What was your final year project?

ECEng

Hi everyone ,

what project did you do for your 3rd and final year thesis? I will be in 3rd year this September in computer engineering, and i have 2 semesters to finish a project, i want to spend my time well and do good on it, and i am wondering how was your experience and if there are any thing i can learn from them.

Darren1o1

Bachelors - Comparison of finite element and mathematical models (which I developed with strain energy theory) for radial expansion of rubber spindle (Hyperelastic tubes)
Masters - CFD of NREL turbines and comparison to experimental data. 3D CFD of wind turbines.
My experience was to choose a good supportive supervisor. This is key.
Also be interested in it, it will be your life for a large part of your last year and an imoortant component of your degree result.

bren2001

Bachelors - Digital control of power electronic converters. All Matlab.

You have to have an interest in the topic or else you won't be motivated to do it but the supervisor is key. Bad supervisor and it makes the project much harder.

bit of a bogey

Some people will say this is terrible advice but you should also consider how the supervisor is known to mark. I have seen this time and time again where some supervisors mark harder than others for projects which are clearly better than others. Despite what people say there is not a uniform standard.

Having said that, this should definitely be secondary to selecting a project + supervisor combination you have an interest in.

If you have a interest in what you are studying and a passion for getting it working, you are more likely to suceed and will get a good mark regardless. It also opens a better opportunity for working in that field when you finish.

Also, if you have a particular area or field which you might like but can't think of a suitable project, have a look at some related online articles or papers, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct, etc. Also look at the references they have used.

mawk

3rd year much was a self aligning wind turbine that minimized it's own drag. Entirely mechanical system with no electronic control. Bit different.

4 year manufacturing was a custom mrp software piece for a local multinational. It was a sack of crap. Constant moving goal posts and disinterest from the company.
90%+ avg in exams and scraped a pass in the project
All worked out ok though. All the excel in the project got me my first job as the MD was on the hiring panel and wanted to offload some of his own excel work on to me!
Two promotions in a year later and i have a staff.. which still blows my mind

jonnyfingers

BEng in Electronic Engineering - Real-Time Digital Signal Processing to Create Electric Guitar Effects

Chose the project myself instead of doing the usual ones you could pick. My practical was great as I just rocked out on the guitar! But I wouldn't wish the project on my worst enemy. Quickly realised that trying to create digital signal effects in C++ was a nightmare. Changed the project halfway through to use various programs to create digital effects and focused on researching how effects could be achieved. Nightmare. But got a B for it so not too bad!

BanjoB

Final Year project was a vision guided 5 axis pick and place system. Completely original project designed, manufactured and controlled from the ground up.

Was one of the most interesting and beneficial projects I have ever done. If you have a real interest in something you should push for it as a final year project. Of course it helps if its relevant to the type of engineering that you hope to pursue outside college.

I'm now an automation engineer and truly believe, project is a real opportunity to learn something truly worthwhile.

Johnny Serpico

Loved ANSYS & Fluent. My FYP was working with slipstreams and airflow around cars & trucks. Modelled it for the first half of the project. Made scale model with strain gauge and wind tunnel for the 2nd half.

First job out of college - working with BMW on R&D. Completly down to my project. First thing they asked me about in the interview, I don't think they even know what I got in my degree.