Digital Commons Network^™

Project-Based Introduction To Engineering - A University Core Course, Samuel Bogan Daniels, Bouzid Aliane, Jean Nocito-Gobel, Michael Collura

Engineering and Applied Science Education Faculty Publications

This paper describes a first year engineering course that is taken by both engineering and non-engineering students. The project-based Introduction to Engineering course, EAS107P, fulfills a university core curriculum elective. Although engineering students take the course during their first year, students from other majors typically elect to take the course later in their curriculum. The focus of EAS107P is to have students experience the engineering design and problem solving process in a multi-disciplinary, team-based setting. In addition to learning about design, students develop an interest in the engineering profession and build a foundation of skills for future work. An additional …

Project Planning & Development For Engineering Freshmen, Bouzid Aliane, Michael Collura, Samuel Bogan Daniels, Jean Nocito-Gobel

Engineering and Applied Science Education Faculty Publications

The nature and background of students seeking an engineering education has changed drastically in the last decade, as has the expectations of industrial employers. Many students lack the organizational skills needed for academic success. Similar organizational skills, although more advanced, are required for managing engineering projects. A new course was developed by the faculty at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of New Haven. Through this course, a key component of the Multidisciplinary Engineering Foundation Spiral, seeks to promote higher retention rates, increase student motivation and begin a confidence-building transition to professional practice. Project management concepts …

Optimization Of A Quantum Cascade Laser Operating In The Terahertz Frequency Range Using A Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm, Traci A. Keller

Theses and Dissertations

A quantum cascade (QC) laser is a specific type of semiconductor laser that operates through principles of quantum mechanics. In less than a decade QC lasers are already able to outperform previously designed double heterostructure semiconductor lasers. Because there is a genuine lack of compact and coherent devices which can operate in the far-infrared region the motivation exists for designing a terahertz QC laser. A device operating at this frequency is expected to be more efficient and cost effective than currently existing devices. It has potential applications in the fields of spectroscopy, astronomy, medicine and free-space communication as well as …

One-Tap Wideband I/Q Compensation For Zero-If Filters, Peter Kiss, Vladimir I. Prodanov

Electrical Engineering

The I/Q imbalance is one of the performance bottlenecks in transceivers with stringent requirements imposed by applications such as 802.11a. The mismatch between the frequency responses of two analog low-pass filters, used, e.g., for channel selection in zero-IF receivers, makes this I/Q imbalance frequency dependent. Usually, frequency-dependent I/Q mismatch is estimated and corrected by adaptive techniques, which are complex to implement and may converge slowly due to noise. In this work, a simple, delay-based I/Q compensation scheme is proposed based on an extensive statistical analysis. Its digital implementation uses only two coefficients, which are tuned by a one-step two-tone error …

Correlation And Covariance Of Satellite Scatterometer Measurements, David G. Long, Peter K. Yoho

Faculty Publications

Capable scatterometer designs have been developed that seek improved resolution through the use of higher pulse sampling rates. The high sampling rates bring the traditional scatterometry assumption of measurement independence into question. This paper uses fundamental scattering theory to derive general expressions for correlation and covariance between scatterometer measurements and provides practical analysis using current and future instruments as examples. The paper derives expressions for the measurement variance parameter Kp when measurement correlation due to Rayleigh fading effects is present and relates Kp to the statistics of multiple pulse measurements. A function of the transmit signal modulation and receive processing, …

Interferometric And Holographic Imaging Of Surface-Breaking Cracks, James Lawrence Blackshire, Bradley D. Duncan

Electro-Optics and Photonics Faculty Publications

Two advanced nondestructive evaluation systems are developed for imaging surface-breaking cracks in aerospace materials. The systems use scanning heterodyne interferometry and frequency-translated holography principles to image ultrasonic displacement fields on material surfaces with high resolution and sensitivity. Surface-breaking cracks are detected and characterized by visualizing near-field ultrasonic scattering processes, which in turn results in local intensification of ultrasonic displacement fields in the immediate vicinity of a crack. The local intensification permits cracks to be easily distinguished from background levels, and creates unique displacement field images that follow the contours and morphology of the cracks with microscopic precision. The interferometric and …

Investigation Into The Current Statistical Distribution For Oxide Breakdown Versus The Oxide Thickness Used In Integrated Circuit Manufacture, Eoin James O Driscoll

Theses

A critical aspect of integrated circuit manufacturing is the reliability of the components, in particular the gate oxide of transistors and capacitors. Accelerated stress tests are used for reliability predictions of gate oxides. There are two statistical distributions, which can be applied to stress test failure data, namely the Lognormal or the Weibull distributions. The failure data can fit each distribution equally well. However the use of either distribution will give vastly different lifetime predictions and their correct use is crucial for accurate lifetime prediction. A statistical based test, developed with Monte Carlo data, which is designed to decide if …

Target Recognition Using Late-Time Returns From Ultra-Wideband, Short-Pulse Radar, Kenneth J. Pascoe

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop algorithms that recognize targets by exploiting properties in the late-time resonance induced by ultra-wide band radar signals. A new variant of the Matrix Pencil Method algorithm is developed that identifies complex resonant frequencies present in the scattered signal. Kalman filters are developed to represent the dynamics of the signals scattered from several target types. The Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation algorithm uses the Kalman filters to recognize targets. The target recognition algorithm is shown to be successful in the presence of noise. The performance of the new algorithms is compared to that of …

Comparative Study On The Use Of Coherent Radar-Derived Electric Fields Vs. Statistical Electric Fields For The Initialization Of A High-Latitude Ionospheric Model, Christopher M. Hogue

Theses and Dissertations

The structure and time development of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system have significant impacts on the Air Force and its mission. Specifically, an accurate knowledge of ionospheric plasma densities is important for the operation of many Air Force systems. This research analyzes plasma density structure development through comparing two distinct electric field models. The two models compared here are a commonly used statistical model created by Heppner and Maynard 1987, and a more recently developed model using real-time coherent radar measurements from the SuperDARN radar network. Ionospheric simulations were run using Utah State University s Time-Dependent Ionospheric Model (TDIM) with the two …

Estimating Equatorial F-Region Daytime Vertical E X B Drift Velocities From Ground-Based Magnetometer Measurements In The Philippine Longitude Sector, Shauna M. Kinkela

Theses and Dissertations

Ionospheric disturbances can severely impact Department of Defense (DoD) systems, such as radar. satellite. and navigation technologies. Forecasting disturbances and describing the Earth's ionosphere, in turn, relies upon innovative computer-based models that gather input parameters from ground and space-borne observations and empirical models for ionospheric drivers. Equatorial E x B drift velocities are significant input parameters that go into many ionospheric models, because they help describe vertical plasma motions near the magnetic equator. Previous work by Anderson, et al 2002 has demonstrated the ability to derive Peruvian longitude sector, daytime vertical E x B drifts from ground-based magnetometer data. The …

Small Local Dynamic Fuzzy Logical Models For Large-Scale Power Systems, Jianjun Guo, Levent Acar, Badrul H. Chowdhury, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the power system stability problems the primary actors in the mathematical system model are the differential equations defining the dynamic state variables of generation and load. These differential equations are coupled together by load flow equations. Mathematically the load flow equations are nonlinear algebraic equations. These differential equations and nonlinear algebraic equations form the mathematical Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE) model for the power system. The fuzzy set theory is commonly used in analysis of dynamical nonlinear systems. In this paper, we build a set of local dynamical fuzzy logic models for the differential equations, thus transforming the differential equations …

Performance Evaluation Of Communication Systems With Transmit Diversity, Chunjun Gao

Dissertations

Transmit diversity is a key technique to combat fading with multiple transmit antennae for next-generation wireless communication systems. Space-time block code (STBC) is a main component of this technique. This dissertation consists of four parts: the first three discuss performance evaluation of STBCs in various circumstances, the fourth outlines a novel differential scheme with full transmit diversity.

In the first part, closed-form expressions for the bit error rate (BER) are derived for STBC based on Alamouti's scheme and utilizing M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) modulation. The analysis is carried out for a slow, flat Rayleigh fading channel with coherent detection …

Multi-Rate Access Schemes And Successive Interference Cancellation For Wireless Multimedia Mc-Cdma Communications, Mizhou Tan

Dissertations

To catch up with the fast changes of the information challenges, providing multimedia services has become a very important requirement for future wireless communications. A proper system, capable of supporting multi-rate transmissions as well as handling high quality of service (QoS) requirements in hostile wireless communication environments, should be sought. Multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA), a combination of multi-carrier modulation (MCM) and direct-sequence CDMA (DS-CDMA), appears to be one of the most elegant solutions. In this dissertation, four multi-rate access schemes, termed uncoded fixed spreading length (UFSL), coded fixed spreading length (CFSL), multi-code fixed spreading length (MFSL) and variable spreading length (VSL), …

Phase Noise Effects On Ofdm : Analysis And Mitigation, Songping Wu

Dissertations

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising technique which has high spectrum efficiency and the robustness against channel frequency selectivity. One drawback of OFDM is its sensitivity to phase noise. It has been shown that even small phase noise leads to significant performance loss of OFDM. Therefore, phase noise effects on OFDM systems need to be analyzed and methods be provided to its mitigation.

Motivated by what have been proposed in the literature, the exact signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is derived in this dissertation for arbitrary phase noise levels. In a multiple access environment with multiple …

Ad Hoc Network Security And Modeling With Stochastic Petri Nets, Congzhe Zhang

Dissertations

Advances in wireless technology and portable computing along with demands for high user mobility have provided a major promotion toward the development of ad hoc networks. These networks feature dynamic topology, self-organization, limited bandwidth and battery power of a node. Unlike the existing commercial wireless systems and fixed infrastructure networks, they do not rely on specialized routers for path discovery and traffic routing. Security is an important issue in such networks. Typically, mobile nodes are significantly more susceptible to physical attacks than their wired counterparts.

This research intends to investigate the ad hoc network routing security by proposing a performance …

Ultra-Wideband Technology For Short-Range Wireless Communication, Li Zhao

Dissertations

The ultra-wideband (UWB) radio core idea is to open large amounts of spectrum to a variety of users with little mutual interference between them. While ultra-wideband is being championed by several commercial companies, this technology has not followed the conventional path where commercial interest is preceded by years of academic research. This work attempts to fill in some of the gap by studying fundamental properties of communications with impulse-based radio UWB signals. We study jam resistance and capacity of UWB. Jam resistance is analyzed for binary pulse position modulation (PPM) with the interference being modeled as correlated Gaussian. Closed-form expressions …

Preparation, Characterization And Photoelectrochemical Activities Of Cu-Tio2/Ito Films, Dong Shu, Chun He, Han-Xia Zhang, Ya Xiong

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cu-TiO₂/ITO films were prepared by direct photo-reduction deposition of Cu²⁺ on TiO₂/ITO films. The nanocomposite films were characterized by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), XRD spectra, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) technology, and photovoltage measurement. The feasibility of improving the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ film by combining the modification of Cu nanoparticles with the application of anodic bias was investigated. The experimental results showed that the deposited Cu has an apparent enhancement effect with respect to suppressing the recombination between the photogenerated charge carriers and enhancing the photocatalytic oxidation of formic acid. The combination could …

Investigation Of Adsorption And Oxidation Behavior Of Isosafrole On A Smooth Pt, Xiao-Hong Zhang, Xiao-Jing Su, Qi-Ling Zhong, Lei Zhang, De-Sheng Mei, Bin Ren, Zhong-Qun Tian

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electro-oxidation of isosafrole on a smooth platinum electrode was investigated in the non-aqueous solution. The CV curve shows two oxidation peaks and one reduction peak in the potential region between -0.5 V and 1.95 V. The relation between the oxidation and reduction peaks has been determined also by CV. The adsorption behavior of isosafrole on Pt was also investigated.

Stability And Electrochemical Performance Of Nio Cathode Modified By Zno Additive For Mcfc In Molten Carbonates, Bo Huang, Fei Li, Qing-Chun Yu, Gang Chen, Ke-Ao Hu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The ZnO/Ni composite cathode was fabricated by tape-casting method, which microstructures and phases were studied. The electrochemical behaviors of ZnO impregnated NiO cathodes were also evaluated in molten 62 mol%Li₂CO₃ + 38 mol%K₂CO₃eutectic at 650 ℃ by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a function of ZnO content and immersion time. The ZnO impregnated nickel cathodes showed the similar porosity, pore size and morphology to the reference nickel cathode. The stability tests of ZnO impregnated NiO cathodes showed that the ZnO additive could dramatically reduce the solubility of NiO in a eutectic carbonate mixture …

Study On Reduction Process Of Electrolyic Manganese Dioxide In Situ By Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption Spectroscopy, Li-Cai Zhu, Zhong-Zhi Yuan, Wei-Shan Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The concentrationsof soluble Mn(Ⅲ) species, during the reduction ofelectrolytic MnO₂ (EMD) in alkaline solution,have been monitored in situ by UV-visible spectroscopy. The concentration of Mn(Ⅲ) ion in solution changes with discharge time. The first electron discharge process of EMD can be described by three different steps: 1) the reduction of Mn⁴⁺ ions on the surface of EMD particles and the structural defect regions within the EMD, 2) the reduction of Mn⁴⁺ ions in ramsdellite, 3)the reduction of Mn⁴⁺ ions in pyrolusite. During the second electron discharge of EMD, the soluble Mn(Ⅲ) is reduced to Mn(Ⅱ) , …

Electrochemical Lithium Insertion Of Nanosized Tio2, Ying Lan, Jian-Wen Liu, Xue-Ping Gao, Xing-Di Zhou, Jin-Qiu Qu, Feng Wu, De-Ying Song

Journal of Electrochemistry

The protonic titanate nanotubes with the diameter of 10～15 nm were synthesized via hydrothermal method in NaOH solution and the calcined nanotubes at 500 ℃ were transferred to anatase nanorods with the diameter of 12～20 nm due to dehydration.The electrochemical behavior of the anatase nanorods as lithium insertion materials was examined. The results showed that the nanorod electrode had the high initial discharge capacity of 232 mAh/g and second reversible capacity of 198 mAh/g. The capacity of nanorod electrode maintained 152mAh/g after 20 cycles.

Electrocatalytic And Lifetime Studies Of Commercial Catalystsin A Pemfc, Cheng Xuan, Yan-Yun Ma, Li Qi, Cheng Peng, Ling Chen, Jun Zhao, Ying Zhang, Qin-Bai Fan

Journal of Electrochemistry

A particularly designed H-type cell was used to simulate the operating condition of a hydrogen-air proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The electrocatalytic activity, morphology, structure and lifetime of commercially available catalysts, carbon support platinum (Pt/C) and unsupported platinum-ruthenium (Pt-Ru), were preliminary studied by carrying out electrochemical measurements and by SEM, XRD techniques. The catalysts were simultaneously tested in the H-cell under operation, and also separately tested in a conventional electrochemical cell for comparison. It was found that the characteristic peaks of hydrogen adsorption/desorption on cyclic voltammograms shifted considerably to a more positive direction for Pt/C, while a more negative …

Direct Electron Transfer Of Redox Proteins And Enzymes Promoted By Carbon Nanotube, Chen-Xin Cai, Jing Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

The redox proteins (enzymes), such as hemoglobin (Hb), horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and glucose oxidase (GOx) were immobilized on the surface of the carbon nanotube modified with glassy carbon (CNT/GC) electrode, respectively. The experimental results showed that the redox proteins (enzymes) underwent effective and stable direct electron transfer reaction at the surface of CNT/GC electrode with a pair of nearly symmetrical redox peaks in phosphate buffer solution. The formal redox potential, E^0' , is almost independent on the scan rates, the average value of E^0'  for Hb, HRP and GOx is -0.343±0.001, -0.319±0.002 and -0.456±0.001 V (vs.SCE,pH 6.9), respectively. …

Pulse Train Control Technique For Flyback Converter, Mark Telefus, Anatoly Shteynberg, Mehdi Ferdowsi, Ali Emadi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Pulse Train^TM control technique is introduced and applied to flyback converter operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). In contrast to the conventional pulse width modulation (PWM) control scheme, the principal idea of Pulse Train is to achieve output voltage regulation using high and low power pulses. The proposed technique is applicable to any converter operating in DCM. However, this work mainly focuses on flyback topology. In this paper, the main mathematical concept of the new control algorithm is introduced and simulations as well as experimental results are presented.

Control Strategies For Active Power Sharing In A Fuel-Cell-Powered Battery-Charging Station, Zhenhua Jiang, Roger A. Dougal

Faculty Publications

This paper presents an effective system design for a fuel-cell-powered battery-charging station and three control strategies for active power sharing among the batteries. This battery-charging station allows multiple batteries to be simultaneously charged. Three control strategies were investigated to coordinate the active power distribution among the battery-charging branches. The baseline control strategy Was equal rate charging. Two advanced control strategies, proportional rate charging and pulse current charging, were compared to the baseline strategy. These control strategies were realized in MaTLaB/Simulink, and the current and voltage regulations were implemented using the classical proportional-integral control approach. The system simulation was conducted in …

A Web-Shareable Real-World Imaging Problem For Enhancing An Image-Processing Curriculum, R. Joe Stanley, Steve Eugene Watkins, Anand Gopal, Randy Hays Moss

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A real-world laboratory exercise is presented for image processing and related curricula. The exercise is a traffic-monitoring problem in which a truck must be tracked as it moves across a bridge and its velocity measured. Sequential images are taken from a dedicated Web camera that views the Smart Composite Bridge on the University of Missouri-Rolla campus. The prototype bridge is a field laboratory for several interdisciplinary courses, including a Machine Vision elective. The Machine Vision image-processing elective uses the traffic-monitoring exercise to give students experience with processing complex images, tracking image markers, and applying theoretical orthographic concepts. The laboratory exercise …

Cost-Driven Optimization Of Fault Coverage In Combined Built-In Self-Test/Automated Test Equipment Testing, Shanrui Zhang, Minsu Choi, Nohpill Park, Fabrizio Lombardi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As the design and fabrication complexities for the instrumentation-on-silicon systems intensify, optimization of combined Built-In Self-Test (BIST) and Automated Test Equipment (ATE) testing becomes more desirable to meet the required fault-coverage while maintaining acceptable cost overhead. The cost associated with combined BIST/ATE testing of such systems mainly consists of the following; (1) the cost induced by the BIST area overhead and (2) the cost induced by the overall testing time. In general, BIST has faster testing speed than ATE, while it can provide only limited fault-coverage and driving higher fault-coverage from BIST means additional area cost overhead. On the other …

Optimal Pitch, Speed And Fuel Control At Sea, Thomas Hellström

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper discusses algorithms for fuel saving control for large vessels. The fuel saving is achieved by optimizing control at three levels: low level propeller and main engine control, dynamic speed control to avoid peeks in the fuel consumption and finally route planning for optimal speed profiles compensated for varying depth and weather conditions. The control problems involve classical control functions as well as numerical optimization.

Response To Comments On "A Novel Approach To Determine The Astronomical Vessel Position", Jiang-Ren Chang, Chih-Li Chen, Tien-Pen Hsu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of Electromagnetic Devices With A Novel Neural Network, Heriberto Jose Delgado, Michael Thursby, Fredric M. Ham

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

A novel Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is presented, which has been designed for computationally intensive problems, and applied to the optimization of electromagnetic devices such as antennas and microwave devices. The ANN exploits a unique number representation in conjunction with a more standard neural network architecture. An ANN consisting of a hetero-associative memory provided a very efficient method of computing the necessary geometrical values for the devices, when used in conjunction with a new randomization process. The number representation used provides significant insight into this new method of fault-tolerant computing. Further work is needed to evaluate the potential of this …