Term projects

I occasionally get asked by students for term project ideas. The simple answer? I'm not sure! But, perhaps I can give you some pointers.

The projects I've found most interesting are not those done as some sort of academic exercise, but rather those done to solve some sort of technical problem in my home, boat, car, etc. Every project on my website is something I've done for myself, such as the combination lock on our barn door, the GPS Repeater and Remote Control on our boat, the Darkroom System for our photographic darkroom, the Radio-Control devices for my radio controlled plane, Battery Characterizer for checking questionable cellphone batteries, etc.

How does this relate to a term project? If you can identify an problem whose solution appears to require more than a few transistors or logic chips, and if that problem can be solved with 12 to 21 port bits, some interface electronics, and some programming, it's probably a great candidate for a term project using PIC microcontrollers.

Often you have a choice to make in these types of projects: either copy someone elses work or do your own work. When I talk to students who interview at the company I work for, it's very obvious which students have simply copied other peoples work and which students have done their own work. In industry, once your college degree gets you the first job or two, employers stop looking at degrees and start looking at performance. If you wait for someone else to do your design and your work, you won't be performing and you won't be kept around very long in this era where layoffs are commonplace. In brief, those who "make a difference" are those who are considered valuable. So, my advice is, "put some real homework and sweat into your design and learn as much as you can. The point is not so much the design, but the design process."

In summary...you don't always get the luxury to pick your term project, but if you can, find a problem you want to solve for yourself in your own life. Design a novel solution for it with a PIC or other microprocessor. Wire it up and program it. Understand the hardware and software well so that you can present it well. Have a fun time doing it. If you find that you lose track of time while you are working on the program and find it hard to put it down even at midnight, you've got exactly the right idea! Best wishes!