Digital Commons Network^™

Voltage Profile Enhancement In Iliceto Shield Wire Scheme For Rural Electrification: Case Study Of Chalinze-Mbwewe Transmission Line In Tanzania, Ebeneza Chaula, Ibrahim Mwammenywa, Santos Kihwele

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Rural electrification faces challenges due to significant voltage drops over long transmission distances, affecting reliability and power quality. While the Iliceto Shield Wire Scheme (ISWS) offers a modern cost-effective solution, voltage stability remains a challenge. This study analyses voltage profile enhancement within ISWS, focusing on the Chalinze-Mbwewe section of the 132 kV transmission line, using LTSpice simulations. Due to LTSpice limitations, direct solar PV integration was mimicked by introducing a secondary voltage source at each load centre, producing 33 kV to match the original source voltage. This approach maintained improved voltage profile from Msoga Village to Mbwewe over 80.9 Kilometers. …

The Impact Of Gender Sensitization On Requirements Elicitation: A Controlled Experiment, Ruthbertha Kateule, Salome Maro, Leonard Peter Binamungu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Previous studies in software engineering have reported the importance of considering gender aspects in various software engineering activities, including requirements engineering, however, to the best of our knowledge, no work has investigated the impact of gender sensitisation on eliciting gender inclusive software requirements. The objective of this study was to understand the impact of gender sensitisation on software requirements elicitation. We conducted a controlled experiment using 40 undergraduate students from three different computing programs at the University of Dar es Salaam. The 40 participants were divided into 9 groups with both males and females. The participants were asked to elicit …

Load Flow And Fault Performance Evaluation Of Interconnected Minigrids In Uganda Using Digsilent Powerfactory, Prossy Mutesi, Santos Kihwele, Emmanuel Matee

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The increasing demand for decentralized, reliable electricity in rural Sub-Saharan Africa has catalyzed the deployment of minigrids as an intermediate electrification strategy. This study investigates two solar photovoltaic (PV) mini-grids: Kyamugarura and Kanyegaramire, located in western Uganda, approximately 3km apart. Each mini grid initially consisted of 13 kW installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity, supplying power to households and small businesses. Due to rising demand and regular evening blackouts, both mini-grids are being upgraded to 57 kWp each. The integration of these upgraded systems into the national utility grid is proposed and simulated to evaluate performance improvements under two medium-voltage interconnection options: …

A Storm-Ai Primer With An Operationally Representative Example, Shiu-Kai Chin, Matthew Clark, Garrett Katz, Jae C. Oh, William Young

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

A STORM-AI Primer with an Operationally Representative Example presents the Systems-Theoretic Technical and Operational Risk Management with Artificial Intelligence (STORM-AI) methodology, a transdisciplinary framework for establishing the trustworthiness of mission systems that may incorporate AI components. The core value proposition of STORM-AI is mission assurance—ensuring that mission systems behave with the predictability and proportionality required by senior leadership and demanded by international humanitarian law. STORM-AI achieves this by faithfully preserving commander's intent from high-level mission descriptions down to hardware-level behavioral specifications through a structured sequence of four formally grounded models: a Mission Model, a Protection (Loss Control) Model, a Security …

An Access-Control Logic In Hol (Trindemossen 2), Shiu-Kai Chin

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

This manual documents the embedding of an access-control logic (ACL) — as presented in the textbook Access Control, Security, and Trust: A Logical Approach (Chin and Older, 2011) — within the Cambridge Higher-Order Logic theorem prover HOL-4. The logic is a multi-agent modal logic with Kripke semantics. Its purpose is to reason about authentication, authorization, integrity, security, and trust. The inference rules of the ACL are proved to be sound. The inference rules are a command-and-control (C2) calculus. The value of the ACL is its support for rigorous, verified, and trustworthy policies for complete mediation, i.e., where all actions are …

Adaptive Intervention Strategies In Co-Evolving Multiplex Networks: A Reinforcement Learning Approach To Real-Time Misinformation Containment, Anjali Ashokrao Bhadre Dr., Harshvardhan Prabhakar Ghongade Dr.

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

The growing transmission of misinformation via social media creates serious challenges to public health, democracy and social cohesion. To date, methods used to contain misinformation rely upon static representations of networks and set rules for interventions. In contrast, this study presents the first Multiplex Adaptive Reinforcement Intervention Network (MARIN), a framework for real-time adaptive intervention in the context of dynamic misinformation transmission using co-evolving multiplex networks and deep reinforcement learning. Unlike past studies that have assumed static network structures, MARIN has the ability to allow for dynamic changes in network topology as a result of both misinformation transmission and intervention …

Robust Real-Time Uav Target Tracking With Onboard Vision-Based Yaw Control, Rylan Malarchick, Jose Castelblanco, Enrique Amaya, Carmen Dimario, Graysen Brinkman, Chirag Kumar, Kiwon Yoon, Sajid Berhane

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Autonomous tracking of agile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) presents significant challenges for real-time perception and control systems. This work presents AIRHOUND (Autonomous Intelligent Rotorcraft for Hostile Object Unified Navigation and Detection), a UAV platform implementing vision-based yaw tracking through a modular ROS2 software architecture. The system employs YOLOv8 object detection optimized with NVIDIA TensorRT for embedded deployment on an NVIDIA Jetson Orin companion computer. Detected targets are processed through a geometric tracking module that converts pixel coordinates to angular yaw errors using pinhole camera intrinsics, with a proportional controller generating rate-limited yaw commands. These commands are streamed to a PX4 …

Literature Landscape Of Government, Academic, And Industry Efforts In Responsible, Secure, And Trustworthy Ai, Jae C. Oh, Shiu-Kai Chin, Garrett Katz, William E. Young, Matt Clark

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

This report presents a systematic analysis of 54,628 AI research papers published between 2021 and 2025, examining the extent to which current government, academic, and industry efforts address the trustworthiness requirements of mission-critical AI systems. Papers were classified along two dimensions: organizational tier (from AI model to mission/business pro- cess) using NIST SP 800-39, and systems engineering lifecycle phase using ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288. Classification combined automated LLM-assisted screening with human validation, achieving inter-rater reliability measured by Krippendorff’s α and Gwet’s AC1. Only 16.8% of papers examined addressed any aspect of AI trustworthiness, reliability, or security, and virtually all were concentrated at …

Rapid-Prototyping Nanofabrication: Lcd-Based Projection Lithography And Physical Vapor Deposition, Sabeel Saleem Mohammmed

University Honors Theses

The semiconductor industry's continued growth, driven in large part by demand for artificial intelligence hardware, has highlighted the need for greater workforce development in regions adjacent to major fabrication centers like Oregon's Silicon Forest. This capstone project lays the groundwork for a small scale and student led semiconductor fabrication lab at Portland State University by demonstrating two of the core steps in chip manufacturing: photolithography and thin film deposition. Rather than relying on conventional fixed reticles, this work explores a unique, low cost approach to patterning that uses an ultraviolet-compatible liquid crystal display (LCD) as a programmable reticle, allowing arbitrary …

Mixed-Signal Intergrated Circuit Design And Fabrication, Jack Demeulemeester, Aris Ozark, Alan Rieger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Integrated circuit design is a key aspect of the quickly-growing semiconductor industry. Familiarity with high-level design, layout, and validation is critical for students seeking an industrial or academic career in the field. Learning full-stack design at an academic institution is made difficult by the amount of resources required and limited timeframe. In this project, we develop a thermometer-coded digital-to-analog converter from concept to fabrication as a means to create a new integrated circuit design and fabrication course at Santa Clara University. We also develop a design flow using software from Cadence Design Systems and the 250 nm CMOS process node …

Educational Smart Ai Multi-Functional Robot, Chengxu Tang, Jiayan Wen, Bill Zhang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Over the past decade, advances in embedded computing, robotics frameworks, and AI have significantly lowered the barrier to developing intelligent robotic systems. Some single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi are now capable of running operating systems like Ubuntu and frameworks such as ROS2, allowing us to build robots that can perform tasks including autonomous navigation, computer vision, sensor fusion, and speech interaction. As a result, technologies that were once limited to large research labs are becoming increasingly accessible in educational and lower level research environments.

At the same time, recent developments in AI have changed expectations for how …

Ora (Oneball Robotic Arm), Isabella Murillo, Juan Pablo Fernandez Garza, Gabriel Kotab, Catherine Epstein

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Confined spaces are dangerous and awkward to navigate environments, often putting those who work in them at risk. To reduce effort and human exposure to these hazards, robotic systems can be used to navigate and inspect these areas to limit, or even eliminate the need for human presence in confined spaces. This project proposes an autonomous robot that can navigate confined spaces while sending data back to the user. The robot features a spherical body that is capable of a zero rotational axis, with an external, magnetically attached head. This head contains scanners or tools that the user can remotely …

Test Bench Pcb Design For A Vlsi Grid Cell Chip, Nicholas Bruk, Jason Alexandar

Electrical Engineering

This report presents the design, implementation, and validation of a custom printed circuit board (PCB) test bench for a VLSI grid cell emulation chip. The final board provides two independently adjustable 5V supplies using LM317 linear regulators, eleven potentiometer-controlled bias voltages, high-impedance buffering of analog outputs via an MCP6022 dual operational amplifier, and buffering of digital outputs using a 74HC244 buffer IC. The design includes a 40-pin DIP socket for the VLSI chip, extensive test-point headers for probing, and a 9V battery input for portable operation. Five fully functional boards were fabricated using ExpressPCB and assembled with through-hole components. An …

Design And Parametric Testing Of A Transimpedance Amplifier For Low-Power Biomedical Applications, Stanlon Tan, William Chung, Brandon Wu

Electrical Engineering

This project developed and evaluated an optical sensing system for detecting changes associated with glucose concentration. The system combined a laser-diode, cuvette sample holder, photodiode, resistive-feedback transimpedance amplifier, high-resolution analog-to-digital converter, and microcontroller. Parametric testing evaluated the effects of input current and feedback resistance on transimpedance gain, output range, and linearity. Firmware was developed to configure the ADC, average repeated conversions, monitor measurement variation, convert raw digital counts into voltage using a source-meter calibration equation, and compare sample measurements with a water reference. A cuvette enclosure maintained alignment between the laser-diode, sample, and photodiode while reducing external optical interference. Testing …

Performance Evaluation Of Roadside Unit-Assisted Wireless Communication For Connected Vehicles, Keyrollos A. Hanna, Ethan M. Nguyen

Electrical Engineering

This project presents the design and implementation of a wireless communication network intended to improve situational awareness between vehicles and reduce the likelihood of multivehicle collisions. Two TurtleBot3 Burger platforms equipped with Raspberry Pi computers were used to simulate vehicles operating within a shared environment. Communication latency and packet loss were evaluated under multiple operating conditions, including direct vehicle-to-vehicle communication and communication assisted by a roadside unit (RSU). The results were analyzed to determine whether the proposed system could transmit warning messages with sufficient speed and reliability for collision prevention applications. The project demonstrates the feasibility of low-cost vehicle communication …

Simulation Of Silicon Neurons With Memristive Synapses For Ai Accelerators, Marcus Ivey, Kelvin Shi

Electrical Engineering

This project seeks to design and simulate a neuromorphic spiking neural network (SNN) that implements the logical AND and logical OR operation through the interaction of a Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) output neuron and memristive synapses modeled using the Biolek formulation. Two pulsed inputs are transmitted through memristive devices whose conductance serves as the synaptic weights. A supervised Hebbian training strategy, implemented in MATLAB, is employed to adjust the synaptic conductance according to the Hebbian delta rule. The proposed framework demonstrates how elementary logical computation may arise from biologically motivated learning processes embedded in hardware-realistic neuromorphic circuits. The study provides a …

Wildlife Tracking Via Uav&Rf, Nam Ah Nguyen

Electrical Engineering

Animal tracking collars transmit very-high-frequency (VHF) beacon signals so researchers can locate tagged wildlife in terrain where direct visual tracking is difficult. This project develops a radio-frequency (RF) wildlife tracking prototype in which a UAV carries a receiving antenna and receiver over the search area to detect the collar signal and send measurements to a ground station. A transmitter test device was built to emulate a tracking collar. An STM32 microcontroller reads keypad input, controls a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), tunes a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to the selected VHF frequency, and sends the RF signal through an amplifier and antenna. The …

Uav Trio Formations For Aerial Pest Deterrence With Vision-Based Bird Monitoring, Benjamin Andrew Ly, Chris Kwon, Christian Joseph Macaranas

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Portable Food Pasteurization Using Pulsed Electric Fields (Pef), Thomas E. Mcmillan Iii

Electrical Engineering

Foodborne illnesses remain a significant public health concern, motivating continued development of alternative food pasteurization technologies. Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is a non-thermal pasteurization method that inactivates microorganisms through electroporation while minimizing thermal degradation of food products. The long-term objective of this project was development of a portable PEF food pasteurization system.

An iterative design approach was used to investigate generation of the high-voltage pulses required for PEF treatment. Multiple pulse forming network topologies were evaluated through simulation, leading to selection of a solid-state Marx generator architecture. A low-voltage five-stage prototype was designed, constructed, and tested to validate the …

Pv Performance Evaluation Study At Cal Poly Solar Farm, Eva Paola D. Calderon

Electrical Engineering

This photovoltaic (PV) system performance evaluation study aims to assess the performance of Cal Poly’s Gold Tree Solar Farm, which produces 4.5MW of solar energy. The evaluation concerns itself with the reliability of the PV system that can be affected by weather conditions, component malfunctions, and degradation of the PV modules. Under the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems (IEA-PVPS) Task 13 objectives of reliability and maintenance, this study is necessary to contribute towards improvements in analysis and mitigation strategies for long term usage. Existing operational monitoring data from 2018 to 2025 is the focus timespan, providing real world data …

Wireless Communication In Autonomous Vehicles, Kaylie Bao, Nicholas Andrews, Mark Negus

Electrical Engineering

This project focuses on developing and testing a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication system using Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) based on the IEEE 802.11p standard. The system uses the NXP i.MX 8XLite V2X Evaluation Kit, which includes the SAF5400 modem for wireless communication in the 5.9 GHz band.

The main goal of this project was to establish reliable communication between two V2X evaluation boards and to verify that custom, user-defined data could be transmitted between them. Through iterative testing, we were able to successfully send and receive custom 802.11 frames using the provided command-line tools and achieve consistent communication between nodes. …

Lora Radio Propagation & Antenna Design For Freight Trains, Cesar Chavez, Marlon Jennson Hernandez

Electrical Engineering

Freight-train environments present significant challenges for wireless communication due to large metallic structures, varying cargo types, and changing antenna orientations that can degrade radio-frequency propagation. This project evaluated the performance of LoRa-based communication links intended for End-of-Train (EOT) and Head-of-Train (HOT) systems operating at 915 MHz. Field testing was conducted to characterize antenna performance using metrics including received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and communication range. Experimental results showed that antenna polarization and directivity significantly affect communication performance in freight-train environments. Directional antennas provided improved signal strength when properly aligned but experienced performance degradation as antenna orientation changed. …

Cal Poly Mars Rover Battery Management System, Lawrence Nichols, Caleb Michael King, Thomas Anh Khoa To, Angel Soto

Electrical Engineering

The exploration of space has consistently been one of the most expensive endeavors humanities has undertaken in its journey to expand ever further. The PolyRover project aims to not only cheapen that expense through student-based research but also provide a better bang for buck as more unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) can be utilized on planets in concert. In order to do so, the rovers need a robust, yet compact battery management system that can fit within the wheel well. Our system will consist of six commercially-available 18650 batteries in series, organized in a hexagonal fashion around the motor. The BMS …

A Comparative Study Of Model Predictive Control And The Stanley Method For Vehicle Path Tracking Applications, Noah S. Fitzgerald

Master's Theses

This thesis compares a model predictive controller (MPC) and a lateral Stanley controller for vehicle path-tracking applications under simulation-based and perception-driven operating conditions. Both controllers were evaluated in simulation using a nonlinear dynamic bicycle model executing single and double lane change maneuvers. Following simulation-based evaluation, both controllers were implemented on hardware within a perception-driven steering-control pipeline. This pipeline utilized recorded sensor data from the MXcarkit 1/8^th-scale autonomous vehicle platform, incorporating lane instance segmentation and homography-based roadway estimation.

Under idealized simulation conditions, the MPC demonstrated improved trajectory-tracking performance during aggressive maneuvers while requiring greater steering activity and computational effort …

A Study On Quantization And Hardware Cost Tradeoffs In A 5g Nr Ldpc Decoder On Fpga, Giancarlo Acosta

Master's Theses

The fixed-point implementation of a 5G New Radio LDPC decoder forces a tradeoff between precision and hardware cost, governed by the variable node word length W_L, the check node message width W_R, and the normalized min-sum correction factor α. This thesis characterizes how these three parameters affect both error correction performance and FPGA resource utilization for an LDPC decoder on an established LDPC decoder architecture. A bit-accurate MATLAB core model records bit error rate (BER) and frame error rate (FER) while a verified HDL Coder model generates synthesizable VHDL for Vivado synthesis, and both are swept …

Me3329 Modular Phonograph Gearbox, Garrett Andrik Leighton, Preston Robert Hupe, Gavin Carter Ebner, Andrew Renato Reyes

Mechanical Engineering

The Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), seeks to develop a laboratory tool allowing students to reinforce concepts of gears for Mechanical Systems Design (ME329). Some current laboratories do not provide students with hands-on interaction, and the department lacks equipment and documentation to support a standardized lab. With ME329 expanding from ten to fifteen weeks, there is an opportunity to create a physical gearbox design lab allowing students to reinforce lecture material in engaging ways, while standardizing student learning. This senior project is presented and sponsored by Professor Alan Zhang. It will be …

Develop & Test Radar Assignments For Future Graduate Curriculum, Thomas Ky Hong, Christopher William Hoferer

Electrical Engineering

With Cal Poly’s switch to semesters, many upper-level electives lack enough depth and structured content for the new 15-week format. In addition, while the Electrical Engineering department currently offers approximately five weeks of RADAR-focused laboratory material within EE 424: Intro to Remote Sensing, this limited exposure is insufficient to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of RADAR theory and practical applications. The semester conversion presents a timely opportunity to expand this existing five-week RADAR segment into a full 15-week course that integrates both lecture and laboratory content. To address the current curriculum gap, we have seamlessly extended the RADAR exercises …

Vision-Guided Motion Planning For Autonomous Catch With A Robotic Arm, Kayla Go-Oco, Ashik K. Islam, Raegan Gritzmacher

Electrical Engineering

Modern robotic systems are often evaluated using static and highly controlled tasks, such as pick-and-place demonstrations, which do not fully represent the uncertainty and adaptability required in real-world environments. A major challenge in robotics research is enabling robotic systems to perceive, track, and respond to dynamic objects in real time while maintaining accurate and reliable motion control. This project addresses these challenges by developing an autonomous robotic platform in which an OpenMANIPULATOR-Y robotic arm detects, tracks, and attempts to catch a moving tennis ball using a vision-guided control system. The system integrates YOLO-based object detection with an Intel RealSense D455 …

Autonomous Vision-Based Litter Collection Rover, Dante Michael Benedetti, Benjamin Scott Tavares, Nathan Heil

Electrical Engineering

This report documents the design, implementation, and testing of an autonomous litter-collection rover developed as a Senior Project Design Lab (EE 460/463/464) at California Polytechnic State University. The rover integrates autonomy, computer vision, embedded real-time control, mecanum-wheel omnidirectional mobility, and a two-degree-of-freedom robotic arm to detect, approach, and collect small ground-level litter such as bottles, wrappers, and paper fragments.

The system uses a two-layer compute architecture: an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano running ROS 2 for perception, SLAM, and path planning, paired with an STM32L4A6ZG microcontroller for real-time motor control and odometry. The robot is built on a multi-level aluminum frame …

Pcb Design For Place Cells Vlsi Chip, Gavin Reaksecker, Alex Krier, Joshua Lin

Electrical Engineering

This project presents the design and implementation of a 2 layer test-bench printed circuit board (PCB) for evaluating the functionality of a custom 40-pin VLSI integrated circuit. The objective is to create a reliable and portable platform capable of supplying configurable bias voltages, generating variable input signals, and monitoring both analog and digital outputs. The board integrates adjustable bias networks using potentiometers, digital and analog buffering stages, and optional battery supply operation. The VLSI device under test is mounted in dual-in-line (DIP) sockets to enable rapid replacement and repeated characterization. Dedicated test points are incorporated throughout the PCB to facilitate …