LabVIEW Voice Recognition Project [Senior Project Lab Report]

2.1 How I Decided on a Project

The development of senior project ideas began as early as Spring 2021. It was recommended to begin generating ideas for our senior project prior to starting the Senior Project Management course series. However, the obstacle in coming up with what project I wanted to do was the lack of understanding of the expectations in what qualified as a valid project in the eyes of the Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) department. During that time, I recall asking another student in what was expected when it came to senior projects. I was told that an input and output devices were needed. I also knew that the project was not supposed to be too simple, meaning that the project could easily be done in one day. It could not be too complicated either, meaning that there were too many steps involved to the point where it was unlikely to be successfully complete by the end of the academic year. In addition, there were several days where I have watched other students present their senior projects, which was helpful in getting an idea on the project expectations. However, sufficient understanding would not occur until Fall 2021.

Fall 2021 was the quarter in which I began the Senior Project Management Series. This was the time where we learned how to develop ideas and were instructed to come up with three project ideas. I asked one of my instructors, Ladd Holden, on further detail regarding finding a project that fit the specifications of being not too simple nor too complicated which enabled me to find the right websites to browse for ideas. I found a few websites including electronicshub.org and elprocus.com that provided several project ideas for engineering students.

One essential knowledge when it came to picking a project was making sure that project is ethical. According to the article, "What is Ethics?", written by Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, and Michael Meyer, there are two aspects of general ethics. The first one is "...[referring] to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues." In addition, the article also states that the second aspect of ethics "...refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards." Ethics apply heavily in engineering as well. The article "Code of Ethics" written by the National Society of Professional Engineers, states the following from their Fundamental Canons section:

"Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.

2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.

3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.

5. Avoid deceptive acts.

6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession."

In other words, I had to make sure that whatever project I did was safe to myself and the public. While this piece of knowledge is typically seen as common sense, it is still essential to keep in mind when it comes to selecting a project.

The following factors influenced what project I wanted to do: Cost, Time, and my own skill level at the time. In terms of cost, I wanted to minimize the required spending and use as much as the components provided in the lab rooms as much as possible. For time, I wanted to pick a project I was certain I was able to complete by the end of the Spring 2022. Finally, I wanted to pick a project I know I was able to do based on my experience from prior classes.

In addition, the following software options were permitted: LabVIEW, MPLAB, MATLAB, and Studio 5000. MPLAB is a software program provided by the Microchip Technology company that allowed one to program microcontrollers. Using MPLAB was immediately off the list of options for me as when I began the Senior Project class, I was first exposed to microcontrollers and just started Microprocessors and Intro to Embedded Programming. Therefore, I did not have the sufficiency nor the skills to begin a project involving microchips. Studio 5000 is a programming environment that allows operators to design and maintain their systems. I have experience working with Studio 5000 from working with Programmable Logic Controllers. However, I never found a project of interest that involved using Studio 5000. Thus, that was removed from the list as well. Similar reasoning for MATLAB, a coding platform designed for computing and analyzing systems, MATLAB was removed from the list as well. Because of my sufficient skills, familiarity, and knowledge from my experience in Instrumentation and Process Control labs, I decided that I was going to use LabVIEW.