Taking McMaster Capstone to Space
Diana Dumitrescu, Alexander Barovier, Malcolm Hodgins
Capstone is the final multi-term project completed at the end of the Engineering program. It provides a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their design skills and all that they have learned throughout their degree.
Our team knew that capstone this year would be different than any other year. The challenge of being completely online was an intimidating aspect, so we had to prepare.
We officially came together at the end of last year, however we have been friends with one another since the start of second year! We began meeting in the summer; before the term started to brainstorm ideas. Projects such as an avocado ripeness detector, autonomous cat feeder/trainer, or lawn protector system (from geese) were proposed. By the time the term began we had narrowed down several of our options, prioritizing projects that could, for the most part, be developed virtually.
Then in a stroke of luck (and through some of the connections of our members), we were offered two industry projects. We chose to work with a company called QEYnet, whose mission is to build a global Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) network using micro-satellites. They asked us to design a “Laser Beacon” attachment for their system to help align it with a ground station.
Making Virtual Capstone Work — Diana, Engineering Physics V
I have been visiting the capstone expos, brainstorming ideas, and asking older peers for advice ever since my second year. As I made my way through undergrad, I gained excitement. So finally, when the decision to move the school year online was made, I was both anxious and disappointed.
The unfamiliar environment proved to hold many challenges. It was hard to predict what we would have access to (lab equipment, manufacturing space, etc), which made it difficult to plan out our project ahead of time. I was able to retrieve an old oscilloscope, power supply, and other electronics equipment from my older brother to create a miniature lab space in my room. We even had talks of going on campus to test lasers. However, as the course went on our plans were altered to focus on the virtual design, especially given the lockdowns and increased restrictions at McMaster.
It was to our benefit to switch over to a more virtual approach. In the online environment, where we could not necessarily meet to assemble or test, we found it easier to split up design work and go deeper into the design considerations. It turns out that when designing for the harsh environment of space, there are many things to consider. This allowed us to more easily separate work. We also had short meetings once or twice a week, where we would discuss our progress and designs.
Even though much of the preparation I had done throughout my undergrad for capstone went out the window, I had a wonderful team with a lot of enthusiasm and motivation! We made the best of the situation and it turned out well. The QEYnet team were great mentors. Our professor and TAs also helped to ensure we could successfully complete a meaningful project even if it could not be physically built.
Overall, I am ecstatic to have had the opportunity to contribute to such an interesting project in a novel field, during my undergrad.
Working with an Industry Partner — Zan Engineering Physics V
Capstone always seemed like such a daunting prospect to me during the earlier years of my undergraduate degree. Seeing all the amazing projects that students just a few years older than me were able to design was a bit intimidating as I approached my final year. However, as I took more courses and approached my final year, the more I realized I had the ability to design something awesome just like my predecessors. The chance to work with QEYnet was incredibly exciting, considering my passion for space.
Our team had to make some adjustments to the project structure, since we were working with an industry partner. QEYnet started the term with some high-level goals for our project, as well as some specific limitations such as maximum dimensions of the module. We met with QEYnet every week for progress updates, where we presented our current design work, and they gave us feedback. This was in addition to meeting deliverables for the capstone course, where we also had to give progress updates and attend meetings. Balancing the two sets of expectations seemed daunting at the start of the term, but once we got into a weekly routine of our meetings, it became quite manageable.
I really enjoyed getting to learn more about the engineering design process for a satellite application. Numerous challenges, such as a stringent volume budget had to be considered in our design, which made every decision more complex. Our mentors from QEYnet always provided us with helpful advice, to help us overcome these problems. Learning from their experience has been such a valuable part of this project for me, learning lessons about the design process which I will take forward into my career.
Although things might not have always gone according to our plans, this capstone project was such a great way to close out my undergraduate degree. I was incredibly fortunate to work with amazing people, who I know will accomplish great things in all their future endeavours. I can’t wait to share all our work at the capstone expo!
Project Planning Tips and Tools — Malcolm, Engineering Physics V
I think most members of the team would agree that one of the most challenging parts of this project was being able to plan out the stages of the project and make confident predictions as to what level of development we would be able to reach by the end of March. When you are planning a project, especially when you have little previous experience doing so, it is very easy to be optimistic regarding the timeline. This certainly happened to us.
In the book titled Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Khaneman, he coined a term known as the “planning fallacy” which describes this optimistic bias that project planners can take when developing project schedules. There are a multitude of reasons why projects can lean towards being more optimistic such as that projects with favourable timelines and costs are more likely to be approved, for example. But there also undeniably exists an inherent optimistic bias a project planner will have when looking at a schedule, especially if the planner will be the individual executing the project. Clearly, knowing of some tools or processes to help correct for planning fallacies is something any project planner should strive for if they wish to avoid creating overly optimistic project schedules.
One approach mentioned in the book to extinguish optimistic biases is to consult the statistics of a set of similar projects. For example, when beginning your capstone course, you could consult the instructor for the course and ask them about general project performance in the past. You can then use this information to adjust your project schedule to budget in some space for project stages that run sub-optimally.
Another approach mentioned in the book is to perform what is known as a premortem. The premise is to gather a group of people who would be good judges of your project plan (such as your capstone professor) and start them off with a prompt such as “Eight months after this project was started, we now see it has gone horribly. Please write a description of how the disaster unfolded.” The project planner then collects the descriptions from each reviewer and uses the information to locate any unrealistically optimistic stages in the project plan. The benefit of this approach is that it forces knowledgeable people to think critically about a decision rather than just accepting it for what it is which helps avoid costly mistakes.
These approaches will certainly not protect a project planner from every pitfall that is commonly encountered but they should help move the proposed project schedule and plan closer to how it will eventually unfold. When our team began this capstone project, we missed the opportunity to critically judge and get feedback on the plan we had proposed which later meant we needed to cut down on scope. My hope for any reader that will be doing their capstone within the next couple years is that they will use these lessons learned to make their capstone project plan a little more bulletproof and perhaps carry on these considerations to their graduate degree or their workplace.
Overall Takeaways and Advice
We would like to leave you with these final takeaways and advice for those starting to think about Capstone.
1. If you choose to work on something you are interested in capstone will not be a breeze, but it will be more enjoyable!
2. Make use of the opinions of experienced professionals around you (professors, working professionals, etc.) to make your capstone plan/schedule run more effectively and efficiently!
3. Try not to be too hard on yourself during the course, celebrate the successes you have and learn from the mistakes!
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