Engineering Commons^™

Ensuring Non-Repudiation In Long-Distance Constrained Devices, Ethan Blum

Honors Theses

Satellite communication is essential for the exploration and study of space. Satellites allow communications with many devices and systems residing in space and on the surface of celestial bodies from ground stations on Earth. However, with the rise of Ground Station as a Service (GsaaS), the ability to efficiently send action commands to distant satellites must ensure non-repudiation such that an attacker is unable to send malicious commands to distant satellites. Distant satellites are also constrained devices and rely on limited power, meaning security on these devices is minimal. Therefore, this study attempted to propose a novel algorithm to allow …

The Use Of Scattering Cancellation To Cloak And Decouple Slot Antennas And Antenna Arrays, Daniel Ferro

Honors Theses

The concept of cloaking has been prevalent in emerging research, being able to hide oneself completely from outside observers would be a huge benefit for covert surveillance and other fields. This idea has expanded past optical invisibility into the field of electromagnetic invisibility. To accomplish this form of cloaking, a non-natural material, called metamaterials, must be used. Furthermore, metamaterials can be used in a variety of different techniques including transformation-based cloaking, transmission line cloaking, and scattering cancellation cloaking. One application of cloaking is to use scattering cancellation to decouple two antennas that are placed too closely together such as in …

Folding Collision Probability In The Nyquist Folding Receiver, Hunter J. D. Miller

Honors Theses

As the radio-frequency spectrum becomes more crowded, there is a growing need for signal processing technology that can instantaneously interpret an ultra-wideband range of frequencies. Existing conventional systems, however, are not the most efficient solution due to the processing capability limitations of current analog-to-digital converter technology. Specifically, with regard to radars, traditional receivers are required to process large amounts of unused data, wasting time and energy. This project highlights a newer analog-to-information receiver that utilizes compressive sensing which is seeking to overcome these challenges. The innovative technology being evaluated allows users to sample far below the standard Nyquist/Shannon sample rates …

Evaluating Energy Storage Methods For The Stabilization Of Rural Microgrids, Colin Pennock

Honors Theses

Microgrids are a hot topic in industry at the moment due to their ability to help integrate renewables into the national grid. However, they are mainly used in urban settings, despite the stability benefits they could provide to rural communities. This research aims to help expand microgrids into a rural context by building a streamlined, phasor-domain model of a microgrid in MATLAB-Simulink’s toolbox Simscape Electrical and using it to evaluate three energy storage options: a national grid connection, battery, and flywheel. My capstone involved testing models of these three solutions by subjecting my overall microgrid to faults typical of a …

An Ios Application For Visually Impaired Individuals To Assist With Crossing Roads, Ali Khan

Honors Theses

In day-to-day life, visually impaired individuals face the problem of crossing roads by themselves. This project was designed and built to solve this key issue. The system is supposed to give the user a warning before approaching a crosswalk for their safety and also give information about when it is safe to cross the road. An iOS application was developed to address the problem since recent studies have discovered that a vast number of visually impaired individuals are using smartphones (iPhones in particular) due to the ease and convenience it brings to their daily life. The application should be able …

Effective Green Marketing Strategies On Social Media: Selling Companies And Their Consumers On Investing In Carbon Offsetting And Solar Energy In 2021, Melvin Richard Springer Iv

Honors Theses

In a digital world where consumers and businesses alike care significantly about sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR), the success of startup companies hinges on constant, clear, and thoughtful communication. Through my research into successfully marketing such concerns on social media as well as my internship at Clearloop, I discovered some of the best ways to convince both companies and consumers that preserving the planet should be a primary concern for every environmentally conscious company. Companies that ignore their impacts on the environment are synonymous with companies doomed to fail in the 21^st century. Clearloop’s model of partnering with …

Incorporating In Situ Measurements Of Energy Into A Designed Method Of Detection Of Radiation Induced Degradation In Embedded Systems, Delwyn Sam

Honors Theses

An embedded system, or a system-on-chip (SOC), is a miniaturized computer that combines hardware and software to accomplish a certain purpose. Embedded systems are used in various applications from household appliances to the automobile industry. Additionally, SOCs are used in space environments where the surroundings consist of radiation and extreme temperatures. In these harsh conditions, embedded systems must operate properly through the effects of radiation such as total ionizing dose (TID). Because embedded systems are filled with various components and modules, and since the internal signals of the system are often inaccessible, methods to locate which specific parts of the …

Design Report Of The 2022 High Voltage Battery Pack And System For Fsae Tigerracing Electric Vehicle, Clay Knight

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Ux/U-Eye: Designing Graphical User Interfaces For Exclusive Eye Gaze Control, Timothy Curol

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Led Enhancements To The Mimir Animatronic Figure, Collin J. Devillier

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Application Of Deep Learning Algorithms To Pediatric Vascular Anomalies Using A Limited Dataset, Briana I. Robertson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Interactive Software Tool To Assist Dsp Education Of Electrical And Computer Engineering Undergraduates Through Audio, Kyle Andrew Sellers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Iot Garden Frost Alarm, Andrew James

Honors Theses

Home gardeners are faced with yearly challenges due to spring frosts harming young plants. This is frequently mitigated by covering crops with frost blankets, but only on nights when a frost is predicted. In areas with less predictable climate, an unexpected frost can kill vulnerable plants, reducing the amount of food produced. A system is proposed and designed here to use internet of things (IoT) technology to enable a small weather station in the home garden to report current climate data and predict frosts, then alert the gardener in time for them to cover their plants.

The system as designed …

Circuit Breaker Failure Analysis System, Marlie Norbrun

Honors Theses

Norbrun, Marlie Circuit Breaker Failure Analysis System. Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Department, June 2021.

ADVISOR: Professor James Hedrick

Electrical malfunctions are one of the leading causes of domestic fires in the United States. Between 2012 and 2016, electrical failures were responsible for 44, 860 residential fires (Richard Campbell, “Home Electrical Fires”). All electrical circuits contain circuit breakers, which are used as safety mechanisms to interrupt current flow when a fault develops. It is not always possible to determine if an electrical fire resulted from a circuit breaker malfunction. Thus, it would be beneficial to have a cost-effective and user-friendly …

Radar Network Synchronization And Imaging Using Semiconductor Laser System, Meesha Gupta

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project is to report the software implementation of radar network synchronization and imaging using a semiconductor laser system. We compare different radar configurations and methods to generate laser chaos.

The monostatic radar configuration has limited capabilities of detecting targets with low radar cross-sections. This configuration is also vulnerable to intentional interference. In contrast, a radar network where multiple radar transceivers (nodes) are placed strategically can yield superior detection. This radar network can also extract additional information about the target, such as its size and shape. However, synchronizing the nodes in the radar network poses a significant …

Chaos-Based Coffee Can Radar System, Conor Willsie, Rong Chen

Honors Theses

Linear frequency modulated (LFM) radar systems are simple and easy to implement, making them ideal for inexpensive undergraduate research projects. Unfortunately, LFM radar schemes have multiple limitations that make them unviable in many real-world applications. Given the limitations of LFM radar systems, we propose a chaos-based frequency modulated (CBFM) system. In this paper, we present the theory, design, and experimental verification of a CBFM radar system that has both ranging and synthetic aperture radar imaging capabilities. The performance of our CBFM system is compared to that of the LFM system designed by MIT. We document many challenges and unforeseen obstacles …

An Open-Baffle Motional Feedback Loudspeaker, Matthew Quinlivan, William Harvie

Honors Theses

A dynamic loudspeaker mounted in an open baffle has the same parameters as a loudspeaker in free space. A subwoofer mounted in an open baffle has a small total quality factor and therefore the frequency above which the driver has a significant output is too high despite the subwoofer's low resonant frequency. To address this issue, we implemented a motional feedback circuit with the goal of introducing both velocity feedback and acceleration feedback into the loudspeaker system and thus altering the resonant frequency and total quality factor of the system. After verifying the efficacy of our feedback circuit with computer …

A Study Of Deep Reinforcement Learning In Autonomous Racing Using Deepracer Car, Mukesh Ghimire

Honors Theses

Reinforcement learning is thought to be a promising branch of machine learning that has the potential to help us develop an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) machine. Among the machine learning algorithms, primarily, supervised, semi supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning, reinforcement learning is different in a sense that it explores the environment without prior knowledge, and determines the optimal action. This study attempts to understand the concept behind reinforcement learning, the mathematics behind it and see it in action by deploying the trained model in Amazon's DeepRacer car. DeepRacer, a 1/18^th scaled autonomous car, is the agent which is trained …

An Investigation Into Cognitive Radio System Performance, Courtney Hardy, Lucas F. Feather, William S. Guy

Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to explore cognitive radio performance through an in-depth literature review and an implementation of a software-defined radio prototyping system. Specifically, this thesis investigates the spectrum-sensing aspect of cognitive radio by comparing two spectrum-sensing methods. It was found in the literature review that a system utilizing matched filter detection would provide higher probability of detection in low signal-to-noise ratio environments when compared to a system utilizing energy detection. These spectrum sensing methods were thus implemented and compared in the cognitive radio systems presented in this thesis. Additionally, experiments were conducted to determine the most efficient …

Parametric Design Of Flywheel For An Electric Punch Press, Prashant Dhakal

Honors Theses

Almost all designs start with a design requirement. These may be weight, volume, clearance, and even custom calculations. Finding a solution that meets these requirements often involves tedious and time-consuming iterations. Once the solution has been found, the design must be optimized to find the best possible solution. Finding the ‘best possible design’ requires substantial time and effort dedicated to iterating and analyzing the potential model solutions. This is where Parametric design comes into play. The Parametric design aids in specifying the key parameters of the design and makes changes interactively, with the model updating automatically. The purpose of this …

Velocity Electric Mobility Platform, Austin Gilbert

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project is to develop an IOT connected micro mobility platform to be used in electric personal transportation devices such as scooters and longboards. This initial platform will be used as a starting off point for Velocity Research to continue with future development.

The first main requirement of the design is that it must be able to control two independent three phase brushless DC motors using field oriented control. These motors must be controlled based on input from the user via a handheld remote control. The second main requirement is that the device must also send and …

Amplification And Filtering Stage For An In-Home Wireless Polysomnograph, Seth Young

Honors Theses

Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that tends to be easily treatable but, for most sufferers, is undiagnosed. To lower the economic barriers to screening the design of a portion of a polysomnograph, or obstructive sleep apnea testing tool, is considered. A filtering and amplification stage is theorized, simulated, and constructed for testing. The stage, consisting of three cascaded 1st order Butterworth low pass filters and amplifiers, did not achieve the target signal to noise ratio for a sinusoidal waveform of amplitude 200µv, but showed promising signal to noise ratios for waveforms with amplitudes as low as 600µv. The …

Silicon Oil Drop Experiment, Jacob Lutz

Honors Theses

When designing models for quantum systems, researchers are often limited to computer models to develop a large pool of data. This has always been the case until the discovery was made that bouncing droplets of silicone oil can provide a decent representation of quantum mechanical particles. A system to model this representation was created. It is designed to run continuously for a large number of trials without the need for human interaction, as well as collect motion data from generated oil droplets. The droplet generator system is composed of a fluid reservoir, pump, piezoelectric buzzer, fluid chamber, and a nozzle …

Optimization Of Union College’S Microgrid To Meet All Load With A Least-Cost, Low-Carbon Energy Mix, Caitlin Mcmahon

Honors Theses

A microgrid is a localized electric grid that generates some or all of the power used to meet its load. Union College currently has a microgrid that meets 70 percent of the campus’ load and is connected to the main grid. It is made up of a cogeneration plant as well as solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, which are renewable energy sources. The goal of this project is to determine the least cost, low-carbon energy mix that meets 100 percent of the campus’ load. The issue with solar and wind power is that they are variable based on time …

Coffee Can Radar System, Dale Coker

Honors Theses

A Radio Detection and Ranging (“radar”) system detects a target and accurately determines its range and velocity using radio frequency (RF) waves. In the presence of a target, these RF waves are reflected, received, and processed. Until recently, radar systems have been too expensive to implement as undergraduate research projects, primarily because of the cost of the associated RF components. Recently, MIT has developed a low-cost radar system as part of an open-source course. Therefore, one objective of this project is to design and construct a radar system based on the MIT design. A further objective is to develop a …

Three-Phase Pulse Width Modulated Ac/Dc Rectifier And Dc/Ac Inverter, Carmen Ngo

Honors Theses

Electric vehicles use inverter and rectifier circuits in order to convert power from one type to another. They run on direct current batteries, but their motors can run on direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). There is a need for both of these circuits if the motor runs on AC. The objective of this project is to successfully replicate driving and braking in an electric vehicle, and understand its power flow. Both systems should start to convert the input power as soon as the source is “on” and should continue this conversion without interruption. In the driving system, a …

An Improved Method For Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcer (Hapu) Prevention, Jillian Yeager, Megan Morrissey, Julia Beekman

Honors Theses

Hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs), also called bedsores, are damage to the skin and/or underlying tissue caused by prolonged pressure on the bony areas of the body, with around 20% of pressure ulcers occurring in the heel region. Currently, the most common practice for HAPU prevention is arbitrary manual repositioning of patients by nurses every 1-2 hours. The goal of our project was to address HAPUs in the heel region of low mobility patients through an ulceration risk sensing system. Our team has created a wearable ulceration risk assessment system that combines individual patient risk data with real time pressure …

An Improved Method For Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcer (Hapu) Prevention, Megan Morrissey, Jillian Yeager, Julia Beekman

Honors Theses

Hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs), also called bedsores, are damage to the skin and/or underlying tissue caused by prolonged pressure on the bony areas of the body, with around 20% of pressure ulcers occurring in the heel region. Currently, the most common practice for HAPU prevention is arbitrary manual repositioning of patients by nurses every 1-2 hours. The goal of our project was to address HAPUs in the heel region of low mobility patients through an ulceration risk sensing system. Our team has created a wearable ulceration risk assessment system that combines individual patient risk data with real time pressure …

Heel Down And Toe-Off Time Measured With Ultrasonic Doppler System And Force Plate Sensor, Sabin Timsina

Honors Theses

Collie Box is a medical device that measures the gait parameters of the person walk- ing in front of it. This device uses the Ultrasonic Doppler system to extract the heel-contact and toe-off times of a person walking within the range of 2-10 meters. These times are used to determine the leg’s swing phase and double stance times. The ultrasonic transducer of 10mm diameter is driven at 40kHz. At the time of the heel-contact and toe-off, foot velocity is zero while the torso part of the human body is still in motion. The wide directivity of 10mm diameter ultrasonic transducer …

Ece Senior Design Project - Cost-Effective Diy Electrometer, Benjamin Hahn

Honors Theses

An electrometer is a critical electrophysiology instrument used to generate minuscule currents for intracellular stimulation of biological neurons. An electrometer also enables simultaneous measurement of the neuron membrane voltage response. This device is necessary to perform accurate stimulation of neurons. However, the cost of commercial electrometers, around $5000, is prohibitive to many researchers, particularly at the high-school or introductory college level. A recent Western Michigan University graduate student, Lucas Essenburg, designed a basic electrometer for $210. His thesis proved that quality electrometers can be constructed for a fraction of the price of commercial-grade equipment.

This project focused on the improvement …