Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of The Flail Space Model Utilizing Event Data Recorder Technology, Douglas John Gabauer

Theses and Dissertations

Developed in the early 1980's, the flail space model has become the standard method for estimating occupant risk in full-scale crash tests involving roadside safety features. The widespread availability of airbags and increased seat belt usage rates in today's vehicle fleet, however, raise serious questions regarding the validity of the model. Recent implementation of Event Data Recorder (EDR) technology in a number of late model vehicles presents a different perspective on the assessment of the validity of occupant risk based on the flail space model. EDRs are capable of electronically recording data such as vehicle speed, brake status and throttle …

Spatially Varying Threshold Models For The Automated Segmentation Of Radiodense Tissue In Digitized Mammograms, Richard Edson Eckert Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The percentage of radiodense (bright) tissue in a mammogram has been correlated to an increased risk of breast cancer. This thesis presents an automated method to quantify the amount of radiodense tissue found in a digitized mammogram. The algorithm employs a radial basis function neural network in order to segment the breast tissue region from the remainder of the X-ray. A spatially varying Neyman-Pearson threshold is used to calculate the percentage of radiodense tissue and compensate for the effects of tissue compression that occurs during a mammography procedure. Results demonstrating the efficacy of the technique are demonstrated by exercising the …

Development Of An Augmented Haptic Control For In-Vehicle Law Enforcement Applications, Edward R. Guest Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Typical police vehicles are filled with as much technology as the department can afford. Everything from the newest digital camera system to a simple entertainment radio is within the reach of an officer. Currently, most of these systems are installed without any consideration toward the other systems or the interaction required between the driver and the car. The lack of a systems approach in the installation has spawned a project to look at the safety and overall system installation in the New Jersey State Police vehicles.

The research presented in this thesis suggests consolidation of the various controls into one …

Hdl Implementation Of A Controller Area Network Node, Anthony Richard Marino

Theses and Dissertations

With increasing technology inside automobiles, especially law enforcement vehicles, there is a growing need for centralized wiring and device interconnection methods. Each new technology, such as GPS navigation units and in-vehicle video systems, includes a corresponding wiring harness that needs installation. The summation of all these hardwired technologies leads to large volumes of wire that negatively affect safety, power demands, and future design opportunities. A new trend among automotive manufacturers is to design and implement innovative networks that allow for shared communications between technologies.

This thesis presents the design, development, and implementation of an in-vehicle network that will centralize connections …

Multi-Sensor Data Fusion Using Geometric Transformations For The Nondestructive Evaluation Of Gas Transmission Pipelines, Philip James Kulick

Theses and Dissertations

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) plays a vital component in the operation and maintenance of large infrastructure such as gas transmission pipelines, nuclear power plants, aircraft, bridges and highways, etc. As this infrastructure continues to age it is essential that the inspection techniques reliably and accurately predict the integrity of these systems. No single NDE method is capable of inspecting all types of anomalies and extracting all required information – a combination of methods must be used and the resulting data fused. Moreover, newer systems that are developed are often made of composite materials that include metals and dielectrics. One interrogation modality …

Evaluation Of Event Data Recorders In Real World Crashes And Full-Scale Crash Tests, Lewis Thomas Clayton Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of advanced safety systems in U.S. passenger vehicles, there has been increased interest shown by automakers in recording crash related parameters that ultimately lead to the deployment of these safety systems in what are known as Event Data Recorders (EDRs). Since the only other record of these parameters, specifically crash pulse, comes from staged crash tests in a controlled environment, the advent of the EDR has become increasingly important to crash researchers. The purpose of this study is to quantify the performance of EDRs in full-scale crash tests and real world crashes.

Comparison of EDRs with staged …

School Bus Idling And Mobile Diesel Emissions Testing: Effect Of Fuel Type And Development Of A Mobile Test Cycle, Jason Scott Hearne

Theses and Dissertations

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is currently sponsoring a research study at Rowan University to develop strategies for reducing diesel emissions from mobile sources such as school buses and class 8 trucks (classified as a heavy-duty truck of more than 33,000 lbs.). This thesis presents the results of an investigation performed to measure school bus idle emissions in a controlled environmental chamber. This thesis also presents the results of mobile school bus testing that has been performed to quantify the emission reduction capabilities of various alternative fuels, such as biodiesel, ultra low sulfur diesel, and a blend of …

Development Of A New Apparatus To Measure Flame Spread Through A Free Stratified Fuel/Air Mixture: Numerical Modeling And Experimental Results, Fred Hovermann

Theses and Dissertations

While flame spread through uniform fuel-air mixtures has been widely studied in combustion science, there has been relatively little attention given to the study of non-homogenous, or layered, fuel-air mixtures. However, these systems are common occurrences in such cases as terrestrial fuel spills and fuel leaks in both normal and microgravity. Conducting research on layered fuel-air mixtures and understanding the properties of flame propagation has potential implications for fire safety (both on earth and in space), as well as being of fundamental interest. The main objective behind this study is to determine flame speed, flammability regions, stability limits, and the …

Finite Element Modeling Of A Commuter Category Aircraft Seat Under Crash Loading, David William Bowen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the development and validation of a finite element model of a commuter aircraft seat under crash loading. In particular, this effort has developed an LS-DYNA model of a Beechcraft 1900C low back passenger seat.

Although air travel is one of the safest forms of transportation, crash-related fatalities do occur even in relatively low severity crashes. Many of these fatalities can be traced to the inability of production seats to absorb crash energy. The goal of this research effort is to develop a computational model of a production aircraft seat as a first step towards the development of …

Assessing Classification Confidence Using A Weighted Exponential Based Technique With The Learn++ Incremental Learning Algorithm, Jeffrey T. Byorick

Theses and Dissertations

Pattern recognition problems span a broad range of applications, where each application has its own tolerance on classification error. The varying levels of risk associated with many pattern recognition applications indicate the need for a versatile algorithm with the ability to measure its own reliability. In this work, the supervised incremental learning algorithm Learn++ [1, 2], which exploits the synergistic power of an ensemble of classifiers, is further developed to add the capability of assessing its own confidence. Estimation of the true generalization performance of the classifier as well as the confidences on classification of individual data instances is investigated …