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, …

Signal Adc Converter Simulation On Cadence Virtuoso For Audio Applications, Maxwell Kazuki Fukada

Electrical Engineering

Audio signals are representations of sounds with a mixture of multiple analog signals between the frequency of 20Hz to 20,000Hz. To record snippets of audio data onto a mobile phone or computer, the signal needs to be converted to a digital format. For this purpose, many devices utilize a converter, specifically a sigma-delta modulator with a digital filter. By using a converter, electronics can receive binary data about the audio signal accurately and quickly without losing important signal information. This project aims to simulate a fully functional audio converter with a sigma-delta modulator and decimation filter. The system will receive …

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; …