L38 — Final Project Work Day

L38 — Final Project Work Day#

No new theory today. The period belongs to your paper: get the IEEE template compiling, learn what AI may and may not do inside it, cite the course, and write. The complete draft is due as a PDF through Teams at the start of L39, where a classmate reviews it against the rubric.

Where you stand#

L38 — today: work day.
L39, start of class — complete draft (PDF, through Teams). In class you review one classmate’s draft, and one classmate reviews yours.
L40: revision work day.
L41, start of class: final paper, response-to-reviewer table, code, and any AI transcripts, through Teams.

Late deliverables need coordination with the instructor at least 24 hours before the deadline; otherwise they receive a zero.

The project is sized at about 8 hours in all, with the three class periods L38, L39 and L40 included — about five and a half hours outside class for the analysis and the paper. The tasks as written are the whole scope: there are no sensitivities or extensions to add. If you are well past that budget, ask for help early.

A complete draft has every section written, every figure in place, and a lesson from every block cited for its claim. Rough prose is fine at L39; missing pieces are not, because your reviewer can only review what is there.

The IEEE template#

Start on Overleaf#

Download FinalProject_IEEE_Template.zip (below, or from the Final Project page).
In Overleaf: New Project → Upload Project, and choose the zip.
In the Overleaf menu, set the compiler to pdfLaTeX and the main document to main.tex.
Recompile. A two-page PDF — title, five sections, both tables, three placeholder figures, references — means it works.

Local MacTeX works too: pdflatex main, bibtex main, then pdflatex main twice (or latexmk -pdf main). The zip’s README.txt has both routes.

File	What it is
`main.tex`	The paper on the `IEEEtran` journal class, pre-filled: the five sections, Sec. III’s statement of the method (all but one sentence), Table I and Table II with their rows, and the three figures. You write the rest of the prose, fill every “–” and finish the captions. The `%` lines are guidance — delete them as you write
`refs.bib`	Your references: two course-lesson entries to copy, and optional external-source examples
`figures/`	`laydown.pdf`, `fronts.pdf`, `support.pdf` — placeholders that the toolkit’s plot helpers overwrite
`ResponseToReviewers.tex`	The one-page response-to-reviewer table, due with the final paper at L41

What each section reports#

Section	What it reports	Tasks
Abstract, Index Terms	The problem, your method, your key numbers, your recommendation — write it last	—
I Introduction	The problem, why it matters, your contribution, a roadmap	—
II Scenario and Models	The scenario in your own words; the models, stated as models and cited to the lessons that taught them; the threat picture at the handout’s given heading (Fig. 1); each site’s chain to \(\lambda\) (Table I)	T1, T2
III Route-Planning Method	Given in the template: the method the handout prescribes. You write one sentence, why the graph must be directed, and edit the method only if your work departs from it	T3, T4
IV Results	\(P_S\) by leg and the binding threat; both Pareto fronts and the fuel-limited choice (Fig. 2); the support menu’s \(P_S\) and \(\Delta P_S\), with rows for the unsupported route and the aspect-blind plan’s promised / true \(P_S\) (Table II); your pick against its nearest rival, over the victim’s jammed contour (Fig. 3)	T2–T4
V Recommendation and Limitations	The route to fly and the risk it leaves; where your models break, including one L37 trend	R
References, Appendix A	Your citations; Appendix A only if you cite an external source	lessons

Page rule: at most 2 pages in the two-column format, excluding the References and any appendix: three figures and two tables — the ones named above, already in the template — and about 700 words of prose, of which Sec. III’s ~115 come written. The aspect-blind comparison has no figure; it is Table II’s last row and your text. Do not change the class options, fonts, margins or figure widths to make it fit — cut words instead.

Figures, equations and references#

The template already holds the figures and the tables; it carries one worked example of an equation and of a lesson citation.

Figures. The toolkit’s plot helpers — FPToolkit.plotLaydown, plotFronts and plotRoute — draw the three figures at one-column width and write them to figures/laydown.pdf, fronts.pdf and support.pdf, the names the template already includes; on Overleaf, upload them into figures/ over the placeholders. Check that every axis carries its quantity and unit, and finish each caption with the sentence that says what the reader should see.
Equations. Number every equation you refer to, \label it, and point at it with \eqref. Define every symbol right after the equation.
References. Each lesson or source is one entry in refs.bib; cite it by its key with \cite. BibTeX numbers the list in the order you cite, and only entries you cite are printed. An online source needs its URL and the date you opened it.
Units. Write quantities with siunitx: \qty{123.4}{km}, and units in table headers in brackets.

\begin{figure}[t]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{figures/laydown}
  \caption{Threat picture at the given heading. What the reader should see.}
  \label{fig:laydown}
\end{figure}
... as Fig.~\ref{fig:laydown} shows; with \eqref{eq:hazard}, risk adds along a route~\cite{lesson34}.

Using AI inside the rules#

The handout’s Use of AI paragraph governs the paper. In short: AI may typeset your own work — turn your text, equations, tables and figures into LaTeX, fix compile errors, format BibTeX entries — and may point out errors in your writing that you then fix yourself. It may not write or rewrite your prose, analysis, conclusions, recommendation, or source vetting. AI is not a source. If you use AI in any way, a copy of (or a link to) every transcript goes in with your code. The handout’s appendix of sample AI prompts shows allowed requests, including ones for the MATLAB toolkit, FPToolkit.m.

Allowed	Not allowed
“Turn this table I wrote into a LaTeX table.”	“Write my Results section.”
“Why won’t this compile?”	“Rewrite this paragraph to sound better.”
“Format this reference as a BibTeX entry.”	“Summarize these papers for my Background.”
“Point out the grammar errors in my paragraph.” — then you fix them	“Write the paragraph that explains my Pareto front.”

The words and the judgments in the paper are yours.

Citing the course#

The paper’s source requirement is the course itself: cite at least one lesson from each block — so at least four lesson citations — and cite each one in the sentence whose specific claim it supports. A lesson cited once in a closing “this work builds on” sentence supports nothing a reader can check.

Block	Lessons you can cite
Block 1 — Radar Fundamentals	L1–L8
Block 2 — RF Electronic Warfare	L11–L18
Block 3 — IR EW and Signature Management	L21–L28
Block 4 — Aircraft Survivability and Mission Planning	L31–L37

Cite a lesson in the IEEE form below; the template’s refs.bib has two lesson entries (L3 and L34) to copy. Title each one “Lesson N:” followed by the lesson’s name — “Lesson 34: Optimal Path Planning” — and open the URL to check it.

J. Jurado, “Lesson 34: Optimal Path Planning,” ECE 495: Electromagnetic Warfare and Survivability, U.S. Air Force Academy, Fall 2026. [Online]. Available: https://usafa-ece.github.io/ece-495-ew/block04/L34.html

External sources are optional#

You may also cite sources beyond the course — a textbook, a journal or conference paper, documentation. If you do:

Publicly released sources only — no classified, CUI or export-controlled material, wherever you found it. Every scenario number in the project is notional.
Cite only what you have opened and read, and only for a claim it actually supports. AI is not a source.
Give each one a one-line vetting in Appendix A (what it is, who wrote or published it, its date, and that it is publicly released). Course lessons need no row; with no external sources, leave Appendix A out.

An external source can add to your lesson citations; it never replaces a block.

The rubric#

Line	Points
Threat picture and survival metric (T1, T2)	15
Route results and the aspect-blind comparison (T3)	25
Support package and recommendation (T4, R)	20
Writing, figures and IEEE form	15
Course citations (≥ 1 lesson per block)	10
Peer review given (specific, accurate, rubric-anchored)	5
Response to reviewer	5
Code reproducibility	5
Total	100

There is no innovation bonus. The peer-review form you will use at L39 carries these same eight lines.

Materials#

Work the pre-flight before class — anyone can be called to the board.

Lesson slides (HTML deck)

FinalProject_IEEE_Template.zip — the IEEE paper template, ready to upload to Overleaf

Final Project - Sample Paper.pdf — every section at the depth expected, on a toy problem: a model of format and depth, not an answer

Final Project - Peer Review Form.pdf — the form your reviewer will use at L39

Final Project handout (PDF)

MATLAB bundle · L38_FinalProjectStarter.m↓

The starter, L38_FinalProjectStarter.m, is the plumbing — it reads the scenario, draws the map and runs a first route — and FPToolkit.m is the course’s MATLAB toolkit; the handout says what each provides. The analysis and every judgment in the paper are yours. The Final Project page has every scenario file on its own. The Sample Paper works a notional toy — one transit leg past two SAM sites — that is unrelated to the Final Project scenario: copy its structure and depth, not its numbers.

How to use the work day#

First 15 minutes — the brief, and your template compiling on Overleaf with your title and name.
Next 30 minutes — write the section you are furthest from, with its figure.
Last 5 minutes — check your draft against the list above: every section, every figure, a lesson from every block. Name your blocker before L39.

Next lesson: L39 — Peer Review. Your complete draft is due as a PDF through Teams at the start of class.

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