Digital Commons Network^™

Detection, Identification And Localization Of R/C Electronic Devices Through Their Unintended Emissions, Vivek Thotla

Doctoral Dissertations

"The accurate and reliable detection of unintended emissions from radio receivers has a broad range of commercial and security applications. This thesis presents detection, identification, and localization methods for multiple RC electronic devices in a realistic environment. First, a Hurst parameter based detection method for super-regenerative receivers (SRR) has been used for detection. Hurst parameter based detection method exploits a self-similarity property of the SRR receiver emissions to distinguish it from background noise. Second paper presents a novel detection and localization scheme of multiple RC electronic devices called Edge-Synthetic Aperture Radar (Edge-SAR). It employs cost-effective, mobile antenna-array detectors. Two types …

Particle Gel Propagation And Blocking Behavior Through High Permeability Streaks And Fractures, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Doctoral Dissertations

Water channeling, one of the primary reservoir conformance problems, is caused by reservoir heterogeneities that lead to the development of high-permeability streaks and fractures. These streaks and fractures prevent large amounts of oil from being recovered. The ultimate objective of this research was to provide comprehensive insight into designing better particle gel treatments intended for use in large openings, including open fractures, high permeability streaks, and conduits to increase oil recovery and reduce water production.

An intensive laboratory study was conducted to better understand the injection and placement mechanisms of millimeter and micron size preformed particle gels (PPGs) through thief …

Active - Passive Spent Fuel Interrogation Using Neutrons And Photons, Tayfun Akyurek

Doctoral Dissertations

“This dissertation consists of three main parts. The first part is devoted to the comprehensive dead-time calculations with different detectors and conditions using different dead-time models as well as computer simulations. The minimum time that must separate two detectable events is called the counting system’s dead-time. If events take place during the system’s dead-time, they will not be recorded and will be lost. Such lost information is very important in many applications including high-intensity spectroscopy and nuclear spent fuel interrogations. The second part, a multitude of fission products identified as candidates have been scrutinized for their suitability of burnup analysis …

Evaluation Of Millimeter-Sized Preformed Particle Gel For Conformance Control Treatments Using Simple Models, Ali Abdulmohsen Al Brahim

Masters Theses

Millimeter-sized preformed particle gels (PPGs) have been successfully used to tackle the high-permeable zones, fractures and channels in mature oilfields for conformance control improvement. PPGs can significantly reduce the permeability of abnormal fractures and divert injected water to the low permeable zones where hydrocarbon was not swept by previous water flooding. Due to the irregularity of PPGs in shapes after swollen, their strength cannot be easily measured using the conventional methods. Therefore, the open hole screen plate models with various hole diameters and density were designed to establish a simple technique that can be used to measure the strength of …

Determining Rockfall Volumes In Three Sites Along Habs Mountain Road In Southwestern Saudi Arabia, Using Lidar Technology, Abdullah Ayed Al-Otaibi

Masters Theses

"The rugged elevated topography is a characteristic feature of the western and southwestern regions of Saudi Arabia. Few arterial roads connect the scattered villages of these regions to major cities, such as Habs Road in Jazan region. Rock fall poses a serious hazard to people, property and animals along the rock cuts of this road. Although no traditional Rockfall studies have previously been applied to this road, accessibility and rock formation shape and structure variability influenced the choice of using Terrestrial Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) technology to calculate the volume of rockfall at selected sites along this road.

Software …

Model Predictive Current Control Of Switched Reluctance Motor With Inductance Auto-Calibration, Xin Li

Masters Theses

"The thesis is composed of three papers, which investigate the application of Model Predictive Controller (MPC) for current control of Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM). Since the conventional hysteresis current control method is not suitable for high power SRM drive system with low inductance and limited switching frequency, MPC is a promising alternative approach for this application. The proposed MPC can cope with the measurement noise as well as uncertainties within the machine inductance profile. In the first paper, a MPC current control method for Double-Stator Switched Reluctance Motor (DSSRM) drives is presented. A direct adaptive estimator is incorporated to follow …

Computer Aided Diagnosis Of Oral Cancer: Using Time-Step Ct Images, Jonathan T. Scott

Masters Theses

"In medical imaging it is a very common practice to use a technique known as Time-Step imaging in patients who might develop cancer. Time-Step imaging it a very powerful technique, however it can lead to unmanageable amounts of image data. Previously the only way to search all of this data was to manually look through all of the files. This had to be done by trained professionals who knew what to look for within the images and make a judgment about the patient based on the images. This paper discusses the development of an algorithm to have a computer search …

Thermodynamic And Chemical Kinetic Coupled Modeling For The Determination Of Cyclic Combustion Phasing In Hcci Engines, Krishawn Michele Goodwin

Masters Theses

"Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is a low temperature combustion mode that contains great potential for decreasing emissions while increasing efficiency in internal combustion engines. The limitation is in that it is inherently difficult to control based on the lack of an external combustion trigger. This thesis outlines the potential of using the combustion residual species of carbon monoxide as a method of controlling the location of combustion by using data from a computer model. The model is a nonlinear five-state thermodynamic model that is coupled with a skeletal chemical kinetic model for PRF96. The model computes the amount of …

Determination Of Setting Times By Shear Wave Velocity Evolution In Fresh Mortar Using Bender Element Method, Jianfeng Zhu

Masters Theses

This study aims at using modified bender element (BE) method to monitor the shear wave velocity (V_s) of mortar at early-age and determine initial and final setting times with the V_s method. Modifications of the traditional BE method have been made to overcome the aggressive cementitious environment and eliminate electromagnetic coupling. BE has been successfully employed in mortar samples with and without admixtures to evaluate the evolution of V_s during the early age (first 24 hrs) of hydration. An energy approach method of determining the first arrival time of S-wave has been proposed. Pulse wave velocity …

Characterization Of Investment Shell Thermal Properties, Mingzhi Xu

Doctoral Dissertations

Thermal properties of investment casting shells have a great influence on the solidification of metal and thus control the properties of the cast product. Computational simulation requires accurate thermal properties to better represent the real process. Due to the porosity and meta-stable materials used in the investment shells, it is difficult to determine the real time thermal properties as a function of components and thermal processing history. Previous studies measured the thermal properties using a variety of methods, but very few results can be directly used in simulations due to lack of accuracy.

This research developed a new methodology that …

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Image Collection And Computer Vision Image Processing For Surveying And Mapping That Meets Professional Needs, James Preston Peterson Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

"Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are rapidly blurring the lines between traditional and close range photogrammetry, and between surveying and photogrammetry. UAS are providing an economic platform for performing aerial surveying on small projects. The focus of this research was to describe traditional photogrammetric imagery and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) geospatial products, describe close range photogrammetry (CRP), introduce UAS and computer vision (CV), and investigate whether industry mapping standards for accuracy can be met using UAS collection and CV processing. A 120-acre site was selected and 97 aerial targets were surveyed for evaluation purposes. Four UAS flights of varying heights …

Localization And Tracking Of Electronic Devices With Their Unintended Emissions, Nurbanu Guzey

Doctoral Dissertations

"The precise localization and tracking of electronic devices via their unintended emissions has a broad range of commercial and security applications. Active stimulation of the receivers of such devices with a known signal generates very low power unintended emissions. This dissertation presents localization and tracking of multiple devices using both simulation and experimental data in the form of five papers.

First the localization of multiple emitting devices through active stimulation under multipath fading with a Smooth MUSIC based scheme in the near field region is presented. Spatial smoothing helps to separate the correlated sources and the multipath fading and results …

On The Deployment Of On-Chip Noise Sensors, Tao Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"The relentless technology scaling has led to significantly reduced noise margin and complicated functionalities. As such, design time techniques per se are less likely to ensure power integrity, resulting in runtime voltage emergencies. To alleviate the issue, recently several works have shed light on the possibilities of dynamic noise management systems. Most of these works rely on on-chip noise sensors to accurately capture voltage emergencies. However, they all assume that the placement of the sensors is given. It remains an open problem in the literature how to optimally place a given number of noise sensors for best voltage emergency detection. …

Parameter Determination And Experimental Validation Of A Wire Feed Additive Manufacturing Model, Kannan Suresh Kumar

Masters Theses

“Laser metal deposition is an additive manufacturing method with great scope and robustness. The wire fed additive manufacturing method has great opportunities in space applications and other zero gravity manufacturing processes. Process parameters play an important role in controlling the complex phenomenon and obtaining an ideal manufactured part. These parameters can be efficiently determined using simulation tools which are highly essential in visualizing real world experiments, therefore saving time and experimental costs. The objective of this study is to develop a transient 3D model of laser aided wire feed metal deposition which realizes the heat transfer and fluid flow behavior …

Detection And Recognition Of R/F Devices Based On Their Unintended Electromagnetic Emissions Using Stochastic And Computational Intelligence Methods, Shikhar Prasad Acharya

Doctoral Dissertations

"Radio Frequency (RF) devices produce some amount of Unintended Electromagnetic Emissions (UEEs). UEEs are generally unique to a device and can be thought of as a signature of the device. This property of uniqueness of UEEs can be used to detect and identify the device producing the emission. The problem with UEEs is that they are very low in power and are often buried deep inside the noise band which makes them difficult to detect. There are two types of UEE detection methods. The first one is called stimulated detection method where the UEEs of a device are enhanced using …

Design Studies Of Infrastructural Development For Applications Of Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Yousif M. H. Hamad

Doctoral Dissertations

"Countries around the world are trying to reduce their energy consumption, fossil fuel usage, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the International Energy Outlook 2012 released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the estimated fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards proposed for light-duty vehicles for model years 2017-2025 has an increase of 44% in fuel economy and a reduction of 34% in GHG emissions. The use of alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy sources are, therefore, inevitable toward achieving this goal. Biogas has untapped potential as an alternative energy source. This immediately available resource would allow countries …

Containment Materials For Thin-Strip Casting Of Steel, Abhishek Kumar

Doctoral Dissertations

"The focus of this research was to investigate the corrosion behavior of BN-based and ZrO₂-C refractories by molten steel. These refractories are used as side-dam and core-nozzle in the thin-strip casting of steel. The improvement and development of these refractory components will increase the process efficiency by prolonging the refractory service life.

The first part of this study focused on interaction of BN-ZrO₂-SiC side-dams with steel-inclusion system in a laboratory setup under argon gas environment. It was observed that corrosion of this ceramic was severe in contact with steel compared to slag/inclusion.

The second part of …

Printed Circuit Board Power Distribution Network Modeling, Analysis And Design, And, Statistical Crosstalk Analysis For High Speed Digital Links, Ketan Shringarpure

Doctoral Dissertations

"High-speed digital systems are moving to higher data rates and smaller supply voltages as the scale of integration goes smaller. With the smaller bit periods and the smaller operating voltages, the tolerable timing and noise margins are reducing. There are many sources of disturbances contributing to the tolerance margins. These margins have to account for inter symbol interference (ISI), reflections, jitter, noise from power distribution networks (PDN) and crosstalk. An important task during the design phase of the system is to find and mitigate the noise from such sources. This thesis proposes modeling and analysis methodology to resolve some of …

Numerical Study On Scaling Effects And Decoupled Network-Based Simulation Of Gaseous Explosion, Liang Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research seeks to improve the prediction efficiency of gaseous explosions realized by numerical simulations in a full-scale underground network using a decoupled method. To provide quick predictions of overpressure distribution of methane explosions in underground airway networks, a two-section theory is employed. The explosion space is divided into a driver section and a blast-wave section. Governing equations including conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, together with chemical reaction and turbulence models are solved for the driver and the blast-wave sections using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver ANSYS Fluent (3D-based) and Flowmaster (1D-based) respectively. The three dimensional (3D) and one …

Numerical And Field Data Analysis Of Drill Stem Vibration, Mohammed Fayez Al Dushaishi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Drill stem vibration is a major cause of premature failure of drill stem components and drilling inefficiency. In severe cases, drill stem vibration may lead to wellbore instability that could lead to increased operational cost. Drill stem vibrations are affected by design decisions and the drilling environment. Examples are; bottom hole assembly configurations, selection of operational parameters, and frequent changes in lithology. Vibration modeling, analysis of vibration data, and specialized vibration reduction tools are methods in use to prevent and mitigate severe vibrations.

A drill stem vibration model was created using nonlinear strain formulation which couples the axial, lateral and …

Quantification Of Information Flow In Cyber Physical Systems, Li Feng

Doctoral Dissertations

"In Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs), traditional security mechanisms such as cryptography and access control are not enough to ensure the security of the system since complex interactions between the cyber portion and physical portion happen frequently. In particular, the physical infrastructure is inherently observable; aggregated physical observations can lead to unintended cyber information leakage. Information flow analysis, which aims to control the way information flows among different entities, is better suited for CPSs than the access control security mechanism. However, quantifying information leakage in CPSs can be challenging due to the flow of implicit information between the cyber portion, the …

Comprehensive Benefits Of Green Roofs, Madison R. Gibler

Masters Theses

"Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments, providing traditional roof services and alternative stormwater management technologies. Other benefits and impacts are not yet fully understood or valued. Research conducted assesses specific stormwater benefits of green roofs, providing information on nutrient leaching from media; and analyzes potential energy benefits through side-by-side comparisons of full-scale white, traditional black rubber, and green roofs in the mid-continent Missouri climate. Roofing media selection impacted leaching of nutrients, suspended solids, and organic carbon from the tested green roof media. Thermal properties were investigated at the building level, …

Fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory: Applications And Extensions, Clayton Parker Smith

Masters Theses

"Adaptive Resonance Theory, ART, is a powerful clustering tool for learning arbitrary patterns in a self-organizing manner. In this research, two papers are presented that examine the extensibility and applications of ART. The first paper examines a means to boost ART performance by assigning each cluster a vigilance value, instead of a single value for the whole ART module. A Particle Swarm Optimization technique is used to search for desirable vigilance values. In the second paper, it is shown how ART, and clustering in general, can be a useful tool in preprocessing time series data. Clustering quantization attempts to meaningfully …

Optimal Techno-Economic Sizing Of Wind/Solar/Battery Hybrid Microgrid System Using The Forever Power Method, Sami Hamed Alalwani

Masters Theses

"Advancement in power electronics, energy storage, control, and renewable energy sources has led to the use of integrated renewable energy sources in islanded microgrids (MG). Also, the uses of integrated renewable energy sources have become more technically applicable, more economically feasible, and more environmentally friendly than conventional sources. As a result, electrification of rural villages using renewable energy technologies has started to become widely adopted around the world. Since generating power from renewable energy sources is highly intermittent and difficult to predict, the use of proper energy storage technology is important to eliminate mismatches between the load demand and generation. …

Freeze-Form Extrusion Fabrication Of Boron Carbide, Aaron Scott Thornton

Masters Theses

"Boron carbide is a safe, alternative to beryllium as a material for aerospace structures since it is also light-weight and exhibits high strength. This paper discusses a study of the Freeze-form Extrusion Fabrication (FEF) process to fabricate parts from boron carbide. Process parameters and hardware were modified to fabricate boron carbide specimens free of printed defects. Four-point bending tests were performed to measure the flexural strength of fabricated specimens. Observations of the presence of voids caused by ice crystals in fabricated parts led to further development and characterization of the boron carbide paste used with the FEF process. Additives were …

Synthesis Of Different Sizes & Functions Nanoparticles, Jiaming Geng

Masters Theses

"Nanogels, whose size range from 1 to 100nm, have been interested in many research areas: cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, catalysts, photochemistry, and in optical switches or sensors. In Petroleum Engineering area, nanogels can be used as conformance control agent and emulsion stabilizer. And after grafting functional groups or hybrid, nanogels can be used as tracer for the visual modeling.

Though nanoparticles have been studied for more than 20 years, few of them are about nanogels. In the thesis, stirring rate, surfactant type and concentration were found have a large impact on the synthesis of nanogels. And cationic nanogels have salt and acid …

A New Equivalent Dipole-Moment Source Reconstruction Method For Ic Radiated Emissions Based On Near-Field Scanning, Xiao Ren

Masters Theses

"In this paper, a new dipole-moment model based on near-field scanning for representing equivalent IC radiation emissions on a PCB (Print Circuit Board) is presented. One set of dipoles (both electric dipoles and magnetic dipoles) are used to characterize near-field and far-field radiation from the source. In order to build the model, tangential electric field and magnetic field on a Huygens's box enclosing the radiation source are needed. Both the phase and magnitude of these tangential fields are obtained either in simulation or in measurement by near-field scanning method. Two steps are established to reconstruct the dipole moment. Firstly, a …

Shear-Friction Of Sand-Lightweight Clay And Slate Aggregate Concretes With Varied Reinforcement Ratios, Samantha Lynn Wermager

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on the structural properties of sand-lightweight aggregate concrete in terms of shear transfer strength at cold-joint interfaces. This type of interface is common for precast concrete connections which are typically designed using the shear-friction concept. This testing program was meant to expand the shear-friction database and evaluate the appropriateness of current shear-friction design provisions with respect to sand-lightweight concrete. This study builds on the work done by Shaw (2013) who studied lightweight expanded shale aggregate concrete. The current study included thirty-two push-off specimens constructed from sand-lightweight concrete with a target compressive strength of 5,000 psi. Either expanded …

Process Design, Dynamics, And Techno-Economic Analysis Of A Sustainable Coal, Wind, And Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Hybrid Energy System, Kyle Lee Buchheit

Doctoral Dissertations

"The availability of cheap electricity is one of the biggest factors for improving quality of life. With the debate on the effects of carbon dioxide emissions continuing, several countries have either implemented or are considering the reduction of emissions through various economic means. The inclusion of a monetary penalty on carbon emissions would increase the prices of electricity produced by carbon-based sources. The push for large-scale renewable sources of energy has met problems with regards to energy storage and availability. The proposed coal, wind, and nuclear hybrid energy system would combine a renewable energy source, wind, with traditional and stable …

Steam Flooding Screening And Eor Prediction By Using Clustering Algorithm And Data Visualization, Na Zhang

Masters Theses

"Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques are vitally important in the oil industry because these techniques could not only extend the life of wells, but also produce 10% to 30% additional oil from the reservoir. However, selecting the most suitable EOR techniques for unknown reservoirs is not easy for decision making. Based on literature, EOR screening criteria could help to find the best candidates for unknown projects, which is classified into two categories: conventional EOR screening and advanced EOR screening. In this research, an artificial intelligent (AI) method, hierarchical clustering algorithm, is adapted to analyze both steam flooding projects and worldwide …