Engineering Commons^™

Mole Drainage For Increased Productivity In The South West Irrigation Area, D L. Bennett, Richard George, Bill Russell

Bulletins 4000 -

Heavy soils, with low rates of soil-water movement, such as those found in the South-West Irrigation Area (SWIA), require closely spaced (2-6 m apart) subsoil drainage systems to provide sufficient water movement to control the effects of salt-waterlogging on pastures. Such close spacing using traditional buried pipe or tile drainage systems is impractical. As a result, mole drainage systems, used in other parts of the world for over 50 years, have gained popularity in the SWIA in recent years.

This Bulletin Farmnote reports the current ‘best-bet’ mole draining technique for SWIA conditions gathered from observations over a number of years …

Analysis Of Loading Rate Effects On Cleavage Fracture Toughness Of Ferritic Steels, Xiaosheng Gao, Robert H. Dodds Jr.

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Modeling Of Commercial Maritime Port Recoverability From Security Disruptions: Work-In-Progress, C. Ariel Pinto, Wayne K. Talley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This article describes active research in commercial maritime port's recovery from security disruptions which explores the synergy of economic and simulation models in investigating the recoverability of ports after security incidents. Previous study has identified decision variables and throughput simulation models of port operation. However, none of these models have been utilized to investigate port's recovery from a security disruption and in evaluating recoverability investments. The method of research includes analysis of recorded disruptions, identification of impediments to recovery and investment criteria for recoverability. This article provides managers insight into including security and continuity of operation in managing various types …

Software Development Project Risk Management: A Literature Review, Kevin Macg. Adams, C. Ariel Pinto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The rapid and unprecedented growth in software has brought with it some of the most spectacular and costly project failures in modern history. How risk management is presented in the scholarly journals may give insight into the risk management methods and techniques in use on software development projects. This paper provides a glimpse into the risk management methods, methodologies and techniques available to those who are responsible for software development projects by conducting a non-experimental content analysis. The findings reveal that risk management has not received sufficient attention and does not appear to be widely accepted within the software engineering …

Managing The Transformation Of System Of Systems Engineering, Samuel F. Kovacic, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

SOSE methodologies exist that support engineering difficult and disparate systems with a technical solution. However, from literature it is apparent that there is a need for a formal methodology and methods that govern engineering of System of Systems (SOS) beyond the technical solution. This paper presents some of the current thinking being undertaken at NCSOSE (National Centers for Systems of Systems Engineering), on what is driving the development of SOSE, and a hypothesized solution to this problem. The purpose is to offer a different approach for resolving complexity within a situation. The paper concludes with an initial derivative of a …

Searching For Protein Classification Features, Jennifer A. Smith

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A genetic algorithm is used to search for a set of classification features for a protein superfamily which is as unique as possible to the superfamily. These features may then be used for very fast classification of a query sequence into a protein superfamily. The features are based on windows onto modified consensus sequences of multiple aligned members of a training set for the protein superfamily. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) values and the performance of resulting algorithm is compared with other database search algorithms.

Text Degradations And Ocr Training, Elisa H. Barney Smith, Tim Andersen

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Printing and scanning of text documents introduces degradations to the characters which can be modeled. Interestingly, certain combinations of the parameters that govern the degradations introduced by the printing and scanning process affect characters in such a way that the degraded characters have a similar appearance, while other degradations leave the characters with an appearance that is very different. It is well known that (generally speaking) a test set that more closely matches a training set will be recognized with higher accuracy than one that matches the training set less well. Likewise, classifiers tend to perform better on data sets …

Predictive Control For Dynamic Systems To Track Unknown Input In The Presence Of Time Delay, Yulan Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated a tracking system to trace unknown signal in the presence oftime delay. A predictive control method is proposed in order to compensate the time delay. Root locus method is applied when designing the controller, parameter setting is carried out through error and trail technique in w-plane. State space equation is derived for the system, with special state chose of tracking error. To analyze the asymptotic stability of the proposed predictive control system, the Lyapunov function is constructed. It is shown that the designed system is asymptotically stable when input signal is rather low frequency signal. In order …

An Investigation Of The Autoignition Of Power Generation Gas Turbine Fuel Blends Using A Design Of Experiments Approach, Jaap De Vries

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Natural gas has grown in popularity as a fuel for power generation gas turbines. However, changes in fuel composition are a topic of concern since fuel variability can have a great impact on the reliability and performance of the burner design. In particular, autoignition of the premixed fuel and air prior to entering the main burner is a potential concern when using exotic fuel blends. To obtain much-needed data in this area, autoignition experiments for a wide range of likely fuel blends containing CH4 mixed with combinations of C2H6, C3H8, C4H10, C5H12, and H2 were performed in a high-pressure shock …

Analysis And Simulation Tools For Solar Array Power Systems, Nattorn Pongratananukul

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents simulation tools developed specifically for the design of solar array power systems. Contributions are made in several aspects of the system design phases, including solar source modeling, system simulation, and controller verification. A tool to automate the study of solar array configurations using general purpose circuit simulators has been developed based on the modeling of individual solar cells. Hierarchical structure of solar cell elements, including semiconductor properties, allows simulation of electrical properties as well as the evaluation of the impact of environmental conditions. A second developed tool provides a co-simulation platform with the capability to verify the …

International Space Station Remote Sensing Pointing Analysis, Craig Jacobson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the geometric and disturbance aspects of utilizing the International Space Station for remote sensing of earth targets. The proposed instrument is SHORE (Station High-Sensitivity Ocean Research Experiment), a multi-band optical spectrometer with 15 m pixel resolution. The analysis investigates the contribution of the error effects to the quality of data collected by the instrument. The analysis begins with the discussion of the coordinate systems involved and then conversion from the target coordinate system to the instrument coordinate system. Next the geometry of remote observations from the Space Station is investigated including the effects of the instrument location …

Modeling And Control Of Re-Entry Heat Transfer Problem Using Neural Networks, Katie Grantham, Radhakant Padhi, S. N. Balakrishnan, Dwight C. Look

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A nonlinear optimal re-entry temperature control problem is solved using single network adaptive critic (SNAC) technique. The nonlinear model developed and used accounts for conduction, convection and radiation at high temperature, represents the dynamics of heat transfer in a cooling fin for an object re-entering the earth's atmosphere. Simulation results demonstrate that the control synthesis technique presented is very effective in obtaining a desired temperature profile over a wide envelope of initial temperature distribution.

Using A Neural Network To Distinguish Between The Contributions To Harmonic Pollution Of Non-Linear Loads And The Rest Of The Power System, Joy Mazumdar, Frank C. Lambert, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Optimal Control Parameters For A Upfc In A Multimachine Using Pso, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The crucial factor affecting the modern power systems today is load flow control. The unified power flow controller (UPFC) is an effective means for controlling the power flow and can provide damping capability during transient conditions. The UPFC is controlled conventionally using PI controllers. The optimal design of the PI controllers for a UPFC is a challenging task and time consuming using the conventional techniques. This paper presents an approach using particle swarm optimization (PSO) for the design of optimal conventional controllers for a UPFC in a multimachine power system. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the …

Depolarization Of A Pb(Zr₅₂Ti₄₈)O₃ Polycrystalline Piezoelectric Energy-Carrying Element Of Compact Pulsed Power Generator By A Longitudinal Shock Wave, Sergey I. Shkuratov, Evgueni F. Talantsev, Jason Baird, Henryk Temkin, Yaroslav Tkach, Larry L. Altgilbers, Allen H. Stults

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A poled lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr52Ti48)O3 polycrystalline piezoelectric ceramic energy-carrying element of a compact explosive-driven pulsed power generator was depolarized by an explosive shock wave traveling along the polarization vector P0. We show that shock wave compression of a ferroelectric energy-carrying element at pressures of 1.5-3.8 GPa caused almost complete depolarization of the sample. The shock wave velocity in the Pb(Zr52Ti48)O3 was determined to be 3.94 ± 0.27 km/s. The electric charge stored in the ferroelectrics, due to their remnant polarization, is released during a short time interval, and can be transformed into pulsed power. Compact explosive-driven sources of primary …

Image Quality Vs. Nec In 2d And 3d Pet, John W. Wilson, Timothy G. Turkington, Josh M. Wilson, James G. Colsher, Steven G. Ross

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To investigate the relationship between NEC and image quality to 2D and 3D PET, while simultaneously optimizing 3D low energy threshold (LET), we have performed a series of phantom measurements. The phantom consisted of 46 1 cm fillable hollow spheres on a random grid inside a water-filled oval cylinder, 21 cm tall, 36 cm wide, and 40 cm long. The phantom was imaged on a Discovery ST PET/CT system (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI) in a series of 3 min scans as it decayed from an activity of 7.2 mCi. The scans included LET settings of 375,400, and 425 keV in …

Shadow Detection By Combined Photometric Invariants For Improved Foreground Segmentation, Filiz Bunyak, Ilker Ersoy, S. R. Subramanya

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Detection and tracking of moving objects are the essential steps of many video understanding applications such as traffic monitoring, video surveillance and visual event recognition. Moving object detection process segments the scene into foreground (moving) and background regions. Moving cast shadows cause serious problems in this process because they can easily be misclassified as foreground. This misclassification may lead to drastic changes in the shapes of objects or merging of multiple objects. in this paper, we present a method to detect moving cast shadows to improve the performance of moving object detection. the foreground regions are processed in terms of …

A Warped Bandwidth Expansion Filter, Marc A. Boillot, John G. Harris

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A warped filter is presented as a new speech enhancement method to adjust formant bandwidths on a critical band scale. The warped filter enhances perceived loudness without adding signal energy by exploiting the psychoacoustic nature of the auditory system. The critical band concept in auditory theory states that when the energy in a signal remains constant, loudness increases when the energy spreads beyond a critical bandwidth. A warped filter is proposed and developed to elevate the perceived loudness of clean speech by applying non-linear bandwidth expansion to the formant regions of vowels in accordance with the critical band scale. The …

Control System Design And Simulation Of Spacecraft Formations, Daniel Dyer

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The objective of this thesis is to analyze an effective control scheme for a formation of spacecraft, implement that control, and provide a 3-D simulation. The thesis first summarizes the progress made in formation flight control schemes and then provides a theoretical framework for the control system design. Using established control design techniques, feedback laws are constructed to control both rotational and translational motion of a group of spacecraft. Computer simulations are carried out using Matlab to generate the ephemeris and attitude data, which are exported to Satellite Tool Kit (STK) to create animations. The process by which Matlab is …

A Simple Extrusion Method For The Synthesis Of Aligned Silica Nanowires Using The Template Of A Rigid Surface Mesophase, Limin Liu, Grace Tan, Vivek Agarwal, Arijit Bose, Jibao He, Gary L. Mcpherson, Vijay T. John

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Long range alignment of silica nanowires has been accomplished by extrusion of a novel surfactant mesophase prior to silica synthesis.

Indoor Geo-Location And Tracking Of Mobile Autonomous Robot, Mahesh Ramamurthy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The field of robotics has always been one of fascination right from the day of Terminator. Even though we still do not have robots that can actually replicate human action and intelligence, progress is being made in the right direction. Robotic applications range from defense to civilian, in public safety and fire fighting. With the increase in urban-warfare robot tracking inside buildings and in cities form a very important application. The numerous applications range from munitions tracking to replacing soldiers for reconnaissance information. Fire fighters use robots for survey of the affected area. Tracking robots has been limited to the …

Microstructural And Mechanical Characterization Of Al-Al2o3 Nanocomposites Synthesized By High-Energy Milling, Balaji Prabhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The twin objectives of the investigation were (i) to synthesize Al/Al2O3 metal matrix composites (MMCs) with uniform distribution of the Al2O3 reinforcement in the Al matrix and (ii) to evaluate the effect of volume fraction and size of the reinforcement on the mechanical behavior of MMCs. This was achieved by successful synthesis of Al-Al2O3 MMCs with volume fractions of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50%, and particle sizes of 50 nm, 150 nm, and 5 µm of Al2O3 synthesized from blended component powders by a high-energy milling technique. A uniform distribution of the Al2O3 reinforcement in the Al matrix was …

The Effect Of Immediate Feedback And After Action Reviews (Aars) On Learning, Retention And Transfer, Michael Sanders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An After Action Review (AAR) is the Army training system's performance feedback mechanism. The purpose of the AAR is to improve team (unit) and individual performance in order to increase organizational readiness. While a large body of knowledge exists that discusses instructional strategies, feedback and training systems, neither the AAR process nor the AAR systems have been examined in terms of learning effectiveness and efficiency for embedded trainers as part of a holistic training system. In this thesis, different feedback methods for embedded training are evaluated based on the timing and type of feedback used during and after training exercises. …

Optimization Of Network Parameters And Semi-Supervision In Gaussian Art Architectures, Roopa Chalasani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we extensively experiment with two ART (adaptive resonance theory) architectures called Gaussian ARTMAP (GAM) and Distributed Gaussian ARTMAP (dGAM). Both of these classifiers have been successfully used in the past on a variety of applications. One of our contributions in this thesis is extensively experiments with the GAM and dGAM network parameters and appropriately identifying ranges for these parameters for which these architectures attain good performance (good classification performance and small network size). Furthermore, we have implemented novel modifications of these architectures, called semi-supervised GAM and dGAM architectures. Semi-supervision is a concept that has been used effectively …

Analysis And Design Of A Modular Solar-Fed Fault-Tolerant Power System With Maximum Power Point Tracking, Hussam Al-Atrash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Solar power is becoming ever more popular in a variety of applications. It is particularly attractive because of its abundance, renewability, and environment friendliness. Solar powered spacecraft systems have ever-expanding loads with stringent power regulation specifications. Moreover, they require a light and compact design of their power system. These constraints make the optimization of power harvest from solar arrays a critical task. Florida Power Electronics Center (FPEC) at UCF set to develop a modular fault-tolerant power system architecture for space applications. This architecture provides a number of very attractive features including Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and uniform power stress …

Design Implementation Of A Microcontroller Based External Facility Access Control System, Thomas Fulbright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In order to solve the College of Engineering and Computer Science facility access problem, an automated system that provides exterior doors with a time schedule and allows authorized users to gain access to the facility after hours was developed. A microcontroller based system has been designed to interface with a personal computer. The system designed within this thesis can be used as a starting point for multiple facility access control systems. This thesis will describe the design, integration, test, and final delivery of a facility access system that incorporates the Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller, a magnetic card swipe reader, and …

Correlation Of Acoustic Emission Parameters With Weight And Velocity Of Moving Vehicles, Amar Kolgaonkar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis is motivated by the goal of doing initial investigation and experimentation for the development of Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) system using acoustic emission phenomenon. A great deal of research is going on for measuring the weight of moving vehicles. Weigh-in-motion of commercial vehicles is essential for management of freight traffic, highway infrastructure design and maintenance, and monitoring of heavy weight vehicles. The research work presents a methodology for correlating the weight of a moving vehicle with acoustic emission parameters (such as counts and energy). Furthermore, the correlation between the speed of vehicle with the acoustic emission parameters is developed. Preliminary …

Scene Monitoring With A Forest Of Cooperative Sensors, Omar Javed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we present vision based scene interpretation methods for monitoring of people and vehicles, in real-time, within a busy environment using a forest of co-operative electro-optical (EO) sensors. We have developed novel video understanding algorithms with learning capability, to detect and categorize people and vehicles, track them with in a camera and hand-off this information across multiple networked cameras for multi-camera tracking. The ability to learn prevents the need for extensive manual intervention, site models and camera calibration, and provides adaptability to changing environmental conditions. For object detection and categorization in the video stream, a two step detection …

Uv-Liga Compatible Electroformed Nano-Structured Materials For Micro Mechanical Systems, Bo Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

UV-LIGA is a microfabrication process realzed by material deposition through microfabricated molds. UV photolithography is conducted to pattern precise thick micro molds using UV light sensitive materials, mostly SU-8, and electroforming is performed to fabricate micro metallic structures defined by the micro molds. Therefore, UV-LIGA is a bottom-up in situ material-addition process. UV-LIGA has received broad attention recently than LIGA – a micro molding fabrication process using X-ray to pattern the micro molds. LIGA is an expansive and is limited in access. In comparing to LIGA, the UV-LIGA is a cost effective process, and is widely accessible and safe. Therefore, …

Development Of A Graphical User Interface For Cal3qhc Called Calqcad, Sheetal Gawalpanchi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the major sources of air pollution in the United States metropolitan areas is due to automobiles. With the huge growth of motor vehicles and, greater dependence on them, air pollution problems have been aggravated. According to the EPA, nearly 95% of carbon monoxide (CO ) (EPA 1999) in urban areas comes from mobile sources, of which 51% is contributed by on road vehicles. It is well known fact that, carbon monoxide is one of the major mobile source pollutants and CO has detrimental effects on the human health. Carbon monoxide is the result of mainly incomplete combustion of …