Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Dynamic Analysis Of Less-Than-Truckload Shipments And Test Method To Simulate This Environment, Sher Paul Singh, E. Joneson, Jay Singh, G. Grewal

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This paper provides results from a comprehensive data measurement study that analyzed the vibration dynamics produced inside the trailers used for less-than truckload (LTL) shipments. The trailers used for this segment of the package transportation environment are very different in size and suspension than those used for full truckload shipments. This study measured the vertical, lateral and longitudinal vibration inside a trailer as a function of road surface. In addition, the study developed a video showing freight movement inside the trailer to determine physical displacement and shifting of the loads. A set of recommendations was developed to safely load and …

Acuta Enews December 2008, Vol. 37, No. 12

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

From the President.............. Corinne Hoch, Columbia, Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report............. Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

DC Update............. Dave Ostrom, Washington State Univ. (retired)

Info Links........... Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

ACUTA Guide to Products and Services: Keep It Handy, Use It Often

ACUTA Web Seminar: Wireless Andrew 2.0

"Earthbottle" Brought to you by Clemson

Check It Out: Press Releases... Job Postings.... RFIs/RFPs

Holiday Greetings from the ACUTA Staff

Welcome New Members

On Step Sizes, Stochastic Shortest Paths, And Survival Probabilities In Reinforcement Learning, Abhijit Gosavi

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a simulation-based technique useful in solving Markov decision processes if their transition probabilities are not easily obtainable or if the problems have a very large number of states. We present an empirical study of (i) the effect of step-sizes (learning rules) in the convergence of RL algorithms, (ii) stochastic shortest paths in solving average reward problems via RL, and (iii) the notion of survival probabilities (downside risk) in RL. We also study the impact of step sizes when function approximation is combined with RL. Our experiments yield some interesting insights that will be useful in practice …

A Model Based Fault Detection And Prognostic Scheme For Uncertain Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Balaje T. Thumati, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new fault detection and prognostics (FDP) framework is introduced for uncertain nonlinear discrete time system by using a discrete-time nonlinear estimator which consists of an online approximator. A fault is detected by monitoring the deviation of the system output with that of the estimator output. Prior to the occurrence of the fault, this online approximator learns the system uncertainty. In the event of a fault, the online approximator learns both the system uncertainty and the fault dynamics. A stable parameter update law in discrete-time is developed to tune the parameters of the online approximator. This update law is also …

Neural Network Output Feedback Control Of A Quadrotor Uav, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Travis Alan Dierks

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A neural network (NN) based output feedback controller for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is proposed. The NNs are utilized in the observer and for generating virtual and actual control inputs, respectively, where the NNs learn the nonlinear dynamics of the UAV online including uncertain nonlinear terms like aerodynamic friction and blade flapping. It is shown using Lyapunov theory that the position, orientation, and velocity tracking errors, the virtual control and observer estimation errors, and the NN weight estimation errors for each NN are all semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) in the presence of bounded disturbances and NN functional …

Neural-Network-Based State Feedback Control Of A Nonlinear Discrete-Time System In Nonstrict Feedback Form, Pingan He, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a suite of adaptive neural network (NN) controllers is designed to deliver a desired tracking performance for the control of an unknown, second-order, nonlinear discrete-time system expressed in nonstrict feedback form. In the first approach, two feedforward NNs are employed in the controller with tracking error as the feedback variable whereas in the adaptive critic NN architecture, three feedforward NNs are used. In the adaptive critic architecture, two action NNs produce virtual and actual control inputs, respectively, whereas the third critic NN approximates certain strategic utility function and its output is employed for tuning action NN weights …

Distributing Complementary Resources Across Multiple Periods With Stochastic Demand, Shih-Fen Cheng, John Tajan, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we evaluate whether the robustness of a market mechanism that allocates complementary resources could be improved through the aggregation of time periods in which resources are consumed. In particular, we study a multi-round combinatorial auction that is built on a general equilibrium framework. We adopt the general equilibrium framework and the particular combinatorial auction design from the literature, and we investigate the benefits and the limitation of time-period aggregation when demand-side uncertainties are introduced. By using simulation experiments, we show that under stochastic conditions the performance variation of the process decreases as the time frame length (time …

A Computer-Based Economic Analysis For Manufacturing Process Selection, Manocher Djassemi

Industrial Technology and Packaging

An important part of financial planning in product development is considering whether the capital expenditures meet volume and cost goals. A good business plan should provide investors with the implications of process selection on the company's bottom line. It is estimated that there are least 1000 manufacturing processes and sub-processes. Considering the number of process choices and quantity of cost data, an economic analysis for process selection may pose a challenge for decision makers. This paper provides an insight to Ashby’s cost modeling method for generating an estimate of unit product cost. The cost model provides a broad indicator for …

Drop Impact Dynamic Response Study Of Jedec Jesd22-B111 Test Board, Michael Krist, Jianbiao Pan, Andrew Farris, Nicolas Vickers

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Mobile and handheld electronic devices are prone to being dropped. This drop event may result in failure of solder joints inside these devices. The need for RoHS compliant boards coupled with the demand for reliable electronics has resulted in the development of the JEDEC Standard JESD22-B111 to standardize the method of drop testing surface mount electronic components. However, there has been little study on the effects of additional mass on the board and rigidity of the board on drop test reliability. This paper examines the drop impact dynamic responses of the JEDEC JESD22-B111 board. Of interest are the effects of …

Board Level Failure Analysis Of Chip Scale Package Drop Test Assemblies, Nicholas Vickers, Kyle Rauen, Andrew Farris, Jianbiao Pan

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper presents the failure analysis results of board level drop tests. In this study, the test vehicle was designed according to the requirements of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) drop test board. The test vehicle was assembled with 15 chip scale packages (CSPs) each having 228 daisy-chained 0.5 mm pitch solder joints using Sn-3.0 wt% Ag-0.5 wt% Cu (SAC305) lead free solder. Assemblies were drop tested using three different peak accelerations of 900 G, 1500 G, 2900 G, with 0.7 ms, 0.5 ms, and 0.3 ms pulse durations, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy …

The Effect Of Ultrasonic Frequency On Gold Wire Bondability And Reliability, Jianbiao Pan, Minh-Nhat Le, Cuong Van Pham

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper presents a systematic study on the effect of 120KHz ultrasonic frequency on the bondability and reliability of fine pitch gold wire bonding. The study was carried out on a thermosonic ball bonder that is allowed to easily switch between ultrasonic frequency of 60KHz and 120 KHz by changing the ultrasonic transducer and the ultrasonic generator. Bonding parameters were optimized through design of experiment methodology for four different cases: 25.4 μm wire at 60 kHz, 25.4 μm wire at 120 kHz, 17.8 μm wire at 60 kHz, and 17.8 μm wire at 120 kHz. The integrity of wire bonds …

Summer Sessions Breakdown Of Course Dates And Time, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This report highlights an exhaustive analysis of the hundreds of Summer Session courses to develop an understanding of when they occur during the day and during which of the four academic terms. The analysis shows that the most popular time for scheduling courses is between 9:30 am and noon for each of the four summer session terms. Given the limited number of general purpose classrooms on campus, accommodating faculty preference for rooms, buildings, and computer equipment is sometimes not possible during the most in demand course times. The results also showcase the potential for having summer courses four-day per week …

Navigating From The Local To The Cosmopolitan: Expanding The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning Commons, Paul Savory, Amy M. Goodburn

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This collaborative poster highlights how "Expanding‐the‐SOTL‐Commons" is composed of nine collaborating institutions from the US and Canada. Situated within the Carnegie Academy for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning’s Intuitional Leadership Program, our initiative seeks innovative ways to sustain and advance the teaching commons both on our own campuses and across the broader ISSOTL community. Our diverse group of institutions of higher education acknowledges the multiple dimensions of work that communities and individuals contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning and recognizes that common interest reside in how individuals and institutions enter into this area of scholarship, and how they …

Acuta Enews November 2008, Vol. 37, No. 11

ACUTA Newsletters

In This lssue

From ACUTA Headquarters: FCC lssues Rules to lmplement NET 91 1 ACT........ Jeri Semer, CAE, Exec. Dir

Tech Talk: For Most, the Big Change on Campus ls Wireless.............Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

DC Update.............. Dove Ostrom, Washlngton State University

Nominate Now for ACUTA Board of Directors

Be a State/Province Coordinator

Teflon:A Dangerous Part of a High-Risk World.................Frank Bisbee, Wireville USA

Thanks to Exhibitors for 2008

lnfo Links ............. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

Board Report, October....................... Riny Ledgenuood, San Diego State Univ.

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

A Capability Maturity Model To Assess Supply Chain Performance, Heriberto Garcia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an overcapacity world, where the customers can choose from many similar products to satisfy their needs, enterprises are looking for new approaches and tools that can help them not only to maintain, but also to increase their competitive edge. Innovation, flexibility, quality, and service excellence are required to, at the very least, survive the on-going transition that industry is experiencing from mass production to mass customization. In order to help these enterprises, this research develops a Supply Chain Capability Maturity Model named S(CM)2. The Supply Chain Capability Maturity Model is intended to model, analyze, and improve the supply chain …

Work In Progress - Enhancing Student-Learning Through State-Of-The-Art Systems Level Design And Implementation, Albert A. Liddicoat, Jianbiao Pan, James G. Harris, Dominic J. Dal Bello, Lynne A. Slivovsky

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The curriculum for undergraduate engineering programs is often partitioned into several courses that are taught in isolation followed by a single culminating senior design or capstone project experience. In the senior design class students being to synthesize the knowledge and skills that they acquired through the engineering curriculum. This paper presents lower and upper division course and curricular changes made to accommodate learning objectives that better prepare students for project-based learning. These learning experiences and skills include: systems level design, experience with state-of-the-art Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools, printed circuit board (PBC) design, design for manufacturability, electronics assembly, project management, …

Alternative Binder Carbide Tools For Machining Superalloys, Daniel J. Waldorf, Michael Stender, Scott Liu, Daniel Norgan

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This study examines the performance of a new class of wear-resistant but economical cutting tools produced by varying the binder composition of standard cemented carbide composites. By replacing some or all of the cobalt binder with rhenium and nickel-based superalloy, a stronger composite tool results, potentially capable of machining heat-resistant superalloys at significantly higher cutting speeds. Sample tools with alternative binder were produced and compared to standard tools bound with cobalt only. Turning experiments on Inconel 718 were run to evaluate wear resistance and tool life for several grades. The experimentation also examined the effects of varying the relative proportions …

Acuta Enews October 2008, Vol. 37, No. 10

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Nominate Now for 2009-2008 Board of Directors

From the President................. Corinne Hoch, Columbia Univ., ACUTA President

Tech Talk: Why Not Share That Extra Computing Power?................ Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

DC Update................. Dave Ostrom, Washington State University

Clemson Researchers' EarthBottle Made fro Plants Will Soon Be in Stores

Info Links...................... Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

The ICT Regulations toolkit: A Resource Worth Checking Out

Loans to Cover Disaster Losses

Board Report................ Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

Check It Out: Press Releases... Job Postings... RFIs/RFPs

OCS Federation Submarien Cable Completed

Welcome New Members

Function-Based Failure Propagation For Conceptual Design, Daniel A. Krus, Katie Grantham

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

When designing a product, the earlier the potential risks can be identified, the more costs can be saved, as it is easier to modify a design in its early stages. Several methods exist to analyze the risk in a system, but all require a mature design. However, by applying the concept of “common interfaces” to a functional model and utilizing a historical knowledge base, it is possible to analyze chains of failures during the conceptual phase of product design. This paper presents a method based on these common interfaces to be used in conjunction with other methods such as risk …

A Model Based Fault Detection Scheme For Nonlinear Multivariable Discrete-Time Systems, Balaje T. Thumati, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a novel robust scheme is developed for detecting faults in nonlinear discrete time multi-input and multi-output systems in contrast with the available schemes that are developed in continuous-time. Both state and output faults are addressed by considering separate time profiles. The faults, which could be incipient or abrupt, are modeled using input and output signals of the system. By using nonlinear estimation techniques, the discrete-time system is monitored online. Once a fault is detected, its dynamics are characterized using an online approximator. A stable parameter update law is developed for the online approximator scheme in discrete-time. The …

Spreadsheet Data Resampling For Monte-Carlo Simulation, Thin Yin Leong, Wee Leong Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The pervasiveness of spreadsheets software resulted in its increased application as a simulation tool for business analysis. Random values generation supporting such evaluations using spreadsheets are simple and yet powerful. However, the typical approach to Monte-Carlo simulations, which is what simulations with stochasticity are called, requires significant amount of time to be spent on data collection, data collation, and distribution function fitting. In fact, the latter can be overwhelming for undergraduate students to learn and do properly in a short time. Resampling eliminates both the need to fit distributions to the sample data, and to perform the ensuing tests of …

Determining The Number Of Bp Neural Network Hidden Layer Units, Huayu Shen, Zhaoxia Wang, Chengyao Gao, Juan Qin, Fubin Yao, Wei Xu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper proposed an improved method to contrapose the problem which is difficult to determine the number of BP neural network hidden layer units. it is proved that the method is efficeient in reducing the frequency of the test through experients, and improves the efficiency of determining the best number of hidden units, which is more valuable in the applications.

Research On Application Of Rfid In Smart Gate Of Container Terminal, Jiying Song

Faculty Publications - Department of Professional Studies

With the rapid development of logistics, the operation and management of logistics enterprise becomes more complex and changeable. Under the background, it has become the urgent problem for the policy-maker to resolve that how to construct the highly effective information system, how to apply the information technology, how to carry on the all-the-way tracking, how to enhance the collection, processing and serviceability of information and how to shorten the exchange of information and the operation time. Along with the rapidly growth of domestic as well as domestic and international volume of trade and the fast development of container fleet, that …

Acuta Enews September 2008, Vol. 37, No. 9

ACUTA Newsletters

In This lssue

From ACUTA Headquarters: Ramped-up Schedule................Jeri A. Semer, CAE, Executive Director

New Section on ACUTA Website

Audio Seminar: Technology-Related lmptications of the 2008 Higher Ed Opportunities Act

Tech Talk: ACUTA Member Schools Are Mostly in the Green ........ Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

DC Update ......... Dave Ostrom, Washington State University

lP PBX Witt Reign: Converged PBX Will Slowly Fade Away........................Gary Audin, Delphi, lnc.

Get Your ACUTA Logo here

Look on the Light Side

lnfo Links ............. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

Optimal Energy-Delay Routing Protocol With Trust Levels For Wireless Ad Hoc Networks, Eyad Taqieddin, Ann K. Miller, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents the Trust Level Routing (TLR) pro- tocol, an extension of the optimized energy-delay rout- ing (OEDR) protocol, focusing on the integrity, reliability and survivability of the wireless network. TLR is similar to OEDR in that they both are link state routing proto- cols that run in a proactive mode and adopt the concept of multi-point relay (MPR) nodes. However, TLR aims at incorporating trust levels into routing by frequently changing the MPR nodes as well as authenticating the source node and contents of control packets. TLR calcu- lates the link costs based on a composite metric (delay …

Network-Centric Localization In Manets Based On Particle Swarm Optimization, Raghavendra V. Kulkarni, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ann K. Miller, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

There exist several application scenarios of mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) in which the nodes need to locate a target or surround it. Severe resource constraints in MANETs call for energy efficient target localization and collaborative navigation. Centralized control of MANET nodes is not an attractive solution due to its high network utilization that can result in congestions and delays. In nature, many colonies of biological species (such as a flock of birds) can achieve effective collaborative navigation without any centralized control. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), a popular swarm intelligence approach that models social dynamics of a biological swarm is …

Sr-2: A Hybrid Algorithm For The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem, Angel A. Juan, Javier Faulin, Josep Jorba, Barry Barrios, Scott Erwin Grasman

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

During the last decades a lot of work has been devoted to develop algorithms that can provide near-optimal solutions for the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). Most of these algorithms are designed to minimize an objective function, subject to a set of constraints, which typically represents aprioristic costs. This approach provides adequate theoretical solutions, but they do not always fit real-life needs since there are some important costs and some routing constraints or desirable properties that cannot be easily modeled. In this paper, we present a new approach which combines the use of Monte Carlo simulation and parallel and grid …

Technology Forecasting For Wireless Communication, Timothy R. Anderson, Tugrul Unsal Daim, Jisun Kim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wireless communications technologies have undergone rapid changes over the last 30 years from analog approaches to digital-based systems. These technologies have improved on many fronts including bandwidth, range, and power requirements. Development of new telecommunications technologies is critical. It requires many years of efforts. In order to be competitive, it is critical to establish a roadmap of future technologies. This paper presents a framework to characterize, assess and forecast the wireless communication technologies. A DEA-based methodology was used for predicting the state-of-the-art in future wireless communications technologies.

Generating Robust Schedules Subject To Resource And Duration Uncertainties, Na Fu, Hoong Chuin Lau, Fei Xiao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We consider the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with minimal and maximal time lags under resource and duration uncertainties. To manage resource uncertainties, we build upon the work of Lambrechts et al 2007 and develop a method to analyze the effect of resource breakdowns on activity durations. We then extend the robust local search framework of Lau et al 2007 with additional considerations on the impact of unexpected resource breakdowns to the project makespan, so that partial order schedules (POS) can absorb both resource and duration uncertainties. Experiments show that our proposed model is capable of addressing the uncertainty of resources, …

A Heuristic Method For Job-Shop Scheduling With An Infinite Wait Buffer: From One-Machine To Multi-Machine Problems, Z. J. Zhao, J. Kim, M. Luo, Hoong Chuin Lau, S. S. Ge

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Through empirical comparison of classical job shop problems (JSP) with multi-machine consideration, we find that the objective to minimize the sum of weighted tardiness has a better wait property compared with the objective to minimize the makespan. Further, we test the proposed Iterative Minimization Micro-model (IMM) heuristic method with the mixed integer programming (MIP) solution by CPLEX. For multi-machine problems, the IMM heuristic method is faster and achieves a better solution. Finally, for a large problem instance with 409 jobs and 30 types of machines, IMM-heuristic method is compared with ProModel and we find that the heuristic method is slightly …