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2018

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Articles 5641 - 5670 of 8951

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Skylux Smartphone Controlled Skylight, James A. Green Vi Mar 2018

Skylux Smartphone Controlled Skylight, James A. Green Vi

Computer Engineering

There are numerous electric skylight openers available for purchase for home-use, but the majority of them are remote based, or operated by a wall-unit. Furthermore, these devices are in hard to reach places, so if one were to lose the remote on a remote operated system, the only option is to contact the manufacturer for a new device. As such, my senior project, in collaboration with Colton Sundstrom’s senior project, build upon our existing capstone project in order to allow operation of the Internet of Things (IoT) device over the internet. Our client, Richard Murray, was unsatisfied with the current …

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Manufacturing Of A Carbon Fiber Part With Complex Geometry, Caitlyn Pellemeier, Eric Rodan, Alex King, Nicolas Carlucci Mar 2018

Manufacturing Of A Carbon Fiber Part With Complex Geometry, Caitlyn Pellemeier, Eric Rodan, Alex King, Nicolas Carlucci

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this study is to determine the best method for manufacturing a part with precision tolerances and a small deflection requirement. The desired tolerances include a flatness of 0.002in, parallelism of 0.005in, heat tolerance of 60℃, and a max deflection at the loaded end of the part of 0.28mm. To accomplish this, our team uses carbon fiber as the part material because compared to traditional metals it is stiffer and lighter. Carbon fiber molding processes are explored and narrowed down to Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) and Resin Transfer Molding (RTM). These processes use dry fiber combined with epoxy …

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Powder Bed Surface Quality And Particle Size Distribution For Metal Additive Manufacturing And Comparison With Discrete Element Model, Irene Yee Mar 2018

Powder Bed Surface Quality And Particle Size Distribution For Metal Additive Manufacturing And Comparison With Discrete Element Model, Irene Yee

Master's Theses

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) can produce complex parts that were once considered impossible or too costly to fabricate using conventional machining techniques, making AM machines an exceptional tool for rapid prototyping, one-off parts, and labor-intensive geometries. Due to the growing popularity of this technology, especially in the defense and medical industries, more researchers are looking into the physics and mechanics behind the AM process. Many factors and parameters contribute to the overall quality of a part, one of them being the powder bed itself. So far, little investigation has been dedicated to the behavior of the powder in the powder …

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Modular Utility Rack And Accessory Line, Ian Philip Thomas Mar 2018

Modular Utility Rack And Accessory Line, Ian Philip Thomas

Construction Management

There is a large gap in the market for heavy duty work racks for fleet vehicles. Modular racks have recently been introduced to the industry allowing contractors the ability to customize them to their needs. However, all customizable racks are limited to lightweight applications. The high strength steel rack I have designed is both modular, and sturdy enough to handle up to an estimated one thousand pounds. On our website, contractors will be able to scroll through the available attachments for his make and model rack and view them built on to his vehicle in 3D computer generated graphics.

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A Novel Evolutionary Algorithm For Designing Robust Analog Filters, Shaobo Li, Wang Zou, Jianjun Hu Mar 2018

A Novel Evolutionary Algorithm For Designing Robust Analog Filters, Shaobo Li, Wang Zou, Jianjun Hu

Faculty Publications

Designing robust circuits that withstand environmental perturbation and device degradation is critical for many applications. Traditional robust circuit design is mainly done by tuning parameters to improve system robustness. However, the topological structure of a system may set a limit on the robustness achievable through parameter tuning. This paper proposes a new evolutionary algorithm for robust design that exploits the open-ended topological search capability of genetic programming (GP) coupled with bond graph modeling. We applied our GP-based robust design (GPRD) algorithm to evolve robust lowpass and highpass analog filters. Compared with a traditional robust design approach based on a state-of-the-art …

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Computational Investigation Using Bleed As A Method Of Shock Stabilization, Dayle L. Chang Mar 2018

Computational Investigation Using Bleed As A Method Of Shock Stabilization, Dayle L. Chang

Theses and Dissertations

Shock-wave/boundary layer interactions (SWBLI) produce undesirable dynamic loads and separated unsteady flows, adversely impacting the performance and structural integrity of supersonic vehicles. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a successful tool in experimental planning and shows promise as a critical tool in understanding and mitigating negative effects of SWBLI. The goal of this research is to demonstrate the effect of bleed holes on shock stability using the OVERFLOW CFD solver to inform the planning of an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) SWBLI wind tunnel experiment. First, a two-dimensional, flat plate, single-hole configuration was developed. Massflow discrepancies of 14.8% were initially observed …

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Space-Based Maneuver Detection And Characterization Using Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation, Justin D. Katzovitz Mar 2018

Space-Based Maneuver Detection And Characterization Using Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation, Justin D. Katzovitz

Theses and Dissertations

An increasingly congested space environment requires real-time and dynamic space situational awareness (SSA) on both domestic and foreign space objects in Earth orbits. Current statistical orbit determination (SOD) techniques are able to estimate and track trajectories for cooperative spacecraft. However, a non-cooperative spacecraft performing unknown maneuvers at unknown times can lead to unexpected changes in the underlying dynamics of classical filtering techniques. Adaptive estimation techniques can be utilized to build a bank of recursive estimators with different hypotheses on a system's dynamics. The current study assesses the use of a multiple model adaptive estimation (MMAE) technique for detecting and characterizing …

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Quasi-Static Nonlinear Analysis Of A Celestial Icosahedron Shaped Vacuum Lighter Than Air Vehicle, Kyle D. Moore Mar 2018

Quasi-Static Nonlinear Analysis Of A Celestial Icosahedron Shaped Vacuum Lighter Than Air Vehicle, Kyle D. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the many drawbacks associated with a traditional lighter than air vehicle (LTAV), there is a desire for a LTAV which generates lift from an internal vacuum. To date, two feasible designs (the icosahedron and the hexakis icosahedron) for this so called vacuum lighter than air vehicle (VLTAV) have been studied at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). This research looks to show the feasibility of a new design for a VLTAV, the celestial icosahedron. This research includes a boundary condition study which proves the symmetric nature of the celestial icosahedron's frame with laterally constrained and unconstrained vertices. …

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Techniques For Low-Latency In Software-Defined Radio-Based Networks, Daniel D. Hart Mar 2018

Techniques For Low-Latency In Software-Defined Radio-Based Networks, Daniel D. Hart

Theses and Dissertations

Decreased budgets have pushed the United States Air Force towards using existing systems in new ways. The use of unmanned aerial vehicle swarms is one example of reuse of existing systems. One problem with the increased utilization of these swarms is the congestion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Software-defined or cognitive radios have been proposed as a basis for a potential robust communications solution. The present research aims to develop and test a genetic algorithm-based cognitive engine to begin looking at real-time engines that could be used in future swarms. Here, latency is the optimization objective of primary importance. In testing …

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Navigation Using Vector And Tensor Measurements Of The Earth's Magnetic Anomaly Field, Lauren A. Mount Mar 2018

Navigation Using Vector And Tensor Measurements Of The Earth's Magnetic Anomaly Field, Lauren A. Mount

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the viability of using a navigation system that relies on measurements of the magnetic anomaly field as an alternative to GPS navigation. Previous research has been conducted on developing a navigation system using the intensity of the Earth's magnetic anomaly field as an alternative signal. This research focuses on using vector and tensor measurements, as opposed to scalar measurements of the anomaly field, as a means of obtaining accurate position and orientation solutions. This paper presents two navigation systems. The first uses an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) with vector measurements of the magnetic anomaly field to aid …

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They're Only Nuclear Weapons: An Exploratory Analysis Of Safety Climate Within The Nuclear Enterprise, Brandon M. Clements Mar 2018

They're Only Nuclear Weapons: An Exploratory Analysis Of Safety Climate Within The Nuclear Enterprise, Brandon M. Clements

Theses and Dissertations

By possessing nuclear weapons, the United States Air Force is inherently exposed to extreme safety concerns. With multiple setbacks in recent years (e.g., unauthorized transport of nuclear weapons, cheating scandals, and career dissatisfaction), some have begun to wonder how safe the nuclear enterprise truly is. Building upon the concept of safety climate, this study explores safety climate constructs and trends associated with current nuclear maintenance safety climate survey data.

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Utilizing Supercomputing To Analyze Risks Of An Emergent Large-Scale Debris Field In Low Earth Orbit, David J. Buehler Mar 2018

Utilizing Supercomputing To Analyze Risks Of An Emergent Large-Scale Debris Field In Low Earth Orbit, David J. Buehler

Theses and Dissertations

The likelihood of on-orbit breakups, whether spontaneous or the result of collision, will likely continue to grow as the barriers of entry to and use of space are reduced. In all orbital regimes, especially low Earth orbit (LEO), preparation to respond quickly when the next breakup occurs is critical. This research utilizes high-performance parallel computation along with python-driven Systems Tool Kit (STK) to model a large-scale on-orbit breakup in LEO, with the goal of returning data in less than 90 minutes. The breakup is characterized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) EVOLVE 4.0 breakup model and is both …

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Influencing Effective Electrical Distribution Modernization Through Advanced Metering, Jared R. Erickson Mar 2018

Influencing Effective Electrical Distribution Modernization Through Advanced Metering, Jared R. Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

In 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) required its services to implement advanced metering for the purpose of reducing energy usage (Department of Defense, 2013). Additionally, the DoD has aimed to improve its ability to assure a continuous energy supply to all of its installations. This study investigated processes for applying advanced meters on Air Force bases to increase energy assurance. This study also identified strategies for using advanced meters to influence infrastructure funding. This was accomplished through the use of extensive advanced meter data. The data was analyzed for outages and a procedure was created to locate outages in …

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An Analysis Of Aircraft Operating And Support Cost Element Structures, Garrett B. O'Hanlon Mar 2018

An Analysis Of Aircraft Operating And Support Cost Element Structures, Garrett B. O'Hanlon

Theses and Dissertations

As the cost of DoD Weapon Systems continue to increase, the ability to more accurately predict the Operating and Support (O&S) costs for the various weapon systems has become more vital for long run affordability. The investigation into the O&S arena has been overshadowed by the research and development (R&D) and acquisition fields. This research focuses on the O&S portion of the total life cycle costs, specifically the OSD-CAPE Cost Element Structure (CES) elements and sub-elements. The research investigates seven categories of 52 aircrafts and their cost expenditures within the CES from the years 1996-2016. The first portion of the …

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The Effect Of Ms2 Bacteriophage On The Activity And Performance Of Activated Sludge, Sean M. Stuntz Mar 2018

The Effect Of Ms2 Bacteriophage On The Activity And Performance Of Activated Sludge, Sean M. Stuntz

Theses and Dissertations

As a medical waste product, the MS2 bacteriophage has been discharged into wastewater distribution and treatment networks. To categorize its impact to suspended growth treatment methods, this research investigated the effect of the MS2 bacteriophage on activated sludge through a series of respirometry tests. The effects of MS2 bacteriophage at a concentration of 3.2x108 PFU/mL were assessed by determining peak O2 consumption, cumulative O2 consumption, molar CO2/O2 ratios, and shape factors. None of the MS2 samples caused statistically significant effects on the peak or cumulative O2 consumption. The molar CO2/O2 …

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Sentiment Analysis Of Twitter Data, Evan L. Munson Mar 2018

Sentiment Analysis Of Twitter Data, Evan L. Munson

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid expansion and acceptance of social media has opened doors into users’ opinions and perceptions that were never as accessible as they are with today's prevalence of mobile technology. Harvested data, analyzed for opinions and sentiment can provide powerful insight into a population. This research utilizes Twitter data due to its widespread global use, in order to examine the sentiment associated with tweets. An approach utilizing Twitter #hashtags and Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling were utilized to differentiate between tweet topics. A lexicographical dictionary was then utilized to classify sentiment. This method provides a framework for an analyst to …

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The Developmental Test Scheduling Problem, Joseph E. Schoenbeck Mar 2018

The Developmental Test Scheduling Problem, Joseph E. Schoenbeck

Theses and Dissertations

Developmental testing of aircraft systems in the United States Air Force requires a complex set of resources for each test. The optimal scheduling of those resources is the job of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base. With more than 20 different Combined Task Forces requesting resources for roughly 300 flying missions each week, manual scheduling is a difficult task. The current process takes a team of schedulers several days to get a workable result from which they can start tailoring the final schedule. While concepts and techniques can be taken from industry scheduling problems, the body of …

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Aerial Port Of The Future: Developing Paperless Operations, Peter J. Williams Mar 2018

Aerial Port Of The Future: Developing Paperless Operations, Peter J. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Air Mobility Command (AMC) is combatting manning mismatches with antiquated processes and equipment in Aerial Port operations, and has chosen to address these issues through an initiative called “Aerial Port of the Future.” This initiative is designed to understand challenges in Aerial Ports and implement technological tools, where appropriate, to aid AMC Airmen in their duties of transporting goods and personnel through military channels. Oftentimes, personnel are forced to utilize technology that may not meet their needs, and in turn may resist implementation of the imposed technology. Therefore, first, this research identifies potential technologies designed to improve Aerial Port efficiency …

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Assessing The Reliability Of The B-1b Lancer Using Survival Analysis, Francisco J. Rodriguez Mar 2018

Assessing The Reliability Of The B-1b Lancer Using Survival Analysis, Francisco J. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

During the 2017 posture statement to the US Senate Armed Services Committee, the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force stated the Air Force suffers from shrinking aircraft inventory, aging aircraft fleets, and flying beyond the expected service life. These trends are not an exception to the B-1B Lancer, which has been in service since 1986. Recently, the B-1B Lancer has maintained the lowest mission capable (MC) rates of 47.7 percent. The purpose of this research is to explore the failure rates of the B-1B Lancer using survival analysis that investigates the failure behavior …

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The Tensile Root Strength Of Emergent Coastal Macrophytes, Lauris Olivia Hollis Mar 2018

The Tensile Root Strength Of Emergent Coastal Macrophytes, Lauris Olivia Hollis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spartina patens is a dominant emergent macrophyte in fresh, intermediate, and brackish marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of United States where its biomechanical properties are a key component of wetland health and resilience. Its root biomass and tensile root strength are essential for anchorage, erosion protection, and are important determinants of soil strength. Nutrients and the herbicide atrazine are suspected of negatively impacting this wetland plant and others. The objectives of this study were to: 1) ascertain the tensile root strength of five emergent coastal macrophytes in coastal estuaries, and 2) test the effects of nutrient addition, atrazine …

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Bandgap Profiling In Cigs Solar Cells Via Valence Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy, Julia I. Deitz, Shankar Karki, Sylvain X. Marsillac, Tyler J. Grassman Mar 2018

Bandgap Profiling In Cigs Solar Cells Via Valence Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy, Julia I. Deitz, Shankar Karki, Sylvain X. Marsillac, Tyler J. Grassman

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A robust, reproducible method for the extraction of relative bandgap trends from scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) based electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) is described. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated by profiling the bandgap through a CuIn1-xGaxSe2 solar cell that possesses intentional Ga/(In + Ga) composition variation. The EELS-determined bandgap profile is compared to the nominal profile calculated from compositional data collected via STEM-based energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The EELS based profile is found to closely track the calculated bandgap trends, with only a small, fixed offset difference. This method, which is particularly advantageous …

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Occurrence Of Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) In A Sanitary Sewer System: Implications For Assessing Vapor Intrusion Alternative Pathways, Mohammadyousef Roghani, Olivia P. Jacobs, Anthony Miller, Evan James Willett, James A. Jacobs, C. Ricardo Viteri, Elham Shirazi, Kelly G. Pennell Mar 2018

Occurrence Of Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) In A Sanitary Sewer System: Implications For Assessing Vapor Intrusion Alternative Pathways, Mohammadyousef Roghani, Olivia P. Jacobs, Anthony Miller, Evan James Willett, James A. Jacobs, C. Ricardo Viteri, Elham Shirazi, Kelly G. Pennell

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Sewer systems have been recently recognized as potentially important exposure pathways to consider during vapor intrusion assessments; however, this pathway has not been well-characterized and there is need for additional information about the occurrence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in sewer systems. This paper reports the results of sewer gas sampling conducted in a sanitary sewer over the years of 2014–2017. Sewer gas samples were collected and analyzed using several different techniques, including TO-15 (grab), TO-17 (passive), Radiello® (passive) and a novel continuous monitoring technique, the Autonomous Rugged Optical Multigas Analyzer (AROMA). The applicability of each of the different approaches …

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Bs News March/April Mar 2018

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

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Student Shop Access And Inventory Control In The College Of Architecture And Environmental Design Shops, Ryan Raj Mattel, Chris Steven Chen, Kevin Michael Gallagher Mar 2018

Student Shop Access And Inventory Control In The College Of Architecture And Environmental Design Shops, Ryan Raj Mattel, Chris Steven Chen, Kevin Michael Gallagher

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The Cal Poly College of Architecture and Environmental Design shops, directed by David Kempken, give the opportunity for thousands of students to use the “Learn By Doing” philosophy and operate various machinery, tooling, and devices to complete projects inside and outside of the classroom. These students are able to check out tools and machinery to complete these projects on a weekly basis. This report will discuss the complexities and shortcomings of the current database system, FileMaker Pro, that is used for these transactions. The report will furthermore discuss the design and methodology of replacing this system with an improved integrated …

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Reducing Same Day Missed Appointments, Lucas Madison, Tyler Moore, Jolani Chun-Moy Mar 2018

Reducing Same Day Missed Appointments, Lucas Madison, Tyler Moore, Jolani Chun-Moy

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Radiology Associates (RA) is a diagnostic imaging center that offers high-quality, digital medical imaging and interventional radiology services for patients, physicians and healthcare organizations across the Central Coast. They are an ongoing problem that involves a considerable portion of their patients not showing up for their appointments Our project aims to reduce same day missed appointments at Radiology Associates. Radiology Associates currently has a no-show rate of 13.48%. They lose approximately $240 for every same day missed appointment. Our goal was to find new ways to reduce their no-show rate to 8%. Based on our calculations, Radiology Associates could save …

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Cru Android App, Dylan Sun Mar 2018

Cru Android App, Dylan Sun

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The Cru app is focused on connecting students and faculty to one of the many Cru ministries here in San Luis Obispo. The app is capable of connecting individuals to a specific community group and ministry teams, gathering information about upcoming Cru events and gatherings, and direct rideshare capabilities. The Cru Android App utilizes Java and other industry standard technologies to fully deliver a well-rounded user experience and to be connected with Cru. In this project, I increased Cru app’s access control abilities and updated the app overall to be ready for an alpha release.

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Manipulation And Automation Of Fbj Short-Axis Fasteners, Shane Forrest Wood Mar 2018

Manipulation And Automation Of Fbj Short-Axis Fasteners, Shane Forrest Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Legislative and market pressures are pushing automakers to achieve new fuel economy requirements in the coming years. To help achieve these goals automakers are reducing the overall weight of the vehicle by increasing the use of high-strength aluminum and advanced high-strength steels, and with this increased use comes the desire to quickly, and securely, join these materials within the vehicle. Friction bit joining is a process that lends itself well to joining these materials. This process uses consumable fasteners that need to be used in an automated production line. The geometry of these fasteners causes two main problems: the bits …

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Nonlinear Control Framework For Gimbal And Multirotor In Target Tracking, Jae Hun Lee Mar 2018

Nonlinear Control Framework For Gimbal And Multirotor In Target Tracking, Jae Hun Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents some existing gimbal and UAV control algorithms as well as novel algorithms developed as the extensions of the existing ones. The existing image-based visual servoing algorithms for both gimbal and UAV require the depth information to the object of interest. The depth information is not measurable when only a monocular camera is used for tracking. This thesis is the result of contemplation to the question: how can the necessity for a depth measurement be removed? A novel gimbal algorithm using adaptive control is developed and presented with simulation and hardware results. Although the estimated depth using the …

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Mechanical Properties Of Inconel 718 Processed Using Electron Beam Free Form Fabrication (Ebf3), Brent R. Waters Mar 2018

Mechanical Properties Of Inconel 718 Processed Using Electron Beam Free Form Fabrication (Ebf3), Brent R. Waters

Theses and Dissertations

Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) is a rapid metal deposition process that works efficiently with the wieldable alloy Inconel 718 (IN 718). EBF3 is a developing additive manufacturing (AM) process that can manufacture IN 718 parts directly from computer aided design (CAD) data. EBF3 can produce parts significantly faster and more energy efficient than competing IN 718 AM technologies. The EBF3 process utilizes metal wire feedstock which is induced into a molten pool using a focused electron beam in a vacuum environment. This allows parts to be built layer by layer, creating intricate shapes that …

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A Flexible Fpga-Assisted Framework For Remote Attestation Of Internet Connected Embedded Devices, Jared Russell Patten Mar 2018

A Flexible Fpga-Assisted Framework For Remote Attestation Of Internet Connected Embedded Devices, Jared Russell Patten

Theses and Dissertations

Embedded devices permeate our every day lives. They exist in our vehicles, traffic lights, medical equipment, and infrastructure controls. In many cases, improper functionality of these devices can present a physical danger to their users, data or financial loss, etc. Improper functionality can be a result of software or hardware bugs, but now more than ever, is often the result of malicious compromise and tampering, or as it is known colloquially "hacking". We are beginning to witness a proliferation of cyber-crime, and as more devices are built with internet connectivity (in the so called "Internet of Things"), security should be …

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