Computer Engineering Commons^™

Open Hardware In Science: The Benefits Of Open Electronics, Michael Oellermann, Jolle W. Jolles, Diego Ortiz, Rui Seabra, Tobias Wenzel, Hannah Wilson, Richelle L. Tanner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Openly shared low-cost electronic hardware applications, known as open electronics, have sparked a new open-source movement, with much untapped potential to advance scientific research. Initially designed to appeal to electronic hobbyists, open electronics have formed a global “maker” community and are increasingly used in science and industry. In this perspective article, we review the current costs and benefits of open electronics for use in scientific research ranging from the experimental to the theoretical sciences. We discuss how user-made electronic applications can help (I) individual researchers, by increasing the customization, efficiency, and scalability of experiments, while improving data quantity and quality; …

Investigation Of Python Variable Privacy, Joshua Bartholomew

Honors Theses

This study looks at the relative security of Python regarding private variables and functions used in most other programming languages. Python has only grown in popularity due to its simple syntax and developing capabilities. However, little research has been published about how secure Python code and programs compiled from Python code actually are. This research seeks to expose vulnerabilities in Python code and determine what must be done for these vulnerabilities to be exploited by hackers to abuse potentially sensitive information contained within the program.

The proposed methodology includes examining the private variable concept in other programming languages and conducting …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works: Abstracts, Emma Aggeler, Elena Arroway, Daisy T. Booker, Justin Bravo, Kyle Bucholtz, Megan Burnham, Nicole Choi, Spencer Cockerell, Rosie Contino, Jackson Garske, Kaitlyn Glover, Caroline Hamilton, Haley Hartmann, Madalyne Heiken, Colin Holter, Leah Huzjak, Alyssa Jeng, Cole Jernigan, Chad Kashiwa, Adelaide Kerenick, Emily King, Abigail Langeberg, Maddie Leake, Meredith Lemons, Alec Mackay, Greer Mckinley, Ori Miller, Guy Milliman, Katherine Miromonti, Audrey Mitchell, Lauren Moak, Megan Morrell, Gelella Nebiyu, Zdenek Otruba, Toni V. Panzera, Kassidy Patarino, Sneha Patil, Alexandra Penney, Kevin Persky, Caitlin Pham, Gabriela Recinos, Mary Ringgenberg, Chase Routt, Olivia Schneider, Roman Shrestha, Arlo Simmerman, Alec Smith, Tessa Smith, Nhi-Lac Thai, Kyle Thurmann, Casey Tindall, Amelia Trembath, Maria Trubetskaya, Zachary Vangelisti, Peter Vo, Abby Walker, David Winter, Grayden Wolfe, Leah York

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Showcase.

Ml-Based Online Traffic Classification For Sdns, Mohammed Nsaif, Gergely Kovasznai, Mohammed Abboosh, Ali Malik, Ruairí De Fréin

Articles

Traffic classification is a crucial aspect for Software-Defined Networking functionalities. This paper is a part of an on-going project aiming at optimizing power consumption in the environment of software-defined datacenter networks. We have developed a novel routing strategy that can blindly balance between the power consumption and the quality of service for the incoming traffic flows. In this paper, we demonstrate how to classify the network traffic flows so that the quality of service of each flow-class can be guaranteed efficiently. This is achieved by creating a dataset that encompasses different types of network traffic such as video, VoIP, game …

Splicecube Architecture: An Extensible Wi-Fi Monitoring Architecture For Smart-Home Networks, Namya Malik

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The vision of smart homes is rapidly becoming a reality, as the Internet of Things and other smart devices are deployed widely. Although smart devices offer convenience, they also create a significant management problem for home residents. With a large number and variety of devices in the home, residents may find it difficult to monitor, or even locate, devices. A central controller that brings all the home’s smart devices under secure management and a unified interface would help homeowners and residents track and manage their devices.

We envision a solution called the SPLICEcube whose goal is to detect smart devices, …

Understanding And Hardening Blockchain Network Security Against Denial Of Service Attacks, Kai Li

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis aims to examine the security of a blockchain's communication network. A blockchain relies on a communication network to deliver transactions. Understanding and hardening the security of the communication network against Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks are thus critical to the well-being of blockchain participants. Existing research has examined blockchain system security in various system components, including mining incentives, consensus protocols, and applications such as smart contracts. However, the security of a blockchain's communication network remains understudied.

In practice, a blockchain's communication network typically consists of three services: RPC service, P2P network, and mempool. This thesis examines each service's designs and …

Automotive Sensor Fusion Systems For Traffic Aware Adaptive Cruise Control, Jonah T. Gandy

Theses and Dissertations

The autonomous driving (AD) industry is advancing at a rapid pace. New sensing technology for tracking vehicles, controlling vehicle behavior, and communicating with infrastructure are being added to commercial vehicles. These new automotive technologies reduce on road fatalities, improve ride quality, and improve vehicle fuel economy. This research explores two types of automotive sensor fusion systems: a novel radar/camera sensor fusion system using a long shortterm memory (LSTM) neural network (NN) to perform data fusion improving tracking capabilities in a simulated environment and a traditional radar/camera sensor fusion system that is deployed in Mississippi State’s entry in the EcoCAR Mobility …

The Effects Of Ecological Simulation For Ground Vehicle Mobility Forecasting, Christopher R. Hudson

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are being explored for use in military domains. Military UGVs operate in complex off-road environments. Vehicle mobility forecasting plays an important role in understanding how and where a vehicle can operate. Traditional mobility forecasting has been done using an analytical model known as the NATO Reference Mobility Model (NRMM). There has been a push to extend the forecasting capabilities of NRMM by integrating more simulation methods. Simulation enables the repeated testing of UGVs in scenarios that would be difficult or dangerous to study in real world testing. To accurately capture UGV performance in simulation, the operating …

Santé Le Match, Krizia Mae Araracap, Evan Chou, Matthew Isaac Tolosa

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

In Senegal, many children are unaware of the importance of common hygiene practices due to limited health education on sanitation and personal hygiene. As a result, the repercussions of not following these practices are not clearly understood. This is an issue because some of the most common diseases in Senegal can be prevented through better sanitation practices and other basic preventative measures. Developing hygienic habits at a young age is critical—especially in a developing country such as Senegal. We have created a mobile application that educates and empowers children with the basic knowledge of WASH—water, sanitation, hygiene. Because Senegal often …

Evaluation Of Selected Computer Software For Concussion Recovery And Diagnosis, J.P. Jensen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Acquired traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions, impact many athletes participating in sports, particularly at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. The risks posed by concussions – particularly when an athlete suffers repeated injuries – demands that protocols and tools be developed to maximize athlete health and safety. Computer technology can perform critical roles in the analysis and management of concussions. While specialized devices in the areas of imaging and impact sensing, are most associated with concussion management, researchers within the last two decades have increasingly explored the incorporation of various consumer technologies into the identification and treatment of …

Data Management In Web Applications To Balance Performance And Security, Caleb Marcoux

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

As web applications become increasingly popular, many are running several calculations and data processing on the client machine, it is important to consider data management practices on the front-end of these web applications. Typically, some data from the server is stored in the client's memory or hard disk. How much data should be stored for how long, as well as many other considerations, influence the time and space performance of the web application, as well as its security. In this thesis, we explore several challenges, solutions, and design patterns in web application data management through the lens of a senior …

Design Of Hardware To Aid Smartphone-Based Oscilloscope App, Riddock Moran

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A smartphone-based oscilloscope improves on traditional lab oscilloscopes in accessibility and portability but faces several performance limitations compared to traditional oscilloscopes. Among these, an oscilloscope app that uses the phone’s audio to read voltage signals will have a sampling rate and voltage bottlenecked by the capabilities of the audio codec, which will rarely exceed a rate of 48 kHz and 1 volt, respectively. Additionally, smartphones lack the ability to read line-in audio, allowing only one channel input through the microphone. Direct connections to an audio source may not be possible due to requiring an audio jack connection, and different poles …

Designing A Digital Electronics Lab, Ben Buckwalter

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Hardware electronics tools can be more expensive than a new learner is willing to invest resulting in a barrier to entry. Furthermore, it can be difficult for a new learner to know where to start when learning electronics. To resolve this issue, we first explore current mobile app solutions that provide free electronics tooling. Then, we propose a design for a new mobile app that contains basic function generator and oscilloscope functionality as well as the learning resources necessary in order to guide new learners in the basics of digital electronics.

Comparative Analysis Of Imputation Methods In Real Estate Data, Connor Donlen

Honors Theses

This project involves comparing different methods of missing data imputation in the context of predicting real estate listing prices. These methods are compared against each other in both their ability to recreate the original data and their effects on a final predictive model. In order to evaluate their effectiveness, first, a predictive model is made using the complete dataset to use as a benchmark for the imputed datasets. Then, a complete dataset is split into 80% training and 20% testing datasets, and missing values are created in the training data using two different missing data mechanisms, missing completely at random …

Defensive Industrial Policy: Cybersecurity Interventions To Reduce Intellectual Property Theft, Dr. Chad Dacus, Dr. Carl (Cj) Horn

Military Cyber Affairs

Through cyber-enabled industrial espionage, China has appropriated what Keith Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency, dubbed “the largest transfer of wealth in history.” Although China disavows intellectual property (IP) theft by its citizens and has set self-sustained research and development as an important goal, it is unrealistic to believe IP theft will slow down meaningfully without changing China’s decision calculus. China and the United States have twice agreed, in principle, to respect one another’s IP rights. However, these agreements have lacked any real enforcement mechanism, so the United States must do more to ensure its IP is …

Automated Robotic Light Bulb Testing Platform, Agha I. Akram, Muhammad Ali Ummy

Publications and Research

The main purpose of this project is to create a functional prototype of a multilayered system that incorporates aspects of electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering technology. The main objective of the system is to be able to determine whether a light bulb is working or not. The building blocks of this system are a robotic arm that is able to slide along a rail (for added mobility), a conveyor belt, and an electromechanical device that holds and tests light bulbs. Initially, the robot arm picks up a light bulb and places it into the holder which then tests it. A …

Probing Myosin Ensemble Mechanics In Actin Filament Bundles Using Optical Tweezers, Omayma Al Azzam, Janie C. Watts, Justin E. Reynolds, Juliana E. Davis, Dana N. Reinemann

Faculty and Student Publications

Myosins are motor proteins that hydrolyze ATP to step along actin filament (AF) tracks and are essential in cellular processes such as motility and muscle contraction. To understand their force-generating mechanisms, myosin II has been investigated both at the single-molecule (SM) level and as teams of motors in vitro using biophysical methods such as optical trapping. These studies showed that myosin force-generating behavior can differ greatly when moving from the single-molecule level in a three-bead arrangement to groups of motors working together on a rigid bead or coverslip surface in a gliding arrangement. However, these assay constructions do not permit …

Privacy Assessment Breakthrough: A Design Science Approach To Creating A Unified Methodology, Lisa Mckee

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Recent changes have increased the need for and awareness of privacy assessments. Organizations focus primarily on Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) but rarely take a comprehensive approach to assessments or integrate the results into a privacy risk program. There are numerous industry standards and regulations for privacy assessments, but the industry lacks a simple unified methodology with steps to perform privacy assessments. The objectives of this research project are to create a new privacy assessment methodology model using the design science methodology, update industry standards and present training for conducting privacy assessments that can be …

Offensive Cyber Operations And Future Littoral Operating Concepts, Jd Work

Military Cyber Affairs

Introduction of new ground-launch cruise missile options to hold adversary naval targets at risk in order to support conventional deterrence objectives through sea control and sea denial missions is the centerpiece of proposed reorganization of Marine Littoral forces, as part of new “Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations,” and “Littoral Operations in Contested Environments” concepts. Effective distributed sea control fires against pacing threat maritime formations requires defeat of integrated air defense systems. Offensive cyber operations capabilities may be considered as a means of altering the calculus of attrition in missile fires exchanges, but due to various sensitivities it has been difficult to …

Human-Centered Explainable Artificial Intelligence For Anomaly Detection In Quality Inspection: A Collaborative Approach To Bridge The Gap Between Humans And Ai, Srikanth Vemula

Theses & Dissertations

In the quality inspection industry, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to advance to produce safer and faster autonomous systems that can perceive, learn, decide, and act independently. As observed by the researcher interacting with the local energy company over a one-year period, these AI systems’ performance is limited by the machine’s current inability to explain its decisions and actions to human users. Especially in energy companies, eXplainable-AI (XAI) is critical to achieve speed, reliability, and trustworthiness with human inspection workers. Placing humans alongside AI will establish a sense of trust that augments the individual’s capabilities at the workplace. …