Engineering Commons^™

Humidity Sensor Based On A Single-Mode Hetero-Core Fiber Structure, Qiang Wu, Yuliya Semenova, Jinesh Mathew, Pengfei Wang, Gerald Farrell

Articles

Using a small-core single-mode fiber (SCSMF), a novel relative humidity (RH) sensor based on an SMF28-SCSMFSMF28 fiber structure was proposed in this paper. By depositing a humidity sensitive material, such as poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) on the bare SCSMF fiber, the proposed structure can act as an RH sensor with high sensitivity. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed RH sensor with PEO coating can achieve a sensitivity of 430nm per relative humidity unit (RHU) in the RH range from 80% to 83% RH and a sensitivity of 50nm per RHU in the RH range from 83% to 95% RH.

Simple And Appropriate Methods For Household Water Treatment, Morris Elya Demitry

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Shortage of drinking water is the big challenge for Sudan. The cost of water treatment is the main reason for using untreated water for drinking purposes in many urban areas in Sudan. Water born‐diseases (diarrhea, typhoid, etc) are common and there are many victims in unimproved urban areas in Khartoum (Sudan) due to poor or the lack of treatment of drinking water.

In this work, a simple and appropriate method (sand filter) for household water treatment was tested and developed. The main objective of using this method is to help people in urban areas without access to treated water to …

Examination Of Chaotic Signal Encryption And Recovery For Secure Communication Using Hybrid Acousto-Optic Feedback, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Mohammed A. Al-Saedi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Generation of chaos from acousto-optic (A-O)Bragg cell modulators with an electronic feedback has been studied for over 3 decades. Since an acousto-optic Bragg cell with zeroth- and first-order feedback exhibits chaotic behavior past the threshold for bistability, such a system was recently examined for possible chaotic encryption of simple messages (such as a low-amplitude sinusoidal signal) applied via the bias input of the sound cell driver. Subsequent recovery of the message signal was carried out via a heterodyne-type strategy employing a locally generated chaotic carrier, with threshold parameters matched to the transmitting Bragg cell.

In this paper, we present numerical …

National Water Footprint Accounts: The Green, Blue And Grey Water Footprint Of Production And Consumption, Volume 2: Appendices, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Contents

Appendix I. The water footprint of national production (Mm³/yr)

Appendix II. Virtual-water flows related to trade in crop, animal and industrial products, per country (Mm³/yr)

Appendix III. International virtual-water flows per product category (Mm³/yr)

Appendix IV. National water saving related to trade in agricultural and industrial products per country (Mm³/yr)

Appendix V. Global water saving related to trade in agricultural and industrial products, per product (Mm³/yr)

Appendix VI. The average water footprint per ton of commodity per country, weighted based on origin (WF* in m³/ton)

Appendix VII. …

Plasmonic Effect On The Photoluminescence Of Inas Quantum Dot Nanostructures, David Fryauf

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

New materials for thin film photovoltaic applications are being explored worldwide, and one of the most popular new implementations is the introduction of an intermediate band gap in the semiconductor energy structure. Careful manipulation of semiconductor lattice material can form nanostructures such as quantum dots, which can be tuned to control specific intermediate energy levels. The introduction of an intermediate band in photovoltaic devices has a theoretical potential sunlight-toelectricity efficiency of roughly 63%. However, a specific material challenge of these thin film devices is limited absorption of long wavelengths of light. To increase absorption of the sun's visible spectrum, plasmonic …

Joggler: Data Harvest And Analysis Tool, Ondrej Nebesky

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Linear-Time Resource Allocation In Security Games With Identical Fully Protective Resources, Octavio Lerma, Vladik Kreinovich, Chris Kiekintveld

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Game theory has become an important tools for making resource allocations decision in security domains, including critical infrastructure protection. Many of these games are formulated as Stackelberg security games. We present new analysis and algorithms for a class of Stackelberg security games with identical, fully protective defender resources. The first algorithm has worst-case complexity linear in the number of possible targets, but works only for a restricted case. The second algorithm can find and optimal resource allocation for the general case in time O(n log(n)).

When Is Busemann Product A Lattice? A Relation Between Metric Spaces And Corresponding Space-Time Models, Hans-Peter Künzi, Francisco Zapata, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The causality relation of special relativity is based on the assumption that the speed of all physical processes is limited by the speed of light. As a result, an event (t,x) occurring at moment t at location x can influence an event (y,s) if and only if s >= t+d(x,y)/c. We can simplify this formula if we use units of time and distance in which c=1 (e.g., by using a light second as a unit of distance). In this case, the above causality relation takes the form s >= t+d(x,y). Since the actual space can be non-Euclidean, H. Busemann generalized …

Development Of A Laboratory Experiment To Simulate Upper-Stage Rocket Explosions, Timothy J. Price

Aerospace Engineering

This report is a summary of the senior project entitled Development of a Laboratory Experiment to Simulate Upper-Stage Rocket Explosions. The goal of the experiment was to recreate a NASA experiment which used aluminum soft drink cans to approximate the shape of an Ariane third stage rocket. The cans were placed in a vacuum chamber and fired upon with a projectile from a light gas gun. The resulting debris was collected and analyzed allowing several conclusions to be made regarding the behavior or rocket breakups and the formation of space debris. In lieu of a light gas gun, energy drink …

Strawberries: Effects Of Modifying Irrigation Methods For Transplant Establishment, Stuart Styles, Lynn Groundwater, Curtis Lutje

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

In 2009, the Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center began a multi-year analysis of the current irrigation practices of strawberry growers on the Central Coast of California. Specifically, the project examines the impacts of salinity on young strawberry transplants and the current practice of sprinkler use during the establishment of transplants for salinity control in areas where drip irrigation is available. The overall goal of the project is to study current practices and determine any conditions where growers can minimize or eliminate sprinkler use on strawberries, thereby conserving water, saving pumping costs, and reducing runoff. Results from the first …

Implementation And Field Calibration Pipeline Doppler Meters In Northern California, Stuart Styles

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA) has been using SonTek Doppler flow meters at approximately 30 installations for about 3 years. TCCA is located in northern California with its headquarters in Willows. The Cal Poly ITRC compared the accuracy of the flow measurement readings from the new Doppler flow meters to the venturi meters that were installed by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The venturis were used as the historical standard for flow measurement for TCCA. TCCA has opted to move away from the existing technology for a variety of reasons, especially due to the issue concerning access requirements for …

Characteristics Of Irrigation Pump Performance In Major Irrigated Areas Of California, Charles Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Pumping data was collected from over 15,000 well and non-well pumps throughout the Sacramento, Salinas, and San Joaquin Valley groundwater basins of California. Each of these basins is divided into a number of subbasins. A map of the general layout is shown below (gray lines outside of basins represent county lines; gray lines inside basins represent subbasins).

Data was analyzed by basin and subbasin for well pumps and non-well pumps. For each pump type, averages were calculated based on:

• The whole basin
• Overall pumping plant efficiency (OPPE)
• kWh/AF
• Subbasins

General conclusions were drawn for each set of averages, and a …

Irrigation System Components And Potentials For Energy Conservation, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

On-site electricity conservation in irrigation can be accomplished through a series of general steps. The primary focus of the agricultural energy conservation programs of the utilities has been to improve the efficiency of the pumping plant. In general, the electric utilities have provided or subsidized pump testing, along with some form of rebate for replacement or repair of pumps. There are, of course, other irrigation-related aspects of energy conservation. However, this report focuses on on-site electricity conservation in the field.

Integrating Embedded Computing Systems Into High School And Early Undergraduate Education, Bridget Benson, Arash Arfaee, Choon Kim, Ryan Kastner, Rajesh K. Gupta

Electrical Engineering

Early exposure to embedded computing systems is crucial for students to be prepared for the embedded computing demands of today's world. However, exposure to systems knowledge often comes too late in the curriculum to stimulate students' interests and to provide a meaningful difference in how they direct their choice of electives for future education and careers. This paper describes an experience with integrating embedded computing systems education into high school and early undergraduate curricula to give students that needed early exposure. It provides assessment data that illustrates the success and limitations of the efforts described as well as the lessons …

Wave Passage And Ground Motion Incoherency Effects On Seismic Response Of An Extended Bridge, Aman M. Mwafy, Oh Sung Kwon, Amr Elnashai, Youssef M.A. Hashash

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper investigates the implications of ground motion spatial variability on the seismic response of an extended highway bridge. an existing 59-span, 2,164-meter bridge with several bearing types and irregularity features was selected as a reference structure. the bridge is located in the New Madrid Seismic Zone and supported on thick layers of soil deposits. Site-specific bedrock input ground motions were selected based on a refined probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of the bridge site. Wave passage and ground motion incoherency effects were accounted for after propagating the bedrock records to the ground surface. the results obtained from inelastic response-history analyses …

Analyse Du Comportement Réel Et De L'Optimisation Structurelle Des Cycles De Turbines À Gaz, Alexandru Dobrovicescu, Michel Feidt, Lavinia Grosu, Jim Mcgovern, Georgiana Tirca-Dragomirescu

Conference Papers

L’article présente une étude comparative, basée sur l’analyse exégétique, de l’effet de non prise en considération du comportement réel de l’agent thermique et de l’utilisation des modèles simplifiés pour calculer les performances des cycles de turbines à gaz avec et sans récupération de chaleur. Un intérêt spécial a été réservé au processus de combustion et au transfert de chaleur dans le préchauffeur d’air. La variation des destructions et des pertes d’exergie par rapport à la variation des paramètres fonctionnels est présentée.

An Expressive Vocal Midi Controller, Brady Hurlburt

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The choice of controller often characterizes the performance obtained from an electronic instrument. Controllers exist that allow electronic musicians to mimic the expressive qualities of keyboard, wind, string, and percussion instruments, but vocalists have been largely neglected. To fill this need, a realtime software vocal MIDI controller named Grove is developed and demonstrated. Grove's pitch and time analyses are shown to be accurate, and it has mappable control signals that go beyond the capabilities of previous audio-to-MIDI converters to facilitate an expressive performance. Grove's source code is available under the GNU GPL v3 license.

Integration Of Communication Constraints Into Physiocomimetic Swarms Via Placement Of Location Based Virtual Particles, Joshua J. Haley

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis describes a change to the Physiocomimetics Robotic Swarm Control framework that implements communication constraints into swarm behavior. These constraints are necessary to successfully implement theoretical applications in the real world. We describe the basic background of swarm robotics, the Physiocomimetics framework and methods that have attempted to implement communications constraints into robotic swarms. The Framework is changed by the inclusion of different virtual particles at a global and local scale that only cause a force on swarm elements if those elements are disconnected from a swarm network. The global particles introduced are a point of known connectivity and …

Comparative Field Performance Study Of Flat Plate And Heat Pipe Evacuated Tube Collectors (Etcs) For Domestic Water Heating Systems In A Temperate Climate, Lacour Ayompe, Aidan Duffy, Sarah Mccormack, Michael Conlon, Mick Mckeever

Articles

This paper presents a year round energy performance monitoring results of two solar water heaters with 4 m² flat plate and 3 m² heat pipe evacuated tube collectors (ETCs) operating under the same weather conditions in Dublin, Ireland. The energy performance of the two systems was compared on daily, monthly and yearly basis. Results obtained showed that for an annual total in-plane solar insolation of 1,087 kWh/m², a total of 1,984 kWh and 2,056 kWh of heat energy were collected by the 4 m² FPC and 3 m² ETC systems respectively. Over the year, …

Fate And Transport Of Escherichia Coli Within Sediment Basins On Active Construction Sites, Elizabeth Tempel

All Theses

The conventional method of controlling sediment-laden runoff on construction sites is the use of sediment basins. These basins slow the velocity of runoff and allow the particles to settle from the water column before discharge to surface waters offsite. This best management practice, however, may create a reservoir for pathogenic bacteria. Sediment is known to provide protection for bacteria; therefore, while these basins decrease sediment loadings to water bodies downstream, they may introduce harmful levels of pathogenic bacteria into these surface waters. In addition to causing human health risks, these high bacteria levels alter natural biological makeup of downstream ecosystems. …

Ultrasonic Methods For The Characterization Of Complex Materials And Material Systems: Polymers, Structured Polymers, Soft Tissue And Bone, Charles Landais

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding the characteristics and structure of materials is of importance in proper modeling and effective design of many products. Complex materials such as polymers, structured material systems, or biological materials provide a particular challenge to many of the traditional methods for doing this. In this dissertation I study the use of ultrasonic wave techniques to characterize several complex materials. These include plastically deformed and aged polycarbonate (PC), a structured PC plate with water filled cavities, bovine bone, and an elastomer used as a skin simulant. In each case, this work was part of a larger project that studied different aspects …

Computations Under Time Constraints: Algorithms Developed For Fuzzy Computations Can Help, Karen Villaverde, Olga Kosheleva, Martine Ceberio

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In usual computers -- that use binary representation of real numbers -- an irrational real number (and even a rational number like 1.3 or 1.2) can only be computed with a finite accuracy. The more accuracy we need, the larger the computation time. It is therefore reasonable to characterize the complexity of computing a real number a by the accuracy D(t) that we can achieve in time t. Once we know this characteristic for two numbers a and b, how can we compute a similar characteristic for, e.g., c = a + b$? In this paper, we show that the …

Uniqueness Of Reconstruction For Yager's T-Norm Combination Of Probabilistic And Possibilistic Knowledge, Nitaya Buntao, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Often, about the same real-life system, we have both measurement-related probabilistic information expressed by a probability measure P(S) and expert-related possibilistic information expressed by a possibility measure M(S). To get the most adequate idea about the system, we must combine these two pieces of information. For this combination, R. Yager -- borrowing an idea from fuzzy logic -- proposed to use a t-norm f(a,b)$ such as the product f(a,b)=a*b, i.e., to consider a set function f(S)=f(P(S),M(S)). A natural question is: can we uniquely reconstruct the two parts of knowledge from this function f(S)? In our previous paper, we showed that …

Towards Optimal Knowledge Processing: From Centralization Through Cyberinsfrastructure To Cloud Computing, Octavio Lerma, Eric Gutierrez, Chris Kiekintveld, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

One of the most efficient way to store and process data is cloud computing, when we store the data so as to minimize the expenses and increase the efficiency. In this paper, we provide an analytical solution to the corresponding optimization problem.

Functional Verification Of Class Invariants In Cleanjava, Carmen Avila, Yoonsik Cheon

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In a Cleanroom-style functional program verification, a program is viewed as a mathematical function from one program state to another, and a verification is done by comparing two functions, the implemented and the expected behaviors of a program. The technique requires a minimal mathematical background and supports forward reasoning, but it doesn't support assertions such as class invariants. However, assertions such as class invariants are not only a practical programming tool but also play a key role in the correctness proof of a program by specifying conditions and constraints that an object has to satisfy and thus defining valid states …

Estimating Probability Of Failure Of A Complex System Based On Partial Information About Subsystems And Components, With Potential Applications To Aircraft Maintenance, Christelle Jacob, Didier Dubois, Janette Cardoso, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Exploration Of Spatial Diversity In Multi-Antenna Wireless Communication Systems, Shichuan Ma

Department of Computer Electronics and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With increasing demand on wireless internet and personal multimedia, the data rate of wireless communications is expected to increase dramatically. Future wireless networks face challenges of supporting data rates higher than one gigabits per second. Among various technologies, multi-antennas, also known as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), are undoubtedly the most promising to enable higher data rates. By employing the extra degrees of freedom in the spatial domain, multi-antenna techniques enhance the wireless communication systems through array gain, spatial diversity, and spatial multiplexing. Although multi-antenna systems have been utilized for more than ten years, a thorough analysis of various aspects of multi-antenna …

Influence Of Material Selection And Fabrication Process Repeatability On Mechanical Properties Of Glass-Polymer Matrix Composite Structures, Charles Edwards

All Theses

This study has aimed to evaluate property uniformity from data obtained utilizing one design of a single layup composite plaque, three sources of glass fibers and a single, industry accepted resin to produce a repeatable fabrication process. This thesis has investigated the following:
1. Whether the type of glass (E-Glass, S-Glass, and R-Glass) influences the property values of individually tested samples compared between glass types.
2. Whether the type of glass influences the property uniformity throughout the set of tested samples.
3. Whether the composite plaque design and resulting performance, as defined by ASTM Standards or industry accepted parameters, is …

Development Of A Reconfigurable Multi-Faceted Communications Device Using Partial Dynamic Reconfiguration, Richard Dunkley

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Supporting a variety of communication protocols has typically required extensive hard- ware and Input/Output (I/O) interfaces targeting each protocol specifically. Recent designs in the past ten years have created more dynamic approaches by using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and embedded hardware to implement or simulate previous hardware I/O designs. With the constant increase in FPGA and embedded technologies the capabilities of dynamic implementations have expanded. This report addresses the design of an up-to-date reconfigurable multi-faceted embedded device targeting recent technological advances in FPGAs.

Pavement Management Systems On A Local Level, Cristian A. Vasquez

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Roads are one of the most valuable infrastructure assets within a community. Proper maintenance of the roadway network can promote the prosperity of a community. In recent times maintenance has become much more difficult with the price of asphalt increasing drastically and city budgets contracting due to the economic downturn. With these conditions, the proper management of an agency’s street network is necessary. The use of pavement management systems provides the help needed in the preservation of the street network. The use of pavement management systems provides significant benefits such as identification of the most cost-effective pavement treatment actions and …