Engineering Commons^™

Computer Network Design For Universities In Developing Countries, Rafid Salih Sarhan Alsarhan

Information Technology Capstone Research Project Reports

The purpose of this project is to design a suitable network system for universities in developing countries. The aim was to design a network with high-quality security and low cost, in such a way that network devices of universities in developing countries, will meet standards associated with the universities in developed countries. This project will help to enhance education in developing countries. There are many devices that were used in designing the network, such as routers, switches, backup, firewall, and servers. All devices were connected to each other to make integration network system and configured by putting IP addresses to …

On Frequency Variation Of Dynamic Resting-State Functional Brain Network Activation And Connectivity With Applications To Both Healthy And Clinical Populations, Maziar Yaesoubi

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

One of the earliest and fundamental observation in scientific study of the brain was discovering the relation between activities in different local regions of brain and some core functions of the brain. This was later followed by observing that not only local activities of regions but also synchronous activities between distributed brain regions play a key role in high-level brain functions. Synchronous activity related to the functions of the brain is commonly referred to as functional connectivity (FC) and is studied in the form of connectivity states of the brain which measure degree of interactions between distributed parts of the …

Study Of Mobile Robot Operations Related To Lunar Exploration, Matthew Cross

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mobile robots extend the reach of exploration in environments unsuitable, or unreachable, by humans. Far-reaching environments, such as the south lunar pole, exhibit lighting conditions that are challenging for optical imagery required for mobile robot navigation. Terrain conditions also impact the operation of mobile robots; distinguishing terrain types prior to physical contact can improve hazard avoidance.

This thesis presents the conclusions of a trade-off that uses the results from two studies related to operating mobile robots at the lunar south pole. The lunar south pole presents engineering design challenges for both tele-operation and lidar-based autonomous navigation in the context of …

Analysis Of 3d Cone-Beam Ct Image Reconstruction Performance On A Fpga, Devin Held

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Efficient and accurate tomographic image reconstruction has been an intensive topic of research due to the increasing everyday usage in areas such as radiology, biology, and materials science. Computed tomography (CT) scans are used to analyze internal structures through capture of x-ray images. Cone-beam CT scans project a cone-shaped x-ray to capture 2D image data from a single focal point, rotating around the object. CT scans are prone to multiple artifacts, including motion blur, streaks, and pixel irregularities, therefore must be run through image reconstruction software to reduce visual artifacts. The most common algorithm used is the Feldkamp, Davis, and …

Distributed And Scalable Video Analysis Architecture For Human Activity Recognition Using Cloud Services, Cody Wilson Eilar

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis proposes an open-source, maintainable system for detecting human activity in large video datasets using scalable hardware architectures. The system is validated by detecting writing and typing activities that were collected as part of the Advancing Out of School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering (AOLME) project. The implementation of the system using Amazon Web Services (AWS) is shown to be both horizontally and vertically scalable. The software associated with the system was designed to be robust so as to facilitate reproducibility and extensibility for future research.

Modelling And Analysis Of Smart Grids For Critical Data Communication, Abdulfattah Noorwali

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Practical models for the subnetworks of smart grid are presented and analyzed. Critical packet-delay bounds for these subnetworks are determined, with the overall objective of identifying parameters that would help in the design of smart grid with least end-to-end delay.

A single-server non-preemptive queueing model with prioritized critical packets is presented for Home Area Network (HAN). Closed-form expressions for critical packet delay are derived and illustrated as a function of: i) critical packet arrival rate, ii) service rate, iii) utilization factor, and iv) rate of arrival of non-critical packets. Next, wireless HANs using FDMA and TDMA are presented. Upper and …

Control Servovisual Para Una Estructura Serial Robótica Tipo 5r, Edwin Alejandro Pérez Díaz, José Miguel Manrique Hernández

Ingeniería en Automatización

En este trabajo se presenta el desarrollo de un control servovisual a una estructura robótica serial Mitsubishi Melfa RV-M1 con el fin de realizar una comparación entre dos metodologías, la primera basada en un sistema de control clásico (PID), y la segunda basada en el sistema de control de tipo servovisual, haciendo énfasis en la posición y la orientación de la herramienta y estableciendo cuál de las dos metodologías es más apropiada para una aplicación y sus limitaciones. Se realiza la simulación del sistema con un modelado dinámico a través de la herramienta Simulink de MATLAB. Se determinan los errores …

Robostock: Autonomous Inventory Tracking, Drew Christian Balthazor

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Electronic Deer Warning System, David Zhuo, Anlang Lu

Computer Engineering

Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) are extremely dangerous, often injuring or even killing drivers. Unfortunately, this form of automotive accident is commonplace in the United States. According to the NHTSA, DVCs result in 200 human deaths a year.2

Despite these deadly incidents, there currently are no deployed federal or state systems for preventing DVCs. There are many consumer electronic deer deterrent products, but their long-term effectiveness is questionable.3 In fact, there does not appear to be much research into electronic deer deterrent systems. Aside from constant audio output and electric shock, no other means of electronic deterrent exist. Even if fixed deterrents …

Android Drone: Remote Quadcopter Control With A Phone, Aubrey John Russell

Computer Engineering

The purpose of the “Android Drone” project was to create a quadcopter that can be controlled by user input sent over the phone’s Wi-Fi connection or 4G internet connection. Furthermore, the purpose was also to be able to receive live video feedback over the internet connection, thus making the drone an inexpensive option compared to other, equivalent drones that might cost thousands of dollars. Not only that, but the Android phone also has a host of other useful features that could be utilized by the drone: this includes GPS, pathing, picture taking, data storage, networking and TCP/IP, a Java software …

Rgb Painting Simulation, Brandon Eng

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Teaching The Internet Of Things: Bridging A Path From Cpe329, Steven Han, Rafael Lopez

Computer Engineering

“The ability to connect, communicate with, and remotely manage an incalculable number of networked, automated devices via the Internet is becoming pervasive, from the commercial kitchen to the residential basement room to the arm of the fitness buff.” - WSO2

In this report, we will investigate procedures and technologies used in IoT. A variety of cloud platforms will be described to demonstrate its strengths and usage on IoT applications. Furthermore, demonstrate the most popular hardware being used in several of these applications. This report is aimed to give a good understanding on what it takes to put together an IoT …

Autonomous Golf Cart Firmware, Gerik Kubiak

Computer Engineering

The Autonomous Golf Cart Project is a project sponsored by the Cal Poly Robotics Club. The multidisciplinary team is adding sensors and electronics to a regular golf cart with the goal to drive the golf cart around campus without and human input. This task requires a plethora of hardware and firmware to control that hardware. The firmware provides an interface for higher level software to then control the hardware and therefore drive the golf cart. This report is focused on the hardware modifications and the firmware used in order to drive the golf cart from a computer.

Isopropyl Alcohol Pump For Printed Circuit Boards Using An Arduino, Lawrence Zhu

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Rocket Stats, Kyle Cornelison

Computer Science and Software Engineering

An Android application to allow Rocket League players to view their stats and track progress.

What Broke Where For Distributed And Parallel Applications — A Whodunit Story, Subrata Mitra

Open Access Dissertations

Detection, diagnosis and mitigation of performance problems in today's large-scale distributed and parallel systems is a difficult task. These large distributed and parallel systems are composed of various complex software and hardware components. When the system experiences some performance or correctness problem, developers struggle to understand the root cause of the problem and fix in a timely manner. In my thesis, I address these three components of the performance problems in computer systems. First, we focus on diagnosing performance problems in large-scale parallel applications running on supercomputers. We developed techniques to localize the performance problem for root-cause analysis. Parallel applications, …

Approximate Computing: An Integrated Cross-Layer Framework, Swagath Venkataramani

Open Access Dissertations

A new design approach, called approximate computing (AxC), leverages the flexibility provided by intrinsic application resilience to realize hardware or software implementations that are more efficient in energy or performance. Approximate computing techniques forsake exact (numerical or Boolean) equivalence in the execution of some of the application’s computations, while ensuring that the output quality is acceptable. While early efforts in approximate computing have demonstrated great potential, they consist of ad hoc techniques applied to a very narrow set of applications, leaving in question the applicability of approximate computing in a broader context.

The primary objective of this thesis is to …

Tangible Interaction As An Aid For Object Navigation In 3d Modeling, Sanmathi Dangeti

Open Access Theses

This study introduced an interaction technique that used tangible interaction for 3D modeling. A hybrid interaction technique using a Kinect camera and a smartphone with a gyroscope was developed for the navigating objects in a 3D modeling software. It was then tested on 20 participants categorized as amateurs who had basic 3D/ CAD modeling experience and 20 participants categorized as the experts who had extensive experience working with the modeling software. This research study presents the need for existence of such interaction technique, gaps from the related previous studies, statistical findings from the current study and possible reasons for the …

Implementing A Wireless Monitoring Solution For A Biomechanical Telemetry System, Hyung Suk Kim

Open Access Theses

Sport-related Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the major concerns for collision based sports athletes and their families. The ability to measure impacts on the head is imperative to monitor brain injury and prevent serious TBI. Recent research by the Purdue Neurotrauma Group (PNG) indicates that accumulation of subconcussive impacts may cause permanent neurological damage. Currently available commercial impact monitoring systems are designed as an event-based models which collect impact data above pre-determined acceleration thresholds. To track long-term effects of sub-concussive impacts, event-based modeling is inadequate. The PNG developed a biomechanical sports telemetry system that is capable of storing …

Improvement Of A Biomechanical Telemetry System Hardware Platform, Soon Ho Kwon

Open Access Theses

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while playing sports are a major concern for the general public today. Recently, studies have shown that repetitive subconcussive hits can lead to neurological disorders. In order to prevent the athletes from suffering traumatic brain injuries, many organizations related to contact based sports and the military employ commercialized head impact telemetry systems. However, a majority of the commercialized systems is event based which only collects the linear acceleration that exceeds a certain threshold. To accurately record and utilize the data from the impact telemetry system, it is necessary to record all the linear and angular acceleration …

Improving Programmability And Performance For Scientific Applications, Chenyang Liu

Open Access Dissertations

With modern advancements in hardware and software technology scaling towards new limits, our compute machines are reaching new potentials to tackle more challenging problems. While the size and complexity of both the problems and solutions increases, the programming methodologies must remain at a level that can be understood by programmers and scientists alike. In our work, this problem is encountered when developing an optimized framework to best exploit the semantic properties of a finite-element solver. In efforts to address this problem, we explore programming and runtime models which decouple algorithmic complexity, parallelism concerns, and hardware mapping. We build upon these …

A High-Performance Communication Topology For Decentralized Protocols, Raza A. Khan

Open Access Theses

Preserving transaction atomicity and ensuring its commitment is key to the maintenance of data integrity in a distributed database. The distributed consensus protocol is a prominent example of a mechanism used to accomplish safe commitment of a distributed transaction. These protocols are based primarily on repeated message exchange among all sites/nodes and their performance is characterized not only by the number of these messages but also by the underlying communication topology. This thesis proposes a measure of performance known as average message complexity and proposes a communication structure based on folded even graphs called the Folded Even Network (FEN). Performance …

Video Annotation By Crowd Workers With Privacy-Preserving Local Disclosure, Apeksha Dipak Kumavat

Open Access Theses

Advancements in computer vision are still not reliable enough for detecting video content including humans and their actions. Microtask crowdsourcing on task markets such as Amazon Mechnical Turk and Upwork can bring humans into the loop. However, engaging crowd workers to annotate non-public video footage risks revealing the identities of people in the video who may have a right to anonymity.

This thesis demonstrates how we can engage untrusted crowd workers to detect behaviors and objects, while robustly concealing the identities of all faces. We developed a web-based system that presents obfuscated videos to crowd workers, and provides them with …

Liquid Metal Particle Popping: Nanoscale To Macroscale, Trevor R. Lear

Open Access Theses

Liquid metal nanoparticles can be used to produce stretchable electronic devices. Understanding the mechanical properties of liquid metal nanoparticles is crucial to optimizing their use in various applications, especially printing of flexible, stretchable electronics. Smaller nanoparticles are desired for high-resolution printing and compatibility with existing scalable manufacturing methods; however, they contain less liquid metal and are more difficult to rupture than larger particles, making them less desirable for post-processing functionality. This study investigates the mechanics of liquid metal particle rupture as a function of particle size. We employ compression of particle films to characterize the composition of the particle core …

Analog Spiking Neuromorphic Circuits And Systems For Brain- And Nanotechnology-Inspired Cognitive Computing, Xinyu Wu

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Human society is now facing grand challenges to satisfy the growing demand for computing power, at the same time, sustain energy consumption. By the end of CMOS technology scaling, innovations are required to tackle the challenges in a radically different way. Inspired by the emerging understanding of the computing occurring in a brain and nanotechnology-enabled biological plausible synaptic plasticity, neuromorphic computing architectures are being investigated. Such a neuromorphic chip that combines CMOS analog spiking neurons and nanoscale resistive random-access memory (RRAM) using as electronics synapses can provide massive neural network parallelism, high density and online learning capability, and hence, paves …

Just In Time Assembly (Jita) - A Run Time Interpretation Approach For Achieving Productivity Of Creating Custom Accelerators In Fpgas, Sen Ma

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The reconfigurable computing community has yet to be successful in allowing programmers to access FPGAs through traditional software development flows. Existing barriers that prevent programmers from using FPGAs include: 1) knowledge of hardware programming models, 2) the need to work within the vendor specific CAD tools and hardware synthesis. This thesis presents a series of published papers that explore different aspects of a new approach being developed to remove the barriers and enable programmers to compile accelerators on next generation reconfigurable manycore architectures. The approach is entitled Just In Time Assembly (JITA) of hardware accelerators. The approach has been defined …

Feature Based Object Tracking: A Probabilistic Approach, Kaleb Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Video analysis is a rich research topic, due to the wide spectrum of applications such as surveillance, activity recognition, security, and event detection. One of the important challenges in video analysis is object tracking, which provides the ability to determine the exact location of an object of interest within each frame. Many challenges affect the efficiency of a tracking algorithm such as scene illumination change, occlusion, scaling change and determining a search window from which to track object(s). We present an integrated probabilistic model for object track- ing, that combines implicit dynamic shape representations and probabilistic object modeling. We demonstrate …

Evaluation Of User Perceived Qoe In Mobile Systems Using Social Media Analytics, Ahmed Yaseen Mjhool

Theses and Dissertations

In mobile system environments, the quality perceived by users is inconstant and reliant on many factors such as cellular network, data connection, cost, coverage area, etc. Even though Quality of Service (QoS) management is enabled in most modern telecommunication systems, it does not guarantee the actual user’s perceived Quality of Experience (QoE) level. Many cellular networks rely on engineering test research, such as drive testing or smart mobile applications, to collect the required parameters in order to provide better service quality to users. However, this approach does not always yield customer satisfaction. Hence, user opinions should be considered. These opinions …

Coyotelab - Linux Containers For Educational Use, Michael D. Korcha

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

CoyoteLab is an exploration in the use of Linux container technology as a means to simplify the way students in computing fields access and complete laboratory work in their educational career. This project provides two main benefits: creating a simple way for students to log in and access their coursework without anything more than their web browser, and providing course instructors a way to verify that assigned work is completed successfully. Thanks to advances in container technology and the advent of WebSockets, this becomes a middle layer between a WebSocket opened up on the client’s browser and the SSH daemon …

Context-Sensitive Auto-Sanitization For Php, Jared M. Smith, Richard J. Connor, David P. Cunningham, Kyle G. Bashour, Walter T. Work

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.