ECE 188 Senior Capstone Projects

The Capstone Project three-course series gives Electrical and Computer Engineering students the opportunity to put their education into practice. Students, working in small teams, design, build, and present a challenging engineering design project. The design challenges, of which each team selects one to tackle, are proposed and supported by UCSB faculty research groups or by industry. Projects typically involve design and implementation of both hardware and software systems. The projects span a variety of topics in the field of electrical and computer engineering, including for example consumer electronics, embedded systems, control systems and circuits, image processing, AI / machine learning, biomedical devices, power electronics, energy generation and conversion, sensor networks, electrochemical and biological sensors, and solid-state emitters and detectors.

Every year at the end of Spring quarter, the final projects are displayed at an event with each student group participating in a project presentation and poster sessions. A panel of experts from academia and industry judges each of the teams and selects award winners.

Senior Project Course

Student groups integrate the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier coursework to tackle a challenging engineering design project which is proposed and supported by a UCSB faculty research group or by an industry supporter. The project is evaluated through written reports, oral presentations, and demonstrations of performance.

Electrical and Computer Engineering 188A/B/C

Instructors 2023-24: Dr. Ilan Ben-Yaacov (188ABC)

188A (Fall quarter) - ECE 188A primarily focuses on the initial project design and development stage. After choosing a project, each group begins researching the critical elements of their project, developing a preliminary project plan with a set of preliminary design specifications, and gives a short preliminary presentation to the class describing their projects. Students then continue to refine their plan and begin prototyping and design testing. By the end of the quarter, each group finalizes their project plan and product design specifications, demonstrates a prototype of at least one system/element of their project, and gives a 45 minute presentation detailing (1) The Project Plan, (2) Product Design Specifications, (3) Budget, (4) Prototyping and Testing, and (5) Division of Labor (individual responsibilities).

188B (Winter quarter) - In ECE 188B, the groups continue to develop their products and refine their specifications, begin PCB design (where applicable), and at the end of the quarter demonstrate a second product prototype. Each group also participates in a "Mid-Project Design Review" with their instructors and sponsors in which they provide details on all the work done to date and provide a plan for completion of their project.

188C (Spring quarter) - In ECE 188C, the final quarter of the sequence, students finalize their designs and product specifications, and then assemble and debug their products. At the end of the quarter, each group presents and demos their final product at an ECE annual event. 

2023 EE Capstone Projects

The ECE 188 posters and presentations were held at the 2023 COE Capstone Expo

Best Projects

  • Excellence in Multidisciplinary Engineering + Best Presentation: GANER
  • Excellence in EE: LineAlert
  • Outstanding Innovation in EE: FusionSense
  • Distinguished Technical Achievement in EE: ControlSense
  • EE Best VIdeo: AMPED
Projects & Descriptions (2022-23)

Project Descriptions

* Multidisciplinary Projects: Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering

 2022 EE Capstone Projects

The ECE 188 posters and presentations were held at the 2022 COE Capstone Expo

Best Projects & Descriptions (2021-22)

Recording of the 2022 Project Presentations

Best Projects

Project Descriptions

  • Beehive (Alizadeh Lab): an algorithm that manages a fleet of autonomous vehicles for ride sharing service
  • Unlimited Vision (Arthrex): an enhanced instrument imaging system for arthroscopic surgery that tackles supplemental surgical awareness
  • DropVision (ASML): an algorithm that examines vaporized plasma droplet images to evaluate and determine its performance in EUV lithography
  • * Babybot (Lab D4H): project description coming soon!
  • neutronomous (Hespanha Group): a one-tenth scale autonomous car using real-time perception and control to navigate to its destination on a college campus
  • * Spyglass (FLIR): a stabilized visible and infrared camera system geared towards day and night sailing
  • * TRILOW-G (Hawkes Lab): Payload for lunar gravity sub-orbital spaceflight to demonstrate the performance of a novel, bio-inspired, soft-robotic anchoring device for use in granular media
  • TD-75 (HGH): a low-cost temperature calibration device that reduces error in thermal imaging devices
  • Hortibeam (Horticulture Lighting): a platform for developing a laser based horticultural lighting system that can provide optimized light for plant growth without the detrimental heat generation of LED and lamp based lighting systems.
  • Mimmo (MIMO): a distributed MIMO radar system pushing the boundaries of automative safety
  • PiLC (PLC/HMI): a low cost noise proof Raspberry Pi based Programmable Logic Controller
  • * SAAPER (Robot Rodeo): a robot designed to autonomously maneuver through a Navy ship environment and is equipped to complete tasks along the way in order to eliminate the need for humans to be in harm’s way
  • B.A.I. (Smith Lab): Optical Neural Network (B.A.I): a neural network based on optics that can classify images with low energy consumption
  • MPL (Theogarajan Lab): Maskless Projection Lithography – a novel lithography process that allows the end-user to go straight from design into manufacturing devices

* Multidisciplinary Projects: Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering

2021 EE Capstone Projects

Best Projects & Descriptions (2020-21)

Best Projects

Project Descriptions

  • Audi0hm: a device that allows a guitarist to pair their guitar to any common bluetooth speaker and play in realtime
  • Auto Path: a smart robot equipped with built-in route finding algorithms and motion controls that enable itself to guide it to any designated spots
  • *Civil Robotics: an electric vehicle that traverses rough terrain and clears a 6 to 9 ft. path from flashy fuels to contain brush fires
  • Hylev: configurable research and testing platform for low power magnetic levitation
  • *Ionic Skies: a new type of aircraft that will completely solve the drone buzzing and noisy problems
  • *Lab D4H Babybot: an automated at-home ball therapy tool that circumvents the cost and limitations of a cerebral palsy household
  • MyLigraphy: a maskless lithography system that is more appropriate for situations where the use of a reflective mask is inefficient
  • P.A.M.A.: Personal Automated Medication Assistant - an app with tabulated medication information schedule for users
  • Panterra: a UGV that navigates to its destination autonomously through various obstacles and stores a map of the GPS coordinates
  • ASML ReTina: a high-speed algorithm to efficiently identify droplets from images captured by cameras in a lithography machine>
  • Senseeker SensrLink: a VCO based ADC topology to address analog scaling issues by using circuit blocks created digital circuits to perform analog functions
  • Stacking Solutions: collaborative robotics/multi-agent robotics

* Multidisciplinary Projects: Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering