Report requirements

Project reports must satisfy all of the requirements listed in the following categories:

These requirements may evolve during the semester.

AIAA Format

Label Requirement
A1 It was unclear which template you used (word or latex). Please choose one and follow it exactly.
A2 There should be no additional lines between paragraphs.
A3 All paragraphs should be indented the same amount, exactly the amount specified in the template.
A4 Symbols in the nomenclature must be listed with units.
A5 You must choose either the word or latex template from AIAA and follow it exactly.
A8 All equations must have one blank line above and below them.
A10 Sources listed in the “References” section must be referenced within the text at least once to avoid redundancy.
A11 All external works referenced or utilized must be properly cited and listed in the “References” section in accordance with AIAA guidelines. (https://tinyurl.com/52tdx7wz)
A12 Do not use a screenshot of code.
A13 Figures must follow proper AIAA style.
A14 Move the code to the appendix or use pseudocode format if it is the best way to describe the algorithm.
A15 Visual errors must not be present. Please use either the word or latex template and follow it exactly.
A17 Code cannot be pasted as text and must be displayed in a code block.
A18 Equations or code in the “Appendix” section must be given proper and descriptive titles.
A19 Do not use images or screenshots of equations.
A20 Equations must be centered.
A21 Equations must be referenced as “Eq.” within a sentence, or as “Equation” at the beginning of a sentence.
A23 All text in the body of your report must be fully justified.
A24 The section order must follow the proper AIAA section order: Abstract, Nomenclature, Introduction, and so on.
A25 Each section title should be preceded by a Roman numeral corresponding to its order in the document.
A26 Each page must be numbered.
A27 The abstract should have neither a number nor a title.
A28 Each reference must be numbered.
A29 All body text must be in the same font size.
A31 The entire paper should be formatted using Times New Roman font.
A32 Bolding of the headings should be consistent throughout the report.
A33 Sources in the references section must be cited in AIAA format.
A36 There should be a space between figure captions and paragraphs
A37 There should not be a space between headings and the following text.
A39 Sources must be properly referenced in the text.
A40 Insert a space between the section number and the title.
A41 There should be no additional lines between sections.
A42 Use “Section X” when referring to a specific section.

Mathematics

Label Requirement
M1 All equations should be numbered in parentheses flush right.
M2 The number of significant figures (or digits after the decimal place) should be both consistent and reasonable.
M3 Inline equations must not be taller than the standard line height. If they are, make them block equations.
M4 Use symbols for greek letters rather than spelling them out.
M5 Write variables side-by-side to denote multiplication.
M6 Variables should be italic.
M7 Put indices, names, etc., of variables in subscripts or superscripts.
M8 Words in subscripts or superscripts should be non-italic.
M9 Function names (e.g., “sin” and “cos”) should be non-italic.
M10 Dots should be centered over variables, not also over subscripts or superscripts.
M11 Variables should be denoted by symbols and not by names that are used in python code.
M12 Names of units (whether or not they are abbreviated) should be non-italic.
M13 Names of matrices or vectors should not appear in brackets (only the elements of matrices or vectors should appear that way).
M14 Equation misses an equal sign.
M15 Put a space between the number and the unit.
M16 Units are incorrect.
M17 Matrix brackets are missing.
M18 Units are missing.
M19 Linearization is incorrect.
M20 Equations are presented in an unconventional way.
M21 Use “r x c” instead of “r * c” when describing the size of a matrix.
M22 Use an overdot notation instead of a prime (apostrophe) for derivatives.
M23 Do not use nested (double) brackets. Consolidate the brackets into a single set or otherwise clarify more your vector structure.
M24 Transposed matrices need a T superscript.
M25 Remove unnecessary space between the equal sign and the variables/constants to maintain proper alignment and formatting.
M26 The “q dot” term is missing.
M27 Undefined variable(s) or constant(s).
M28 The term is used incorrectly.
M29 The term should be “q dot.”
M30 Use consistent notation.
M31 Multiplication of units must include either a dot or space between variables.
M32 The plus-minus symbol (±) is used incorrectly.
M33 Use appropriate notation (e.g., summation) instead of writing equations in text form.
M34 Elements inside matrix brackets should not be in bold font, as they represent scalar values.
M35 Close the parenthesis to maintain correct formatting.
M36 Use a fraction instead of in-line division would improve readability.

Style

Label Requirement
S1 Spell out “and” rather than using an ampersand (i.e., the symbol “&”).
S2 Use of apostrophes must be correct (e.g., before the “s” for singular possession, after the “s” for plural possession, etc.).
S3 Do not use run-on sentences.
S4 Do not use sentence fragments.
S5 Parenthetical remarks should be separated by a space from the preceding word.
S6 Only indent the first line of each paragraph.
S7 Block equations are part of the text and are subject to the same rules for grammar and punctuation as everything else.
S8 There should be space between items (i.e., after each comma) in a comma-delimited list.
S9 Capitalization must be correct.
S10 Spelling must be correct.
S11 What comes before a colon or a semicolon must be a complete sentence.
S12 Missing comma.
S13 Verb tense must be correct.
S14 Do not put the word in quotations.
S15 Incorrect use of a colon.
S16 Avoid using a Roman name in place of a predefined Greek letter.
S17 Do not specify the exact package or function in the main text. Instead, briefly mention that you used it and add a reference (or footnote) for the package or function.
S19 The word “this” or “they” should be followed by a noun (e.g., “this robot” or “this result”).
S20 Do not denote items in a list with a “/.”
S21 Capitalization should be consistent.
S22 In Nomenclature, units should be listed at the end of the line.
S23 Hyphens should only connect words when required for clarity or standard usage.
S24 This is the incorrect use of a comma.
S25 This is missing a hyphen.
S26 Use parentheses or a colon for lists.
S27 Place punctuation inside quotation marks.
S28 This sentence has improper structure.
S29 This is the incorrect use of a word.
S30 There should not be a space between a word and any adjacent punctuation.
S32 There is a missing article.
S33 Quotation marks should not be mismatched.
S34 Sentences should end with a period.
S35 There is a missing preposition.
S36 Use parentheses only when the enclosed term matches the preceding term.
S38 Standard text should not be in bold.
S39 This is an improper use of parentheses around a word or a phrase.
S40 The semicolon is used incorrectly.
S41 The word “and” is missing after the last item of a list.
S42 Whole numbers under ten should be spelled out (e.g., “two” instead of “2”).
S44 The phrase is non-standard. Replace it with a standard expression (e.g., “with regard to” or “regarding” instead of “in regards to”).
S45 This is a comma splice.
S46 There should be no extraneous words that compromise the meaning of the intended statement (e.g. “I had to go at to the store.”)
S48 There should be no repeated punctuation.
S49 There should be no unnecessary punctuation.
S50 There should be a space between the end of a sentence or noun and its reference.
S52 “That” is required for grammatical correctness and clarity when introducing a noun clause.
S53 Do not use “had” when the simple past tense is clear and correct.
S54 Apostrophes must be included to indicate possession.
S55 Correct use of the possessive case must be used.

Figures and Tables

Label Requirement
F1 Plots must provide useful information (e.g., do not show a plot of a quantity that is constant or is always zero).
F2 Each figure or table must be referenced at least once by number in the text.
F3 Each figure or table must have a caption and a number.
F4 Legends must not cover up plots or obscure results.
F5 Labels in legends should be descriptive names (text) or symbols (math) and should not be code variables (e.g., with underscores).
F6 Figure captions must be written as one or more complete sentences that follow the same rules for grammar and punctuation as everything else.
F7 Plots should not have titles — descriptions should go in captions or subcaptions.
F9 The caption of a figure must be underneath the figure rather than above the figure.
F10 The caption of a table must be above the table rather than below the table.
F11 Table captions must be “definitive titles.” In other words, unlike figure captions, table captions must not be a complete sentence, must have only the first word capitalized, and must have no period or other punctuation at the end. (Example: “Table 1 Buckling results for blade-stiffened panels”)
F12 Use both different colors and different line styles to distinguish between lines in the same plot. Doing this makes plots readable for people with color blindness and makes plots more readable for everyone else.
F13 All lines in a plot should have a label in the legend.
F14 If two different lines in a plot show upper and lower bounds on the same quantity (e.g., minimum and maximum torque), these lines should have the same style and should correspond to only one label in the legend (rather than two labels, one for each line).
F15 Side-by-side plots — particularly ones that show results for comparison (e.g., results for different choices of initial condition) — should be the same size and should have the same axis limits.
F16 Subfigures should be referred to by letter (e.g., (a), (b), etc.) and not by position (e.g., “left” or “right”).
F17 Plots must be either vectorized images (e.g., PDF or SVG) or high-resolution rasterized images (e.g., PNG) and must not be screenshots or other low-resolution images.
F18 References to figures and tables in the text should be by number (e.g., “Fig. 1”, or “Figure 1” at the start of a sentence) and not by location (e.g., “the above figure”).
F19 Each figure or table must be numbered in the order of their appearance in the document.
F20 The font size of legends, axes, and captions should be both readable and close to the standard body text size.
F21 Tables should have lines to clearly separate each entry.
F22 The font of figure and table captions must only be bolded and the same size as standard body text.

Content

Label Requirement
C1 When describing performance, either use words that are widely understood to have a precise technical meaning or provide a definition yourself (i.e., say what you mean).
C2 Use an italic upper-case “K” to denote the gain matrix for linear state feedback (unless you clearly explain some alternative notation).
C3 Incorrect description of the system to be controlled.
C4 Specify both the “of what” and “with respect to what” when talking about derivatives (including Jacobians).
C5 The abstract should provide a summary of key results (usually quantitative) that were obtained. Placeholders can be used in drafts when final results aren’t available yet.
C6 Do not provide unnecessary information about the computer, programming language, application, etc., that you used for implementation.
C7 Theory should be in the Theory section, not also in the Introduction.
C8 Provide enough information about the system to be controlled (including a clear description, a schematic, and a citation, for example) so that readers will understand even if they have not previously seen or worked with that system.
C9 Linear state feedback should be negative (i.e., “-Kx” and not “Kx”) unless you clearly explain why you are taking a non-standard approach.
C10 Either follow the four-step process to put a system in state space form that is described on the reference pages of the course website (in exactly the order that is suggested) or clearly explain and justify whatever alternative approach you are taking.
C11 Our method of deriving a state space model requires linearizing about an equilibrium point that is both constant and known in advance. Any other method should be clearly explained and justified.
C12 Justify your choice of equilibrium point (making clear if other equilibrium points exist or if yours was the only possible choice).
C13 Be specific enough about your methods so that another engineer could reproduce them.
C14 Only the real or imaginary part of an eigenvalue can be positive or negative, not the eigenvalue itself.
C15 The choice of the gain matrix K and/or the rationale behind it are missing.
C16 The abstract should be self-contained and provide a clear yet concise description of the purpose of the work, the methods applied, and the results (preferably quantitative), along with the conclusion presented objectively.
C17 Do not provide unnecessary information for the introduction.
C18 Incorrect conclusion that the system won’t be asymptotically stable.
C19 Specify what the new term refers to or consider adding a reference to support the example.
C20 The provided feedback controller doesn’t have outputs.
C21 A nonlinear function cannot be identical to its linearized function.
C22 Do not use F as a linearized function since it’s already used for F(q).
C23 Introduce a new variable before using it unless it is defined in the nomenclature.
C24 Use specific criteria instead of subjective terms (i.e., good or bad).
C25 Do not provide too much details about the following sections in the introduction.
C26 In general, do not restate what has been said before unless summarizing main points in the conclusion.
C28 Describe what A and B refer to by using widely accepted academic terms like “system matrix” and “input matrix”, or explain their physical meaning, rather than just calling them “matrices”.
C29 Introduction should prepare the reader to understand the rest of your report and how it fits within a broader context.
C30 Explicitly state values being plugged in.
C31 Do not explain specific system details in the abstract without context, as it may confuse readers unfamiliar with the system.
C33 x and u are the state space vector and input vector, not m and n.
C34 The abstract does not align with the main body. (e.g., Some results mentioned in the abstract are not presented in the experimental results section.)
C35 This content would go in the Theory section rather than Experimental Results.
C36 Provide more details about the method you introduce, including the underlying theory.
C37 Nomenclature should include all relevant variables and their respective physical definitions.
C38 Use a widely accepted notation or define any new symbols clearly.
C39 q is not position. It could be generalized position.
C40 Definition of a variable is duplicated in the nomenclature.
C41 Justify why the new term needs to be introduced (consider adding a reference to support, for instance).
C42 Incomplete sentence or contents.
C43 Incorrect or incomplete derivation of the ordinary differential equations describing the system.
C44 Do not include any unfinished text in the report.
C45 Explain why the eigenvalues must be real and should not have an imaginary part.
C46 The gain matrix must have as many rows as there are inputs and as many columns as there are states.
C47 Experiments must be described in enough detail that they could be understood and repeated by a colleague.
C48 The system to be controlled should be described in the Introduction and/or Theory sections and not in later sections.
C49 The length of each simulation must be stated.
C50 The initial conditions for each simulation must be stated.
C51 While it may be appropriate to describe experiments that were used to iterate on your control design, there must be a comprehensive set of experiments that validate your final control design (where “final” means “after you have stopped making changes”).
C52 Results from many experiments should be used to support an argument that your controller “works” (however you have chosen to define that word). Results from only one experiment or a small number of experiments do not provide sufficient evidence in general.
C53 You should make clear what “success” means (i.e., what it means for your controller to “work”), for example by providing a quantitative measure of performance.
C54 Words like “optimal,” “optimized,” “optimization,” etc., must not be used without first defining a quantity that is being maximized (e.g., a reward) or minimized (e.g., a cost).
C55 Results should be in the Results section, not also in the Experiments.
C56 Do not use deterministic or absolute terms (e.g., trivial, absolute, always) unless you have indisputable evidence to support them.
C58 Specify the conditions under which this situation occurs (e.g., if the robot moves too slowly to reach the cat pilot’s landing target, what were the robot’s position and the cat’s target distance?).
C59 Discussion should be in the Discussion section, not also in the Conclusion.
C60 Indicate the number of simulations performed.
C62 The conclusion should summarize key findings, their significance, study limitations, and, if applicable, suggestions for future work. Placeholders can be used in drafts if final insights are still being refined.
C63 Specify the goal of the “future improvement”, such as enhancing specific criteria or addressing other relevant aspects.
C65 Discussion should be in the Discussion section, not also in the Experiments.
C66 Do not provide unnecessary information for the conclusion.
C67 Clarify what the quantity refers to (e.g., whether it pertains to pitch or pitch rate).
C68 Do not draw conclusions that are not supported by the findings presented in the Results and Discussion section.
C69 Clearly describe your methodology instead of vague statements like ‘writing more code’ or ‘doing calculations,’ and consider adding a reference for clarity.
C71 The equation does not align with the description provided in the text.
C72 Do not list eigenvalues as a vector.
C73 The results presented do not match what the Experiments section describes.
C74 Provide quantitative evidence for your experimental results, such as plots and tables.