Engineering Commons^™

Divergence And Bayes Error Based Soft Decision For Decentralized Signal Detection Of Correlated Sensor Data, Roopa Shree Rajanna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Localization Of Sensors In Presence Of Fading And Mobility, Hamzeh Hussain Omari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to estimate the location of a sensor through analysis of signal strengths of messages received from a collection of mobile anchors. In particular, a sensor node determines its location from distance measurements to mobile anchors of known locations. We take into account the uncertainty and fluctuation of the RSS as a result of fading and take into account the decay of the RSS which is proportional to the transmitter-receiver distance power raised to the PLE. The objective is to characterize the channel in order to derive accurate distance estimates from RSS measurements and then …

Arc Flash Hazards Analysis, Zhenyuan Zhang

Electrical Engineering Dissertations

Annually more than 2000 workers are admitted to hospital burn centers for extensive injuries caused by arc flash accidents. Arc flash incidents occur when unintended electric current flows through air, superheating the air and causes an explosion. Recognizing the significant threat posed by arc flash hazards, IEEE and NFPA have joined forces on an initiative to support research and additional testing to increase the understanding of the arc flash phenomena. Accurately represent all the real applications for arc flash events are very difficult, not only because of their random complex nature, but also because a large number of uncertain variables …

Cascaded Digital Refinement For Intrinsic Evolvable Hardware, Vignesh Thangavel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intrinsic evolution of reconfigurable hardware is sought to solve computational problems using the intrinsic processing behavior of System-on-Chip (SoC) platforms. SoC devices combine capabilities of analog and digital embedded components within a reconfigurable fabric under software control. A new technique is developed for these fabrics that leverages the digital resources' enhanced accuracy and signal refinement capability to improve circuit performance of the analog resources' which are providing low power processing and high computation rates. In particular, Differential Digital Correction (DDC) is developed utilizing an error metric computed from the evolved analog circuit to reconfigure the digital fabric thereby enhancing precision …

Enhanced Microwave Hyperthermia Using Nanoparticles, Maryory Urdaneta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation a study of enhanced hyperthermia for cancer treatment through the use of magnetic nanoparticles is presented. Hyperthermia has been in use for many years, as a potential alternative method in cancer treatment, and high frequency microwave radiation has been used successfully to raise the tumor temperature to around 42°C in superficial tumors without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. Magnetic fluid hyperthermia involves the use of magnetic nanoparticles injected into the tumor before exposure to microwave radiation. The magnetic energy in the nanoparticles is converted into heat allowing for a more rapid rise of temperature in the …

Design, Characterization And Analysis Of Component Level Electrostatic Discharge (Esd) Protection Solutions, Sirui Luo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electrostatic Discharges (ESD) is a significant hazard to electronic components and systems. Based on a specific process technology, a given circuit application requires a customized ESD consideration that meets all the requirements such as the core circuit's operating condition, maximum accepted leakage current, breakdown conditions for the process and overall device sizes. In every several years, there will be a new process technology becomes mature, and most of those new technology requires custom design of effective ESD protection solution. And usually the design window will shrinks due to the evolving of the technology becomes smaller and smaller. The ESD related …

Modified System Design And Implementation Of An Intelligent Assistive Robotic Manipulator, Nicholas Paperno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents three improvements to the current UCF MANUS systems. The first improvement modifies the existing fine motion controller into PI controller that has been optimized to prevent the object from leaving the view of the cameras used for visual servoing. This is achieved by adding a weight matrix to the proportional part of the controller that is constrained by an artificial ROI. When the feature points being used are approaching the boundaries of the ROI, the optimized controller weights are calculated using quadratic programming and added to the nominal proportional gain portion of the controller. The second improvement …

Optimal Distribution Network Reconfiguration Using Meta-Heuristic Algorithms, Arash Asrari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Finding optimal configuration of power distribution systems topology is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. It becomes more complex when time varying nature of loads in large-scale distribution systems is taken into account. In the second chapter of this dissertation, a systematic approach is proposed to tackle the computational burden of the procedure. To solve the optimization problem, a novel adaptive fuzzy based parallel genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed that employs the concept of parallel computing in identifying the optimal configuration of the network. The integration of fuzzy logic into GA enhances the efficiency of the parallel GA by adaptively modifying …

Elliptical Metasurfaces For Cloaking And Antenna Applications At Microwave And Terahertz Frequencies, Hossein Mehrpourbernety

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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 …

Quantification Of The Impact Of Intermittent Renewable Penetration Levels On Power Grid Frequency Performance Using Dynamic Modeling, Elizabeth Ann Kirby

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As the technology behind renewable energy sources becomes more advanced and cost-effective, these sources have become an ever-increasing portion of the generation portfolios of power systems across the country. While the shift away from non-renewable resources is generally considered beneficial, the fact remains that intermittent renewable sources present special challenges associated with their unique operating characteristics. Because of the high variability of intermittent renewables, the frequency performance of the system to which they are connected can degrade. Generators assigned to regulate frequency, keeping it close to the desired 60 Hz, are forced to ramp up and down quickly in order …

Statistical Analysis Of High Sample Rate Time-Series Data For Power System Stability Assessment, Goodarz Ghanavati

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The motivation for this research is to leverage the increasing deployment of the phasor measurement unit (PMU) technology by electric utilities in order to improve situational awareness in power systems. PMUs provide unprecedentedly fast and synchronized voltage and current measurements across the system. Analyzing the big data provided by PMUs may prove helpful in reducing the risk of blackouts, such as the Northeast blackout in August 2003, which have resulted in huge costs in past decades.

In order to provide deeper insight into early warning signs (EWS) of catastrophic events in power systems, this dissertation studies changes in statistical properties …

Predicting Trajectory Paths For Collision Avoidance Systems, Cesar Barrios

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This work was motivated by the idea of developing a more encompassing collision avoidance system that supported vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications. Current systems are mostly based on line of sight sensors that are used to prevent a collision, but these systems would prevent even more accidents if they could detect possible collisions before both vehicles were in line of sight.

For this research we concentrated mostly on the aspect of improving the prediction of a vehicle's future trajectory, particularly on non-straight paths. Having an accurate prediction of where the vehicle is heading is crucial …

Ruo2 Nanorods As An Electrocatalyst For Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis, Richard Smith

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The desire for pure diatomic hydrogen gas, H2(g), has been on the rise since the concept of the hydrogen economy system was proposed back in 1970. The production of hydrogen has been extensively examined over 40 + years as the need to replace current fuel sources, hydrocarbons, has become more prevalent. Currently there are only two practical and renewable production methods of hydrogen; landfill gas and power to gas. This study focuses on the later method; using various renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics, to provide off-peak energy to perform water electrolysis. Efficient electrolysis takes place in electrochemical cells which …