Engineering Commons^™

Heavy Lift Drone, Sam Carhart, David Cooper, Luis Gaitan, Michael Kaliterna, Sami Lama, Paul Rogel-Herrera, Yuya Yabe

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Despite the rapid rise in the number of drones in the past few years, there has been little work done to produce a drone that is optimized for the FAA' s 55 lb upper takeoff limit. This gap in the market is one that the Heavy Lift Drone (HLD) fills - a light-weight, higher payload capability, and inexpensive drone to be used in commercial applications - most notably irrigation monitoring. The HLD is a contra-rotating hexagonal configuration system featuring two levels of propellers that allow for larger propeller diameter and generate greater lift. After performing extensive finite element analyses and …

Semi-Lagrangian Implicit Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook Collision Model For The Finite-Volume Discrete Boltzmann Method, Leitao Chen, Sauro Succi, Xiaofeng Cai, Laura Schaefer

Publications

In order to increase the accuracy of temporal solutions, reduce the computational cost of time marching, and improve the stability associated with collisions for the finite-volume discrete Boltzmann method, an advanced implicit Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) collision model using a semi-Lagrangian approach is proposed in this paper. Unlike existing models, in which the implicit BGK collision is resolved either by a temporal extrapolation or by a variable transformation, the proposed model removes the implicitness by tracing the particle distribution functions (PDFs) back in time along their characteristic paths during the collision process. An interpolation scheme is needed to evaluate the PDFs at …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, June 2020, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Inventory Models For Deteriorating Items With Power Pattern Demand Rate, Olalekan Adaraniwon Amos

Student Works (2020-2029)

Inventory management has become a prevalent topic in the field of operational research over some decades now. It cuts across many areas like management sciences, statistics and engineering. However, research focusing on inventory model with power demand pattern is quite limited. Demand patterns are defined as different ways by which products are removed out of inventory to supply customers demand during the schedule period. Power demand pattern permits suiting the demand to a more practical situation. In this research, four deterministic inventory model for deteriorating items with power demand pattern has been developed. We considered in the first models an …

Deep Learning Methods For Efficient Image Coding, Zachary Daniel Bellay

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

Video data makes up 58% of all internet traffic and is growing as self-driving car cameras, 4K televisions, and video surveillance systems continue to come online. Traditional heuristics based image and video codecs such as JPEG and HEVC have been successful thus far, however, these approaches lack the ability to leverage big data to gain massive insights. Six deep learning based approaches are proposed to tackle efficient image/video compression and image compression for machine classification.

Three Axis Attitude Control System Design And Analysis Tool Development For The Cal Poly Cubesat Laboratory, Liam T. Bruno

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly CubeSat Laboratory (CPCL) is currently facing unprecedented engineering challenges—both technically and programmatically—due to the increasing cost and complexity of CubeSat flight missions. In responding to recent RFPs, the CPCL has been forced to find commercially available solutions to entire mission critical spacecraft subsystems such as propulsion and attitude determination & control, because currently no in-house options exist for consideration. The commercially available solutions for these subsystems are often extremely expensive and sometimes provide excessively good performance with respect to mission requirements. Furthermore, use of entire commercial subsystems detracts from the hands-on learning objectives of the CPCL by …

A Study Of The Utilization Of Panel Method For Low Aspect Ratio Wing Analysis, William Barton D. Newey

Master's Theses

This study demonstrates the applicability of using a modified application strategy of panel method to analyze low aspect ratio wings at preliminary design phases. Conventional panel methods fail to capture the leading edge vortex (LEV) that is shed by wings with low aspect ratios, typically below 2 depending on planform. This aerodynamic phenomenon contributes to a significant amount of the lift of these wings and the result is a drastic underestimation of the lift characteristics when analyzed by conventional panel method. To capture the effect of the leading edge vortex, a panel method code was used with an extended definition …

A Comparative Study On Seismic Analysis Methods And The Response Of Systems With Classical And Nonclassical Damping, Noah G. Bleichner

Master's Theses

This thesis investigated the application of seismic analysis methods and the response of idealized shear frames subjected to seismic loading. To complete this research, a Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) for a project site in San Luis Obispo, CA, and five past earthquake records were considered. The DBE was produced per the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE 7-10) and used for application of the Equivalent Lateral Force Procedure (ELFP) and Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA). When applying RSA, the modal peak responses were combined using the Absolute Sum (ABS), Square-Root-of-the-Sum-of-Squares (SRSS), and Complete …

Design Of A Martian Communication Constellation Of Cubesats, Scott J. Pirkle

Master's Theses

Spacecraft operating on the Martian surface have used relay satellites as a means of improving communication capabilities, mainly in terms of bandwidth and availability. However, the spacecraft used to achieve this have been large spacecraft (1000s of kilograms) and were not designed with relay capability as the design priority. This thesis explores the possibility of using a CubeSat-based constellation as a communications network for spacecraft operating on the Martian surface. Brute-force techniques are employed to explore the design space of possible constellations. An analysis of constellation configurations that provide complete, continuous coverage of the Martian surface is presented. The stability …

Flexible Fault Tolerance For The Robot Operating System, Sukhman S. Marok

Master's Theses

The introduction of autonomous vehicles has the potential to reduce the number of accidents and save countless lives. These benefits can only be realized if autonomous vehicles can prove to be safer than human drivers. There is a large amount of active research around developing robust algorithms for all parts of the autonomous vehicle stack including sensing, localization, mapping, perception, prediction, planning, and control. Additionally, some of these research projects have involved the use of the Robot Operating System (ROS). However, another key aspect of realizing an autonomous vehicle is a fault-tolerant design that can ensure the safe operation of …

Development And Characterization Of An Iot Network For Agricultural Imaging Applications, Jacob D. Wahl

Master's Theses

Smart agriculture is an increasingly popular field in which the technology of wireless sensor networks (WSN) has played a large role. Significant research has been done at Cal Poly and elsewhere to develop a computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML) pipeline to monitor crops and accurately predict crop yield numbers. By autonomously providing farmers with this data, both time and money are saved. During the past development of a prediction pipeline, the primary focuses were CV and ML processing while a lack of attention was given to the collection of quality image data. This lack of focus in previous …

Indoor Positioning Using Acoustic Pseudo-Noise Based Time Difference Of Arrival, Nicholas J. Luong

Master's Theses

The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides good precision on a global scale, but is not suitable for indoor applications. Indoor positioning systems (IPS) aim to provide high precision position information in an indoor environment. IPS has huge market opportunity with a growing number of commercial and consumer applications especially as Internet of Things (IoT) develops. This paper studies an IPS approach using audible sound and pseudo-noise (PN) based time difference of arrival (TDoA). The system’s infrastructure consists of synchronized speakers. The object to be located, or receiver, extracts TDoA information and uses multilateration to calculate its position. The proposed IPS …

Design Of Structural Stand For High-Precision Optics Microscopy, Sara T. Novell

Master's Theses

Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) is home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most energetic laser. Each of the 192 beamlines contains dozens of large optics, which require offline damage inspection using large, raster-scanning microscopes. The primary microscope used to measure and characterize the optical damage sites has a precision level of 1 µm. Mounted in a class 100 clean room with a raised tile floor, the microscope is supported by a steel stand that structurally connects the microscope to the concrete ground. Due to ambient vibrations experienced in the system, the microscope is only able …

Modeling Artificial Groundwater Recharge In The Santa Rosa Creek Watershed, Alexander J. Murray

Master's Theses

The Santa Rosa Creek Watershed is an approximately 48 mi2 large watershed located on the central coast of California. This watershed drains to the Pacific Ocean through Santa Rosa Creek as it passes through agricultural land and the town of Cambria. Historically the groundwater within the Santa Rosa Creek Watershed has been used for irrigation, municipal and domestic uses, and the creek is critical habitat steelhead trout. During dry years, there is less water for all uses. When low groundwater levels occur, water can be drawn out of the creek and into the soil, drying out steelhead habitat. Seven agricultural …

Distance Estimation Using Ofdm Signals For Ultrasonic Positioning, Kyman Huang

Master's Theses

This paper describes a method of estimating distance via Time-of-Flight (TOF) measurement using ultrasonic Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signals. Using OFDM signals allows the signals and their sub-carriers to remain orthogonal to each other while continuously transmitting. This estimation method is based on the change of phase of a traveling wave as it propagates through a medium (air for ultrasonic signals). By using signals containing multiple tones, the phase change between each frequency component is slightly different. This phase difference is dependent on the distance traveled and can thus be used to estimate distance. This paper studies the impact …

Conceptual Design Of A South Pole Carrier Pigeon Uav, Kendrick M. Dlima

Master's Theses

Currently, the South Pole has a large data problem. It is estimated that 1.2 TB of data is being produced every day, but less than 500 GB of that data is being uploaded via aging satellites to researchers in other parts of the world. This requires those at the South Pole to analyze the data and carefully select the parts to send, possibly missing out on vital scientific information. The South Pole Carrier Pigeon will look to bridge this data gap.

The Carrier Pigeon will be a small unmanned aerial vehicle that will carry a 30 TB solid-state hard drive …

Design, Validation, And Verification Of The Cal Poly Educational Cubesat Kit Structure, Nicholas B. Snyder

Master's Theses

In this thesis, the development of a structure for use in an educational CubeSat kit is explored. The potential uses of this kit include augmenting existing curricula with aspects of hands on learning, developing new ways of training students on proper space systems engineering practices, and overall contributing to academic capacity building at Cal Poly and its collaborators. The design improves on existing CubeSat kit structures by increasing accessibility to internal components by implementing a modular backplane system, as well as adding the ability to be environmentally tested. Manufacturing of the structure is completed with both additive (Fused Deposition Modeling …

Thermal Modeling And Testing Of The Blue Thermal Vacuum Chamber, Madeline R. Jensma

Master's Theses

The Blue Thermal Vacuum Chamber (TVAC) located in the Space Environments Laboratory at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), may be used for thermal vacuum testing of test articles that fit with in the semi cylindrical test section that has a radius of approximately 18 cm and a length of 61 cm. The potential test articles include CubeSat systems and subsystem. The Blue TVAC can also be used for educational and research purposes. The goal of this thesis project is to develop a thermal model of the Blue TVAC to predict and analyze the thermal response of …

Numerical Methods For Predicting The Dynamic Crushing Response And Energy Absorption Of Composite Aluminum Honeycomb Sandwich Structures, Cody R. Volk

Master's Theses

Edgewise crushing responses of composite aluminum honeycomb sandwich structures were predicted using finite element analysis (FEA) software LS-DYNA by modeling the honeycomb as a material with anisotropic properties. The goal of the project was to develop a process for modeling the sandwich structure to rapidly iterate possible solutions for a safer workstation train table. Current workstation tables are too rigid and may cause injury or death in a head-on collision. Experimental compression tests were used to calibrate the aluminum honeycomb core with material type 26 (MAT 26, honeycomb). A published composite tensile test was used to validate the use of …

Design Of A Printed Circuit Board For A Sensorless Three-Phase Brushless Dc Motor Control System, Joshua Castle

Master's Theses

The use of brushless motors has increased in recent years due to superior performance characteristics compared with alternatives. The operation of a brushless motor is dependent upon a separate controller which is often in the form of a printed circuit board. As such, the size and performance capability of the controller can restrict the performance of the overall motor control system so advancements of these controllers further the potential use of BLDC motors. This project outlines the design of a PCB based, sensorless motor controller for operation of a three-phase BLDC motor powered by a 24 V, high current external …

The Design, Testing, And Analysis Of A Constant Jammer For The Bluetooth Low Energy (Ble) Wireless Communication Protocol, Aiku Shintani

Master's Theses

The decreasing cost of web-enabled smart devices utilizing embedded processors, sensors, and wireless communication hardware have created an optimal ecosystem for the Internet of Things (IoT). IEEE802.15.4, IEEE802.11ah, WirelessHART, ZigBee Smart Energy, Bluetooth (BT), and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) are amongst the most commonly used wireless standards for IoT systems. Each of these standards has tradeoffs concerning power consumption, range of communication, network formation, security, reliability, and ease of implementation. The most widely used standards for IoT are Bluetooth, BLE, and Zigbee. This paper discusses the vulnerabilities in the implementation of the PHY and link layers of BLE. The link …

Optimization And Longevity Of Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Enabled Membranes For Water Treatment, Madeleine Michael Isabella White

Master's Theses

Water scarcity is a growing concern at the global scale. Large scale water reuse is growing both in necessity and popularity. Before water reuse can be performed efficiently on a large scale or be used for potable supply, even indirectly, contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) will need to be treated at the full scale. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are a form of advanced water treatment capable of treating a wide range of CECs. This study contributes to the growing field of AOPs and more specifically AOPs using ozone combined with functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Ozonation of MWCNTs has been …

A Study Of The Standard Cirrus Wing Lift Distribution Versus Bell Shaped Lift Distribution, William H. Bergman

Master's Theses

This thesis discusses a comparison of the differences in aerodynamic performance of wings designed with elliptical and bell-shaped lift distributions. The method uses a Standard Cirrus sailplane wing with a lift distribution associated with the induced drag benefits of an elliptical distribution (span efficiency = 0.96) as the basis of comparison. The Standard Cirrus is a standard class sailplane with 15-meter wingspan that was designed by Schempp-Hirth in 1969. This sailplane wing was modeled and analyzed in XFLR5, then validated against existing wind tunnel airfoil data, and Standard Cirrus flight test data. The root bending moment of the baseline wing …

Design Of Prototype Prosthesis For A Canine With A Right Front Limb Deformity As An Alternate Approach To Stabilize Gait And Withstand Gait Forces, Tayler R. Kastlunger

Master's Theses

Congenital and developmental limb deformities in canines are rare and can occur as a genetic disorder or be caused by extrinsic factors. Without surgery to correct the deformity, conservative management can be implemented to manage exercise and restrict high-intensity activity of the canine. However, any alteration to the normal gait and locomotive biomechanics of a canine can have significant long-term effects on the musculoskeletal health and quality of life of the canine. To improve quality of life and provide an alternative and more cost-effective approach to surgery, a custom prosthetic was designed and developed for a canine born with a …

Investigation Of New Forward Osmosis Draw Agents And Prioritization Of Recent Developments Of Draw Agents Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, Jodie Wei Yu

Master's Theses

Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging technology for water treatment due to their ability to draw freshwater using an osmotic pressure gradient across a semi-permeable membrane. However, the lack of draw agents that could both produce reasonable flux and be separated from the draw solution at a low cost stand in the way of widespread implementation. This study had two objectives: evaluate the performance of three materials — peptone, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and magnetite nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄ NPs) — as potential draw agents, and to use multi-criteria decision matrices to systematically prioritize known draw agents from literature for …

Bootstrapping Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, Mitchell Miller

Master's Theses

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a prominent genre in today's video game industry with the most popular MMORPGs generating billions of dollars in revenue and attracting millions of players. As they have grown, they have become a major target for both technological research and sociological research. In such research, it is nearly impossible to reach the same player scale from any self-made technology or sociological experiments. This greatly limits the amount of control and topics that can be explored. In an effort to make up a lacking or non-existent player-base for custom-made MMORPG research scenarios A.I. agents, …

The Effect Of Orientation On The Ignition Of Solids, David Morrisset

Master's Theses

The ignition of a solid is an inherently complex phenomenon influenced by heat and mass transport mechanisms that are, even to this day, not understood in entirety. In order to use ignition data in meaningful engineering application, significant simplifications have been made to the theory of ignition. The most common way to classify ignition is the use of material specific parameters such as such as ignition temperature (T_ig) and the critical heat flux for ignition (CHF). These parameters are determined through standardized testing of solid materials – however, the results of these tests are generally used in applications …

The Role Of Α, Γ, And Metastable Polymorphs On Electrospun Polyamide 6/Functionalized Graphene Oxide, Javier Macossay-Torres, Yazmin I. Avila-Vega, Faheem A. Sheikh, Travis Cantu, Francisco E. Longoria-Rodriguez, Edgar H. Ramirez-Soria, Rigoberto C. Advincula, Jose Bonilla-Cruz

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

The present paper describes the addition of nitroxide-functionalized graphene oxide (GOFT) into polyamide 6 (PA6) micro- and nanofibers, which were obtained through electrospinning. SEM micrographs demonstrated the presence of fibers. Tensile testing presented an unexpected and non-obvious behavior, in which the Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and elongation simultaneously and remarkably increased compared to the pristine polymer nanofibers. GOFT induces the hydrogen bonding between the NH group from PA6 with the functional groups, thus promoting higher crystallinity of the polymer matrix. Nonetheless, deconvoluted DSC curves revealed the presence of two quasi-steady polymorphous (b and d phases) contributing to 46% of the …

Work-In-Progress: Implementing Sophomore Cornerstone Courses In Electrical And Computer Engineering, Branimir Pejcinovic, Melinda Holtzman, Phillip Wong

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many engineering programs have significant project-based courses in the freshman and senior years. The project component in our freshman year-long sequence evolves from minimally structured projects, like designing and building Rube-Goldberg contraptions, to more complex microcontroller-based projects where formal tools for teamwork and project management are introduced. However, we do not yet enforce strict adherence to procedures and processes in the freshman year. This is unlike the senior capstone, where the expectation is that students will not only be familiar with these methods but will use them effectively throughout their projects. This presents an obvious problem: what happens in the …

Septal Closure Device, Olivia N. Welch, Hillal H. Jarrar, Kai Harrison

Biomedical Engineering

The septal closure device was designed to seal defects in the atrial septum. To fully seal an atrial defect, the device was designed to consist of two circular seals to cover the defect in both the right and left atria, attached with a central rod. The materials were chosen for compressibility (for ease of insertion), biocompatibility, and tissue ingrowth. A CAD model was drafted in SolidWorks. Key customer requirements include ease of implantation (specifications: adjustable sizing and clear directions for use), physician controlled (specifications: short implantation time and compatibility with current catheter/scope techniques), and a long lifetime (specifications: materials that …