Requirements Specifications

As outlined in the lecture notes, a Requirements Specifications document serves many purposes. Its primary purpose is to ensure that you are setting your sights correctly to develop a "solution" that appropriately solves the problem you are trying to address. It sets the objectives of the project and provides a means to measure the performance of the final design.

Developing a meaningful set of specifications involves understanding
  • the client's needs;
  • the needs of those that will use the end-product; and
  • the limitations/restrictions imposed on the design process and the resulting product by way of
    • budget constraints;
    • existence of legacy products;
    • legal/regulatory restrictions;
    • safety hazards; and
    • the client's firm's practices.

Requirements Specifications Contents

A full Requirements Specifications document is very lengthy. The submission expected here is abbreviated. In your submission please include the following information:
  • a brief introduction to the project;
  • a top-level block diagram to show inputs and outputs. This diagram will have a single block -- your project. The inputs and outputs need not be exclusively electronic in nature;
  • a table that presents the following on each row:
    • a client's need;
    • the resulting requirements specification; and
    • any and all regulations that govern the resulting specification.
    An example row from this table is provided here:
    Client's Need Specification Regulatory Information
    Physically connect to existing data network. Connection with 10BASE-T Ethernet physical layer. IEEE 802.3
  • a hazard assessment;
  • a correlation matrix showing how the design's constraints are related;
  • a sketch showing how you would like the resulting (physical) product to look; and
  • a brief description of operation (how the user will interact with the device).

Grading

This item is evaluated using the following rubric: Requirements Specifications Evaluation Rubric.

Submission

Please submit an electronic copy of a PDF version of this item by using the EE Capstone Submission Facility by 4PM on the date noted in the syllabus. (Any member of a group may submit on behalf of their entire group.)