProblem Understanding\u201d section from your PCR tech-memo.\u00a0 To bring this content in, select the content in your PCR tech-memo (all four paragraphs together as a single selection, but NOT<\/em><\/strong> including the section heading) and copy.\u00a0 Then, in the PCR template, select \u201cPASTE PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING HERE\u201d (select the entire paragraph by triple-clicking anywhere in the paragraph) and paste.\u00a0 The formatting, if you had it right in the CSR tech-memo, will be correct here; you can select all of the paragraphs and apply \u201cNormal text\u201d paragraph style to be sure.<\/p>\n

3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Engineering Requirements Section<\/h2>\n

This is a direct carryforward from the PCR; while it may seem like old news at this point your requirements fundamentally define what you aim to deliver; furthermore, inclusion here serves the purpose of a quick reference by your audience.\u00a0 To bring this content in, like above, select the content in your PCR tech-memo (the \u201cEngineering Requirements\u201d section less the section heading) and copy. \u00a0Then, in the PTR template, select \u201cPASTE ENGINEERING REQUIREMENTS HERE\u201d (select the entire paragraph by triple-clicking anywhere in the paragraph) and paste.\u00a0 The formatting, if you had it right in the PCR tech-memo, will be correct here.<\/p>\n

4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overall Solution Concept Section<\/h2>\n

This is from the PCR technical memo (per guidance for Standard Projects), Section 1; as such, it is expected to be approximately 1\u00bd\u00a0\u2013 2 pages (2 pages max<\/strong>) in the format provided in the template (Times New Roman 12-point, 1.3 line spacing, 1-inch margins, etc.).<\/p>\n

4.1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Standard Projects<\/span><\/h3>\n

As a starting point, copy from your PCR tech-memo.\u00a0 To bring this content in, like above, select the content in your PCR tech-memo (the \u201cFinal System-Level Concept\u201d section less the section heading) and copy. \u00a0Then, in the PTR template, select \u201cPASTE\/WRITE SOLUTION CONCEPT HERE\u201d (select the entire paragraph by triple-clicking anywhere in the paragraph) and paste.\u00a0 The formatting, if you had it right in the PCR tech-memo, will be correct here.<\/p>\n

Your evaluator for this one is new, and needs a good, concise overview of the concept that is the basis of the reminder of the project work.\u00a0 And, it needs to be absolutely current and complete.\u00a0 As such, you must be sure to update and refine this section<\/strong> from the pasted content that is simply a starting point.\u00a0 As a reminder of what this section should look like, see the PCR Doc-prep Guidance for the Final System-Level Concept subsection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4.2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFailure Resolution\u201d Projects<\/span><\/h3>\n

At the time of your PCR, you most likely did not have your final system-level concept in place; and, recall that it was referred to as your \u201csolution\u201d concept\/design rather than \u201csystem-level\u201d concept\/design, in that you were likely focused on a portion of the overall system, the portion where the root-cause of the failure lies.\u00a0 At this point in the project, just refer to it as your system-level concept.<\/p>\n

Since you were not complete in this regard at the PCR, you need to write this section based on your work since the PCR.\u00a0 The Standard Project<\/strong> PCR Doc-prep Guidance for the Final System-Level Concept subsection<\/a> may be helpful in writing this section. \u00a0Select \u201cPASTE\/WRITE SOLUTION CONCEPT HERE\u201d in the template and start typing.<\/p>\n

5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Content for Review Section<\/h2>\n

While you are not explicitly instructed below to include any specific<\/em><\/strong> graphics, remember that engineers largely communicate graphically with the text then written \u201caround\u201d the graphics to \u201cfill in the blanks.\u201d\u00a0 A few good<\/em><\/strong> graphics in the place of the alternative\u00a0\u2014 piles of text\u00a0\u2014 is expected in a quality piece of work here (and \u201cgood<\/em>\u201d means also annotated!)<\/strong>. \u00a0To help you place graphics in Google Docs<\/em> with captions that remain attached, a link to a source having a figure+caption placeholder, a table+caption placeholder, and instructions for their use is available in the Figures and Tables Placement Template (FTT) provided at the same time as and with the PTR-TM template.<\/p>\n

That said, the text of this section of the tech-memo, in the format provided in the template (paragraph style \u201cNormal text\u201d in Google Docs<\/em>), should be approximately 1\u00be\u00a0\u2013 2 pages of text (2 pages max<\/strong>; be complete but you must also be selective to make it fit<\/strong> and not spill over to a third page!).\u00a0 Add to that graphics (table and figures).\u00a0 That means that with graphics of legible size it may be 5\u00a0\u2013 6 pages.\u00a0 That means 3\u00a0\u2013 4 pages worth of graphics; if you have fewer than six (6) graphical elements, you are falling short.\u00a0 Repeating from the CSR and the PCR\u2026 while a good graphic does take time to produce, making it seem that writing text is faster, writing good text takes much longer and more iterations than most students realize.\u00a0 And again, like previously, the graphics are not much work at this point since the images generally come straight from the TAD with the simple addition of a caption.<\/p>\n

As a reminder again from the previous tech-memo guidance, this is to be treated like an executive summary.\u00a0 That is, this is NOT<\/em> a diary of what you did<\/strong>, rather it is a summary of the contents of the accompanying TAD (refresh your memory as needed on the content nature of executive summaries by referring to <\/span>Section 3 of Doc-Prep Guidance\u00a0\u2014 Getting Started<\/a>).\u00a0 <\/span>This is repeated yet again because it is so important to get these summaries right<\/strong>, and in particular not write them as a diary of what you did in generating the work-product (findings and results) that makes up the content.<\/span><\/p>\n

This section should consist of two (2) subsections as described below.<\/p>\n

5.1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Subsection 1\u00a0\u2014 Detail Design<\/h3>\n

This subsection should summarize the design decisions related to size, shape, and material with an emphasis on the results of your engineering that supports the decisions.\u00a0 Decisions, and any resulting design features (aligned with required functionality), should be concisely but completely described.\u00a0 Those related to safety, manufacturability, and material selection should be covered first and foremost.\u00a0 Secondarily, make note of any design decisions and resulting features that promote reliability, maintainability\/serviceability, aesthetics, human factors (ease of use), and environmental impact.\u00a0 Do not write fluff.\u00a0 These must be real design features motivated by these other considerations, not afterthoughts; if you did not design to these considerations, make brief note that \u201cno design decisions and features related to XXXX, YYYYY, and ZZZZZ have been considered.\u201d\u00a0 Here, XXXXX, YYYYY, and ZZZZZ are reliability, maintainability\/serviceability, aesthetics, \u2026<\/p>\n

5.2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Subsection 2\u00a0\u2014 Prototype Verification Plan<\/h3>\n

This subsection should summarize the fully mature prototype verification plan you now have.\u00a0 It should be evolved from what you presented at the PCR.\u00a0 Make note of accommodations\u00a0\u2014 space, instrumentation, and data analysis software\u00a0\u2014 as needed, that are in place or are soon to be put in place.\u00a0 Hypothesize which testing you anticipate to be the most challenging, or the area of your design you expect to be most likely to require refinement once test results are in hand.\u00a0 Specifically address your imminent plans for function-level\/subsystem testing to take place before your entire prototype is assembled for system-level testing.<\/p>\n

6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Next Steps Section<\/h2>\n

Following each prompt (e.g., Week 08:\u00a0\u00a0) following the Next Steps<\/em> section heading, write 1\u00a0\u2013 3 sentences describing what your activities will be in each of those weeks.\u00a0 This draws from your Term-II task list as spread across the weekly list according to your Term-II timeline.\u00a0 The challenge here is to be concise yet descriptive.\u00a0 Your objective is to instill confidence that you know what you need to work on to realize success at the end of the project, by the Wednesday of finals week.\u00a0 If certain activities will span multiple weeks, do not repeat their description each week, simply indicate it is \u201ccontinuing from week(s) XX\u201d where XX are the previous week number(s), for example, \u201cweek 11\u201d or \u201cweeks 11\u00a0\u2013 12.\u201d\u00a0 Really, you are down to two main activities:\u00a0 prototype manufacture and prototype testing and refinement (hopefully starting about now at the subsystem\/function-level, then later at the system level)<\/strong>.\u00a0 You talked about your prototype testing and refinement (prototype verification plan) above; be sure to also emphasize your activities for prototype manufacture here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This section should be \u00bd\u00a0\u2013 \u00be page in length.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This section should be \u00bd-\u00be page in length.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Google Docs<\/em> is a trademark of Google LLC.<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a9 2017, William J. Endres<\/td>\nUpdated February 11, 2023<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All content above the first section (Memorandum Overview) is pre-filled and should need no edits by you.\u00a0 This technical memorandum is accompanied by the Technical Archive Document (TAD). \u00a0At this stage, there is no need to include your Project Planning Document (PPD) as you are on your way, or not at this point.\u00a0 The purpose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/me.sites.mtu.edu\/meemscd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}