EE x96 Critical Design Review (CDR) Meetings


23, 29 and 31 Mar 2016
Holmes 250

The Critical Design Review sessions will be held during and after Spring Break. As before, the purpose of a design review is to present your design so far for critique and get feedback and suggetions from others. We will be doing the CDR as a meeting with me where you will discuss your design and be prepared to explain details and reasoning behind decisions.

The CDR is held later in the design process, after most of the implementation details have been finalized, before the final implementation and testing phases begin. Most (but maybe not all) important design decisions have been made. The purpose of the CDR is to review the entire design, and to see if there are things you might have forgotten or not considered before the design goes into full fabrication.

So, you are not expected to have a complete working design at this point, but are expected to have completed the major steps of the design, and made the detailed decisions and begun fabrication. We will NOT be using ppt for this review.

This will be a TECHNICAL discussion, so "feathers" are not needed. You should bring/have available (preferably in electronic form), and someone on the team should be be ready to discuss, the following:

1. Block Diagram
A diagram showing the major modules of your project and showing the information passing between them. Label the connections with meaningful names, and show the size (in bits for hardware, bytes for software).
2. Full Schematic Diagrams
(for hardware), including all components with pin names and numbers and signal names. Include values for discrete components (e.g. resistors and capacitors).
3. Complete Data Sheets (may be in accessable electronic form).
for all of your compenents with more than 2 pins. You do not need the data sheet for your microcontroller, but should document what ports you are using for what purpose.
4. Complete Software Listing
of any code in your project so far, including documentation and comments.
5. What remains to be done.
Discuss potential problems you forsee and outstanding issues to be resolved or decisions to be made. If you have things you would like feedback or help on, identify them here.
6. The time line for completion of the project.
Update your Gantt Chart here with specific tasks, sub-tasks with milestones and deliverables (e.g. tests you plan to do and when the results will be available). What subtasks have been completed? Which are underway? Which are pending? Dicuss any problems with scheduling here.
7. Anything Else
including any hardware built so far, that you think will help explain your design and answer questions about it.

Also, bring whatever hardware you have to the CDR.

IN ADDITION, each team should prepare a ONE PAGE agenda for the meeting including the major topics you want to discuss. Remember, you will have 45 minutes to 1 hour to show/discuss/ask/answer questions about your project. Please email me a pdf file with your agenda at least 2 days before your review and bring a hard copy with you to the CDR. Also, please deliver the Design Notebook from ONE member of the team (your best shot) to me (or drop it off in Holmes 250) AT LEAST 1 DAY, or better 2 days, before your review. I will return your notebook at your review.

Meeting Schedule

I can be available for one hour blocks at the following times:

Team leads should consult with your members and email me your first and second choice for date and time for your team's CDR meeting. I will schedule meetings on a first come basis and let you know your time when scheduled. Please email me your choices by the end of the day on Friday, 18 Mar.

The meetings will be in my Holmes 250 office. If there are any teams who cannot make any of those times, let me know and we will work out times after Spring Break.