INT 111 Engineering Disciplines Lecture 2

INT 111 Engineering Disciplines: History and Concepts - Lecture #2: ECE Design with Constraints and Ethics

• Course name: INT 111 Engineering Disciplines: History and Concepts
• Lecture number: 2
• Lecture topic: ECE Design with Constraints and Ethics
• Lecturer: Mohamed Saeed Darweesh
• Lecturer's title: Associate Professor
• Lecturer's affiliation: Electronics and Computer Engineering Program, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nile University
• Lecturer's memberships: IEEE R8 Young Professionals Member, IEEE Egypt Section Secretary

ECE Lectures

• Introduction to ECE
• ECE History
• CE History
• Design Standards in ECE
• ECE Design Thinking
• ECE Design with Multiple Constraints
• ECE Ethics
• ECE/CE Safety

Motivation

• Motivation video referenced (link provided)

Design Thinking

• A cyclical process
• Involves: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test
• Applicable to ECE design problems

ECE Design Thinking Examples

• Example #1: Designing a wearable device for remote health monitoring, highlighting multiple constraints like size, weight, battery life, cost and regulations
• Example #2: Designing the Autopilot feature in Tesla cars, balancing cost, performance and safety regulations

Design Thinking Definition

• A human-centered approach to solving engineering problems
• Emphasizes creativity, iteration, and empathy for the end-user
• Used in ECE to develop innovative solutions, addressing complex problems and considering technical and human factors.
• Combined with Design with Multiple Constraints helps engineers address real-world limitations like cost, materials, time, and environmental impact.

Key Concepts for ECE Design Thinking

• Empathize: Understand users' needs and how they interact with technology, or the impact of electrical systems
• Define: Clearly outline problems based on collected insights regarding, technical requirements (e.g. circuit design that maximizes energy while being affordable);
• Ideate: Brainstorm potential solutions, for example finding approaches to reduce energy consumption in IoT devices (internet of things);
• Prototype: Create models to rapidly test ideas (circuit simulations for example), for example, prototyping a wireless communication system.
• Test: Refine designs through feedback, including real-world usage, simulations (models of the physical world), or failure testing

Design with Multiple Constraints

• ECE engineers must balance various constraints during design. These constraints include:
  • Technical Performance: Ensuring the system efficiently performs its intended function (e.g. speed, power consumption)
  • Cost: Efficient budget management during development and production
  • Regulatory Compliance: Adhering to industry standards (safety, environmental codes)
  • Scalability and Flexibility: Ability to adapt to future needs (e.g. handling growing data traffic)
  • Sustainability: Incorporating eco-friendly components and energy-saving strategies

Ethics

• Ethical dilemmas in Autonomous Vehicles (self-driving cars):
  • Deciding how autonomous vehicles respond to dangerous situations (e.g., the Trolley Problem)

The Trolley Problem

• A thought experiment highlighting ethical dilemmas in decision-making
• Scenario involving a runaway trolley and the need to choose between harming one person or many.

Utilitarian Analysis

• Weighing the pros and cons of potential outcomes to determine the best overall outcome (greatest net increase in overall welfare)
• Theoretically implementable in a computer system

Problems with Utilitarian Analysis

• Ineffective if important information is omitted or incomplete
• Requires potentially difficult valuations of human life (determining which life is "worth" more) even when trying to pick the least bad outcome

Another Problem: Consequentialism

• Acknowledging that while we can choose our actions, we cannot choose the consequences that may arise from them
• Emphasizes the importance of careful consideration in decision-making, even with limited information

A New Class of Victims

• Future shift in automobile accident victims.
• Potential increase in pedestrian and cyclist deaths versus fewer deaths of drivers.
• Raises ethical questions about societal acceptance of certain risk profiles.

Ethical Dilemmas in Autonomous Vehicles (Self-Driving Cars)

• Challenges for ECE engineers
• Need to program machines to make life-or-death decisions (weighing passenger safety vs. pedestrian safety, or other driver safety)
• Creating systems that are both technically sound and socially ethical (handling real-world emergencies)

Ethics for ECE

• Ethics are crucial in shaping the behavior of ECE engineers
• Ensuring that engineering work benefits society and respects rights/fairness, including honesty
• Addressing complex engineering challenges (such as privacy, environmental sustainability)

Ethics for CE

• Ensuring that computer engineers' work is used for good and benefits society
• Promoting computer engineering as beneficial and respected profession
• Adherence to Codes of Ethics and Professional Practice

Ethics for CE (AI Systems)

• Designing AI systems that treat all patients fairly (considering specific demographic, and sensitive data handling)
• Avoiding bias in AI systems trained on potentially biased data
• Understanding the ethical implications of using AI to diagnose disease, ensuring fairness and the safe handling of sensitive data (which leads to both legal and moral responsibilities).

Safety

• Crucial for ECE designs
• Reliability, hazards minimization and user safety
• Safety protocols for systems integration

Key Concepts in ECE Safety

• Electrical safety

  • Recognizing and mitigating electrical risks (electric shock, short circuits, arc flashes) requires using proper equipment, like protective gear
  • Proper treatment of all electrical components as live.
  • Protective gear usage when handling high voltage systems.
  • Proper grounding and bonding

• Design for Safety

  • Implementing measures like circuit breakers and fuses
  • Incorporating redundancy in critical components
  • Following safe design practices to prevent catastrophic failures(de-rating, fail-safes)

• Data Privacy and Security

  • Protecting user data

• Intellectual Property

  • Respecting intellectual property

• Bias in algorithms & AI

  • Ethical considerations about biases in training data for AI/ML algorithms

Where to find me

• Contact Information (Office and Email)

Thank You

This quiz covers Lecture #2 of INT 111 Engineering Disciplines, focusing on ECE design with constraints and ethics. It discusses various concepts, including design thinking and applicable examples in electronic and computer engineering. Suitable for students interested in understanding the ethical implications of engineering design.