Digital Commons Network^™

Application Of Sequence Comparison Methods To Multisensor Data Fusion And Target Recognition, Edmund W. Libby

Theses and Dissertations

This research addresses methods for exploiting the joint likelihood of observed kinematic and nonkinematic (sensor signature) physical events to improve dynamic object and target recognition. A principal direction is the application of dynamic programming sequence comparison techniques to condition matching of object signatures to known models according to observed kinematics. A second direction is the application of kinematic/aspect-angle Kalman filter trackers to condition kinematic tracking according to observed signatures. These conditioning processes dramatically reduce ambiguity in object recognition, and can be used together or separately to allow computation of a posterior probabilities of object class membership using Bayesian methods. Proposals …

Variable Structure End Point Control Of A Flexible Manipulator, Shailaja Chenumalla, Sahjendra N. Singh

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

We treat the question of control and stabilization of the elastic multibody system developed in the Phillips Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base, California. The controlled output is judiciously chosen such that the zero dynamics are stable or almost stable. A variable structure control (VSC) law is derived for the end point trajectory control. Although, the VSC law accomplishes precise end point tracking, elastic modes are excited during the maneuver of the arm. A Linear stabilizer is designed for the final capture of the terminal state.

Light Injection From An Active Cladding To The Core Of A Fiber Optic Fluorosensor, Alvin Leon Bryant

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A fluorosensor works on the basis of light injection from the clad into the core of an optical fiber. The sensitivity of such a sensor depends on the efficiency of light injection. Conditions necessary for a high injection efficiency are experimentally determined. The refractive index difference between the core and the clad,ⁿcore ^-nclad, must be maximized to achieve a high injection efficiency. Since an air clad has the least refractive index, a bare core fiber will have a maximum efficiency. Standard optical fibers used for communication employ a minimum value for ⁿcore ^-nclad, in order …

Study Of Single-Fiber Fiber Optic Lever Microphone, Trung Duc Nguyen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Fiber optic sensors are widely used in today's technological applications, providing many advantages that conventional sensors lack. In particular, there is a demand in hypersonic applications to develop microphones to measure acoustic pressure that performs in high temperature and noisy surroundings. This thesis analyzes fiber optic lever microphones (FOLM), since they perform at high temperatures. An FOLM system is an intensity modulated sensor, which is simple to implement and is small in size. Two models of the FOLM have been fabricated and calibrated. The first model uses a seven-element fiber array while the second uses a single-fiber to transmit and …

Absorption Imaging Studies On Intrinsic Gaas, John Samuel Kenney

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A diagnostic technique has been developed which allows recording of the temporal and spatial development of electric field structures in GaAs photoconductive switches. The optical method is based on the Franz-Keldysh effect. Measurements were performed with a Nd:YAG activation laser and a GaAs laser diode as the probe laser. At low applied voltages a 100 atm wide region of high electric field is seen at the cathode only. With increasing voltage strong domain like structures emerge at the anode also. A calibration measurement shows that the electric fields in these domains are well above 50 kV/cm. At a threshold voltage, …

Scattering Of A Light Beam From Waves At An Air-Sea Interface, Donald D. Duncan, W. H. Carter

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors report a new theory that describes the scattering of an upward propagating laser beam from the sea through the air-sea interface in the presence of sea waves. The sea is assumed to be a uniform dielectric and conventional scattering theory is employed by using a modification to the first Born approximation that permits treatment of surface refraction phenomena. Methods of statistical radiometry are also used in a new manner by assuming that the surface scattering function for the sea waves can be treated by a quasi-homogeneous source model to calculate the second-order correlation functions for the partially coherent …

Performance Analysis Of A Hierarchical, Cache-Coherent, Shared Memory Based, Multi-Processor System, Raman Nayyar

Dissertations and Theses

We have conducted a performance analysis of a large scale multiprocessor system based on shared buses organized in a hierarchical fashion and employing an easy to implement snoopy cache protocol. · This arrangement, named TREEBUS [ 5], presents a logical extension path for multiprocessor systems based on a single shared bus whose scalability is limited by the available system bus bandwidth [26]. The multiple, independent, hierarchical buses overcome the bus bandwidth limitation and the architecture can scale to relatively large sizes. We have developed an easy to use, reasonably accurate and computationally efficient analytic model for analyzing the performance of …

Photopolarimeter Based On Planar Grating Diffraction, R. M.A. Azzam, K. A. Giardina

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

A division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter (DOAP) is described that employs a diffraction grating in the conventional spectrometer orientation with the grating grooves normal to the plane of incidence. Four coplanar diffracted orders are used for polarimetric analysis to determine all four Stokes parameters of incident light simultaneously and virtually instantaneously (with the speed being determined solely by the photodetectors and their associated electronics); a fifth order is used for alignment by autocollimation or by use of a position-sensing quadrant detector. To sensitize the instrument for the +45° and -45° azimuths of incident linearly polarized light and for the handedness of incident circular …

Feasible Offset And Optimal Offset For Single-Layer Channel Routing, Ronald I. Greenberg, Jau-Der Shih

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The paper provides an efficient method to find all feasible offsets for a given separation in a VLSI channel routing problem in one layer. The prior literature considers this task only for problems with no single-sided nets. When single-sided nets are included, the worst-case solution time increases from Theta(n) to Omega(n^2), where n is the number of nets. But, if the number of columns c is O(n), one can solve the problem in time O(n^{1.5}lg n ), which improves upon a `naive' O(cn) approach. As a corollary of this result, the same time bound suffices to find the optimal offset …

Radome Depolarization Effects On Monopulse Receiver Tracking Performance, Michael A. Temple

Theses and Dissertations

Boresight Error (BSE), defined as the angular deviation between the true position and the apparent position of a target as indicated by a radar, is an important figure of merit for a tracking radar. A significant contributor to system BSE is the protective radome. This research effort employed a GO technique to investigate the effects of a radome on BSE, expanding previous ray- trace receive techniques to include: (1) a uniquely defined/developed mathematical description for each surface within arbitrary multi-layer tapered radomes, (2) an 'ideal' taper function concept for obtaining optimum BSE prediction performance, (3) a generalized technique for calculating …

Phased Array Antenna Analysis Using Hybrid Finite Element Methods, Daniel T. Mcgrath

Theses and Dissertations

This research in computational electromagnetics developed a new method for predicting the near-field mutual coupling effects in phased array antennas, using the finite element method (FEM) in combination with integral equations. Accurate feed modeling is accomplished by enforcing continuity between the FEM solution and an arbitrary number of wave guide models across a ground plane aperture. A periodic integral equation is imposed above the antenna's physical structure in order to enforce the radiation condition and to confine the analysis to an array unit cell. The electric field is expanded in terms of vector finite elements, and Galerkin's method is used …

Linear Characteristic Spatial Quadrature For Discrete Ordinates Neutral Particle Transport On Arbitrary Triangles, Dennis J. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

A new discrete ordinates spatial quadrature for arbitrary triangular cells is derived and compared to its rectangular cell linear characteristic counterpart. The triangular mesh is more flexible, allowing curved surfaces and off-axis angles to be approximated with many fewer spatial cells. The triangle method is consistently more accurate on example problems tested here. Arbitrary orientation and size of the triangles allow non-patterned meshes to be developed which appears to ameliorate numerical diffusion. The triangle linear characteristic quadrature converges at nearly the same rate as rectangular Linear characteristic on Lathrop's problem. Mesh sensitivity measurements show large variations in triangle vertex locations …

Minimum Redundancy Array Structure For Interference Cancellation, Wan-Ling Chen

Dissertations

Adaptive antenna arrays are widely used in many advanced radar, sonar, and communication systems because of their effectiveness in cancelling intentional or unintentional interferers. A uniformly spaced linear array, referred to as a Uniform Regular Array (URA), is the usual structure used for interference cancellation. The Minimum Redundancy Array (MRA) structure proposed in this work is a special kind of thinned array whose application was limited in the past to direction finding. MRAs with the same number of array elements can resolve directions of much more closely spaced signals than URAs.

The URA structure is customarily utilized for interference cancellation, …

Characterization Of Advanced Etching Reactors Using Novel Diagnostic Tools, Vipulkumar Patel

Dissertations

Plasma etching equipment used for sub-micron integrated circuit fabrication at present are exclusively based on 13.56 MHz, capacitively coupled, parallel-plate geometry. The underlying mechanisms of plasma processes in these reactors are not well understood and there is even less understanding of how the etch-tool parameters relate to the plasma discharge characteristics which actually determine the etch process. In this thesis, new diagnostic techniques were applied for the characterization and optimization of plasma etching processes in various reactor configurations.

Specifically, diode and triode configurations were studied extensively using tuned scanning Langmuir probes. Both radial and axial distributions of plasma density were …

Modeling And Analysis Of Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes Using Petri Nets, Xinyao Wang

Theses

This thesis addresses the issues in modeling and analysis of multichip module (MCM) manufacturing processes using Petri nets. Building such graphical and mathematical models is a crucial step to understand MCM technologies and to enhance their application scope.

In this thesis, the application of Petri nets is presented with top-down and bottom-up approaches. The theory of Petri nets is summarized with its basic notations and properties at first. After that, the capability of calculating and analyzing Petri nets with deterministic timing information is extended to meet the requirements of the MCM models. Then, using top-down refining and system decomposition, MCM …

Modeling And Investigation Of Current Transport Phenomena In Schottky Structures, Yan Zeng

Theses

We have used a numerical method to describe the importance of the contribution of generation-recombination current to the I-V characteristics of Schottky barrier contacts. The current-voltage relationship is derived directly from the fundamental set of equations such as Poisson; current-density and continuity equations, without having to make many simplifications or approximations. The final result includes not only the thermionic emission or drift diffusion mechanisms of current flow, but also the generation recombination processes.

The experimental devices used for this work are very common low barrier height Schottky structures, Al/T_0.3W_0.7/n-Si/A1 and Ti_0.3W_0.7/n-Si/Al. The …

Properties And Determination Of Optimal Decentralized Feedback Structure, Kangsong Han

Theses

In this thesis, the decentralized feedback structure for large scale, linear time invariant systems is studied. The internal differences and the relationship between decentralized feedback structure and centralized feedback structure are discussed. The conventional diagonal feedback structure. corresponding to the classical single loop design strategy, is first analyzed. This is followed by an arbitrary decentralized information flow constraint which is dependent upon the actual plant characteristics. Although signal flow graphs have limited use in describing decentralized control systems. the concept of a control cycle unit based on signal flow is introduced as a supplementary tool to characterize some fixed modes …

Improving The Jitter Performance Of Timing Recovery By Employing Delay Shifts, Xin De Lu

Theses

Many methods have been developed for evaluating the jitter performance of timing recovery circuits for binary synchronous transmission systems. These circuits consist of a nonlinear device followed by a narrowband filter tuned to the pulse repetition frequency. This thesis introduce delay shifts in the timing recovery circuits to improve the jitter performance. The function of the delay shifts is analyzed and mathematical proof of jitter performance improvement is given for the system using square-law device. Finally, the numerical results obtained from the specific examples serve to illustrate the significant improvement between the system with and without delay shifts. That is, …

An Implementation Of A Versatile Camera Calibration Technique For High-Accuracy 3d Machine Vision Metrology Using Off-The-Shelf Tv Camera And Lenses, Bolang Li

Theses

This thesis studies and implements a new versatile camera calibration technique for high-accuracy 3D machine vision metrology using off-the-shelf TV camera and lenses developed by Roger Tsai [1]. This technique builds up a unique relationship from the world coordinate system to the computer image coordinate system of calibration points by using a radial alignment constraint. The technique has advantage in terms of accuracy, speed, and versatility over existing techniques.

The fundamental knowledge for using this technique is presented in this thesis first, followed by an overview of the existing calibration techniques, and a detailed description of the new technique. The …

The Postbus Fault Tolerant Clos Network, Udayabhanu Sarangapani

Theses

The trend in modern computing is to develop multiprocessor systems with hundreds, even thousands, of processors and memory modules. The task of providing communication paths among all these units is not a trivial one. For a small number of functional units, direct connections could be used but for large systems interconnection networks have to be used. Multistage Interconnection Networks (MINs), provide a dynamic means for interconnecting processors and memory in a multiprocessor system. These networks are built with switches in each stage.

The Clos network is a well defined family of MINs and consists of three stages. The ordinary Clos …

Multilevel Embeddings For Massively-Parallel Hypercubes, Devenkuma P. Shah

Theses

Hierarchically structured arrays of processors have widely been used in the low and intermediate phases of image processing and computer vision. Since the pyramid structure efficiently supports local and global operations extensively required by these phases, it has been widely used for relevant algorithms. Multilevel systems keep all the advantages of the pyramid structure while providing a general hierarchical structure that is easier to be used for the development of several algorithms and may also provide higher performance.

Although the cost of pyramid machines may be tremendously high, they have limited applications. In contrast, the hypercube network is widely used …

The Application Of Neural Networks To Optimal Robot Trajectory Planning, Daniel J. Simon

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Interpolation of minimum jerk robot joint trajectories through an arbitrary number of knots is realized using a hardwired neural network. Minimum jerk joint trajectories are desirable for their similarity to human joint movements and their amenability to accurate tracking. The resultant trajectories are numerical rather than analytic functions of time. This application formulates the interpolation problem as a constrained quadratic minimization problem over a continuous joint angle domain and a discrete time domain. Time is discretized according to the robot controller rate. The neuron outputs define the joint angles (one neuron for each discrete value of time) and the Lagrange …

Spontaneous Coherent Pulsations In Standing-Wave Laser Oscillators: Stability Criteria For Homogeneous Broadening, Pitak Chenkosol, Lee W. Casperson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The stability criteria for single-mode standing-wave laser oscillators in the homogeneously broadened limit are reported, and two types of criteria are distinguished. The first type (type 1) corresponds to the minimum value of the threshold parameter for which an infinitesimal perturbation away from steady state grows into an oscillatory solution. A second type (type 2) corresponds to the minimum value of threshold parameter for which large-amplitude oscillations do not decay to the steady-state solution. Undamped pulsations in single-mode homogeneously broadened standing-wave laser oscillators are found to occur at a much higher excitation level than in ring-laser oscillators with homogeneous broadening. …

Introduction To Electrical Engineering And The Art Of Problem Solving: Volume I, P. Frazer Williams

P. F. (Paul Frazer) Williams Publications

These notes were written to accompany a two-semester introductory course in Electrical Engineering. The primary goal of the course is to introduce you to the art of technical problem solving. Conventional Electrical Engineering curricula, in favorable cases at least, produce engineers who are reasonably adept at operating many of the tools important to the field, such as mathematics and circuit analysis. Often, however, these engineers lack skill in choosing which tools to use and in designing a plan of attack to solve problems which are new to them, even though they have all the information and skills needed to fabricate …

Introduction To Electrical Engineering And The Art Of Problem Solving: Volume Ii, P. Frazer Williams

P. F. (Paul Frazer) Williams Publications

These notes were written to accompany a two-semester introductory course in Electrical Engineering. The primary goal of the course is to introduce you to the art of technical problem solving. Conventional Electrical Engineering curricula, in favorable cases at least, produce engineers who are reasonably adept at operating many of the tools important to the field, such as mathematics and circuit analysis. Often, however, these engineers lack skill in choosing which tools to use and in designing a plan of attack to solve problems which are new to them, even though they have all the information and skills needed to fabricate …

Electrostatic Positioning Of Droplets In Turbulent Flows (Lstm 375/Te/93), Nihad E. Daidzic, Adrian Melling

Aviation Department Publications

Report LSTM 375/TE/93, Lehrstuhl fuer Stroemungsmechanik Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg Cauerstr. 4, 8520 Erlangen Germany.

Middle Terminal Cell Models For Efficient Over-The-Cell Routing, Siddharth Bhingarde

Masters Theses

In this thesis, we introduce a new class of cell models called Middle Terminal Models (MTM) which combines the advantages of existing cell models: BTM and CTM. This class contains the models 2MTM, 3MTM-V, and 3MTM+V depending on the number of metal layers and the permissibility of vias in over-the-cell areas. In MTM, two rows of terminals are located in the middle of the cell. This partitions over-the-cell area into three regions and allows allocation of more nets to over-the-cell area in congested channels. We prove that when vias are allowed over-the-cell, in "almost all" cases the MTM based layouts …

Robot Force Velocity Control Using Expert System For Control Mode Changes, William R. Doggett

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The most important property of an automated mechanical system is reliable execution of a specified task. Automated mechanical systems work best in precisely structured environments where all operations are repeatable. Typically, these systems are difficult to modify and expensive to install. Sensors can be used to detect disturbances, thus reducing hardware cost by offsetting the need for precise rigid construction components. Sensors, however, increase the complexity and cost of the control software. Efficient methods of reacting to sensor information during automated system operation are required to reduce software complexity and expense.

This thesis analyzes a robotic construction task and describes …

Recognition Of Quadric Surfaces From Range Data: An Analytical Approach, Ivan X. D. D'Cunha

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, a new technique based on analytic geometry for the recognition and description of three-dimensional quadric surfaces from range images is presented. Beginning with the explicit representation of quadrics, a set of ten coefficients are determined for various three-dimensional surfaces. For each quadric surface, a unique set of two-dimensional curves which serve as a feature set is obtained from the various angles at which the object is intersected with a plane. Based on a discriminant method, each of the curves is classified as a parabola, circle, ellipse, hyperbola, or a line. Each quadric surface is shown to be …

A Performance Prediction Model For A Fault-Tolerant Computer During Recovery And Restoration, Rodrigo A. Obando

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The modeling and design of a fault-tolerant multiprocessor system is addressed in this dissertation. In particular, the behavior of the system during recovery and restoration after a fault has occurred is investigated. Given that a multicomputer system is designed using the Algorithm to Architecture To Mapping Model (ATAMM) model, and that a fault (death of a computing resource) occurs during its normal steady-state operation, a model is presented as a viable research tool for predicting the performance bounds of the system during its recovery and restoration phases. Furthermore, the bounds of the performance behavior of the system during this transient …