VLSI and Circuits, Embedded and Hardware Systems Commons^™

Design And Analysis Of A Discrete, Pcb-Level Low-Power, Microwave Cross-Coupled Differential Lc Voltage-Controlled Oscillator, Pavin Singh Virdee

Master's Theses

Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave devices are typically implemented in Integrated Circuit (IC) form to minimize parasitics, increase precision and tolerances, and minimize size. Although IC fabrication for students and independent engineers is cost-prohibitive, an abundance of low-cost, easily accessible printed circuit board (PCB) and electronic component manufacturers allows affordable PCB fabrication.

While nearly all microwave voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) designs are IC-based, this study presents a discrete PCB-level cross-coupled, differential LC VCO to demonstrate this more affordable and accessible approach. This thesis presents a 65 mW, discrete component VCO PCB with industry-comparable RF performance. A phase noise of -103.7 dBc/Hz …

Mars Prototype Rover Environmental Measurement System, James A. Renick

Computer Engineering

In my senior project, the problem I am trying to solve is how to efficiently design, create, and install an original library onto a Mars prototype rover operating system and to further use that library to integrate a new weather measurement sensor device into the rover system with the necessary software and hardware implementations. This is an important and highly valued problem as many aerospace and other engineering companies utilize rovers and other autonomous systems for important research, explorations, and reconnaissance missions and goals. In solving this problem, I utilized many resources that were available to me such as advisors, …

Smartphone Control Of Rc Cars, Weston R. Fitzgerald

Electrical Engineering

The smartphone-controlled RC (remote-controlled) car is an inexpensive remote-controlled car designed to be fast and portable. Instead of manufacturing, packaging, and shipping a separate controller, the remote control is implemented in a phone application, which saves time and money in both the design process and the manufacturing process. Utilizing the user’s smartphone is more cost-effective since mobile devices are a common recurrence, and packaging fewer devices results in overall better portability of the product.

This smartphone-controlled car is speedy and intuitive to learn for typical smartphone users. The user can change the car’s speed and direction wirelessly using their phone; …

Indoor Positioning Using Synchronized Ultrasonic Ofdma Signals, Julian Bartolone

Master's Theses

This paper proposes a method of short-range indoor localization using differential phase measurements of synchronized two-tone ultrasonic signals in an Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme. This indoor positioning system (IPS) operates at an ultrasonic frequency of approximately 40kHz and synchronizes using an infrared signal. The OFDMA scheme allows for a receiver to process the signals from multiple transmitters continuously without the signals interfering with each other. The phases of the signals are measured using Goertzel Filters, allowing for low-complexity frequency content analysis. A MATLAB simulation using the proposed localization method is performed using four transmitter nodes in the corners …

Tractor Hacking, Jin Huang, Kyle B. Kesler

Electrical Engineering

Tractor hacking arose from tractor owners' desire for full control over the tractors they purchase. Tractor manufacturers set strict security on the electrical components of their tractors, making it difficult for tractor owners to diagnose and monitor their tractors on their own. The UltraBlue Tractor Hacking project is a solution to this problem, allowing tractor owners to perform diagnostics and monitor the equipment they purchased without having to go through dealerships. From talking to farmers, we found that they valued a diagnostic tool that allows for clearing and resetting Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), viewing diagnostic data pertaining to a specific …

Design And Characterization Of Standard Cell Library Using Finfets, Phanindra Datta Sadhu

Master's Theses

The processors and digital circuits designed today contain billions of transistors on a small piece of silicon. As devices are becoming smaller, slimmer, faster, and more efficient, the transistors also have to keep up with the demands and needs of the daily user. Unfortunately, the CMOS technology has reached its limit and cannot be used to scale down due to the transistor's breakdown caused by short channel effects. An alternative solution to this is the FinFET transistor technology, where the gate of the transistor is a three dimensional fin that surrounds the transistor and prevents the breakdown caused by scaling …

Design Of An Ultra-Wideband Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave Short Range Radar System For Extending Independent Living, Toai-Chi Nguyen

Master's Theses

Falls in the disabled and elderly people have been a cause of concern as they can be immobilized by the fall and have no way to contact others and seek assistance. The proposed frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) short range radar (SRR) system, which uses ultra-wideband (UWB) signals can provide immediate assistance by monitoring and detecting fall events. The unique characteristics of this system allow for a frequency-based modulation system to carry out triangulation and sense the location of the fall through the usage of a continuous chirp signal that linearly sweeps frequency. This project focuses on the development, design …

Polyone Smartphone, Joshua Zalmanowitz, Chi Nguyen, Gerome Cacho, Chris Lim

Electrical Engineering

The Poly One Smartphone is a student designed smartphone built to explore the implementation of 5G, provide a hardware solution to ensure personal information security and privacy, and provide longer battery life. The key features of this smartphone include but are not limited to a main cpu, some form of network connectivity in the form of Wi-fi or Cellular Data, calling functionality, a rechargeable battery that works with common power connection protocols, and compatibility with popular applications.

Weight Controlled Electric Skateboard, Zachary Barram, Carson Bertozzi, Vishnu Dodballapur

Computer Engineering

Technology and the way that humans interact is becoming more vital and omnipresent with every passing day. However, human interface device designers suffer from the increasingly popular “designed for me or people like me” syndrome. This design philosophy inherently limits accessibility and usability of technology to those like the designer. This places severe limits of usability to those who are not fully able as well as leaves non-traditional human interface devices unexplored. This project set out to explore a previously uncharted human interface device, on an electric skateboard, and compare it send user experience with industry leading human interface devices.

Tidalsim Senior Project Report, Kent Zhang, Colin Vandervoort

Computer Engineering

Throughout the course of this project, our team helped the Cal Poly Biological Sciences department refine an intertidal zone simulator. The aim of this device is to allow any marine biologist to easily simulate a vast range of tidal zones in order to test animal behaviors within these zones. Another goal of this project is to make each simulation tank independent from the others by using a single microcontroller to handle all inputs and outputs of the system as well as logging all relevant data. The current system is set up so that a separate microcontroller handles dissolved oxygen and …

Cmos Design Of An 8-Bit 1ms/S Successive Approximation Register Adc, Ameya Vivekanand Ganguli

Master's Theses

Rapid evolution of integrated circuit technologies has paved a way to develop smaller and energy efficient biomedical devices which has put stringent requirements on data acquisition systems. These implantable devices are compact and have a very small footprint. Once implanted these devices need to rely on non-rechargeable batteries to sustain a life span of up to 10 years. Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are key components in these power limited systems. Therefore, development of ADCs with medium resolution (8-10 bits) and sampling rate (1 MHz) have been of great importance.

This thesis presents an 8-bit successive approximation register (SAR) ADC incorporating an …

Analog Single Sideband-Pulse Width Modulation Processor For Parametric Acoustic Arrays, Vikrant A. Marathe

Master's Theses

Parametric acoustic arrays are ultrasonic-based loudspeakers that produce highly directive audio. The audio must first be preprocessed and modulated into an ultrasonic carrier before being emitted into the air, where it will self-demodulate in the far field. The resulting audio wave is proportional to the double time-derivative of the square of the modulation envelope. This thesis presents a fully analog processor which encodes the audio into two Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signals in quadrature phase and sums them together to produce a Single Sideband (SSB) spectrum around the fundamental frequency of the PWM signals. The two signals are modulated between …

Experimental Study And Modeling Of The Gm-I Dependence Of Long-Channel Mosfets, Michael Fong Cheng

Master's Theses

This thesis describes an experimental study and modeling of the current-transconductance dependence of the ALD1106, ALD1107, and CD4007 arrays. The study tests the hypothesis that the I-gm dependence of these 7.8 µm to 10 µm MOSFETs conforms to the Advanced Compact Model (ACM). Results from performed measurements, however, do not support this expectation. Despite the relatively large length, both ALD1106 and ALD1107 show sufficiently pronounced ‘short-channel’ effects to render the ACM inadequate. As a byproduct of this effort, we confirmed the modified ACM equation. With an m factor of approximately 0.6, it captures the I-gm dependence with sub-28% maximum error …

Arm Mke1xf Mcu Replatform, Nathan Hong, Derek Lung, Japsimran Singh, Bevin Tang

Computer Engineering

After Cal Poly Racing’s electrical team began to hit the technical limits of the ADC and other I/O features of the current 8-bit Atmel AT90 microcontroller unit, it became clear that an upgrade was due. This replatforming project takes the functionalities of the old, 8-bit architecture, and aims to provide a 32-bit version using the ARM MKE1xF MCU. With the idea of having a working PCB as a stretch goal, the scope of the library development was limited to enable base functionality. Thus, the only libraries developed were for the Timer, ADC, SPI, UART, and CAN. Additionally, this document discusses …

Electronic Drum Machine (E.D.M), Nyssa Marie Backes

Electrical Engineering

Many people argue that a drummer plays the most important role in a band of any genre. During live performances, the other band members rely on the drummer to keep the song moving forward at a proper steady pace. Even in recorded music, drums help listeners sing and dance along with their favorite songs. Thus, achieving success as a band, both in terms of recordings and live shows, absolutely requires a drummer. So, if a band does not have a drummer, and cannot afford the hefty cost of hiring a session drummer, a touring drummer, or both, how can they …

Logic Tiles, Andrew Wheeler, Tristan Lennertz

Computer Engineering

This project was originally conceived by Professor Andrew Danowitz as he considered the restructuring of the introductory digital design course at Cal Poly. As it stands now, students apply their knowledge of boolean algebra and combinatorial logic through the programming of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using a Hardware Descriptive Language (HDL). While this is the industry standard for designing large, complex digital circuits, and is an fundamental skill to learn, there is a lack of actual circuit building in the process that can cause a disconnect from theory to application for students who have little-to-no experience with digital …

Remote Cable Gantry, Allen L. Bailey

Electrical Engineering

The Remote Cable Gantry is a robotic system that was initially intended to aid in the art of aerial videography. It was designed to enable novice and expert users alike to capture both video footage and audio from perspectives unachievable by current methods. This system uses a series of cables to control the position of a camera gimbal in a defined 3D space and, as a self-contained unit, is portable and easy to use. The Remote Cable Gantry offers a quiet, intuitive, and safe alternative to existing technology, which has been limiting the market and potential of aerial photography and …

Music Synthesizer Senior Project: Individual Report, Bryan Bellin

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Music Synthesizer Senior Project: Danalog, Vikrant A. Marathe

Electrical Engineering

The Danalog is a 25 key portable digital music synthesizer that uses multiple synthesis methods and effects to generate sounds. Sound varieties included three synthesis methods including FM, subtractive, and sample-based, with up to eight adjustable parameters, at least four effects, including reverb, chorus, and flange, with five adjustable parameters, and at least two note polyphony, and a five band equalizer. The user would be able to adjust these effects using digital encoders and potentiometers and view the settings on two LCD screens. The finals project was unable to meet the original design requirements. The FM synthesis method was primarily …

Danalog: Digital Music Synthesizer, Evan R. Lew

Electrical Engineering

The Danalog is a 25 key portable digital music synthesizer that uses multiple synthesis methods and effects to generate sounds. Sound varieties included three synthesis methods including FM, subtractive, and sample-based, with up to eight adjustable parameters, at least four effects, including reverb, chorus, and flange, with five adjustable parameters, and at least two note polyphony, and a five band equalizer. The user would be able to adjust these effects using digital encoders and potentiometers and view the settings on two LCD screens.

The finals project was unable to meet the original design requirements. The FM synthesis method was primarily …

Wireless Audio Bridge, Daniel L. Hodges

Electrical Engineering

Bluetooth, a wireless technology standard used to exchange data using radio transmissions, has made a significant impact on the audio technology industry, specifically the way people listen to music. This technology enables a wireless listening experience, eliminating the need for wires or cables between audio devices as previously required. Audio can transmit from a cellphone or laptop (an output device) to a pair of headphones or speakers (an input device) without any physical connection. Compared to alternative wireless listening solutions (i.e. FM transmitter, radio broadcast), Bluetooth offers greater reliability, audio fidelity, portability, and ease of use. To obtain this functionality, …

Accumulator Volume Sensor Final Project Report, Chris Naughton, Kinwei Yu, Michael George

Mechanical Engineering

Accumulator Volume Sensing Team has developed two sensor designs aimed at detecting the position of the piston within a 4024 accumulator. The two designs include the use of a Renishaw LMA10 magnetic encoder and a SpectraSymbol HotPot linear potentiometer. The magnetic encoder solution drastically increases the accuracy of sensing the piston position compared to the current solutions of both a string-pot and linear variable differential transformer while costing slightly less. The linear potentiometer seeks to provide a solution that drastically decreases the cost compared to the present sensing methods. Both designs call for a modification to one half of the …

Active Contact Lens - Low Power Backscattering Sensor-To-Antenna Integration Circuitry, Caleb B. Porter

Electrical Engineering

The Active Contact Lens measures the cornea-scleral radius of the wearer’s eye, which correlates to intraocular pressure (IOP), Glaucoma’s primary indicator. IOP varies throughout the day, and is drastically different from person to person, so constantly measuring it over a period of a few days can provide individualized tracking of the disease’s development and will help doctors develop personalized treatment schedules to treat the disease more precisely.

The Active Contact Lens sensor measures strain, based on the cornea-scleral radius, and reports the results wirelessly, to allow monitoring of an individual’s IOP over time. The lens is powered similarly to a …

Design, Analysis, And Simulation Of A Jitter Reduction Circuit (Jrc) System At 1ghz, Run Bin Yu

Master's Theses

The clock signal is considered as the “heartbeat” of a digital system yet jitter which is a variation on the arrival time of the clock edge, could undermine the overall performance or even cause failures on the system. Deterministic jitter could be reduced during the designing process however random jitter during operation is somehow less-controllable and unavoidable. Being able to remove jitter on the clock would therefore play a vital role in system performance improvement.

This thesis implements a 1GHz fully feedforward jitter reduction circuit (JRC) which can be used as an on-chip IP core at clock tree terminals to …

El Capitán: Cal Poly Rose Float Digital Drive System, Gregory Raffi Baghdikian

Computer Engineering

In today’s world of smartphones, self-driving cars, and internet-connected coffee makers, it seems as if computers are contained in everything around us. These “embedded systems” have become critical components of our lives, improving everything about the things they control, from cost, to speed, to simplicity. One area that embedded systems has hardly gained a foothold is in the world of floatbuilding. Most of the floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade, including the one built jointly by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona, are technologically very simple, using mostly analog components and rudimentary discrete digital logic to …

A Stroke Therapy Brace Design, Evan Kirkbride

Electrical Engineering

Victims of stroke often have difficulty with rehabilitation. With limited movement on their affected arm, patients often do not want to move much for physical therapy. In this project, we design a robotic brace that helps stroke patients move their arm more effectively in a reaching or pulling motion. By giving patients more movement in their affected arm than they would have otherwise, patients gain more from rehabilitation. The brace also adapts to the patient’s needs, providing more inclination or resistance as needed for their physical therapy. This kind of therapy engages patients rather than relying on their likely dwindled …

Cal Poly Supermileage Electronic Fuel Injection, Alexander Pink

Electrical Engineering

Cal Poly Supermileage is a student-run engineering club that builds prototype gasoline vehicles optimized maximum fuel-efficiency. To power their vehicles, the Supermileage team makes use of single-cylinder, 4-stroke, electronically fuel-injected (EFI) gasoline engines. This report details the development, iterative design & test cycles, and integration of an EFI system for the Supermileage club. This project develops an EFI system that interfaces to the most common types of sensors found in the low-power Supermileage-range of engines, including throttle-position sensors, manifold absolute pressure sensors, gear-tooth hall-effect sensors, variable-reluctance position sensors, engine coolant temperature sensors, intake air temperature sensors, and exhaust oxygen sensors. …

Design Of An Integrated Acceleration Acquisition Subsystem To Satisfy High-Speed And Low-Area Requirements For Cubesats, Ryan J. Rumsey

Master's Theses

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s PolySat team is designing the Multipurpose Orbital Spring Ejection System (MOSES) in order to record acceleration data during the launch of CubeSats as well as to provide GPS coordinates to locate the position of CubeSats once they are injected into orbit. This work focuses on the design and development of the acceleration data acquisition (DAQ) subsystem of MOSES. This subsystem is designed around the need for a high-speed sampling system of at least 200 kHz across four channels of data, plus low-area limitations in the MOSES form factor which is roughly half the size of …

Oceanographic Instrument Simulator, Amy Chen

Master's Theses

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) established the Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment (FOCE) experiment to study the long-term effects of decreased ocean pH levels by developing in-situ platforms [1]. Deep FOCE (dpFOCE) was the first platform, which was deployed in 950 meters of water in Monterey Bay. After the conclusion of dpFOCE, MBARI developed an open source shallow water FOCE (swFOCE) platform located at around 250 meter of water to facilitate worldwide shallow water experiments on FOCE [1][2]. A shallow water platform can be more ubiquitous than a deep-water platform as shallow water instruments are less expensive (as it …

Sun-Tracking Solar-Powered Led Street Light, Wesley Ballar, Harrison Wong

Electrical Engineering

Street lighting is an essential utility especially in urban and industrialized areas because it provides illumination and safety for vehicles and pedestrians throughout the night. However, street lights are relatively inefficient; they consume large amounts of power from electrical grids and have predetermined operation times that are often non-optimal for the surrounding environment. The Sun-Tracking Solar-Powered LED Street Lamp is a self-sustaining device, built to replace the current lighting sources. The device features sun-tracking capabilities for maximum energy gathering and darkness recognition to establish optimal operation times. The project provides a reliable and enhanced alternative to current street lighting systems.