Engineering Commons^™

Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Training: A Pilot Study In Blended Learning, Zachary P. Waller, Thomas Petros, John Bridewell, Scott Kroeber, Neil Nowatzki

Aviation Faculty Publications

Since April of 2011, research and development efforts between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the University of North Dakota (UND) have progressed through the “Science and Technology for Warfighter Training and Aiding.” Cooperative Agreement. One product of these cooperative efforts has been a Heads Down Display (HDD) Menu Trainer. Designed to familiarize students with the layout and manipulation of the HDD menus for either the MQ-1 or MQ-9, a parallel pretest/posttest design was designed to examine the efficacy of this HDD menu trainer as training aid in traditional, blended, and distance pedagogies.

Results of a mixed ANOVA indicated …

Enhancing Mobile Cloud Computing Security Using Steganography, Hassan Reza, Madhuri Sonawane

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Cloud computing is an emerging and popular method of accessing shared and dynamically configurable resources via the computer network on demand. Cloud computing is excessively used by mobile applications to offload data over the network to the cloud. There are some security and privacy concerns using both mobile devices to offload data to the facilities provided by the cloud providers. One of the critical threats facing cloud users is the unauthorized access by the insiders (cloud administrators) or the justification of location where the cloud providers operating. Although, there exist variety of security mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access by unauthorized …

Fugitive Emissions, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about fugitive emissions, their causes, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods of detection and regulation.

Maximizing Orc Performance With Optimal Match Of Working Fluid With System Design, Kirtipal Barse, Michael Mann

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

This article compares constrained system design to non-constrained system design for the basic Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The 12 working fluids studied include eight dry-type, three isentropic, and one wet-type fluids. The ORC model was developed using Aspen HYSYS® and validated with data obtained from the literature. The constrained design compared the performance of working fluids for a fixed heat exchanger and turbine configuration. A non-constrained design was studied by altering the design specifications for the heat exchangers and turbine to match the working fluid. An energy and exergy analysis was performed using first and second law efficiency. The exergy …

The Bakken Goes Boom: Oil And The Changing Geographies Of Western North Dakota, William Caraher, Kyle Conway

Digital Press Books

In 2008, the Bakken went boom. Thanks to advances in hydraulic fracturing, oil production in western North Dakota exploded. As the price of oil went up, so did the oil rigs. People came from all over the country (and the world) in search of work, and cities and towns struggled to keep up. This book is about the challenges they faced. It is about the human dimensions of the boom, as told by artists, poets, journalists, and scholars. It captures the boom at its peak, before the price of oil fell and the boom went bust.

This is the only …

Resonant Inductive Coupling As A Potential Means For Wireless Power Transfer To Printed Spiral Coil, Mohammad Haerinia, Ebrahim S. Afjei

Electrical Engineering Student Publications

This paper proposes an inductive coupled wireless power transfer system that analyses the relationship between induced voltage and distance of resonating inductance in a printed circuit spiral coils. The resonant frequency produced by the circuit model of the proposed receiving and transmitting coils are analysed by simulation and laboratory experiment. The outcome of the two results are compared to verify the validity of the proposed inductive coupling system. Experimental measurements are consistent with simulations over a range of frequencies spanning the resonance.

Electromagnetic Analysis Of Different Geometry Of Transmitting Coils For Wireless Power Transmission Applications, Mohammad Haerinia, Ali Mosallanejad, Ebrahim S. Afjei

Electrical Engineering Student Publications

No abstract provided.

An Experimental Investigation Of Microalgal Dewatering Efficiency Of Belt Filter System, Anjali Sandip, Val H. Smith, Terry N. Faddis

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to investigate the microalgal dewatering efficiency of a belt filter system for feed concentrations below 10 g dry wt./L. A prototype belt filtration system designed for 50 g dry wt./L microalgal feed concentration was used for this investigation. The highest concentration of microalgal suspension available for testing on the prototype belt filtration system was 6 g dry wt./L obtained from biomass settling tanks at the Lawrence, Kansas domestic wastewater treatment plant. For preparation of feed suspension with concentrations below 10 g dry wt./L, microalgal cultivation was followed by flocculation. A mixed laboratory culture of …

A Regional Vision For Resource Management And Stewardship, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Brochure describing the Energy & Environmental Research Center’s (EERC’s) energy research and partnerships that establish sustainable energy development for North Dakota’s future.

Reactive Motions In A Fully Autonomous Crs Catalyst 5 Robotic Arm Based On Rgbd Data, Arad Haselirad

Theses and Dissertations

This study proposes a method to perform velocity estimation using motion blur in a single image frame along x and y axes in the camera coordinate system and intercept a moving object with a robotic arm. It will be shown that velocity estimation in a single image frame improves the system's performance. The majority of previous studies in this area require at least two image frames to measure the target's velocity. In addition, they mostly employ specialized equipments which are able to generate high torques and accelerations.

The setup consists of a 5 degree of freedom robotic arm and a …

Bio-Fuel Alternatives In South African Airways (Saa) Operations - Is It An Effective Response To Vulnerability Over Carbon Taxes And Penalty?, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum

Aviation Faculty Publications

The paper did a comparative analysis of the carbon emission and European Union Emission Trading Surcharges (EU ETS) of South African Airways (SAA) current fleet that used aviation jet A1 fuel and the same fleet if it had used a 25% bio-fuel ‘drop in’ for the European routes within the first quarter of the 2014 flying year (FY 14). Operational data in terms of the flight scheduled, aircraft type, total time enroute, route stage length, passenger estimates were obtained through SAA’s flight operations website. An independent t–test was conducted to compare means of the emissions. The mean carbon dioxide …

A Blackboard-Style Decision-Making System For Multi-Tier Craft Control And Its Evaluation, Jeremy Straub, Hassan Reza

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This article presents an approach for decision-making in support of the control of an autonomous system of multiple tiers of robots (e.g., satellite, aerial and ground) based on the Blackboard architectural style. Under the proposed approach, the system evaluates prospective approaches for goal satisfaction (identified by user selected final rules), identifies the lowest-cost solution and determines the best path to achieving the goal, via the analysis of the Blackboard rule and action set. Two different approaches to this rule and action path generation are discussed. This article presents the proposed Blackboard-style architecture for autonomous multi-tier control and describes its implementation. …

Five Factor Model Personality Profiles Of University Of North Dakota Unmanned Aircraft Systems Students, Zachary P. Waller

Aviation Faculty Publications

Efforts to quantify personality characteristics in the pilots of manned aircraft extend back for decades. For individuals interested in piloting Unmanned Aircraft, similar analysis of normative personality characteristics remains relatively unexplored. This research examined the Five Factor Model (FFM) personality profiles of individuals pursuing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) studies at the University of North Dakota (UND). Using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) general personality index, the responses of a UAS Student sample (n=65) were compared to a Normative sample (n=248) previously collected by Petros (2013). The sample group, comprised of students with either Pre UAS Operations or UAS Operations declared …

Development Of A High Performance Mosaicing And Super-Resolution Algorithm, Debabrata Ghosh

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, a high-performance mosaicing and super-resolution algorithm is described. The scale invariant feature transform (SIFT)-based mosaicing algorithm builds an initial mosaic which is iteratively updated by the robust super resolution algorithm to achieve the final high-resolution mosaic. Two different types of datasets are used for testing: high altitude balloon data and unmanned aerial vehicle data. To evaluate our algorithm, five performance metrics are employed: mean square error, peak signal to noise ratio, singular value decomposition, slope of reciprocal singular value curve, and cumulative probability of blur detection. Extensive testing shows that the proposed algorithm is effective in improving …

Mapping Aadl To Petri Net Tool-Sets Using Pnml Framework, Hassan Reza, Amrita Chatterjee

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL) has been utilized to specify and verify non- functional properties of Real-Time Embedded Systems (RTES) used in critical application systems. Examples of such critical application systems include medical devices, nuclear power plants, aer- ospace, financial, etc. Using AADL, an engineer is enable to analyze the quality of a system. For example, a developer can perform performance analysis such as end-to-end flow analysis to guarantee that system components have the required resources to meet the timing requirements relevant to their communications. The critical issue related to developing and deploying safety critical systems is how to …

The Use Of The Blackboard Architecture For A Decision Making System For The Control Of Craft With Various Actuator And Movement Capabilities, Jeremy Straub, Hassan Reza

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper provides an overview of an approach to the control of multiple craft with heterogeneous movement and actuation characteristics that is based on the Blackboard software architecture. An overview of the Blackboard architecture is provided. Then, the operational and mission requirements that dictate the need for autonomous control are characterized and the utility of the Blackboard architecture is for meeting these requirements is discussed. The performance of a best-path solver and naïve solver are compared. The results demonstrate that the best-path solver outperforms the naïve solver in the amount of time taken to generate a solution, however, the number …

High Fidelity Chemistry And Radiation Modeling For Oxy-Combustion Scenarios, Hassan A. Abdul Sater

Theses and Dissertations

To account for the thermal and chemical effects associated with the high CO₂ concentrations in an oxy-combustion atmosphere, several refined gas-phase chemistry and radiative property models have been formulated for laminar to highly turbulent systems. This thesis examines the accuracies of several chemistry and radiative property models employed in computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of laminar to transitional oxy-methane diffusion flames by comparing their predictions against experimental data. Literature review about chemistry and radiation modeling in oxy-combustion atmospheres considered turbulent systems where the predictions are impacted by the interplay and accuracies of the turbulence, radiation and chemistry models. Thus, …

A Review Of P300, Ssvep, And Hybrid P300/Ssvep Brain-Computer Interface Systems, Reza Fazel-Rezai, Setare Amiri, Ahmed Rabbi, Leila Azinfar

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Transient Liquid Phase Bonding Of Titanium-, Iron- And Nickel- Based Alloys, A. H. M. Esfakur Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

The operating temperature of land-based gas turbines and jet engines are ever-increasing to increase the efficiency, decrease the emissions and minimize the cost. Within the engines, complex-shaped parts experience extreme temperature, fatigue and corrosion conditions. Ti-based, Ni-based and Fe-based alloys are commonly used in gas turbines and jet engines depending on the temperatures of different sections. Although those alloys have superior mechanical, high temperature and corrosion properties, severe operating conditions cause fast degradation and failure of the components. Repair of these components could reduce lifecycle costs. Unfortunately, conventional fusion welding is not very attractive, because Ti reacts very easily with …

Study Of The Effects Of Changing Physiological Conditions On Dielectric Properties Of Breast Tissues, Abas Sabouni, Camerin Hahn, Sima Noghanian, Edward Sauter, Tim Weiland

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper addresses the changes in the physical characteristics (temperature and water/blood content) of breast tissue under different physiological conditions. We examined ex vivo specimens of breast tissue excised at the time of surgery to study the effects of physiological conditions on dielectric properties. We observed that the dielectric properties strongly depend on tissue physiological state. When the biological tissues undergo physiological changes, such as those due to disease or those induced by external changes such as variations in the environmental temperature, the microscopic processes deviate from their normal state and impact the overall dielectric properties. This suggests that microwave …

Mechanical Characterization Of Composite Repairs For Fiber-Glass Wind Turbine Blades, Tanveer Singh Chawla

Theses and Dissertations

While in service, wind turbine blades experience various modes of loading. An example is impact loading in the form of hail or bird strikes, which might lead to localized damage or formation of cracks a few plies deep on the blade surface. One of the methods to conduct repairs on wind turbine blades that are damaged while in service is hand lay-up of the repair part after grinding out the damaged portion and some of its surrounding area. The resin used for such repairs usually differs from the parent plate resin in composition and properties such as gel time, viscosity, …

Biomedical Signal Transceivers, Reza Fazel-Rezai, Noah Root, Ahmed Rabbi, Duckhee Lee, Waqas Ahmad

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

With the growing costs of healthcare, the need for mobile health monitoring devices is critical. A wireless transceiver provides a cost effective way to transmit biomedical signals to the various personal electronic devices, such as computers, cellular devices, and other mobile devices. Different kinds of biomedical signals can be processed and transmitted by these devices, including electroencephalograph (EEG), electrocardiograph (ECG), and electromyography (EMG). By utilizing wireless transmission, the user gains freedom to connect with fewer constraints to their personal devices to view and monitor their health condition.

In this chapter, in the first few sections, we will introduce the reader …

Semi-Deterministic Single Interaction Mimo Channel Model, Arghavan Emami-Forooshani, Sima Noghanian

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

In this chapter a mathematical model to characterize wireless communication channel is developed which falls into semi-deterministic channel models. This model is based on electromagnetic scattering and reflecting and fundamental physics however it has been kept simple through appropriate assumptions.

P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface Paradigm Design, Reza Fazel-Rezai, Waqas Ahmad

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

System Development And Integration Of An Airborne Laser Communications Payload For Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Mariusz Czarnomski

Theses and Dissertations

Free space laser communications provides wide bandwidth and high security capabilities to Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in order to successfully accomplish Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (IST AR) missions. A practical implementation of a laser-based video communications payload flown by a small U AS aircraft is described as a proof-of-concept. The two-axis gimbal pointing control algorithm calculates the line-of-sight vector in real-time by using Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) information gathered from the UAS vehicle's autopilot so that the laser transmitter in the airborne payload can accurately track a ground-based photodiode array receiver with …

Hydrogen Separation Membranes, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Technical brief describing hydrogen separation membranes and their potential to reduce cost of hydrogen production and CO₂ separation. Outlines membrane types, commercially available membranes, and new technological developments.

P300-Based Speller Brain-Computer Interface, Reza Fazel-Rezai

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

National Center For Hydrogen Technology, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Brochure about the Energy & Environmental Research Center's (EERC's) National Center for Hydrogen Technology (NCHT). Includes its role in developing technologies that produce and utilize hydrogen.

Development Of A Slide-Rolling Contact Fatigue Tester, Gregory T. Dvorak

Theses and Dissertations

Contact fatigue failure is a common problem experienced in many applications such as bearings, gears and railway tracks. In recent years, research companies have developed finishing processes which aim to improve a component's contact fatigue life. One such process has been patented by REM Chemicals in Texas. Preliminary contact fatigue tests have shown that this superfinishing process could potentially improve a component’s contact fatigue life by 300%. Before this technology can move from the laboratory to an industrial platform, more tests are needed to verify the claim. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no standard process or test machine …

Information Technology Systems And Services, Doris Bornhoeft

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.