Engineering Commons^™

Digital Graphic Equalizer Implemented Using An Fpga, Anthony Giardina

Electrical Engineering

A graphic equalizer is a device that adjusts the tonal quality of an audio signal. When sound is converted from a digital format to analog sound waves, there are amplification and transducing steps in-between the two formats. Common devices to perform these tasks are speakers, amplifiers, DACs, etc. Many of these devices exhibit a non-uniform frequency response over the range of human hearing. Thus, it is possible that certain frequency ranges of the audio signal will be amplified and others will be attenuated. To counteract this, an audio equalizer can be used to boost and attenuate certain frequency ranges within …

Hardware And Software Study Of Active Noise Cancellation, Riggi Aquino, Jacob Lincoln

Electrical Engineering

Noise cancellation involves removing an unwanted noise while keeping the source sound. The source sound may consist of speech, music played from a device such as an iPod or a computer, or no sound at all. The objective of this project is to study the process of noise cancellation both as hardware and as software. The hardware will consist of building a noise cancelling circuit that uses headphones as an output, a microphone to pick up the noise to be cancelled and, if desired, a source sound. The software portion of the experiment will use MATLAB to simulate the hardware …

Retrofitting A Car Alternator For Low-Speed Power Generation, Yuri Carrillo

Electrical Engineering

This report presents the analysis and methods taken to appropriately modify a car alternator to operate as a low speed generator for wind or hydro power generation. A Toyota car alternator taken from a junkyard is characterized via an Open-Circuit test to evaluate its operating specifications. The car alternator is also measured to determine its physical dimensions. The acquired values are used with the generated voltage equation to determine the machine’s unknown rotor values— the product of the rotor winding factor and the number of rotor windings (kfNf). Using the generated voltage equation with the determined machine parameters, the number …

Music Driven Graphical Visualization System, Glenn Bruner

Electrical Engineering

In today’s society, we are able to enjoy listening to music on an assortment of high-tech devices such as home computers, or multimedia players, or personal audio players. A common characteristic of typical audio media players is that they lack the ability to provide visual stimulation in addition to the provided audio stimulus. Large public events, such as concerts, could be enhanced if they included visual effects in addition to audio stimulation. The goal of this project is to provide a graphical visualization that is automatically synchronized to an audio signal with a goal of enhancing the overall musical experience. …

Multiple Input Single Output (Miso) Dc-Dc Converter For The Dc House Project, Owen Jong

Electrical Engineering

This senior project report explains the design of a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) DC-DC converter for the DC House Project. MISO DC-DC converter interfaces multiple different power sources such as Wind and Solar Energy sources as the inputs to a DC house. The report demonstrates the functionality and the performance of the proposed converter using Flyback topology by showing the theoretical simulation and hardware testing results. Results show the ability of the proposed MISO converter to supply up to 150 Watts from three sources while maintaining maximum efficiency of 92% at full load.

Lyfi, Kianoosh Salami, Justin Cotton, Elush Shirazpour

Electrical Engineering

This paper will cover the steps necessary to design, build, and manage networkable smart light switches over WiFi via a mobile application. It contains a microcontroller running a real time operating system, a WiFi module, a Java server with SQLite databasing, and a mobile phone application.

LyFi is designed to turn on/off and dim household lights while only requiring the same installation procedure as a less capable dimmer switch. Once installed and connected to a network, LyFi will self-discover and configure. The server automatically propogates a database of nodes where any mobile device running an application can receive an updated …

Phase Splitter Guitar Effects Pedal, Jerry Gough

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project was to create a unique type of guitar distortion effects pedal. The initial plan was to use a Hilbert Transformer, also called a Phase Splitter, to produce a vibrato type distortion. Later during the circuit design phase, it appeared that a tremolo effect could be easily implemented in addition to the vibrato. Both the tremolo and vibrato effects were implemented in the final design. Although there are many different types of vibrato and tremolo pedals already in existence, it does not appear that any current designs use a Hilbert Transformer or phase splitter. Hopefully, this …

Foce Intermodule Communications System, Roland Quiros

Electrical Engineering

Done in conjunction with Chad Kecy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Reasearch Institute (MBARI), this project is an expansion of the Free Ocean Carbon Emission (FOCE) project. This iteration created a communications protocol between the different modules in an expandable array of PIC24-based boards.

Independent Moisture-Sensitive Automatic Watering System, Jessica Sherbon

Electrical Engineering

With the availability of home improvement supplies, plant owners can quickly and easily set up an automatic system that waters their gardens based on a specified schedule. However, most of these systems require an electric outlet or water faucet making them unusable in locations where installed water and power lines do not exist, such as apartment balconies. This project defines a small-scale automated watering system that runs independently of installed water and power lines. The system takes water from a reservoir, such as a tank or bucket, and supplies that water to individual plants via a drip system. The design …

Inductive Metal Identification, Paul Maggi

Electrical Engineering

This project focuses on creating a device to differentiate between various types of metals via magnetic induction. Magnetic induction is used because it is both non-optical and non-contact. It achieves this by generating a varying magnetic field, which induces eddy currents in the metal. These eddy currents produce small disturbances in the surrounding magnetic field, which can be sensed with Hall Effect Sensors (HES). The primary challenge in this project was generating a sufficiently strong magnetic field to detectable disturbances. In order to achieve better results, a stronger magnetic field must be used as well as more sensitive Hall Effect …

Solar Powered Led Lantern For Developing Countries, Lacy Billingsly Iii

Electrical Engineering

In recent years, both LED and solar technology have become the focus of sustainable energy. LED lighting uses significantly less power than its fluorescent competitor. Solar cells enable clean, natural, and portable power. As these two entities become more efficient at exponential rates, the hope for the wide use of off-grid lighting in less developed countries seemingly increases at the same rate. Currently, there has been a development of industry for portable solar powered lighting systems. Before designing a product, a study was conducted of current products on the market that aim to light dark homes. This study and design …

Day/Night Band Imager For A Cubesat, Eric Stanton

Electrical Engineering

Day/Night Band (DNB) earth sensing and meteorological systems like the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) provide visible wavelength imagery 24 hours a day that is used primarily for cloud imaging in support of weather forecasting. This paper describes a compact push-broom imager that meets low light imaging requirements for DMSP OLS and the NOAA/NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) as documented in the Integrated Operational Requirements Document [1] (IORD) including the imager design, system level concepts of operation for data collection, radiometric and spatial calibration, and data transmission to Earth. This small, lightweight imager complies with …

Control System For Glucose Detector System, David Smith

Electrical Engineering

In this paper I design and test on a prove of concept level a control/timing circuit for a blood glucose detector built in a previous senior project. The specifications of the design given are to properly power the detector with a low power source. The design is completed on a transistor level basis using Cadence Virtuoso Software. The system is design from the ground up; designing, building, and testing smaller circuits first then combined into increasingly larger circuits till the completed circuit is finished. The design used to based off of the 555 Timer and uses differential pairs, CMOS designed …

Barrel Racer's Calculator, Hollie Kucera

Electrical Engineering

Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to complete a clover-leaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. This sport combines the horsemanship skills of a rider and the horse’s athletic ability to safely and successfully maneuver around the three barrels (three fifty-five gallon metal drums) placed in an arena.

In barrel racing, the purpose is to make the run as fast as possible. An electric eye and timing system keep track of the time. The time starts when the horse and rider cross in between the electric eyes and ends when the …

Digital Guitar Effects Unit And Amplifier, Kevin Salvador

Electrical Engineering

This report outlines the design and implementation of a digital guitar effects unit and amplifier. The main portion of this project consisted of the digital equalizer and effects. Several commercial equalizers were researched in order to decide the typical frequency bands and average amount of bands total. Eventually 8 bands were selected. A range of approximately 20Hz-3kHz was chosen based on test data of guitar signals. Popular effects that were incorporated in this project include Distortion, Echo, Reverb, Chorus and Flanger. The digital processor chosen was a Texas Instruments c6713 floating point processor. Designs for the various filters were done …

In-Class Lecture Recording: What Lecture Capture Has To Offer To The Instructor, Vladimir I. Prodanov

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of lecture recording upon the instructional faculty. The following aspects are explored: 1) impact on class enrollment; 2) impact on class attendance; 3) usefulness of obtained statistical results for course improvement. The study is based upon data collected in a junior-level Electrical Engineering class with enrollment of 76 students. The data was collected using anonymous surveys and Blackboard’s statistical tracking utility. The results from the survey show that providing lecture recordings does not have significant impact upon students’ decision to attend lectures, but it has pronounced impact upon their enrollment …

Student Perception Of Lecture Video Use As A Means To Increase Time For In Class Problem Solving Applications, Dale Dolan, Vladimir I. Prodanov, Taufik

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this study is to examine student perceptions of lecture video use as a means to increase available time for in class problem solving in a teaching and learning context. A portion of face to face lectures was replaced with prerecorded lecture video whose viewing was assigned for homework. The freed lecture period was used for additional in class problem solving development, without sacrificing the theory and background that is fundamental. In order to assess the effectiveness of the change in format, student perception was assessed through an anonymous online survey. The survey was given at the completion …

Design And Assembly Of An Antenna Demonstration System, Alexander J. Hempy, Michael P. Civerolo, Dean Y. Arakaki

Electrical Engineering

This paper describes the design, assembly, and operation of a self-contained wireless demonstration system that required only dc power supplies. The system demonstrated polarization effects, radiation patterns, gain, directivity, and signal interference from environmental barriers from dipole, corner reflector (simulated antenna array), Quagi, and embedded patch antennas. The system included an RF oscillator, high-frequency amplifiers,RF bandpass filters, a signal-strength indicator, and multiple adjustable antenna-mounting platforms.

Car Alarm System, David Lane

Electrical Engineering

This project entails the design and implementation of a car alarm system for a 1977 Volkswagen Beetle.

Rapid Battery Interchange System, Mason Borda

Electrical Engineering

As our nation strives towards a departure from widespread use of fossil fuels, we must focus on a plan for what is to be the substitute for Internal Combustion Engine vehicles as well as the infrastructure to support this. The most popular alternative to the internal combustion engine is the electrically propelled vehicle, one that can provide us with many benefits including simplified construction, lower operational costs, and for the driving enthusiasts more torque. The prevailing issue in the widespread acceptance and use of the electric vehicle thus far is “range anxiety”. Range anxiety is defined as “The fear of …

Optical Mode Pattern Study Of Gan Based Leds With And Without Nanoscale Top Grating, Gregory Chavoor

Electrical Engineering

This study analyzes optical confinement factor and light emitting mode order for three different GaN LEDs: a conventional LED, thin Film LED, and thin Film LED with a photonic crystal (PhC) grating. For the first structure, we increase the thickness of Al_xGa_1-xN from 0 to 600nm, alter the x composition in Al_xGa_1-xN from 0.05 to 0.2 in steps of 0.05, and adjust the p-GaN and n-GaN thicknesses each from 0 to 200nm. For the second structure, we alter the n-GaN substrate thickness from 300-1000nm in steps of 100nm and 1000-4000nm in steps …

Equating A Car Alternator With The Generated Voltage Equation, Ervin Carrillo

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

White Light Led Load System, Ronald Lu, Benjamin Ng

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.