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Fragility Of The Florida Panhandle's Electrical Transmission Grid To Hurricanes, Zachary D. Schumann
Fragility Of The Florida Panhandle's Electrical Transmission Grid To Hurricanes, Zachary D. Schumann
Theses and Dissertations
The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events from climate change necessitates understanding impacts on critical infrastructure, particularly electrical transmission grids. One of the foundational concepts of a grid’s resilience is its robustness to extreme weather events, such as hurricanes. Resilience of the electric grid to high wind speeds is predicated upon the location and physical characteristics of the system components. Previous modeling assessments of electric grid failure were done at the systems level with assumptions on location and type of specific components. To facilitate more explicit adaptation metrics, accurate component-level information is needed. In this study, we build …
Automated Registration Of Titanium Metal Imaging Of Aircraft Components Using Deep Learning Techniques, Nathan A. Johnston
Automated Registration Of Titanium Metal Imaging Of Aircraft Components Using Deep Learning Techniques, Nathan A. Johnston
Theses and Dissertations
Studies have shown a connection between early catastrophic engine failures with microtexture regions (MTRs) of a specific size and orientation on the titanium metal engine components. The MTRs can be identified through the use of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) however doing so is costly and requires destruction of the metal component being tested. A new methodology of characterizing MTRs is needed to properly evaluate the reliability of engine components on live aircraft. The Air Force Research Lab Materials Directorate (AFRL/RX) proposed a solution of supplementing EBSD with two non-destructive modalities, Eddy Current Testing (ECT) and Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM). Doing …
Garbage In ≠ Garbage Out: Exploring Gan Resilience To Image Training Set Degradations, Nicholas M. Crino
Garbage In ≠ Garbage Out: Exploring Gan Resilience To Image Training Set Degradations, Nicholas M. Crino
Theses and Dissertations
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have received increasing attention in recent years due to their ability to capture complex, high-dimensional data distributions without the need for extensive labeling. Since their conception in 2014, a wide array of GAN variants have been proposed featuring alternative architectures, optimizers, and loss functions with the goal of improving performance and training stability. While this research has yielded GAN variants robust to training set shrinkage and corruption, our research focuses on quantifying the resilience of a GAN architecture to specific modes of image degradation. We conduct systematic experimentation to determine empirically the effects of 10 fundamental …
Hierarchical Federated Learning On Healthcare Data: An Application To Parkinson's Disease, Brandon J. Harvill
Hierarchical Federated Learning On Healthcare Data: An Application To Parkinson's Disease, Brandon J. Harvill
Theses and Dissertations
Federated learning (FL) is a budding machine learning (ML) technique that seeks to keep sensitive data private, while overcoming the difficulties of Big Data. Specifically, FL trains machine learning models over a distributed network of devices, while keeping the data local to each device. We apply FL to a Parkinson’s Disease (PD) telemonitoring dataset where physiological data is gathered from various modalities to determine the PD severity level in patients. We seek to optimally combine the information across multiple modalities to assess the accuracy of our FL approach, and compare to traditional ”centralized” statistical and deep learning models.
Predicting Success Of Pilot Training Candidates Using Interpretable Machine Learning, Alexandra S. King
Predicting Success Of Pilot Training Candidates Using Interpretable Machine Learning, Alexandra S. King
Theses and Dissertations
The United States Air Force (USAF) has struggled with a sustained pilot shortage over the past several years; senior military and government leaders have been working towards a solution to the problem, with no noticeable improvements. Both attrition of more experienced pilots as well as wash out rates within pilot training contribute to this issue. This research focuses on pilot training attrition. Improving the process for selecting pilot candidates can reduce the number of candidates who fail. This research uses historical specialized undergraduate pilot training (SUPT) data and leverages select machine learning techniques to determine which factors are associated with …
Air Force Cadet To Career Field Matching Problem, Ian P. Macdonald
Air Force Cadet To Career Field Matching Problem, Ian P. Macdonald
Theses and Dissertations
This research examines the Cadet to Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) Matching Problem (CAMP). Currently, the matching problem occurs annually at the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) using an integer program and value focused thinking approach. This paper presents a novel method to match cadets with AFSCs using a generalized structure of the Hospitals Residents problem with special emphasis on lower quotas. This paper also examines the United States Army Matching problem and compares it to the techniques and constraints applied to solve the CAMP. The research culminates in the presentation of three algorithms created to solve the CAMP and …
Analysis And Optimization Of Contract Data Schema, Franklin Sun
Analysis And Optimization Of Contract Data Schema, Franklin Sun
Theses and Dissertations
agement, development, and growth of U.S Air Force assets demand extensive organizational communication and structuring. These interactions yield substantial amounts of contracting and administrative information. Over 4 million such contracts as a means towards obtaining valuable insights on Department of Defense resource usage. This set of contracting data is largely not optimized for backend service in an analytics environment. To this end, the following research evaluates the efficiency and performance of various data structuring methods. Evaluated designs include a baseline unstructured schema, a Data Mart schema, and a snowflake schema. Overall design success metrics include ease of use by end …
Simulation And Analysis Of Dynamic Threat Avoidance Routing In An Anti-Access Area Denial (A2ad) Environment, Dante C. Reid
Simulation And Analysis Of Dynamic Threat Avoidance Routing In An Anti-Access Area Denial (A2ad) Environment, Dante C. Reid
Theses and Dissertations
This research modeled and analyzed the effectiveness of different routing algorithms for penetration assets in an A2AD environment. AFSIM was used with different configurations of SAMs locations and numbers to compare the performance of AFSIM’s internal zone and shrink algorithm routers with a Dijkstra algorithm router. Route performance was analyzed through computational and operational metrics, including computational complexity, run-time, mission survivability, and simulation duration. This research also analyzed the impact of the penetration asset’s ingress altitude on those factors. Additionally, an excursion was conducted to analyze the Dijkstra algorithm router’s grid density holding altitude constant to understand its impact on …
Improving Accessibility And Efficiency Of Analytic Provenance Tools For Reverse Engineering, Caleb W. Richardson
Improving Accessibility And Efficiency Of Analytic Provenance Tools For Reverse Engineering, Caleb W. Richardson
Theses and Dissertations
Reverse engineering is a vital technique for identifying and mitigating cyber threats. Yet, despite its importance, reverse engineering is a time-consuming process. Provenance tools help to improve the workflow of reverse engineers by providing an accessible method of viewing their flow through a binary. The current state-of-theart provenance tool for reverse engineering software called SensorRE, leverages an external server, web browser, and a large array of javascript libraries. This thesis presents Provenance Ninja, a software reverse engineering tool developed in Python that runs directly within Binary Ninja. Provenance Ninja captures reverse engineers’ provenance data and provides an interactive graph within …
Probability Of Agreement As A Simulation Validation Methodology, Matthew C. Ledwith
Probability Of Agreement As A Simulation Validation Methodology, Matthew C. Ledwith
Theses and Dissertations
Determining whether a simulation model is operationally valid requires the rigorous assessment of agreement between observed functional responses of the simulation model and the corresponding real world system or process of interest. This research seeks to extend and formulate the probability of agreement approach to the operational validation of simulation models. The first paper provides a methodological approach and an initial demonstration which leverages bootstrapping to overcome situations where one’s ability to collect real-world data is limited. The second paper extends the probability of agreement approach to account for second-order heteroscedastic variability structures and establishes a weighted probability of agreement …
Developing And Assessing A Generalized Serious Game That Supports Customized Joint All-Domain Operations Related Learning Objectives, Jonathan D. Moore
Developing And Assessing A Generalized Serious Game That Supports Customized Joint All-Domain Operations Related Learning Objectives, Jonathan D. Moore
Theses and Dissertations
As the threat of near-peer adversaries has increased, the DoD has increased its emphasis on Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO). This emphasis on JADO highlights the need for hands-on training that can engage military members at all levels. The serious game Battlespace Next (BSN) was designed to teach high-level JADO concepts by modeling real-world military assets in the context of a strategic card game. To keep pace with the evolving landscape of warfare as well as fit the needs of a variety of Department of Defense (DoD) communities, this research introduces the Battlespace Next Education Framework (BSNEF). The BSNEF allows JADO …
Debris Survivability Study For Mega-Constellation Architectures, Joseph C. Canoy
Debris Survivability Study For Mega-Constellation Architectures, Joseph C. Canoy
Theses and Dissertations
The analysis for the overall theoretical debris survivabilty of mega-constellation architectures, with an emphasis on space-based ballistic missile defense constellation (SB-BMD), is explored via three extensive different Monte Carlo simulations: preliminary analysis of low Earth Orbit (LEO) mega-constellation survivabilty following a fragmentation event within the constellation, analysis of LEO mega-constellation survivability with a fragmentation event occurring on a satellite performing a maneuver to insert itself within the constellation, and the analysis of LEO mega-constellation survivabilty after a fragmentation event resulting from the destruction of a missile. The LEO mega-constellations represent the SB-BMD constellation. The first two analysis sections will include …
Student Performance In Traditional In-Person Vs. Online Sections Of An Introductory Graduate Mathematics Course, Lauran E. Kittle
Student Performance In Traditional In-Person Vs. Online Sections Of An Introductory Graduate Mathematics Course, Lauran E. Kittle
Theses and Dissertations
The growth of technology impacts nearly every aspect of everyday life, to include education and learning. The availability of distance learning (online) classes has increased drastically in the last few decades, expanding access to education for millions of people. However, it is imperative to consider exactly how the growth of technology impacts education – whether it is a positive, negative, or neutral impact. Previous research comparing distance learning and in-residence (traditional) classes have widely mixed, disparate conclusions. This type of research, two-stage analysis, and modeling has yet to be conducted on a graduate school level. For this reason, a detailed …
Regular Simplices Within Doubly Transitive Equiangular Tight Frames, Evan C. Lake
Regular Simplices Within Doubly Transitive Equiangular Tight Frames, Evan C. Lake
Theses and Dissertations
An equiangular tight frame (ETF) yields an optimal way to pack a given number of lines into a given space of lesser dimension. Every ETF has minimal coherence, and this makes it potentially useful for compressed sensing. But, its usefulness also depends on its spark: the size of the smallest linearly dependent subsequence of the ETF. When formed into a sensing matrix, a larger spark means a lower chance that information is lost when sensing a sparse vector. Spark is difficult to compute in general, but if an ETF contains a regular simplex, then every such simplex is a linearly …
Modeling Radiation Exposure On Flight Missions To Analyze Aircrew Risk, Camila V. Quintero Hilsaca
Modeling Radiation Exposure On Flight Missions To Analyze Aircrew Risk, Camila V. Quintero Hilsaca
Theses and Dissertations
GCR and SPE comprise the majority of the ionizing radiation experienced in the upper atmosphere within flight-altitude environments. Although previous studies have analyzed radiation doses from single sources on civilian flight operations, there is a lack of research focused on dose received by military personnel during flight from both sources simultaneously. In-flight radiation environments are modeled through the MCNP6 for two separate aircraft, an Air Force A-10 and a Boeing 737. Particle fluence values for galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events for four separate flight paths are determined using the CARI-7A software and the SIRE2 toolkit, respectively. MCNP6 code …
Pulsed Power Neutron Production With Deuterated Polymer Accelerator Targets, Anthony O. Hagey
Pulsed Power Neutron Production With Deuterated Polymer Accelerator Targets, Anthony O. Hagey
Theses and Dissertations
This document presents an investigation of the effect of deuterated polyethylene accelerator targets on the neutron fluence from a local mass injection dense plasma focus driven by the United States Naval Research Laboratory’s Hawk pulsed-power generator. After successful production of thin targets, the acquisition of thicker targets, and testing inside Hawk, it was found that the presence of a deuterated polyethylene target increased the neutron fluence. Results suggested that fluence can significantly increase with the presence of a deuterated target vs a nondeuterated target. Additive manufacturing printing was used as a production method in order to determine if deuterated accelerator …
Induced Correlation And Its Effects In The Performance Of Fused Classification Systems, Mary K. Collins
Induced Correlation And Its Effects In The Performance Of Fused Classification Systems, Mary K. Collins
Theses and Dissertations
Classification systems are abundant in modern-day life. The United States Air Force uses classification systems across many applications such as radar, satellite, and infrared sensing just to name a few. Combining classification systems allows an opportunity to get more accurate results. Using the known information from already built and tested systems that can be mathematically combined can give insight into the performance of the fused system without having to build a combined system. Leveraging this can save time, resources, and money. This work examines the correlation effects of fusing two classifier systems, each with only two labels, using the Boolean …
Cellphone-Acoustics Based Suas Detection And Tracking, Ryan D. Clendening
Cellphone-Acoustics Based Suas Detection And Tracking, Ryan D. Clendening
Theses and Dissertations
Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) are an easily accessible technology that has become an increasingly large threat to US critical systems. This threatening technology demands using fault-tolerant, low-cost, replaceable, and accurate sensing resources, which counter the ubiquitous nature of sUAS [1]. Therefore, the methods developed in this thesis detect and track sUAS using easily accessible sensing resources, such as cellphones. First, we develop an acoustics sensor network-based sUAS detection methodology. In the latter effort, a deep learning model is trained using the acoustics data from the data collection to predict sUAS range from a cellphone. Combined, these two efforts demonstrate …
Distributed Reconnaissance Deception Using Software-Defined Networking In A Dynamic Network Environment, Richard Hunter Feustel
Distributed Reconnaissance Deception Using Software-Defined Networking In A Dynamic Network Environment, Richard Hunter Feustel
Theses and Dissertations
This research outlines the design and implementation of a DRDS, which is a RDS distributed across multiple controllers that is capable of deploying reconnaissance deception across multiple switches to mitigate network enumeration by a compromised host. This research outlines the design and development of the DRDS as well as tests its functional abilities and routing performance when compared to a two other network routing solutions: a legacy network solution and centralized ONOS controller scheme deploying layer 2 forwarding. The functional tests proved the system can properly route traffic across 100% of the tested scenarios carrying traffic that includes IP, ARP, …
Intel Total Memory Encryption: Functional Verification And Performance Analysis, Tallas Tian Sheng Goo
Intel Total Memory Encryption: Functional Verification And Performance Analysis, Tallas Tian Sheng Goo
Theses and Dissertations
While more attention is generally focused on software security, computer hardware security remains an important effort. Should an attacker gain direct physical access, computers with little to no hardware security can quickly be compromised via a manner of methods. One such attacker method is to steal information directly from the active memory of a locked, powered-on computer. To counter this attack, a hardware security method was developed called memory encryption. Memory encryption, as the name suggests, protects against adversary methods like cold boot attacks by encrypting all of memory. This research evaluates the efficacy and performance specifically of Intel TME. …
Characterizing Location-Based Electromagnetic Leakage Of Computing Devices Using Convolutional Neural Networks To Increase The Effectiveness Of Side-Channel Analysis Attacks, Ian C. Heffron
Theses and Dissertations
SCA attacks aim to recover some sort of secret information, often in the form of a cipher key, from a target device. Some of these attacks focus on either power-based leakage, or EM-based leakage. Neural networks have recently gained in popularity as tools in SCA attacks. Near-field EM probes with high-spatial resolution enable attackers to isolate physical locations above a processor. This enables attackers to exploit the spatial dependencies of algorithms running on said processor. These spatial dependencies result in different physical locations above a chip emanating different signal strengths. The strengths of different locations can be mapped using the …
The Electromagnetic Bayonet: Development Of A Scientific Computing Method For Aperture Antenna Optimization, Michael P. Ingold
The Electromagnetic Bayonet: Development Of A Scientific Computing Method For Aperture Antenna Optimization, Michael P. Ingold
Theses and Dissertations
The quiet zone of a radar range is the region over which a transmitted EM field approximates a uniform plane wave to within some finite error tolerance. Any target to be measured must physically fit within this quiet zone to prevent excess measurement error. Compact radar ranges offer significant operational advantages for performing RCS measurements but their quiet zone sizes are constrained by space limitations. In this work, a scientific computing approach is used to investigate whether equivalent-current transmitters can be designed that generate larger quiet zones than a conventional version at short range. A time-domain near-field solver, JefimenkoModels, was …
Fast And Accurate 3d Object Reconstruction For Cargo Load Planning, Adam R. Nasi
Fast And Accurate 3d Object Reconstruction For Cargo Load Planning, Adam R. Nasi
Theses and Dissertations
Cargo load planning involves efficiently packing objects into aircraft subject to constraints such as space and weight distribution. Currently, this is performed manually by loadmasters. The United States Air Force is investigating ways to automate this process in order to improve airlift operational readiness while saving money. The first step in such a process would be generating 3D reconstructions of cargo objects to be used by a load planning algorithm. To that end, this thesis presents a novel method for fast, scaled, and accurate 3D reconstruction of cargo objects. This method can scan a 2.5m×3m×2m object in less than 10 …
Spectral Material Classification Of Orbital Objects - Applying Machine Learning To Visible And Near-Infrared Spectral Scenes, Stephen M. Stumpf
Spectral Material Classification Of Orbital Objects - Applying Machine Learning To Visible And Near-Infrared Spectral Scenes, Stephen M. Stumpf
Theses and Dissertations
MSI and HSI techniques allow users to determine the material composition of an object at range. To avoid labor-intensive manual classification, ML is used to determine the most likely material contained in a given pixel of a target image. Previous work primarily focuses on terrestrial applications; this paper extends these techniques into the low-illumination space situational awareness domain, which is of critical importance to national security. HSI datacubes are preprocessed with RL deconvolution as a means of reducing the effects of the optical PSF; then, statistical ML techniques, including k-NN, LDA, QDA, and SVMs are implemented as means of assigning …
Monocular Vision And Machine Learning For Pose Estimation, Quang Ngoc Tran
Monocular Vision And Machine Learning For Pose Estimation, Quang Ngoc Tran
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis introduces a monocular vision-based approach for 6 DoF pose estimation on a known object. The proposed solution is to use a CNN to find known features of an object in an image. These known features, together with their known locations, are used by a PnP algorithm to estimate the pose of the target object with respect to the camera. The primary difficulty with CNN-based methods is needing to generate a large amount of training data to effectively create the CNN. To overcome this difficulty, a 3D model of the real-world object is created and used in a visualization …
Detection Algorithms And Clutter Metrics Comparison For Long Wave Infrared Point-Source Targets, Rudolf N. Vonniederhausern
Detection Algorithms And Clutter Metrics Comparison For Long Wave Infrared Point-Source Targets, Rudolf N. Vonniederhausern
Theses and Dissertations
In Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems, clutter in the image hinders target detection especially in point-source target scenarios. Currently there is not a standardized metric for quantifying background clutter. Many clutter metrics have been proposed, but none have demonstrated effectiveness or compatibility for point-source targets. Factors such as environment conditions, detection algorithm, and correlation coefficient to probability of detection (PD) and false alarm (PFA) are the main considerations in determining the effectiveness of clutter metrics. Determining the most successful metric will increase Air Force Test and Evaluation (T&E) units’ capability by providing additional information on test conditions and environments …
Effectiveness Of A Timing Side Channel For Deriving Neural Network Depth, Matthew P. Weeks
Effectiveness Of A Timing Side Channel For Deriving Neural Network Depth, Matthew P. Weeks
Theses and Dissertations
From facial recognition on cell phones to vehicle traffic modeling for city planning, integrating ML models can be an expensive investment in resources. Protecting that investment is difficult, as information about the model and how it was built can be leaked through multiple channels, such as timing and memory access. In this thesis, one method of extracting data through a timing side-channel is examined across multiple hardware and software configurations to determine its reliability for general use. While attempting to determine the layer count of a target model solely from its inference time, the research determined that it is not …
Safe And Reliable Software And The Formal Verification Of Prim's Algorithm In Spark, Brian S. Wheelhouse
Safe And Reliable Software And The Formal Verification Of Prim's Algorithm In Spark, Brian S. Wheelhouse
Theses and Dissertations
Despite evidence that formal verification helps produce highly reliable and secure code, formal methods, i.e., mathematically based tools and approaches for software and hardware verification, are not commonly used in software and hardware development. The limited emphasis on formal verification in software education and training suggests that many developers have never considered the benefits of formal verification. Despite the challenging nature of their mathematical roots, software verification tools have improved; making it easier than ever to verify software. SPARK, a programming language and a formal verification toolset, is of particular interest for the AFRL, and will be a primary focus …
Strategic Action Execution Through Regret Matching In Press Diplomacy, Leif D. White
Strategic Action Execution Through Regret Matching In Press Diplomacy, Leif D. White
Theses and Dissertations
To take most advantage of collaboration, negotiation is paramount to succeed in press Diplomacy. Humans use this construct to work towards self victory or sometimes towards an alternative strategic objective undefined in the game’s rules. To emulate this behavior, this thesis examines how to use communication to enable the victory or defeat of any other player in the game. This research develops a press Diplomacy agent, Lyre, that can work to attain these specific objectives in Diplomacy through the regret matching algorithm (RM). We also study how Lyre can begin Diplomacy with the goal to win, then shift strategies to …
Atmospheric Polarization And Solar Position As Kalman Updates To A Navigation Solution, Thomas J. Wheeler
Atmospheric Polarization And Solar Position As Kalman Updates To A Navigation Solution, Thomas J. Wheeler
Theses and Dissertations
Simulation and physical testing of a sensor that measures relative position of the Sun and polarization of light in the atmosphere as a navigational aid in a Kalman filter.