Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

Stochastic Optimal Control In Nonlinear Systems, Celestin Nkundineza

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Stochastic control is an important area of research in engineering systems that undergo disturbances. Controlling individual states in such systems is critical. The present investigation is concerned with the application of the stochastic optimal control strategy developed by To (2010) and its implementation as well as providing computed results of linear and nonlinear systems under stationary and nonstationary random excitations. In the strategy the feedback matrix is designed based on the achievement of the objectives for individual states in the system through the application of the Lyapunov equation for the system. Each diagonal element in the gain or associated gain …

Wavelet Based Islanding Detection Of Dc-Ac Inverter Interfaced Dg Systems, Mohamed Moin Hanif, Malabika Basu, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

The increased penetration of distributed generation (DG) often connected to grid through dc-ac interface has made islanding detection an important and challenging issue to power engineers. Several methods based on passive and active detection scheme have been proposed in the literature. While passive schemes have a large non detection zone (NDZ), concern has been raised on active method due to its degrading power quality effect. This paper proposes a wavelet based passive islanding detection scheme with almost zero NDZ for dc-ac inverter interfaced grid connected DGs. The key idea is to utilize the spectral changes in the higher frequency components …

Enhanced Cal Poly Super System Simulink Model, Matthew Ogden Mcfarland

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Sustainable Power for Electrical Resources (SuPER) project is a solar power DC distribution system designed to autonomously manage and supply the energy needs of a single family off-the-grid home. The following thesis describes the improvement and re-design of a MATLAB Simulink model for the Cal Poly SuPER system. This model includes a photovoltaic (PV) array, a lead-acid gel battery with temperature effects, a wind turbine model, a re-designed DC-DC converter, a DC microgrid, and multiple loads. This thesis will also include several control algorithms such as a temperature controlled thermoelectric (T.E.) cooler, intelligent load switching, and an …

Conservation Based Uncertainty Propagation In Dynamic Systems, Lillian J. Ratliff

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Uncertainty is present in our everyday decision making process as well as our understanding of the structure of the universe. As a result an intense and mathematically rigorous study of how uncertainty propagates in the dynamic systems present in our lives is warranted and arguably necessary. In this thesis we examine existing methods for uncertainty propagation in dynamic systems and present the results of a literature survey that justifies the development of a conservation based method of uncertainty propagation. Conservation methods are physics based and physics drives our understanding of the physical world. Thus, it makes perfect sense to formulate …

A Comparison Of Induction Motor Starting Methods Being Powered By A Diesel-Generator Set, Adam John Wigington

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Starting induction motors on isolated or weak systems is a highly dynamic process that can cause motor and load damage as well as electrical network fluctuations. Mechanical damage is associated with the high starting current drawn by a ramping induction motor. In order to compensate the load increase, the voltage of the electrical system decreases. Different starting methods can be applied to the electrical system to reduce these and other starting method issues. The purpose of this thesis is to build accurate and usable simulation models that can aid the designer in making the choice of an appropriate motor starting …

Architectural Considerations For Single Operator Management Of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Gabriel T. Bugajski

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have become ubiquitous in military battlefield operations due to their intelligence collection capabilities. However, these unmanned systems consistently demonstrate limitations and shortfalls with respect to size, weight, range, line of sight and information management. The United States Air Force Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan 2009-2047 describes an action plan for improved UAS employment which calls out single operator, multi-vehicle mission configurations. This thesis analyzes the information architecture using future concepts of operations, such as biologically-inspired flocking mechanisms. The analysis and empirical results present insight into the engineering of single-operator multiple-vehicle architectures.

Pulse Density Modulated Soft Switching Cycloconverter, Jesse Timothy Adamson

Master's Theses

Single stage cycloconverters generally incorporate hard switching at turn on and soft switching at turn off. This hard switching at turn on combined with the slow switching speeds of thyristors (the switch of choice for standard cycloconverters) limits their use to lower frequency applications.

This thesis explores the analysis and design of a pulse density modulated (PDM), soft switching cycloconverter. Unlike standard cycloconverters, the controller in this converter does not adjust thyristor firing angles. It lets only complete half cycles of the input waveform through to the output. This allows and requires a much greater frequency step down from the …

Multiple Robot Boundary Tracking With Phase And Workload Balancing, Michael Jay Boardman

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses the use of a cooperative multiple robot system as applied to distributed tracking and sampling of a boundary edge. Within this system the boundary edge is partitioned into subsegments, each allocated to a particular robot such that workload is balanced across the robots. Also, to minimize the time between sampling local areas of the boundary edge, it is desirable to minimize the difference between each robot’s progression (i.e. phase) along its allocated sub segment of the edge. The paper introduces a new distributed controller that handles both workload and phase balancing. Simulation results are used to illustrate …

Solar Panel Tracker, Andrew Hsing

Electrical Engineering

This project will be a design and implementation of a polar single axis solar panel tracker. It will have a fixed vertical axis and an adjustable horizontal motor controlled axis. This setup is similar to an office swivel chair. The tracker will actively track the sun and change its position accordingly to maximize the energy output. To prevent wasting power by running the motor continuously, the tracker will correct it's position after 2 to 3 degrees of misalignment. The sensors will compare the light intensities of each side and move the panels until the tracker detects equal light on both …

Adverse Elevator Effect In Landing Flare, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Analysis Of Low Earth Orbit Satellite And Ground Station Data Exchange Topology, Ersin Kocoglu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In order to utilize space effectively, the primary function of satellite control in orbit around the Earth must be accomplished. This controlling process includes two main segments, ground stations serving as the controller units and orbiting satellites as the units to be controlled. This thesis explores a topological data exchange model that contains one satellite and multiple ground stations. The model is implemented in digital computer software. This model has multiple purposes and can be used to simulate satellite passes over ground stations and can also be used to predict communication time and the amount of transferred data. The model …

Multi-Objective Constraint Satisfaction For Mobile Robot Area Defense, Kenneth W. Mayo

Theses and Dissertations

In developing multi-robot cooperative systems, there are often competing objectives that need to be met. For example in automating area defense systems, multiple robots must work together to explore the entire area, and maintain consistent communications to alert the other agents and ensure trust in the system. This research presents an algorithm that tasks robots to meet the two specific goals of exploration and communication maintenance in an uncoordinated environment reducing the need for a user to pre-balance the objectives. This multi-objective problem is defined as a constraint satisfaction problem solved using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). Both …

Preliminary Electrical Designs For Ctex And Afit Satellite Ground Station, Arthur L. Morse

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis outlines the design of the electrical components for the space-based ChromoTomography Experiment (CTEx). CTEx is the next step in the development of high-speed chromotomography at the Air Force Institute of Technology. The electrical design of the system is challenging due to the large amount of data that is acquired by the imager and the limited resources that is inherent with space-based systems. Additional complication to the design is the need to know the angle of a spinning prism that is in the field of view very precisely for each image. Without this precise measurement any scene that is …

Novel Ac Side P&O Maximum Power Transfer Control For Grid Connected Photovoltaic Systems, Mohamed Moin Hanif, Malabika Basu, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

Grid connected Photovoltaic inverters can convert PV energy into electricity with very high efficiencies. Power from the PV panels fluctuates depending on various weather conditions. PV inverters usually include a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) to track this varying power, in order to transfer all the available power to the grid efficiently. Control of power transferred to the grid along with the MPPT plays a crucial role in determining the efficiency of a PV system. This paper discusses about the basic power transfer theory between sources (PV and Grid) and focuses on the need of a DC-DC boost circuit, along …

Prediction Of Wind Speeds With An Artificial Neural Network, Justin Tracy

Electrical Engineering

This project involved designing and programming an artificial neural network, testing its function, and testing the resulting function against existing wind speed measurement data, in order to determine the ability of an artificial neural network to learn the relationship between measured data and future wind speed. The artificial neural network includes gradient momentum, batch training, incremental training, and a function to test the results of the trained neural network against an additional set of data without back propagation. It was first found that the artificial neural network was able perform unsupervised learning, and learn the model for a XOR gate. …

Speed Control For Simple Heat Engine, Kat Devirgilio

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Real-Time On-Board Object Tracking For Cooperative Flight Control, Ajay Kumar Mandava, Emma Regentova, Henry Selvaraj

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

One of possible cooperative Situations for flights could be a scenario when the decision on a new path is taken by A Certain fleet member, who is called the leader. The update on the new path is Transmitted to the fleet members via communication That can be noisy. An optical sensor can be used as a back-up for re-estimating the path parameters based on visual information. For A Certain topology, the issue can be solved by continuous tracking of the leader of the fleet in the video sequence and re-adjusting parameters of the flight, accordingly. To solve such a problem …