📌 Syllabus#
Course Goals#
Provide cadets with fundamental knowledge and skills to design and develop machine learning algorithms to solve robotic problems.
Course Prerequisites#
ECE 346 and Math 356/377 or department approval
Course Schedule#
The course schedule is here
Grade Distribution and Policy#
The Grade distribution for this course is shown below.
Prog |
Final |
||
|---|---|---|---|
GR (1) |
20% |
GRs (2) |
20% |
Labs |
15% |
||
Homework |
45% |
Homework & Labs |
50% |
Project (1) |
20% |
Projects (2) |
30% |
Total |
100% |
Total |
100% |
Electrical and Computer Engineering courses are contract graded using the following 100 point scale.
Grade |
Grade |
Grade |
Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
93 <= A <= 100 |
87 <= B+ < 90 |
77 <= C+ < 80 |
60 <= D < 70 |
90 <= A- < 93 |
83 <= B < 87 |
73 <= C < 77 |
0 <= F < 60 |
80 <= B- < 83 |
70 <= C- < 73 |
You must complete all minimum functionalities on labs in order to complete the course. Even if an assignment is so late that no credit will be received, the assignment must be completed to the satisfaction of the instructor to prevent a grade of “Incomplete.”
Primary Communication and Control (C2)#
All communication and course materials will be provided through a course and section Team. Additionally, videos will be uploaded to a YouTube channel for your convenience. Lastly, Bitbucket will be used for cadets to provide their source code for homework and laboratory assignments.
Textbooks#
Required
Machine Learning for Engineers, Osvaldo Simeone, Cambridge, November 2022.
Optional
Probabilistic Machine Learning: An Introduction, Kevin P. Murphy, MIT Press, 2022. Free PDF
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning, Christopher M. Bishop, Springer, 2006. Free PDF
Machine Learning, Tom Mitchell, McGraw Hill, 1997. Free PDF
Collaboration Policy#
Unless specifically directed otherwise, the collaboration policy for this course is:
For all assignments in this course, unless otherwise noted on the assignment, you may collaborate with any other cadets currently enrolled in ECE 487. We expect all graded work to be in your own work. Copying another person’s work, with or without documentation, will result in NO academic credit. Furthermore, copying without attribution is dishonorable and will be dealt with as an honor code violation.
GRs are individual efforts. No collaboration is allowed while taking these exams. All electronic devices (phones, smartwatches, computers, tablets, etc.) must be placed out of sight for the duration of the event. If any electronic device is seen during the event, the student will receive a zero for that effort.
Authorized resources include any material from the ECE 487 course site and online sources regarding C programming syntax only. This does not include any solutions or solution stubs for challenges similar to those asked in any assignments.
Documentation Requirements#
Documentation Requirements: You must document all help received from any sources other than your instructor or instructor-provided course materials (including your textbook).
Each documentation statement must be specific enough to explicitly describe what assistance was provided, how it was used to complete the assignment, and who provided the assistance.
If no help was received on this assignment, the documentation statement must state “None.”
If you checked answers with anyone, you must document with whom on which problems. You must document whether you made any changes or not. If you did make changes, you must document the problems you changed and the reasons why.
Vague documentation statements will result in a 5% deduction on the assignment.
Extra Instruction (EI)#
Schedule EI with an instructor if you are having difficulty with the course material. You must have read the assignment and attempted the homework before requesting EI. Note: You are responsible for material if you miss class, so get notes from someone in your section. For example, you miss the lesson where the instructor announces a quiz for the next lesson or the instructor assigns homework due next lesson. Even though you missed the lesson, you are still responsible for the quiz, homework, or any other assignments made. It is in your best interest to check with your classmates after an absence. After you’ve read the assignment, attempted the homework, and checked with your classmates, you may then schedule EI if you have difficulty with the material—not to make up a class you missed.
CAS Policy#
For CAS notification, email your instructor prior to your absence and include the lesson number, the date, and the reason (descriptive reason—don’t just send a CAS code or SCA number) as soon as possible, preferably before the absence occurs. It is your responsibility to check your SCA to see if instructor permission is required. If it is, you must make the request prior to your absence. If you miss class, you are responsible for all material (e.g. assignments, notes, announcements, handouts, etc.) covered in class. Please check with another cadet in your section to find out what you missed.
When a cadet is absent on the day that an assignment is due, or on the date of a quiz or GR, the cadet is responsible for meeting the following standards:
Scheduled Absence: If a cadet will miss any graded event due to a scheduled absence such as an SCA, sport team trip, or scheduled Lasik surgery, the cadet is expected to complete all work BEFORE the absence.
Unscheduled Absence: If a cadet misses a graded event for an unscheduled reason such as AOC approved bedrest or a family emergency, the cadet must complete all work on the first full class day that they return to duty in order to avoid a late penalty. For example, if a cadet is on AOC bedrest for a GR on M17 and can return to duty on T17 or M18, the cadet is expected to make up the work by M18.
Unique Circumstances: For circumstances that do not fall under either of these broad categories (e.g. concussion protocol), the cadet is expected to communicate early and often with the instructor. The instructor and course director will work with the cadet on a course of action.
Assignments#
Assignments and due dates are included in Gradescope.
Late Work Policy#
All work is due as shown on Gradescope. If problems arise with graded assignments, see your instructor in advance.
The cutoff for on-time submission is 0700 on the due date.
Late days are counted in 24-hour periods. Submitting between 07:00:01 on the due date and 07:00:00 the next day is one day late, and so on.
You are given 5 grace days (self-granted extensions) which you can use to give yourself extra time without penalty. No more than 2 grace days can be used for each assignment.
Instructor-granted extensions are only considered after all grace days are used and only given in exceptional situations. Computer problems such as hard-drive reimaging are not considered exceptional situations and you must use grace days.
Late work handed in when you have run out of grace is discounted 25% for the first day late and 10% per day late thereafter.
Every assignment has a hard deadline; 4 calendar days past the original due date.
Late submissions (penalty or not) are not accepted after the hard deadline or after the solution to the assignment is published. No late submissions (penalty or not) will be accepted for the assignments right before GRs.
Exams and Quizzes#
All exams and quizzes are closed textbook and notes. Quizzes will be given at instructor discretion. Testable material includes any concepts from the labs, lectures, exercises, homework, and assigned readings. Not all testable concepts will necessarily be covered in class (e.g., readings). For missed GRs, the following policies are outlined in USAFA FOI 537-3:
Scheduled Absence - If you know that you will be unable to take the GR during the scheduled GR period, you are required to inform your instructor as soon as possible before the GR and to schedule a make-up exam.
Unscheduled Absence - If you miss the GR for reasons beyond your control (e.g. hospitalization, emergency leave, delayed field trip return, etc.), you must contact DFEC (x3190) within two working days to schedule a makeup. Exceptions can only be granted by the Department Head.
Laboratories#
Labs may include a prelab assignment that must be done before coming to class. The labs tend to be very hardware/software intensive and will probably require debugging to isolate and fix problems. In-class time is your primary chance to get active help for these problems so the more you prepare outside of class, the more successful you’ll be. The 53 minutes go by extremely fast - don’t waste them!
Final Project#
The final project will be a culmination of the learned material and will include a robot maze and competition. The final project will include a formal laboratory write-up and seven-minute presentation describing your design, solution, and results. The final project is worth 25% of your final grade.
Miscellaneous#
This course is designed to help in your development as an engineer. Feel free to provide feedback on the lessons and labs at any time. If you have ideas to improve or enhance the course, please let me know. The class builds on concepts from the prerequisites, so it is important for you to seek help as soon as you need it. Procrastination is truly the enemy in a design course. A little foresight and planning and a lot of effort will result in an extremely rewarding experience serving as the basis for future engineering design work.