Engineering Commons^™

Antifouling Properties Of Conductive Rubber Coatings Used For Fishing Nets, Jer-Ruey Huang, Wei-Ting Lin, Ran Huang, Jiann-Kuo Wu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The purpose of the present study is to develop a new conductive coating for application on fishing nets that can be used as an anode, while submersed in the sea, to generate free chlorine which will in turn inhibit marine biofouling. To confirm the durability and viability of this coating, long-term field tests were carried out in the Nanao harbor in Taiwan. Electrical resistivity tests showed that conductive rubber with a polyaniline coating demonstrates the lowest resistivity: 0.11 Ωm. This sample also generated optimal quantities of free chlorine, which demonstrates antifouling properties. The use of carbon black in conjunction with …

East Bay Energy Consortium Meeting Minutes, September 14, 2009, East Bay Energy Consortium

East Bay Energy Consortium Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Enabling Rfid Technology In Irish Hospitals, Khaled Ismail, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Hospitals represent a significant part of healthcare systems and account for no less than 60% of the entire healthcare service in most of developed countries. Therefore, improving service in hospitals is an important element to the process of healthcare reform. Better use of resources, more consistent quality, and a higher service level are the keys to rationalise the huge expenditure in healthcare systems due to higher growth in demand. Even though massive spending has been directed towards hospital improvement in Ireland, services provided in Irish hospitals are ranked relatively low comparing to the other European countries. Growth of population, aging, …

Univercl 1.0 --- Phase I Of A Complete Opencl Implementation, Phil Pratt-Szeliga, Jim Fawcett

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

Recently the Khronos group has released an open specification for OpenCL, the Open Computation Language. OpenCL strives to create a standard language for programming novel computer architectures such as the multi-core CPU, the GPU and accelerators. The programming model is similar to Nvidia's CUDA. UniverCL is a partial implementation of the OpenCL 1.0 Specification that has enough functionality to demonstrate the major components of the specification. It currently includes support for two hardware devices: the multi-core CPU and the Cell Broadband Engine. This technical report captures the work done in Phase I of UniverCL's development and outlines Phase II of …

Space Systems Design: Building A Satellite To Detect Forest Fires, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "Space Systems Design Building a Satellite to Detect Forest Fires" from September 10, 2009.

Broadband Ir Polarizing Beam Splitter Using A Subwavelength-Structured One-Dimensional Photonic-Crystal Layer Embedded In A High-Index Prism, R. M.A. Azzam, H. K. Khanfar

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

An iterative procedure for the design of a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) that uses a form-birefringent, subwavelength-structured, one-dimensional photonic-crystal layer (SWS 1-D PCL) embedded in a high-index cubical prism is presented. The PBS is based on index matching and total transmission for the p polarization and total internal reflection for the s polarization at the prism-PCL interface at 45 degrees angle of incidence. A high extinction ratio in reflection (>50 dB) over the 4-12 mu m IR spectral range is achieved using a SWS 1-D PCL of ZnTe embedded in a ZnS cube within an external field of view …

Precision Navigation Using Pre-Georegistered Map Data, Frederick C. Webber

Theses and Dissertations

Navigation performance in small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is adversely affected by limitations in current sensor technology for small, lightweight sensors. Because most UAVs are equipped with cameras for mission-related purposes, it is advantageous to utilize the camera to improve the navigation solution. This research improves navigation by matching camera images to a priori georegistered image data and combining this update with existing image-aided navigation technology. The georegistration matching is done by projecting the images into the same plane, extracting features using the techniques Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) [5] and Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) [3]. The features are matched …

East Bay Energy Consortium Budget Committee Meeting, September, 2009, East Bay Energy Consortium

East Bay Energy Consortium Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

"Sie Kommen" (They're Coming), David Hamilton

ERAU Prescott Aviation History Program

The exciting story of the training, mission briefings and overall planning that lead to the success and failure of major troop carrier operations in World War II. Told by a C-47 pilot who flew ‘pathfinder’ missions on D-Day; supply missions for Bastogne; and for ‘Market Garden’, the invasion of Holland.

Pulsed Film Cooling On A Turbine Blade Leading Edge, James L. Rutledge

Theses and Dissertations

Unsteadiness in gas turbine film cooling jets may arise due to inherent unsteadiness of the flow through an engine or may be induced as a means of flow control. The traditional technique used to evaluate the performance of a steady film cooling scheme is demonstrated to be insufficient for use with unsteady film cooling and is modified to account for the cross coupling of the time dependent adiabatic effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient. The addition of a single term to the traditional steady form of the net heat flux reduction equation with time averaged quantities accounts for the unsteady effects. …

F-16 Ventral Fin Buffet Alleviation Using Piezoelectric Actuators, Joseph S. Browning

Theses and Dissertations

Buffet-induced vibrations can have a disastrous impact on aircraft structures. Early attempts at combating buffet vibrations included passive methods such as structural enhancements and leading edge fences. Active methods have shown greater promise, including active airflow control, control surface modulation, and active structural control using piezoelectric actuators. Surface mounted piezoelectric actuators impart directional strain reducing the negative effects associated with harmful vibration. The Block-15 F-16 ventral fin represents an aircraft structure prone to failure when subjected to the buffet field from the wake of a LANTIRN pod. This research takes advantage of the susceptibility to buffet vibration of the Block …

The Need For An Integrated Small Satellite Space Programme: Perspective From The Sumbandila Missions Operations, Pieter Kotze

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Pieter Kotze titled "The need for an integrated small satellite space programme: Perspective from the Sumbandila Missions Operations" from September 9, 2009.

Opportunities For Small Satellite Programs Provided By The Falcon Family Of Launch Vehicles, Spacex

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by SpaceX titled "Opportunities for Small Satellite Programs Provided by the Falcon Family of Launch Vehicles" from September 9, 2009.

Satedu, University Didactic Satellite For Hands-On Training And Easy Access To Low Cost Small Satellite Missions, Esau Vicente Vivas

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Esaú Vicente Vivas titled "SATEDU, University Didactic Satellite for Hands-on Training and Easy Access to Low Cost Small Satellite Missions" from September 9, 2009.

Isc Kosmotras Dnepr Cluster Launches: Large-Scale Opportunities For Small Satellites, Isc Kosmotras

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by the ISC Kosmotras titled "ISC Kosmotras DNEPR Cluster Launches: Large-Scale Opportunities for Small Satellites" from September 9, 2009.

Multicore-Aware Reuse Distance Analysis, Derek L. Schuff, Benjamin S. Parsons, Vijay S. Pai

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technical Reports

This paper presents and validates methods to extend reuse distance analysis of application locality characteristics to shared-memory multicore platforms by accounting for invalidation-based cache-coherence and inter-core cache sharing. Existing reuse distance analysis methods track the number of distinct addresses referenced between reuses of the same address by a given thread, but do not model the effects of data references by other threads. This paper shows several methods to keep reuse stacks consistent so that they account for invalidations and cache sharing, either as references arise in a simulated execution or at synchronization points. These methods are evaluated against a Simics-based …

Netherlands Antilles Satellite Orbit Development, Leonardo De Abreu Ladeira

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Leonardo de Abreu Ladeira   titled "Netherlands Antilles Satellite Orbit Development" from September 9, 2009.

Thermo-Mechanical Characterization Of Silicon Carbide-Silicon Carbide Composites At Elevated Temperatures Using A Unique Combustion Facility, Ted T. Kim

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated four different types of CMCs in a simulated gas turbine engine hot section condition that involved the simultaneous application of a combustion environment and mechanical fatigue loading using a unique burner rig facility developed for this study at AFIT. Three of the materials were woven Melt-Infiltrated (MI) BN/SiC reinforced by Hi-Nicalon Type S (Hi-Nic-S), Sylramic (Syl) and Sylramic with insitu BN coating (Syl-iBN) fibers, respectively. They were made by the slurry cast method. The other CMC was MI Hi-Nic-S/BN/SiC made using the prepreg MI processing. Prepreg MI CMC and Sylramic-iBN fiber reinforced CMC showed better resistance to …

Least-Squares, Continuous Sensitivity Analysis For Nonlinear Fluid-Structure Interaction, Douglas P. Wickert

Theses and Dissertations

A least-squares, continuous sensitivity analysis method is developed for transient aeroelastic gust response problems to support computationally efficient analysis and optimization of aeroelastic design problems. A key distinction between the local and total derivative forms of the sensitivity system is introduced. The continuous sensitivity equations and sensitivity boundary conditions are derived in local derivative form which is shown to be superior for several applications. The analysis and sensitivity problems are both posed in a first-order form which is amenable to a solution using the least-squares finite element method. Several example and validation problems are presented and solved, including elasticity, fluid, …

Alternative Methods To Standby Gain Scheduling Following Air Data System Failure, Matthew W. Coldsnow

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force has advanced fighter aircraft that lose the ability to operate in a large portion of their operating flight envelope when an air data system failure is experienced. These aircraft are reverted to a fixed set of standby-gains that limit their maneuverability, degrade handling qualities, and increase susceptibility to departure. The purpose of this research was to determine if three alternative methods of standby-gain-scheduling could provide robust control with minimal performance degradation despite the lack of air data. To accomplish this, three methods of standby-gain-scheduling were developed, integrated, and tested in the Infinity Cube simulator at …

New Low-Complexity Equalizers For Offset Qpsk, Qiang Lei, Michael D. Rice

Faculty Publications

Reduced-complexity linear and decision-feedback equalizers for use with offset QPSK are described and analyzed. The analysis and simulations show that reduced-complexity equalizers have 1/4 the complexity and achieve this at a loss that depends on the channel. As an example, the loss for the “Proakis B” channel is 2.7 dB for the linear equalizer and 0.8 dB for the decision feedback equalizer.

Simulation Of Insb Devices Using Drift-Diffusion Equations, Edin Sijercic

Dissertations and Theses

Silicon technology has for several decades followed Moore's law. Reduction of feature dimensions has resulted in constant increase in device density which has enabled increased functionality. Simultaneously, performance, such as circuit speed, has been improving. Recently, this trend is in jeopardy due to, for example, unsustainable increase in the processor power dissipation. In order to continue development trends, as outlined in ITRS roadmap, new approaches seem to be required once feature size reaches 10 - 20 nm range.

This research focuses on using 111-V compounds, specifically indiumantimonide (lnSb), to supplement silicon CMOS technology. Due to its low bandgap and high …

Using Small Satellites For Low Cost Space Education & Science Missions, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "Using Small Satellites for Low Cost Space Education & Science Missions" from September 8, 2009.

Itu Radio Regulations Related To N-Gso Satellites, International Telecommunication Union

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by the International Telecommunication Union  titled "ITU Radio Regulations related to N-GSO satellites" from September 8, 2009.

An Error Bound For The Sensor Scheduling Problem, Wei Zhang, Jianghai Hu, Michael P. Vitus

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technical Reports

The sensor scheduling problem tries to select one out of multiple available sensors at each time step to minimize a weighted sum of all the estimation errors over a certain time horizon. The problem can be solved by enumerating all the possible schedules. The complexity of such an enumeration approach grows exponentially fast as the horizon increases. In this report, by introducing some numerical relaxation parameter, we develop an efficient way to compute a suboptimal sensor schedule. It is shown that by choosing the relaxation parameter small enough, the performance of the obtained suboptimal schedule can be made arbitrarily close …

Electronic Image Stabilization For Mobile Robotic Vision Systems, Michael John Smith

Theses and Dissertations

When a camera is affixed on a dynamic mobile robot, image stabilization is the first step towards more complex analysis on the video feed. This thesis presents a novel electronic image stabilization (EIS) algorithm for small inexpensive highly dynamic mobile robotic platforms with onboard camera systems. The algorithm combines optical flow motion parameter estimation with angular rate data provided by a strapdown inertial measurement unit (IMU). A discrete Kalman filter in feedforward configuration is used for optimal fusion of the two data sources. Performance evaluations are conducted by a simulated video truth model (capturing the effects of image translation, rotation, …

Signal Classification In Fading Channels Using Cyclic Spectral Analysis, Zhiqiang Wu, Eric C. Like, Vasu D. Chakravarthy, Paul Ratazzi

Student Publications

Cognitive Radio (CR), a hierarchical Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) model, has been considered as a strong candidate for future communication systems improving spectrum efficiency utilizing unused spectrum of opportunity. However, to ensure the effectiveness of dynamic spectrum access, accurate signal classification in fading channels at low signal to noise ratio is essential. In this paper, a hierarchical cyclostationary-based classifier is proposed to reliably identify the signal type of a wide range of unknown signals. The proposed system assumes no a priori knowledge of critical signal statistics such as carrier frequency, carrier phase, or symbol rate. The system is designed with …

Indian Launch Vehicle Programme: An Overview, Indian Space Research Organization

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Indian Space Research Organization titled "Indian Launch Vehicle Programme: An Overview" from September 6, 2009.

The Integrated Control Of The Rotor Side And Grid Side Converters In A Dfig To Reduce Both Power And Torque Pulsations During Network Voltage Unbalance Conditions., Joseph Kearney, Michael Conlon, Eugene Coyle

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Mapping Donor Electron Wave Function Deformations At A Sub-Bohr Orbit Resolution, Seung Park, Rajib Rahman, Gerhard Klimeck, Lloyd Cl Hollenberg

Birck and NCN Publications

Quantum wave function engineering of dopant-based Si nanostructures reveals new physics in the solid state, and is expected to play a vital role in future nanoelectronics. Central to any fundamental understanding or application is the ability to accurately characterize the deformation of the electron wave functions in these atom-based structures through electric and magnetic field control. We present a method for mapping the subtle changes that occur in the electron wave function through the measurement of the hyperfine tensor probed by Si-29 impurities. We calculate Stark parameters for six shells around the donor. Our results show that detecting the donor …