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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Development Of A Quality Improvement Method For International Manufacturing, Andrew J. Strong Mar 2008

Development Of A Quality Improvement Method For International Manufacturing, Andrew J. Strong

Theses and Dissertations

Many companies are entering the international manufacturing arena. The continued expansion of the global market suggests that international manufacturing will grow. Among other concerns, the difficulty of producing high quality in some countries suggests that it is critical that companies using international locations for manufacturing find methods to better monitor and improve quality. The purpose of this research was to develop and test a method for quality improvement in an offshore environment. This method would be specifically applicable to a third-party logistics company (3PL), where the 3PL is a United States company that brokers manufacturing in China, networks to multiple …


Robust Parameterization Schema For Cax Master Models, Courtney L. Berglund Mar 2008

Robust Parameterization Schema For Cax Master Models, Courtney L. Berglund

Theses and Dissertations

Today's engineering companies rely heavily on an engineer's ability to use computers to analyze and optimize designs. With this use of computers in the design process, products undergo multiple design iterations between preliminary concept and final form. This in turn results in Computer Aided Design (CAD) models being passed from one discipline to the next. In attempts to keep consistency within the design process, an industry wide shift towards the use of CAD master models is taking place. With this change to master models, manufacturing and engineering development companies are attempting to more fully employ the use of parametrics in …


Satisficing Theory And Non-Cooperative Games, Matthew S. Nokleby Mar 2008

Satisficing Theory And Non-Cooperative Games, Matthew S. Nokleby

Theses and Dissertations

Satisficing game theory is an alternative to traditional non-cooperative game theory which offers increased flexibility in modeling players' social interactions. However, satisficing players with conflicting attitudes may implement dysfunctional behaviors, leading to poor performance. In this thesis, we present two attempts to "bridge the gap" between satisficing and non-cooperative game theory. First, we present an evolutionary method by which players adapt their attitudes to increase raw payoff, allowing players to overcome dysfunction. We extend the Nash equilibrium concept to satisficing games, showing that the evolutionary method presented leads the players toward an equilibrium in their attitudes. Second, we introduce the …


Real-Time Forward Urban Environment Perception For An Autonomous Ground Vehicle Using Computer Vision And Lidar, Christopher Richard Greco Mar 2008

Real-Time Forward Urban Environment Perception For An Autonomous Ground Vehicle Using Computer Vision And Lidar, Christopher Richard Greco

Theses and Dissertations

The field of autonomous vehicle research is growing rapidly. The Congressional mandate for the military to use unmanned vehicles has, in large part, sparked this growth. In conjunction with this mandate, DARPA sponsored the Urban Challenge, a competition to create fully autonomous vehicles that can operate in urban settings. An extremely important feature of autonomous vehicles, especially in urban locations, is their ability to perceive their environment. The research presented in this thesis is directed toward providing an autonomous vehicle with real-time data that efficiently and compactly represents its forward environment as it navigates an urban area. The information extracted …


Evaluation Of The Applicability Of The Interactive Highway Safety Design Model To Safety Audit Of Two-Lane Rural Highways, Kaitlin Chuo Mar 2008

Evaluation Of The Applicability Of The Interactive Highway Safety Design Model To Safety Audit Of Two-Lane Rural Highways, Kaitlin Chuo

Theses and Dissertations

The Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) is a suite of software developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for monitoring and analyzing two-lane rural highways in the United States. As IHSDM is a fairly "young" program a limited amount of research has been conducted to evaluate its practicability and reliability. To determine if IHSDM can be adopted into the engineering decision making process in Utah, a study was conducted under the supervision of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to evaluate its applicability to audit safety of two-lane rural highways in Utah. IHSDM consists of six modules: Policy Review …


Wind/Rain Backscatter Modeling And Wind/Rain Retrieval For Scatterometer And Synthetic Aperture Radar, Congling Nie Mar 2008

Wind/Rain Backscatter Modeling And Wind/Rain Retrieval For Scatterometer And Synthetic Aperture Radar, Congling Nie

Theses and Dissertations

Using co-located space-borne satellite (TRMM PR, ESCAT on ERS 1/2) measurements, and numerical predicted wind fields (ECMWF), the sensitivity of C-band backscatter measurement to rain is evaluated. It is demonstrated that C-band radar backscatter can be significantly altered by rain surface perturbation, an effect that has been previously neglected. A low-order wind/rain backscatter model is developed that has inputs of surface rain rate, incidence angle, wind speed, wind direction, and azimuth angle. The wind/rain backscatter model is accurate enough for describing the total backscatter in raining areas with relatively low variance. Rain has a more significant impact on measurements at …


Experimental Analysis Of A Wideband Adaptive-Mimo Antenna, Michael A. Jensen Mar 2008

Experimental Analysis Of A Wideband Adaptive-Mimo Antenna, Michael A. Jensen

Faculty Publications

An experimental measurement campaign to investigate the wideband performance of an adaptive multiple-input multiple-output (AdaM) antenna consisting of two active and six parasitic antenna elements. The measurements are conducted over a 30 MHz bandwidth at a center frequency of 2.55 GHz and in a variety of locations in an indoor environment. The system uses a traditional two-element array at the transmitter and either a two-element traditional array or the AdaM antenna at the receiver. The results show that compared to the traditional array, the AdaM receive antenna can achieve the same throughput with an average power reduction of 2.7 dB …


Achieving Complex Motion With Fundamental Components For Lamina Emergent Mechanisms, Brian Geoffrey Winder Mar 2008

Achieving Complex Motion With Fundamental Components For Lamina Emergent Mechanisms, Brian Geoffrey Winder

Theses and Dissertations

Designing mechanical products in a competitive environment can present unique challenges, and designers constantly search for innovative ways to increase efficiency. One way to save space and reduce cost is to use ortho-planar compliant mechanisms which can be made from sheets of material, or lamina emergent mechanisms (LEMs). This thesis presents principles which can be used for designing LEMs. Pop-up paper mechanisms use topologies similar to LEMs, so it is advantageous to study their kinematics. This thesis outlines the use of planar and spherical kinematics to model commonly used pop-up paper mechanisms. A survey of common joint types is given, …


Capacity Of The Continuous-Space Electromagnetic Channel, Michael A. Jensen, Jon W. Wallace Mar 2008

Capacity Of The Continuous-Space Electromagnetic Channel, Michael A. Jensen, Jon W. Wallace

Faculty Publications

Constructing the capacity bound of a multiple-input multiple-output wireless system is often performed by assuming specified antenna configurations and a propagation environment and determining the signaling strategy which maximizes throughput. This paper extends this approach to further determine the optimal antenna characteristics which maximize the capacity for the propagation scenario, with the resulting capacity bound representing the ultimate maximum achievable value if optimal antenna design and signaling are used. In this approach, the spatially-continuous transmit currents and receive fields are represented using eigenfunctions of appropriate operators. It is shown that, except under certain conditions where array supergain solutions emerge, the …


Fundamental Components For Lamina Emergent Mechanisms, Joseph O. Jacobsen Feb 2008

Fundamental Components For Lamina Emergent Mechanisms, Joseph O. Jacobsen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces lamina emergent mechanisms (LEMs) and presents components that can be used as building blocks to create LEMs capable of more complex motion. As the name suggests, lamina emergent mechanisms are fabricated out of planar materials (the lamina) but their motion is out of that plane (emergent). Lamina emergent mechanisms can provide benefits that include reduced manufacturing costs and minimal volume when in the planar state. The compact initial state of LEMs is beneficial in reducing shipping costs, especially in volume critical applications. LEMs also exhibit the potential benefits of compliant mechanisms, namely increased precision, reduced weight, reduced …


Throughput Constrained And Area Optimized Dataflow Synthesis For Fpgas, Hua Sun Feb 2008

Throughput Constrained And Area Optimized Dataflow Synthesis For Fpgas, Hua Sun

Theses and Dissertations

Although high-level synthesis has been researched for many years, synthesizing minimum hardware implementations under a throughput constraint for computationally intensive algorithms remains a challenge. In this thesis, three important techniques are studied carefully and applied in an integrated way to meet this challenging synthesis requirement. The first is pipeline scheduling, which generates a pipelined schedule that meets the throughput requirement. The second is module selection, which decides the most appropriate circuit module for each operation. The third is resource sharing, which reuses a circuit module by sharing it between multiple operations. This work shows that combining module selection and resource …


Observations Of Piezoresistivity For Polysilicon In Bending That Are Unexplained By Linear Models, Tyler L. Waterfall, Gary K. Johns, Robert K. Messenger, Brian D. Jensen, Timothy W. Mclain, Larry L. Howell Feb 2008

Observations Of Piezoresistivity For Polysilicon In Bending That Are Unexplained By Linear Models, Tyler L. Waterfall, Gary K. Johns, Robert K. Messenger, Brian D. Jensen, Timothy W. Mclain, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Compliant piezoresistive MEMS sensors exhibit great promise for improved on-chip sensing. As compliant sensors may experience complex loads, their design and implementation require a greater understanding of the piezoresistive effect of polysilicon in bending and combined loads. This paper presents experimental results showing the piezoresistive effect for these complex loads. Several n-type polysilicon test structures, fabricated in MUMPs and SUMMiT processes, were tested. Results show that, while tensile stresses cause a linear decrease in resistance, bending stresses induce a nonlinear rise in resistance, contrary to the effect predicted by linear models. In addition, tensile, compressive, and bending loads combine in …


Characterizing The Three-Dimensional Behavior Of Bistable Micromechanisms, Brian B. Cherry Feb 2008

Characterizing The Three-Dimensional Behavior Of Bistable Micromechanisms, Brian B. Cherry

Theses and Dissertations

Compliant bistable micromechanisms have been proposed for use in applications such as switches, relays, shutters, and sensing arrays. Unpublished laboratory testing suggests that off-axis forces may affect the bistable nature of fully compliant bistable micromechanisms (FCBMs). The actuation forces required to snap the FCBM from one stable equilibrium position to another can be altered if the off-axis forces are applied to the mechanism during transition between stable positions. Understanding the three-dimensional characteristics of these mechanisms and the effect of eccentric loading conditions would be helpful in design and analysis of FCBMs. Two 3-D FEA models were developed for analysis and …


A Model For Predicting The Piezoresistive Effect In Microflexures Experiencing Bending And Tension Loads, Gary K. Johns, Larry L. Howell, Brian D. Jensen, Timothy W. Mclain Feb 2008

A Model For Predicting The Piezoresistive Effect In Microflexures Experiencing Bending And Tension Loads, Gary K. Johns, Larry L. Howell, Brian D. Jensen, Timothy W. Mclain

Faculty Publications

This paper proposes a model for predicting the piezoresistive effect in microflexures experiencing bending stresses. Linear models have long existed for describing piezoresistivity for members in pure tension and compression. However, extensions of linear models to more complex loading conditions do not match with experimental results. A second-order model to predict piezoresistive effects in tension, compression, and more complex loading conditions is proposed. A reduced form of the general second-order model is presented for thin flexures in bending. A three-step approach is used to determine the piezoresistive coefficients for this reduced-form model. The approach is demonstrated for two sets of …


Path Planning For Unmanned Air And Ground Vehicles In Urban Environments, Andrew B. Curtis Feb 2008

Path Planning For Unmanned Air And Ground Vehicles In Urban Environments, Andrew B. Curtis

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned vehicle systems, specifically unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), have become a popular research topic. This thesis discusses the potential of a UAV-UGV system used to track a human moving through complex urban terrain. This research focuses on path planning problems for both a UAV and a UGV, and presents effective solutions for both problems. In the UAV path planning problem, we desire to plan a path for a miniature fixed-wing UAV to fly through known urban terrain without colliding with any buildings. We present the Waypoint RRT (WRRT) algorithm, which accounts for UAV dynamics while …


Electromagnetic Considerations For Communicating On Correlated Mimo Channels With Covariance Information, Michael A. Jensen, Jon W. Wallace Feb 2008

Electromagnetic Considerations For Communicating On Correlated Mimo Channels With Covariance Information, Michael A. Jensen, Jon W. Wallace

Faculty Publications

Previous results for correlated block-fading MIMO channels with covariance information indicate guaranteed capacity growth with additional transmit elements and that in rapidly fading channels, vanishing element spacing maximizes capacity. However, because prior analysis neglects antenna electromagnetic coupling, the observations are not necessarily valid for small inter-element spacing. This work applies radiated power considerations to the analysis to demonstrate that additional elements do not always increase capacity and that vanishing element spacing is not optimal. An effective gain metric is introduced that quantifies the performance increase with additional transmitters in the presence of transmit correlation and mutual coupling. Performance simulations using …


Stokes Antenna Temperatures, David G. Long, Jeffrey R. Piepmeier, Eni G. Njoku Feb 2008

Stokes Antenna Temperatures, David G. Long, Jeffrey R. Piepmeier, Eni G. Njoku

Faculty Publications

The growing importance of polarimetric radiometers has led to the need for a detailed theory for Stokes antenna temperatures. In this paper, we provide a full Stokes vector formulation of an antenna temperature that accounts for the entire antenna pattern, which includes polarization mixing in the main-beam and sidelobe effects. To derive the Stokes antenna temperatures, we follow the conventional methods in the Earth remote sensing literature while relying on a coherency algebra approach from radio astronomy. Connections and parallels to the conventional approaches are noted along the way. We also introduce generalizations of beam efficiency and cross polarization for …


Mpsa Effects On Copper Electrodeposition Investigated By Molecular Dynamics Simulations, John N. Harb, Richard L. Rowley, Dean R. Wheeler, Clint G. Guymon Jan 2008

Mpsa Effects On Copper Electrodeposition Investigated By Molecular Dynamics Simulations, John N. Harb, Richard L. Rowley, Dean R. Wheeler, Clint G. Guymon

Faculty Publications

In superconformal filling of copper-chip interconnects, organic additives are used to fill high-aspect-ratio trenches or vias from the bottom up. In this study we report on the development of intermolecular potentials and use molecular dynamics simulation.


Expanded Mathematical Treatment For "Spectral Bias In Adaptive Beamforming With Narrowband Interference'', Brian D. Jeffs, Karl F. Warnick Jan 2008

Expanded Mathematical Treatment For "Spectral Bias In Adaptive Beamforming With Narrowband Interference'', Brian D. Jeffs, Karl F. Warnick

Faculty Publications

This technical note presents extended versions of some mathematical derivations found in the paper Spectral Bias in Adaptive Beamforming with Narrowband Interference which is under review for publication in IEEE Signal Processing Letters. Though the SP Letters paper is self contained and complete, this note provides intermediate steps for some of the equation derivations to assist the interested readers who would like to re-create the results.


Sedimentological And Biological Analyses On Hobble Creek Prior To Restoration, Jaron Michael Brown Jan 2008

Sedimentological And Biological Analyses On Hobble Creek Prior To Restoration, Jaron Michael Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Hobble Creek is one of several inflowing streams and rivers into Utah Lake, Utah, USA. Historically, June sucker (Chasmistes liorus), a federally listed endemic fish, spawned up all the major inflowing streams and rivers but is now limited to just the Provo River. The State of Utah has recently proposed restoring the lower reaches of Hobble Creek for additional spawning and rearing needs. This restoration effort will likely involve removal of migration barriers, re-aligning the stream, and removing existing levees that prevent floodplain access. These changes have raised several questions that this study aims to answer. First, what are the …


Air-Trench Splitters For Ultra-Compact Ring Resonators In Low Refractive Index Contrast Waveguides, Seunghyun Kim, Gregory P. Nordin, Yongbin Lin, Nazli Rahmanian Jan 2008

Air-Trench Splitters For Ultra-Compact Ring Resonators In Low Refractive Index Contrast Waveguides, Seunghyun Kim, Gregory P. Nordin, Yongbin Lin, Nazli Rahmanian

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate air-trench splitters in low index contrast perfluorocyclobutyl (PFCB) waveguides. Splitters are fabricated by etching 800 nm wide high aspect ratio (18:1) trenches. The measured optical loss is 0.4 dB/splitter. The reflection/transmission splitting ratio is 0.859/0.141, which closely matches two-dimensional finite difference time domain (2DFDTD) simulation results. Air-trench splitters and bends are used to demonstrate an ultra-compact ring resonator (RR) with a size reduction of 1,700 compared to a RR based on traditional curved waveguides in the same material system. A comparison between the RR’s measured and analytically calculated performance shows close agreement when splitter and bend losses are …


Evolution Of Surface Deposits On A High-Pressure Turbine Blade—Part I: Physical Characteristics, James Edward Wammack, Jared M. Crosby, Daniel Fletcher, Jeffrey P. Bons, Thomas H. Fletcher Jan 2008

Evolution Of Surface Deposits On A High-Pressure Turbine Blade—Part I: Physical Characteristics, James Edward Wammack, Jared M. Crosby, Daniel Fletcher, Jeffrey P. Bons, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Turbine blade coupons with three different surface treatments were exposed to deposition conditions in an accelerated deposition facility. The facility simulates the flow conditions at the inlet to a first stage high-pressure turbine (T=1150 C, M=0.31). The combustor exit flow is seeded with dust particulate that would typically be ingested by a large utility power plant. The three coupon surface treatments included: (1) bare polished metal; (2) polished thermal barrier coating with bondcoat; and (3) unpolished oxidation resistant bondcoat. Each coupon was subjected to four successive 2 h deposition tests. The particulate loading was scaled to simulate 0.02 parts per …


Effects Of Temperature And Particle Size On Deposition In Land Based Turbines, Jared M. Crosby, Scott Lewis, Jeffrey P. Bons, Weiguo Ai, Thomas H. Fletcher Jan 2008

Effects Of Temperature And Particle Size On Deposition In Land Based Turbines, Jared M. Crosby, Scott Lewis, Jeffrey P. Bons, Weiguo Ai, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Four series of tests were performed in an accelerated deposition test facility to study the independent effects of particle size, gas temperature, and metal temperature on ash deposits from two candidate power turbine synfuels (coal and petcoke). The facility matches the gas temperature and velocity of modern first stage high pressure turbine vanes while accelerating the deposition process. Particle size was found to have a significant effect on capture efficiency with larger particles causing significant thermal barrier coating (TBC) spallation during a 4 h accelerated test. In the second series of tests, particle deposition rate was found to decrease with …


Evolution Of Surface Deposits On A High-Pressure Turbine Blade—Part Ii: Convective Heat Transfer, Jeffrey P. Bons, James Edward Wammack, Jared M. Crosby, Daniel Fletcher, Thomas H. Fletcher Jan 2008

Evolution Of Surface Deposits On A High-Pressure Turbine Blade—Part Ii: Convective Heat Transfer, Jeffrey P. Bons, James Edward Wammack, Jared M. Crosby, Daniel Fletcher, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

A thermal barrier coating (TBC)-coated turbine blade coupon was exposed to successive deposition in an accelerated deposition facility simulating flow conditions at the inlet to a first stage high pressure turbine (T=1150 C, M=0.31). The combustor exit flow was seeded with dust particulate that would typically be ingested by a large utility power plant. The turbine coupon was subjected to four successive 2 h deposition tests. The particulate loading was scaled to simulate 0.02 parts per million weight (ppmw) of particulate over 3 months of continuous gas turbine operation for each 2 h laboratory simulation (for a cumulative 1 year …


Socially Rational Models For Autonomous Agents, Wynn C. Stirling, James K. Archibald, Matthew S. Nokleby Jan 2008

Socially Rational Models For Autonomous Agents, Wynn C. Stirling, James K. Archibald, Matthew S. Nokleby

Faculty Publications

Autonomous multi-agent systems that are to coordinate must be designed according to models that accommodate such complex social behavior as compromise, negotiation, and altruism. In contrast to individually rational models, where each agent seeks to maximize its own welfare without regard for others, socially rational agents have interests beyond themselves. Such models require a new type of utility function a social utility to ensure three desirable properties: (a) conditional preferences agents may adjust their preferences to account for the preferences of others; (b) endogeny group preferences are determined internally by interactions between individual agents; (c) framing invariance reformulations of the …


Reduced Order Modeling Of Time-Dependent Reflectance Profiles From Purely Scattering Media, R. Scott Larson, Matthew R. Jones Jan 2008

Reduced Order Modeling Of Time-Dependent Reflectance Profiles From Purely Scattering Media, R. Scott Larson, Matthew R. Jones

Faculty Publications

Due to the widespread existence and importance of foam, inverse techniques for characterizing industrial foams are of interest. An essential element in an inverse method used to characterize a foam layer is a model of the time-dependent reflectance of a laser pulse. Monte Carlo methods may be used to accurately model reflectance, but these methods are computationally expensive. Computationally efficient methods based on the diffusion approximation have been developed, but this approach is not sufficiently accurate in many cases of interest. Therefore, a computationally efficient and robust method is desirable. This paper presents a computationally efficient method for modeling the …


Characteristics Of Black Liquor Sprays From Gas-Assisted Atomizers In Hightemperature Environments, Andrew J. Mackrory, Dale Tree, Larry L. Baxter Jan 2008

Characteristics Of Black Liquor Sprays From Gas-Assisted Atomizers In Hightemperature Environments, Andrew J. Mackrory, Dale Tree, Larry L. Baxter

Faculty Publications

Black liquor droplets in an entrained-flow gasifier that are too large or too small can cause problems in the chemical recovery process. It is therefore important in gasifier design to understand the nature of the atomized-gas spray. We used high-speed imaging to study black liquor sprays in cold and hot environments. Significant conclusions are that: 1. the droplet size distribution width is linked to the mean droplet size as for other sprays in the literature, necessitating a gasifier design that is tolerant of the distribution width associated with the target droplet size; 2. the shape of black liquor droplets is …


Incorporating Grain Size Effects In Taylor Crystal Plasticity, Bradley S. Fromm Dec 2007

Incorporating Grain Size Effects In Taylor Crystal Plasticity, Bradley S. Fromm

Theses and Dissertations

A method to incorporate grain size effects into crystal plasticity is presented. The classical Hall-Petch equation inaccurately predicts the macroscopic yield strength for materials with non-equiaxed grains or materials that contain unequal grain size distributions. These deficiencies can be overcome by incorporating both grain size and orientation characteristics into crystal plasticity theory. Homogenization relationships based on a viscoplastic Taylor-like approach are introduced along with a new function, the grain size and orientation distribution function (GSODF). Estimates of the GSODF for high purity α-titanium are recovered through orientation imaging microscopy coupled with the chord length distribution. A comparison between the new …


Bio-Surfaces And Geometric References For A Standardized Biomechanical Design Methodology For Mass Customization, Kimberly A. Jensen Dec 2007

Bio-Surfaces And Geometric References For A Standardized Biomechanical Design Methodology For Mass Customization, Kimberly A. Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a method for the design of customizable products that interface with the human body. The method presented involves first, a consistent method of capturing and representing the human model so that the model can be used with CAx tools and solid modeling techniques. Second, it provides a design methodology based on feature structure planning and assembly modeling that provides a consistent structure to the design process so that it can be reused and parameterized. Third, a strategy for identifying parametric variables that are referenced to the human body is introduced. The core of this method is the …


Reducing Curvature In Complex Tool Paths By Deviating From Cam-Produced Tool Paths Within A Tolerance Band, George Benjamin Naseath Dec 2007

Reducing Curvature In Complex Tool Paths By Deviating From Cam-Produced Tool Paths Within A Tolerance Band, George Benjamin Naseath

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops an algorithm to decrease high-curvature sections in tool paths for complex parts to achieve shorter machining times resulting in higher production rates. In the research sample cases, the algorithm decreased machining times by 1% to 9% for design-induced sections of high curvature and by 16% to 75% for CAM induced ripples using high path tolerances. High-curvature sections in tool paths are caused by complex part geometry, noise, and discontinuities in the model. The curvature is decreased by deviating the tool path within an allowable path tolerance. The feedrate along the tool path is directly related to the …