SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ICT & ELECTRONICS

Fourth Year Project Proposal Guide

2023

Prepared by Dr F.J Kiwa

Communication email: [email protected]

Submission: https://classroom.google.com/c/NjE1ODAwMDY4MDc1?cjc=dw2lh4g

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Format of the Proposal

• Proposal should be between 10-15 pages

• 1.5 line spacing
• Times new Roman
• Size 12
• APA referencing
• Cover page contents
– Project title
– Member names and email addresses

1.0 Introduction
Introduce your topic by summarising what is in your proposal.

2.0 Background
Provide enough background (Bisandu, 2019) to understand what the project is all about. Provide
some background research on the topic on what is already known. What has already been
concluded by other researches? Describe issues surrounding your research. Include some
references. Provide evidence that there is a problem.

3.0 Problem Statement

3.1 What is a Problem Statement?
A problem statement is usually one (Ferworn, 2007; Setzer, 2015; Younis and Abdelaziz, 2018)
or two sentences to explain the problem your project will address.
A “Problem Statement” is a description of difficulty or lack that needs to be solved or at least
researched to see whether a solution can be found.

It can also be described as either a gap between the real and the desired or a contradiction
between principle and practice. A problem statement is a concise description of the problem or
issues a project seeks to address. The problem statement identifies the current state, the desired
future state and any gaps between the two.

What problem are you solving? First state the problem you intend to solve. Indicate how it
might be useful. What is the ideal scenario? How do you propose to solve it? What is the

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underlying issue that led to proposing this project? Is there a strong need for the application
(WHY), or is there a gap in the knowledge of how to apply a given algorithm or methodology?

3.2 Key Elements of a Problem Statement

1. Ideal situation
What the ideal situation would be if there wasn't a problem you needed to address. This
section identifies the goals and scope of the project are. This section should create a clear
understanding of what the ideal environment will be once the issue has been resolved.

2. Reality
• What the current reality?
• What is the problem is?
• Why it is a problem ?
• Why is it important that to fix the problem?
• What impact does it have on the business or customer?
• What impact does it have on all stakeholders, e.g. employees, suppliers,
customers, shareholders, etc.
• Who is affected/ impacted by the problem? Specific groups, organizations,
customers, etc.
• When and where the problem was identified?
• Where is the issue occurring? Only in certain locations, processes, products, etc.
• When does the issue occur?
• When does it need to be fixed?

3. Consequences
• What the consequences of the problem?
• What are the effects of the problem?
• How are the people affected by the problem?
• What will happen when it is fixed?
• What would happen if we didn‟t solve the problem?
• What impact is the issue causing? E.g loss of time, money, resources, competitive
advantage, productivity and more…..
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4. Proposal
• What is the possible solution to the problem no need to be specific? How do you
propose to solve?

3.3 Problem Statement Examples

Title: Employee/ visitor/suspect recognition from CCTV footages
Statement:
CCTV cameras are fitted on our every building but video footages from them are
currently just dumped. No application is available which can automatically recognize
facial images in CCTV footage and compare it with the photo database of our employees
to identify the person in real time. Availability of such an application could be useful for
security reasons to identify suspects /visitors/trespassers. This can be used to locate the
position of staff in our premises, who is not on his seat and required urgently at some
place.

Title: Ensuring timely Parcel delivery and collecting customer’s feedback for the
offered services in tamperproof manner
Statement Currently, postman delivers a parcel and takes signature from customer in
paper format. No live/online feedback mechanism is available to check customer‟s
satisfaction. Also chances are that postmen can tamper with the feedback to suit their
requirements. We wish to have a fool proof system which will enable use to collect
customer‟s feedback without allowing postman to tamper with the feedback

Title: E-Toll System

Statement: Traffic congestion at Toll Plazas is creating huge economical loss in terms of
fuel wastage apart from adding to environmental pollution. An application may be
developed to have QR equipped Payment Receipt for long distance vehicles which can be
scanned at the QR readers installed at unmanned toll lanes for passing through the toll
gates.

Title: Reducing burden of head load for villagers

Statement: Many of the villagers do not have road access up to their houses, many of
them will have to head load it for more an a kilometre at times. This load are carried
uphill on the back or using basket on their head which put the whole weight on the body
and at the same time they will have to walk uphill.
What we want: A device which will carry heavy load between 50 kg to 200 kg and can
run on Cement Concrete Foot-path which has stairs or a device which can reduce the
burden of the load from the body and the weight of the item is taken by the device etc.

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4.0 Aim and Objectives
4.1 Aim
An aim is a summarised single sentence of what you hope to achieve at the end of the research.
You should have one aim only
E.g
The aim of this project is to develop neural network algorithms for sentiment analysis in text...”
Or
The aim of the project is to develop an automatic home intruder detector

4.2 Objectives:
Objectives are the successive steps you take in order to achieve your research aim. It should be
an action that addresses some gap or existing problem. Objectives define the what, why, who,
when and how questions. You should check your objectives regularly during your research
project to ensure you are staying focused, and decide if you need to review or revise them. What
do you want to design, implement, evaluate, prove, demonstrate, analyse, test, investigate or
examine? List your project aims and objectives in a logical sequence. State clearly what is to be
accomplished? For computer science-based projects the main actions of researchers are to define
the problem, design the solution, implement the solution, test the solution and evaluate the
solution. Make sure you have project objectives not system objectives, system objectives will
appear in the requirements engineering.

Examples of Objectives
 To analyse intruder detector algorithms
 To design an android-based detector system
 To implement an android based detector system
 To evaluate android based detector system

SMART Objectives

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Once you have defined your objectives, consider whether each is attainable and if the number of
objectives is realistic (as a guide, there should be between three and five objectives derived from
the aim). Your research aim and objectives should be SMART:

• Specific – be precise about what you are going to do.

• Measureable – what evidence will you have that you have reached your goal?
• Achievable – Don‟t attempt too much. A less ambitious but completed objective is better
than an over-ambitious one that you cannot possibly achieve.
• Realistic – do you have the necessary resources (time, money, skills etc) to achieve the
objective?
• Time constrained – determine when each stage needs to be completed. Is there time in
your schedule to allow for unexpected delays?

5.0 Literature Review/ Related Work

See how to craft a literature review as presented Fourth Year Final Project Documentation Guide
2022

How does this relate to other work in this area? What work does it build on? Describe any theory
associated with the problem area. What are the existing solutions relevant to the problem area,
and why these are unsuitable or insufficient in this particular case? The literature review should
highlight methodology, major findings, and gaps/issues
At least 5 published articles from journals and textbooks provide the current problem. Any
published work, both general and specific, that relates to the problem and past solutions to the
problem.

6.0 Methodology
See how to craft methodology as presented Fourth Year Final Project Documentation Guide
2022

The methodology is the general strategy that outlines the way in which the project is to be
undertaken and, among other things, identifies the methods to be used in it.

How do you anticipate achieving project objectives? What do you need (specify any special
equipment, software or material)? Can you access necessary data or expertise from open sources
or you need to purchase them? What are the likely stakeholders within the problem area; Do you
require particular resources? Are there barriers or pitfalls? Expected outcomes, significance or
rationale Why is it important? What do you expect it will deliver? What is the plan for evaluating

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your methodology? What needs to be done to build on the foundation of the work that has been
cited in the literature review? Describe the software and hardware that you will need in order to
complete the project.

Some examples of Methodologies to consider

Empirical/Experimental
• conduct experiment to test theories.
• Used in the fields of
– artificial neural networks, - implementing new social network using concepts
from existing social networks
– automating theorem proving,
– natural languages,
– analyzing performances and behaviors
– Human Computer Interface

Computer Simulation Method

• this method is normally used for complex phenomena that cannot be implemented in
laboratories or maybe too expensive
• Uses computer simulations to address question difficult to answer in the real application.
• To investigate systems that are outside of the experimental domain fields:
– Computer networks e.g. Developing a new protocol.
– Computer hardware
– virtual reality

Theoretical Method/ Formal methods and mathematical proof

• based on logic and mathematics.
• Output is data models (conceptual model) and Algorithms.
• Uses formal mathematical methods to prove a system has given properties, or to design a
system which has those properties main techniques when dealing with problems are
iteration, recursion and induction.
• For example to develop a new classifier in AI by using the mathematical representation
and theoretical method, you need to prove the efficiency of this model.

Implementation and Build driven research

• Methods suitable for software engineering (designing software).
• Goal is to produce some artefact, a software system, a data set etc
– Design Science Research
– Constructive Research – research based upon theories, to test theories.

7.0 Justification/Significance of the Study

Why are you solving the problem? What is its contribution to societal problems? Academic body
of knowledge?
 The purpose of significance of the study is to make clear why your study was needed and the
specific contribution your research made to furthering academic knowledge in your field.

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 State clearly why this research is important, what the benefits will be and how your work will
contribute to knowledge in your field. This may include commercial benefits, changes in
current practice, a new perspective on an old issue or other benefits to the community.
 You need to indicate why it is significant and how it advances understanding of the issues
under discussion
 Justification based on what other researchers have found
 Justification based on personal or workplace experiences
 Justification based on the experiences that others have had in the workplace

8.0 Limitations Delimitations

A limitation is a constraint/restriction/challenge beyond your control on the approach to be
adopted. Usually, you identify some challenges that you meet during the course of the research.

Delimitations are boundaries or the scope of your project. What aspects of your system are you
going to change and what is going to remain? Your problem statement should guide you.

9.0 Roles
Each team member will be responsible for specific roles in order to complete the project on time.
Identify subtopics within a topic and assign to teams members e.g.

Member Description Sub problem/ system

Fungai J Kiwa Design and implement the assessment module for the online tutorial
Tania Kiwa Design and implementation of the online course evaluation
Francisca Design and implement notification system for the intruder detection
Kiwa system
NB. Every member should play a role in the design and implementation of the whole
system. Your supervisor should help you to come up with various sub problems/system

10.0 Work Plan

Indicate the timeframe for each broad stage considering literature surveys, modelling,
review, analysis, design, testing, reporting, chapters for thesis/project writing, and
submission. Specify dates by which you intend to complete each stage.

11.0 Conclusion
Provide a summary of what you have done or the contents of the proposal, and what is
your next step.

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12.0 Reference List
References at least 10 published articles using APA referencing style.

Bisandu, D. B. (2019) „Design Science Research Methodology in Computer Science and

Information Systems‟, International Journal of Information Technology, (November
2016), pp. 1–7.

Demeyer, S. (2011) „Research methods in computer science‟, in 2011 27th IEEE

International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM). IEEE, pp. 600–600. doi:
10.1109/ICSM.2011.6080841.

Ferworn, A. (2007) „Choosing a Computer Science research problem‟, in Research

Methods for Computer Science. Department of Computer Science, Ryerson University,
pp. 10–14.

Freitas, R. (2009) „Scientific Research Methods and Computer Science‟, in MAPI

Seminars Workshop 2009. Available at: http://map.edu.pt/i/2008/map-i-research-
methods-workshop-2009/RicardoFreitasFinal.pdf.

Setzer, A. (2015) „Research Methodologies in Computer Science‟, Computer Science.

Younis, F. and Abdelaziz, T. M. (2018) „Writing IT Project Proposal document‟.