EXPERIENCE WITH CAPSTONE PROJECTS BASED ON COLDFIRE MICROCONTROLLERS
Naraig Manjikian · Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) · 2018
Abstract – This paper describes the experience of the author in supervising capstone undergraduate projects that have used microcontroller chips based on the Cold-Fire processor architecture, along with supporting hard-ware and software. Six capstone design projects are se-lected for illustration, and these projects have been pur-sued by a total of nineteen students under the supervision of the author in the Department of Electrical and Com-puter Engineering at Queen’s University between 2013 and 2017. After summarizing the selected projects to pro-vide the context, this paper highlights the supervisory role of the author to provide potentially useful insights to oth-er potential project supervisors. A retrospective assess-ment is provided for the decision to use ColdFire-based platforms in these projects, along with some reflections on the experience. Considerations for platform selection by the author in future projects are also outlined.