Lab Access
A week after the add/drop date, students enrolled in ECE Capstone Design 2 or in any of the ECE interdisciplinary senior design courses will automatically be given access to the Van Leer third floor design spaces. This includes 24-hour access to our open equipment and resources. Teams are also allowed to rent a locker for project storage by stopping by the Instructional Labs main office. Lockers are located on the third floor of Van Leer’s West hallway and will be assigned on a first-come first-serve basis.
Purchasing Parts
Students in Capstone Design 2 and interdisciplinary senior design are allowed to request parts to be ordered for the purpose of using them in their project. All orders must go through the official procurement process as there will be no reimbursement and the labs will not take responsibility for any payments or POs your team initiates. Ordering will begin once groups are set for the semester and ends approximately two weeks before the capstone expo. There will be email announcements at the beginning and end of each semester announcing the exact dates. See below for the relevant rules and tips on orders.
Filling Out the Order Form
- All orders must use the official Senior Design Order Form.
- The first order must be brought in to the main office in person. All subsequent orders must go through the Online Order Upload.
- All information at the top of the form must be filled out correctly.
- You may add additional lines to the form as you need them.
- All line items must have a primary and alternate source listed.
- All lines must be filled out for each line item.
Rules on What to Order
- All parts requested must have a use in the project.
- Parts that require payment through PayPal will be rejected.
- Tee shirts and other props for the expo will not be purchased.
- Any software purchased will be installed on a GT computer.
- Orders that go over budget must be approved by the head senior design professor.
Ordering Tips
- Make sure the parts you plan on requesting are in stock and able to ship quickly.
- Group your order forms by supplier for faster ordering.
- Check whether the parts are already available in our lab inventory before placing your order.
- Make sure you buy extras of components that are small enough to get lost or fragile enough to break.
- Try to use big-name suppliers for all parts, as smaller sellers may require a two-week wait to process.
- Electronics
- Raw Materials
- PCBs
Standard Projects
The following information about procurement applies only to ECE senior design students. Projects that are not funded through outside sources through Georgia Tech’s official sponsorship process will be notified of their budget through email at the beginning of the semester. Once the budget is established, students will be allowed to begin submitting orders through the process outlined above. Students will be responsible for all parts purchased through their budget, and will have to return everything purchased on their behalf at the end of the semester.
Sponsored Projects
Sponsored projects may have a slightly higher budget than standard projects, and will have an external or corporate sponsor that provides money to Georgia Tech and provides direction or consultation with the capstone project. The budgets for both standard and sponsored projects will be announced in an email at the beginning of the semester. All ordering will be submitted through the process outlined above, and accessing sponsored accounts will not be the responsibility of the students. Sponsors will have certain rights to keep projects after the team has presented at the Capstone Expo. These rights do not exempt students from project returns at the end of the semester.
If you are unsure if your team is formally sponsored, you can ask the lab staff or the head instructor for your senior design course. Only teams that are formally sponsored through GT’s official sponsorship process will have access to the sponsored budget.
Borrowing Parts
The Instructional Labs keeps a running stock of commonly-needed electronics and components that are available for checkout. Before submitting an order to the lab staff, we suggest you go through the inventory list and meet with the labs to borrow anything your team might need. The benefit of borrowing parts is that they are instantly available for testing and usage as opposed to order requests, which take time to ship in. All parts more complicated than discrete components that are borrowed from the labs must be returned to the instructional labs at the end of the semester. The lab staff will direct you through the checkout process to determine what needs to be logged and which parts are a good fit for your uses.
Offered Support
Help Classes
The instructional labs runs help classes for the basic prototyping skills listed below. All classes are towards the beginning of the semester, so don’t wait to look into them! You can sign up here.
- Basic Tools
- Through-Hole Soldering
- Connectors and Cables
- Surface Mount Soldering
- PCB Layout
- 3D Printing
- Battery Welding
Engineering Support
All of the lab staff are experienced in electronics and prototyping. You can consult us on how to implement your project, what parts to use, and what difficulties to expect. The best times to contact us are in the mornings, before 11AM. We can also help by training you on how to use any of our tools and equipment that you may need for your project.
Returning Projects
All senior design teams should return their entire projects to the main lab without dismantling them. All parts that are checked out or borrowed from the ECE Instructional Labs for senior design must be returned by the end of the semester. The labs keeps a running list of everything bought or borrowed, and will expect it all back. If professors or sponsors want to hold on to the project, they will be allowed to retrieve it from the labs.
Students are allowed to return parts before the end of the semester, but they should be sure that they are properly checked in by a member of the lab staff.