Engineering Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Designing A Low-Cost Ultrasound Pulser, Andrea Huey

Honors Theses

Ultrasound imaging allows for those studying living beings to see inside a subject without causing it harm. This allows for real-time images to be taken, leading to ease of observational research. However, while this technology is beneficial to those who utilize it, the devices used to create and receive ultrasound pulses can be incredibly complex, allowing for precise adjustment of the output signal and various other functions, and therefore expensive. The focus of this senior project is the design of a low-cost pulser for use with an ultrasound transducer. While it does not have all the high-level functions of the …

Development Of A Fully Instrumented, Resonant Tensegrity Strut, Kentaro Barhydt

Honors Theses

A tensegrity is a structure composed of a series of rigid members connected in static equilibrium by tensile elements. A vibrating tensegrity robot is an underactuated system in which a set of its struts are vibrated at certain frequency combinations to achieve various locomotive gaits. Evolutionary robotics research lead by Professor John Rieffel focuses on exploiting the complex dynamics of tensegrity structures to control locomotion in vibrating tensegrity robots by finding desired gaits using genetic algorithms. A current hypothesis of interest is that the optimal locomotive gaits of a vibrating tensegrity exist at its resonant frequencies.

In order to observe …

An Internet Of Things (Iot) Robotic Light Switch, Arsal Habib

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project was to design and build an Internet of Things (IoT) Robotic Light Switch. This light switch would act as a complementary device to existing toggle switches and equip them with typical smart device features such as remote control (via Wi-Fi), digital voice assistant control, motion-sensing and integration with other smart home solutions (such as IFTTT). All these features would be supported by a dedicated web page that would also be able to view the usage statistics of the device. This device is aimed at offering users an extremely easy-to-install home automation solution that needs no …

The Evolution Dynamics And Trends Of The Content Of Chinese Exports From 1995-2011, Megan Kerbs

Honors Theses

There is no question that China’s role in the international economy has grown over time, as it seems to be claiming more and more of center stage in the global arena. Back in the early 1990’s, the phenomenon of globalization enabled China to expand its reach, inserting itself into intricate production hierarchies that began to define the global marketplace. China experienced a massive export boom in 2000, and since, has evolved to become a highly sophisticated, high-tech country that now plays an integral role within not only the East Asian region, but also the rest of the world. This thesis …

A Gps Enabled Ipod Touch For Skiers, Camila Dorin

Honors Theses

The purpose of my senior project was to design and build a system that provides GPS capabilities to the iPod touch. The system is used in conjunction with an iPod application, giving skiers the possibility to have access to the following outputs: graph of speed during run, distance skied, calories burned, and map of the slopes followed. The system consists of a GPS receiver, an Arduino microcontroller, a Wifi Shield, and iPod touch, and an iPod application. A central point during the development of the system was the transmission of data from one piece of hardware to the other and …