Computer Engineering Commons^™

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 …