Engineering Commons^™

A High Voltage Charge-Coupled Device (Ccd) Controller Asic For The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (Lsst), Ross F. Chun

Masters Theses

This thesis will present the design, implementation, and testing of a high voltage Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) controller ASIC for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will be used to study dark energy and dark matter. The LSST observatory, which includes a 3.2-gigapixel camera, will cover the entire sky every three nights by taking continuous 15-second exposures. The CCD controller ASIC, or Sensor Control Chip (SCC), will provide five CCD driver channels that are capable of generating serial or parallel clock signals for the LSST’s imaging sensors during readout mode. The SCC will also provide three programmable bias voltages for …

Design Of A Highly Constrained Test System For A 12-Bit, 16-Channel Wilkinson Adc, Zachary William Pannell

Masters Theses

Outer space is a very harsh environment that can cause electronics to not operate as they were originally intended. Aside from the extreme amount of radiation found in space, temperatures can also change very dramatically in a relatively small time frame. In order to test electronics that will be used in this environment, they first need to be tested on Earth under replicated conditions. Vanderbilt University designed a dewar that allows devices to be tested at these extreme temperatures while being radiated. For this thesis, a test setup that met all of the dewar's constraints was designed that would allow …

Plume Source Localization And Boundary Prediction, Samir Sahyoun

Masters Theses

Plume location and prediction using mobile sensors is the main contribution of this thesis. Plume concentration values measured by chemical sensors at different locations are used to estimate the source of the plume. This is achieved by employing a stochastic approximation technique to localize the source and compare its performance to the nonlinear least squares method. The source location is then used as the initial estimate for the boundary tracking problem. Sensor measurements are used to estimate the parameters and the states of the state space model of the dynamics of the plume boundary. The predicted locations are the reference …

A Dynamic Ampacity Model For The Testing Of Advanced Conductors, Matthew Benjamin Sooter

Masters Theses

Advanced Conductors are an intriguing new technology that promises to help the utility industry increase the transmission capacity available in the United States. Manufacturers of advanced conductors promise double the current carrying capacity of normal Aluminum Clad Steel Reinforced conductor through a combination of increased thermal limits and decreased thermal elongation.

This thesis will outline a control developed for the Power Line Conductor Accelerated Test Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This custom facility is designed for the testing and rapid aging of advanced overhead conductors as part of a U.S. Department of Energy initiative to assist the development and …

Pitot Tube And Wind Tunnel Studies Of The Flow Induced By One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge (Oaugdp ®) Plasma Actuators Using A Conventional And An Economical High Voltage Power Supply, Manish Yadav

Masters Theses

The aerodynamic applications of plasma science is a field of growing interest. Investigations using various approaches have been initiated by several research groups that are designed to manipulate the aerodynamic boundary layer and to re-attach the flow to airfoils. EHD (ElectroHydroDynamic) flow control has proven at least as effective as other methods of boundary layer flow control. In the EHD approach, glow discharge plasma actuators are placed on the wings and fuselage of the aircraft, or on the turbine blades in the engine, to influence the boundary layer flow. This thesis is concerned with plasma actuators based on the OAUGDP …

The Design Of Medium Access Control (Mac) Protocols For Energy Efficient And Qos Provision In Wireless Sensor Networks, Yang Liu

Masters Theses

This thesis work focuses on innovative design of media access control (MAC) protocols in wireless sensor networks (WNSs). The characteristics of the WSN inquire that the network service design considers both energy efficiency and the associated application requirement. However, most existing protocols address only the issue of energy efficiency.

In this thesis, a MAC protocol has been proposed (referred to as Q-MAC) that not only minimized the energy consumption in multi-hop WSNs, but also provides Quality of Service (QoS) by differentiating network services based on priority levels prescribed by different applications. The priority levels reflect the state of system resources …

Carbon Nanotube Based Chemical And Biological Sensors, Srikanth Singamaneni

Masters Theses

Carbon nanotubes are among those wonderful molecules man has discovered by chance. Carbon nanotubes are sheets of graphite rolled up to form seamless cylinders. Their outstanding electrical, mechanical and thermal properties form the inspiration behind this work. This work investigates the possible application of carbon nanotubes as biological sensors for the detection of various biomolecules like Streptavidin and Mouse monoclonal Immunoglobulin-G. Electrical conductance changes of Carbon nanotubes for exposure to alcohol vapors were studied. This thesis demonstrates that these quantum wires can form highly sensitive biological and chemical sensors at molecular level. Although the main focus of the-research was chemical …

Curvature Variation As Measure Of Shape Information, Sreenivas Rangan Sukumar

Masters Theses

In this thesis, we present the Curvature Variation Measure (CVM) as our informational approach to shape description. We base our algorithm on shape curvature, and extract shape information as the entropic measure of the curvature. We present definitions to estimate curvature for both discrete 2D curves and 3D surfaces and then formulate our theory of shape information from these definitions.

With focus on reverse engineering and under vehicle inspection, we document our research efforts in constructing a scanning mechanism to model real world objects. We use a laser-based range sensor for the data collection and discuss view-fusion and integration to …

A Characteristic Study Of The Atmospheric Pressure Nonthermal Resistive Barrier Plasma Discharge For Biological Decontamination, Magesh Thiyagarajan

Masters Theses

Steady-state atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasmas can splendidly debilitate bacteria in liquids, gases and on surfaces, as well as can disintegrate hazardous chemicals. The nonthermal gas discharge at atmospheric pressure, such as resistive barrier discharge is investigated for low temperature sterilization purposes. In specific, exploring and understanding the hidden secrets of the plasma sterilization mechanisms and the intensification of the main microbial reduction pathways are the objectives of the research.

A dual-mode steady-state atmospheric pressure resistive barrier ionized gas (plasma) generator has been designed and developed to meet the environmental health and federally mandated safety standards. Electrical, chemical, optical, and biological …

An Experimental Model Of Ball Lightning, Madras Parameswaran Sriram

Masters Theses

A form of ball lightning was generated in the laboratory. Plasma spheres several centimeters in diameter were produced in atmospheric pressure air. These spheres persisted up to ½ a second after power turn –off. A mathematical model was derived that predicts the observed lifetime. The theory predicts that the sphere lifetime should scale as the radius squared, which means large spheres should exist for many seconds. We also generated ball lightning in a zero gravity environment. The object was to eliminate convection, which had been observed to reduce the size of a ball generated by a two – dimensional electric …

Eliminating Harmonics In A Cascaded H-Bridges Multilevel Inverter Using Resultant Theory, Symmetric Polynomials, And Power Sums, Keith Jeremy Mckenzie

Masters Theses

This thesis studies a multilevel converter with assumed equal dc sources. The multilevel fundamental switching scheme is used to control the needed power electronics switches. Also, a method is presented where switching angles are computed such that a desired fundamental sinusoidal voltage is produced while at the same time certain higher order harmonics are eliminated.

Using Fourier Series theory, the transcendental equations eliminating certain higher order harmonics were derived in terms of the switching angles. Furthermore, these transcendental equations were transformed into polynomial equations by making some simple changes of variables. Resultant theory was used to solve the polynomial equations. …

A 1.8 Ghz Lc-Voltage Controlled Oscillator Using On-Chip Inductors And Body Driven Varactors In Cmos 0.35 Μm Process, Lakshmipriya Seshan

Masters Theses

In an era dominated by the highly demanding wireless communication system, there is a great need for developing small, cheap, and low power RF sub-systems. This demand has lead to significant research on completely integrated transceiver systems. One of the great challenges in an integrated transceiver system is the frequency synthesizer. Frequency synthesizers are usually implemented using a phase locked loop (PLL) and low frequency highly stable crystal oscillator. The spectral purity of a synthesized carrier signal depends on the kind of Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) used. Hence successful implementation of a low phase noise, completely integrated VCO in standard …

Design And Analysis Of A Wide Loop-Bandwidth Rf Synthesizer Using Ring Oscillator For Dect Receiver, Md. Hafijur Rahman

Masters Theses

Wireless communication devices including cordless phones and modern digital cellular systems (DCSs) use portable transceiver systems. The frequency synthesis of this type of transceiver system is done using a phase-locked loop oscillator. Traditional on-chip implementation of a complete phase-locked loop using a ring type voltage controlled oscillator contributes higher noise at the output. An alternative architecture, phase-locked loop (PLL) with wide loop-bandwidth, is proposed in this research to suppress the noise from the traditional ring oscillator. The proposed PLL is amendable to on-chip integration as well as commercially suitable for a Digital Enhancement Cordless Telephone (DECT) system which needs flexible …

Complementary Bodydriving - A Low-Voltage Analog Circuit Technique Realized In 0.35um Soi Process, Yong Leekee

Masters Theses

This thesis presents a study of several analog circuit primitives that utilize the body terminal as a signal port to achieve low-voltage operation and high performance. Several issues relating to low-voltage applications as well as the trends of technology scaling in the near future are presented. Principles of the body-driven transistor for both PMOS and NMOS in PDSOI technology are described, and critical design considerations are discussed. The design of low-voltage analog primitives (cascode current mirror and differential pair) are described and analyzed in detail. A discussion of the design and analysis of a 4-quadrant analog multiplier is also presented. …

A Lock-In Amplifier For Fluorescent Light Detection, Osman Oguz

Masters Theses

An integrated on-chip lock-in amplifier has been developed for fluorescent light detection for biological applications. The system includes 2.1 mm x 2.1 mm tiny chip using a photodiode transimpedance amplifier topology for the pre-amp, followed by gain amplifier, demodulator and filtering stages. Synchronous demodulator or phase sensitive detector stage has two different architectures to demonstrate the difference between the results. The recommended transmitting light frequency is between 0.5 kHz to 5 kHz. We used 1 kHz frequency for the test.

Investigation Of Various Shaping Methods For The Development Of A Fully-Monolithic Cmos Constant-Fraction Discriminator, Robert Gentry Jackson

Masters Theses

In this work the design of a constant-fraction discriminator (CFD) fabricated in the Orbit Semiconductor l.2-Jl n-well CMOS process is presented. This timing pick-off circuit is designed for use in the readout electronics of the Lead-Scintillator subsystem of the Pioneering High Eenergy Nuclear Ion eXperiment (PHENIX) Electromagnetic Calorimeter at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The design was driven by stringent requirements including low power consumption, small area, arrayable, low cost and a fully integratable shaping network. Various integratable CFD shaping methods are investigated, and the candidate methods chosen for fabrication were the distributed R-C delay-line shaping, lumped-element R-C shaping …

A High Performance Detector Electronics System For Positron Tomography, John Clifton Moyers, Jr.

Masters Theses

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has been a very useful laboratory tool for the noninvasive study of dynamic physiological processes within the human body. Its clinical worth in cardiology, neurology, and oncology has been verified for well over a decade. Only with the most recent introduction of high performance analog and VLSI digital components yielding higher scanner resolutions at reduced costs, has clinical PET truly become a reality. The High Performance Detector Electronics System presented here represents indubitably the most advanced processing system available in the clinical PET market.

The Design And Application Of An Electronic Phase Angle Meter, Will Otis Leffell

Masters Theses

Introduction [Abbreviated]:

The purpose of this paper is to consider some problems that are involved in the design and application of an electronic phase angle meter. A phase angle meter is a device that has long been used in power work. However, the meters used take considerable energy from the circuits, and will not respond to very rapid changes in the phase angle. Most of these meters work on the principle of the Tuma phase meter, and commonly indicate the angle between a current and a voltage. In power work, while the energy consumption is not so important, a meter …

A Theoretical Discussion Of The Variation In Temperature Of A Gas Flame That Occurs When The Proportion Of Air Supplied, And The Temperature Of This Air, Varies, C. L. Henderson

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.