Project-based group learning

Project-based group learning, implemented since 2006 at TUSUR, relies on practice to reinforce knowledge, as well as project, research and managerial skills by developing innovative projects. As a rule, these projects aim to create devices, systems or software products with a prospect of commercialization.

This concept is aligned with standards elaborated by Worldwide CDIO Initiative. Established in the early 2000 this international association of leading universities and engineering schools counts more than 100 institutions promoting project-based education, and in 2013 TUSUR was among the first Russian universities to join this community.

Each project embodies innovative ideas and proposals to be implemented in novel science-intensive products and technologies that are in high demand in the market or in particular industry.

Third- and fourth-year students are usually selected to form project teams. After individual curriculum for a project team is worked out and approved, participation in the project-based learning is regarded as mandatory for such students.

Activities of the project team are an integral part of training for those who pursue a specialist degree. Implementation of an idea goes through all principal stages of a development effort: from technical assignment to a prototype or a pilot lot.

Individual curriculum envisages introduction of certain disciplines required for project development (participant education), as well as replacement of some learning activities (i. e. course papers and projects, internships, laboratory-based work etc.) with relevant project activities within the framework of team project learning.

Departments arrange specialized laboratories for implementation of projects, creating workplaces for students and shared use sites for mounting, modeling, testing etc. Laboratories are furnished with computers and necessary measurement and production equipment.

Here below is the list of the ongoing projects:

Project title	Supervising professor	Description
Department of Industrial Electronics
Hardware and software complex for medical electronics	Dr. Denis Pakhmurin	Conceive, design, investigate and prepare to commercialization the software and a hardware for local hyperthermia. The complex will be used for cure of oncologic diseases
Active front end for industrial frequency converters of electric drives	Prof. Sergey Mikhalchenko	Rational energy consumption in a network with industrial equipment. Elements of power and information electronics for alternative energy sources (autonomous inverters and network- driven inverters for sun batteries, drivers for wind and diesel generators, charge-discharge devices, controllers for station systems etc.)
Line of torque electric traction drives up to 45 kW for Robotics	Prof. Sergey Mikhalchenko	Development of theory and technology to build torque fast-response servodrive of alternating current, used as actuators in Robotics
Mathematic and software tools to control autonomous drones	Prof. Sergey Mikhalchenko	Design of mobile complex to charge the batteries of autonomous underwater drones. Promising circuit solutions to convert energy with better specific properties et upper performance index for energy converters installed onboard spacecrafts. Design of ground imitation prototype and onboard equipment for energy supply systems of spacecrafts
Department of Computer Control and Design Systems
Design of Noise Injection Microwave Radiometers	Anton Ubaytchin	Design of new type microwave radiometers, which have increased sensitivity, dynamics and stability. More precisely the interns are supposed to design a specialized passive and active microwave devices, narrow antennas with high efficiency, to develop an algorithms for signal processing and control of radiometric systems. Participation in the project include modeling, optimization, manufacturing, measurement and research work
Wireless radio communication system, based on radio heat signals	Anton Ubaytchin	Development of a wireless communication system based on thermal noise signals. The task consists mostly of the research work to develop specialized receivers and transmitters, estimation of their characteristics, experimental researches on the transmission of information using thermal noise
Designing of near-field multi-receiver radiometers for medical application	Anton Ubaytchin	Development of a multi-receiver microwave radiometer for early medical diagnostics. When implementing the project, it is planned to develop a dual-receiver radiometers and a near-field antenna, laboratory and full-scale experimental researches
Software modules for microwave EDA system	Dr. Alexey Kalentiev	The project is directed on developing software modules for modern microwave EDA system. The core of EDA system uses methods of artificial intelligence for the design of microwave components, models and circuits. There are a lot of tasks for creation different types of modules started from creation solvers for linear and nonlinear circuit analysis to developing modules for displaying graphical (2D and 3D) view of schematics and creation integration modules in modern microwave EDA system. During the developing we using modern techniques: agile project methods, git for version control and continuous integration for checking the quality of our software. Also we are using for development Microsoft stack of technologies. Needed technical skills: programming basics (algorithms and data structures), object-oriented paradigm, SOLID, GoF programming patterns, C# (or C-like) programming language, NET Framework, git
Design of wideband monolithic balun for mixers and differential amplifiers based on SiGe BiCMOS technology	Dr. Andrey Kokolov	The design of modern electronic circuits (such as MMICs) is a compromise between performance and economical demands. A broad frequency band allows expanding the range of possible applications of circuits designed. A number of wireless protocols (mobile communications, wireless Internet, global navigation systems, etc.) works in the wide frequency band. Therefore, the problem of designing universal broadband electronic circuits that can overlap several frequency bands is very actual. As a rule, input ports of double-balanced mixers are differential (balanced). So, one must use a balun to transform unbalanced (single-ended) RF and LO signals to balanced ones, the same with differential amplifers. With on-chip baluns, a further mounting and use of MMIC mixer becomes more easy as external baluns are not necessary. Key skills: ADS, EM modeling
Behavioral modeling of semiconductor process for virtual metrology	Dr. Andrei Salnikov	The direction of project is semiconductor process behavioral modeling. Application of the developed model is virtual metrology. Virtual metrology refers to methods to predict properties of a semiconductor wafer properties based on fabrication equipment parameters. To solve the task different machine learning technique are used (artificial neural network, support vector machine etc.). In the project different approach to process modeling will be studied, as well as model accuracy parameter estimation
Development of simple circuit simulator for integrated element modeling system	Dr. Andrei Salnikov Dr. Alexander Goryainov	The aim of the project is to develop a simple simulator based on open-source electric circuit solver. The developed software should allow capturing equivalent circuit for element, simulation and comparison results with measurement. The developed software could be used as part of Microwave Element Modeling System to estimated obtained model accuracy. The stage of the project: a review of open-source circuit solver; a design of software architecture; the GUI design; the software development; the software testing. Microwave Element Modeling System is a set of software for microwave circuit measurement and element modeling which is developing in TUSUR University
Department of Complex Information Security of Computer Systems
Investigation of voice signal	Prof. Roman Meshcheryakov	Implementation of software for the evaluation of speech quality based on existing standards for the automation of a speech therapist work. Includes obtaining estimates of phrase and syllable intelligibility, identify problem phonemes based on syllable intelligibility, gathering and maintaining the database of patients. Program complex is designed for speech therapists, who conducts speech rehabilitation patients, particularly after surgery on the organs of speech formation tract in the treatment of cancer
Modeling and research of algorithms for control robotic system	Dr. Yu. Loboda	The work is devoted to modeling various robotic systems based on bio-inspired robots and writing algorithms for their work
Department of Telecommunications and Basic Principles of Radio Engineering
Design of digital signal processing program for Synthetic Aperture Radar using FPGA	Dr. Andrei Geltser	The purpose of this project is designing low cost, small synthetic aperture radar based on Auto-SAR instead of using aircraft and satellite platform. The automobile SAR obtains the synthetic aperture by moving the antenna along roads or bridges and Frequency Modulation Continuous Wave (FMCW) technique is involved in, which makes the system simple and compact
Power line communication systems	Dr. Andrei Geltser	Learning operating principles of data transmission systems using power line communication (power metering, home automation etc.) and designing parts (G3 standard) of these systems on evaluation boards
Software define radio in wireless communikation systems. Modulation and channel multiplexing	Evgeny Rogozhnikov	This program includes the following sections: forming, processing and analysis of signals in the transmitting and receiving equipment. Modern methods of error-correcting coding. OFDM, OFDMA, SC-FDMA technology. Formation of the transmitter signal, signal processing in receiver. communication channel estimate and eliminate its influence on the operation of the communication system. Algorithms and signal conversion modeling. Experimental research using software define radio hardware
Software define radio in wireless communication systems. A connection establishing, synchronization	Evgeny Rogozhnikov	This program includes the following sections: forming, processing and analysis of signals in the transmitting and receiving equipment. Initialization, connection establishment, algorithms, time and frequency synchronization. The pilot signals and sequences. Communication channel estimate and eliminate its influence on the operation of the communication system. Formation of the noise immunity synchronization channel and the control. Experimental research using software define radio hardware
Department of Innovative Technologies
Hardware and software complex for precision scanne	Prof. Alexey Soldatov	Design, investigate and prepare to commercialization the software and hardware for ultrasonic testing device. The complex will be used for nondestructive testing of composite material
Modern transmission for robotics industry	Dr. Egor Efremenkov	Conceive, design, investigate and prepare to commercialization the transmission with intermediate rolling elements for robotics industry. The transmission will be used for robots of different fields (machine production, medicine, transport, aeronautics, cosmonautics)
System Design, Modeling and Simulation of SW/HW platform for High Speed industrial network	Dr. Alexander Zorkaltsev	Research of various network traffic types, redundancy techniques and protocols for industrial networks, Develop HDL model (Verilog/VHDL/SystemC) and simulate of fault-tolerance technique for high availability Industrial networks. SW/HW Prototyping and integration. HDL model will be used as a platform for industrial control device
Department of Philosophy and Sociology
Development of design solutions for monitoring the well-being of people with loss of autonomy	Dr. Elena Pokrovskaya	System analysis of well-being environment, monitoring of the well-being environment development, creation of a "map of the future" - the desired image of the well-being environment, creation of the organizational-design decisions, based on the capacity for evolutionary development in the context of changing social conditions
Development of applications and technology-supported activities helping to improve positive perception of the world as a key element of well-being	Dr. Elena Pokrovskaya Dr. Larissa Smolyakova	Development of separate modules of training programs for work with a positive "self-concept", the friendly way of the world, the belief about the possibility of the author's position in life, etc. Development of actions aimed at increasing the positive perception of the world. Testing, analysis, results’ discussion and conclusions
Conceptual approaches to the management of information sphere of society	Dr. Elena Pokrovskaya	Study of information sphere of society as an instrument for social control. Some basic concepts’ functional definitions, study of the current stage peculiarities of evolution of information technologies and social control, consideration of issues of the mass consciousness information control through the media
Department of History and Social Work
Social and Educational Inclusion of Disabled Persons in Russia	Dr. Maksim Bersenev	The internship is focused on the experience of social and educational inclusion of people with disabilities in Russia. The logic of the internship is built from general to specific, from theory to practice. The theoretical basis of the course is the ecological approach and the author's concept of the subjective worlds of disabled people. Trainees will receive initial information about the methodological and ethical restrictions and recommendations when working with this category of people. The practical block of lectures will consist of an analysis of Russian legislation and an overview of the practice of inclusion in Russia using the educational environment as an example.

* The complete list of projects, their detailed description and other relevant information about the teams is available here, in Russian language only. For more information in English, please contact us.