Engineering Commons^™

Task Optimization Utilizing Digital Transformation Concepts - Automation Project Execution Via Agile Methodology, Anthony Steven Maiello

Theses and Dissertations

Task Optimization via the use of automated process improvements is becoming more widespread as more industries lean into the concepts surrounding digital transformation. This shift also necessitates a complementary adaptation in project management methodologies to support the rapid and ever-changing environment, requirements, and innovations. This thesis examines the effectiveness of Agile methodology in managing digital automation projects, with a specific focus placed on process improvements with systems engineering. It accomplished this by contrasting the original model, designed and derived utilizing traditional project management techniques, with the proposed model which is a direct result of the application of Agile project practices. …

Developing Control System For Manufacturing Processes, Md Shahriar Forhad

Theses and Dissertations

Process control has been a critical component in today's manufacturing industry. Industrialists nowadays want reliable control to assure precision manufacturing. Modern control systems must be more dynamic, so that any needed modifications may be made quickly to accomplish the desired product change. For innovative research and development, system customization is critical to ensure freedom for experimental works. In addition, full control of manufacturing systems is necessary to realize and implement Industry 4.0. Often, it is difficult to achieve such control due to limited access to proprietary equipment. To this end, this thesis focuses on developing a custom control platform for …

A Generalizable Method And Case Application For Development And Use Of The Aviation Systems – Trust Survey (As-Ts)., Jamison Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

Automated systems are integral in the development of modern aircraft, especially for complex military aircraft. Pilot Trust in Automation (TIA) in these systems is vital for optimizing the pilot-vehicle interface and ensuring pilots use the systems appropriately to complete required tasks.

The objective of this research was to develop and validate a TIA scale and survey methodology to identify and mitigate trust deficiencies with automated systems for use in Army Aviation testing. There is currently no standard TIA assessment methodology for U.S. Army aviation pilots that identifies trust deficiencies and potential mitigations.

A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify …

Experimental Comparison Of Load Sharing Techniques For Fast Motion In Industrial Machines, Eike Marten Hillrichs

Theses and Dissertations

Load sharing and synchronization techniques are essential for modern automation applications where single motor systems cannot meet the application requirements. Evenly sharing the load between multiple motors can increase the output of processes and reduce maintenance efforts due to uneven wear and tear. Rockwell Automation has developed two load sharing techniques for fast motion control applications. In this Thesis, the two load sharing techniques are experimentally compared regarding their ability to evenly share loads and control synchronized motions in a multi motor setup for fast motion. The techniques are compared using a setup with two motors coupled by a timing …

Spydrnet - An Open-Source Python Netlist Representation For Analysis And Transformation, Dallin Mark Skouson

Theses and Dissertations

SpyDrNet is an open-source structural netlist representation framework written in Python that allows users to create, analyze, and manipulate structural netlists. The internal format was designed to hold generic source structural netlists. Verilog and EDIF netlists generated by Vivado were read and written by SpyDrNet. Additional API functionality was built around the netlist representation. An application applying triple modular redundancy and duplication with compare was created and successfully used.

Design Of Plastic Contaminant Eliminator In Seed Cotton, Joshua H. Tandio

Theses and Dissertations

Plastic contamination in cotton is a problem in cotton industry and researchers have worked on this problem with different approaches. This thesis documents the design of mechanical and electronic real-time systems for detecting and removing plastic contaminants. The mechanical system was designed to expose plastic embedded inside the seed cotton to the sensor and to separate plastic contaminated cotton from the process stream. The detection system consisted of an embedded computer interfaced with a USB camera and Neural Network (NN) software running in it. Two NN models were tested, a transfer learning model and a built-from-scratch original model. The original …

Automated Network Exploitation Utilizing Bayesian Decision Networks, Graeme M. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) is the process of using tactics and techniques to penetrate computer systems and networks in order to achieve desired effects. It is currently a manual process requiring significant experience and time that are in limited supply. This thesis presents the Automated Network Discovery and Exploitation System (ANDES) which demonstrates that it is feasible to automate the CNE process. The uniqueness of ANDES is the use of Bayesian decision networks to represent the CNE domain and subject matter expert knowledge. ANDES conducts multiple execution cycles, which build upon previous action results. Cycles begin by modeling the current …

Autonomous Drone-Based Sensor Package Deployment To The Underside Of Structures, Sabrina Rose Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this project is to design, develop and experimentally test an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS, commonly known as a drone) for the deployment of sensor packages to the underside of structures. This work begins with an in-depth review of existing automation techniques for various drone applications focusing on applications requiring interaction with the environment. Further reviewed is the impact of structures above the UAS during flight on the behavior of the aircraft.

Considering these topics, the development of a custom drone is presented to address the difficulties of delivering a package to the underside of a structure. Starting …

Manipulation And Automation Of Fbj Short-Axis Fasteners, Shane Forrest Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Legislative and market pressures are pushing automakers to achieve new fuel economy requirements in the coming years. To help achieve these goals automakers are reducing the overall weight of the vehicle by increasing the use of high-strength aluminum and advanced high-strength steels, and with this increased use comes the desire to quickly, and securely, join these materials within the vehicle. Friction bit joining is a process that lends itself well to joining these materials. This process uses consumable fasteners that need to be used in an automated production line. The geometry of these fasteners causes two main problems: the bits …

Heteromorphic To Homeomorphic Shape Match Conversion Toward Fully Automated Mesh Morphing To Match Manufactured Geometry, Robert Ivan Yorgason

Theses and Dissertations

The modern engineering design process includes computer software packages that require approximations to be made when representing geometries. These approximations lead to inherent discrepancies between the design geometry of a part or assembly and the corresponding manufactured geometry. Further approximations are made during the analysis portion of the design process. Manufacturing defects can also occur, which increase the discrepancies between the design and manufactured geometry. These approximations combined with manufacturing defects lead to discrepancies which, for high precision parts, such as jet engine compressor blades, can affect the modal analysis results. In order to account for the manufacturing defects during …

Dynamic Honeypot Configuration For Programmable Logic Controller Emulation, Kyle A. Girtz

Theses and Dissertations

Attacks on industrial control systems and critical infrastructure are on the rise. Important systems and devices like programmable logic controllers are at risk due to outdated technology and ad hoc security measures. To mitigate the threat, honeypots are deployed to gather data on malicious intrusions and exploitation techniques. While virtual honeypots mitigate the unreasonable cost of hardware-replicated honeypots, these systems often suffer from a lack of authenticity due to proprietary hardware and network protocols. In addition, virtual honeynets utilizing a proxy to a live device suffer from performance bottlenecks and limited scalability. This research develops an enhanced, application layer emulator …

Extracellular Matrix From Whole Porcine Heart Decellularization For Cardiac Tissue Engineering, Nima Momtahan

Theses and Dissertations

Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Every year in the United States, more than 800,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure and more than 375,000 people die from heart disease. Current therapies such as heart transplants and bioartificial hearts are helpful, but not optimal. Decellularization of porcine whole hearts followed by recellularization with patient-specific human cells may provide the ultimate solution for patients with heart failure. Great progress has been made in the development of efficient processes for decellularization, and the design of automated bioreactors. In this study, the decellularization of porcine …

Improving Cooling Tower Chemistry Control And Cost Savings Through Automation, Ryan Matthew Maxwell

Theses and Dissertations

Proper chemistry control of cooling towers reduces corrosion, biological growth, and precipitation of solids. Therefore, improving control can lead to increased equipment life, operating efficiency, and safety. Chemistry of cooling towers is highly dependent on loading, weather, and time. As such, cooling tower chemistry varies day to day and even hour to hour, requiring either continuous controls or large operating bands. Through automation, 24/7 monitoring and control can be achieved, allowing for deliberate operation within tight operating bands. As a direct result of automation water consumption has been reduced by 9.1 million gallons per year, CL-49 use has been reduced …

Robust Models For Operator Workload Estimation, Andrew M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

When human-machine system operators are overwhelmed, judicious employment of automation can be beneficial. Ideally, a system which can accurately estimate current operator workload can make better choices when to employ automation. Supervised machine learning models can be trained to estimate workload in real time from operator physiological data. Unfortunately, estimating operator workload using trained models is limited: using a model trained in one context can yield poor estimation of workload in another. This research examines the utility of three algorithms (linear regression, regression trees, and Artificial Neural Networks) in terms of cross-application workload prediction. The study is conducted for a …

Toward Automating Web Protocol Configuration For A Programmable Logic Controller Emulator, Deanna R. Fink

Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) remain vulnerable through attack vectors that exist within programmable logic controllers (PLC). PLC emulators used as honeypots can provide insight into these vulnerabilities. Honeypots can sometimes deter attackers from real devices and log activity. A variety of PLC emulators exist, but require manual figuration to change their PLC pro le. This limits their flexibility for deployment. An automated process for configuring PLC emulators can open the door for emulation of many types of PLCs. This study investigates the feasibility of creating such a process. The research creates an automated process for figuring the web protocols of …

Application Of Machine Learning And Parametric Nurbs Geometry To Mode Shape Identification, Robert Mceuen Porter

Theses and Dissertations

In any design, the dynamic characteristics of a part are dependent on its geometric and material properties. Identifying vibrational mode shapes within an iterative design process becomes difficult and time consuming due to frequently changing part definition. Although research has been done to improve the process, visual inspection of analysis results is still the current means of identifying each vibrational mode determined by a modal analysis. This research investigates the automation of the mode shape identification process through the use of parametric geometry and machine learning.In the developed method, displacement results from finite element modal analysis are used to create …

Application Of Parametric Nurbs Geometry To Mode Shape Identification And The Modal Assurance Criterion, Evan D. Selin

Theses and Dissertations

The dynamic characteristics of a part are highly dependent on geometric and material properties of the part. The identification and tracking of vibrational mode shapes within an iterative design process becomes difficult and time consuming due to the frequently changing part definition. Currently, visual inspection of analysis results is used as the means to identify the shape of each vibrational mode determined by the modal analysis. This thesis investigates the automation of the mode shape identification process through the use of parametric geometry and the Modal Assurance Criterion. Displacement results from finite element modal analysis are used to create parametric …

Methods To Streamline Laminate Composite Design, Analysis, And Optimization, Ammon Ikaika No Kapono Hepworth

Theses and Dissertations

Advanced composite materials have seen major market growth in recent years due to their high strength and low weight properties. These materials are often made using a process that creates a composite laminate by stacking several composite layers together. However, the design, analysis and optimization of laminate composite materials are often a labor intensive process when done manually. This thesis discusses CAD independent algorithms that are integrated into commercial CAD tools to streamline these processes. Methods have been developed to automatically create 3D ply geometry for a laminate composite lay-up, streamline the creation of a laminate composite finite element model …

Cad-Centric Dynamic Workflow Generation, Travis L. Kenworthy

Theses and Dissertations

CAD systems are important design tools that enable the designer to conceptualize, visualize, analyze, and manufacture a design (Shahin 2008). Although high-end CAD systems provide several built-in design applications, the users of CAD often select various custom or proprietary non-CAD analyses that constrain, optimize, or evaluate their designs. An efficient method is needed to perform trade studies from within the CAD environment. Methods have been developed to meet the challenges associated with this need. The methods have been implemented in a program, called the Process Integrator, which resides in a CAD system and allows the user to perform trade studies …

High-Level, Product Type-Specific Programmatic Operations For Streamlining Associative Computer-Aided Design, Nathan W. Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of Computer Aided Design (CAD) has long focused on reducing the time and effort required of engineers to define three dimensional digital product models. Parametric, feature-based modeling with inter-part associativity allows complex assembly designs to be defined and re-defined while maintaining the vital part-to-part interface relationships. The top-down modeling method which uses assembly level control structures to drive child level geometry has proved valuable in maintaining these interfaces. Creating robust parametric models like these, however, is very time consuming especially since there can be hundreds of features and thousands of mathematical expressions to create. Even if …

Autonomic Product Development Process Automation, John E. Daley

Theses and Dissertations

Market globalization and mass customization requirements are forcing companies towards automation of their product development processes. Many task-specific software solutions provide localized automation. Coordinating these local solutions to automate higher-level processes requires significant software maintenance costs due to the incompatibility of the software tools and the dynamic nature of the product development environment. Current automation methods do not provide the required level of flexibility to operate in this dynamic environment. An autonomic product development process automation strategy is proposed in order to provide a flexible, standardized approach to product development process automation and to significantly reduce the software maintenance costs …

An Open Architecture For Versatile Machine And Actuator Control, Michael Scott Baxter

Theses and Dissertations

Automatic control technology increases usability, reliability and productivity in manufacturing, transportation, and climate control. There are many additional areas of modern life that could benefit through automatic control; however, current automation components are too expensive or aren't sufficiently flexible. For example, the cost of current commercial motion control components precludes their use in an average home. This thesis describes an automatic control methodology that is low cost and is flexible enough for a wide variety of control applications. Typical applications could include:

- Home lighting, security and appliances

- Commercial building heating, ventilation and air conditioning

- Industrial machine tool …

Coordinated Regional And City Planning Using A Genetic Algorithm, Michael B. Lowry

Theses and Dissertations

Improved methods of planning are needed to deal with today's issues of traffic congestion, sprawl, and loss of greenspace. Past research and recent legislation call for new methods that will consider a regional perspective. Regional planning is challenged with two difficult questions:

1.Is it possible to achieve regional goals without infringing upon the local autonomy of city planners?

2.Is it possible to objectively analyze the thousands, even millions, of land use and transportation plans to find the best design?

Metropolitan regions across the country have made great efforts to answer the first question. Unfortunately, effective methods for harmonizing the goals …

The Application Of Sequential Convex Programming To Large-Scale Structural Optimization Problems, Todd A. Sriver

Theses and Dissertations

Structural design problems are often modeled using finite element methods. Such models are often characterized by constraint functions that are not explicitly defined in terms of the design variables. These functions are typically evaluated through numerical finite element analysis (FEA). Optimizing large-scale structural design models requires computationally expensive FEAs to obtain function and gradient values. An optimization approach which uses the SCP sequential convex programming algorithm of Zillober, integrated as the optimizer in the Automated Structural Optimization System (ASTROS), is tested. The traditional approach forms an explicitly defined approximate subproblem at each design iteration that is solved using the method …

A Value Focused Thinking Approach To Academic Course Scheduling, Shane A. Knighton

Theses and Dissertations

In 1997, the School of Engineering of the United States Air Force Institute of Technology began exploring ways of automating the academic course scheduling process. The administration desired an expedient approach for course scheduling which supports the institute's mission of "providing scientific and technological education" to officers from all branches of military service, as well as international military forces. The scheduling approach needed to be flexible, efficient, and represent the institute's values and principles. Decision Analysis (DA) and specifically, Value Focused Thinking (VFT), is used to decompose the complex problem of academic course scheduling and determine the factors that are …