Young Electrical Work

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Product Lifecycle The vice president of sales at FitBit has asked you to help senior management in the company learn about the complete lifecycle of the Fitbit Sense smart fitness device. Senior management refers to the group of people who make decisions about the short and long-term goals of the company and setting the vision of how to reach them. You are a computer engineer on the product development team who contributes to the activities that will support meeting those goals and vision. In your role as a computer engineer you helped design the electronic sensors (e.g. measure heart rate, activity, and blood oxygen), designed the printed circuit boards, and coordinated with another company to get them fabricated and assembled. During your work, you focused exclusively on the technical elements of the FitBit such as how to pick the most accurate sensors, how to keep costs low, and how to choose the best materials to prevent heat and electrical currents from transferring to a person wearing the device. During your design work ,you referred to technical standards about the safe levels of electrical current that can be transferred to the human body. But you did not look at any standards or regulations related to fabrication or assembly of the FitBit. At other companies you previously worked the mechanical engineers on the team typically did those tasks after you shared a design with them (so you thought that would also happen here). Also, you felt a lot of pressure to move onto your next project which was being promoted internally as critical to meeting sales goals for the company (which can lead to financial bonuses for all the engineering teams).

Senior management needs a summary of the major stages of the product lifecycle of the FitBit devices from mineral extraction to end of life. They have specifically asked for details of the stakeholders, important regulations, guiding ethics, and potential for harm. They will use this information to develop new short and long term goals for FitBit and necessary product revisions.

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Instructions and Deliverables: The following instructions and questions are to help guide you through preparing the requested details. You will upload your answers to each of these questions on Blackboard. While you can work with a partner to discuss each question, both partners must submit their own answers written in their own words. For all short-answer questions you must use complete sentences with appropriate language for the course. Spelling is important for all fill-in-the-blank style questions, so pay careful attention when entering your answers to those style of questions.

1) To help you "remember" about your FitBit design you will need to review the electrical components that are used in it. To start, navigate to the iFixit.com website: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/FitBit+Surge+Teardown/42344 which has a tear-down of a Fitbit Surge. From this website, select an appropriate photo that clearly shows the electrical components and printed circuit board.

• Save this figure to your computer. Using this saved figure, edit it to indicate and label:

o One example of a resistor; o One example of a capacitor; o One example of an integrated circuit; o The printed circuit board.

• To help you identify these on the photo, remember that the course notes have details about what resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits look like.

• Additionally, the silkscreen text shown on PCBs can also help identify types of components. Read the information about Reference Designators here to help:

o https://www.ultralibrarian.com/2021/05/25/common-pcb-component- codes-to-know-ulc

• If you have never edited a photo before, review the following resources may help: o https://krispitech.com/how-to-add-arrows-to-pictures/ o https://www.techuntold.com/add-arrows-to-pictures/

• After editing, save and upload your revised photo to Blackboard as the submission for this question.

o iFixit licenses all their content under the under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike license (https://www.ifixit.com/Info/Licensing), which means we can use their website photos for this non-commercial class project (but we need to make sure to attribute them and add a link to iFixit.com).

Considering the capacitors in the FitBit surge: 2) What is the name of one conflict mineral referenced in the course notes that is necessary to build capacitors? 3) What is the name of the country that produces the largest amount of this mineral? 4) What is one example of a government regulation referenced in the course that impacts the minerals required for capacitors? In your own words, what is this regulation intended to do?

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Considering the printed circuit boards (PCBs) in the FitBit surge: 5) What is one location (region and country) in the world where printed circuit boards could be processed in a PCB recycling workshop if they enter the informal recycling network?

• Use the research article related to e-waste that you have already reviewed for a previous assignment in the course for help with this question.

6) What is one example of a government regulation (provide its complete name, no abbreviations) referend in the course that impacts printed circuit boards? In your own words, what is this regulation intended to do? Considering the overall lifecycle of the FitBit surge: 7) What do you think the ethical problems related to the lifecycle of the FitBit surge are?

8) What IEEE code of ethic do you think is most relevant to this situation? 9) If more than one IEEE code of ethic is relevant, what do you think is the second most relevant to this situation? 10) Why did you select these IEEE codes of ethics? What information helped in your decision? 11) What additional information (if any) would be helpful to clarify what the ethical problems of this situation are? Considering either the Material Extraction phase OR End-of-Life phase of the FitBit Surge Product Lifecycle: 12) Name all the groups of people that you think have a stake in this phase. That is, they are either directly involved in making decisions or are impacted by decisions or actions at this stage. Be sure to note which category (decision-maker or impacted) each of your named groups of people belong to. 13) Name and describe at least 2 examples of harm that can occur at this phase. For each, note the type of harm it is (using the definitions of harm that are in the course notes and have been discussed in class). For each harm also name the group of people impacted. Be clear, specific, and detailed in your answers.

14) Considering one of the harms you described in the previous question, what are 2 actions that you could take as a computer engineer on the project to reduce them? In addition to the people who will be impacted by reducing each harm, what other groups of people may be impacted by these action and how?

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Recommendations:

15) From your review of the overall life-cycle of the FitBit surge what are details do you think are most important to share with the executive team to help their future planning? Be clear and specific with your answer using details from your answers to the previous questions in this case study to support your recommendation.

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Product Lifecycle The vice president of sales at FitBit has asked you to help senior management in the company learn about the complete lifecycle of the Fitbit Sense smart fitness device. Senior management refers to the group of people who make decisions about the short and long-term goals of the company and setting the vision of how to reach them. You are a computer engineer on the product development team who contributes to the activities that will support meeting those goals and vision. In your role as a computer engineer you helped design the electronic sensors (e.g. measure heart rate, activity, and blood oxygen), designed the printed circuit boards, and coordinated with another company to get them fabricated and assembled. During your work, you focused exclusively on the technical elements of the FitBit such as how to pick the most accurate sensors, how to keep costs low, and how to choose the best materials to prevent heat and electrical currents from transferring to a person wearing the device. During your design work ,you referred to technical standards about the safe levels of electrical current that can be transferred to the human body. But you did not look at any standards or regulations related to fabrication or assembly of the FitBit. At other companies you previously worked the mechanical engineers on the team typically did those tasks after you shared a design with them (so you thought that would also happen here). Also, you felt a lot of pressure to move onto your next project which was being promoted internally as critical to meeting sales goals for the company (which can lead to financial bonuses for all the engineering teams).

Senior management needs a summary of the major stages of the product lifecycle of the FitBit devices from mineral extraction to end of life. They have specifically asked for details of the stakeholders, important regulations, guiding ethics, and potential for harm. They will use this information to develop new short and long term goals for FitBit and necessary product revisions.

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Instructions and Deliverables: The following instructions and questions are to help guide you through preparing the requested details. You will upload your answers to each of these questions on Blackboard. While you can work with a partner to discuss each question, both partners must submit their own answers written in their own words. For all short-answer questions you must use complete sentences with appropriate language for the course. Spelling is important for all fill-in-the-blank style questions, so pay careful attention when entering your answers to those style of questions.

1) To help you "remember" about your FitBit design you will need to review the electrical components that are used in it. To start, navigate to the iFixit.com website: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/FitBit+Surge+Teardown/42344 which has a tear-down of a Fitbit Surge. From this website, select an appropriate photo that clearly shows the electrical components and printed circuit board.

• Save this figure to your computer. Using this saved figure, edit it to indicate and label:

o One example of a resistor; o One example of a capacitor; o One example of an integrated circuit; o The printed circuit board.

• To help you identify these on the photo, remember that the course notes have details about what resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits look like.

• Additionally, the silkscreen text shown on PCBs can also help identify types of components. Read the information about Reference Designators here to help:

o https://www.ultralibrarian.com/2021/05/25/common-pcb-component- codes-to-know-ulc

• If you have never edited a photo before, review the following resources may help: o https://krispitech.com/how-to-add-arrows-to-pictures/ o https://www.techuntold.com/add-arrows-to-pictures/

• After editing, save and upload your revised photo to Blackboard as the submission for this question.

o iFixit licenses all their content under the under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike license (https://www.ifixit.com/Info/Licensing), which means we can use their website photos for this non-commercial class project (but we need to make sure to attribute them and add a link to iFixit.com).

Considering the capacitors in the FitBit surge: 2) What is the name of one conflict mineral referenced in the course notes that is necessary to build capacitors? 3) What is the name of the country that produces the largest amount of this mineral? 4) What is one example of a government regulation referenced in the course that impacts the minerals required for capacitors? In your own words, what is this regulation intended to do?

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Considering the printed circuit boards (PCBs) in the FitBit surge: 5) What is one location (region and country) in the world where printed circuit boards could be processed in a PCB recycling workshop if they enter the informal recycling network?

• Use the research article related to e-waste that you have already reviewed for a previous assignment in the course for help with this question.

6) What is one example of a government regulation (provide its complete name, no abbreviations) referend in the course that impacts printed circuit boards? In your own words, what is this regulation intended to do? Considering the overall lifecycle of the FitBit surge: 7) What do you think the ethical problems related to the lifecycle of the FitBit surge are?

8) What IEEE code of ethic do you think is most relevant to this situation? 9) If more than one IEEE code of ethic is relevant, what do you think is the second most relevant to this situation? 10) Why did you select these IEEE codes of ethics? What information helped in your decision? 11) What additional information (if any) would be helpful to clarify what the ethical problems of this situation are? Considering either the Material Extraction phase OR End-of-Life phase of the FitBit Surge Product Lifecycle: 12) Name all the groups of people that you think have a stake in this phase. That is, they are either directly involved in making decisions or are impacted by decisions or actions at this stage. Be sure to note which category (decision-maker or impacted) each of your named groups of people belong to. 13) Name and describe at least 2 examples of harm that can occur at this phase. For each, note the type of harm it is (using the definitions of harm that are in the course notes and have been discussed in class). For each harm also name the group of people impacted. Be clear, specific, and detailed in your answers.

14) Considering one of the harms you described in the previous question, what are 2 actions that you could take as a computer engineer on the project to reduce them? In addition to the people who will be impacted by reducing each harm, what other groups of people may be impacted by these action and how?

ECE 121-001 M2 - Lifecycle

Revision: 3 Revision Date: 3-Feb-2025

Recommendations:

15) From your review of the overall life-cycle of the FitBit surge what are details do you think are most important to share with the executive team to help their future planning? Be clear and specific with your answer using details from your answers to the previous questions in this case study to support your recommendation.