One approach to multidisciplinary senior design projects

At the U.S. Military Academy, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science was formed in 1989. Since that time, efforts have been underway to tap the synergism that can be derived from having the complementary disciplines under one directorship. HO scale model trains have become a focal point for a series of three senior design projects over a three year period. The first project was completed by a computer engineering major who was tasked to design and build a model train turntable. The turntable was PC controlled, used optical interrupts for sensing, and required C language text programming. The second project was completed by a team of three electrical engineering majors, two computer science majors, and one engineering management major. Their task was to design and build a rotating crane system that would automatically place the correct load on a designated train car according to selections made via a PC windows interface. The third project incorporated lessons learned from the first two. Five electrical engineering majors, two computer science majors, and two mechanical engineering majors were required to design and build a more complex gantry crane system that performed the same functions as the rotating crane. This series of projects serves as a basis for examining a variety of issues associated with multidisciplinary design projects.