Engineering Commons^™

Feature Selection And Classifier Development For Radio Frequency Device Identification, Trevor J. Bihl

Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of simple and low-cost devices, such as IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee and Z-Wave, in Critical Infrastructure (CI) increases security concerns. Radio Frequency Distinct Native Attribute (RF-DNA) Fingerprinting facilitates biometric-like identification of electronic devices emissions from variances in device hardware. Developing reliable classifier models using RF-DNA fingerprints is thus important for device discrimination to enable reliable Device Classification (a one-to-many looks most like assessment) and Device ID Verification (a one-to-one looks how much like assessment). AFITs prior RF-DNA work focused on Multiple Discriminant Analysis/Maximum Likelihood (MDA/ML) and Generalized Relevance Learning Vector Quantized Improved (GRLVQI) classifiers. This work 1) introduces a …

Investigation Of Electromagnetic Signatures Of A Fpga Using An Aprel Em-Isight System, Karynn A. Sutherlin

Theses and Dissertations

Large military platforms have encountered major performance and reliability issues due to an increased number of incidents with counterfeit electronic parts. This has drawn the attention of Department of Defense (DOD) leadership making detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts a top issue for national defense. More defined regulations and processes for identifying, reporting, and disposing of counterfeit electronic parts are being revised to raise awareness for this aggregating issue, as well as enhance the detection of these parts. Multiple technologies are currently employed throughout the supply chain to detect counterfeit electronic parts. These methods are often costly, time-consuming, and …

A Markerless Augmented Reality System Using One-Shot Structured Light, Bingyao Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes computer-generated 3D and/or 2D information on the user’s view of a surrounding environment in real-time, enhancing the user’s perception of the real world. Regardless of the field for which the application is applied, or its primary purpose in the scene, many AR pipelines share what might be thinned down to two specific goals, the first being range-finding the environment (whether this be in knowing a depth, precise 3D coordinates, or a camera pose estimation), and the second being registration and tracking of the 3D environment, such that an environment moving with respect …

Spectral And Temporal Interrogation Of Cerebral Hemodynamics Via High Speed Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging, Rex Chin-Hao Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) is a non-scanning wide field-of-view optical imaging technique specifically developed for cerebral blood flow (CBF) monitoring. In this project, a versatile Laser speckle contrast imaging system has been designed and developed to monitor CBF changes and examine the physical properties of cerebral vasculature during functional brain activation experiments.

The hardware of the system consists of a high speed CMOS camera, a coherent light source, a trinocular microscope, and a PC that does camera controlling and data storage. The simplicity of the system’s hardware makes it suitable for biological experiments.

In controlled flow experiments using a …

An Economical Model Development For A Hybrid System Of Grid Connected Solar Pv And Electrical Storage System, Mohammad Hasan Balali

Theses and Dissertations

Energy sources management is one of the most important concern in the recent decades. There are finite amount of non-renewable energy sources and one day they will run out if they have been used as primary sources of energy. Renewable energy sources have been significantly reduced the environmental effects. For most of them the source of energy is non-depletable.

One of the concerns associated with renewable resources is uncertainty or unavailability. Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) can help to have more reliable and more efficient systems by adjusting the charge and discharge time and rate. In this study, an economic model …

Adaptation Of Moiré Phase Tracking To A Mobile Device For Field 3d Data Collections, Amar Nikhanj

Theses and Dissertations

The accelerating technologies of mobiles devices such as tablets and phones provide an ability to

perform high intensity calculations all while obtaining precise data with increasingly more accurate

sensors. Image metrology and 3D motion tracking can take advantage of these improvements as

they require both significant processing power and camera controls not seen in mobile devices until

very recently. This thesis discusses the development of 3D motion tracking using Google Nexus

tablets and applying the technology to the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) to demonstrate

the technology’s application to field measurements. RULA analysis determines the stress placed on

a human …

Water Withdrawal And Consumption Reduction Analysis For Electrical Energy Generation System, Narjes Nouri

Theses and Dissertations

There is an increasing concern over shrinking water resources. Water use in the energy sector primarily occurs in electricity generation. Anticipating scarcer supplies, the value of water is undoubtedly on the rise and design, implementation, and utilization of water saving mechanisms in energy generation systems are becoming inevitable. Most power plants generate power by boiling water to produce steam to spin electricity-generating turbines. Large quantities of water are often used to cool the steam in these plants. As a consequence, most fossil-based power plants in addition to consuming water, impact the water resources by raising the temperature of water withdrawn …

Contribution To T He Onboard Context Sensitive Information System ( Of Commercial Aircraft, Wei Tan

Theses and Dissertations

Pilots currently use paper-based documentation and electronic systems (e.g., Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor (ECAM) for Airbus, and Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) for Boeing) to help them perform procedures to ensure safety, efficiency and comfort on commercial aircrafts. Management of interconnections among paper-based operational documents can be a challenge for pilots, especially when time pressure is high in normal, abnormal, and emergency situations. This dissertation is a contribution to the design of an Onboard Context-Sensitive Information System (OCSIS). The claim is that the use of contextual information facilitates access to appropriate operational content at the right time either …

Configuration Scrubbing Architectures For High-Reliability Fpga Systems, Aaron Gerald Stoddard

Theses and Dissertations

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are being used more frequently in space applications because of their reconfigurability and intensive processing capabilities. FPGAs in environments like space are susceptible to ionizing radiation which can cause Single Event Upsets (SEUs) in the FPGA's configuration memory. These upsets may cause the programmed user design on the FPGA to deviate from its normal behavior. Space missions cannot afford to allow important data processing applications to become corrupted due to these radiation upsets.Configuration scrubbing is an upset mitigation technique that detects and corrects upsets in an FPGA's configuration memory. Configuration scrubbing periodically monitors an FPGA's …

Rubidium Packaging For On-Chip Spectroscopy, Cameron Louis Hill

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents rubidium packaging methods for integration using anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguides (ARROWs) on a planar chip. The atomic vapor ARROW confines light through rubidium vapor, increases the light-vapor interaction length, decreases the size of the atomic cell to chip scales, and opens up possibilities for waveguide systems on chips for additional optoelectronic devices. Rubidium vapor packaging for long-life times are essential for realizing feasibly useful devices. Considerations of outgassing, leaking and chemical compatibilities of materials in rubidium vapor cells lead to an all-metal design. The effect of these characteristics on the rubidium D2 line spectra is considered.

Enhanced-Resolution Processing And Applications Of The Ascat Scatterometer, Richard D. Lindsley

Theses and Dissertations

The ASCAT scatterometer measures the Earth surface microwave radar backscatter in order to estimate the near-surface winds over the oceans. While the spatial resolution of the conventional applications is sufficient for many purposes, other geoscience applications benefit from an improved spatial resolution. Specialized algorithms may be applied to the scatterometer data in order to reconstruct the radar backscatter on a high-resolution grid. Image reconstruction requires the spatial response function (SRF) of each measurement, which is not reported with the measurement data. To address this need, I precisely model the SRF incorporating (1) the antenna beam response, (2) the processing performed …

A Handcrafted Multi-Branch Nerve Scaffold For In Vivo Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Ridwan Fayaz Hossain

Theses and Dissertations

Arm and leg peripheral nerve injuries contribute largely to functional disability. These injuries seldom affect a single-line nerve; rather the injury goes beyond and disrupts the nerve tissue across multiple nerve paths. Here we investigate handcrafted PDMS based multi-branch nerve guidance conduit, which addresses this crucial branching from the sciatic nerve to aid with the regeneration to their appropriate distal targets. The design concept of the developed multiple branch nerve scaffolds is not specific for the sciatic nerve but can be modified for general use of all peripheral nerves and additional applications. Microchannels are also fabricated into a device in …

High-Efficiency Passive And Active Phased Arrays And Array Feeds For Satellite Communications, Zhenchao Yang

Theses and Dissertations

Satellite communication (Satcom) services are used worldwide for voice, data, and video links due to various appealing features. Parabolic reflector antennas are typically used to serve a cost effective scheme for commercial applications. However, mount degradation, roof sag, and orbital decay motivate the need for beam steering. Limited scan range beam steering opens a third option for electronic beam steering with lower cost than full aperture phased arrays and higher tracking speed and accuracy than mechanical-only steering.Multiple high efficiency passive patch array feeds were designed, fabricated, and measured, including a 2x2 MSA array, a stacked shorted annular patch antenna, and …

A Compact Phased Array Radar For Uas Sense And Avoid, Jonathan Cullinan Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

As small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are introduced into the national airspace, measures must be introduced to ensure that they do not interfere with manned aviation and other UAS. Radar provides an attractive solution because of its inherent range accuracy and because it works in diverse weather and lighting conditions. Traditional radar systems, however, are large and high power and do not meet the size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints imposed by UAS, and fully integrated automotive solution do not provide the necessary range. This thesis proposes a compact radar system that meets both the SWaP and range requirements for …

Compose: Compacted Object Sample Extraction A Framework For Semi-Supervised Learning In Nonstationary Environments, Karl Dyer

Theses and Dissertations

An increasing number of real-world applications are associated with streaming data drawn from drifting and nonstationary distributions. These applications demand new algorithms that can learn and adapt to such changes, also known as concept drift. Proper characterization of such data with existing approaches typically requires substantial amount of labeled instances, which may be difficult, expensive, or even impractical to obtain. In this thesis, compacted object sample extraction (COMPOSE) is introduced - a computational geometry-based framework to learn from nonstationary streaming data - where labels are unavailable (or presented very sporadically) after initialization. The feasibility and performance of the algorithm are …

Multiple Detector Wireless Fnirs Sensor To Detect Hemodynamic Activity, Sivaram Karra

Theses and Dissertations

An established, non-invasive and flexible technique, "functional Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy" (fNIRS), has opened new opportunities for the study of brain functionality. This powerful method uses the optical properties of a tissue at multiple near infra-red wavelengths to dynamically determine the levels of both oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hbr). Traditional techniques such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Electroencephalography (EEG) and Event Related brain Potentials (ERP) have increased our understanding of brain functionality, however, the basic limitations of these technologies such as high cost of equipment, difficulty of operation and levels of radiation make access …

Multi-Mode Analysis Of Dual Ridged Waveguide Systems For Material Characterization, Jason G. Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, two nondestructive dual ridged waveguide (DRWG) material characterization systems are investigated. The single and clamped DRWG probe geometries were analyzed in previous work; however, that research only incorporated the dominant DRWG mode. Here, that restriction is removed and the existence of evanescent higher- order modes is considered. Theoretical analysis of the single and clamped DRWG probes is presented and discussed. The approach taken here is similar to that presented in previous research: Love's equivalence theorem is used to remove the DRWG apertures which are replaced with equivalent magnetic currents radiating in the presence of the background parallel-plate …

Novel Applications Of A Thermally Tunable Bistable Buckling Silicon-On-Insulator (Soi) Microfabricated Membrane, Robert A. Lake

Theses and Dissertations

Buckled membranes are commonly used microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) structures. Recent work has demonstrated that the deflection and stiffness of these membranes can be tuned through localized joule heating. These devices were implemented into the design and fabrication of two novel device applications, a tunable pressure sensor and a steerable micromirror. A differential pressure across the membrane causes de reflection, up or down, which can be measured and related to a specific pressure. By tuning the stiffness of the membrane, its pressure response is varied providing a wider range of application for the pressure sensor. A 2.0mm by 2.0mm square membrane …

Exploitation Of Unintentional Ethernet Cable Emissions Using Constellation Based-Distinct Native Attribute (Cb-Dna) Fingerprints To Enhance Network Security, Timothy J. Carbino

Theses and Dissertations

This research contributed to the AFIT's Radio Frequency Intelligence (RFINT) program by developing a new device discrimination technique called Constellation-Based Distinct Native Attribute (CB-DNA) Fingerprinting. This is of great interest to the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Sensor Directorate, who supported the research and now have new method for improving network security. CB-DNA fingerprints are used to authenticate wired network device identities, thwart unauthorized access, and augment traditional bit-level security measures that area easily bypassed by skilled hackers. Similar to human fingerprint features that uniquely identify individuals, CB-DNA uniquely identifies communication devices and improves the rate at which unauthorized rogue …

Particle Filtering For Eeg Source Localization And Constrained State Spaces, Bradley Ebinger

Theses and Dissertations

Particle Filters (PFs) have a unique ability to perform asymptotically optimal estimation for non-linear and non-Gaussian state-space models. However, the numerical nature of PFs cause them to have major weakness in two important areas: (1) handling constraints on the state, and (2) dealing with high-dimensional states. In the first area, handling constraints within the PF framework is crucial in dynamical systems, which are often required to satisfy constraints that arise from basic physical laws or other considerations. The current trend in constrained particle filtering is to enforce the constraints on all particles of the PF. We show that this approach …

Calibration And Validation Of The Rapidscat Scatterometer Using Natural Land Targets, Nathan Mark Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

RapidScat is a Ku-band scatterometer that was launched September 2014 and is currently operating on the International Space Station. It estimates ocean vector winds through accurate measurement of the normalized radar coefficient (σ⁰) of the ocean surface. In order to ensure the accuracy of σ⁰ measurements and consistency with previous Ku-band scatterometers, post-launch calibration and validation is necessary. Calibration and validation is performed using natural land targets, namely the Amazon and Congo rainforests, to complement calibration efforts over the ocean. The σ⁰ response of the targets is estimated with respect to viewing angle and time of …

Design And Comparison Of Si-Based And Sic-Based Three-Phase Pv Inverters, Wei Fu

Theses and Dissertations

The opportunities for both power density and efficiency improvements of photovoltaic (PV) inverter have come with the development of commercially available wide bandgap (WBG) devices such as Gallium Nitride (GaN), and Silicon Carbide (SiC).

In this thesis, how the replacement of Silicon (Si) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), with SiC Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) affects the power density and efficiency of a solar inverter implementation is presented. The focus is on achieving a minimum volume of the output filter which meet the current harmonic performance of IEEE standard, while meeting the thermal constraint of the semiconductor device. Efficiency improvements …

Intelligent Novel Methods For Identifying Critical Components And Their Combinations For Hypothesized Cyber-Physical Attacks Against Electric Power Grids, Ming Wang

Theses and Dissertations

As a revolutionary change to the traditional power grid, the smart grid is expected to introduce a myriad of noteworthy benefits by integrating the advanced information and communication technologies in terms of system costs, reliability, environmental impacts, operational flexibility, etc. However, the wider deployment of cyber networks in the power grid will bring about important issues on power system cyber security. Meanwhile, the power grid is becoming more vulnerable to various physical attacks due to vandalism and probable terrorist attacks. In an envisioned smart grid environment, attackers have more entry points to various parts of the power grid for launching …

Modeling Of Energy Storage Systems For Building Intergation, Azadeh Mazaheri

Theses and Dissertations

An advanced Energy Storage device modeling, namely, Zinc Bromide, is proposed to integrate a new software Smartbuilds, developed by Marquette University, based on an integrated building. Smartbuilds will provide the platform to integrate all the components of the proposed Building which incorporate with renewable energy and energy storage system. The zinc bromide modeling results show that the battery’s open-circuit voltage is a direct function of the state of charge (SOC) of the battery. Furthermore, resistance is also a function of sate of charge at constant temperature. A Coulomb Counting technique is used to adjust the estimated SOC according to battery …

Level Set Segmentation Using Non-Negative Matrix Factorization With Application To Brain Mri, Dimah Dera

Theses and Dissertations

We address the problem of image segmentation using a new deformable model based on the level set method (LSM) and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). We describe the use of NMF to reduce the dimension of large images from thousands of pixels to a handful of "metapixels" or regions. In addition, the exact number of regions is discovered using the nuclear norm of the NMF factors. The proposed NMF-LSM characterizes the histogram of the image, calculated over the image blocks, as nonnegative combinations of basic histograms computed using NMF (V ~ W H). The matrix W represents the histograms of the …

An Evaluation Of Soft Processors As A Reliable Computing Platform, Michael Robert Gardiner

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the benefits and limitations of soft processors operating in a radiation-hardened FPGA, focusing primarily on the performance and reliability of these systems. FPGAs designs for four popular soft processors, the MicroBlaze, LEON3, Cortex-M0 DesignStart, and OpenRISC 1200 are developed for a Virtex-5 FPGA. The performance of these soft processor designs is then compared on ten widely-used benchmark programs. Benchmarking results indicate that the MicroBlaze has the best integer performance of the soft processors, with at least 2.23X better performance on average than the other three processors. However, the LEON3 has the best floating-point performance, with benchmark scores …

Address Space Translation For Fpga Accelerated Simulators, Michael Thaddeus Chamberlain

Theses and Dissertations

Microarchitectural simulation is needed to help explore the large design space of new computer systems. These simulations are taking increasingly longer amounts of time to run due to the increasing complexity of modern processors. Co-simulation and high level synthesis are promising fields to improve the overall time required for microarchitectural simulators, and can contribute to low design times and fast simulation speeds permitting a larger range of design space exploration. While promising, co-simulation techniques must find effective ways to map the host memory address space to the FPGA memory address space to be able to correctly transfer simulation data between …

An Efficient Feature Descriptor And Its Real-Time Applications, Alok Desai

Theses and Dissertations

Finding salient features in an image, and matching them to their corresponding features in another image is an important step for many vision-based applications. Feature description plays an important role in the feature matching process. A robust feature descriptor must works with a number of image deformations and should be computationally efficient. For resource-limited systems, floating point and complex operations such as multiplication and square root are not desirable. This research first introduces a robust and efficient feature descriptor called PRObability (PRO) descriptor that meets these requirements without sacrificing matching accuracy. The PRO descriptor is further improved by incorporating only …

A Study Of Reconfigurable Antennas As A Solution For Efficiency, Robustness, And Security Of Wireless Systems, Rashid Mehmood

Theses and Dissertations

The reconfigurable aperture (RECAP) is a reconfigurable antenna consisting of a dense array of electronically controlled elements, which can be manipulated to support many antenna functions within a single architecture. RECAPs are explored herein as an enabling technology for future software defined and cognitive radio architectures, as well as compact wireless devices supporting many bands and services. First, the concept of a parasitic RECAP is developed and analyzed for various communication applications. This begins with the analysis of existing RECAP topologies (e.g. planar and parasitic) using a hybrid method combining full wave simulations and network analysis. Next, a performance versus …

Thin Film Based Biocompatible Sensors For Physiological Monitoring, Yihao Zhu

Theses and Dissertations

The development and evolution of physiological sensors, from wearable to implantable, has enabled long term continuous physiological monitoring, making possible for the out-of-clinic treatment and management of many chronic illnesses, mental health issues and post-surgery recovery. This technology advance is gradually changing the definition of health care and the way it is delivered, from clinic/emergency room to patient’s own environment. In this dissertation, three general types of sensors have been proposed for physiological monitoring of blood pressure, oxygen content and electrolyte ion concentration level in human body, respectively. The study proved the device concepts and shows promising results with the …