Engineering Commons^™

Hardware Implementations Of Ccsds Deep Space Ldpc Codes For A Satellite Transponder, Dana R. Sorensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Error-correction coding is a technique that adds mathematical structure to a message, allowing corruptions to be detected and corrected when the message is received. This is especially important for deep space satellite communications, since the long distances and low signal power levels often cause message corruption. A very strong type of error-correction coding known as LDPC codes was recently standardized for use with space communications. This project implements the encoding and decoding algorithms required for a small satellite radio to be able to use these LDPC codes. Several decoder architectures are implemented and compared by their performance, speed, and complexity. …

An Ann-Based System For Lateral Misalignment And Vertical Clearance Estimation Of An Electric Vehicle During Dynamic Wireless Charging, Sanat Kumar Saha

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Due to decaying fossil fuel reserves, oil price fluctuation and detrimental effects on climate the use of fossil fuel has, people are getting more interested in other alternative energy sources. In the past couple of decades, the Electric Vehicles have emerged as a robust environment-friendly alternative to conventional gasoline-driven vehicles. Although EVs have a problem with the limited energy storage, Stationary and Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems for the charging of EVs can be an effective solution. However, in a WPT system, energy efficiency and energy transfer capability are significantly affected by the level of Lateral Misalignment. The real-time …

A Swimming Open-Water Navigation Assistive Headset And Receiver, Zakk B. Rhodes

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Open water swimming is a common activity dating back to ancient times. One challenge with open water swimming is navigation because while maintaining proper swimming technique suggests the head be in the water, it is difficult to see where one is going. Thus swimmers must bring their head out of the water periodically to sight landmarks. This work describes a solution to this problem by a design for a GPS device to assist swimmers with navigation. The swimmer can plan their own route, send it to the device, and then be guided by the device. They then will not have …

High Speed Digital Sample Rate Conversion For A Real-Time Ground Station Receiver, Brian Joseph Carrick

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Small satellites are becoming a popular spacecraft option because of their low cost, and complexity. Past small satellites had simple communication systems with low data rates that rarely exceeded 38.4 kbps. Engineers, researchers, and students, from Space Dynamics Laboratory and Utah State University, have recently created and launched a pair of small satellites called the Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment (DICE). This mission was revolutionary because of its high-speed data link, with data rates up to 1.5 Mbps.

Due to the high-speed data link, it was necessary to create a ground station capable of receiving and processing the received data. For …

Remote Heart Rate Estimation Using Consumer-Grade Cameras, Nathan E. Ruben

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

There are many ways in which the remote non-contact detection of the human heart rate might be useful. This is especially true if it can be done using inexpensive equipment such as consumer-grade cameras. Many studies and experiments have been performed in recent years to help reliably determine the heart rate from video footage of a person. The methods have taken an analysis approach which involves temporal Itering and frequency spectrum examination. This study attempts to answer questions about the noise sources which inhibit these methods from estimating the heart rate. Other statistical processes are examined for their use in …

Modeling The Liquid, Nasal, And Vowel Transitions Of North American English Using Linear Predictive Filters And Line Spectral Frequency Interpolations For Use In A Speech Synthesis System, Jacob G. Nieveen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A speech synthesis system with an original user interface is being developed. In contrast to most modern synthesizers, this system is not text to speech (TTS). This system allows the user to control vowels, vowel transitions, and consonant sounds through a simple 2-d vowel pad and consonant buttons. In this system, a synthesized glottal waveform is passed through vowel filters to create vowel sounds. Several filters were calculated from recordings of vowels using linear predictive coding (LPC). The rest of the vowels in the North American English vowel space were found using interpolation techniques with line spectral frequencies (LSF). The …

Study And Development Of Blind Equalization For Demodulation Of Dynamic Ionosphere Cubesat Experiment Satellite Data, Ravi Kant

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The project presented in this report is for combating the narrowband interference present in the downlink data of Dynamic Ionosphere Cubesat Experiment (DICE) satellites. The interference prevents the Phase Locked Loop (PLL) and timing synchronization loops from performing efficiently and the data is not demodulated properly. The samples are corrupted and correct decisions about the signal constellation cannot be made. Here, blind equalization techniques are used to tackle this problem. In this thesis, Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA) and Multi-Modulus Algorithm (MMA) algorithms are extended to offset- Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation and then implemented. When applied to simulated and real …

The Equine Distress Monitor Project, Luke B. Peacock

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Colic is a very common symptom that effects many horses. Sometimes colic is an indicator of some very serous medical conditions that, if left untreated, could result in the death of the horse. A cast horse is a horse trapped in a prone position Cast horses are also at risk of serous injury or even death. The causes of these two conditions are so numerous that a horse's risk of being affected, while preventable, is significant. This illustrates a need for constant monitoring of high-risk, high-sentimnet, or high-cost horses.

The Equine Distress Monitor (EDM) system is non-evasive electronic long-term monitoring …

A Model For Rapid Charging Events On International Space Station, Debrup Hui

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Surface charging by plasma can be a serious issue for any spacecraft. Though significant charging is not observed in all spacecrafts at all times, it only requires a single episode of extreme charging to result in serious damage. The International Space Station (ISS) is an interesting platform to study these charging effects because of its size and relatively high voltage systems. Of the many kinds of charging observed on ISS, the rapid charging events during solar eclipse exit in a low-density ionosphere is not yet understood. This report is an investigation to understand this phenomenon. This report proposes a simple …

Closed-Loop Attitude Control Using Fluid Dynamic Vectoring On An Aerospike Nozzle, Nathan Erni

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Attitude control of a prototype satellite bus using fluid mechanical vectoring on an aerospike nozzle is demonstrated. The design achieves thrust vectoring by injecting propellant asymmetrically into the unconstrained aerospike exhaust plume near the nozzle base. The prototype system uses cold-gas thrusters to both spin-up and de-tumble the test article. The system is configured with axially directed annular flows that produce large longitudinal thrusts and smaller secondary lateral-injection flows for side thrusts. Both open and closed-loop attitude control, with and without main aerospike annular flow active, are demonstrated. Proportional, integral, derivative (PID) regulation is used for closed-loop attitude control. When …

Development Of A Reconfigurable Multi-Faceted Communications Device Using Partial Dynamic Reconfiguration, Richard Dunkley

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Supporting a variety of communication protocols has typically required extensive hard- ware and Input/Output (I/O) interfaces targeting each protocol specifically. Recent designs in the past ten years have created more dynamic approaches by using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and embedded hardware to implement or simulate previous hardware I/O designs. With the constant increase in FPGA and embedded technologies the capabilities of dynamic implementations have expanded. This report addresses the design of an up-to-date reconfigurable multi-faceted embedded device targeting recent technological advances in FPGAs.

Synchronized Line-Scan Lidar/Eo Imager For Creating 3d Images Of Dynamic Scenes: Prototype Ii, Donald C. Anderton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A second prototype integrated lidar/Electro Optical (EO) camera, or 3D Texel™ camera, has been developed by Utah State University (USU) Center for Advanced Imaging Ladar (CAIL) that collocates, both temporally and spatially, a CMOS digital camera readout with a time-of-flight pulsed lidar1. The first prototype uses a flying spot lidar with a double gimbal whereas this prototype uses a single gimbal and rotating mirror. The selection and design of the second prototype hardware components: lidar, EO camera, computer, synchronization box, power source (AC to DC and battery box) and battery charger is discussed and compared with the first prototype. The …

Electronics Design Of The Aglite-Lidar Instrument, Scott S. Cornelsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The AGLITE-LIDAR instrument is a three-wavelength lidar system being designed and constructed at the Space Dynamics Laboratory under contract from the Agricultural Research Service. Its purpose is to implement a novel new approach to making measurements of gas and particulate pollutants released into the atmosphere by agricultural operations. Once operational, it will provide a means whereby the total flux of pollutants being emitted by agricultural facilities might be measured. This approach is valid even for facilities that may cover several acres. The design of the AGLITE instrument consists of a myriad of different components that are brought together in a …

A Study Of An Unintentional Shutdown (Scram) Problem In The Operation Of The High Flux Isotope Reactor, Cheng Ping Wu

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory experiences occasional operating difficulties caused by temporary low voltage conditions on its main power feeder line. The low voltage causes the shutdown of one or more of the three primary coolant pumps. When two of these pumps are shut down, the capacity of the cooling system is reduced to the point where the reactor is scrammed due to a high inlet coolant temperature.

This study was made to determine the cause of the high inlet temperature when operating with one primary coolant pump and to suggest possible changes …