Engineering Commons^™

Shark Alert: Early Warning System, Cory Peterson, Marc Rauschnot, Taylor Mcclain

Electrical Engineering

The Shark Alert Early Warning System is a device geared toward avid beach goers such as surfers, divers, and swimmers. The system is composed of an ultrasonic transmitter mounted on a shark’s dorsal fin and a receiver worn by the user around the ankle. The receiver alerts the user to the presence of a shark upon ultrasonic signal detection.

The receiver warns the user through both visual and tactile (vibration) alerts to ensure user notification. This circuit was built and tested in the EE labs and Recreation Center pools to determine transmission range. The receiver detects the transmitted signal up …

U-Larm Bike Lock Accessory, Craig Cary

Electrical Engineering

Over the past few years, anti-pollution organizations and activists have encouraged society to use eco-friendly transportation like ride-sharing and biking. According to the San Luis Obispo Police Department, however, bike owners report approximately 269 bike thefts per year. This statistic illustrates the need for a more effective way to protect bicycle property.

The development of an alarm system for the U-Lock bike lock encourages bike owners to ride their bicycles by providing them with additional measures to protect their bicycle property. This U-Lock accessory, when cut, sounds an alarm to alert nearby persons of the theft-in-progress. In order to turn …

Hydromodus: An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Alex Kost, Anu Mahinkanda, Jordan Read

Electrical Engineering

Hydromodus is a student-led multidisciplinary project conceived by Jordan Read designed to provide a low-cost modular hardware and software solution for researchers and scientists. For the scope of the Senior Project class, it is designed to be a baited remote underwater vehicle (BRUV), but the platform is highly modifiable and open-source.

Wd Data Aquisition Board, Charmaine Guintu

Electrical Engineering

The Data Acquisition (DAQ) Board project is a continuation of a project that started last year. It is a project in collaboration with Western Digital. Western Digital (WD) Power LSI Systems Validation group has stress testing equipment called the Torture Stand. Inside the Torture Stand hard drives are compacted and tested until failure. However, the transient responses of voltage and current signals from the hard drives are currently obtained from oscilloscopes. The oscilloscopes are bulky and expensive, so to replace the oscilloscopes the DAQ was created. The small size and much cheaper cost of the DAQ allows Western Digital to …

Low Profile Guitar Tuner, Yaniv Goldobin, Christer Sundstrom, Samuel Cheng

Electrical Engineering

To develop an innovative guitar tuner with emphasis on low profile design

Department Of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015, Dante C. Carrillo, Dion A. Celebrado, Jenna I. Denhaan, Christian F. Ferrer, Simon D. Hauser, Audrey L. Rempher, Joseph H. Rohrer, Casey S. Smith

Electrical Engineering

The goal of the Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2015 project is to design, build, and operate a zero-net energy solar-photovoltaic (solar-PV) powered residence. It is an international competition taking place in the fall of 2015 in Irvine, California. The design needs to be attractive, energy-efficient, innovative, and affordable. The Cal Poly team includes students from a variety of majors, including Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and many more. The different disciplines need to work together to create a functional and cohesive design. For our senior project, we have designed the electrical systems in the home, including the power, …

An Iris Authentication System Based On Artificial Neural Networks, Brenden Velu

Electrical Engineering

An iris authentication system verifies the authenticity of a person based on their iris features. The iris features are extracted through wavelet transform of the isolated iris from modified iris images. A level 5 wavelet decomposition is performed on the images, and the resulting low-frequency wavelet coefficients represent the inputs to the artificial neural network. The artificial neural network reads these features as inputs, and classifies each set of inputs according to their target identity. This authentication system currently classifies up to 10 people. The irises used for classification represent ideal situations with minimum eyelash and eyelid interference.

Smart Shot: Electronic Target With Smartphone Application, Tyler Stuart Pickett, Taylor Jacob Hutchinson

Electrical Engineering

The objective of this project is to develop an electronic system for recreational shooters that functions as a target with real-time feedback. The system provides a user-friendly alternative to paper targets and expensive competition scoring systems. One of the largest challenges presented by this project is balancing cost, durability, and sensitivity. The scope of this project includes the design and implementation of a target assembly, an electronic system, and a smartphone application.

The system is comprised of three main modules: the target, the control module, and the smartphone app. The electronic target communicates wirelessly with the smartphone via Bluetooth. Once …

Design Of A High Powered Led Driver, Omar Renteria

Electrical Engineering

Research has shown that LED lighting products have greater energy efficiency, longer lifespans, and lower heat outputs than compared with traditional lighting technologies. An estimated growth of 45 percent per year through 2019 for the LED lighting market should provide a wider variety of LED related products to consumers. The goal of this project; to create a driving circuit that powers a set of high powered LEDs. The implementation of LEDs significantly reduces the power consumption in comparison with other types of light such as incandescent bulbs or CFLs, therefore saving the consumer money.

The Zephyr Charge: A Wind-Powered Usb Charger, James Dean Carson, John Pina Lopez Iii

Electrical Engineering

The Zephyr Charge project is to design and build a cell phone charger using a small wind turbine generator that can be useful to the fishermen community, namely fishermen of third world countries. The generator will output to USB for ease of charging capability. The size of the whole system should be light enough to move around, and the turbine itself will be mountable onto an edge of a wall. The goal of this project is to design and build a compact and easy to use cell phone charger, which is also efficient.

In order to be a practical product, …

Dual Channel Matrix Switch Audio Receiver, Austin Fox

Electrical Engineering

The Dual Channel Matrix Switch Audio Receiver controls 2 separate audio output channels. Each channel plays any of the system's 3 inputs. This controller enables a user to play two separate audio signals through two separate speaker channels. The system design allows audio input from 2 RCA sources or 1 RCA source and a phono source. The system outputs an audio signal for each output simultaneously at up to 36W on each channel for an 8Ω load. The device allows a user to control the audio input and the volume of each output channel. An Arduino Uno R3 microcontroller interfaced …

Cal Poly Electrical Distribution Coordination And Short Circuit Analysis, Alexander Gomez, Kaylynn Rothleder

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to maintain the California Polytechnic State University Electrical Distribution System by performing short circuit and protective device coordination studies for the Baker Science Building. When a short circuit arises in a system, there is no finite way in telling what protective device will be tripped, which can cause outages, arc flashes and electrical explosions. The best way in determining the outcomes of these occurrences are to perform precise simulated reports. To output these reports, design and analysis of the single line through a commercialized software, Power Tools for Windows (SKM) was used. To name …

Iocean Rgb Sensor, Mark Mcneff, Archit Mendiratta

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to create an accurate ocean color sensor that will communicate effectively with an iPhone. The device will take ocean color measurements at its current location and provide these measurements to the user for scientific study of the variability of ocean color across the globe. The data gathered by the device will also provide ground-truthing of satellite ocean color measurements.

Nanogrid Electrical Design And Analysis, Phillip Phung

Electrical Engineering

Power plant generators have quality protection over long-range transmission, but localized generation interacts with multiple power sources, and needs maintenance to ensure grid safety. Localized and distributed generation must solve these issues to remain viable economically and efficiently in power industries. Cal Poly’s Building 20 provides on-campus location to interconnect renewable generation with interconnection disconnect capabilities.

Cal Poly’s grid includes three localized generators flowing through the Cal Poly substation. Unlike other universities which use power from utilities across distant transmission lines, Cal Poly generates energy using onsite generators. Research including additional possible sites of power generation helps determine the effects …

Boost Battery, Samuel Rauch, Alvin Ng, Lacy Sigman

Electrical Engineering

In modern times, the problem of a depleted battery confronts us too often. Whether it appears with a smartphone or with any other electronic device, the situation frustrates all consumers. This project designs and constructs a compact portable battery charger that charges through kinetic energy. Thus, one can perform everyday activities, such as walking or running, and charge up a backup battery with no extra effort or time. Additionally, an attachable band harvests thermal energy to maximize the amount of clean power generated. Energy harvesting from kinetic motion and thermal differences provide users with power when no actual power suppliers …

Large Dynamic Range Amplifier Plus Adc, Ted Hsueh

Electrical Engineering

Nerve and muscle signal sampling proves difficult because of the large difference in magnitudes. Muscle signals loom a hundred or even a thousand times bigger and can hide the nerve signals. The Large Dynamic Range Amplifier plus Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) allows one device to retrieve both muscle and nerve signal information. The device has two parts: the ability to take high-resolution data from tenths of microvolts to several millivolts and filter out environmental noise, such as 60 Hz of electrical power lines or electro galvanic signals. This gives the ability to read muscle and nerve signals using one …

Lightweight Silver Ink Printed Circular Ring Microstrip Patch Antenna For Wlan Applications, Bobak Beheshti

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.