Digital Commons Network^™

Data-Driven Enhanced Energy Management System Applications For Energy Control Centers, Dulip Madurasinghe

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the pressing needs of modern bulk power system operation and control and delves into enhancements to EMS applications with minimal infrastructure development. The dissertation investigates three main EMS application enhancements. The transmission network topology processing (TNTP) is a foundational application of the EMS. A physics-based hierarchical transmission network topology processing (H-TNTP), including substation configuration identification, to improve efficiency and reliability is proposed. Secondly, a multi-level distributed linear state estimation (D-LSE) approach solely based on PMUs is proposed utilizing H-TNTP as the network modeling tool. The D-LSE can conduct linear state estimation (LSE) at either substation, area or …

Time-Domain Line Protection In Presence Of Renewables, Prabin Adhikari

All Dissertations

Inverter based resources (IBRs) are crucial in integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid. However, their unique fault characteristics, significantly different from synchronous generators (SGs), present several challenges for existing line protection schemes at both transmission and distribution levels. These schemes, reliant on distance and directional relays designed in phasor domain, are not well-suited for IBRs. Most published literature addressing this problem concentrates on altering the control design of inverters. However, this approach faces practical limitations. Inverter controls, often proprietary, are not readily accessible to utilities, rendering the control-based solutions impractical for widespread implementation.

To address this challenge, this …

Computer Vision Algorithms For Assessment Of Surgical Suturing Skill Using Hand And Needle Motion, Jianxin Gao

All Dissertations

Surgical suturing skill assessment is a crucial part of surgical education. Vascular surgery educators have developed a simulation-based examination called Fundamentals of Vascular Surgery, which includes a clock-face model for assessing open surgical suturing skills. The clock-face model, however, requires the valuable time of expert surgeons to determine examinees' skills. Moreover, expert surgeons have different judgments for appropriate sutures, which leads to inconsistent grading. These limitations motivate us to use sensors to measure examinees' needle motions and hand motions during the clock-face suturing exercises, and then use the measurements for objective suturing skill assessment.

To assess suturing skills based on …

Training Uav Teams With Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Towards Fully 3d Autonomous Wildfire Response, Bryce Hopkins

All Theses

As climate-exacerbated wildfires increasingly threaten landscapes and communities, there is an urgent and pressing need for sophisticated fire management technologies. Coordinated teams of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) present a promising solution for detection, assessment, and even incipient-stage suppression – especially when integrated into a multi-layered approach with other recent wildfire management technologies such as geostationary/polar-orbiting satellites and CCTV detection networks. However, there remains significant challenges in developing the necessary sensing, navigation, coordination, and communication subsystems that enable intelligent UAV teams. Further, federal regulations governing UAV deployment and autonomy pose constraints on real-world aerial testing, creating a disconnect between theoretical research …

Fault Detection And Location In Renewable-Fed Distribution Systems Using Low Voltage Sensors, Bushra Farhat

All Theses

The penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the Electric Power System (EPS) is increasing. These (DERs) are mostly inverter-based resources (IBRs) that are integrated into (EPS) at the distribution level. Therefore, it has become necessary to leverage the integration of (IBRs) for both commercial and residential distribution systems through the deployment of Microgrid (MG). However, existing distribution systems that use fuses for sensing and isolating faults are not equipped to handle protection of microgrids where fault currents are fed from multiple sources and can flow downstream or upstream. Bulk of the protection schemes proposed in literature are heavily dependent …

Convex Approach To Data-Driven Optimal Control With Safety Constraints Using Linear Transfer Operator, Joseph Raphel Moyalan

All Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with the data-driven solution to the optimal control problem with safety constraints for a class of control-affine nonlinear systems. Designing optimal control satisfying safety constraints is a problem of interest in various applications, including robotics, power systems, transportation networks, and manufacturing. This problem is known to be non-convex. One of this thesis's main contributions is providing a convex formulation to this non-convex problem. The second main contribution is providing a data-driven framework for solving the control problem with safety constraints. The linear operator theoretic framework involving Perron-Frobenius and Koopman operators provides the convex formulation and associated …

Design, Fabrication, And Characterization Of Advanced High-Power Single-Mode 9xxnm Semiconductor Lasers, Xiaolei Zhao

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This thesis presents the comprehensive design, fabrication, and demonstration of advanced high-power, high-efficiency single-mode semiconductor lasers operating at a wavelength of 9xxnm. We begin with the design of the laser epitaxial structure, serving as the cornerstone for achieving high-power high-efficiency lasers. Our methodology integrates a semi-analytical calculation model, which accounts for Longitudinal Spatial Hole Burning (LSHB) and Two-Photon Absorption (TPA) effects, facilitating a thorough exploration of how design parameters influence output power and conversion efficiency. This approach offers an effective and time-efficient epitaxial structure optimization strategy compared to conventional full 3D simulation models.

Subsequently, we demonstrate high-power, high-efficiency ridge waveguide …

Photovoltaics And Battery-Based End-To-End Direct Current Sustainable Power Networks- Concept, Design, And Control, Vishwas Powar

All Dissertations

The consequences of climate change have emphasized the need for a power network that is centered around green, low-cost, and renewable sources of energy. Currently, photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines are the only two technologies that can convert renewable energy from the sun and wind, respectively, into large-scale power for the electricity network. This dissertation aims to provide a novel solution to implement direct current-based architecture for PV generation coupled with lithium-ion battery storage in an efficient and sustainable manner. Such a power network can enable efficiency, reliability, low cost, and sustainability with minimum impact on the environment. The first …

Robust And Trustworthy Deep Learning: Attacks, Defenses And Designs, Bingyin Zhao

All Dissertations

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved unprecedented success in many fields. However, robustness and trustworthiness have become emerging concerns since DNNs are vulnerable to various attacks and susceptible to data distributional shifts. Attacks such as data poisoning and out-of-distribution scenarios such as natural corruption significantly undermine the performance and robustness of DNNs in model training and inference and impose uncertainty and insecurity on the deployment in real-world applications. Thus, it is crucial to investigate threats and challenges against deep neural networks, develop corresponding countermeasures, and dig into design tactics to secure their safety and reliability. The works investigated in this …

Real-Time Degradation Abatement Framework For Energy Storage System In Automotive Application Using Data-Driven Approaches, Laxman Timilsina

All Dissertations

The increasing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) is driven by their compatibility with sustainable energy goals. However, the decline in the performance of energy storage systems, such as batteries, due to their degradation puts EVs and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) at a disadvantage compared to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The batteries used in these vehicles have limited life. The degradation of the battery is accelerated by the operating conditions of the vehicle, which further reduces its life and increases the reliability and economic concerns for the vehicle’s operation. The aging mechanism inside a battery cannot be eliminated but …

Hpc-Enabled Fast And Configurable Dynamic Simulation, Analysis, And Learning For Complex Power System Adaptation And Control, Cong Wang

All Dissertations

This dissertation presents an HPC-enabled fast and configurable dynamic simulation, analysis, and learning framework for complex power system adaptation and control. Dynamic simulation for a large transmission system comprising thousands of buses and branches implies the latency of complicated numerical computations. However, faster-than-real-time execution is often required to provide timely support for power system planning and operation. The traditional approaches for speeding up the simulation demand extensive computing facilities such as CPU-based multi-core supercomputers, resulting in heavily resource-dependent solutions. In this work, by coupling the Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol with an advanced heterogeneous programming environment, further acceleration can be …

A Scalable Transmission And Distribution Co-Simulation Platform For Ibr-Heavy Power Systems, Yousu Chen

All Dissertations

The grid is evolving rapidly to meet the requirements of the clean energy transition. This evolution involves an increasing penetration of renewable energy resources and new complexities with a larger number of devices and controls spread across transmission and distribution networks. The boundary between transmission and distribution becomes blur. Consequently, we face significant challenges in managing the fundamental shift in power system physics. The ubiquitous use of Inverter Based Resources (IBRs) throughout the transmission and distribution systems has made it more difficult for the grid to maintain grid stability under dynamic conditions. Therefore, there is a strong need to explore …

Model-Free Methods To Analyze Pmu Data In Real-Time For Situational Awareness And Stability Monitoring, Sean Kantra

All Dissertations

This dissertation presents and evaluates model-free methodologies to process Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) data. Model-based PMU applications require knowledge of the system topology, most frequently the system admittance matrix. For large systems, the admittance matrix, or other system parameters, can be time-consuming to integrate into supporting PMU applications. These data sources are often sensitive and can require permissions to access, delaying the implementation of model-based approaches. This dissertation focuses on evaluating individual model-free applications to efficiently perform functions of interest to system operators for real-time situational awareness. Real-time situational awareness is evaluated with respect to central digitization where the PMU …

Controlled Manipulation And Transport By Microswimmers In Stokes Flows, Jake Buzhardt

All Dissertations

Remotely actuated microscale swimming robots have the potential to revolutionize many aspects of biomedicine. However, for the longterm goals of this field of research to be achievable, it is necessary to develop modelling, simulation, and control strategies which effectively and efficiently account for not only the motion of individual swimmers, but also the complex interactions of such swimmers with their environment including other nearby swimmers, boundaries, other cargo and passive particles, and the fluid medium itself. The aim of this thesis is to study these problems in simulation from the perspective of controls and dynamical systems, with a particular focus …

Safe Navigation Of Quadruped Robots Using Density Functions, Andrew Zheng

All Theses

Safe navigation of mission-critical systems is of utmost importance in many modern autonomous applications. Over the past decades, the approach to the problem has consisted of using probabilistic methods, such as sample-based planners, to generate feasible, safe solutions to the navigation problem. However, these methods use iterative safety checks to guarantee the safety of the system, which can become quite complex. The navigation problem can also be solved in feedback form using potential field methods. Navigation function, a class of potential field methods, is an analytical control design to give almost everywhere convergence properties, but under certain topological constraints and …

Cyber-Threat Detection Strategies Governed By An Observer And A Neural-Network For An Autonomous Electric Vehicle, Douglas Scruggs

All Theses

A pathway to prevalence for autonomous electrified transportation is reliant upon accurate and reliable information in the vehicle’s sensor data. This thesis provides insight as to the effective cyber-attack placements on an autonomous electric vehicle’s lateral stability control system (LSCS). Here, Data Integrity Attacks, Replay Attacks, and Denial-of-Service attacks are placed on the sensor data describing the vehicle’s actual yaw-rate and sideslip angle. In this study, there are three different forms of detection methods. These detection methods utilize a residual metric that incorporate sensor data, a state-space observer, and a Neural-Network. The vehicle at hand is a four-motor drive autonomous …

Integrating Sensor Development, Risk Assessment, And Community Engagement To Support Environmental Justice In The Rural Community Of El Tiple, Colombia, David Bahamon Pinzon

All Dissertations

In Colombia, ethnic communities have traditionally been responsible stewards of natural resources. They recognize the importance of these resources for their livelihood, as well as their ancestral and cultural heritage. El Tiple, a rural Afro-Colombian community, has been affected by the incursion of private corporations that promoted the expansion of sugarcane monocrops in their territory. Since the introduction of the monoculture industry, local freshwater sources have been depleted due to intensive water use for irrigation of the sugarcane crops. Additionally, the intensive usage of agrochemicals has been linked with loss of native flora, damages to family farms, and pollution of …

Accurate Orientation Control Of Tendon Driven Continuum Robots That Exhibit Elasticity, Manu Srivastava

All Dissertations

This dissertation makes new contributions to the modeling and implementation of Tendon Driven Continuum Robots (TDCRs). Specifically, motivated by 3D printing of concrete using a continuum hose robot in construction applications, we focus on TDCRs featuring compliance in the robot backbone and actuating tendons, e.g. surgical robots/endoscopes/catheters with tendon actuation. We expand previous mechanics-based models to show how and why such compliance significantly restricts performance when traditional kinematics-based planning and control techniques are applied.

The main contribution of this work is a new Elasticity Compensation(EC) model that explains why the ad hoc approach of preloading/pretensioning the tendons compensates for compliance …

Investigation Of Vo2 Thin Films And Devices For Opto-Electromechanical Applications, Samee Azad

All Dissertations

Specialized and optimized low pressure direct oxidation technique have been implemented to synthesize high quality VO₂ thin films on various substrates (sapphire, SiO₂/Si, AT-cut quartz, GaN/AlGaN/GaN/Si and muscovite). Structural and surface characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy have been administered on the grown VO₂ films which indicate their material quality. Transition of characteristics of the VO₂ films are caused by semiconductor metal transition (SMT). This phenomenon is attributed as the change maker in transition of resistivity and transmitted optical power through the VO₂ films. Apart the substrates mentioned, …

Improved Vehicle-Bridge Interaction Modeling And Automation Of Bridge System Identification Techniques, Omar Abuodeh

All Dissertations

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recognizes the necessity for cost-effective and practical system identification (SI) techniques within structural health monitoring (SHM) frameworks for asset management applications. Indirect health monitoring (IHM), a promising SHM approach, utilizes accelerometer-equipped vehicles to measure bridge modal properties (e.g., natural frequencies, damping ratios, mode shapes) through bridge vibration data to assess the bridge's condition. However, engineers and researchers often encounter noise from road roughness, environmental factors, and vehicular components in collected vehicle signals. This noise contaminates the vehicle signal with spurious modes corresponding to stochastic frequencies, impacting damage monitoring assessments. Thus, an efficient and reliable SI …

The Application Of Model Predictive Control On Paralleled Converters For Zero Sequence Current Suppression And Active Thermal Management, Justin Dobey

All Theses

In the field of power electronics, the control of rectifiers is a crucial area of study. Rectifiers are used to convert AC power into DC power, and are commonly used in a wide range of applications, including renewable energy systems, industrial automation, and consumer electronics. However, in medium and high-power systems when multiple rectifiers are connected in parallel to a DC bus, stability issues can arise, including voltage fluctuations, zero sequence circulating current, and thermal imbalance.

Achieving stable DC bus voltage is essential for maintaining the proper functioning of electronic devices, while suppressing zero sequence current is necessary for protecting …

Virtual Prototyping Of Pebb Based Power Electronics System For Ground Vehicles, Yi Li

All Theses

Power electronics are heavily involved in power and energy systems in plenty of applications nowadays. The increase of demand brings more challenges into simulations for development. Considering the complexity of the systems and high frequency operational conditions, this paper presents comprehensive research on modeling, simulating, and validation on ground vehicle propulsion system applications.

To reduce the computational burden, the Power Electronics Building Blocks concept is utilized to simplify the structure of modeling under different conversion scenarios in ground vehicle systems. In addition, the Average and Switching versions models are included. To speedup the simulation, the engagement of advanced computing technique …

Generalizable Deep-Learning-Based Wireless Indoor Localization, Ali Owfi

All Theses

The growing interest in indoor localization has been driven by its wide range of applications in areas such as smart homes, industrial automation, and healthcare. With the increasing reliance on wireless devices for location-based services, accurate estimation of device positions within indoor environments has become crucial. Deep learning approaches have shown promise in leveraging wireless parameters like Channel State Information (CSI) and Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to achieve precise localization. However, despite their success in achieving high accuracy, these deep learning models suffer from limited generalizability, making them unsuitable for deployment in new or dynamic environments without retraining. To …

A Study Of 5g Cellular Connectivity To Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Jackson Murrin

All Theses

The market of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has seen significant growth in the past ten years on both the commercial and military sides. The applications for UAVs are endless and options by manufacturers allow users to modify their drones for their specific goals. This industry has opened up the excitement of piloting vehicles in the air, photography, videography, exploration of nature from a different point of view and many other hobbies assisted by the emergence of UAVs. The growth of this industry coincides with the roll out of new 5G cellular network technology. This upgrade in cellular network infrastructure allows …

Design And Fabrication Of An Optical Blade Tip Timing Sensor, Nick Tomlinson

All Theses

Electricity is a vital energy source that powers modern technology. Turbines are heavily relied on in the electric power industry for the conversion of natural energy sources into electricity. These turbines operate under harsh conditions which increase the likelihood of blade damage. Structural health monitoring of a turbine’s blades is important to detect problems before a blade experiences failure. The blade tip timing method can be used to monitor blade vibrations and determine if damage has occurred. An optical blade tip timing sensor is designed and fabricated to advance the field of sensing in the power industry.

Digital Twins And Artificial Intelligence For Applications In Electric Power Distribution Systems, Deborah George

All Theses

As modern electric power distribution systems (MEPDS) continue to grow in complexity, largely due to the ever-increasing penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), particularly solar photovoltaics (PVs) at the distribution level, there is a need to facilitate advanced operational and management tasks in the system driven by this complexity, especially in systems with high renewable penetration dependent on complex weather phenomena.

Digital twins (DTs), or virtual replicas of the system and its assets, enhanced with AI paradigms can add enormous value to tasks performed by regulators, distribution system operators and energy market analysts, thereby providing cognition to the system. DTs …

Tunable Linewidth Chip-Level Lasers Using Hybrid Integration Methods, Charles Porter

All Theses

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have significant value in today’s world of research. They enable devices to experience large reductions in size, weight, operation power, and cost (SWAPc), making photonic technology more accessible than ever. The functionality of PICs is greatly enhanced due to the realization of both active and passive devices within a single device structure. This is made possible through hybrid integration, which utilizes various coupling methods to transfer light from an active chip to a passive chip. Hybrid integration technology tremendously expands the capabilities of PICs, leading to a plethora of applications. One significant application is that of …

Augmented Human Inspired Phase Variable Using A Canonical Dynamical System, Timothy Driscoll

All Theses

Accurately parameterizing human gait is highly important in the continued development of assistive robotics, including but not limited to lower limb prostheses and exoskeletons. Previous studies introduce the idea of time-invariant real-time gait parameterization via human-inspired phase variables. The phase represents the location or percent of the gait cycle the user has progressed through. This thesis proposes an alternative approach for determining the gait phase leveraging previous methods and a canonical dynamical system.

Human subject experiments demonstrate the ability to accurately produce a phase variable corresponding to the human gait progression for various walking configurations. Configurations include changes in incline …

Integrated Energy-Aware Motion Planning And Charge Scheduling Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Hayleyesus Alemayehu

All Theses

The growing demand for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is driven by their operational convenience, cost-effectiveness, availability, and adaptability to various scenarios. In energy-constrained environments, optimizing energy consumption and ensuring a continuous power supply for UAVs is crucial for mission success. The objective of this thesis is to address this issue by integrating energy-aware motion planning and charge scheduling for UAVs by utilizing a charger hosted on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), whose rendezvous locations and routes are jointly computed to minimize overall energy consumption.

This thesis proposes a hierarchical trajectory and control framework comprising local and global planners for each …

Classification Of Electrical Current Used In Electroplastic Forming, Tyler Grimm

All Dissertations

Electrically assisted manufacturing (EAM) is the direct application of an electric current to a workpiece during manufacturing. This advanced manufacturing process has been shown to produce anomalous effects which extend beyond the current state of modeling of thermal influences. These purported non-thermal effects have collectively been termed electroplastic effects (EPEs).

While there is a distinct difference in results between steady-state (ideal DC) testing and pulsed current testing, the very definition of these two EAM methods has not been well established. A "long" pulse may be considered DC current; a "short" pulse may produce electroplastic effects; and even "steady-state" current shapes …