Engineering Commons^™

Upel Presents Paper At Compel 2014 | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

UPEL Student, Warren Chen, published a paper at COMPEL this year, the annual conference for Control and Modeling for Power Electronics. The paper, titled "Isolated bidirectional DC/AC and AC/DC three-phase power conversion using series resonant converter modules and a three-phase unfolder", highlights recent research with a Dual Active-Bridge Resonant Power converter. The converter, paired with a three-phase unfolder is able to achieve low AC THD without the need for a bulky LC filter, instead using the large bandwidth of the converter.

Side-Stepping The Politics: Cooperative Programs, James Marshall, Garry Schnelzer

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

SDL Presentation on International Cooperative Programs

Model-Based 3d Sar Reconstruction, Chad Knight, Jake Gunther, Todd Moon

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Three dimensional scene reconstruction with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is desirable for target recognition and improved scene interpretability. The vertical aperture, which is critical to reconstruct 3D SAR scenes, is almost always sparsely sampled due to practical limitations, which creates an underdetermined problem. This papers explores 3D scene reconstruction using a convex model-based approach. The approach developed is demonstrated on 3D scenes, but can be extended to SAR reconstruction of sparsely sampled signals in the spatial and, or, frequency domains. The model-based approach enables knowledge-aided image formation (KAIF) by incorporating spatial, aspect, and sparsity magnitude terms into the image reconstruction. …

How To Utilize Relevance Vectors To Collect Required Data For Modeling Water Quality Constitu-Ents, And Fine Sediment In Natural Systems? Case Study: Mud Lake, Idaho, Hussein Aly Batt, David King Stevens

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The development of monitoring programs for water quality and habitat assessment in surface waters is an ongoing challenge because of inherent difficulties in determining the effective spatial and temporal distribution of sites and trips. Recent advances in statistical learning theory, in which system characteristics are learned from data, point to the possibility of using the information content of data to shed light on monitoring results that provide sensitive and independent results. One of those techniques, multivariate relevance vector machines (MVRVM), creates as part of its algorithm subsets of a data set, called relevant vectors (RVs), that are most relevant for …

Improving The Complementary Methods To Estimate Evapotranspiration Under Diverse Climatic And Physical Conditions, Fathi Anayah, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Reliable estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is important for the purpose of water resources planning and management. Complementary methods, including complementary relationship areal evapotranspiration (CRAE), advection aridity (AA) and Granger and Gray (GG), have been used to estimate ET because these methods are simple and practical in estimating regional ET using meteorological data only. However, prior studies have found limitations in these methods especially in contrasting climates. This study aims to develop a calibration-free universal method using the complementary relationships to compute regional ET in contrasting climatic and physical conditions with meteorological data only. The proposed methodology consists of a systematic …

Fort-Nocs: Mitigating The Threat Of A Compromised Noc, Dean Michael Ancajas, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we uncover a novel and imminent threat to an emerging computing paradigm: MPSoCs built with 3rd party IP NoCs. We demonstrate that a compromised NoC (C-NoC) can enable a range of security attacks with an accomplice software component. To counteract these threats, we propose Fort-NoCs, a series of techniques that work together to provide protection from a C-NoC in an MPSoC. Fort-NoCs's foolproof protection disables covert backdoor activation, and reduces the chance of a successful side-channel attack by "clouding" the information obtained by an attacker. Compared to recently proposed techniques, Fort-NoCs offers a substantially better protection with …

Making Every Gram Count - Big Measurements From Tiny Platforms, C. S. Fish, C. M. Swenson, S. Bailey, R. Bevilacqua, T. Neilsen, A. Marchant, C. Frazier, E. Stromberg, C. Weston, M. Jeppesen, J. Sojka

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Significant advances in Earth, solar, and space physics over the next decades will originate from new, system-level observational techniques. The most promising technique to still be fully developed and exploited requires conducting multi-point or distributed constellation-based observations. This system-level observational approach is required to understand the “big picture” coupling between disparate regions such as the solar-wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, upper atmosphere, land, and ocean. However, the costs to date of these and other similar proposed constellations have been prohibitive given the traditional “large satellite” architectures and the multiple launch vehicles required for implementing the constellations.

Financially sustainable development and deployment of …

Students Compete In 1st Annual Electric Bike Race | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Students in the Electric Vehicle Lab course (ECE 6930) competed in the first annual Electric Bike Race. The students designed and built the bikes as a part of the course, and then had a race at the end of the year to see whose bike was the fastest. The Electric Vehicle Lab is the final course in a sequence of courses on Power Electronics at USU.

Predicting Streamflows In Snowmelt-Driven Watersheds Using The Flow Duration Curve Method, Daeha Kim, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Predicting streamflows in snow-fed watersheds in the Western United States is important for water allocation. Since many of these watersheds are heavily regulated through canal networks and reservoirs, predicting expected natural flows and therefore water availability under limited data is always a challenge. This study investigates the applicability of the flow duration curve (FDC) method for predicting natural flows in gauged and regulated snow-fed watersheds. Point snow observations, air temperature, precipitation, and snow water equivalent were used to simulate the snowmelt process with the SNOW-17 model, and extended to streamflow simulation using the FDC method with a modified current precipitation …

Modeling The Hydrology Of The Great Salt Lake: What Makes The Great Salt Lake Go Up And Down, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Improved Registration For 3d Image Creation Using Multiple Texel Images And Incorporating Low-Cost Gps/Ins Measurements, Scott E. Budge, Xuan Xie

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The creation of 3D imagery is an important topic in remote sensing. Several methods have been developed to create 3D images from fused ladar and digital images, known as texel images. These methods have the advantage of using both the 3D ladar information and the 2D digital imagery directly, since texel images are fused during data acquisition. A weakness of these methods is that they are dependent on correlating feature points in the digital images. This can be dicult when image perspectives are signicantly dierent, leading to low correlation values between matching feature points. This paper presents a method to …

Range Resolution Improvement Of Eyesafe Ladar Testbed (Elt) Measurements Using Sparse Signal Deconvolution, Scott E. Budge, Jacob H. Gunther

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Eyesafe Ladar Test-bed (ELT) is a experimental ladar system with the capability of digitizing return laser pulse waveforms at 2 GHz. These waveforms can then be exploited o-line in the laboratory to develop signal processing techniques for noise reduction, range resolution improvement, and range discrimination between two surfaces of similar range interrogated by a single laser pulse. This paper presents the results of experiments with new deconvolution algorithms with the hoped for gains of improving the range discrimination of the ladar system. The sparsity of ladar returns is exploited to solve the deconvolution problem in two steps. The rst …

A Review Of Steel Content Taught In U.S. University Construction Management Programs, Jeremy Miles Thompson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Throughout the rocky mountain region there are 18 universities that offer a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management (CM). Only two of those universities, Colorado State University and Brigham Young University Idaho, offer an in-depth course on the application of steel in the construction industry. The other universities offer structures courses that teach only the basics of steel in the construction industry, like how to calculate loads using steel beams and columns.

Dark Silicon Aware Multicore Systems: Employing Design Automation With Architectural Insight, Jason M. Allred, Sanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The emergence of dark silicon - a fundamental design constraint absent in past generations - brings intriguing challenges and opportunities to microprocessor design. In this brief, we demonstrate the challenges of comparing competing design styles across different technology generations in a dark silicon era. We provide a new metric to guide a dark silicon aware (DSA) system design and propose a stochastic optimization algorithm for DSA multicore system design. Our technique shows 11%-58% and 5.7-5.8 times improvement in energy efficiency for forthcoming technology generations with two multicore design styles: cores with various voltage-frequency domains and cores with heterogeneous microarchitectures. © …

Upel Students Recognized By Ece Department | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Chandler Austin and Kevin Kennedy were recently recognized by the ECE department for academic excellence.

Upel Students Awarded Best Poster At Apec 2014 | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

UPEL AMPED team published a paper, titled ‘Active balancing system for electric vehicles with incorporated low voltage bus’, at APEC, the annual conference for Applied Power Electronics and Exposition. AMPED team comprises graduate students Muhammad Muneeb, Kelly Hathaway, Post-doc researcher Michael Evzelman, and Prof. Regan Zane. The work highlights research in control of power converters associated with the battery management system (BMS) in order to improve battery pack lifetime and reduce cost and weight. This paper presented an architecture that uses modular dc-dc bypass converters to perform active battery cell balancing and to supply current to auxiliary loads, eliminating the …

Reliability Analysis For Shear In Lightweight Reinforced Concrete Bridges Using Shear Beam Database, Danile F. Jensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The objective of this report is to analyze and calibrate the reliability indices for shear in reinforced concrete bridge girders. Existing statistical models are based on limited experimental data from only a few research tests. These existing models show that our current procedures for analysis are about 10-15% less conservative for lightweight concrete compared to an analysis for normal weight concrete. Accurate load models are used to find shear and moment envelopes of loads applied to bridges. Analysis is based on different span lengths, span number and girder dimensions. Design calculations are performed using design values and loads calculated from …

The Development And Validation Of An Isokinetic Calibration System For Multiple Aerosol Instruments, Wendy Michelle Merkley

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A multi-port calibration xture for the cross calibration of aerosol point sensors has been developed. The system was designed for comparative calibrations of instruments using differing measurement methods such as optical particle counters, aerodynamic impactors, etc. Four isokinetic sampling ports are attached to a laminar ow plenum such that all four sampling ports sample identical aerosol concentrations under identical ow conditions. Correlation and correction factors are applied to each instrument creating a standard method. This standard method can be applied to inter-compare and calibrate aerosol sensing instrumentation and/or to characterize the microphysical properties of a test aerosol. The performance of …

Improving Automotive Troubleshooting Skills, Kevin C. Roner

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project gathered and analyzed data for two cohorts of students at Weber State University. The final performance exam data from the engine controls course and the Automotive Service Excellence certification results were gathered on each student from two cohorts. A skills survey was developed to determine each student’s skill level. The survey was delivered to the students and their mentor technicians in the field. The data was analyzed to identify correlating items across the data sets. Those correlations were used to determine which lessons within the course in the content area of diagnostic troubleshooting required improvement. The project resulted …

The Space Plug-And-Play Architecture Services Manager And Its Relevance In Diverse Plug-And-Play Software Systems, Brandon Holdaway

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Space Plug-and-Play Archichecture System Manager (SSM) is a system of Space Plug-and-Play Architecture (SPA) hardware, software components, and services for rapid integration of satellite systems. It was originally designed to help decrease the amount of time and money required to integrate payloads onto a satellite. The features of the SSM make it useful in non-satellite systems. In this report, I demonstrate diverse uses of the SSM in a multi-use payload manage- ment and underwater vehicle software solution which was designed and implemented using the SSM. Further I give a detailed explanation of the successes and failures of the software …

Interpolation And Validation Of Arced Labyrinth Weir Discharge Coefficients, Rhen Daniel Thurgood

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Arced labyrinth weirs have been researched in recent years as a viable option to help increase spillway discharge capacity. Previously published data have indicated the hydraulic efficiency of these weirs with several configurations at different sidewall angles (α=6°, α=12°, and α=20°), expressed in terms of the discharge coefficients. These published discharge coefficient data were used in the current study, along with new experimental data, to develop a better understanding of the accuracy associated with interpolating arced labyrinth weir discharge coefficients. Discharge coefficient data for a 16° arced labyrinth weir (of similar physical size to the arced labyrinth weirs in the …

Retrofitting Two Solar Hot Water Systems For Year Round Operation, Zachary A. Cook

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Solar energy in a variety of applications is again becoming more widely used. Solar collectors have been installed during the construction of two Utah State University buildings: Wetlands Discovery located in Kaysville, Utah and Swaner Nature Preserve located in Park City, Utah. While these systems are capable of capturing a significant amount of solar energy, problems have been encountered when the demand is less than the system’s capacity. This project report documents the problems encountered while operating the two solar water heating systems and how the systems were modified to be operational year round under typical operating conditions. The peak …

Re-Engineering Of A Black Box For The Purpose Of Upgrade And Maintenance, Nathanael R. Weidler

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

There existed an aging electrical system that needed to be upgraded. An upgrade was necessary for this system because the cost to maintain the aging technology was becoming too great. There were, however, no available schematics or technical papers describing this system. In order to upgrade the system, it first needed to be reverse engineered. The system to be upgraded was a device that would pass data back and forth from a personal computer to a proprietary storage device. The device to be upgraded communicated with the personal computer over a standard Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) interface and with …

Phosphorus Mobility In The Shallow Unconfined Aquifer At Pineview Reservoir, Utah, Christine Rumsey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Significant phosphorus transport is occurring in the groundwater surrounding Pineview Reservoir. A set of investigations was completed to identify factors contributing to phosphorus mobility. Water quality monitoring was conducted to understand groundwater characteristics and phosphorus movement. Several water quality parameters were evaluated to specifically determine whether septic systems influence groundwater quality. Results indicate that septic systems pollute at least two locations in the aquifer around the reservoir. Given this information, it may be necessary to implement advanced septic system treatment options to reduce the amount of phosphorus in groundwater.

Experiments were conducted on two aquifer sediment types to identify factors …

Bridge Failure Rates, Consequences, And Predictive Trends, Wesley Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The intent of this investigation is to assess the number of bridge collapses in the United States, describe, in a numerical form, negative impacts resulting from collapsed bridges, and, last, analyze conditions of bridges prior to collapse and note similarities. Bridge collapse data is scarcely recorded, as such; an isolated region (New York State) over a period of time (25 years), wherein data has been collected of this nature, was used to determine the number of bridge collapses in the region annually. Probability and statistics were used to estimate the average number of bridge collapses throughout the United States and …

Sequential Quadrature Measurements For Plasma Diagnostics, Julio Martin-Hidalgo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The ionosphere is the atmosphere layer characterized by its high concentration of ionized plasma. It has a great impact on radio communications with satellites, causing disturbances and disruptions. Therefore, it is important to understand and predict the ionosphere characteristics.

The Sweeping Impedance Probe (SIP) is an instrument for characterizing the ionosphere used for many decades with great success. In this thesis, a new SIP architecture design is presented using the latest techniques and components available. The design is detailed and analyses have been performed to ensure the required performances. The new SIP will be flown in the Auroral Spatial Structures …

Cyber-Physical Systems Enabled By Unmanned Aerial System-Based Personal Remote Sensing: Data Mission Quality-Centric Design Architectures, Calvin Coopmans

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the coming 20 years, unmanned aerial data collection will be of great importance to many sectors of civilian life. Of these systems, Personal Remote Sensing (PRS) Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUASs), or “data drones,” will need special attention due to their low cost and high value for farming, scientific, and search-and-rescue uses, among countless others. Cyber-physical systems (large-scale, pervasive automated systems that tightly couple sensing and actuation through technology and the environment) can use sUASs as sensors and actuators, leading to even greater possibilities for benefit from sUASs. However, this nascent robotic technology of small unmanned aerial systems (sUASs) …

Designing An Artificial Tendon/Graft Derived From Silkworm Silk And Synthetic Spider Silk With Respect To Structure, Mechanical Properties, Biocompatibility, And Attachment, Neal Hengge

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Achilles tendon is one of the most commonly damaged tendons in the human body (Hansen et al., 2012). Current surgical and therapeutic techniques require extended recovery time and the tendon is rarely returned to its original healthy state. For athletes in particular, strenuous rehabilitation is required to return from a serious injury like a ruptured Achilles tendon (Rosso et al., 2013).

Despite the high amount of sources for grafts to aid in surgical repair, all of the options have drawbacks such as availability, immune response, or poor mechanical properties. Spider silk has the potential to enhance current Achilles tendon …

Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber, Jacob Monroe Whittle

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber (PVAC) system built in 2012 by the Ascending Aggies at Utah State University which was designed using vacuum motors to provide suction to pads to allow the user to climb various surfaces, needs to be further developed before being fully marketable. The current system does not have a user-friendly interface and is very loud (approx. 90 dB). These issues were addressed to answer the following question: how can the current PV AC system be optimized to decrease noise and produce a user friendly interface while maintaining current run time? To obtain the sound reduction desired …

Arsenic(V) Reduction In Relation To Iron(Iii) Transformation And Molecular Analysis Of Arsenate Reductase (Arra) Gene Within Sediments Of A Northern Utah, Basin-Fill Aquifer, Babur S. Mirza, Subathra Muruganandam, Xianyu Meng, Darwin L. Sorensen, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Basin-fill aquifers of the Southwestern United States are associated with elevated concentrations of arsenic (As) in groundwater. Many private domestic wells in the Cache Valley Basin, UT, have As concentrations in excess of the U.S. EPA drinking water limit. Thirteen sediment cores were collected from the center of the valley at the depth of the shallow groundwater and were sectioned into layers based on redoxmorphic features. Three of the layers, two from redox transition zones and one from a depletion zone, were used to establish microcosms. Microcosms were treated with groundwater (GW) or groundwater plus glucose (GW+G) to investigate the …