Digital Commons Network^™

University Student Services Center, Ivan Orlando Mendoza

Fire Protection Engineering: Culminating Experience Project Reports

The building was found to be generally compliant with the requirements set forth in the codes and standards, any discrepancies are addressed within the report in their respective sections. The prescriptive-based analysis was performed using the appropriate NFPA standards, the Life Safety Code (LSC) and the International Building Code (IBC).

The building is three storied and has an overall gross floor area of 101,579 sq ft. It is classified as a mixed occupancy use with a calculated total occupant load of 2,866 occupants and is being evaluated as a Type II-B structure as defined in the IBC. It is protected …

Phase Change Materials For Thermal Management Of Kennedy Library Study Rooms, Colin J. Empey

Materials Engineering

The overall purpose of this study was to find a phase change material (PCM) or a combination of PCMs as a thermal management solution for the fifth-floor study rooms in Kennedy Library. First and foremost, the PCM must take in heat to change phase. A PCM would be a better candidate the more heat it needs to change phase. To quantify this, the team utilized a DSC to find how much energy each candidate PCM required to change phase. Coconut oil, palm oil, and white chocolate were found to have the best ability to absorb heat. Secondly, the PCM should …

Anomalous 304 Stainless Steel Mechanical Properties In Medical Guide Wires, Andrew Joseph Freeman

Materials Engineering

Stainless steel medical guide wire cores, processed by Abbott Vascular, are returning anomalous mechanical properties upon strain hardening and heat treatment. As theory dictates, mechanical strength properties increase with strain hardening, and decrease with an annealing treatment. The opposite response is being observed. This is counter intuitive to fundamental materials knowledge, and a perfect materials engineering paradox. This project was designed to characterize these behaviors, and attempt to determine causation. To accomplish this, tensile testing of all processing steps mapped the mechanical property evolution of the wire. Published literature research revealed the potential of nitrogen and chromium solid state diffusion …

Solar Cell Potential Induced Degradation Sensor, Luc Alexandre Tousignant

Materials Engineering

It is important to maintain Photovoltaic (PV) cells and protect them from damage mechanisms like Potential Induced Degradation (PID), which can contribute to shorter lifespans and lower efficiencies. Current leakage through cell encapsulation can cause charge migration in PV cells that reduces the maximum quantum efficiency, which is the cause of PID. An experiment was setup to determine the feasibility of a non-silicon sensor able to produce similar leakage behavior to traditional PV cells under recorded humidity conditions. Thin sheet metals were encapsulated in EVA, a common PV encapsulant polymer, and mounted in aluminum framing. Three sensors, along with a …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report, Natalie Vaz Sanchez

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

The AGED 539 graduate internship report contains a multitude of validated documents that is required in meeting the quality criteria for the Agriculture Incentive Grant. This grant is specifically allocated for secondary- level programs of instruction in agriculture. All documents in this report are used for the Agriculture Incentive Grant review process for Kingsburg High School, which is administered by a representative of the California Department of Education. The internship includes information in regards to the development, current standing, and future goals for the Kingsburg High School Agriculture Department. The supporting material includes all required evidence needed in order to …

Graduate Internship Report - John H. Pitman High School, Nicolette Schiber

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship and project report includes documentation required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The documents are concurrently used for the Agriculture Incentive Grant review process at John H. Pitman High School conducted by representatives of the California Department of Education. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Pitman High School, the agriculture program and the community.

Delegation Application, Erik Matthew Phillips

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Delegation is a cross-platform application to provide smart task distribution to users. In a team environment, the assignment of tasks can be tedious and difficult for management or for users needing to discover a starting place for where to begin with accomplishing tasks. Within a specific team, members possess individual skills within different areas of the team’s responsibilities and specialties, and certain members will be better suited to tackle specific tasks. This project provides a solution, consisting of a smart cross-platform application that allows for teams and individuals to quickly coordinate and delegate tasks assigned to them.

Procedural Level Generation For A 2d Platformer, Brian Michael Egana

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Procedural Content Generation (PCG), as defined in the book “Procedural Content Generation in Games”, is “the algorithmic creation of game content with limited or indirect user input”. Whether it creates the levels by itself, or together with game designers, PCG is a method used to reduce the cost of designing games, and to produce an endless amount of game content. One of the main challenges that come with PCG is the desire to use PCG algorithms to create entire levels that are feasible, unique, and fun. This is especially challenging for games of progression within the 2D platformer genre; insufficient …

Deaddrop: Message Passing Without Metadata Leakage, Davis Mike Arndt

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Even when network data is encrypted, observers can make inferences about content based on collected metadata. DeadDrop is an exploratory API designed to protect the metadata of a conversation from both outside observers and the facilitating server. To do so, DeadDrop servers are passed no recipient address, instead relying upon the recipient to check for messages of their own volition. In addition, the recipient downloads a copy of every encrypted message on the server to prevent even the server from knowing to whom each message is intended. To these purposes, DeadDrop is mostly successful. However, it does not obscure all …

Generalized Featured Product Page, Andrew J. Pirondini

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The goal of my senior project was to generalize the process of creating featured product pages with iFixit. Featured product pages are pages with custom content describing an individual product such as text blurbs, images, and even some responsive components. These do not have a simple template like products you might see on Amazon but instead involve scrolling through a variable amount of content.

In order to generalize these, each part of the page was broken into discrete components that contain custom content. There are components for images, paragraph blurbs, lists, footers and more. These components are implemented with React …

Finding Spanning Trees In Strongly Connected Graphs With Per-Vertex Degree Constraints, Samuel Benjamin Chase

Computer Science and Software Engineering

In this project, I sought to develop and prove new algorithms to create spanning trees on general graphs with per-vertex degree constraints. This means that each vertex in the graph would have some additional value, a degree constraint d. For a spanning tree to be correct, every vertex v_i in the spanning tree must have a degree exactly equal to a degree constraint d_i. This poses an additional constraint on what would otherwise be a trivial spanning tree problem. In this paper, two proofs related to my studies will be discussed and analyzed, leading to my algorithm …

A Survey Of Security Attacks And Defenses In Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks, Pierson Yieh

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

How Representation Of Game Information Affects Player Performance, Matthew Paul Bryan

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The goal of this small experiment was to see if it could be determined whether or not user interface design and the way information is portrayed in a game can affect a player’s performance in that game. During this study, 26 anonymous participants selected one design of a timer from three different categories to be used in a simple, objective-based game. 10 different participants were then run through three levels of that game, with each level corresponding to a different version of timer. The amount of objectives completed were recorded, as well as their thoughts on which version they preferred …

Brushless Direct Current Motor Control For Inspired Flight, Aidan James Mccoy

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Brushless direct current motors have become a very common part of many modern electronics. Although they are more expensive and less robust than conventional brushed direct current motors, they provide large advantages in control, power output, longevity as well as efficiency. To make these motors run, they need more than just power. Each motor needs a separate motor controller that is responsible for taking in a signal for what speed/torque to run the motor at, and then managing the current flow to the motor to keep it spinning while fitting within these boundaries. Brushless direct current motors have a set …

Bipartite Graph Packing Problems, Collin Christopher Wong

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The overarching problem of this project was trying to find the maximal number of disjoint subgraphs of a certain type we can pack into any graph. These disjoint graphs could be of any type in the original problem. However, they were limited to be T₂ trees for my research (T₂ trees are defined in section 2.1 of the paper). In addition, most of my work was focused on packing these T₂ trees into constrained bipartite graphs (also defined in section 2.1 of the paper).

Even with these specific constraints applied to the overall problem, the project still …

Baseball Shagger, Anthony Velasquez, Nick Walker, Nathaniel Kai Paresa

Computer Engineering

The purpose of our project is to allow players to hit baseballs on a baseball field and not have to worry about picking them up. By combining our knowledge of software and hardware, we developed the first design of a robot that “shags” baseballs. Our endeavor was only partially successful. The device was tested on grass, turf, and concrete. The motors did not have enough torque to get moving on grass. The device faired better on turf where it could move, but was quite jerky as the motor drive needed to be high to start moving, but once it was …

Cal Poly Mustang News Ios App, Monica Chavez

Computer Engineering

This project was made in collaboration with Mustang News, Cal Poly’s campus news group. The goal was to create an app for Mustang News that would help them reach a broader audience and readership. The app will present stories found in the Mustang News newspaper and website in a mobile friendly format.

Extractive Text Summarization With Deep Learning, Garrett G. Chan

Computer Engineering

This project explores extractive text summarization using the capabilities of Deep Learning. The goal of this project is to create an application with a neural network to take in text as its input, and create a summary that is a shorter, condensed version of the input text. This has been implemented in Python by configuring and training a neural network that takes in a vector of features that are extracted from the text using various Natural Language Processing libraries. The implementation demonstrates that we can train simple deep neural networks to successfully summarize text.

Orbital Constellation Design And Analysis Using Spherical Trigonometry And Genetic Algorithms: A Mission Level Design Tool For Single Point Coverage On Any Planet, Joseph R. Gagliano

Master's Theses

Recent interest surrounding large scale satellite constellations has increased analysis efforts to create the most efficient designs. Multiple studies have successfully optimized constellation patterns using equations of motion propagation methods and genetic algorithms to arrive at optimal solutions. However, these approaches are computationally expensive for large scale constellations, making them impractical for quick iterative design analysis. Therefore, a minimalist algorithm and efficient computational method could be used to improve solution times. This thesis will provide a tool for single target constellation optimization using spherical trigonometry propagation, and an evolutionary genetic algorithm based on a multi-objective optimization function. Each constellation will …

Metrology Computer Redesign, Natalie Lizama, Melinda Ong, Mitchell Aiken

Electrical Engineering

We are M[EE]² and our project is to redesign Micro-Vu’s metrology computer (the Q16) with modern components and updated firmware. Metrology machines take high precision and high accuracy measurements, and a computer attached to each machine reads out the measurements. We will be redesigning the logic and display circuit boards on the Q16. The ports and communication methods with the machine will stay the same as it must be a drop-in replacement.

The motivation behind the redesign stems from the age of the current design. The current design was created in 1986, and has not had significant modifications since. …

Portable High-Definition Audio Spectrum Analyzer, Alex Zahn, Jamie Corr

Electrical Engineering

The Portable High-definition Audio Spectrum Analyzer (PHASA) allows the user to visualize the audio frequency spectrum of an incoming line-level stereo audio signal. Upon pressing the touch screen spectrum graph, the PHASA displays the corresponding frequency and volume levels as well as crosshairs at the touched location. The PHASA features multiple left/right channel display modes— Left channel only, right channel only, both channels simultaneously, and the average between the two channels. The PHASA features multiple resolution display modes (standard-resolution and high-resolution) and multiple dynamics display modes (standard dynamics, averaging, and peak/hold). The PHASA accepts input audio via a 1/4" TRS …

Iridium Adc, Bill Blakely

Electrical Engineering

Today's modern digital audio systems are pushing performance boundaries. Most high quality audio digital to analog converters are capable of 24 bit, 96 kHz conversion. Professional audio interfaces frequently use 24 or 32 bit 192 kHz sample rates. These systems are able to achieve dynamic ranges greater than 100 dB, and distortion on the magnitude of single parts per million. This project proposes a high resolution analog digital converter (ADC) to measure and characterize these types of devices.

The proposed system will be capable of 24 bit conversion and an extended frequency range compared to the typical 20 Hz to …

Electric Upgrades - Supercapacitor Electric Bicycle, John Chen, Wilson Fletcher, Spencer Esparza

Electrical Engineering

Supercapacitors provide high current capabilities compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, allowing for fast charging and discharging of electrical energy. This project seeks to test the benefits of supercapacitors in an electric bicycle unit in order to gain higher regenerative energy. The main components of the bicycle are its regenerative motor, supercapacitor array, and motor controller. Developing the project will provide data on the feasibility of using alternative battery storage and charging.

Passive Balancing Battery Management System For Cal Poly Racing's Formula Sae Electric Vehicle, Alvin Joseph Ha

Electrical Engineering

This senior project aims to replace the current battery management system (BMS) on Cal Poly’s Formula SAE electric vehicle with a more versatile, advanced, and reliable system. A BMS manages a rechargeable battery by ensuring the battery device operator’s safety, protecting battery cell integrity, prolonging battery lifetime, maintaining functional design requirements, and sending optimal usage information to the application controller. Passive balancing maximizes a battery pack’s capacity by dissipating excess energy through heat to regulate cell state of charge.

Induction Coil Power Generator, Steven Chi Li

Electrical Engineering

Over the years, society has evolved technologically to the point where we become dependent on technology. Today, nearly everybody have smartphone devices. This leads to the popularity of portable chargers since portable devices do not have a constant source of power. Even most portable chargers share the same problem as portable devices, which they both share a finite amount of battery power before needing to recharge at a power outlet. Ultimately, they are just temporary solutions to the problem of the lack of power. However, society assumes the abundance of electric power sources where they view them as an infinite …

High-Bandwidth Iop Sensing Backscatter Transceiver, Mark Manuel

Electrical Engineering

This document describes the design and build of a mobile phone attachment that communicates with an ASIC embedded smart contact lens. The portable device enables patients and clinicians to conveniently and instantaneously measure intraocular pressure (IOP). The device replaces bulky and expensive benchtop RF synthesizer and signal analyzer machines required for communication to the smart contact lens into a portable and convenient device. The transceiver transmits VHF ISM band radio and can capture reflected backscatter On-Off-Keying modulated message signals at bandwidths from DC to 130MHz.

Remotely-Operated Vehicle Animal Tracking Telemetry System, Amanda Jean Strand, Kevin Andrew Silken

Electrical Engineering

This paper’s design focus is a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) payload receiver system. An ROV is a remote control vehicle operated from a nearby position. This project’s ROV is an aerial vehicle flown by a crew of at least four operators. The ROV receiver is needed to The receiver system receives a 165 MHz collar beacon signal, upconverts the signal to 3.4 GHz, then transmits the 3.4 GHz signal to the ROV operator. The collar beacon signal indicates the location of a tracking collar placed on an animal, fishers in this instance. The transmitted signal is received by the ROV …

Wind/Hydro Generator Simulator, Michael Timothy Djaja, Christopher James Rotsios

Electrical Engineering

The intention of this project is to make it easier for people without reliable access to electricity to implement their own sources of electrical generation. The ability to simulate different sources of generation allows people in need to find what source of generation will most properly meet their electricity needs. The goal of this project was to provide a wind or water flow profile from any area in the world and output a corresponding amount of power that would be expected from a small-scale wind or hydro generator. Due to difficulties with the microcontroller and incorrect sizing of components, this …

Microgrid Protection Student Laboratory: Human-Machine Interface And Scada Database, Nathan P. Martinez

Electrical Engineering

The electric utility system, a ubiquitous and fundamental component of modern life, has changed more in the last 20 years than the last 100. With more homes and businesses installing distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar panels, battery storage, and other intermittent sources, massive changes need to take place in the electric transmission and distribution systems. Engineers must develop a new skill set for a modern utility industry. This project summarizes a component for a new laboratory class aimed at power engineering students at Cal Poly which supports the laboratory through the creation of a human-machine interface (HMI) and …

Career Path Web Application, Annamarie Roger

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This web application provides a new approach to organizing career advice. It allows a prospective student to outline career priorities and receive suggestions drawing from a repository of reports from professionals in their respective fields. This gives the student access to advice from individuals who do not know the user personally and aims to remove the possible bias that may exist on that level. Furthermore, the system is periodically updated to include recent reports.