Computer Engineering Commons^™

Computational Modeling For Transportation Network Security, Sherif A. Tolba

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

State Estimation For Tracking Of Tagged Sharks With An Auv, Christina Forney

Master's Theses

Presented is a method for estimating the planar position, velocity, and orientation states of a tagged shark. The method is designed for implementation on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a stereo-hydrophone and receiver system that detects acoustic signals transmitted by a tag. The particular hydrophone system used here provides a measurement of relative bearing angle to the tag, but does not provide the sign (+ or -) of the bearing angle. A particle filter was used for fusing measurements over time to produce a state estimate of the tag location. The particle filter combined with an active control …

Detecting Suspicious Behavior With Low-Cost Sensors, Ahren Alexander Reed

Master's Theses

A proof of concept is created that demonstrates how low-cost sensors and a simple software solution can be used to proactively detect IED placement. The main goal is to detect suspicious behavior; Specifically we derive requirements that loitering, meandering, improper location and object placement shall be detected. Current methods being used to detect Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are costly in terms of equipment and risk to life, and many are retroactive; IED detection occurs long after explosives are placed. A prototype system is explored with the quality attributes of being low-cost, proactive and using simple software methods. A wireless sensor …

Accurate Estimation Of Isoform And Gene Expression Levels From Next Generation Sequencing Data, Marius Nicolae

Master's Theses

Massively parallel transcriptome sequencing is quickly replacing microarrays as the technology of choice for performing gene expression profiling due to its wider dynamic range and digital quantitation capabilities. However, accurate estimation of expression levels from sequencing data remains challenging due to the short read length delivered by current sequencing technologies and still poorly understood protocol- and technology-specific biases.

To date, two main transcriptome sequencing protocols have been proposed in the literature. The most commonly used one, referred to as RNA-Seq, generates short (single or paired) sequencing tags from the ends of randomly generated cDNA fragments. An alternative protocol, referred to …

Automation Of Orthodontic Wire Tester For Performing Three Point Bending Tests, Adithya Venkatesan

Master's Theses

Abstract

Understanding the biomechanical factors in orthodontics is important in order to improve the overall effectiveness of actual clinical treatment. An accurate method to study the threedimensional (3D) force systems and the resulting movements of teeth during orthodontic treatment is needed along with the understanding of the material properties of any orthodontic wire. Until recently, most of the orthodontic biomechanics literature was limited to twodimensional experimental studies. Recent advances in threedimensional computer modeling have also been developed but have been limited to the manual control of tooth movement. Overall, there is very little published evidence in the literature on the …

Reliable Ethernet, Aleksandr Movsesyan

Master's Theses

Networks within data centers, such as connections between servers and disk arrays, need lossless flow control allowing all packets to move quickly through the network to reach their destination. This paper proposes a new algorithm for congestion control to satisfy the needs of such networks and to answer the question: Is it possible to provide circuit-less reliability and flow control in an Ethernet network? TCP uses an end-to-end congestion control algorithm, which is based on end-to-end round trip time (RTT). Therefore its flow control and error detection/correction approach is dependent on end-to-end RTT. Other approaches utilize specialized data link layer …

Full Custom Vlsi Design Of On-Line Stability Checkers, Chris Y. Lee

Master's Theses

A stability checker is a clocked storage element, much like a flip-flop, which detects unstable and late signals in the pipeline of a digital system. The On-line stability checker operates concurrently with its associated circuit-under-test (CUT). This thesis describes the full custom very-large-scale integration (VLSI) design and testing process of On-Line Stability Checkers. The goals of this thesis are to construct and test Stability Checker designs, and to create a design template for future class projects in the EE 431 Computer-Aided Design (CAD) of VLSI Devices course at Cal Poly.

A method for concurrent fault testing called On-line Stability Checking …

Fault Tolerant And Flexible Cubesat Software Architecture, Greg D. Manyak

Master's Theses

The CubeSat pico-satellite is gaining popularity in both the educational and aerospace industries. Due to a lack of experience and constrained hardware capabilities, most of the university missions have been educational in nature. Cal Poly's project, PolySat, has gained significant experience from the launch of five CubeSats and has designed an entirely new hardware platform based on the knowledge gained from these missions. This hardware is a significant upgrade from what the previous missions used and has greatly increased the capabilities of the software, including supporting the use of the open source operating system Linux.

Leveraging the previous PolySat experience, …

Active Pen Input And The Android Input Framework, Andrew S. Hughes

Master's Theses

User input has taken many forms since the conception of computers. In the past ten years, Tablet PCs have provided a natural writing experience for users with the advent of active pen input. Unfortunately, pen based input has yet to be adopted as an input method by any modern mobile operating system. This thesis investigates the addition of active pen based input to the Android mobile operating system.

The Android input framework was evaluated and modified to allow for active pen input events. Since active pens allow for their position to be detected without making contact with the screen, an …

Public Transit Accessibility And Need Indices: Approaches For Measuring Service Gap, Sha Mamun

Master's Theses

The integration of transit needs into transit accessibility indexing is important for the evaluation of existing transportation systems and, service gaps, and for the identification of priority areas for future investments in transportation infrastructure. This thesis details an accessibility-based transit need indexing model that focuses on the necessity of evaluating transit needs and transit accessibility simultaneously. A need index is developed to identify areas in high need of public transit services using economic and socio-demographic information and a composite accessibility index is developed to identify levels of access to transit services and shortcomings in service provision. The need for transit …

Exploring Trade-Offs In Auv Controller Design For Shark Tracking, Louis James Bertsch Iv

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the use of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to track and pursue a tagged shark through the water. A controller was designed to take bearing and range to the shark tag and then control the AUV to pursue it.

First, the ability of a particle filter to provide an accurate estimation of the location of the shark relative to the AUV is explored. Second, the ability of the AUV to follow the shark's path through the water is shown. This ability allows for localized environmental sampling of the shark's preferred path. Third, various path weightings are used …

Universal Engineering Programmer – An In-House Development Tool For Developing And Testing Implantable Medical Devices In St. Jude Medical, Khoa Tat Do

Master's Theses

During development and testing of the functionality of the pacemaker and defibrillator device, engineers in the St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division use an in-house development tool called Universal Engineering Programmer (UEP) to ensure the device functions as expected, before it can be used to test on an animal or a human during the implantation process. In addition, some applications of UEP are incorporated into the official releases of the device product. UEP has been developed and used by engineers across departments in the St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division (CRMD). This thesis covers the flexible and reusable …

The State Of Software Engineering Maturity And Licensure, Travis Lawrence Dean

Master's Theses

IEEE-CS is pursuing licensing for software engineers, but ACM believes that software engineering is too immature, and regulating the profession would be premature. In 1996, Norman Gibbs and Gary Ford from Carnegie Mellon University performed a qualitative survey of the maturity of the software engineering profession. I apply this model to the present state of the art in software engineering and analyze the results for 2010. I analyze the maturity of software engineering to determine that the profession is not yet ready for licensure. This is not because the infrastructure of software engineering is too immature, but because we have …

Robust Region Tracking In Multi-Agent Systems Utilizing Sliding Mode Control: Theory And Applications, Mark Bacon

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a methodology to bring controlled agents within a moving region despite agent interaction dynamics, uncertain forces and parameter variation. The logic is derived from traditional Sliding Mode Control theory with an expanded boundary layer which allows position deviation from the region center to specified bounds. As an example of the utility of this control, multiple methods of herding (controlling passive agents by appropriate positioning of controlled agents) are presented.