ROSE-HULMAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECE 310 Communication Systems

Spring 2016
B.A. Black
Lab Projects 1-5
Formal Report

Purpose
To document the structure and performance of the digital communication link.
To develop and submit a formal technical report on the entire project.
Overview
A formal technical report is a means of providing to the reader a more detailed and thorough
understanding of the topic being presented than notebook entries or other abbreviated
communications can provide. The goals of the formal technical report are simple:

Provide a clear overview of the project and its goals,

Provide documentation explaining the design and operation of the system,
Present the results of the work in such a manner that the correct operation of the
system is verified to the reader,
Provide a record of the project for future reference.

Report
A formal technical report for the IR digital communication project is required from each
laboratory group. This report is intended to meet two distinct objectives. First, the report
informs the instructor about your groups success in developing a communication system,
and records design innovations that your group introduced to accomplish this goal. Second,
the report is the formal documentation for your groups infrared communication system and
lab project experience.
The report is due at the start of lab on Tuesday, 19-April-2016.
This formal report is meant to impress the instructor with your design work, your ability to
verify performance, and your written and graphical communication skills. Creating a quality
technical report requires some planning and understanding before writing begins. It also
requires editing. Your lab team should plan to completely rewrite the report at least once
before it is handed in. Remember, the goal of the report is not to get it done, or to check
off a requirement, but rather to thoroughly document the project and verify its performance.
Your grade on this report is a significant part of your lab grade be sure to do your best
work.
Format and Style
The report must conform to Section 5.4 of the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering Guidelines and Standards for Writing Assignments. In addition, the report must
contain, at a minimum,

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A TITLE PAGE containing the name of the project, the names of the students submitting the
report, and the date of the report.

A SUMMARY as indicated in the Writing Standards. The summary is to be no more than a

page in length, and is to be on a page by itself, placed immediately after the title page.
Please try to be precise in summarizing your work. Try to avoid vague general
statements like The project worked OK and the results were as expected, as the reader
probably has no idea what you consider OK and what kind of results you expected. Do
not repeat what is written in the lab handouts, but rather describe what you tried to
accomplish and how well you succeeded.

The BODY of the report includes four sections, Introduction, Circuit Documentation,
Measurements, and Discussion. The Introduction is a brief statement of the purpose of
the report and a guide for the reader to the remainder of the report, indicating what to
expect and where it will be found.

The Circuit Documentation section documents your final system. Include complete and
accurate block diagrams and schematics of all circuits, including the clock recovery
system. Also include documentation on the internal operation of both PIC devices, (i.e.
logic diagrams and C code). Use a program to draw the schematics. Make sure that
standard symbols are used whenever possible, that all components are labeled, that pin
numbers and power supply connections are shown for ICs, and that IC packages are
identified by U-numbers. Be sure that the diagrams are complete and accurate, and that
labeling is complete and correct. Make sure that the diagram and labels are large enough
to be read by an instructor whose eyesight is not what it once was. Break the schematics
into separate sheets for the transmitter and receiver. Breadboard photos also make great
additions to reports, but they do not substitute for accurate schematics.

The Measurements section of your report should include a complete set of waveform
captures that verifies the operation of your system from start to finish. Think carefully
about which waveforms to include and how to combine them on the scope screen to tell a
story. Be sure that all of your screen captures include the left edge of the screen showing
the location of ground and the top of the screen showing the scales. Traces should be
numbered in order with trace 1 at the top of the screen. Inputs should be placed at the top
and outputs at the bottom. Include with each waveform capture a block diagram or
schematic showing where in the system the measurement captured on the scope screen
was made. Also include in this section of the report any other relevant measurements,
such as phototransistor characteristics and a graph showing the predicted and measured
frequency response of the bandpass filter.

The Discussion section of your report is where you interpret the waveforms and other
graphs shown in the Measurements section. For each subsystem explain how the
waveforms prove that the subsystem is operating correctly. Refer to each waveform, note
what features you are looking at, and describe how you know that these features signify
correct operation. Do not leave interpretation of the waveforms to the readers
imagination!

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Note: Do not title the report body Body. Separately label the individual sections.

Your formal report should contain a CONCLUSIONS section summarizing your work and
the efficacy of your design. In addition, address the following issues:
o Discuss any unresolved problems in circuit operation, and explain why they
remain unresolved,
o Discuss the quality of the recovered data and clock waveforms,
o Discuss the rough spots in your lab experience,
o Provide advice to students taking the lab in the next term.

Some general hints that will help you produce a high quality report:

Be sure that all tables and figures are numbered and that each has a descriptive name.
(Figure 2 is the figure number, not the descriptive name.) Refer to each table and
figure in the text of the report. Do not collect figures together at the end of the report (as
suggested in the ECE guidelines); place each figure in the body of the report following
the first reference to the figure.

You do not need to include descriptions of ideas that did not pan out or circuits you tried
that did not work. A formal report documents the results, and is not a narrative
recounting how you got there.

Include as the very last page of your report (after the appendices, if any) a photocopy of
the instructor verification of the system operation. This is a requirement, and your report
is not complete without it!

Optional and not recommended. It is often tempting to include an APPENDIX in a

formal report. The appendix contains material that is included for completeness, but that
you do not expect the reader to read. An appendix typically contains items such as:
The laboratory instructions for the project,
A copy of original data, (The original original data is in your lab notebook.)
Theoretical derivations not needed to interpret the measurements,
Lengthy (multiple pages) computer code,
Raw computer output (Maple, for example),
Equipment lists,
References.
Note: Schematic diagrams and graphs based on data taken in lab should be put in the
report body, unless you do not expect the reader to look at them!
Note 2: Think three times before adding material to an appendix. If you dont expect
the reader to read the material, what is it there for?

The formal in formal report refers to the format, and not to the length of the report. Please
make your report concise. Put some care into the preparation of your report. The circuit will
be dismantled when the project is over, as you will need the breadboard and components for
other lab work. The report, not the circuit, is the permanent part of the work!

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