Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Cost-Constrained Intelligent Prosthetic Knee With Real-Time Machine Learning, Predictive Stumble Control, Lucas Jonathan Galey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The field of biomechatronics is evolving quickly with advances in computer science, biology, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Coupled with increased interests in machine learning (ML) across all industry sectors, there are opportunities to leverage advanced analytics in uniquely complex problems. This study aimed to deploy real-time ML predictions in a novel microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee (MPK) device capable of identifying and responding to stumble-events to reduce amputee fall prevalence. Innately, stumbling is a chaotic event. Current MPKs operate by detecting gait characteristics and reacting to preprogrammed states. While these systems are beneficial in significant ways, such as energy expenditure and …

The Active Cryocubesat Technology: Active Thermal Control For Small Satellites, Lucas S. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Modern CubeSats and Small Satellites have advanced in capability to tackle science and technology missions that would usually be reserved for more traditional, large satellites. However, this rapid growth in capability is only possible through the fast-to-production, low-cost, and advanced technology approach used by modern small satellite engineers. Advanced technologies in power generation, energy storage, and high-power density electronics have naturally led to a thermal bottleneck, where CubeSats and Small Satellites can generate more power than they can easily reject. The Active CryoCubeSat (ACCS) is an advanced active thermal control technology (ATC) for Small Satellites and CubeSats, which hopes to …

Viability And Performance Of Rf Source Localization Using Autocorrelation-Based Fingerprinting, Joseph L. Ipson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Finding the source location of a radio-frequency (RF) transmission is a useful capability for many civilian, industrial, and military applications. This problem is particularly challenging when done “Blind,” or when the transmitter was not designed with finding its location in mind, and relatively little information is available about the signal before-hand. Typical methods for this operation utilize the time, phase, power, and frequency viewable from received signals. These features are all less predictable in indoor and urban environments, where signals undergo transformation from multiple interactions with the environment. These interactions imprint structure onto the received signal which is dependent on …

Producing Analytical Models Of The Sport Spacecraft For Science Data Processing, Jason L. Powell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Scintillation Prediction Observation Research Task (SPORT) is a joint United States of America and Brazil 6U CubeSat mission. The SPORT mission is to understand how the Earth’s ionosphere evolves during day and night transitions. Space Weather Probes, a suite of instruments developed by Utah State University, monitors the ionosphere by observing currents and voltages around the SPORT spacecraft body. This thesis presents the data collected by Space Weather Probes and how it is used to measure the ionosphere. Modeling techniques are also presented to demonstrate how the Space Weather Probes instrument is expected to respond to the ionosphere.

Choice Of Instruments For Verification And Calibration Of Gas Analyzers, Ortigali Khakimov, Paraxat Mayliyevna Matyakubova, Mirolim Muhammad O'G'Li Maxmudjonov

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

This article analyzes the process of metrological control of gas analyzers and metrological requirements for them. The current state of the standards used in the state metrological control of gas analyzers and the results of the analyzes were studied. The task of choosing the measuring instruments used in the verification process and optimizing the requirements for them is set. An experimental verification process was organized in three groups using several measuring devices, and the reliability of the verification results was assessed. With the use of modern measuring instruments, a graph of the output value was built during the experimental verification …

Kayak Automated Steering, Nick Gilbert, Emily Trotter, David Asimbaya, Jorge Garcia, Natalie Nyatsanza

ATU Scholars Symposium

The problem presented is to automate a fishing kayak to make traveling long distances more manageable while maintaining the flexibility, portability, and size of the kayak without making major modifications to the already working item. The proposed design is aimed to solve the steering issues that a fixed seat in a kayak may have and the consistent paddling by supporting them with an automated system. The device is not meant to interfere with the system's manual operation but to provide a sense of aid when needed.

Distracted Driving Detection System, Tristan Caja, Lizzi Riney, Chance Gregurek, Wesley M. Heikes

ATU Scholars Symposium

In 2020, distracted driving claimed 3,142 lives in the United States[1]. Using current technology, our project aims to prototype a device that uses computer vision to crack down on this dangerous behavior while working with insurance agencies that provide incentives for customers to adopt the device. At the heart of this project is a deep learning algorithm trained to classify images on a set of 10 classes: safe driving, texting - right, talking on the phone - right, texting - left, talking on the phone - left, operating the radio, drinking, reaching behind, hair and makeup, and talking to passenger. …

Alzheimers Disease Stages Are Classified Based On Biomarkers Found In Cerebrospinal Fluid Using Machine Learning Classifiers, Vivek K. Tiwari

Electrical Engineering Theses

The inability of the current techniques to identify patients in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease, which can persist up to ten years before clinical symptoms appear, makes early detection of the condition difficult. Several studies have shown the potential of the cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers amyloid beta 1-42, T-tau, and P-tau in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Based on the levels of these cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, we employed machine learning models in this study to categorize various phases of Alzheimer's disease. The National Alzheimer's Coordination Centre database of 537 patients' electronic health records was examined, and the patients were …

Discriminating Wirelesshart Communication Devices Using Sub-Nyquist Stimulated Responses, Jeffrey D. Long, Michael A. Temple, Christopher M. Rondeau

Faculty Publications

Reliable detection of counterfeit electronic, electrical, and electromechanical devices within critical information and communications technology systems ensures that operational integrity and resiliency are maintained. Counterfeit detection extends the device’s service life that spans manufacture and pre-installation to removal and disposition activity. This is addressed here using Distinct Native Attribute (DNA) fingerprinting while considering the effects of sub-Nyquist sampling on DNA-based discrimination. The sub-Nyquist sampled signals were obtained using factor-of-205 decimation on Nyquist-compliant WirelessHART response signals. The DNA is extracted from actively stimulated responses of eight commercial WirelessHART adapters and metrics introduced to characterize classifier performance. Adverse effects of sub-Nyquist decimation …

Implementation Of Static Rfid Landmarks In Slam For Planogram Compliance, Brennan L. Drake

Honors College Theses

Autonomous robotic systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and exhibit robust solutions in a wide range of applications. They face many obstacles with the foremost of which being SLAM, or Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, that encompasses both creation of the map of an unknown environment and localization of the robot in said environment. In this experiment, researchers propose the use of RFID tags in a semi-dynamic commercial environment to provide concrete landmarks for localization and mapping in pursuit of increased locational certainty. With this obtained, the ultimate goal of the research is to construct a robotics platform for …

Gpu Utilization: Predictive Sarimax Time Series Analysis, Dorothy Dorie Parry

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

This work explores collecting performance metrics and leveraging the output for prediction on a memory-intensive parallel image classification algorithm - Inception v3 (or "Inception3"). Experimental results were collected by nvidia-smi on a computational node DGX-1, equipped with eight Tesla V100 Graphic Processing Units (GPUs). Time series analysis was performed on the GPU utilization data taken, for multiple runs, of Inception3’s image classification algorithm (see Figure 1). The time series model applied was Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Exogenous (SARIMAX).

Counterventions: A Reparative Reflection On Interventionist Hci, Rua Mae Williams, Louanne E. Boyd, Juan E. Gilbert

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Research in HCI applied to clinical interventions relies on normative assumptions about which bodies and minds are healthy, valuable, and desirable. To disrupt this normalizing drive in HCI, we define a “counterventional approach” to intervention technology design informed by critical scholarship and community perspectives. This approach is meant to unsettle normative assumptions of intervention as urgent, necessary, and curative. We begin with a historical overview of intervention in HCI and its critics. Then, through reparative readings of past HCI projects in autism intervention, we illustrate the emergent principles of a counterventional approach and how it may manifest research outcomes that …

3d Speaker Geometry Inference From Digital Video Using 2d Projective Geometry, Sebastian Alonso Janampa Rojas

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The thesis discusses the need for a 3D world model reconstruction from raw video frames using 2D projective geometry. We propose a computer-aided approach to reconstructing a 3D speaker geometry from classroom videos of students learning Python.

The proposed method uses a transformer model to detect line candidates. Once the users identify lines corresponding to three orthogonal directions, the method computes the three vanishing points and the camera matrix. The method identifies the student’s mouths based on face landmark detection. After the estimates of the projections of the students’ mouths on the table are verified by the users, the proposed …

Evaluation Of The Dynamic Vision Sensor’S Photoreceptor Circuit For Infrared Event-Based Sensing, Zinah M. Alsaad

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

For space surveillance applications, neuromorphic imaging is being studied as it may perform sensing and tracking tasks with less power and downstream datalink demand. The read-out of the event-based camera is made to only be sensitive to changes in the signals it receives from the photodetector, which results in a datastream of events indicating where and when changes in illumination occur. This is in contrast to the conventional framing camera, which produces images by essentially counting the electrons produced by light incident on each pixel’s photodetector. These cameras are commercially available with siliconbased detectors for applications involving visible wavelengths. However, …

Data-Driven Stochastic Optimal Control Using Hilbert Space Embeddings Of Distributions, Adam J. Thorpe

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Autonomous systems are increasingly being deployed in complex environments subject to real-world uncertainty. For such systems, it may be exceptionally difficult or even impossible to compute a simple mathematical model of the system--for instance due to the presence of human elements, complex mechanics or system dynamics, or learning-enabled components. Data-driven control has recently gained significant attention in this area, where observations taken from the system evolution are used to compute an implicit representation of the system that is amenable to analysis and control. However, data-driven algorithms for control present new challenges, and require new insights to enable their use. The …

Reclaiming Fault Resilience And Energy Efficiency With Enhanced Performance In Low Power Architectures, Noel Daniel Gundi

Student Research Symposium

Shrinking technology node and the massive increase in data workloads has witnessed a swift migration of the system towards the Low-Power Computing (LPC) paradigm. Additionally, to accelerate the redundant yet mammoth AI instructions, novel ASIC design architectures have been explored. Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) is one such architectural innovation deployed in the commercial space to speedup the processing of AI workloads. In an effort to achieve a superior energy efficiency, Near-Threshold Computing (NTC) has been marginalized to be an efficient LPC paradigm. Due to an underscaling of voltage, NTC offers quadratic savings is power consumption in comparison to operating …

Mitigating Inaudible Ultrasound Attacks On Voice Assistants With Acoustic Metamaterials, Joshua S. Lloyd, Cole G. Ludwikowski, Cyrus Malik, Chen Shen

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Voice assistants play an important role in facilitating human–machine interactions and have been widely used in audio consumer electronic products. However, it has been shown that they are susceptible to inaudible attacks in which the malicious signals are in the ultrasound regime and cannot be heard by human ears. In this study, we show that a judiciously designed acoustic metamaterial filter can mitigate such attacks by modulating the received signals by the microphones. The metamaterial filter is composed of rigid plates with individual holes which exhibit local resonance phenomena that suppress incoming waves at specific frequencies. The effectiveness of the …

Network Economics-Based Crowdsourcing In Online Social Networks, Natasha S. Kubiak

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis addresses the challenge of user recruitment by various competing marketing agencies (MAs) in Online Social Networks. A labor economics approach, following the principles of contract theory, is devised to enable MAs to reveal the potential of each participating user to contribute a personalized level of quality and quantity of information to the crowdsourcing process. The MAs objective is to maximize their personal benefit, i.e., total utility obtained, given its budget. The latter optimization problem is formulated as a Generalized Colonel Blotto (GCB) game among the MAs, where each MA aims at incentivizing each user to report its information. …

Improved Experimental Validation Of An Electromagnetic Subcell Model For Narrow Slots With Depth, Michael Anthony Illescas

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The coupling of electromagnetic (EM) energy into a system can disrupt operation of essential electronics present within it. Metal enclosures are used to shield these systems from potentially harmful electromagnetic interference (EMI). Seams and gaps in such metal enclosures are minimized but unavoidable for reasons such as maintenance and repair. These seams and gaps create an entry point for EM energy to couple into the system. Entry points are often modeled by EM analysts as narrow slots defined by their length, width, and depth. The depth of these slots can become significant compared to the wavelength, introducing resonances associated with …

Bodyslam: Feasibility Of Tracking Human Kinematics With Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (Slam), Sepehr Laal

Dissertations and Theses

We evaluated a new wearable technology that fuses inertial sensors and cameras for tracking human kinematics. These devices use on-board simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to localize the camera within the environment. Significance of this technology is in its potential to overcome many of the limitations of the other dominant technologies. Our results demonstrate this system often attains an estimated orientation error of less than 1° and a position error of less than 4cm as compared to a robotic arm. This demonstrates that SLAM's accuracy is adequate for many practical applications for tracking human kinematics.

Stabilizing Control Schemes For Grid-Connected Hybrid Pv-Energy Storage Systems, Indra Narayana Bhogaraju

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A nonlinear stabilizing control scheme based on Lyapunov theory is proposed for a grid- connected hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/ battery/supercapacitor (SC) system. The system dynamics is developed in the stationary reference frame, and the state-space model of the system is derived and used to formulate the Lyapunov function (LF) candidate. The global asymptotic stability of the LF-based controller is discussed in detail. The real-time implementation feasibility of the proposed control scheme is validated through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) studies of a grid- connected hybrid system under solar energy generation and grid load variations. To address the issue of digital computational time that leads …

Biomimicry In Solar Energy Applications, Terrin Cramer, Yicheng Kang, Ryan Ogino

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

While solar power is one of the leading renewable energy sources today, current solar farms produce an amount of byproduct heat that is contributing to rising global temperatures and the deaths of many birds. Furthermore, solar panels that use water as a coolant through a sprinkler system use up a great amount of water that could be allocated somewhere else. Our project seeks to address both of these issues through a biomimetic design. Drawing inspiration from the ghost plant, our proposed solar panel cooling system is expected to reduce the amount of byproduct heat produced by panels, increase the overall …

Air Conditioner Fail Safe Detector, Jonathan Li

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Air Conditioners are essential to human life. In an age of sudden temperature changes, moving systems, particularly HVAC (Heat Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems, are the primary source to physically and financially protect the health of all workers, employees, and students. Air Conditioners are prone to mechanical and electrical malfunction/breakdown due to excessive use. Regular maintenance and service intervals are helpful but do not guarantee free-malfunction systems. When the systems break down, especially commercial systems, the repair cost can be highly expensive and time-consuming. Can we detect early signs of potential problems in the systems to minimize the repair cost …

Project Hermes: The Socially Assistive Tour-Guiding Robot, Aly Khater, Justin Sun, Fernando Camou

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

With the reduced amount of availability of a labor force for non-technical tasks, service robotics has grown to be used in place of human labor to handle these tasks. There have been various studies on the impact of using robotics in a sociological context. The use of service robots in a social and labor environment recognizes the need of cohesive Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). In this senior design project, we delve into the thought process of using a service robot in place of a human for tasks that are normally reserved for humans. These tasks outline design considerations when performing emotional-centric …

Novel Structures And Thin Film Techniques For Reconfigurable Rf Technologies With Improved Signal Integrity, Jinqun Ge

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past several decades, wireless communications have been tremendously developed with multiple frequency bands, standards, and functions to provide more convenient communication services. Nowadays, commercial wireless devices, especially customer premises equipment, are required for smaller size, higher integration, and higher data rates to meet the ever-increasing demands of communications. The transceiver front ends inside these devices need to provide high-speed and high-quality communication services without a substantial increase in cost and size. Hence, the primary objective of this research is to develop a few miniaturized, multifunctional, and reconfigurable RF technologies and to provide several signal integrity and heat dissipation …

Detecting Fast Frequency Events In Power System: Development And Comparison Of Two Methods, Hussain A. Alghamdi, Midrar Adham, Umar Farooq, Robert B. Bass

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In power systems, frequency deviation from nominal value can occur due to reasons such as loss of generation, loss of load, or major faults in the grid. Such frequency fluctuations can lead to serious subsequent outages and damages to both end-user and utility equipment. Therefore, a proper frequency deviation detection methodology must be in place to effectively identify frequency events in a timely manner. This manuscript provides a comparative analysis between two frequency deviation detection algorithms. One is based on signal processing and statistical analysis. The other is a regression-based algorithm. Both of these algorithms have multiple adjustable parameters, making …

Trust Model System For The Energy Grid Of Things Network Communications, Narmada Sonali Fernando, Zhongkai Zheng, John M. Acken, Robert B. Bass

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Network communication is crucial in the Energy Grid of Things (EGoT). Without a network connection, the energy grid becomes just a power grid where the energy resources are available to the customer uni-directionally. A mechanism to analyze and optimize the energy usage of the grid can only happen through a medium, a communications network, that enables information exchange between the grid participants and the service provider. Security implementers of EGoT network communication take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of the energy grid, a critical infrastructure, as well as the safety and privacy of the grid participants. With the dynamic …

Quantized State Simulation Of Electrical Power Systems, Joseph Micah Hood

Theses and Dissertations

An alternative is proposed to the current state-of-the-art simulation methods for the transient simulation of electrical power systems. The proposed method combines the Latency Insertion Method (LIM), the Quantized Discrete Event Specification (QDEVS), and the Quantized State System (QSS) method of integration. Using LIM, the power system state equations are decoupled in a way that allows the formulation of the system into a QDEVS-compliant model, which can then be directly solved with various QSS integration techniques. This combination of methods is called the Quantized DEVS-LIM method, or simply, QDL. A key feature of QDL is the asynchronous updates of all …

Robotic Arm Extrusion End Effector, Nicholas Viamin, David Blouin, Savannah Hunt, Nico Figueroa

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

This senior design project aims to enhance the capabilities of the Rotrics AIO Desktop Arm (Dexarm) by designing and implementing an extrusion device capable of smooth and consistent extrusion for 3D printing applications. The project focused on ensuring safety, affordability, and ease-of-use for users, while achieving precise control over the extrusion process. Various mechanical and electrical components were carefully selected to ensure compatibility with the Dexarm and to provide optimal performance. To maintain safety, extensive testing and risk assessments were conducted to minimize any potential hazards associated with the extrusion process. To achieve smooth and consistent extrusion, precise control mechanisms …

Implementation Of The Downlink Communication System Of The Lmu Cubesat, Mohammed Alrabeeah

LMU Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we present the design and implementation of a CubeSat receiver system using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) and GNU Radio. The goal of this project is to develop a low-cost and flexible ground station capable of receiving telemetry and payload data from CubeSats in real time. The CubeSat receiver operates in the UHF frequency range with a center frequency of 435 MHz and uses a software-defined radio (SDR) approach to provide wideband signal processing and demodulation capabilities. The satellite transceiver transmits an Ax.25 Transciever packet every 1 second using the Pumpkin CubeSat kit programmed in MPLab. …