ECE 405 Syllabus

BISON ACADEMY

Courses taught in the

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

North Dakota State University

ECE 405: Senior Design III

Syllabus Fall 2026

Updated 08/25/2026

Syllabus - ECE Parts Inventory - Parts Order Form

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Instructor: Jeff Erikson, Jake Glower

Office: ECE 209 (Erickson), ECE 201 (Glower)

Office Hours: Mo-Th 9-10am

Class Times: Mo 3pm, Offerdahl North 101

All classes also live streamed on Zoom

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Mo	Activity (where you should be)	Resources	Homework Milestones you should meet to get an A
Aug 24 Week 1	Holiday - Week 1 Activities Meet with your design group Set up meeting schedules for ECE 405 Update Gantt Chart for ECE 405 Start breadboarding entire system - Lab Station Location Check your Keycard Access	ECE Resources - Parts Order Form - ECE Inventory	HW1: Gantt Chart (5%) Gantt chart for ECE 405 Meeting schedule for ECE 405
Aug 31 Week 2	1: Syllabus Week #1 Slides	Video #1: Syllabus	HW2: System Breadboard (10%) Breadboard your entire system Include photo in OneNote
Sept 7 Week 3	Holiday		HW3: Breadboard Test (10%) Verify system works
Sept 14 Week 4	2: Fusion 360 Schematics - Fusion 360 - Getting Started (video) - Fusion 360 Intro & 555 Timer (video) - PCB Suggestions (power planes, mounting holes, etc.)		HW4: Fusion Schematic (5%)
Sept 21 Week 5	3: Fusion 360 PCB - Fusion360 Highlights for PCB Design		HW5: Fusion PCB (5%)
Sept 28 Week 6	4: Soldering Surface Mount Parts - SMD Soldering Practice Board	Hand Soldering SMT (Gammell) SMT Workstation (Electronic Clinic) Solder Paste (Voltera) Hand Soldering SMT (Adafruit)	HW6: Soldering (5%) Due Week #12 One PCB and worksheet per student
Oct 5 Week 7	Work on your project (no class) -
Oct 12 Week 8	Work on your project (no class)		HW7: PCB Layout (10%) - PCB Final Design Requirements Design PCB Order PCB
Oct 19 Week 9	Work on your project (no class)	-
Oct 26 Week 10	Work on your project (no class)		HW8: PCB Test (10%)
Nov 2 Week 11	Work on your project (no class)
Nov 9 Week 12	Work on your project (no class)		HW9: Packaging (10%)
Nov 16 Week 13	Work on your project (no class)
Nov 23 Week 14	Final Requirements - Work on your final report - Hardware test & validation - Software test & validation - Overall system test & validation Update OneNote document		Biweekly Meetings (10%) Attend biweekly meetings
Nov 30 Week 15	Work on your project (no class)	Poster Information - Template - Example #1 - Example #2	HW10: Poster & Video (10%) Create Poster Record 2-minute video
Dec 7 Week 16	Senior Design Expo - Noon - 3pm - Memorial Union - Poster - Working Device		HW11: Sr Design Expo (10%)