Engineering Commons^™

Performance Tests Of Three-Point Mounted Implement Guidance Systems: Ii. Results, Michael F. Kocher, Michael B. Smith, Robert D. Grisso, Linda J. Young

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Side-shift and disk-steer implement guidance systems were tested for differences in performance during cultivation on fields with 0 and 5% side slope. Test speeds were slow (4.8 km/h, 3 mph) and medium (8.0 km/h, 5 mph). Test path shapes included a tractor ramp, implement ramp, sine and curve. Performance measures included tractor positional error, implement positional error, torque from side forces on the cultivator non-swiveling coulters, and travel speed. Relatively few significant differences between guidance systems were detected, and most of those involved interaction with path shape. Therefore, no clear conclusion could be reached indicating one guidance system was better …

Effect Of Fine Aggregate Angularity On Asphalt Mixture Performance, Chih-Jen Lee, Thomas D. White, Terry R. West

JTRP Technical Reports

Superpave aggregate qualification includes the fine aggregate angularity (FAA). Fine aggregate angularity levels used in the Superpave system are below 40, 40 to 45 and above 45. The higher values are specified for layers near the surface and for higher traffic levels. The objective of this study was to address the effect of fine aggregate angularity on asphalt mixture rutting performance. A total of 18 mixtures were designed according to the Superpave volumetric design criteria. A surface mixture utilizing a partially crushed 9.5mm coarse aggregate and a single PG 64-22 binder were utilized. The poor quality coarse aggregate was used …

The Airline Quality Rating 1999, Brent D. Bowen, Dean Headley, Uno Aviation Institute

Faculty Books and Monographs

UNOAI Report 99-3

he Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple criteria. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1999, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1998. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Airline Quality Rating 1999 is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for the ten major domestic U.S. airlines operating during 1998. Using the Airline Quality Rating system of weighted averages and montly performance data in the areas of on-time arrivals, …

Field Performance Report On 1219 Mm Hdpe Pipe On Us 127, Owen County, L. John Fleckenstein, David L. Allen

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report documents the installation and performance of a 1219 mm (48-inch) corrugated smooth lined polyethylene (HDPE) pipe installed during reconstruction of US 127 in Owen County. The pipe installed was manufactured by Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc., and is designated as ADS N-12. pipe.

The culvert was installed in a 6-meter (20-foot) high embankment. The culvert pipe was installed in two sequences. The first half of the structure was bedded and backfilled with No. 8 stone and the second half of the structure was bedded and backfilled with pipe sand (crushed limestone).

The pipe appears to be performing well. The …

The Airline Quality Rating 1998, Brent Bowen, Dean Headley, Uno Aviation Institute

Faculty Books and Monographs

UNOAI Report 98-1

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1998, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1997. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Airline Quality Rating 1998 is …

Joint Map Registration And High Resolution Image Estimation Using A Sequence Of Undersampled Images, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth J. Barnard, Ernest E. Armstrong

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

n many imaging systems, the detector array is not sufficiently dense to adequately sample the scene with the desired field of view. This is particularly true for many infrared focal plane arrays. Thus, the resulting images may be severely aliased. This paper examines a technique for estimating a high-resolution image, with reduced aliasing, from a sequence of undersampled frames. Several approaches to this problem have been investigated previously. However, in this paper a maximum a posteriori (MAP) framework for jointly estimating image registration parameters and the high-resolution image is presented. Several previous approaches have relied on knowing the registration parameters …

Evaluation Of The Et2000 Guardrail End Treatment, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman, Darrell Mcalister, Tim Gatewood

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objectives of this study were to monitor and report the performance of the ET2000 guardrail end treatment design in traffic accidents. Data for a total of 34 collisions involving the ET2000 were identified. In most cases, an accident report was obtained and the damaged guardrail was inspected. The involved vehicle was inspected when available. Proper or improper performance of end treatments in the collisions were judged based on whether it performed as designed.

Field performance of the ET2000, as documented in traffic accidents, shows that, considering all the impacts, this end treatment has performed properly. In several instances the …

Subsurface Drainage Of Highway Pavements, David Q. Hunsucker, Bobby W. Meade

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Properly designed and constructed drainage layers can be used for effective control of surface water infiltration. Former pavement design methods often have resulted in base courses that have not drained well, thereby resulting in some premature failures of the pavement structure. The Kentucky Department of Highways is currently reviewing proposed guidelines for design of highway pavements. The guidelines propose the use of open graded, free draining, aggregate bases for controlling infiltrated surface water. However, interim design guidelines do not specifically address the design of aggregate drainage blankets. The purpose of this study was to develop recommendations relating to the specification, …

Performance And Cost Effectiveness Of Pavement Edge Drains, L. John Fleckenstein, David L. Allen

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

It is apparent from research conducted under this study that edge drains increase subgrade strength through the removal of water. It is also apparent in most cases that the edge drains increase pavement life by approximately seven years. Current cost benefit analysis indicates that edge drains can provide a cost savings of approximately $200,000 dollars a mile over the life of the pavement. Research also indicates that if edge drains are not properly installed and maintained they can doe more damage then good. It is evident that edge drains should be inspected with a pipeline camera prior to final acceptance …

A 50 Kilowatt Distributed Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Generation System For The University Of Wyoming, Badrul H. Chowdhury, S. Muknahallipatna, T. Dinwoodie, D. Shugar, J. J. Cupal, J. C. Hamann

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The University of Wyoming (UW) campus (USA) is serving as the site for a 50 kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) power system. Three sub-systems were sited and built on the UW campus in 1996. The first sub-system, a 10 kW roof-integrated system of PV roof tiles is located on the roof of the Engineering Building. The second sub-system-a 5 kW rack-mounted, ballasted PV system is on a walkway roof of the Engineering building. The third sub-system is a 35 kW shade structure system and is located adjacent to the parking lot of the University's football stadium. The three sub-systems differ in …

The Airline Quality Rating 1997, Brent Bowen, Dean Headley, Uno Aviation Institute

Faculty Books and Monographs

UNOAI Report 97-9

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating 1991 issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1997, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1996. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Airline Quality Rating 1997 is …

Identifying Situational Constraints To Focus Quality Improvement In An Air Force Aerial Port, Timothy J. Pettit

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzes the effects of situational constraints on individual performance within an Air Force Aerial Port squadron. Situational constraint research originated with laboratory studies by Peters and O'Connor in 1980 and was investigated in an Air Force field environment in 1984; mixed results were obtained. Laboratory studies identified direct performance inhibitors (Peters et al., 1980); however, field studies found little correlations with job performance (Kane, 1981; O'Connor et al., 1984a). Data collected in June 1995 (Dougherty, 1995) and March 1996, in this study, were used to accomplish a longitudinal analysis. Correlations between constraints and performance were also low in …

Evaluation Of Superior Performing Portland Cement Concrete Pavements In Kentucky, Jerry G. Rose, Bobby W. Meade, David Q. Hunsucker

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This research report describes a program of study directed at determining common factors which have contributed to the superior performances of selected sections of Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements in Kentucky. The program involved an extensive survey of Kentucky's interstate, partway and other primary routes to determine locations of PCC pavement sections greater than 15 years old that had performed satisfactorily with minimal maintenance. Twelve of the best performing PCC pavements with long service life and heavy traffic were selected for detailed evaluations. Initial designs were documented and a series of in-situ pavement tests were conducted including core dnlling and …

The Airline Quality Rating 1996, Brent D. Bowen, Dean Headley, Uno Aviation Institute

Faculty Books and Monographs

UNOAI Report 96-4

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1996, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1995. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Airline Quality Rating 1996, contains …

A Hybrid Observer For High Performance Brushless Dc Motor Drives, Keith Corzine, S. D. Sudhoff

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Brushless DC motor drive systems are used in a wide variety of applications. These drives may be classified as being one of two types: sinusoidal drives in which there are no low-frequency harmonics in the current waveforms and no low-frequency torque ripple; and nonsinusoidal drives in which there is considerable low-frequency harmonic content, both in the current and torque waveforms. Although sinusoidal drives feature superior performance, they are generally more expensive since rotor position must be sensed on a continuous basis, thus requiring an optical encoder or a resolver, whereas relatively inexpensive Hall-effect sensors may be used for nonsinusoidal drives. …

The Fast Affine Projection Algorithm, Steven L. Grant, S. Tavathia

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper discusses a new adaptive filtering algorithm called fast affine projections (FAP). FAP''s key features include LMS like complexity and memory requirements (low), and RLS like convergence (fast) for the important case where the excitation signal is speech. Another of FAP''s important features is that it causes no delay in the input or output signals. In addition, the algorithm is easily regularized resulting in robust performance even for highly colored excitation signals. The combination of these features make FAP an excellent candidate for the adaptive filter in the acoustic echo cancellation problem. A simple, low complexity numerical stabilization method …

Evaluation Of Pavement Edge Drains And The Effect On Pavement Performance, L. John Fleckenstein, David L. Allen, Jack A. Harison

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report documents the performance of highway edge drains in Kentucky. Approximately eighteen high edge drain installations were inspected. The report also documents the laboratory testing, construction, short-term and long-term performance of these systems. Construction inspection and maintenance are addressed.

It is apparent that the panels are distressed more under the old method of installation using excavated trench material and dynamic type compaction. It is apparent that using the sand slurry reduces the chances of installation damage. Proper density needs to be achieved during installation of the sand backfill or damage will occur due to trench settlement. In most cases, …

Performance Of Experimental Highway Base And Subbase Layers Containing Coal-Fired Power Plant By-Product Materials: Ky Route 3074, Bleich Road, David Q. Hunsucker, R. Clark Graves

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Three 750-foot test sections of a 22-foot wide roadway were constructed on newly constructed subgrade in May and June, 1988. The three experimental sections contained experimental base and subbase layers comprised of mixtures utilizing by-product materials from a coal-fired power plant One test section included a base layer containing residue from an atmospheric fluidized bed combustion (AFBC) process, size No. 57 aggregate, and Class F fly ash. The second test section included a base layer constructed ponded fly ash, hydrated lime, and dense-graded aggregate. The third test section included a subbase layer constructed of pond ash stabilized with AFBC residue. …

Design Of Distortion-Invariant Correlation Filters Using Supervised Learning, Samuel Peter Kozaitis, Rufus H. Cofer, Wesley E. Foor

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

We designed binary phase-only filters from a training set of images using a statistical approach. We forced images into clusters and designed filters to recognize objects from that cluster. We report on results obtained by computer simulation comparing the performance of filters to recognize objects from clusters of one and two classes.

Photovoltaic-Powered Water Pumping-Design, And Implementation: Case Studies In Wyoming, Badrul H. Chowdhury, S. Ula, K. Stokes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A photovoltaic-powered water pumping project comprising of several rural electric cooperatives and their customers is described in detail. A number of remote water pumping installations in the state of Wyoming, USA, are currently operating as a result of this project. The design, installation and performance monitoring of these systems are discussed. In general, it can be stated that PV-powered water pumping in this state has been a cost-effective alternative to distribution line extension or other conventional means of water pumping. Customer satisfaction, in terms of functional adequacy and low maintenance requirements of these systems, is high. The benefit for the …

A Fast Converging, Low Complexity Adaptive Filtering Algorithm, Steven L. Grant

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper introduces a new adaptive filtering algorithm called fast affine projections (FAP). Its main attributes include RLS (recursive least squares) like convergence and tracking with NLMS (normalized least mean squares) like complexity. This mix of complexity and performance is similar to the recently introduced fast Newton transversal filter (FNTF) algorithm. While FAP shares some similar properties with FNTF it is derived from a different perspective, namely the generalization of the affine projection interpretation of NLMS. FAP relies on a sliding windowed fast RLS (FRLS) algorithm to generate forward and backward prediction vectors and expected prediction error energies. Since sliding …

Conservative Confidence Intervals Of Importance Sampling Estimates, Kurt Louis Kosbar, T. F. Chang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Confidence intervals (CI) are used to gauge the accuracy of bit error rate (BER) estimates produced by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. This work attempts to objectively evaluate the performance of Important Sampling (IS) simulations by applying the same statistical analysis tool. While it is not possible to evaluate the minimum size CI for arbitrary IS estimates, it is possible to over-bound the interval using a technique called conservative confidence interval (CCI) estimation. This bounding procedure is applied to a simple IS biasing technique. While the IS estimate may be superior to the MC estimate, the CCI fails to support this …

Design And Performance Of A Bituminous Surface Mixture Containing Bottom Ash Aggregate, David Q. Hunsucker

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

A one-mile experimental bituminous surface overlay was placed in October 1987 on State Route 3 in Lawrence County, Kentucky. The experimental section utilized bottom ash aggregate from the Kentucky Power Company's Big Sandy Power Plant, near Louisa, Kentucky. Bottom ashes are generally angular and have very porous surfaces. Approximately 539 tons of the experimental bituminous surface material, containing 40 percent bottom ash (dry weight), were placed. Reported herein are results of laboratory tests and performance evaluations of the experimental surface mixture.

Performance of the experimental bottom ash surface has been excellent. Skid resistance tests indicate the surface is highly skid …

Effect Of A Robot's Geometrical Parameters On Its Optimal Dynamic Performance, M. Yousef Ibrahim, Christopher D. Cook, A K. Tieu

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a study that was conducted at Monash University College - Gippsland on the effect of a robot’s geometrical parameters on its dynamic performance. This research was undertaken in pursuit of an optimal dynamic performance of industrial robots. In this study an indicator was established to quantitatively measure the dynamic performance of a robot arm with respect to changes in the geometrical parameters. Since the dynamic behaviour of a robot’s arm is largely dependent on its inertia terms; the performance indicator was based on the Logarithmic function of the sensitivity of the inertia matrix’s eigenvalues to changes in …

Performance Of Test Embankment Constructed To Failure On Soft Marine Clay, Buddhima Indraratna, A S. Balasubramaniam, S Balachandran

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes the observed and the predicted performance of a full-scale trial embankment built to failure on a soft Malaysian marine clay. Predictions of the subsoil deformation. the critical height of fill and the corresponding slip surface are made and subsequently compared to the field measurements. It is of importance to realize that all the predictions were made prior to the actual failure of the embankment. The comparison with measurements was possible only after the International Symposium on Trial Embankments on Malaysian Marine Clays, was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 1989, during which the field data were …

Optimizing The Integration Of Photovoltaic Systems With Electric Utilities, Badrul H. Chowdhury

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The author introduces a comprehensive simulation package whereby the optimal size, operation, performance and economics of a photovoltaic (PV) system can be determined in the utility-integrated mode. The central issue is to present a single definitive optimization model. A stepwise analytical methodology starting at the solar resource and culminating in the value of the PV system in terms of avoided costs is provided. The methodology includes processing of the solar irradiance; identification of the PV system''s configuration and operational features; identification of real-time system controls in the presence of PV generation; security assessment in the presence of PV and production …

A Commodity Trading Model Based On A Neural Network-Expert System Hybrid, K. Bergerson, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Demonstrates a system that combines a neural network approach with an expert system to provide superior performance compared to either approach alone. Learning capability is provided in a software-based approach to commodity trading systems. The authors used the backpropagation network with some parameters selected experimentally. They used a human expert to implicitly define patterns, using hindsight, that an intelligent system might have been able to use for an accurate prediction. Desired outputs were found by a combination of observing the behavior of technical indices that normally precede a certain kind of market behavior, and by observing the actual market behavior …

Performance Of Corrugated Polyethylene Entrance Pipe, Ronald D. Hughes

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Observations noted during inspections of 57 entrance pipe installations are summarized. Inspections were conducted in 1986 and 1989. It is recommended that corrugated polyethylene pipe be permitted routinely as an alternate to other materials for entrance pipe.

Corvette Specs And Technologies Zr-1 Automobile, Kentucky Library Research Collections

Research Collections

Reports from Corvette management in Michigan noting the changes and upgrades in the 1988-1989 Corvettes, LRT and ZR1 with motor, body and technical upgrades. Also there is a breakdown of thefts for the Corvette noting the difference after the Pass-Key function was added. Bowling Green, Kentucky plant's training, job performance and community activities are also noted for 1988-89.

Performance Survey Of Silicone-Sealed Concrete Pavement Joints, David Q. Hunsucker, Edgar E. Courtney

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report summarizes field inspections of various silicone-sealed concrete pavement joints. A list of silicone sealant projects was provided by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Observations of performance were subjective and qualitative.