ECE 401 Syllabus

BISON ACADEMY

Courses taught in the

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

North Dakota State University

ECE 401: Senior Design I

Syllabus Fall 2026

Updated 08/21/2026

Syllabus - ECE Parts Inventory - Parts Order Form

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Instructor: Jeff Erikson, Jake Glower

Office: Offerdahl North 244P (Erickson), 244N (Glower)

Class Times: We 3pm, Offerdahl North 101

All classes live streamed on Zoom

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We	Lecture	Videos YouTube Playlist	Project (homework)
Aug 26 Week 1	0. Syllabus Week #0 Slides - 1. Project List	1: Syllabus - HW1 Description	Project List - HW1: Project Selection (5%) Which project you want to work on Pick your lab partner (2/group) Due Week #2
Sept 2 Week 2	2. Project Management & OneNote Week #2 Slides Sample OneNote Document	2. Project Management & OneNote - HW2 Description - Beginners Guide to OneNote	HW2: Work Breakdown Structure (5%) Set up One-Note (one per group) Share with partners & instructors Outline Level 3 (sections) Outline Level 4 (pages) Due Week #3
Sept 9 Week 3	3. Breadboards and Pi Pico Week #3 Slides	3. Breadboards & Pi-Pico - HW3 Description	HW3: Paper Design (10%) Circuit Schematic Calculations for Rs Calculations for voltages and currents Due Week #6
Sept 16 Week 4	4. CircuitLab & Op-Amps Week #4 Slides - LM555 Datasheets MCP602 Datasheets	4. CircuitLab & OpAmps - HW4 Description - CircuitLab Demo	HW4: Simulation (10%) CircuitLab Schematics CircuitLab Results Main IC Datasheets Due Week #8
Sept 23 Week 5	5: Diodes & Transistors Week #5 Slides	5. Diodes & Transistors - Fun with Transistors (HackMakeMod)	HW5: Breadboard (10%) Breadboard Photo Schematics Lab Data (multimeter, oscope, etc) Analysis & discussion of lab data Parts List Due Week #10
Sept 30 Week 6	6: Fusion 360 Schematics Week #6 Slides -	6. Fusion 360 Schematics -	HW6: Fusion Schematic (5%)
Oct 7 Week 7	7. Fusion360 PCB Layout Week #7 Slides - Digikey: Trace Width Calculator	7 Fusion 360 PCB Layout -	HW7: Fusion PCB (5%) * HW8: PCB Layout (10%) Gerber Files PCB Schematics BOM in Excel format 3D drawing of pcb Updated lab notebook Due Week 12 sample bill-of-materials
Oct 14 Week 8	No Class Work on your project
Oct 21 Week 9	8: Through-Hole Soldering - Soldering Basics Using the SD401 Kit	Soldering Through-Hole	HW9: Practice PCB (10%) Solder a practice PCB Through hole & surface mount parts Lead and Lead-Free Solder Due Week #13
Oct 28 Week 10	Test Equipment Groups 1-9 Meet in xxx	DMM Tutorial - O-Scope Tutorial (SparkFun) - O-Scope (ElectroBoom)
Nov 4 Week 11	Test Equipment Groups 10-19 Meet in xxx		HW10: Test Equipment (10%) Use of Lab Equipment Measure gain & phase of RC circuit Due In-Class Can redo
Nov 11 Week 12	No Class Work on your project
Nov 18 Week 13	9: Final Report	HW9: Final Report	HW11: Final Report (20%) Group demo Functioning PCB Poster (Due Dec 8th) Updated lab notebook Due Week 16 (Friday)
Nov 25 Week 14	No Class Sign up for final presentation time and date		PCB boards should be in - Populate PCBs - Create poster
Dec 2 Week 15	No Class Work on your project		Poster Template (ppt) Sample Poster 1 Sample Poster 2
Dec 9 Week 16	Sr. Design Expo t.b.d. Demonstrations M-F, Offerdahl North ??? Sign up for times outside Offerdahl North 244N One presentation per group One working PCB per student