DE Unit 8
Synchronous Counters
Synchronous Counters Introduction

 Information about Synchronous Counters coming soon – thanks for your patience. Check out the videos below.

Part 1: Synchronous Counters

Synchronous Counters

The first part of our unit starts with a discussion of the Engineering Design Process.  Watch the video on the Design Process and add to your notes in your engineering notebook.  Then, work with your team to clarify your design brief: state the problem in a single sentence and then describe why it’s a problem.  Go further and specify what criteria and constraints your solution must meet. Have Mr. Benshoof approve your team’s design. Finally, work with your team to research the topic online, then brainstorm at least 20 possible solutions to the problem.

GRADING & PROCESS

 Watch the video on the Engineering Design Process and add to your notes in your engineering notebook

 Work with your team to develop your design brief, recording it in your engineering notebook in the proper format

 Have Mr. Benshoof approve your team’s design brief

 Work with your team to research the problem and brainstorm at least 20 ideas in your engineering notebook

 Complete the Brainstorming Assignment either in your engineering notebook or on the handout.

Synchronous Counters

The Design Brief

Research & Brainstorm

Part 2: Medium Scale Integration

In this next part of the unit we’ll look at how two new IC chips make countrers of different kinds possible.  In particular, the 74LS163 and 74LS193 chips have some built in counting properties that can be super useful!  As you work through these next challenges, be sure to take careful note of what the inputs and outputs of the 163 and 193 chips are doing!

GRADING & PROCESS

 Work with your team to decide what your final solution will be, who will write which parts of the submission, and what the name of your product would be.

 Summarize your solution in writing in your engineering notebook, then sketch what that solution will look like using either isometric or multiview sketching.  

 Write your assigned responses to the Arctic Innovation Design Challenge solution description and get them edited by a team-member.

 Take the Unit 8 Quiz

 Have Mr. Benshoof check-off your completed circuits

Medium Scale Integration

74LS163

74LS193

Part 3: 60 Second Timer

Engineering Design Process Overview

The final step to completing the engineering design process is to share your work with other people and evaluate your potential success.  As we finish this up, you’ll load your mini-essays into the Arctic innovation Challenge website. Then you’ll learn about what a decision matrix is and create one to evaluate your own idea.  Have two classmates not from your design team evaluate your idea and record their feedback. Then, have each person in your design team create an Autodesk model of what your product will look like.

GRADING & PROCESS

 Upload your responses to the Arctic Innovation Design Competition website in the Junior Division!

 Create an evaluation matrix in your engineering notebook to evaluate the success of your product

 Find two people that aren’t in your design group to evaluate your idea using your evaluation matrix.  Record their feedback in your engineering notebook.

 Create an Autodesk model of your proposed solution.  Each person in your group should make their own model – they might not all be exactly the same, and that’s okay.

Evaluation Matrix

Final AIC Submission