Engineering Commons^™

Rtl Power Estimation Of Sequential Circuits, Sridhar Muthrasanallur

Dissertations and Theses

Power consumption has become a major concern in the electronic industry in recent years because of the increased demand for portable electronic devices. Part of the problem in power conscious design is accurate power estimation. Power estimation at low-levels of design abstraction is slow since the units of low-levels of design abstraction are transistors or gates. But designers need reliable power estimates early in the design process. Therefore designers need to have tools for fast and accurate power estimation at higher levels of design abstraction such as the Register Transfer Level (RTL).

This thesis introduces a new method for RTL …

The Design Of Cube Calculus Machine Using Sram-Based Fpga Reconfigurable Hardware Dec’S Perle-1 Board, Qihong Chen

Dissertations and Theses

Presented in this thesis are new approaches to column compatibility checking and column-based input/output encoding for Curtis decompositions of switching functions. These approaches can be used in Curtis-type functional decomposition programs for applications in several scientific disciplines. Examples of applications are: minimization of combinational and sequential logic) mapping of logic functions to programmable logic devices such as CPLDs, MPGAs, and FPGAs, data encryption, data compression, pattern recognition) and image refinement. Presently, Curtis-type functional decomposition programs are used primarily for experimental purposes due to performance, quality, and compatibility issues. However) in the past few years a renewal of interest in the …

Virtual Reality Modelling Of A Cnc Machine, Damian O'Sullivan

Theses

The increasing importance of training and upgrading skills has led to the use of new interactive technologies in the development of more effective training tools. Previous techniques for training Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine operators, while excellent for their time, varied from brief inexpensive tutorials to expensive on the job training. A CNC machine uses a computer to perform the functions of the machine using a part program stored in the memory of the computer. This thesis describes a Virtual Reality (VR) model of a CNC milling machine, implemented within a VR environment representing a CNC workshop. Its development and …

Development Of A Quality Assurance Plan For A Microbrewery, Matthew J. Williams

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Quality assurance (QA) has become a key factor to business success in the marketplace. Within Australia, companies normally approach QA by implementing formal systems which maintain the consistency of manufacturing processes, and hence, the quality of subsequent output. These systems have increasingly been based upon the international series of standards, ISO 9000.In the food industry, safety is a minimum requirement for food quality. As Governments and food authorities have endeavoured to reduce the incidence of foodborne illnesses, they have promoted the implementation of additional systems developed to a specific standard for food safety, namely Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). …

Mathematics, Modeling, And Modular Curriculum In Engineering Retraining Programs, Massoud Moussavi

Educational Studies Dissertations

The present study is an attempt to probe, explore, and provide an appropriate educational method for engineering retraining programs. The central concerns and implications of this study revolve around: who engineers are, how they learn, why they need to learn, and what they have to learn. The existing retraining programs also will be evaluated in order to develop a suitable retraining program for engineers.

Effects Of Temperature, Water Hardness, And Recirculation On Copper Corrosion, Brian R. Weiss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In previous work, the effects of water quality have been shown to influence the formation of scale from copper corrosion. A general understanding of the effects of water quality on copper corrosion have been difficult to obtain because of complex interactions of water quality variables on copper corrosion in different water supply systems. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of temperature and water hardness on copper corrosion occurring in a household water supply system. The effects of recirculation were also studied in concurrence with the above water quality parameters. Electrochemical corrosion testing and corrosion by -product …

Expedient Method To Determine Active Zone Depth For Expansive Soils In The St. Louis, Missouri Area, Robert Allen Abbott

Masters Theses

"A laboratory testing program was developed to formulate a relationship which could be used to estimate the active zone depth at a given site with the index properties of the potentially expansive soils at the site. The testing program utilized standard consolidometers to incrementally add moisture to soil specimens to determine a swell versus soil suction index. Tests were performed on laboratory manufactured soil specimens of commercial clay to validate the testing methodology.

A QUATTRO PRO computer spreadsheet was developed to perform the calculations to determine the potential field surface heave for the soils tested provided they were at a …

Development And Saw Device Implementation Of A New Weighted Stepped Chirp Code Signal For Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Communications Systems, Scott Edward Carter

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

This work introduces the new weighted stepped chirp code signal for direct sequence spread spectrum (DS/SS) communications systems. This code signal uses the truncated cosine series functions as the chip functions. This code signal is the result of discretizing a continuous wave (CW) chirp which results in enhanced performance versus a pseudonoise (PN) code and equivalent performance and easier implementation than a CW chirp. This code signal will be shown to possess improved compression ratio (CR), peak sidelobe level (PSL), integrated sidelobe level (ISL), and bit error rate (BER) when compared to a PN code of identical code length and …

Development Of A Geothermal Heat Pump Test Facility, Chris Collins

Theses

Current environmental concerns have led to large scale research and development in the area of alternative energy supplies. The alternative energy system of interest in this study is the heat pump. Heat pumps extract heat from a variety of sources such as air, water and the earth, upgrade and transmit it to the required location. The aim of this thesis is to develop mathematical and experimental models to evaluate the performance of a heat pump which uses the earth as its thermal source. These models will then form the basis of design aids for installers sizing closed loop collection systems …

Square Spiral Conformal Microstrip Antennas For Space Vehicles, Nahid Dehestani

HIM 1990-2015

The research deals with the experimental study of square spiral microstrip antennas over the 5 to 12 GHz range. Square spiral microstrip antennas can provide a wideband reception at frequencies of several gigaHertz. They can, like other microstrip antennas be made conformal and are compact and light weight. Consequently, they are very suitable for use on aircraft and spacecraft. These antennas can be flush mounted to the existing surfaces, and their shape makes them easier to fabricate, and can be mass-produced. The square spiral microstrip antenna is a recent development and has been investigated theoretically through the use of the …

Well Characteristics Influencing Microscopic Particulate Analysis Risk Index, Robert Christopher Sharek

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Cryptosporidium parvum is a common surface water contaminant that can cause illness in human beings. The presence of this etiological agent in groundwater identifies the groundwater as under the direct influence (GWUDI) of surface water. Currently the determination of GWUDI water sources requires an expensive, labor-intensive laboratory procedure called the Microscopic Particulate Analysis (MPA). The results of the MPA provide a risk index that rates the degree of surface water contamination. The objective of this study is to identify other methods of identifying GWUDI of surface waters, such as well characteristics and hydrogeologic factors which may contribute to higher MPA …

Signal Processing Topics In Multicarrier Modulation : Frequency Offset Correction For Ofdm And Multiuser Interference Cancellation For Mc-Cdma, Pingping Zong

Theses

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is discussed as a special form of multi-carrier modulation (MCM). One major problem of the OFDM system is the sensitivity to an unknown frequency offset at the receiver. To improve the performance of the OFDM system, correction of the frequency offset is required before decision making. An adaptive method of frequency offset correction is presented. The adaptation algorithm used here is based on the LMS and the estimation is proven unbiased. A multiuser communications system having similar signal structure to the OFDM system, termed as multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA), is discussed. The MC-CDMA …

Recovery Of Intracellular Materials By Electroporation, Wendy Elaine Reid

Theses

Electroporation is commonly used to transfer genetic materials such as DNA into the cell by exposing the cell to a high electric field that momentarily permeabilizes the cell membrane. This premise was utilized to use electroporation as a means of releasing intracellular proteins. A procedure has been developed for the release of intracellular proteins through the use of electroporation. This procedure is a breakthrough. In general, industrial scale techniques to recover proteins from microorganisms are inefficient (Clarkson, 1993). A benefit of this electroporation-based mechanism would be the reduction of steps in the downstream processing required to purify the desired product. …

Automatic Car Registration Plate Recognition Using The Hough Transform, Shokri Gendy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The development of automatic car registration plate recognition systems will provide greater efficiency for vehicle monitoring in automatic access control, and will avoid the need to equip vehicles with special RF tags for identification since all vehicles possess a unique registration plate. Thus this study is an attempt to introduce an automatic car registration plate recognition system based on identifying the plate characters by using the Hough transform. However, the proposed recognition system can be used in conjunction with a tag system for higher security access control. The automatic registration plate recognition could also have considerable potential in a wide …

Designing A Higher Layer Protocol For Small Distributed Microcontroller Systems Using The Control Area Network Protocol, Long G. Nguyen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis is concerned with designing a Higher Layer Protocol (HLP) for small distributed microcontroller systems using a well-established network protocol: the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol which, currently, is widely used in the automation industries. Steps were taken to investigate three popular HLPs based on the CAN protocol: namely. Smart Distributed System (SDS), DeviceNet. and CAN Kingdom. Following the comparison of the three HLPs, the CAN Kingdom protocol was chosen for the task of designing the HLP in this project in order to satisfy the restrictions associated with small systems. Thus, the HLP (named the Small CAN Kingdom protocol) …

Oil Consumption Measurements Of A Production Engine Using The Sulfur-Trace Method, Verlyn Royal Benson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Controlling the oil consumption of diesel engines is important for customer satisfaction. Existing oil consumption measurement methods are adequate; however, improved methods offer the possibility of faster and more comprehensive results. The sulfur-trace method is an example.

Major objectives of this investigation were to adopt a sulfur-trace analyzer for oil consumption measurements, to improve the oil consumption measurement process, and to demonstrate application of the sulfur-trace instrument to individual cylinder sampling. To achieve these objectives, four research questions were applied:

1. What procedures and attention to detail are required?
2. How can results be reported to maximize data interpretation?
3. How do the …

An Evaluation Of The Aws Entry Level Welder Training Program, John R. Rice

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program for Entry Level Welders and to provide this information to the American Welding Society (AWS), industry, and educators. The problem of this study was to evaluate the AWS Entry Level Welder Training Program (ELWTP) by obtaining the opinions of faculty members who taught the program and welders who had completed the program.

Two groups comprised the research population for this study. The first group consisted of faculty members who were actually involved in teaching the course at institutions accredited by the AWS to offer the curriculum. …

Nonlinear Modeling Of Concrete-Filled Frp Tubes Using The Finite Element Method, Kenneth T. Zagers

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) has in recent years emerged as an alternative reinforcement for structural concrete. The properties that make FRP appealing to the construction industry include its resistance to electro-chemical corrosion, high strength-to-weight ratio, and electrical insulation. An efficient use of FRP is in the form of concrete-filled tubes, where the tube not only protects the concrete against environmental factors, but also provides confinement and external reinforcement. Since use of fiber composites for confining concrete is relatively new, analytical work in this area is limited to the models that were originally developed for transverse steel reinforcement. However, it has …

Gaas Implementation Of Fir Filter, Anup Savla

Theses : Honours

This thesis discusses the findings of the final year project involving Gallium Arsenide implementation of a triangular FIR filter to perform discrete wavelet transforms. The overall characteristics of Gallium Arsenide technology- its construction, behaviour and electrical charactersitics as they apply to VLSI technology - were investigated in this project. In depth understanding of its architecture is required to be able to understand the various design techniques employed. A comparison of Silicon and GaAs performance and other characteristics has also been made to fully justify the choice of this material for system implementation. A lot of research and active interest has …

An Investigation Using The Finite Element Method Into Bowing & Lean Of The 3rd Stage Turbine Blade Of The Pratt & Whitney Jt8d Gas Turbine Engine, Kevin O'Donoghue

Theses

Following a recent series of failures of overhauled third stage turbine blades in the JT8D- 15A gas turbine engine, new inspection criteria have been introduced by the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. One such inspection checks for airfoil bowing and lean. A blade will bow or lean towards the suction face of the airfoil as a result of creep during engine operation. Third stage turbine blades from the JT8D low pressure turbine have been observed with as much as two millimetres of deflection measured at mid-span. In a geometrically correct T3 blade, the tensile centrifugal load due to engine rotation …

Thermodynamic Modeling And Analysis Of Human Stress Responses, Satish C. Boregowda

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A novel approach based on the second law of thermodynamics is developed to investigate the psychophysiology and quantify human stress level. Two types of stresses (thermal and mental) are examined. A Unified Stress Response Theory (USRT) is developed under the new proposed field of study called Engineering Psychophysiology. The USRT is used to investigate both thermal and mental stresses from a holistic (human body as a whole) and thermodynamic viewpoint. The original concepts and definitions are established as postulates which form the basis for thermodynamic approach to quantify human stress level. An Objective Thermal Stress Index (OTSI) is developed by …

Statistical Analysis Of Structural Response Via A Quadratic Regression Model, Mahesh Balasubramanian

Masters Theses

"Described herein is the development of an efficient capability to analyze the statistics of structural responses given a description of the statistics of the input, or design, variables. In the application of interest, inputs and outputs are related through a very large finite element model. The finite element model is approximated here by a second-order hyper-surface. Developed for the quadratic relationship are expressions for response means, standard deviations and correlation coefficients. The analysis allows correlated and uncorrelated input variables, and admissible input variable distributions are normal, log-normal and Weibull.

In addition to characterizations of response means, standard deviations and correlation …

Measuring Fine Aggregate Shape By Digital Imaging, Larry David Klotz

Theses and Dissertations

Fine aggregate shape has been identified as a factor in determining asphalt pavement rutting susceptibility. In an effort to improve test methods for measuring aggregate shape characteristics, a video-based, computer-controlled imaging system was developed. Individual aggregate particles were characterized by shape attributes. A neural network classifier used these attributes to calculate a single number classification index that relates to expected performance in asphalt concrete based on angularity. Expert judges were used to train the neural network classifier by scoring a set of particle outlines. Discrepancies in the expert's scores indicate that considerable uncertainties still exist in the concept of 'angularity'. …

Dsp Implementation Of A Quadrature Phase Shift Keying Transmitter, Andrew Phoon

Theses : Honours

The aim of this project is to develop a DSP implementation of a QPSK transmitter. This transmitter is to process digital signals in real-time and modulate it with sinusoidal and cosinusoidal signals to produce the required QPSK waveform. This thesis is mainly divided into three sections. The first section deals with the theory of modulation. Phase shift keying, in particular binary phase shift keying, is explained in some detail, with references to the generation of quadrature phase shift keying. In the second section, a brief overview of the SIMULINK package from MATLAB is given, as simulations of ideal and nonideal …

Data Logging Multiple Aviation Sensors Using A Motorala [Sic] Hc11 Microcontroller, Andrew James Wooding

Theses : Honours

This project is part of the research and development of a microprocessor based integrated instrumentation system for light aircraft. It involves interfacing a Motorola HC 11 microcontroller with several sensor inputs. The project system is designed to data log battery voltage, cylinder head temperature, ambient temperature and engine RPM.

Digital Receivers, George Rofa

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Building A Secure Intranet, Fred J. Berryman

Theses

This thesis will explain the vulnerabilities of computers in a networking environment and demonstrate proper procedures for building a secure Intranet.

The Internet is built around the concept of open communication. Data is shared around the globe just as easily as it is from one office or cubical to the next. Corporations are skeptical about putting company data on such a public transport mechanism as the Internet, but the tools used on the Internet are exciting and everyone wants to use them. Out of a desire for the best of both worlds, the Intranet was born.

An intranet that has …

Placement Of Piezoelectric Actuators For Active Control Of Vibration Using Modal Parameters, Xuegeng Zhu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An equation is derived to model the piezoelectric actuators incorporation with flexible structures. This equation permits the comparison of the performance indices over the entire structure for a piezoelectric actuator with constant area, which is unachievable if the Finite Element Method is used for complicated structures.

An index has been developed for placement of piezoelectric actuator for control of vibration of a flexible structure. This index is derived from the definition of H2norm. Computation of the proposed index requires only the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes of the structures of interest. The method is well suited to large …

Total Quality Management And Corporate Financial Performance: An Analysis Of The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Criteria, Alice Brigid Beechner

Doctoral Dissertations

"The impact of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) Performance Excellence Criteria on corporate financial performance is examined. Three independent studies were performed to assess this relationship. The first included Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) winners. The second study involved 69 firms identified as Total Quality Management (TQM) firms and for the final study a sample of large American corporations who completed surveys which provided an estimate of the score the companies would have received on a MBNQA assessment were examined. The method for assessing the financial strength for all three studies was the metric Market Value Added …

Passive Circuit Modeling Using Ipa510, Hassan Hiwaidi Al-Sheikhly

Dissertations and Theses

Characterizing the high speed interconnect performance of circuit board, integrated circuit packages and multichip module become very important when the clock frequencies in digital and RF systems become larger than 200 MHz. At time scales less than 2 ns distributed approach must be used to measure package parasitics (stray inductance and capacitance) and transmission line effects.

A practical way to measure and model the package parasitics is by utilizing Interconnect Parameter Analyzer (IP A510). The IP A510 uses Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technique. The TDR technique is based on sending a waveform to a device under test (DUT) and capturing …