Lectures :: ECE 445 - Senior Design Laboratory

Lectures

Spring 2026 Lecture Material:

 

Pre-Lecture #1:


(before the first lecture)

 

 

Brainstorming and Ideation

  • Brainstorming and Ideation slides (pptx)
  • Videos (watch before coming to class)

 

 

Lecture #1:


(Jan 20th )

 

Getting Started

  • Course Overview and Requests for Approval (slides)- Prof. Arne Fliflet
  • PCB (slides)- Jason Jung
  • Intellectual Property (slides)- Dr. Michelle Chitambar
  • How to write your Final Report (slides)- Aaron Greiger
  • Summer is coming ! (slides)- Prof. Arne Fliflet
  • Pitches
    • AdheraScent (slides)
    • Lab Escape [Quantum]  (slides) - Paul Kwait
    • Bat Sound detector   - Dr. Joy O' Keefe
    • Ant-weight, 3D Printed Battlebot Challenge (slides)- Prof. Viktor Gruev (vgruev@illinois.edu)
  • Brainstorming

 

Pre-Lecture #2:


(before the second lecture)

 

 

Beyond Ideation

 

 

Lecture #2:


(Jan 27)

 

 

Moving Forward

  • RFA tips - A. Fliflet (slides)
  • Conflict resolution workshop - Olga Mironenko
  • Machine shop - Greg
  • Lab Safety - Casey (slides)
  • Pitches
    • FADEX (slides) - Shrey Patel

 

Pre-Lecture #3:


(before the third lecture)

 

 

Design and Writing Tips

 

 

Lecture #3:

(Feb 3rd)

 

 

Last Stop Before Approval Deadline !

  • Ethics, Engineering standards and Societal obligations - A. Fliflet (slides)
  • Pitch : Hemispherical Imaging system for subterranean root detection - John Hart (slides)
  • Use of ChatGPT and LLMs in this course - Victor Gruev (slides)
  • PCB tips - Victor Gruev
  • Proposal and Design Document (slides)
  • Smart home (slides)

Spring 2023 Video Lectures:

Brainstorming

Finding a Problem (Video)
Generating Solutions (Video)
Diving Deeper (Video)
Voting (Video)
Reverse Brainstorming (Video)
Homework for Everyone (Video)

Important Information

Using the ECE 445 Website (Video)
Lab Notebook (Video , Slides)
Modular Design (Video, Slides)
Circuit Tips and Debugging (Video , Slides)
Eagle CAD Tutorial (Video)
Spring 2018 IEEE Eagle Workshop (Slides)
Spring 2018 IEEE Soldering Workshop (Slides)

Major Assignments and Milestones

Request for Approval (Video, Slides)
Project Proposal (Video, slides)
Design Document (Video, slides)
Design Review (Video, slides)
Writing Tips (Video, slides)

Electronic Automatic Transmission for Bicycle

Tianqi Liu, Ruijie Qi, Xingkai Zhou

Featured Project

Tianqi Liu(tliu51)

Ruijie Qi(rqi2)

Xingkai Zhou(xzhou40)

Sometimes bikers might not which gear is the optimal one to select. Bicycle changes gears by pulling or releasing a steel cable mechanically. We could potentially automate gear changing by hooking up a servo motor to the gear cable. We could calculate the optimal gear under current condition by using several sensors: two hall effect sensors, one sensing cadence from the paddle and the other one sensing the overall speed from the wheel, we could also use pressure sensors on the paddle to determine how hard the biker is paddling. With these sensors, it would be sufficient enough for use detect different terrains since the biker tend to go slower and pedal slower for uphill or go faster and pedal faster for downhill. With all these information from the sensors, we could definitely find out the optimal gear electronically. We plan to take care of the shifting of rear derailleur, if we have more time we may consider modifying the front as well.

Besides shifting automatically, we plan to add a manual mode to our project as well. With manual mode activated, the rider could override the automatic system and select the gear on its own.

We found out another group did electronic bicycle shifting in Spring 2016, but they didn't have a automatic function and didn't have the sensor set-up like ours. Commercially, both SRAM and SHIMANO have electronic shifting products, but these products integrate the servo motor inside the derailleurs, and they have a price tag over $1000. Only professionals or rich enthusiasts can have a hand on them. As our system could potentially serve as an add-on device to all bicycles with gears, it would be much cheaper.

Project Videos