Digital Systems and Design bachelor (final project and thesis): Current topics and instructions

FOR INSTRUCTORS, GRADING INSTRUCTIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

How do the final project and thesis work in DSD?

In DSD, there are two separate courses: the final project (ELEC-C0302) and the Bachelor thesis (join.bsc). Each course counts for 10 ects (a total of 20 ects for the project and the thesis). The way that these courses are taken is very flexible to accommodate most students' needs. We recommend taking first the project work and then the thesis (or doing them simultaneously).

Initially, this system was intended to have the practical part of the work (the project) and the theoretical part of the work (the thesis) as two separate courses for more flexibility. The thesis can be done either on the same topic as the project or on a separate topic (it is decided by the student).

Here we suggest different ways to take these courses: 

1. (recommended) Find an instructor for both the project and the thesis (see instructions below). The student agrees with the instructor about which kind of project they will do and what would be the associated thesis topic. The project reflects the practical work, and the thesis focuses on some theoretical work related to the topic. The project can be done in groups of students, but the thesis is individual. 
2. Split the project work and the thesis work. The student can find an instructor only for the project (see instructions below) and then change the topic for the thesis work, eventually with another instructor.

BEFORE CONTINUING: It should be noted that it is the responsibility of the student to find instructors. This page provides a list of topics and contact persons to help students in their search, but this list is just indicative and students may have to contact professors directly for project/thesis instruction.

In addition, the student can also propose a project/thesis work to professors if they have specific interests in mind.

How to find topics/instructors for my project/thesis?

There are two different ways for students to find their project/thesis work:

1. Browse through the list of current topics below and contact the instructors
2. Contact instructors yourself (there is a contact list below, but any professor can be contacted). A good reference point is the Aalto website:
   1. school of electrical engineering (browse through the departments): https://www.aalto.fi/en/school-of-electrical-engineering
   2. school of science: https://www.aalto.fi/en/school-of-science 

For additional questions regarding how to find topics/instructors, please contact the responsible teacher for DSD project/thesis: Martin Andraud    martin.andraud@aalto.fi

I have found my instructor! What should I do now?

After you have found an instructor for your project/thesis, what should you do?

FOR THE PROJECT

1. Enroll in the "Final project in DSD" course ELEC-C0302 (if not done already)
2. Send an Email to Martin Andraud, with your instructor(s) in CC.
   1. The title of the Email should be "DSD project - [period] - [Student name]" (the period is Autumn or Spring and the current year).
   2. In the body of the Email, explain briefly (in a few sentences) the topic of the work and who the instructor(s) is/are.
   3. Please also mention if you are planning to the thesis on the same topic. Optionally, you can also give the thesis title if you know it (not mandatory).
3. Work!
4. Ask your supervisor to look at the grading instructions (bottom of this page) and send the final grading after the work is done.

FOR THE THESIS

1. Enroll in the "join.BSc" thesis course. this is the common bachelor thesis course for students of different majors, including DSD.
2. Follow the course! You will submit your thesis there, along with other assignments, and do the seminar presentation of your work.
3. After your thesis will be submitted, your instructor will do the grading.

List of current topics for DSD projects (to be updated in Jan. 2023)

P1: three topics (final can be discussed with instructor)

• P1A - Comparison P4 versions OpenFLow, NETCONF for managing SDN networks
• P1B - Design and prototype of 5G broadcast system to deliver time synchronization
• P1C - Deploy and evaluation of integration TSN into 5G system

Instructor: Jose Costa jose.costa@aalto.fi

P3: Build your own "smart" activity recognition system

• This project intends to build a full system for activity recognition/monitoring. The project can include several parts (building the hardware, building the data processing algorithms, build a machine-learning algorithm for activity recognition,...). Can be done by several students. 

Instructor: Martin Andraud (martin.andraud@aalto.fi)

List of contact persons who already instructed projects in DSD

Stephan Sigg

Yu Xiao

Salu Ylirisku

Kai Zenger

Alec Wright

Martin Andraud

Katsuyuki Haneda

Marko Kosunen

Evaluation and grading instructions (also for instructors)

First, the project is exclusively evaluated and graded by the instructors. 

For the project to be graded in myCourses and accepted in Sisu, the instructor must return the Grading form for DSD projects V1 to martin.andraud@aalto.fi. The title of the Email should be: "DSD project grading - [period] - [Student name]" (the period is Autumn or Spring and the current year).

Recommendation: At the beginning of the project, students and instructors should agree on the project outcome, the deadlines, and the documentation to be submitted. It can be for instance a small report, some code, experiment results, etc. As such, project-related materials should be given to your instructor, but it is not necessary to submit anything to the myCourses page. After the project, the instructors grade the work through the provided grading form.

If there is any disagreement, a meeting can be organized.