Engineering Commons^™

Ai Assisted Workflows For Computational Electromagnetics And Antenna Design, Oameed Noakoasteen

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

These days large volumes of data can be recorded and manipulated with relative ease. If valuable information can be extracted from them, these vast amounts of data can be a rich resource not just for the digital economy but also for scientific discovery and development of technology. When it comes to deriving valuable information from data, Machine Learning (ML) emerges as the key solution. To unlock the potential benefits of ML to science and technology, extensive research is needed to explore what algorithms are suitable and how they can be applied.

To shine light on various ways that ML can …

Fiesta And Shock-Driven Flows, Brian E. Romero

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

In this study, the interaction of a shock with various gas and particle interfaces is analyzed through simulations using a new, GPU capable, multi-species flow solver, FIESTA (Fast, Interface Evolution, Shocks, and Transport in the Atmosphere), de- veloped for this research. The cases studied include the interaction between a shock and i) a two-dimensional (2D), circular cloud of a dense gas; ii) a 2D curtain of a dense gas; iii) a three-dimensional (3D) cylinder of a dense gas, and iv) a 3D curtain of solid particles.

In simulations of a 2D gas curtain and a 3D gas column, the curtain …

Intra-Hour Solar Forecasting Using Cloud Dynamics Features Extracted From Ground-Based Infrared Sky Images, Guillermo Terrén-Serrano

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Due to the increasing use of photovoltaic systems, power grids are vulnerable to the projection of shadows from moving clouds. An intra-hour solar forecast provides power grids with the capability of automatically controlling the dispatch of energy, reducing the additional cost for a guaranteed, reliable supply of energy (i.e., energy storage). This dissertation introduces a novel sky imager consisting of a long-wave radiometric infrared camera and a visible light camera with a fisheye lens. The imager is mounted on a solar tracker to maintain the Sun in the center of the images throughout the day, reducing the scattering effect produced …

Cognizant Composites: Seamless Integration Of Circuitry And Sensors Into Structural Composites, Reuben Fresquez

Computer Science ETDs

This thesis describes a set of novel techniques for embedding sensors, circuitry, and electronics into structural composites. I leverage recent developments in human computer interaction to create sensors and circuitry that are seamlessly incorporated into structural composites. I fabricate bend and compression sensors, along with circuitry, from textiles, which enables me to add electronic capabilities without impacting the composite’s structural integrity. I describe the construction of these “cognizant composites” and demonstrate their functionality. I also explore techniques for embedding standard electronic components, including microcontrollers, into structural composites. Potential applications of this technology include buildings that can warn occupants if load-bearing …

Integrating Deep Learning And Augmented Reality To Enhance Situational Awareness In Firefighting Environments, Manish Bhattarai

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

We present a new four-pronged approach to build firefighter's situational awareness for the first time in the literature. We construct a series of deep learning frameworks built on top of one another to enhance the safety, efficiency, and successful completion of rescue missions conducted by firefighters in emergency first response settings. First, we used a deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) system to classify and identify objects of interest from thermal imagery in real-time. Next, we extended this CNN framework for object detection, tracking, segmentation with a Mask RCNN framework, and scene description with a multimodal natural language processing(NLP) framework. Third, …

Advanced Parallel Algorithms In Computational Electromagnetics, Shu Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The rapid development of high performance computing has pushed the computational electromagnetic(CEM) towards high accuracy, high fidelity and extreme computational scales. There is a great need for existing CEM solvers to have enhanced parallelism and scaling capability. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate advanced parallel algorithms for both frequency and time domain solvers.

In frequency domain, this work first develop the underpinnings of parallel preconditioning technique and high-order transmission condition in the context of multi-solver scheme. The result is a computing resource-aware and implementation wise compact solver. Then this work targeted at developing efficient algorithms for cases where …

Methods Of Uncertainty Quantification For Physical Parameters, Kellin Rumsey

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) is an umbrella term referring to a broad class of methods which typically involve the combination of computational modeling, experimental data and expert knowledge to study a physical system. A parameter, in the usual statistical sense, is said to be physical if it has a meaningful interpretation with respect to the physical system. Physical parameters can be viewed as inherent properties of a physical process and have a corresponding true value. Statistical inference for physical parameters is a challenging problem in UQ due to the inadequacy of the computer model. In this thesis, we provide a comprehensive …

Nonlinear Least Squares 3-D Geolocation Solutions Using Time Differences Of Arrival, Michael V. Bredemann

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

This thesis uses a geometric approach to derive and solve nonlinear least squares minimization problems to geolocate a signal source in three dimensions using time differences of arrival at multiple sensor locations. There is no restriction on the maximum number of sensors used. Residual errors reach the numerical limits of machine precision. Symmetric sensor orientations are found that prevent closed form solutions of source locations lying within the null space. Maximum uncertainties in relative sensor positions and time difference of arrivals, required to locate a source within a maximum specified error, are found from these results. Examples illustrate potential requirements …

Fluid Transport In Porous Media For Engineering Applications, Eric M. Benner

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

This doctoral dissertation presents three topics in modeling fluid transport through porous media used in engineering applications. The results provide insights into the design of fuel cell components, catalyst and drug delivery particles, and aluminum- based materials. Analytical and computational methods are utilized for the modeling of the systems of interest. Theoretical analysis of capillary-driven transport in porous media show that both geometric and evaporation effects significantly change the time dependent behavior of liquid imbibition and give a steady state flux into the medium. The evaporation–capillary number is significant in determining the time-dependent behavior of capillary flows in porous media. …

Criticality Assessments For Improving Algorithmic Robustness, Thomas B. Jones

Computer Science ETDs

Though computational models typically assume all program steps execute flawlessly, that does not imply all steps are equally important if a failure should occur. In the "Constrained Reliability Allocation" problem, sufficient resources are guaranteed for operations that prompt eventual program termination on failure, but those operations that only cause output errors are given a limited budget of some vital resource, insufficient to ensure correct operation for each of them.

In this dissertation, I present a novel representation of failures based on a combination of their timing and location combined with criticality assessments---a method used to predict the behavior of systems …

High-Performance Testbed For Vision-Aided Autonomous Navigation For Quadrotor Uavs In Cluttered Environments, Shakeeb Ahmad

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis presents the development of an aerial robotic testbed based on Robot Operating System (ROS). The purpose of this high-performance testbed is to develop a system capable of performing robust navigation tasks using vision tools such as a stereo camera. While ensuring the computation of robot odometery, the system is also capable of sensing the environment using the same stereo camera. Hence, all the navigation tasks are performed using a stereo camera and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) as the main sensor suite. ROS is used as a framework for software integration due to its capabilities to provide efficient …

Improving Hpc Communication Library Performance On Modern Architectures, Matthew G. F. Dosanjh

Computer Science ETDs

As high-performance computing (HPC) systems advance towards exascale (10^18 operations per second), they must leverage increasing levels of parallelism to achieve their performance goals. In addition to increased parallelism, machines of that scale will have strict power limitations placed on them. One direction currently being explored to alleviate those issues are many-core processors such as Intel’s Xeon Phi line. Many-core processors sacrifice clock speed and core complexity, such as out of order pipelining, to increase the number of cores on a die. While this increases floating point throughput, it can reduce the performance of serialized, synchronized, and latency sensitive code …

Distributed Knowledge Discovery For Diverse Data, Hossein Hamooni

Computer Science ETDs

In the era of new technologies, computer scientists deal with massive data of size hundreds of terabytes. Smart cities, social networks, health care systems, large sensor networks, etc. are constantly generating new data. It is non-trivial to extract knowledge from big datasets because traditional data mining algorithms run impractically on such big datasets. However, distributed systems have come to aid this problem while introducing new challenges in designing scalable algorithms. The transition from traditional algorithms to the ones that can be run on a distributed platform should be done carefully. Researchers should design the modern distributed algorithms based on the …