Engineering Commons^™

Stress Corrosion Cracking Of Stainless Steels Used In Manufacturing Brine Circulating Pumps Used In Desalination Plants., Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Joboury

Theses

In earlier works, characterization and stress corrosion cracking of casings of brine recirculation pumps used in desalination plants was investigated. These casings, which were manufactured from two types of Ni resist ductile irons, were reported to show different service lives. Material selection of casings is believed to be one of possible factors to extend the service lives of these pumps. Two types of stainless steels; UNS S31603 and UNS S32750 were recommended as substitutes to Ni resist ductile irons. In this work, mechanical, metallurgical, electrochemical and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) tests were conducted on as received samples, made from these …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Speed Cameras On Road Safety In The Emirate Of Abu Dhabi Roads, Ali Humaid Ai Darei

Theses

The problem of road safety in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is eminent. According road crash data from the Ministry of Interior, from 1999 to 2007 the average percentage of deaths due to road crashes in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi was 42 percent of the whole UAE. The high death rate due to road crashes has enormous economic and financial loss to the Emirate. The previous research on road safety in the UAE reported that the aberrant driving behavior is one of the major causes for road crashes in the UAE. The aberrant driving behavior includes careless driving, speeding, …

Time-Mode Circuits For Analog Computation, Vishnu Ravinuthula, Vaibhav Garg, John G. Harris, José A.B. Fortes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We introduce time-mode circuits, a set of basic circuit building blocks for analog computation using a temporal step function representation for the inputs and outputs. These novel time-mode circuits are low power, provide good noise performance and offer improved dynamic range. The design, IC implementation and detailed theoretical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) analysis of a prototype time-mode circuit-a weighted average computation circuit-are discussed. This new way of computation is studied with respect to existing conventional voltage-mode and current-mode circuits. Two possible applications of these time mode circuits are presented: an edge detection circuit for 16 pixels and a 3-tap FIR filter …

A New State Observer And Flight Control Of Highly Maneuverable Aircraft, S. N. Balakrishnan, Ming Xin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a new nonlinear observer (θ-D observer) is proposed to estimate the feedback states for optimal control of a highly maneuverable aircraft. This observer is derived by constructing the dual of a recently developed nonlinear optimal control technique-known as the θ-D technique. The θ-D optimal control approach provides an approximate closed-form solution to the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. An optimal flight controller using this technique is designed for a highly maneuverable aircraft operating at high angle of attack where the θ-D observer is employed to estimate the states for feedback. The structure of this observer is similar to the …

What New Faculty Need To Know, But Don't Know To Ask, Susan L. Murray, Elizabeth A. Cudney, Suzanna Long, Katie Grantham

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A smooth transition to life at an academic institution and the surrounding community is essential to the professional careers of new faculty members. The transition begins during the hiring process and startup package negotiations. Once at an institution, aspects of academia including teaching, proposal writing, and the tenure process inevitably generate issues and concerns for new faculty members. Research has shown that mentoring new faculty members early in their academic career can have significant impact on professional success. This is especially true at a research-based institution where the demands of funded scholarship add an extra level of complexity. A survey …

A Study Of Dempster-Shafer's Theory Of Evidence In Comparison To Classical Probability Combination, Scott J. Seims

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

A Study of Dempster-Shafer’s Theory of Evidence in Comparison to Classical Probability Combination

Scott J. Seims

This thesis is an assessment on the effectiveness of Dempster-Shafer’s Theory of Evidence in comparison to Classical Probabilistic Combination as it applies to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Automatic Target Recognition (ATR). A three feature based classifier (peaks, corners and edges) ATR system is presented. These classifiers are assumed to be independent. The results of both the weight-based Maximum Likelihood and Dempster-Shafer’s Theory of Evidence data fusion techniques are presented.

Using Dempster-Shafer an accuracy of 77.50 percent is obtained, which is less than the …

General Direction Routing Protocol, Sean Michael Lydon

Master's Theses

The General Direction Routing Protocol (GDRP) is a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)

multi-path routing protocol which abstracts localization information (commonly GPS

coordinates) into relative direction information in order to perform routing decisions. By

generating relative direction information GDRP is able to operate with fewer precision

requirements than other protocols. This abstraction also allows the integration of other emerging

hardware-based localization techniques, for example, Beamforming Sensor Arrays.

GDRP does not specifically address the next hop a packet should take, but instead specifies a

direction it should travel. This direction abstraction allows for multiple paths to be taken through

the network thus …

Affine Region Tracking And Augmentation Using Mser And Adaptive Sift Model Generation, Matthew James Marano

Master's Theses

Relatively complex Augmented Reality (AR) algorithms are becoming widely available due to advancements in affordable mobile computer hardware. To take advantage of this a new method is developed for tracking 2D regions without a prior knowledge of an environment and without developing a computationally expensive world model. In the method of this paper, affinely invariant planar regions in a scene are found using the Maximally Stable Extremal Region (MSER) detector. A region is selected by the user to define a search space, and then the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is used to detect affine invariant keypoints in the region. …

Jdiet: Footprint Reduction For Memory-Constrained Systems, Michael John Huffman

Master's Theses

Main memory remains a scarce computing resource. Even though main memory is becoming more abundant, software applications are inexorably engineered to consume as much memory as is available. For example, expert systems, scientific computing, data mining, and embedded systems commonly suffer from the lack of main memory availability.

This thesis introduces JDiet, an innovative memory management system for Java applications. The goal of JDiet is to provide the developer with a highly configurable framework to reduce the memory footprint of a memory-constrained system, enabling it to operate on much larger working sets. Inspired by buffer management techniques common in modern …

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Of An Extreme Aspect Ratio Hale Uav, Bryan J. Morrisey

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an Extreme Aspect Ratio HALE UAV

Bryan J. Morrisey

Development of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft systems is part of a vision for a low cost communications/surveillance capability. Applications of a multi payload aircraft operating for extended periods at stratospheric altitudes span military and civil genres and support battlefield operations, communications, atmospheric or agricultural monitoring, surveillance, and other disciplines that may currently require satellite-based infrastructure. Presently, several development efforts are underway in this field, including a project sponsored by DARPA that aims at producing an aircraft that can sustain flight for multiple years and …

Development Of An Integrated Gaussian Process Metamodeling Application For Engineering Design, Collin R. Baukol

Master's Theses

As engineering technologies continue to grow and improve, the complexities in the engineering models which utilize these technologies also increase. This seemingly endless cycle of increased computational power and demand has sparked the need to create representative models, or metamodels, which accurately reflect these complex design spaces in a computationally efficient manner. As research into metamodeling and using advanced metamodeling techniques continues, it is important to remember design engineers who need to use these advancements. Even experienced engineers may not be well versed in the material and mathematical background that is currently required to generate and fully comprehend advanced complex …

Time-Frequency Analysis Of Intracardiac Electrogram, Erik Brockman

Master's Theses

The Cardiac Rhythm Management Division of St. Jude Medical specializes in the development of implantable cardioverter defibrillators that improve the quality of life for patients diagnosed with a variety of cardiac arrhythmias, especially for patients prone to sudden cardiac death. With the goal to improve detection of cardiac arrhythmias, this study explored the value in time-frequency analysis of intracardiac electrogram in four steps. The first two steps characterized, in the frequency domain, the waveforms that construct the cardiac cycle. The third step developed a new algorithm that putatively provides the least computationally expensive way to identifying cardiac waveforms in the …

Best Practices For Providing Traveler Information Services To Motorists At Rest Areas And Welcome Centers, Candice Y. Wallace, Jennifer R. Walton, Joseph D. Crabtree

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to look at what Kentucky and other states are doing to provide wireless Internet connectivity (i.e., Wi-Fi service) for motorists at rest areas, weigh stations, and truck rest havens, and to identify technologies and best practices that may have applicability to Kentucky. A secondary objective was to look at the use of kiosks to provide traveler information in rest areas and welcome centers. Information was gathered through a literature review, Internet searches, and telephone interviews with public officials in numerous states. The study identified 18 states that are providing (or have provided) Wi-Fi service …

Best Management Practices To Exchange Information Between The Toc And District Offices, Jennifer R. Walton, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to develop best management practices for exchange of information between the Transportation Operations Center (TOC) and the district offices and regional traffic management centers. Data collected for this study included: meetings with the Study Advisory Committee and key personnel within the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at the central office and highway district offices; a literature review; a state website review; and telephone interviews with representatives from a few states.

Recommendations were made in the following general areas: use of CARS/511; communication between the TOC and district offices; SAFE patrol; ITS equipment; public information; incident management; …

A Miniature Implanted Inverted-F Antenna For Gps Application, Mohammed Z. Azad, Mohammod Ali

Faculty Publications

A miniature implanted Hilbert inverted-F antenna design at the 1.575 GHz; global positioning system (GPS) frequency is proposed, which can be used to track the location of its user, e.g., the elderly with declining mental capacity (alzheimer's disease). A detailed parametric study of the antenna design is performed by considering it to be implanted within a human muscle model. The effects of the substrate, superstrate, and the nearby muscle tissue on antenna performance are carefully investigated. A laboratory prototype of the antenna was built and tested within a muscle equivalent fluid indicating good VSWR performance. Finally the said antenna when …

Universal Scaling Behavior In Startup Shear Of Entangled Linear Polymer Melts, Pouyan E. Boukany, Shi-Qing Wang, Xiaorong Wang

College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering

We have studied stress overshoot behavior in startup shear of four monodisperse polymer melts with a range of chain entanglement from Z = 24 to 160 entanglement points per chain. In the elastic deformation regime defined by (gamma)over dot tau(R) > 1 where tau(R) is the Rouse relaxation time, (i) the peak shear stress sigma(max) scales with the time t(max) at the peak to -1/2 power, in contrast to an exponent of -1/4 in the viscoelastic regime (for (gamma)over dot tau(R) < 1), (ii) sigma(max) changes linearly with the elapsed strain at the stress peak gamma(max), which scales with the applied shear rate as (gamma)over dot(1/3), (iii) a supermaster curve collapses time-dependent shear stress growth curves up to the stress maximum at all shear rates for all the four styrene-butadiene rubber samples. (C) 2009 The Society of Rheology. [DOI: 10.1122/1.3086872]

Diffusion And Fractional Diffusion Based Image Processing, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

We consider the background to describing strong scattering in terms of diffusive processes based on the diffusion equation. Intermediate strength scattering is then considered in terms of a fractional diffusion equation which is studied using results from fractional calculus. This approach is justified in terms of the generalization of a random walk model with no statistical bias in the phase to a random walk that has a phase bias and is thus, only ‘partially’ or ‘fractionally’ diffusive. A Green’s function solution to the fractional diffusion equation is studied and a result derived that provides a model for an incoherent image …

Performance Study Of A Cross-Layer Optimization To The Dsr Routing Protocol In Wireless Mesh Networks, Mustafa Ramadhan, Mark Davis

Conference papers

A cross-layer modification to the DSR protocol is presented in this work which is intended to enhance the global throughput performance of wireless mesh networks. This modification involves the use of an access efficiency factor (which is a measure of the local availability of bandwidth at a node) as an alternative metric to the hop-count metric in order to allow for improved routing selection. The key feature of this modified route selection procedure is that it attempts to discover paths that have a large availability of bandwidth which can support high throughputs. In this work we have employed the OPNET …

Sustainable Design: A Case Study In Energy Systems, Eugene Coyle, Marek Rebow

Books/Book chapters

Since the publication of the UN climate report in 2007, most countries now agree that recent climate change has occurred as a result of human intervention and that it will require fast and profound measures to reduce this negative imprint imposed upon nature. Central to this is the need to radically reduce CO2 emissions resulting from combustion of carbon-based energy resources to meet global energy demands. Greater measures must be taken to develop new non-combustion based technologies, in addition to using low-carbon energy resources. Increasing energy efficiency and using energy wisely will also feature in reducing emissions. Sustain-able Energy is …

Development Of Gis-Based Chemical Distribution Maps From Sprayer Performance Data, Joe D. Luck, Santosh Pitla, Rodrigo S. Zandonadi, Scott A. Shearer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Pesticide application is an essential practice on farms in Kentucky where glyphosate resistant crops and no-till farming strategies are becoming more popular. Off-rate pesticide application errors are the result of incorrect concentrations applied to an area of the field and may result from velocity changes along the spray boom while the sprayer is turning, pressure changes across the width of the spray boom, and changes in effective boom height due to undulating terrain. In an attempt to estimate potential errors resulting from sprayer turning movements, a method was developed to compare the differences in application areas between control sections across …

The North American Transportation Security Center – Deploy Project Collaboration Hardware/Software Infrastructure, Steven Douglas Kreis, Michael M. Barclay

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

No abstract provided.

Reinventing An Innovation Ecology With New Models For Research And Research Parks, Robert G. Wilhelm, Barry L. Burks

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A novel effort to reinvent the innovation ecology of the Charlotte region is described. The methods and approaches are particularly relevant for restarting both local and global economies. Addressing requirements for faster innovation and more diverse innovation cycles, the research enterprise of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Charlotte Research Institute, the University Research Park, and a diverse collection of partners are working together to recast university research models and research park paradigms. Best practices are discussed for technology transfer based on interdisciplinary applied research. A novel collaboration model developed by the Charlotte Research Institute is described. Guiding …

Machine Annotation Of Traditional Irish Dance Music, Bryan Duggan

Doctoral

The work presented in this thesis is validated in experiments using 130 realworld field recordings of traditional music from sessions, classes, concerts and commercial recordings. Test audio includes solo and ensemble playing on a variety of instruments recorded in real-world settings such as noisy public sessions. Results are reported using standard measures from the field of information retrieval (IR) including accuracy, error, precision and recall and the system is compared to alternative approaches for CBMIR common in the literature.

Development Of Field Data For Effective Implementation Of Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Procedure, Atorod Azizinamini, Nima Ala, Mohammad Ajmal Stanigzai

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

A Unified Multi-Functional Dynamic Spectrum Access Framework: Tutorial, Theory And Multi-Ghz Wideband Testbed, Robert Qiu, Nan Guo, Husheng Li, Zhiqiang Wu, Vasu Chakravarthy, Yu Song, Zhen Hu, Peng Zhang, Zhe Chen

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

Dynamic spectrum access is a must-have ingredient for future sensors that are ideally cognitive. The goal of this paper is a tutorial treatment of wideband cognitive radio and radar—a convergence of (1) algorithms survey, (2) hardware platforms survey, (3) challenges for multi-function (radar/communications) multi-GHz front end, (4) compressed sensing for multi-GHz waveforms—revolutionary A/D, (5) machine learning for cognitive radio/radar, (6) quickest detection, and (7) overlay/underlay cognitive radio waveforms. One focus of this paper is to address the multi-GHz front end, which is the challenge for the next-generation cognitive sensors. The unifying theme of this paper is to spell out the …

Transmit Precoding For Mimo Systems With Partial Csi And Discrete-Constellation Inputs, Chengshan Xiao, Y. Rosa Zheng

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we consider the transmit linear precoding problem for MIMO systems with discrete-constellation inputs. We assume that the receiver has perfect channel state information (CSI) and the transmitter only has partial CSI, namely, the channel covariance information. We first consider MIMO systems over frequency-flat fading channels. We design the optimal linear precoder based on direct maximization of mutual information over the MIMO channels with discrete-constellation inputs. It turns out that the optimal linear precoder is a non-diagonal non-unitary matrix. Then, we consider MIMO systems over frequency selective fading channels via extending our method to MIMO-OFDM systems. To keep …

A Pso With Quantum Infusion Algorithm For Training Simultaneous Recurrent Neural Networks, Bipul Luitel, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Simultaneous recurrent neural network (SRN) is one of the most powerful neural network architectures well suited for estimation and control of complex time varying nonlinear dynamic systems. SRN training is a difficult problem especially if multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) are involved. Particle swarm optimization with quantum infusion (PSO-QI) is introduced in this paper for training such SRNs. In order to illustrate the capability of the PSO-QI training algorithm, a wide area monitor (WAM) for a power system is developed using a multiple inputs multiple outputs Elman SRN. The SRN estimates speed deviations of four generators in a multimachine …

Learning Nonlinear Functions With Mlps And Srns, R. Cleaver, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, nonlinear functions generated by randomly initialized multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) and simultaneous recurrent neural networks (SRNs) are learned by MLPs and SRNs. Training SRNs is a challenging task and a new learning algorithm - DEPSO is introduced. DEPSO is a standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with the addition of a differential evolution step to aid in swarm convergence. The results from DEPSO are compared with the standard backpropagation (BP) and PSO algorithms. It is further verified that functions generated by SRNs are harder to learn than those generated by MLPs but DEPSO provides better learning capabilities for …

Harmonic Identification Using An Echo State Network For Adaptive Control Of An Active Filter In An Electric Ship, Jing Dai, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A shunt active filter is a power electronic device used in a power system to decrease ldquoharmonic current pollutionrdquo caused by nonlinear loads. The Echo State Network (ESN) has been widely used as an effective system identifier with much faster training speed than the other Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). However, only a few attempts have been made to use an ESN as a system controller. As the first attempt to use an ESN in indirect neurocontrol, this paper proposes an indirect adaptive neurocontrol scheme using two ESNs to control a shunt active filter in a multiple-reference frame. As the first …

A Microfabricated Segmented-Involute-Foil Regenerator For Enhancing Reliability And Performance Of Stirling Engines: Phase Iii Final Report For The Radioisotope Power Conversion Technology Nra Contract Nas3-03124, Mounir B. Ibrahim, David Gedeon, Gary Wood, Jeffrey Mclean

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Under Phase III of NASA Research Announcement contract NAS3-03124, a prototype nickel segmented-involute-foil regenerator was microfabricated and tested in a Sunpower Frequency-Test-Bed (FTB) Stirling convertor. The team for this effort consisted of Cleveland State University, Gedeon Associates, Sunpower Inc. and International Mezzo Technologies. Testing in the FTB convertor produced about the same efficiency as testing with the original random-fiber regenerator. But the high thermal conductivity of the prototype nickel regenerator was responsible for a significant performance degradation. An efficiency improvement (by a 1.04 factor, according to computer predictions) could have been achieved if the regenerator was made from a low-conductivity …