Computer Engineering Commons^™

Universal Uav Payload Interface, Nolan Reker, David Troy Jr, Drew Troxell

Computer Engineering

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is becoming increasingly accessible for civilian use. Both open-source and commercial-purpose UAVs can be obtained affordably or even built. However, the platforms available are very segmented in their customization to a specific application (i.e. land surveying, payload delivery). This project aims to create a Universal Payload Interface (UPI) mounted to the underside of multi-rotors or other UAVs to enable the attachment of customizable sensor payloads. These payloads allow a single UAV to be rapidly reconfigured to perform a multitude of tasks.

The Universal Payload Interface facilitates communication between the payload, onboard flight controller, and operator …

M-1: The Mealy Open Source Custom Midi Controller, Garrett Leung, Darren O. Mistica

Electrical Engineering

With the high price of large mixing consoles, aspiring artists are restricted to using a mouse to control digital facsimiles of knobs, faders, switches, and buttons. Though using the software controls is considered a simple task, dedicated hardware allows for tactile, visual, and utility. At a low cost, the heart of the MTech M-1 can be customized and placed into any shell with any combination of controls as possible with the underlying platform.

Modern MIDI controllers require significant physical space due to their preset button layout and space consuming setups. Despite their high price, modern MIDI controllers have only one …

Forest Sign Maker, Victor Espinosa Iii, Kevin Ly, Lisa Yip

Mechanical Engineering

Executive Summary:

The Inyo National Forest is arguably one of the most beautiful locations in California, containing natural masterpieces such as Mount Whitney and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Despite its magnificence, the Inyo National Forest can be a treacherous region. The Friends of the Inyo take pride in being able to facilitate the viewing experience for all outdoorsmen by maintaining the mountain trails, which includes providing adequate trail signage.

Unfortunately, there is a fundamental issue with the recent state of trail signage in the Inyo National Forest: the rate at which signs are being vandalized or naturally destroyed is …

Synthetic Aperture Radar: Rapid Detection Of Target Motion In Matlab, Daniel S. Kassen

Master's Theses

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has come into widespread use in several civilian and military applications. The focus of this paper is the military application of imaging point targets captured by an airborne SAR platform. Using the traditional SAR method of determining target motion by analyzing the difference between subsequent images takes a relatively large amount of processing resources. Using methods in this thesis, target motion can be estimated before even a single image is obtained, reducing the amount of time and power used by a significantly large amount. This thesis builds on work done by Brain Zaharri and David So. …

Fresh Bytes - Connected Hydroponics For Small-Scale Growing, Jack Bowen

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Many users are now transitioning to small-scale hydroponics and aquaponics at home. There can be a barrier to entry with these systems as there is a delicate balance of chemicals, pH, etc. that must be maintained. There are sensors for these various components but they are either aimed at commercial production or are un-automated. Fresh Bytes is a microcomputer with sensors to detect all of these unseen components in a hydroponic system. A prototype of this microcomputer is produced along with CAD plans for more professional versions of it. The sensors are verified and future development is contemplated.

Wingtip Dynamics Simulator, Eugene Fox, Nick Rodriguez, Steven Rieber

Mechanical Engineering

Raytheon is a defense contracting company with an electronic warfare division that is developing a radio frequency signal triangulation system. Part of the focus in improving this technology is the need for accurate and real time locational knowledge of the signal receivers, which are located at the tips of aircraft wings. Due to turbulence during flight, the fluttering motion of the wings alter the distance and angle relationships of the two receivers and add noise to the received signal data, which negatively affect the triangulation estimates. To mitigate this error caused by the wing flutter, Raytheon is developing a software …

Foss Big Data Storage Solution, Nurdeen Salami

STAR Program Research Presentations

NASA projects require a reliable approach to store large volumes of data. Accordingly, it is crucial to adopt a lightweight, reliable, and scalable database. Current NASA databases bear costly license fees with undesirable speed and flexibility. The purpose of utilizing the AERO Institute as an IT test bed, or “Sandbox,” is to design, build, test, and implement software solutions prior to transfer to NASA projects. Cassandra coupled with the Astyanax API is a viable solution for storing big data. Store a minimum of 2GB of C-FOSS data in multiple file formats (.csv, .log, .xml, and .jpg). Use benchmark tests to …

Chromium Os On Freescale I.Mx6q, Pushpal Sidhu

Computer Engineering

This projects intention is to get Chromium OS running on a Freescale i.MX6q processor, a processor based on the ARM® Cortex™-A9 architecture. The development board I used is the Ventana GW5400 by Gateworks. This project inherently meant using Chromium OS's development system which meant I created a board specific package for the Ventana single board computer. This project is a proof of concept that can mean extending Chromium OS to various implementations of the ARM® Cortex™-A9 architecture.

Design Of Cpu Simulation Software For Armv7 Instruction Set Architecture, Dillon Tellier

Computer Engineering

Simulations have long been a part of the engineering process in both the professional and academic domain. From a pedagogic standpoint, simulations allow students to explore the dynamics of engineering scenarios by controlling variables, taking measurements, and observing behavior which would be difficult or impossible without simulation. One such tool is a CPU simulator used in Cal Poly’s Computer Architecture classes; this software simulates an instruction accurate operation of a computer processor and reports statistics regarding the execution of the supplied compiled machine code. For the last several years Cal Poly’s computer architecture classes have used a previous version of …

Spirit: A Home Automation System, Andrew Choi

Computer Engineering

Spirit is a multi device home automation system. Designed and implemented for California Polytechnic State University’s Senior Project program, this project was worked on during the duration of two school quarters from January 7, 2014 to June 13, 2014. The system consists of monitor/controllers designed to carry out everyday tasks in the average American household and an accompanying mobile application designed to receive information and control the devices. The monitor/controllers, or “Spirits”, are primarily developed using Arduino development tools and Arduino microcontroller boards. The spirits include a thermostat, named Tempus, an electrical outlet, Electrus, and a wall light switch, Luxos.

All Purpose Mobile Gps, James C. Smith, Matt Weege, Kevin Peters

Electrical Engineering

The aim of the All Purpose Mobile GPS (The System) is to create a GPS tracking device that can accurately record location and calculate velocity, distance traveled and elevation change even when the satellite signal is lost. This data can later overlay on existing internet-based maps illustrating a trip to oneself or others. The portable tracker consumes very little power achieving several days’ worth of power in a single charge. A solar cell provides a quick battery boost in a pinch. SD Card storage increases compatibility with computers and other forms of data transfer. Data processing, such as viewing the …

Battery Management System, Michael Desando, Kyle Woody

Electrical Engineering

Problem Statement:

There have been recent reports of multi-million dollar companies having to recall entire projects due to their BMS’s malfunctioning or operating incorrectly. The purpose of this project is to analyze the future of batteries, the Lithium-Ion cell, and to exercise a BMS to better understand its capabilities and possible cases for errors. Lithium ion batteries are intolerant of overcharge and overdischarge. Abuse of this kind can result in high temperatures, venting of gases, fire, or explosion. Therefore battery management systems have been devised to prevent such abuse. Recent events such as fires on the Boeing Dreamliner and the …

Ad-Hoc Hid: Modular Wireless Human Interface Device, Joseph A. Mazzanti

Electrical Engineering

Ad-Hoc HID is a modular, reprogrammable Human Interface Device. This device is intended to function as a keyboard, gamepad, or mouse, according to the user's needs. The final project is intended to be switch agnostic, making the final product adaptable to the user’s needs.

Wii-B-Fit Adaptive Wii Remote, Chris Lombardo

Computer Engineering

The goal of this project was to fix and supplement the original Wii-B-Fit system in order to get it running again and improve on the original design. Wii-B-Fit’s original mission is to give people with paralysis the ability to participate in activities that they would not otherwise get to do, while creating a more fun, social, and independent lifestyle.Physical activity can help stimulate brain activity and is an integral part to a healthy lifestyle. Quadriplegia however makes it extremely hard to perform most forms of physical activity and severely limits the choices available to victims of the disease. The original …

Testing Virtual Machines For Cadrc Server Hosting, Robin Verweij

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Low Power Cargo Security Device Using A Micropower Ultra-Wideband Impulse Radar, Brian M. Wihl

Master's Theses

Each year, thousands of cargo containers are broken into during shipping, costing billions of dollars in lost and damaged goods. In addition to removing its contents, intruders can also add unwanted and dangerous materials to a container, posing a threat to National Security. The possibilities of cargo container break-ins require that the containers go through check points at which they are physically searched. These searches often require the opening of the container, unloading and inspecting all cargo, and then loading the container and resealing it. This is a long and costly process.

Because of the high costs of break-ins and …

Remote/Autonomous Sentry Gun Platform, Angelo Gagliardi, Dante Gagliardi

Electrical Engineering

This senior project involves the complete system design and construction of a "Nerf" sentry gun to replace an armed guard. We aimed to develop a compact and highly mobile defense system that allows operational flexibility. The sentry gun can autonomously track and shoot at moving targets, while also allowing a user to remotely access and control the gun via computer. The mobility, hardiness, and functionality of this system allows a reliable replacement for human beings in harsh and hostile environments; ultimately sparing a life.

Digital Control Board For Phased Array Antenna Beam Steering In Adaptive Communication Applications, Mayur Bansal

Master's Theses

The application of adaptive communication techniques for mobile communications has attracted considerable interest in the last decade. One example of these techniques is spatial filtering through planar antenna array beam forming.

This thesis describes the development of a digital system that adaptively controls a phased array antenna. The radiating structure of the phased antenna array is tetrahedral-shaped and contains four antenna elements on each of its three faces. The overall system comprises of a digital control board with an external computer interface, an RF control board, and the phased antenna array. The RF controls the main lobe direction on the …

Feedback Stabilization At Spear3, Daniel Kelley, Jeff Corbett

STAR Program Research Presentations

The SPEAR3 synchrotron lightsource at SLAC relies on a sophisticated radio frequency (RF) timing system to maintain current – electrons – in the storage ring. One problem SPEAR3 operators have dealt with is the thermal expansion of one of the cables supporting this RF timing system. As the cable expands and contracts with the diurnal rise and fall of the sun, the phase of the RF in the cable shifts. This shifting phase affects the timing accuracy of electron injections into the storage ring.

A common feedback control algorithm PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) has countless applications in engineering. PID feedback …

Bluelock: A Secure Bluetooth Operated Padlock, Trever Mckee

Computer Engineering

For this project a secure, battery operated, Bluetooth operated padlock was created. The project included both the hardware to integrate with a padlock and an Android application used to interface with the hardware. In order to make the padlock secure both AES encryption and challenge response authentication were used for secure message passing between the device and the Android phone. The project also included power consumption and sustainability tuning including exploring Arduino sleep states and integrating the project with a solar charging unit.

Motion Sensing Fifa Controller, Anthony Agius, Jake Troychak

Computer Engineering

Our Project is designed to control the XBOX 360 video game FIFA Soccer by different kicking motions made by the user. This system consists of two pieces: the microcontroller attached to the XBOX 360 controller and the foot piece that is attached to the users foot in order to read all of the movements needed to control the game. Our project brings the soccer game to life by forcing the users to actually perform the different kicking motions that they want their game avatar to copy on the game. This project was designed for those who want to be more …

Motohud: Intelligent And Safe Navigational Data Presentation For Motorcyclists, Drew Bentz, William Budney

Computer Engineering

The system uses a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor, Bluetooth modem, and OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen to display navigational information to a motorcycle rider. Currently supported navigational information are speed and heading, with a framework in place for future turn-by-turn navigation. The system is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack and controlled by an Arduino Micro. For turn-by-turn navigation, an Android powered smartphone running our Android App is required. Our system aims to reduce safety hazards from having to tilt or move one’s head when trying to view speed on a motorcycle speedometer, which is usually mounted down by …

Design Of An Energy Efficient Virtual End Node Client Using Openadr2.0a And Smap, Kevin Navero

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Demand Response (DR) describes the set of actions taken to impose a reduction in electrical loads to stabilize the power grid and decrease costs. It is used when power grid emergencies or extremely high demand and congestion, threaten the electricity supply-demand balance. Automated Demand Response (ADR) describes a web-based control system that triggers DR events automatically by signaling other pre-programmed control systems. This project intends to use the OpenADR2.0 specifications provided by the OpenADR Alliance to construct an open source Virtual End Node (VEN) client to retrieve DR signals. The Simple Measurement and Actuation Profile (sMAP) software is also used …

Buddy: A Breathalyzer For Iphone, Douglas Blaalid, Brandon Bevans

Electrical Engineering

Buddy is a Breathalyzer for the iPhone designed to be more a product than a project. Through proprietary hardware and a custom iOS application, Buddy provides users with a previously untapped link from the alcohol in their body to the display on their phones. Buddy uses an alcohol sensor connected to an Arduino Uno to accurately detect the BAC of the user’s breath. The BAC is then transmitted to an iPhone via the headphone jack where it is displayed and logged in a captivating app. The finished prototype successfully measured the approximate BAC of intoxicated users. The product website has …

The Visual Representation Of Sound For The Hearing Impaired, Jonathan Brophy

Electrical Engineering

There are many difficulties that arise when one is faced with a hearing disability. New applications of advancing technology have the potential to enable designs capable of assisting the hearing impaired with the ability to see sound. This project seeks to provide a user with a visual representation of loud noises detected using small directional microphones. The microphones determine the location of the sound above a set decibel level and a microprocessor determines the approximate location of the sound source and displays a vertical colored bar on a video image in the direction of the noise using virtual reality glasses. …

Robotron, Fabian Rodriguez, Oscar Daniel Muneton, Adelaido Jimenez

Computer Engineering

Roborodentia 2012 is a competition where students and alumni could build an autonomous robot to perform a certain task for points. This report is about Robotron, the 3rd place winner of this competition, and how it came to be.

Frg Turbojet, Tyler Vitti

Computer Engineering

Members of the Cal Poly SLO campus club FRG work together with students of several different disciplines to build a functional turbojet engine. Engineering approaches include design, fabrication, testing, and computer sensing, control, and integration. The goal of the project is to produce a running turbojet engine monitored and controlled by embedded hardware and specialized PC software. This project is to be used by later groups for further research and development.

Riley The Cat, Nicholas Zankich

Computer Engineering

There are many toys that exist that are comfort objects. Generally these are toys that are soft such as blankets, stuffed animals, and pillows. Robotic toys also exist such as games, interactive books, and instruments. There exists a crossover market that includes Furbys, Tomagachi pets, and Fur Real Friends. While being very popular, I believe that this crossover isn’t perfect, and that there is a lot of room for improvement. Riley (Figure 1) was created to make something that is both completely a robot and a comfort object.

Applied Computer Cooling, Spencer Ellsworth

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

No abstract provided.

Lyfi, Kianoosh Salami, Justin Cotton, Elush Shirazpour

Electrical Engineering

This paper will cover the steps necessary to design, build, and manage networkable smart light switches over WiFi via a mobile application. It contains a microcontroller running a real time operating system, a WiFi module, a Java server with SQLite databasing, and a mobile phone application.

LyFi is designed to turn on/off and dim household lights while only requiring the same installation procedure as a less capable dimmer switch. Once installed and connected to a network, LyFi will self-discover and configure. The server automatically propogates a database of nodes where any mobile device running an application can receive an updated …