Engineering Commons^™

Improving Efficiency Of Manufacturing Cells, Conner Deneen

Honors Theses

Mann + Hummel is a tier one automotive supplier located in Portage, Michigan. The industry sponsor for this project is Director of Operations, Dan Kempisty with his supporting team, and the academic advisor for this project is Industrial Engineering Professor, Dana Hammond. The following report focuses on improving the efficiency of Cell 301 A and Cell 301 B which manufactures the air intake manifold for the Toyota Camry and Highlander. Topics analyzed in attempts to improve efficiencies include the following; standard operating procedures, line balancing, improving quality, reducing scrap, and analyzing non-value-added tasks. Time studies were conducted on each operator …

Emergency Department Triage Process Improvement, Tessa Williams

Honors Theses

This senior design project was completed at Ascension Borgess Hospital located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The mission of Ascension Borgess Hospital is to provide patient centered care. In 2018, 562 patients left the Emergency Department (ED) without being seen, which is a large safety risk for the patients and hospital. Based on this, as well as other obstacles, this project focused on meeting the mission of Ascension Borgess by improving key ED metrics that impact patient centered care. In order to meet that mission, this study aims to improve patient experience, safety and quality of the care provided, profitability for the …

Image Feature Extraction And Online Grading Method For Weight And Shape Of Strawberry, Zhang Qing, Xiangjun Zou, Guichao Lin, Yanhui Sun

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To deal with the classification problems of strawberry in production, a machine vision based strawberry weight and shape grading method was proposed. The strawberry image was segmented by thresholding to extract the fruit. The area and perimeter parameters of the fruit were then calculated and used to build the strawberry weight grading model through regression analysis. Elliptic Fourier descriptor was used to extract the shape features of the fruit, and these shape features were applied to train a support vector machine (SVM) which represented the strawberry shape grading model. 200 samples of strawberries were selected to test both …

Dp-Q(Λ): Real-Time Path Planning For Multi-Agent In Large-Scale Web3d Scene, Fengting Yan, Jinyuan Jia

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The path planning of multi-agent in an unknown large-scale scene needs an efficient and stable algorithm, and needs to solve multi-agent collision avoidance problem, and then completes a real-time path planning in Web3D. To solve above problems, the DP-Q(λ) algorithm is proposed; and the direction constraints, high reward or punishment weight training methods are used to adjust the values of reward or punishment by using a probability p (0-1 random number). The value from reward or punishment determines its next step path planning strategy. If the next position is free, the agent could walk to it. The above strategy …

Design And Realization Of Ship Virtual Fire Training System Based On Hmd, Zhang Bo, Sun Jun, Shang Lei, Hongji Xu, Yang Cheng

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the shortcomings of ship fire training in real environment and the advantages and application of virtual reality technology in education and training, the virtual fire training system of ship based on head mount display (HMD) is developed. The system is developed using the Unity 3D Virtual Reality Development Engine as a platform, using client / server mode, supporting multi-person cooperative operation, and running the terminal for HTC Vive virtual reality hardware. The system combines the fire diffuser mechanism, the water shooting hydrodynamic equation and the particle system; completes the model establishment and visualization process, and improves …

Systematic Error Analysis Based On Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation Environment, Zhang Duo, Manguo Liu, Zhang Xiao, Pingan Liu, Yixuan He

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the complex and diverse components in the semi-physical simulation environment of a certain type of anti-tank missile, the errors present different types of problems, and a systematic error analysis method based on the environment is proposed. By analyzing the composition characteristics and the error characteristics of the simulation computer, flight motion simulator, target simulator and simulation dedicated interface; the delay error of the simulation computer, the mechanical installation error of the flight motion simulator, the delay error of the target simulator and the transmission error of the simulation dedicated interface are acquired. Furthermore, by comparing the local …

Design And Simulation Of Heterogeneous Magnetron Memristive Chua Circuit, Xiaohong Zhang, Lijuan Wan, Keliu Long

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: A nonlinear circuit containing two heterogeneous magnetron memristors which based on the three-order classic Chua circuit is designed, its dimensionless fifth-order mathematical model is proposed. Due to the difference in the design of the characteristic equation of the two magnetron memristors, their positions form a symmetrical structure with respect to the capacitor. The existence of chaotic properties is proved by analyzing the stability of the system equilibrium point and Lyapunov exponents. The model of five-order heterogeneous memristive Chua system and two heterogeneous magnetron memristors are implemented by Multisim. Numerical calculation and experimental results show that heterogeneous magnetron memristive Chua …

Active Disturbance Rejection Sliding Mode Control For Time-Delay Systems, Suzhen Wang, Guofa Sun, Shengrong Liu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the time-delay systems with uncertainty, this paper designs a third-order nonlinear feedback extended state observer (ESO) by using the coordinate transformation. The ESO can estimate both the system states and the total disturbance signal, and the nonlinear feedback has fast convergence. By the first-order approximation of the time-delay, the output feedback control problem of the time-delay system is transformed into controlling the second-order nonlinear uncertain system with unknown function. On the basis of the tracking differentiator (TD) and the designed ESO, the second-order sliding mode controller (SMC) is designed to realize the fast and accurate tracking …

Process Simulation And Optimization On Giant Block Erection Of Longitudinal Staggered Arrangement, Wenmin Zhu, Minghua Zhu, Xiumin Fan

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The process of giant block erection of longitudinal staggered arrangement is complicated. If the design of process and tooling are not reasonable, the adjustment work in the construction site, which affects the shipbuilding cycle seriously, will be abundant. To solve these problems, the method of process simulation and optimization on giant block erection were researched. Simulation models were established for carrying out the process simulation, and the simulation process was detected in real time by establishing collision detection model and virtual human model. Based on the measured data of the ship hull, the automatic calculation method of raising height …

Robust Adaptive Rate Control Algorithm And Its Simulation For P2p-Tv Streaming Media Systems, Fengjie Yin, Yang Hui, Zhang Ying

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: A control algorithm proposed to control the upstream rate based on sliding mode control in P2P-TV streaming media node. Through the rational design of sliding mode controller, the algorithm can adaptively control the numbers of signaling threads between neighbor pairs connected simultaneously and then control the upload rate. Further, it can achieve the fair use of resources. Due to the sliding mode control has strong robust with modeling uncertainties, time varying parameter fluctuations and external disturbances, it can avoid the system congestion under network condition change. Simulation results demonstrate that it can lead to the convergence of the …

Modeling And Simulation Of Health Degradation Trend For Wind Turbine Bearing, Xinghui Dong, Xiaoshuang Ma, Youxing Cheng, Wang Shuai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: By taking a wind turbine bearing as research object, the model of bearing temperature health’s degradation trend is established through using least squares surface fitting and the monitored parameters from Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA). Bearings’ degradation trend with unsteady characteristics is decomposed by modified Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition(EEMD) to obtain several relatively steady components. Components are predicted respectively by time series neural network and the predicted results of all the components are added to obtain final prediction result. Comprehensive simulations and comparisons show that the proposed method can predict the health degradation trend of wind turbine bearings …

Soil Data Construction Method For Cross-Country Trafficability Analysis, Kunwei Li, You Xiong, Zhang Xin, Fen Tang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Soil is one of the most important factors influencing the off-road maneuver of the army. The combination of soil and weather factors makes cross-country trafficability analysis extremely complicated. The soil data from unified soil classification system (USCS) are the basis for the analysis of soil trafficability. In this paper, the random forest method is used to predict the type of soil by using various attribute information. The method extracts sample data from existing USCS soil data to construct multiple random forest models, then analyses the accuracy of random forests and the importance of characteristic variables, and finally uses the …

Integrated: A Student's Guide To Systems Engineering, Hannah Smith

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

Essays On Time Series And Machine Learning Techniques For Risk Management, Michael Kotarinos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Capital Asset Pricing Model combined with the Sharpe ratio is a standard method for choosing assets for selection in a portfolio. However, this method has many structural issues and was designed for a time when high dimensional computing was in its infancy. An alternative to these methods using a mix of Multi-Level Time Series Clustering, the MACBETH algorithm and traditional time series techniques was constructed that minimized data loss and allow for customized portfolio construction for investors with different risk profiles and specialized investment needs. It was shown that these methods are adaptable to cloud computing environments and allow …

Routing And Designing Networks For Two Transportation Problems, Liu Su

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Routing and designing are essential for transportation networks. With effective routing and designing policies, transportation networks can work safely and efficiently. There are two transportation problems: hazardous materials (hazmat) transportation and warehouse logistics. This dissertation addresses the routing of networks for both problems. For hazmat transportation, the routing can be regulated via network design. Due to catastrophic consequences of potential accidents in hazmat transportation, a risk-averse approach for routing is necessary. In this dissertation, we consider spectral risk measures, for risk-averse hazmat routing. In addition, we introduce a network design problem to select a set of closed road segments for …

A Tunable Triboelectric Wideband Energy Harvester, Daniel S. Nelson, Alwathiqbellah Ibrahim, Shahrzad Towfighian

Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Faculty Scholarship

The ability to efficiently convert mechanical energy into electrical energy has become an important topic of discussion and research in the last decade. Triboelectric generators have recently been popular for vibration energy harvesting, but despite plenty of research on its material aspect, research on combining mechanical characteristics and voltage generation output has been sparse. Many energy harvesters suffer from low operating bandwidths and are usually restricted to operating at a specific frequency. We propose a tunable triboelectric energy harvester that has a large response over a wide frequency bandwidth at low frequencies. The tunability is implemented by axially pre-loading a …

Five Whys Root Cause System Effectiveness: A Two Factor Quantitative Review, Barbara A. Key

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Several tools exist for root cause analysis (RCA). Despite this however, many practitioners are not obtaining the quality improvement desired. Those turning to literature for guidance would find most of the information resides in case studies with anecdotal outcomes. Since 5 Whys analysis has been one of the more pervasive tools in use, this study sought to add to the root cause analysis body of knowledge by investigating tool support factors. While studied in conjunction with 5 Whys, the support variables lend themselves to other root cause analysis tools as well. The purpose of the study was to utilize a …

System Architecting Approach For Designing Deep Learning Models, Ram Deepak Gottapu, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Deep Learning (DL) models have proven to be very effective in solving many challenging problems, especially, those related to computer vision, text, and speech. However, the design of such models is challenging because of the vast search space and computational complexity that needs to be explored. Our goal in this paper is to reduce the human effort required to design architectures by using a system architecture development process that allows the exploration of large design space by automating certain model construction, alternative generation, and assessment. The proposed framework is generic and targeted at all deep learning architectures that can be …

Impacts Of Freight Consolidation And Truck Sharing On Freight Mobility, Tieming Liu, Chaoyue Zhao

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 17ITSOKS02. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"The trucking industry is an important sector of the U.S. economy. However, it is quite fragmented, hindering the efficiency of cargo transportation and the ability for small carriers to identify demands to fill full truck loads. The focus of this research is to study models and algorithms in order to aid online freight marketplaces to identify efficient consolidation strategies. To accomplish this aim, a new mixed integer programming model for the pickup and delivery problem has been developed. The model is geared …

Dynamic Pricing Of Electricity And Demand Response In Smart Communities, Vignesh Subramanian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grid modernization using advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) will continue to enhance timely communication among the system operator (SO), producers, and consumers. This will further empower the vision of dynamic pricing and demand side management (DSM). The phrase dynamic pricing in this dissertation refers to the practice of disclosing binding prices of electricity just ahead of consumption. As regards DSM, the focus is on collective demand response (DR) by aggregators managing consumers’ loads in smart and connected communities (households, businesses, industries and aggregation of electric vehicle batteries). However, practitioners and researchers alike have expressed the fear that dynamic pricing may cause …

The Capacitated Team Orienteering Problem, Aldy Gunawan, Kien Ming Ng, Vincent F. Yu, Gordy Adiprasetyo, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper focuses on a recent variant of the Orienteering Problem (OP), namely the Capacitated Team OP (CTOP) which arises in the logistics industry. In this problem, each node is associated with a demand that needs to be satisfied and a score that need to be collected. Given a set of homogeneous fleet of vehicles, the objective is to find a path for each vehicle in order to maximize the total collected score, without violating the capacity and time budget. We propose an Iterated Local Search (ILS) algorithm for solving the CTOP. Two strategies, either accepting a new solution as …

A Hierarchical Core Reference Ontology For New Technology Insertion Design In Long Life Cycle, Complex Mission Critical Systems, Kevin J. Michael

EMSE Doctoral Projects

Organizations, including government, commercial and others, face numerous challenges in maintaining and upgrading long life-cycle, complex, mission critical systems. Maintaining and upgrading these systems requires the insertion and integration of new technology to avoid obsolescence of hardware software, and human skills, to improve performance, to maintain and improve security, and to extend useful life. This is particularly true of information technology (IT) intensive systems. The lack of a coherent body of knowledge to organize new technology insertion theory and practice is a significant contributor to this difficulty. This research organized the existing design, technology road mapping, obsolescence, and sustainability literature …

A Bridge And Engine Room Staffing And Scheduling Model For Robust Mission Accomplishment In The Littoral Combat Ships, John P. Cordle

EMSE Doctoral Projects

The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships were designed to be relatively small surface vessels for operations near a littoral shore theater. These ships were envisioned to be highly automated, networked, agile, stealthy surface combatants capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals with minimum manpower. To date, however, some of these ships have experienced significant engineering and propulsion plant failures that impacted mission accomplishment and were attributable, at least in part, to under staffing and over scheduling the human component of the automation-human operational environment. The critical human components on the Littoral Combat Ship are bridge and engine room …

Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bridge Girders For Extremely Aggressive Environments, Abdellah Emad Azeez

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In 2012, the federal government estimated that $17.5 billion was spent on inspection, rehabilitation, maintenance, and replacement of the nation’s bridges. While the average lifespan of steel and reinforced concrete bridges is 50 years, certain bridges subjected to extremely aggressive marine environments may not reach this desired target. This research paper investigates using fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials as primary bridge girders in medium span bridges (30 ft. to 75 ft.). The goal of this research is to identify the most efficient and cost-effective alternative for these corrosion-resistant materials and potentially extend the lifespan of these bridges up to 75 years. …

Route Planning For A Fleet Of Electric Vehicles With Waiting Times At Charging Stations, Baoxiang Li, Shashi Shekhar Jha, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are the next wave of technology in the transportation industry. EVs are increasingly becoming common for personal transport and pushing the boundaries to become the mainstream mode of transportation. Use of such EVs in logistic fleets for delivering customer goods is not far from becoming reality. However, managing such fleet of EVs bring new challenges in terms of battery capacities and charging infrastructure for efficient route planning. Researchers have addressed such issues considering different aspects of the EVs such as linear battery charging/discharging rate, fixed travel times, etc. In this paper, we address the issue of waiting …

Impacts Of Freight Consolidation And Truck Sharing On Freight Mobility, Tieming Liu, Chaoyue Zhao

Publications

The trucking industry is an important sector of the U.S. economy. However, it is quite fragmented, hindering the efficiency of cargo transportation and the ability for small carriers to identify demands to fill full truck loads. The focus of this research is to study models and algorithms in order to aid online freight marketplaces to identify efficient consolidation strategies. To accomplish this aim, a new mixed integer programming model for the pickup and delivery problem has been developed. The model is geared towards identifying effective freight consolidation opportunities. A branch-and-cut algorithm to solve the model was also developed. The model …

Embedded Fault Class Detection Methodology For Condition-Based Machine Monitoring And Predictive Maintenance, Nagdev Amruthnath

Dissertations

Ever since the Second Industrial Revolution, manufacturing firms have continuously been working on minimizing the inefficiencies and maximizing the productivity of their system. This objective led to the creation of the Toyota Production System which follows the motto of “making [the] highest quality products at the least cost in the shortest lead time. (Ohno, 1988)” This philosophy is widely recognized and is utilized by various industries today.

Currently, we are going through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (also called, Industry 4.0) where internet technologies are utilized to additionally maximize the productivity in the production processes. Process synchronization is one of the …

Optimization Of Automated Guided Vehicles (Agv) Fleet Size With Incorporation Of Battery Management, Ahmed Hamdy

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An important aspect in manufacturing automation is material handling. To facilitate material handling, automated transport systems are implemented and employed. The AGV (automated guided vehicle) has become widely used for internal and external transport of materials. A critical aspect in the use of AGVs is determining the number of vehicles required for the system to meet the material handling requirements.

Several models and simulations have been applied to determine the fleet size. Most of these models and simulations do not incorporate the battery usage of the vehicles and the effect it can have on the throughput and the number of …

An Investigation Of General Criteria For Assessing Space Flight Systems Of Diverse Mission Concept Designs, Cindy L. Daniels

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate the general criteria for assessing the technical implementation risk factors of proposed space science missions at the mission concept stage. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Flight Program and Project Management Handbook (NASA, 2012), the mission concept review objectives are “To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed mission concept(s) and its fulfillment of the program's needs and objectives. To determine whether the maturity of the concept and associated planning are sufficient to begin Phase A” (p.33). Experts previously defined two technical risk factors, to assess aspects of the …

Development And Initial Evaluation Of A Reinforced Cue Detection Model To Assess Situation Awareness In Commercial Aircraft Cockpits, Aysen K. Taylor

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Commercial transport aircraft of today vary greatly from early aircraft with regards to how the aircraft are controlled and the feedback provided from the machine to the human operator. Over time, as avionics systems became more automated, pilots had less direct control over their aircraft. Much research exists in the literature about automation issues, and several major accidents over the last twenty years spurred interest about how to maintain the benefits of automation while improving the overall human-machine interaction as the pilot is considered the last line of defense.

An important reason for maintaining or even improving overall pilot situation …