Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Automatic Optical Inspection-Based Pcb Fault Detection Using Image Processing, Shruti Rajiv Vaidya

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Increased Printed Circuit Board (PCB) route complexity and density combined with the growing demand for low-scale rapid prototyping has increased the desire for Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) that reduces prototyping time and production costs by detecting defects early in the production process. Traditional defect detection method of human visual inspection is not only error prone but is also time-consuming given the growing complex and dense circuitry of modern-day electronics. Electric contact-based testing, either in the form of a bed of nails testing fixture or a flying probe system, is costly for low-rate rapid prototyping. An AOI is a non-contact test …

Evaluation Of Lidar Uncertainty And Applications Towards Slam In Off-Road Environments, Zachary D. Jeffries

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Safe and robust operation of autonomous ground vehicles in all types of conditions and environment necessitates complex perception systems and unique, innovative solutions. This work addresses automotive lidar and maximizing the performance of a simultaneous localization and mapping stack. An exploratory experiment and an open benchmarking experiment are both presented. Additionally, a popular SLAM application is extended to use the type of information gained from lidar characterization, demonstrating the performance gains and necessity to tightly couple perception software and sensor hardware. The first exploratory experiment collects data from child-sized, low-reflectance targets over a range from 15 m to 35 m. …

On-Ice Detection, Classification, Localization And Tracking Of Anthropogenic Acoustic Sources With Machine Learning, Steven J. Whitaker

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Arctic acoustics have been of concern in recent years for the US navy. First-year ice is now the prevalent factor in ice coverage in the Arctic, which changes the previously understood acoustic properties. Due to the ice melting each year, anthropogenic sources in the Arctic region are more common: military exercises, shipping, and tourism. For the navy, it is of interest to detect, classify, localize, and track these sources to have situational awareness of these surroundings. Because the sources are on-water or on-ice, acoustic radiation propagates at a longer distance and so acoustics are the method by which the sources …

Adapting Deep Learning For Underwater Acoustic Communication Channel Modeling, Li Wei

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The recent emerging applications of novel underwater systems lead to increasing demand for underwater acoustic (UWA) communication and networking techniques. However, due to the challenging UWA channel characteristics, conventional wireless techniques are rarely applicable to UWA communication and networking. The cognitive and software-defined communication and networking are considered promising architecture of a novel UWA system design. As an essential component of a cognitive communication system, the modeling and prediction of the UWA channel impulse response (CIR) with deep generative models are studied in this work.

Firstly, an underwater acoustic communication and networking testbed is developed for conducting various simulations and …

An Experimental Study Towards Underwater Propulsion System Using Structure Borne Traveling Waves, Shreyas Suhas Gadekar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The method of generating steady-state structure-borne traveling waves underwater in an infinite media creates abundant opportunities in the field of propulsive applications, and they are gaining attention from several researchers. This experimental study provides a framework for harnessing traveling waves in a 1D beam immersed under quiescent water using two force input methods and providing a motion to an object floating on the surface of the water.

In this study, underwater traveling waves are tailored using structural vibrations at five different frequencies in the range of 10Hz to 300Hz. The resulting fluid motion provides a propulsive thrust that moves a …

Sensing Methods For Two-Target And Four-Target Detection In Time-Constrained Vector Poisson And Gaussian Channels, Muhammad Fahad

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation we consider a sensor scheduling or resource management problem for a vector Poisson and Gaussian channels. The input is a binary random vector and the output is a set of conditionally independent Poisson or Gaussian random variables. The objective is to design a scaling matrix, which is a linear transformation whose purpose is to entangle the different inputs, under a total given energy/time constraint. The two metrics are adopted to quantify the performance of the designed scaling matrix: mutual information and Bayesian inference. In other words, it is an experimental design problem where the objective is to …

Light Field Compression And Manipulation Via Residual Convolutional Neural Network, Eisa Hedayati

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Light field (LF) imaging has gained significant attention due to its recent success in microscopy, 3-dimensional (3D) displaying and rendering, augmented and virtual reality usage. Postprocessing of LF enables us to extract more information from a scene compared to traditional cameras. However, the use of LF is still a research novelty because of the current limitations in capturing high-resolution LF in all of its four dimensions. While researchers are actively improving methods of capturing high-resolution LF's, using simulation, it is possible to explore a high-quality captured LF's properties. The immediate concerns following the LF capture are its storage and processing …

Development Of A Software-Defined Underwater Acoustic Communication System, Zijian Zhu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This report started with a brief history and recent development of underwater acoustic communication systems as well as software-defined radio technologies. Then, some challenges from underwater acoustic channels and available underwater acoustic communication modems are discussed. After finished introducing the basics of SDR and GNU Radio, a detailed description of implementing a software-defined acoustic communication system in GNU Radio are presented, along with some key concepts of the system.

Then, some hardware specifications are presented, following by detailed documentation on a software-defined acoustic communication system experiment with a host computer, a USRP, an acoustic hydrophone, and a hydrophone. At the …

Estimation Of Atmospheric Conditions Over A Long Horizontal Path Using Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution (Mfbd) Techniques In Comparison With Delayed Tilt Anisoplanatism (Delta) Software, Hannah Stoll

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The potential to track and view objects in space from the ground with greater near real time knowledge of the intervening turbulence would be a revolutionary capability. The objective of this thesis is to cross-validate two separate methods used to estimate the Fried parameter. This verification is a step toward a commercial grade product that would make real-time estimates of the turbulence strength along an optical path from a ground-based observatory to a satellite in orbit around the Earth. Michigan Technological University has developed a multi-frame blind deconvolution (MFBD) algorithm used to estimate r0 and it was tested against MZA’s …

Aperture-Level Simultaneous Transmit And Receive (Star) With Digital Phased Arrays, Ian Cummings

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In the signal processing community, it has long been assumed that transmitting and receiving useful signals at the same time in the same frequency band at the same physical location was impossible. A number of insights in antenna design, analog hardware, and digital signal processing have allowed researchers to achieve simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) capability, sometimes also referred to as in-band full-duplex (IBFD). All STAR systems must mitigate the interference in the receive channel caused by the signals emitted by the system. This poses a significant challenge because of the immense disparity in the power of the transmitted and …

Estimation Of Vehicle Trailer Rotation Using Calibrated Radars With Multiple Viewpoints, Kunle Olutomilayo

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Multiple sensors are increasingly being deployed on systems for perception applications. In particular, vehicles are becoming equipped with a suite of sensors for advanced driver assistance features and autonomous driving. This dissertation considers automotive radar sensors mounted at the rear of a vehicle with the main objective of using their point cloud detections to estimate the rotation of a trailer which is attached to the vehicle's hitch ball. A simulation-based study of the problem is presented first. Thereafter, the problem is considered with respect to experimental radar data collected in both indoor and outdoor environments; the environmental difference is in …

Online Learning Of The Spatial-Temporal Channel Variation In Underwater Acoustic Communication Networks, Wensheng Sun

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Influenced by environmental conditions, underwater acoustic (UWA) communication channels exhibit spatial and temporal variations, posing significant challenges for UWA networking and applications. This dissertation develops statistical signal processing approaches to model and predict variations of the channel and relevant environmental factors. Firstly, extensive field experiments are conducted in the Great Lakes region. Three types of the freshwater river/lake acoustic channels are characterized in the aspects of statistical channel variations and sound propagation loss, including stationary, mobile and under-ice acoustic channels. Statistical data analysis shows that relative to oceanic channels, freshwater river/lake channels have larger temporal coherence, higher correlation among densely …

Estimation And Prediction Of The Human Gait Dynamics For The Control Of An Ankle-Foot Prosthesis, Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With the growing population of amputees, powered prostheses can be a solution to improve the quality of life for many people. Powered ankle-foot prostheses can be made to behave similar to the lost limb via controllers that emulate the mechanical impedance of the human ankle. Therefore, the understanding of human ankle dynamics is of major significance. First, this work reports the modulation of the mechanical impedance via two mechanisms: the co-contraction of the calf muscles and a change of mean ankle torque and angle. Then, the mechanical impedance of the ankle was determined, for the first time, as a multivariable …

Effect Of Sensor Errors On Autonomous Steering Control And Application Of Sensor Fusion For Robust Navigation, Shuvodeep Bhattacharjya

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Autonomous steering control is one the most important features in autonomous vehicle navigation. The nature and tuning of the controller decides how well the vehicle follows a defined trajectory. A poorly tuned controller can cause the vehicle to oversteer or understeer at turns leading to deviation from a defined path. However, controller performance also depends on the state–feedback system. If the states used for controller input are noisy or has bias / systematic error, the navigation performance of the vehicle is affected irrespective of the control law and controller tuning. In this report, autonomous steering controller analysis is done for …

Testing Of Recursive And Non-Recursive Algorithms For Real-Time Phasor And Frequency Estimations In Power Systems, Dhruv Sharma

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Steady-state performance of various recursive and non-recursive algorithms are tested in this report according to the test signals given in the IEEE Standard C37.118.1-2011. Phase magnitude and phase angle of the power grid signals have been estimated using Discrete Fourier Transform (non-recursive), Discrete Fourier Transform (recursive), Least Square, and Wavelet Transform Algorithms. Frequency estimation is performed using Discrete Fourier Transform, Weighted Least Square, and Zero Crossing methods. These algorithms are evaluated in LabView software and tested by generating test signals in a Simulink model. Furthermore, Total Vector Error (TVE) is calculated using dynamic test signals as per the IEEE Standard …

Offline And Online Density Estimation For Large High-Dimensional Data, Aref Majdara

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Density estimation has wide applications in machine learning and data analysis techniques including clustering, classification, multimodality analysis, bump hunting and anomaly detection. In high-dimensional space, sparsity of data in local neighborhood makes many of parametric and nonparametric density estimation methods mostly inefficient.

This work presents development of computationally efficient algorithms for high-dimensional density estimation, based on Bayesian sequential partitioning (BSP). Copula transform is used to separate the estimation of marginal and joint densities, with the purpose of reducing the computational complexity and estimation error. Using this separation, a parallel implementation of the density estimation algorithm on a 4-core CPU is …

Intelligent And Secure Underwater Acoustic Communication Networks, Chaofeng Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Underwater acoustic (UWA) communication networks are promising techniques for medium- to long-range wireless information transfer in aquatic applications. The harsh and dynamic water environment poses grand challenges to the design of UWA networks. This dissertation leverages the advances in machine learning and signal processing to develop intelligent and secure UWA communication networks. Three research topics are studied: 1) reinforcement learning (RL)-based adaptive transmission in UWA channels; 2) reinforcement learning-based adaptive trajectory planning for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in under-ice environments; 3) signal alignment to secure underwater coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmissions.

First, a RL-based algorithm is developed for adaptive transmission in …

Video Frame Reduction In Autonomous Vehicles, Gaurav R. Bagwe

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Camera sensors are emerging in many applications such as Smart Buildings and autonomous driving. The Data generated by multiple cameras in a smart building and autonomous driving applications is usually transmitted through an edge box to a cloud terminal. This transmitted information requires a considerable channel bandwidth, which is not available through current communication standards. The report proposes a Camera Sensor Frame Reduction method to decrease the required channel bandwidth for applications such as autonomous driving.

Here, we propose a method that incorporates cross frame similarity measurement method to reduce the redundant frames and decrease the data rate of each …

Target Detection, Tracking, And Localization Using Multi-Spectral Image Fusion And Rf Doppler Differentials, Casey D. Demars

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

It is critical for defense and security applications to have a high probability of detection and low false alarm rate while operating over a wide variety of conditions. Sensor fusion, which is the the process of combining data from two or more sensors, has been utilized to improve the performance of a system by exploiting the strengths of each sensor. This dissertation presents algorithms to fuse multi-sensor data that improves system performance by increasing detection rates, lowering false alarms, and improving track performance. Furthermore, this dissertation presents a framework for comparing algorithm error for image registration which is a critical …

Study Of Obstacle Effect On The Gpsr Protocol And A Novel Intelligent Greedy Routing Protocol For Vanets, Ravikumar Chilmula

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In recent years, connected vehicle technologies have been developed by automotive companies, academia, and researchers as part of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This group of stakeholders continue to work on these technologies to make them as reliable and cost-effective as possible. This attention is because of the increasing connected vehicles safety-related, entertainment, and traffic management applications, which have the potential to decrease the number of road accidents, save fuel and time for millions of daily commuters worldwide.

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET), which is a subgroup of Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET), is being developed and implemented in vehicles as the critical …

Detection Of Fatigue Damage In Shear Connections Using Acoustic Wave Propagation, Zichao Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Fatigue damage is an important concern in structural steel connections where frequent load reversals are expected. Detection of fatigue damage is typically done with infrequent visual inspections that are subjective and limited to surface features. A permanent embedded structural health monitoring (SHM) system could be helpful in detecting damage as it occurs. Current methods for detecting fatigue damage include inference of fatigue life expended through cycle counting from long-term strain measurement campaigns, and through short-term impedance measurements. The first approach has the advantage that it is relatively simple from an algorithmic point of view, but it is an indirect measure …

High Performance Multiview Video Coding, Caoyang Jiang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Following the standardization of the latest video coding standard High Efficiency Video Coding in 2013, in 2014, multiview extension of HEVC (MV-HEVC) was published and brought significantly better compression performance of around 50% for multiview and 3D videos compared to multiple independent single-view HEVC coding. However, the extremely high computational complexity of MV-HEVC demands significant optimization of the encoder. To tackle this problem, this work investigates the possibilities of using modern parallel computing platforms and tools such as single-instruction-multiple-data (SIMD) instructions, multi-core CPU, massively parallel GPU, and computer cluster to significantly enhance the MVC encoder performance. The aforementioned computing tools …

Performance Simulation And Optimization Of A Simultaneous Transmit And Receive Phased Antenna Array Using Adaptive Beamforming And Genetic Algorithm Techniques, Ian Thomas Cummings

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The development of simultaneous transmit and receive capabilities is on the cutting-edge of research in phased array technology [1, 2, 3]. The large disparity in power between the transmitted and received signals in antenna systems has traditionally prevented operation in a simultaneous mode. However, simultaneous transmit and receive offers great opportunities for increased capabilities and performance in communications, radar, and electronic warfare applications [3]. This technology will be made feasible by realizing a high level of isolation between the transmitted and received signals through a variety of techniques. This work explores the feasibility of choosing non-standard array partitions that--when paired …

High Resolution Time-Of-Arrival Ranging Of Wireless Sensor Nodes In Non-Homogenous Environments, Mohsen Jamalabdollahi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have emerging applications in homogeneous environments such as free space. In addition, WSNs are finding new applications in non-homogeneous (NH) media. All referred applications entail location information of measured data or observed event. Localization in WSNs is considered as the leading remedy, which refers to the procedure of obtaining the sensor nodes relative location utilizing range measurements. Localization via Time-of-Arrival (ToA) estimation has received considerable attention because of high precision and low complexity implementation, however, the traditional techniques are not feasible in NH media due to frequency dispersion of transmitted ranging waveform.

In this work, a …