Engineering Commons^™

Accelerating Graphics Rendering On Risc-V Gpus, Joshua Simpson

Master's Theses

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are commonly used to accelerate massively parallel workloads across a wide range of applications from machine learning to cryptocurrency mining. The original application for GPUs, however, was to accelerate graphics rendering which remains popular today through video gaming and video rendering. While GPUs began as fixed function hardware with minimal programmability, modern GPUs have adopted a design with many programmable cores and supporting fixed function hardware for rasterization, texture sampling, and render output tasks. This balance enables GPUs to be used for general purpose computing and still remain adept at graphics rendering. Previous work at the …

Evaluating And Improving Domain-Specific Programming Education: A Case Study With Cal Poly Chemistry Courses, Will Fuchs

Master's Theses

Programming is a key skill in many domains outside computer science. When used judiciously, programming can empower people to accomplish what might be impossible or difficult with traditional methods. Unfortunately, students, especially non-CS majors, frequently have trouble while learning to program. This work reports on the challenges and opportunities faced by Physical Chemistry (PChem) students at Cal Poly, SLO as they learn to program in MATLAB. We assessed the PChem students through a multiple-choice concept inventory, as well as through “think-aloud” interviews. Additionally, we examined the students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards programming. We found that PChem students are adept …

Reliability Study Of Electrical Distribution System With Local And Interregional Bidirectional Centralized Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, Janine Gian Christii C. Darato

Master's Theses

In this thesis, a method was developed to evaluate the impact of bidirectional electric vehicle (EV) charging on power system reliability using Synergi Electric software. Load profiles, EV availability, EV state-of-charge (SOC) were important factors considered in this study. The analysis in this study is based on local and interregional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) implementation at different load points in the system. In general, local V2G implementation is observed to be more effective in improving system reliability over interregional V2G power flow. System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) improvements were observed to increase with increasing …

Music Visualization Using Source Separated Stereophonic Music, Hannah Eileen Chookaszian

Master's Theses

This thesis introduces a music visualization system for stereophonic source separated music. Music visualization systems are a popular way to represent information from audio signals through computer graphics. Visualization can help people better understand music and its complex and interacting elements. This music visualization system extracts pitch, panning, and loudness features from source separated audio files to create the visual. Most state-of-the art visualization systems develop their visual representation of the music from either the fully mixed final song recording, where all of the instruments and vocals are combined into one file, or from the digital audio workstation (DAW) data …

Method And Simulation Of On-Orbit Sub-Microthrust Evaluation, Jonathan Hood

Master's Theses

With the advent of smaller satellites, along with the need for less than 0.1 μN precision attitude control for interferometry and imaging missions, finer micro- to sub-micro- thrusters have become an area of high interest. As thrusters are developed and ground-tested, it is necessary to evaluate their thrust performance on-orbit. On-orbit measurements offer actual thrust performance in mission conditions, free from ground facility vibrations and miniaturization restraints, and allow a thruster system to achieve a NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 7-8. A review is conducted of existing and proposed ground and on-orbit thrust measurement techniques. Experimental gaps and complementary …

A Study Of Grammar-Based Fuzzing Approaches, Ziwei Wu

Master's Theses

Fuzzing is the process of finding security vulnerabilities in code by creating inputs that will activate the exploits. Grammar-based fuzzing uses a grammar, which represents the syntax of all inputs a target program will accept, allowing the fuzzer to create well-formed complex inputs. This thesis conducts an in-depth study on two blackbox grammar-based fuzzing methods, GLADE and Learn&Fuzz, on their performance and usability to the average user. The blackbox fuzzer Radamsa was also used to compare fuzzing effectiveness. From our results in fuzzing PDF objects, GLADE beats both Radamsa and Learn&Fuzz in terms of coverage and pass rate. XML inputs …

Specialized Named Entity Recognition For Breast Cancer Subtyping, Griffith Scheyer Hawblitzel

Master's Theses

The amount of data and analysis being published and archived in the biomedical research community is more than can feasibly be sifted through manually, which limits the information an individual or small group can synthesize and integrate into their own research. This presents an opportunity for using automated methods, including Natural Language Processing (NLP), to extract important information from text on various topics. Named Entity Recognition (NER), is one way to automate knowledge extraction of raw text. NER is defined as the task of identifying named entities from text using labels such as people, dates, locations, diseases, and proteins. There …

Development Of A Dual-Band Radio Repeater To Be Carried By A Fixed-Wing Small Unmanned Aerial System, Carl Recine

Master's Theses

With the continued rise in wildfires in California, and around the world, technological advancements are needed to improve the safety and effectiveness of wildland firefighters. One area that provides an opportunity for such development is the deployment of temporary communications networks. Currently, radio repeaters are set up on mountain tops in the response area; such repeaters do not provide flexibility once installed, still have blind spots, and require the time of valuable assets like helicopters to install.

This thesis will establish the feasibility of airborne radio repeaters for wildland firefighting. In order to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of such an …

Increasing The Effectiveness Of K-12 Stem Worshops Through Targeted Context And Creative Technolgies, Melina Lopez

Master's Theses

Economic projections reveal a need for one million more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professionals over the next decade than the United States is producing at the current rate. As a result, STEM education is a major focus of recent legislation and funding in Congress as the number of STEM professionals is inadequate to support innovation and the ever-changing economy. In response to the urgent need for more competitive STEM professionals, there has been a widespread implementation of workshops, organizations, and school programs aimed at amplifying K-12 student STEM literacy and interest. Some programs are even created to specifically …

A Course On Advanced Real-Time Embedded Systems, Krista Round

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses the development of an advanced real-time embedded systems course offered at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, which aims to prepare students to design modern complex real-time embedded systems. It describes the goals of the real-time embedded systems curriculum, which includes an introductory and advanced course. Finally, this paper discusses the challenges of creating a successful advanced real-time embedded systems course and proposes changes to the current advanced real-time embedded systems course in response to those challenges.

In-Situ Defect Detection Using Acoustic Vibration Monitoring For Additive Manufacturing Processes, Ali Harake

Master's Theses

The world of additive manufacturing revolves around speed and repeatability. Inherently, the process of 3D printing is plagued with variability that fluctuates with every material and parameter modification. Without proper qualification standards, processes can never become stable enough to produce parts that may be used in aerospace, medical, and construction industries. These industries rely on high quality metrics in order to protect the lives of those who may benefit from them. To establish trust in a process, all points of variation must be controlled and accounted for every part produced. In instances where even the best process controls are enacted, …

Design Of An Automotive Iot Device To Improve Driver Fault Detection Through Road Class Estimation, Matt Murray

Master's Theses

Unsafe driver habits pose a serious threat to all vehicles on the road. This thesis outlines the development of an automotive IoT device capable of monitoring and reporting adverse driver habits to mitigate the occurrence of unsafe practices. The driver habits targeted are harsh braking, harsh acceleration, harsh cornering, speeding and over revving the vehicle. With the intention of evaluating and expanding upon the industry method of fault detection, a working prototype is designed to handle initialization, data collection, vehicle state tracking, fault detection and communication. A method of decoding the broadcasted messages on the vehicle bus is presented and …

Bearing Fault Detection And Classification Using Artificial Neural Networks, Harnak Singh

Master's Theses

Bearings are the essential components of modern rotating machines. Bearing faults can cause severe machine damages or even breakdowns.

In recent years, artificial intelligence and deep learning have been successfully applied to fault detection. In this thesis, convolutional neural networks (CNN) are employed for bearing fault detection and classification. Computer simulations results demonstrate that the CNN based approach is advantageous over the conventional regression model, with an overall accuracy of 99.5%.

Microgrid Laboratory Wind Energy Integration, Vincent Liang

Master's Theses

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Electrical Engineering Department and the Power Energy Institute have developed a microgrid laboratory with various generators, loads, and protection systems over the past several years. To improve and make the Cal Poly microgrid laboratory more realistic, this thesis outlines the process of improving the EE microgrid setup by adding a wind energy generation system via an induction generator, excitation capacitors, and a protection relay. By adding an induction generator, the microgrid system becomes more resilient to sudden power fluctuations by maintaining a stable voltage and frequency when the microgrid is islanded. To test this, a …

Effects Of Experimental Scale On The Adsorption Of Two Pharmaceutical Drugs Detected In Municipal Wastewater Effluent, Michael Moore

Master's Theses

Pharmaceutical drugs are being produced and consumed in increasing quantities every year and are poorly treated by conventional wastewater treatment processes, leading to increasing detection of such compounds in surface water, groundwater, and municipal drinking water. Soil aquifer treatment (SAT) is a promising method for treating these emerging compounds through combined adsorption and degradation of target compounds in soil. This thesis examines the consistency of results from typical studies like adsorption isotherms and soil columns utilized in analysis of SAT performance, across varying experimental scales. The adsorption behavior of two pharmaceuticals was investigated as a function of experimental scale and …

Structural Loads And Preliminary Structural Design For A World Speed Record-Breaking Turbo-Prop Racing Airplane, Matthew G. Slymen

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly SLO Turbo-Prop Racer project aims to design a world speed record-breaking aircraft, capable of flying more than 550 miles per hour on a 3-kilometer closed course. To further this endeavor, this thesis presents the calculations of load distributions across the aircraft’s wing and tail and preliminary structural estimates of primary structural components for verification of the loads calculations and for use in a future finite element model. The aircraft’s fundamental design characteristics effect on the structure of the aircraft, namely the unique Y-tail design, are first examined. Then, loads are calculated in accordance with the regulation dictated …

Improving Relation Extraction From Unstructured Genealogical Texts Using Fine-Tuned Transformers, Carloangello Parrolivelli

Master's Theses

Though exploring one’s family lineage through genealogical family trees can be insightful to developing one’s identity, this knowledge is typically held behind closed doors by private companies or require expensive technologies, such as DNA testing, to uncover. With the ever-booming explosion of data on the world wide web, many unstructured text documents, both old and new, are being discovered, written, and processed which contain rich genealogical information. With access to this immense amount of data, however, entails a costly process whereby people, typically volunteers, have to read large amounts of text to find relationships between people. This delays having genealogical …

Low-Cost Uav Swarm For Real-Time Object Detection Applications, Joel Valdovinos Miranda

Master's Theses

With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, becoming readily available and affordable, applications for these devices have grown immensely. One type of application is the use of drones to fly over large areas and detect desired entities. For example, a swarm of drones could detect marine creatures near the surface of the ocean and provide users the location and type of animal found. However, even with the reduction in cost of drone technology, such applications result costly due to the use of custom hardware with built-in advanced capabilities. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is to compile an …

Model-Based Design Of An Optimal Lqg Regulator For A Piezoelectric Actuated Smart Structure Using A High-Precision Laser Interferometry Measurement System, Grant P. Gallagher

Master's Theses

Smart structure control systems commonly use piezoceramic sensors or accelerometers as vibration measurement devices. These measurement devices often produce noisy and/or low-precision signals, which makes it difficult to measure small-amplitude vibrations. Laser interferometry devices pose as an alternative high-precision position measurement method, capable of nanometer-scale resolution. The aim of this research is to utilize a model-based design approach to develop and implement a real-time Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) regulator for a piezoelectric actuated smart structure using a high-precision laser interferometry measurement system to suppress the excitation of vibratory modes.

The analytical model of the smart structure is derived using the …

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of Mechanical Hinges With Snap-Fit Locking Mechanisms In Rigid Origami Structures, Colby James Scanlon

Master's Theses

The ancient art of ‘origami’ has recently become the source of inspiration for engineers to create structures that can unfold from a compact state to a fully deployed one. For instance, researchers have currently adopted origami designs in various engineering disciplines, including aerospace engineering, robotics, biomedical engineering, and architecture. In particular, architects have been interested in designing origami-inspired rigid walled structures that can be deployed as disaster-relief shelters. This type of design has three main advantages: transportability, constructability, and rigidity. Although there has been increased interests in deployable structures, limited research has been conducted on evaluating their structural performance, specifically …

Viability And Implementation Of A Vector Cryptography Extension For Risc-V, Jonathan W. Skelly

Master's Theses

RISC-V is an open-source instruction-set architecture (ISA) forming the basis of thousands of commercial and experimental microprocessors. The Scalar Cryptography extension ratified in December 2021 added scalar instructions that target common hashing and encryption algorithms, including SHA2 and AES. The next step forward for the RISC-V ISA in the field of cryptography and digital security is the development of vector cryptography instructions.

This thesis examines if it is viable to add vector implementations of existing RISC-V scalar cryptography instructions to the existing vector instruction format, and what improvements they can make to the execution of SHA2 and AES algorithms. Vector …

Simulating Electric Vehicle Short-Notice Wildfire Evacuation In California Rural Communities, Gudrun Derickson

Master's Theses

The transportation sector in California has begun a shift toward adopting Electric Vehicles (EVs) as a primary source of individual and corporate mobility. The US Government and the State of California are initiating public-sector financed charging station infrastructure to help in this change-over to EVs. Automobile companies and private enterprises are also heavily investing in Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) infrastructure going forward. The state of California is subject to natural disasters such as Fire, Earthquakes, and periodic flooding. Increasing numbers of BEVs may add new challenges to mass evacuations that are often associated with natural disasters. This work focuses on …

Development Of A Body Weight Reduction Algorithm In Micro-Gravity Treadmills™, Alexander Hibbert

Master's Theses

Boost Treadmills™, a company specializing in the use of differential air-pressure (DAP) technology in the realm of exercise and rehabilitation, is developing their second-generation micro-gravity treadmill™ named the Boost 2. This machine will allow individuals in all types of fitness environments to move and exercise at a fraction of their normal body weight, reducing the impact forces on lower body extremities and allowing for accelerated returns to activity.

The purpose of this thesis was to create an algorithm to be implemented on the Boost 2 that related the percentage of body weight reduction of a user to a required pressure …

A Research Framework And Initial Study Of Browser Security For The Visually Impaired, Elaine Lau, Zachary Peterson

Master's Theses

The growth of web-based malware and phishing attacks has catalyzed significant advances in the research and use of interstitial warning pages and modals by a browser prior to loading the content of a suspect site. These warnings commonly use visual cues to attract users' attention, including specialized iconography, color, and an absence of buttons to communicate the importance of the scenario. While the efficacy of visual techniques has improved safety for sighted users, these techniques are unsuitable for blind and visually impaired users. This is likely not due to a lack of interest or technical capability by browser manufactures, where …

Acl Risk Data Comparison And Turnout Analysis Of Female Dancers Trained In Ballet And Female Traditional Jumping Sport Athletes, Samantha A. Campbell

Master's Theses

INTRODUCTION: An increase in participation in females sports has created an increase of female athletes at risk for injuring their Anterior Cruciate Ligament(ACL)[12,21,29,44]. Traditional jumping sports have the highest rate of non contact ACL injuries, due to the use of movements of cutting, pivoting and landing on one foot[5,8,32,33,38]. ACL injuries can also be attributed to neuromuscular deficits such as the ‘Ligament Dominance Theory’, ‘Quadricep Dominance Theory’, ‘Trunk Dominance Theory’ and the ‘Leg Dominance Theory’[24,33]. The neuromuscular deficits are muscle strength, power or activation patterns that can cause an individual to have an increased risk of ACL injury[33]. Female traditional …

Optimization Of A Novel Nipam-Based Thermoresponsive Copolymer For Intramuscular Injection As A Myoblast Delivery Vehicle To Combat Peripheral Artery Occlusive Disease, Quentin R. Klueter

Master's Theses

There is a need for a minimally invasive delivery method to enable cell therapies to combat peripheral artery occlusive disease (PAOD) in end stage patients. Myoblasts show promise as a cell mediated therapy but warrant an improved delivery method to increase cell retention in the region of interest because of their adherent nature, relative to previously used BM-MNC’s that are non-adherent. Contemporary issues with achieving successful cell therapies of vasculature can be mainly characterized by the lack of clinical translation from promising animal studies and absence of cell delivery scaffolding. Naturally, polymers have been widely experimented with as grafts to …

Impact Of Primary Myoblasts On Macrophage Polarization In-Vitro, Olivia Welch

Master's Theses

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is characterized by the development of atherosclerotic plaques on arterial walls, leading to the narrowing of blood vessels, resulting in ischemia in the downstream tissue. In the United States, 12% of the adult population is affected by PAD and its related symptoms. Current surgical revascularization techniques can be effective in part of the patient population, but there is a need for other options. Alternatively, collateral blood vessels, or natural bypass arteries, enlarge to increase blood flow to the ischemic tissue in a process called arteriogenesis, which has been studied as a therapeutic option. Cell-based therapies, such …

Assessing The Impact Of Bicycle Infrastructure And Modal Shift On Traffic Operations And Safety Using Microsimulation, Katherine E. Lee

Master's Theses

A transportation system designed to prioritize the mobility of automobiles cannot accommodate the growing number of road users. The Complete Streets policy plays a crucial part in transforming streets to accommodate multiple modes of transportation, especially active modes like biking and walking. Complete streets are referred to as streets designed for everyone and enable safety and mobility to all users. A strategy of complete streets transformation is to connect isolated complete street segments to form a complete network that improves active mobility and public transit ridership.

This research assessed the impact of efficiently and equitably connecting and expanding the biking …

Youth Pitching Kinematics: Associations With Body Overweight Parameters, Christina K. Fong

Master's Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate associations between injury-related kinematic parameters and overweight measures for youth baseball pitchers. The injury-related kinematic parameters considered were measurements 1) at foot contact: stride length, front foot position, shoulder external rotation, shoulder abduction, and elbow flexion; 2) between FC and ball release: peak knee extension; and 3) at BR: shoulder abduction. Data from three separate collection sites examined pitching mechanics of 18 10- to 11-year-old pitchers, 11 14- to 16-year-old pitchers, and 104 16- to 18-year-old pitchers Linear regression analyses were performed to determine significant correlations between kinematic parameters and body mass …

Development Of A Prototype Ball-And-Plate Balancing Platform, Scott J. Mangin

Master's Theses

Ball-and-plate balancing platforms have been utilized throughout academia to further understanding of nonlinearities that can occur when applying control algorithms to nonholonomic and underactuated systems. The objective of this thesis is to build upon an existing ball-and-plate balancing platform used in the Intro to Mechatronics class and create a robust platform system that can be utilized by future students to test various controller designs derived from MATLAB/Simulink®. The ball-and-plate platform design uses a myriad of sensors to track the system components in real time: a resistive touch panel is used to track the position of the ball on the plate, …