This document summarizes a senior capstone project to create mobile applications for chapters of an electrical engineering probability course. A team of three students each created an app for one chapter, with sections on theory, problems, and simulations. While most sections were completed, the simulation for chapter 3 was not finished due to difficulties with the required programming language. The apps were tested by previous students and received positive feedback. The project helped students learn mobile app development and provided a new way for probability concepts to be taught, with the aim of improving student performance and retention in the course.

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FINAL REPORT
ECE SENIOR CAPSTONE DESIGN
GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ
EDUARDO BENITEZ-JONES, MATTHEW NGUYEN
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
UNM
2301 CENTRAL NE
ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87131
05/11/2015

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Contents
1 Overview................................................................................................................................. 2
1.1 Executive Summary........................................................................................................ 3
1.2 Abstract........................................................................................................................... 4
2 List of Figures......................................................................................................................... 4
3 List of Tables (if applicable)................................................................................................... 8
4 Problem Description ............................................................................................................... 8
5 Progress Toward A Solution................................................................................................... 8
6 Constraints .............................................................................................................................. 9
7 Budgets ................................................................................................................................... 9
8 Work Schedule...................................................................................................................... 10
9 Personnel Interactions........................................................................................................... 11
9.1 Teamwork ..................................................................................................................... 11
9.2 Mentorship.................................................................................................................... 11
10 Summary & Conclusions...................................................................................................... 11
11 Discussion............................................................................................................................. 12
12 Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. 13
13 References............................................................................................................................. 13

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1 OVERVIEW
1.1 Executive Summary
This project was sponsored by Quanser and Manel Ramon-Martinez. The team consisted
of two EE majors and one CompE. Gabriel and Eduardo were the former and Matthew the
latter. The project was intended to help UNM students better understand the probabilistic
methods course (ECE 340) content. The project was to create an application using
Quanser’s Qdex play app. The app would cover 3 chapters and consist of three sections for
each chapter. These three sections included theory, problems and simulations.
Each member created an app for one chapter. Eduardo created chapter 1, Gabriel chapter 2,
and Matthew chapter 3. Although each member did have to create the three sections listed
above, the apps themselves between the three chapters can be completely different. This
was done to create multiple flavors of what could be achieved from the Qdexplay app and
the different styles each member thought would be the best.
Although each member did successfully create an app, not all sections where created for
each chapter. The simulation for chapter 3 was left out of the apps for those chapters. This
was the only goal not achieved by the team. Unfortunately, creating simulations in the
language required for the Qdexplay app was difficult. Issues arose when high level math
equations were needed and not found in the library of the language. This is partially the
reason for simulation sections missing from 1 of the 3 apps. Each chapter’s theory section,
and problems section where completed. Even though the layout and style of the sections
maybe different, all delivered the required material for the specific chapter. Each app was
tested and delivered great results. The testers used where present and previous students of
the course and each gave feedback on the apps. From the testers results we not only
achieved inserting required material into the app, but also making its layout easy to read
and use.
This project is very important for many reasons. The educational benefits from the use of
apps outside and inside classrooms are unknown at UNM. This would be a completely new
style of teaching. Not knowing how this style would impact grades, we now have a tool
that can be used to see the real impact. Another important aspect of this project is using the
new Qdexplay app. This app developing tool from Quanser is still new and hasn’t been
used by the public. While we created apps and tested the apps we were also testing the
Qdexplay app. By testing the app we gave further insight into how the app works with
people outside of Quanser. This allows Quanser to see how there app developing tool
works and problems that may occur when others use it. The project showed that people
with little to no experience in app developing can create a working, and beneficial app for

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their own purpose. This now shows that students, and professors can use the app
developing tool to create apps that could better aid students in courses.
1.2 Abstract
The ECE Capstone project for UNM involved 3 members. Each member was to create an
app for a chapter consisting of the three sections theory, problems, and simulations. The app
was created for the ECE340 probabilistic methods course. Each member delivered a
working app for their specific chapter. Some issuers arose for the simulations for chapter 3.
Because of this they were not included in the apps for those chapters. Students enrolled or
previously enrolled in the course provided feedback and suggestions. The apps where very
well received and easy to use.
2 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Apps in Library

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Figure 2 & 4. Chapter 1. Theory & Simulation Section
Figure 3. Chapter 1. Problems Section

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Figure 5 & 6. Chapter 2. Theory Section
Figure 7. Chapter 2. Simulations Section 1

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Figure 8. Chapter 3. Theory Section
Figure 9. Chapter 3. Problem Section

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3 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Tasks and Completion Status.......................................................................................... 10
4 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
Students at the University of New Mexico have had issues with the course ECE 340-
”Introduction to probabilistic methods”. The number of students leaving the ECE program
or grading low in the course has been a response to the difficulty of the subject matter and
perhaps the form it’s presented. The purpose of this project is to create a mobile application
as a more effective form of delivering course material. The application will deliver such
material in a hands-on and more enjoyable form. The goals and needs are to reduce the
amount of students grading low and leaving the department. For this reason, UNM has
agreed to partner with Quanser, a world leader in experiments and courseware for
engineering education and research in control systems which is intended to help the student
get an in depth understanding of the course material, along with the crucial fundamental
concepts. The features included within the project are as following:
 A set of static slides with the entire class materials.
 An embedded set of experimental examples related to probability, statistics and
statistical signal processing which are specific to the material within the chapter.
 A major modification that includes layered levels of abstraction for concepts, proofs and
academic examples.
A summary of the first three chapters from “Introduction to Probability Second Edition” by
Dimitri P. Bersekas and John N. Tsitsiklis is included within the application. These chapters
will be layered, and have three separate subsections. The first will deliver the information
needed to solve the example. The second section provides examples which the student can
quickly skim or solve by using the information they learned in the first section. The third
section provides an interactive simulation which the students can use to visualize the
information from the first section. This application is meant to aid the students, specifically
in areas which may be difficult to understand, by allowing the student to spend more time
and access the concepts in an interactive way.
5 PROGRESS TOWARD A SOLUTION
Over the length of the course, project objectives were changed to accommodate for
unforeseen problems inside the application. The system overall is capable of providing all
sections requested by the sponsor. Currently, the system is only deficient of one chapter
which has yet to include information for the three sections. The system adequately satisfies
over 75% of the overall requirements. Project objectives which had to be encountered
included a separation of chapters, revision for application constraints which were placed by

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Quanser, and changes in section content to include information in a format most preferable
by the user.
The design decision to include a variety of work from a separation of chapters came about as
an idea from the project sponsors. This idea was organized by dividing up the three chapters
into the three people within the project. By dividing up this information, the users and
faculty could visualize many different flavors of putting together the application, since the
three chapters were created by different people with separate ideas of what a learning
application would be to most benefit the user experience. This option also made it possible
for the project to be split up, so that each student could program without having to meet in a
group, making it easier to find more time to program the chapter.
The revision of application constraints rose from the fact that Quanser had created a specific
template for any application published from their company. This meant that we had to
review some power points with information on constrains, and modify our design to meet
the constraints.
Lastly, the chapters were tested by some students. The feedback gained from these testers
was put into place to improve the user experience.
Unfortunately, the revision of constraints continued to change with continuous design
requirements required by Quanser. This made it difficult to keep up with the changes the
company was making, since every change in format was a major change in the existing
application.
6 CONSTRAINTS
Some constraints limited the project greater than others. Budgetary, manufacturability,
environmental, and health and safety concerns were not very problematic. This is due to
the fact that the hardware portion of the project consisted of a user’s personal phone.
Therefore, those constraints were limited depending on the phone the user has. However,
maintainability of the software was enhanced by making sure the code was well
commented so that the faculty which take over this project will be able to make any
modifications by easily finding the spot, & understanding what the code there is doing. We
have also created a dummy account which the developers and faculty can use to make
changes within the application. The resources and code for this dummy account is
available on the Qdex repository website.
7 BUDGETS
N/A

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8 WORK SCHEDULE
Task Team Member
Responsible
Completed
(Yes/No/In Progress
(IP)/Complete but Broken
(CB))
Requirement Document All Yes
Build Prototype Eduardo Benitez-Jones Yes
Statement of Work All Yes
Program Chapter 1 Theory Eduardo Benitez-Jones Yes
Program Chapter 1
Problems
Eduardo Benitez-Jones Yes
Program Chapter 1
Simulation
Eduardo Benitez Jones Yes
Program Chapter 2 Theory Gabriel Rodriguez Yes
Program Chapter 2
Problems
Gabriel Rodriguez Yes
Program Chapter 2
Simulation
Gabriel Rodriguez Yes
Program Chapter 3 Theory Matthew Nguyen Yes
Program Chapter 3
Problems
Matthew Nguyen Yes
Program Chapter 3
Simulation
Matthew Nguyen CB
Test All Chapter All Yes
Faculty Presentation All Yes
Poster All Yes
Poster Presentation All IP
Table 1: Tasks and Completion Status

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9 PERSONNEL INTERACTIONS
9.1 Teamwork
Each member was responsible for one chapter out of the three chosen from the book given
by the sponsor. Each members app could be different form the other members. Meaning,
that the design was left to that specific member. Although, the design did not have any
constraints, the content however did. Each app was meant to consist of three sections,
theory, problems and simulations. Each member was meant to create all three sections in
their app. Two members did have trouble creating the simulations section for their chapter.
This led to a blank simulation section in chapters 1 and 3. The project managers was meant
to do the three sections as well as set up meetings and send information to the sponsor.
Also, to check the schedule and keep track of all deliverables for the course or the sponsor.
Aside from the issue with the simulations, all members put in an equal amount of work and
effort.
9.2 Mentorship
The Technical Mentor played a crucial role in the development of the project. First, the
resources provided by the Mentor were very helpful in both the planning stages of the
app and the final project. The resource consisted of lecture slides, books, solved
problems, and simulations. Time spent and frequency of meetings with the mentor where
low. Although we only met a handful of times, each meeting was necessary and helpful.
This brings the second role of the mentor which is input. The Mentor provided much
needed and appreciated input of the app. This ranged from display, content, and overall
feel of the application.
10 SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS
The ECE 340 app is capable of providing a high level understanding of theoretical
concepts from three sections of the current text book. It delivers course material in a
modular layout providing students with the theory to solve problems, a problem section to
test their learning, and a simulation to give a visual representation of what has been
delivered. It is also capable of being highly adaptable to the user’s needs. The code can be
easily manipulated to change or add data. The app is also capable of operating on mobile
devices for both Android and IOS; however, it is not supported on non-mobile devices.
The app is also deficient in its ease of adding or modifying simulations. The coding
language needed for such simulations is difficult to learn and adapt to the situation. This
caused a deficiency with the chapter 3 simulation not being produced.

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Based on testing, everything performs well and provides the necessary information to meet
the requirements. There are a few spots in the each app that could use some touch ups,
however, this doesn’t impede the functionality of the app itself. Each app has all the
required sections requested by the sponsor except in the chapter 3 app the simulation will
not function. Besides this one feature from one section of the app, we have reached 95% of
what we set out to accomplish.
11 DISCUSSION
Our previous courses were very useful in preparation for our project because it provided us
with the idea of what to use as content of our app. ECE 340 was an especially useful course
to have taken since this project was to design an app for that class. However, being provided
the current course slides and text books also helped us provide content for the app. Also,
previous courses in programing in any language was helpful because they provided us with
the knowledge of how to debug code; this was useful when programming our app in xml.
We definitely developed excellent teamwork and management skills throughout the course
of this project. Being grouped together for an entire year allowed us to learn each other’s
strengths and weaknesses and how to employ each other’s skills to successfully complete
our project. Meeting deadlines and completing milestones was majorly responsible for our
management skills improvement; managing time, resources, and work effort were the
greatest contributors. As for the engineering process, we believe that previous courses had
prepared us well; this course just reinforced what we had learned by being able to go
through the process for our project.
Our project did not have any deviations from our timeline. We accomplished this by
properly managing out time and resources to get each job done well and on time. This goes
without saying that we were definitely properly staffed. The only hiccup toward the
beginning of the project was that our project was CompE based and the majority of our
group was EE based; this did not cause any prolonged problems after the PM delegated the
tasks to be completed effectively to the members that could do that job best.
If we had to do this project over again I think we would outsource more support from
Quanser to get better and more efficient simulations, since these were by far the hardest part
of the app.

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12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The following individuals provided their support in helping us develop our app:
 Manel Ramon-Martinez
 Ramiro Jordan
 Eric Ehrhardt Hamke
 Matthew James Greci
 Craig Robertson
 Quanser Inc.
13 REFERENCES
[1] Quanser Inc., "Qdex by Quanser," [Online]. Available: qdexapps.com.
[2] D. P. B. a. J. N. Tsitsiklis, Introduction to Probability, Belmont: Athena Scientific, 2002,
2008.
[3] M. Ramon-Martinez, UNM ECE 340 PowerPoint.