Engineering Commons^™

Scalable Speech Coding For Ip Networks, Koji Seto

Engineering Ph.D. Theses

The emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has posed new challenges to the development of speech codecs. The key issue of transporting real-time voice packet over IP networks is the lack of guarantee for reasonable speech quality due to packet delay or loss.

Most of the widely used narrowband codecs depend on the Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) coding technique. The CELP technique utilizes the long-term prediction across the frame boundaries and therefore causes error propagation in the case of packet loss and need to transmit redundant information in order to mitigate the problem. The internet Low Bit-rate Codec …

Interlocking Concrete Masonry Unit Geometry Design, Raquel Avila, Nick Jensen

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

Earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal left many people devastated. Millions of people were initially displaced and forced to reside in displacement camps. Developing countries like these need a form of economical construction. Our design and manufacturing process for interlocking CMU (concrete masonry unit) blocks can help build low-cost homes quickly and efficiently. Wall construction costs are reduced because skilled masons are not needed to build the wall. Instead, unskilled homeowners and laborers can stack the interlocking blocks, which serve as forms for the subsequent placement of reinforcement and grout within some of the CMU block voids. Using a steel mold, …

Ikure Health Worker Tracker, Daniel Mendoza, Astha Singh, Mason Maeshiro

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

For our Senior Design Project, we worked with a company in India called iKure. This company is a social benefits entrepreneurship that strives to provide affordable healthcare to citizens in rural India. In order to run their operations more efficiently, iKure asked us to create an application to track the location of their health workers as they travel throughout the rural communities. We worked closely with one of the employees at iKure, meeting biweekly through conference calls, in order to keep up to date on the companys developments. After careful consideration and additional feedback from iKure, we came up with …

Skyport: Payload: Medical Cooler For The Skyport Uav, Madison Gee, Hector Lopez, Victor Magaña

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Access to basic healthcare is a major persisting problem around the globe, especially in rural parts of the world. One of the many facets of this problem is access to vaccine treatment. The transportation and storage of vaccines at the proper temperature is an issue that is still being solved and improved upon today. One of the common solutions to this problem is the use of passive coolers such as ice packs and other refrigerants. The potential issue with passive cooling is that the temperature cannot be actively controlled. This is evident, as many vaccines are wasted due to incorrect …

Beacon Pack, Aidan Barbari, James Mack, James Terry

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

STEM technologies have the ability to spread information to those corners of the world where Internet access has yet to reach. However, there are very few technologies that can bring this necessity to developing countries, most of which do not have the capital to pursue these technologies. In this paper, we discuss Beacon Pack, a solar powered database in a travelers pack that can bring information acquired from the Internet to these individuals in developing countries with low-level cellular phones or "feature phones." Our product tackles this issue of providing this info, specifically news articles, to developing countries through an …

Preliminary Design And Construction Planning Of A New Santa Clara University Student Fitness And Recreational Facility, Justin Matoi, Steven Sakamoto, Alex Sarr

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The Pat Malley Fitness and Recreation Center was built in 1999. At approximately 45,000 SF, the building cost was 8.8 million dollars. Malley includes three full length basketball courts, locker rooms, 10,000 ft2 workout and cardio space, a multi-purpose room and administrative offices ("Santa Clara University" Campus Recreation). Although one of the relatively new buildings on campus; Malley fails to provide the necessary space and accommodations of an active and growing student body. When the building was designed and built, the student population/enrollment of the University was "approximately 4,200 undergraduate and 3,600 graduate students" (Santa Clara University Bulletin 1999). Since …

Sustainable Design In Ghana, Anthony Decosta, Amanda Laufer, Theresa Mcardle

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

Sustainable homes are difficult for the people of Gambibgo, Ghana to build, as there are few natural building materials in the area other than earth and water, and their subsistencefarming lifestyle leaves very little money for the purchase of sourced material like lumber, steel, or cement. Traditional homes in Gambibgo are constantly rebuilt, costing the communityaround $250 at least once every five years. Our team, with Father James Reites, S.J. and two alums, traveled to Gambibgo in March 2015 with an earthen roof design we had hoped to implement on the existing walls of thecommunity's homes. Upon our arrival we …

Bannan Pedestrian Bridge, Chris Banaga, Kevin Delos Santos, Tim Mort

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

This project focuses on the need for collaboration and unification among faculty and students in the engineering department. As it stands, the engineering department has three buildings that are not connected. This causes students and faculty of different studies to be handcuffed. Engineering is a collaborated field, that requires like minded people to come up with solutions. This is why the design team decided to implement a pedestrian bridge that would allow rapid access to both engineering buildings. The project team completed structural and construction elements for a pedestrian bridge that connects two buildings in the SCU engineering quad. This …

Santa Clara University Multicultural Center Redesign, Angela Non, Isaac Raven

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The purpose of this project is to propose a resigned structure to better suit the activities of the Santa Clara University Multicultural Center. The renovation entails proposing a preliminary structural design system that includes a new, light-weight PLN3 metal deck roofing system provided by Verco Decking, Inc. Nine deep long span 56DLH truss joists will be implemented to support the metal deck. Two large trusses comprised of member sizes HSS9x9x½ and LL3½x3½x5/16x3/8 will be used to support the nine truss joists. Four concrete columns, 15 ft in height and 2 ft in diameter, will be erected to uphold each end …

Geomorphic Restoration And Stabilization Of A Reach Of Stevens Creek, Gretchen Kayser, Nick Roby, Travis Giffen

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

This project focuses on the restoration of a 460-foot reach of Stevens Creek in Santa Clara County, California. The new design will increase the stability of stream channels, riparian system functions, and fish passage while improving or maintaining the "level of service" based on geomorphic data. This project was completed in conjunction with the Santa Clara Valley Water District's standards and design criteria. The proposed design is needed to increase the stability of stream banks and rectify stream bed incision. This will, in turn, provide greater flood protection to the residents of Santa Clara County. In addition to safety for …

Skyport Airframe: Design And Manufacturing, Thomas Clark, Michael Dewane, Siosiua Faleta, Robert Llanos-Hinson

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Many rural areas of developing countries lack the necessary transportation infrastructure to have reliable access to basic needs. This is particularly true for medical supplies. To combat the issue of insufficient access to vaccines in developing areas, the SkyPort project has developed the SkyPort UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The SkyPort UAV has the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities of a quadcopter, as well as the efficient, sustained flight of a fixed-wing aircraft. It provides a cheaper, quicker, and safer delivery method than existing alternatives for vaccines in areas that lack a reliable transportation infrastructure. The role of the SkyPort …

Automated In-Row Weed Trimmer, Joshua Baculi, Tyler Castrucci, Joshua Ding, Marit Knapp, Gaston Young

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

The Automated In-Row Weed Trimmer, or AIRWT, is a weed removal system designed to be used in vineyards in order to enable safe and e cient removal of weeds while preventing damage to the vines. The goal of the system is to reduce the need for the use of manual labor and herbicides while improving production rates of grapes by automating the weed removal process at vineyards. By implementing an automated system for weed removal, the team aims to resolve ethical issues in food production, primarily those surrounding human labor, environmental friendliness, and social sustainability. The focus of this report …

Smart Thermostat, Matt Allen, Sam Billett, Kevin Read

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

The current thermostat marketplace is dominated by programmable thermostats that are engineered to give the user as much control as possible. However, not all users program these thermostats optimally. Some prefer comfort over energy efficiency and will heat an empty house. Others do not care to program their thermostat and leave it at a set temperature. The Smart Thermostat that we have created is engineered to optimize the temperature for the user, using the common sense of the engineer to lower energy consumption. It uses a Raspberry Pi as a platform to implement a fuzzy logic control System. By removing …

Pilot-1: Autonomous Fixed-Wing Aircraft Control System, Chris Millsap, Nathan Garvey, Faisal Hayat

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

In the past decade, the personal ownership of unmanned aerial vehicles has exploded in the US and around the world. The rapidly declining size and cost of integrated circuits, sensors and embedded micro-controllers has lead to a flourishing community of hobbyists designing flight controllers with levels of sophistication approaching those for government and military applications. The typical flight assisted controllers integrate data from the user's control system and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in order to keep the craft level and on course. Deriving mostly from the radio controlled (RC) hobby industry, the flight control technologies for both rotary and …

Rsl Autonomous Rover, Cris Madrigal, Jiachi Zhang, Nicholas Peacock, Brogan O'Hara

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Autonomous vehicles are useful for a variety of applications such as military, urban, and agricultural environments. This paper discusses adding an autonomous navigation system to an all-terrain vehicle by implementing controllers that interface with its current system, installing sensors on the vehicle for obstacle detection, and developing effective safety mechanisms to prevent injury to others. The result is a vehicle capable of waypoint navigation and obstacle avoidance. Testing the vehicle showed that the LIDAR and the autonomous navigation system were integrated seamlessly, and that the sensor output signals were successfully translated into vehicle commands the existing system uses. This system …

Image Processing For The Extraction Of Nutritional Information From Food Labels, Nate Matsunaga, Rick Sullivan

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Current techniques for tracking nutritional data require undesirable amounts of either time or man-power. People must choose between tediously recording and updating dietary information or depending on unreliable crowd-sourced or costly maintained databases. Our project looks to overcome these pitfalls by providing a programming interface for image analysis that will read and report the information present on a nutrition label directly. Our solution involves a C++ library that combines image pre-processing, optical character recognition, and post-processing techniques to pull the relevant information from an image of a nutrition label. We apply an understanding of a nutrition label's content and data …

Ikamvayouth, Weihan Li, Ann Parden

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organization in South Africa that would benefit from a streamlined system that expedites registration and optimizes communication for volunteers and learners. IkamvaYouth currently has multiple mediums for registering users, which is hard to track and manage. Our solution is to make a product for volunteers and learners. The learners will be able to identify the nearest branch. The volunteers will be able to identify the nearest branch and register for a position at that branch. The primary considerations for an application in South Africa is that it is practical and usable. The solution provide is based …

Flippit: A Local Marketplace Mobile Application, Kyle Alwyn, Taylor Roden

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Every year, university students spend hundreds, if not thousands on textbooks. However, students cannot effectively sell off or return the used books. Current solutions do exist, but they are slow, difficult to use, and do not give a reasonable refunded amount. To solve the problem, we implemented a hybrid mobile application, built to be available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Throughout the development process, several competitors emerged in the local bookselling market, therefore, our team pivoted and went more broad, allowing users to buy and sell anything, rather than restricting the platform to only books. …

Sunplanter, Matthew Diaz, Joseph Gaither, Stephen Hight, J. Brandon Suehiro

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Although the cost of solar technology has been reduced by nearly seventy percent in the last ten years, the cost of implementing solar panels for residential and commercial use has remained stagnant. Due to the lack of affordable, easily installable solar panel systems on residential properties, the goal of our Senior Design Project is to design a stand-alone solar tracking structure. Since the system is stand-alone, it can be easily implemented on a wide range of properties in most areas of California. Our design for the support of the solar tracking system is a two-pole structure, with a wide base …

Legacy Borehole Project, Piper Connelly, Rhys Marks, Ronald Saavedra

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

To assist scientists in their pursuit of important research of the subseafloor, the Legacy Borehole Project designed a unique structure that will be lowered to the ocean floor for data collection beneath the ocean floor. This derrick structure will provide support for a sensor package to access pre-existing boreholes, deep and narrow holes drilled into the Earth's crust beneath the sea floor. Our team has completed the second year effort of the three-year plan. In this paper we detail our work on the structure, which will be assembled on a ship's deck and lowered onto the borehole reentry cone with …

Low-Cost Electrocardiogram Device For Preventative Healthcare In Rural Populations Of Developing Countries, J.P. Ertola, Michael Whalen

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

We have created a prototype electrocardiogram (ECG) device to screen rural populations of developing countries for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Our device is affordable and easy to use so it can be accessible to as many people as possible. We leverage widespread SMS infrastructures to remotely report cardiovascular health to doctors; thus not requiring the doctor to be on-site to interpret test results. Our device can be used to screen people for cardiovascular warning signs. Therefore, it is not meant to be a diagnostic tool.

Might-E Wheel, Abigail Grills, Daniel Doke, Jared O'Rourke, Zach Jesberger

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Electric bikes are proving to be an increasingly reliable source of transportation, but with large price tags and existing conversion kits proving too complicated and unapproachable for the average user, commuters are failing to consider electric bicycles as an option. A prototype of a wireless, rear-wheel replacement to convert a bicycle from manual to full-power electric was built. This motorized wheel is called Might-E Wheel. Might-E Wheel was designed as the most approachable and user-friendly way to convert a bicycle from manual to full-power electric. Might-E Wheel was able to achieve a top speed of 27.5 km/h, a range of …

Omnisplit: A Mobile Food Ordering Platform For Restaurant Staff And Patrons, Andres De Artola, Jordan Buschman, Ashley Sehatti

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

The takeout industry has benefited greatly from smartphone technology, but the dine- in experience has lagged behind. There are several major issues with the current dining experience, including how to split the check and how to address the issue of poor customer feedback. Some mobile and desktop apps have tired to address individual issues of the restaurant dining process, but there is no single platform that attempts to fix the experience as a whole. We begin by outlining the idea behind OmniSplit, a small to medium business solution that seeks to address many of these issues simultaneously. OmniSplit combines online …

Akabot 2.0: Pet 3d Printing Filament From Waste Plastic, Jay Dubashi, Brian Grau, Alex Mckernan

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Extrusion is how 3D printing filament is created. Melted plastic is pushed through an extrusion die and is shaped into a long thin strand of plastic. Extrusion machines are usually sized for industrial use, capable of creating hundreds of feet of filament a day. This filament is expensive to purchase, and many end-users would prefer to extrude their own filament, from a virgin plastic input or plastic waste input. There are no homescale filament extruders on the market for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic waste. AkaBot was designed to allow end users to produce their own filament from a PET plastic …

Hayward Shoreline Levee Protection, Samuel Beering, Karissa Canonizado, Caleb Young

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The area from north of the San Mateo Bridge to Hayward Landing in the city of Hayward is at risk of flooding due to thirty-six inch sea level rise in the next 50-100 years. The areas that the this flooding would have a negative environmental impact as well as impact businesses and other residents near the project area. To protect these areas new shoreline protection was proposed. To begin designing new shore protection, the existing levee was analyzed on GeoSlope after doing numerous soil testing. It was found that the existing levee would fail against overtopping. After evaluating three alternatives, …

Using Virtual Reality For Anxiety Therapy, Bryce Mariano, Paul Thurston

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Phobias, defined as a persistent and often irrational fear of an object or situation, are a very common type of anxiety disorder that can make it extremely difficult if not impossible for sufferers to interact with the world in a normal and healthy fashion. Traditionally therapists have used a concept known as systematic desensitization to help patients gain control of the emotional and physical reaction to their phobia. Systematic desensitization is employed using a type of treatment known as exposure therapy in which the patients are gradually made to think about and eventually face whatever triggers their anxiety until they …

A Tale Of Two Nucleases: Using Talens To Edit The Genome Of C. Elegans, Clare Bartlett, Kriszten Kocmond, Erin Root

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Genetic engineering is an emerging technology that offers the potential to prevent, treat, or cure genetic diseases. The technology can permanently alter the genome, providing an alternative therapy to drugs and surgery. Specifically, gene therapy is a promising treatment option for many incurable genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and muscular cell dystrophy. Our project gives rise to a better understanding of TALENs and its uses in the genetic engineering field. TALENs, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, are a genetic engineering technology that can be used for targeted gene modification. They are engineered proteins that can bind to specific sequences of …

Mobile Music: A Musical Therapy Assistance Device, Alex Hildebrand, Tanner Malkoff

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Children suffering from Cerebral Palsy often undergo gait therapy in order to strengthen and coordinate their trunks and legs. The patients often feel unmotivated to perform their gait training because the physical movements associated with it are difficult and there is no immediate reward. Physical therapists (PT) will often play music as an incentive to get the children focused on their physical therapy, but this is inefficient and impedes the PT from analyzing and tuning the patients' gait. Mobile Music is a small device designed for automating musical therapy during gait training. In this paper, we go through several design …

Designing With Bamboo: Frames And Connections In Underdeveloped Areas, Andrew Spencer, Bryson Kam

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

Designing With Bamboo: Frames and Connections in Underdeveloped Areas focused on the construction and testing of specific components of a proposed structure utilizing bamboo. This structure, proposed by the Ecological Building Network, would primarily be used in Haiti and other developing countries that are prone to seismic activity. The components of this structure will consist of concrete masonry units, bamboo frames, and rebar for the connection. This project focuses specifically on the bamboo frame and it's connection to the concrete masonry wall. Tests were performed on isolated unit specimens to gain a sense of the behavior of this mechanism. Information …

Homeless Garden Project, Caroline Ruwe, Tara Pozzi, John Miller

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The Homeless Garden Project, a non-profit organization in Santa Cruz, California, was given 15-acres to expand in 1998 by the City of Santa Cruz. The main reason they have not moved to this area is that there is no readily available water to irrigate with. In this paper, we used GPS data and WaterCAD modeling to design a gravity water distribution system in order to irrigate this new land for the Homeless Garden Project. This system used two mountain springs as a water supply in which spring diversion box retrofits were designed. Multiple 2-inch high-density polyurethane (HDPE) pipelines were used …