Engineering Commons^™

Simulated Live Studio Audience, Theodore David Shellenberger

Computer Engineering

The Simulated Live Studio Audience is a Python based application that utilizes Vosk, Roboflow, and Llama 3.2 to provide a user with auditory feedback based upon both visual and audible input from their device's microphone and camera. This system functions with a custom trained computer vision model to detect a specified object and when individuals walk in and out of the camera frame, outputting sitcom style simulated crowd reaction sounds accordingly. The simulated studio audience program also takes in vocal input from users, converts it to text, and, using a large language model, analyzes it for content that can be …

High-Frequency Current And Voltage Sensing Buck Converter Compatible With Model Predictive Control, Cathy G. Chen, Lani K. Nguyen

Electrical Engineering

This paper presents the design and implementation of a high-frequency buck converter operating at 1 MHz, integrated with voltage and current sensing capabilities for enhanced output regulation. The primary objective is to minimize transient dips in output voltage commonly observed during load disturbances or switching events. The converter design is intended to be compatible with a Digitally Assisted Analog Computing Circuit (DAACC) for real-time model predictive control (MPC), which leverages fast analog elements with programmable digital components to solve a penalty-based reformulation of the quadratic optimization problem underlying conventional MPC.

Single-Sided Hearing Assistance Application, Harryson Nguyen, Jp Haratani

Electrical Engineering

The product is a hearing assistance smartphone application which aims to improve the quality of life of people with single-sided hearing loss/deafness by providing them with a cheaper and more reliable alternative to medically-prescribed hearing aids. Due to development setbacks, the product instead uses open-ear earbuds. Since the earbuds are not directly inserted into the user’s ear canals, they will not obstruct the hearing of the user’s non-deaf ear, and the user will still be able to hear the sounds that come from their non-deaf side. Some users may find that Bluetooth earbuds can be quite expensive, but are ultimately …

Wireless Communication In Autonomous Vehicles, Ethan Paul Spalard, Alan Rubalcava, Jarnail Singh Sanghera

Electrical Engineering

This project focuses on building a realistic, standards based V2X communication platform using DSRC (IEEE 802.11p) to support future autonomous vehicle control research. The system is built around commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, specifically the NXP i.MX 8XLite – V2X Evaluation Kit, which integrates an automotive-grade processor and the SAF5400 V2X modem to handle low-level DSRC transmission in the 5.9 GHz band.

We successfully completed the hardware bring-up, verified over-the-air communication between two nodes, and performed initial RF characterization using a spectrum analyzer. The SAF5400 was confirmed to operate on all seven DSRC channels (172–184), maintaining the correct 10 MHz bandwidth …

Piezoelectric Actuator Driver System, Daniel Hoefer

Electrical Engineering

This work presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a high-voltage piezoelectric actuator driver system purposed for integration into defense and aerospace precision motion control applications, particularly those in laser optics. The core challenge addressed was the mismatch between the standardized 28V DC power bus used in military systems and the significantly higher voltage requirements of piezoelectric actuators. Existing commercial drivers were evaluated and found unsuitable for field deployment due to inadequate ruggedness, excessive complexity, or power limitations. Consequently, a modular system architecture was designed featuring four independent driver channels, each using a high-voltage, high-current linear amplifier topology to scale …

Direction Finding From Aerial Platforms With Amateur Radio Arrays, Ben Duval Iii, Esteban Perez

Electrical Engineering

This senior project presents the development of a communication network designed to remotely control and program a distributed digital antenna array for autonomous synchronization and calibration. The system facilitates command transmission using a custom BPSK communication protocol operating in the UHF band (430–450 MHz) and employs a two-tone waveform to extract frequency, phase, and timing offsets between array nodes. These offsets are critical for aligning received signals in preparation for digital beamforming. The array comprises four nodes: three aerial units and one ground-based control unit. Each node is built using a LimeSDR Mini 2.0, Raspberry Pi, portable battery pack, and …

Mesh-Networked Uav Swarm: Experimental Leader-Follower Formation Control, Toma Grundler, Jack Ryan

Electrical Engineering

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have demonstrated significant potential for multi-agent coordination applications, yet reliable formation control algorithms remain challenging to implement in real-world environments. This report presents the design, simulation, and hardware implementation of four leader-follower formation control strategies for UAV swarms. The implemented algorithms include a semi-rigid PI controller based on forward and lateral distance error, a hybrid PID controller utilizing mixed error signals with velocity and position feedback, a simplified velocity-based PID controller operating on individual coordinate components, and a GPS offset controller with direct positional control. MATLAB simulation validated controller performance in four different …

Framework For Multi-Agent Coordination And Distributed Localization In Micro-Uavs, Minwoo Park, Nikolas Tambornini

Electrical Engineering

Micro-UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) due to their inexpensive nature and compact form factor have shown an increase in prevalence throughout a multitude of applications including, but not limited to: search and rescue, military reconnaissance, and agriculture monitoring. However, for a majority of these high impact applications, a swarm of micro-UAVs are required and furthermore mandate that they are able to cooperatively and autonomously coordinate with each other. For long, controlling and communicating between a user and a singular micro-UAV has been a well known and solved problem, however the same can't be said for swarms of micro-UAVs. This project seeks …

Marine Energy Collegiate Competition - Polywave Energy, Beneda Loya, Isaiah Martinez, Emily Nicoletta, Michael Weber

Electrical Engineering

This document is the final Electrical Engineering senior project report for Cal Poly’s 2025 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC) team. The goal of this project is to build and test a wave-energy converter designed to address the need for sustainable power generation for remote coastal community microgrids. These existing systems often rely on costly, fossil-fuel generators, creating both logistical and environmental challenges. Our device aims to provide a renewable, low-maintenance solution that can operate reliably in offshore environments and serve commercial or research applications. The goal of the electrical engineering team was to develop a system that can convert rotational …

Synthetic Aperture Radar Processing For Increased Resolution Of Englacial Strata, Ava Stockman

Electrical Engineering

Glaciological research relies on a variety of remote-sensing methods to study the internal structure of glaciers and other bodies of ice. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) serves as one method for imaging large cross sections of englacial strata, reducing the need for labor-intensive, costly, and hazardous ice coring expeditions and operations. Characterizing englacial structures using SAR images allows scientists to learn about the ice dynamics of past and present which provides the basis for discoveries about climate history and glacial dynamics. This project explores the benefits of employing various SAR processing methods to raw phase history data acquired through the British …

Digital Drone Arrays: Two-Tone Communication, Armin Behbahani, Alejandro Martin Cosper, Landon Leroy John Foster, Mont Ziadoon Murad

Electrical Engineering

Over the last few years, there has been great interest in distributed antenna arrays. These arrays require each element to be precisely located and synchronized with each other in time, phase, and frequency. To this end, a drone-mounted, two-tone communication system was developed. It uses a transmit-retransmit-receive architecture, which obtains all of the necessary data required to compute and correct the phase, frequency, and time differences between each element while estimating distance. When integrated into a distributed array of drones, this two-tone communication system will be essential for reliable operation.

Test Equipment Automation And Remote Operation Curriculum Senior Project, Raheel Rehmatullah

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to create new lab procedures and lab bench permutations for Cal Poly EE students to implement automated Test and Measurement equipment into their electrical engineering education. Currently EE students at Cal Poly have no classroom based opportunities to learn about leveraging software skills and test equipment knowledge in order to automate measurements, which is a valuable skill for an electrical engineer in the workforce. The curriculum outlined in this project will include three experiments, each leveraging an instrument controller, and Python as the primary scripting language. Each procedure will require students to write Python …

Autonomous Mapping Rover, Garrett Jones, Timothy Kyle Chu, Eugenio Caruso Pasos

Electrical Engineering

This report details the design, implementation, and evaluation of "Rovero," an autonomous mapping rover developed as a senior project. Rovero integrates state-of-the-art technologies, including ROS2 for communication, SLAM algorithms for mapping, and sensor fusion for accurate navigation. The project aimed to achieve robust autonomous operation in indoor environments, leveraging a combination of LiDAR, IMU, and encoder data for real-time decision-making. Key challenges addressed include path planning, obstacle avoidance, and integration of multiple sensor inputs. Results demonstrate successful mapping capabilities and efficient navigation performance.

Project Owl: Quad Rc2, Ethan Cy Zane

Electrical Engineering

Quad RC2 is a new radio designed to be compatible with the Cluster Duck Protocol (CDP). It must be able to act as all parts of the mesh network and be able to find its location with GPS. Much of the RC2 effort is already completed. This project ports the previously developed firmware to the new board and runs tests to assess its capabilities.

An Analysis Of The Power Consumption Of Various Computer Vision Machine Learning Techniques On A Microcontroller Utilizing The Clusterduck Protocol, Kaveh Shafiei

Electrical Engineering

Constant data processing is essential for effective data collection, particularly in remote and hard-to-reach areas. The need for efficient, autonomous data acquisition and transmission is increasingly addressed by integrating machine learning within larger communication networks. This paper explores the application of machine learning techniques with Internet of Things (IoT) mesh networks. Utilizing the LoRa communication protocol, data is captured and analyzed on an edge device and transmitted to a larger communication network. The ClusterDuck Protocol (CDP), developed by OWL Integrations, serves as an IoT mesh network designed to allow for communication in areas lacking traditional static infrastructure such as WiFi …

Leader-Follower Platooning With Turtlebot3: A Low-Cost Ros Test-Bed Using Vision-Lidar Fusion, Patrick Kelly Crandall, Kalon Ma Bienz

Electrical Engineering

This report presents the design, implementation, and indoor validation of a two-robot leader–follower platoon built on low-cost Turtlebot3 platforms. Each robot runs ROS Noetic on an on-board Raspberry Pi 4, fusing a fisheye camera for HSV-based lane detection with an LDS-02 LiDAR for clustering-based leader identification. A dual-loop architecture (PD steering for lateral control and PID for longitudinal gap regulation) maintains a 0.40m headway and keeps the follower centered within +/- 5 cm of the lane midline, without any inter-vehicle communication or external localization. Track experiments at speeds up to 0.18m/s achieved mean gap error of +/- 3 cm and …

Advanced Light Dimming Power Converter, Jaden Nguyen, Edwin Lin, Alan Thai

Electrical Engineering

This senior project discusses and follows the development of the Advanced Light Dimming Power Converter meant to modernize the power electronics curriculum and improve student safety for a lab. The power converter attempts to replace the original experiment which includes a traditional TRIAC-based dimmer and focuses on demonstrating phase angle control for incandescent light bulbs. However, several drawbacks including high-voltage exposure and outdated technology warranted a revamp. The redesigned module includes a dual-experiment setup with an updated TRIAC-based dimmer circuit and a new AC-DC LED driver circuit with constant current control and PWM dimming capability. Both systems have been fabricated …

Graduate School Blog - June 2025, Cynthia Haynes

UofM Grad School Blog

The June 2025 edition of the UofM Graduate School Blog helps prospective and current students make informed financial decisions with Part 1 of the Graduate School Cost Guide, breaking down tuition structures such as per-credit hour versus flat-rate models, highlighting UofM’s tuition cap for in-state students, and explaining key university fees and cost differences between online and on-campus formats. The blog also features Brianna Reilly, a Doctor of Musical Arts graduate from New York, who shares how a graduate assistantship and her passion for music education led her to continue at UofM through the pandemic. Additional resources include an …

Rotating Scatter Mask System Optimization Study For Determining Optimal Image Recreation, Seth L. Grover

Theses and Dissertations

The Rotating Scatter Mask (RSM) system is a radiation imaging technology currently limited by the mask design and governing identification algorithm parameters. To optimize the RSM design, Dakota—an optimization software—was integrated with a ray tracing code that simulates particle interactions with the RSM detector, and with the Locally Competitive Algorithm (LCA), which reconstructs the source image based on the ray tracing code’s Detector Response Matrix (DRM). Since the original ray tracing code was developed in MATLAB, it was translated into Python to improve compatibility with both Dakota and LCA. The Python version of the ray tracing code was then integrated …

Fused-Silica Microelectromechanical Systems For Relative Gravimetry, Ethan Doerstling

Theses and Dissertations

Gravimeters are devices that measure gravitational acceleration which can be used by the United States Air Force (USAF) in the areas of navigation and remote sensing. Fused-silica microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices offer capabilities to make inexpensive relative gravimeters with higher thermal stability than common silicon devices while maintaining good gravitational sensitivity. The fused-silica devices in this research were designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested to observe their performance as gravimeters. The devices exhibit properties of highly sensitive accelerometers but the current designs do not qualify as gravimeters. This study provides information to improve the sensitivity and stability of these fused-silica MEMS …

War, Wounds, And Strategy: Patient Movement Lessons From The World Wars For Great Power Competition, Phillip R. Jenkins

Faculty Publications

This thesis examines the evolution of the U.S. military's patient movement system during World War I and World War II to evaluate how well it may perform under the conditions of future large-scale combat operations. It asks whether the United States can move, treat, and sustain wounded personnel at the scale and pace required to preserve combat power in a prolonged, high-intensity conflict. Using detailed case studies of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, the analysis focuses on how transportation platforms, organizational structure, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) shaped patient movement under conditions of attrition, disruption, and …

Foot Pedal Assistive Device, Julian Rubinstein, Connor Jessen, Isabelle Utsler, Sydney Alexander

Mechanical Engineering

Individuals with lower-limb mobility problems may have trouble accurately locating the pedals of a three-pedal manual transmission car, and some medical conditions cause individuals to fatigue more quickly when driving. This project aimed to create a device that assists in locating the user’s feet, indicates to the user which pedals are currently in use, and provides a visual and physical warning if they are not in the correct place. The project sponsor, Alan Keizer, is the primary stakeholder in this project. This device will be designed specifically for Alan’s Subaru BRZ and will address Alan’s specific lower-limb mobility issues that …

Van Accessibility, Ann Larson, Camelia Anne Noureddine, Stephanie Rose Ruzicka, Kayla Joanne Gowey

Mechanical Engineering

The SLO Achievement House provides resources and activities for their clients, including daily trips to different parts of the community, to keep their clients connected to society. These trips require the clients, many of whom struggle with general mobility and strength, to step up to the high entrance of a van or company car. This daily activity poses a challenge both physically and emotionally for the clients. The current solution utilizes commercially available step stools, which lack handrails, overall stability, and adequate step depth. The Achievement House needs a stool or ramp tailored to their client’s needs and their specific …

7lr-C Upper Limb Dancing Prosthetic, Victor Ochoa, Zoe Kelemen, Ged Mulingtapang, Marley Paltiel

Mechanical Engineering

Ella Wallis, a student at Cal Poly and performer in the Cal Poly Drag Club with a trans humeral upper limb difference, wants a prosthetic device that allows for a large range of motion and high degree of articulation to help them better dance in the style of voguing, allowing them to express themselves further while performing. The prosthetic arm is body-driven and relies on momentum to reposition. It attaches to the user through a harness, which is clipped to a socket with elastic straps to not impede the shoulder’s range of motion. The design contains urethane resin, aluminum, stainless …

Drone Package Delivery System, Aiden Tyler Sim, Ryan Anders O'Toole, Matthew Karl Wyant, James Shaw Glanville

Mechanical Engineering

In response to the demands of the 2025 C-UASC (California Unmanned Aerial Systems Competition), our team developed an autonomous drone payload delivery system capable of two distinct delivery modes: a precision-controlled descent and a high-speed aerial drop. Designed for modular integration with UAV platforms, the system prioritizes reliability, accuracy, and simplicity under desert environmental conditions. Our solution features a custom winch mechanism with a programmable stepper motor, a passive mechanical hook for tension-based release, and a servo-actuated trapdoor for high-altitude drops. The design was extensively tested for structural integrity, motor torque requirements, drop precision, and electronics reliability—culminating in a robust …

Llnl Raft Flash Pole Redesign, Jack Stangel, Evan Wolfson, Jake Borden, Alexander Meeter

Mechanical Engineering

During research exercises in the ocean, Lawrence Livermore deploys a fleet of rafts outfitted with flash modules affixed to tall poles (in tandem called flash poles) that flash while a photo is taken to act as datums for data collection. The current flash pole design that the LIDSS (Lawrence Livermore Independent Diagnostic Scoring System) team uses is too short to be visible in high seas, not mechanically suited to be made taller, too susceptible to the elements and blunt impact and too difficult to service. We aim to solve these issues.

Torsional Vibration Kit Simulator (Tks), Joseph Thachet, Luca Lawson, Ryan Ota, Otis Mcloughlin

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of this project was to create torsional vibration on a shaft while limiting axial and radial vibration. To do this an eddy current brake was used to slow down a rotating shaft. The electromagnets used to create the eddy currents are able to be turned on and off at a frequency produced by a function generator. This power cycling of the electromagnets creates an alternating braking force thereby inducing torsional vibration while limiting the other two vibration types

Uv Vessel Hoist Scope Of Work, Quinn J. Horak, Harvey Perkins, Andrew A. Osborn, Mikayla H. Nieman

Mechanical Engineering

The San Luis Obispo Wastewater Treatment Plant uses ultraviolet (UV) tubes to purify water. These tubes are cleaned by an internal wiping mechanism that must be removed for servicing and replacing damaged tubes. Currently, this is accomplished by using an engine hoist, but this method requires a large amount of effort and is not safe. Technicians have requested a new method of lifting wiper mechanisms that is safer, faster, and easier to use than their current method.

To solve this problem, we have developed a design that consists of a custom gantry crane with a hoist on a trolley. The …

Trailer Transport System For Multi-Ton Bins, Joanna Lizbeth Bendy, Kevin Matthew Creel, Annelise Vaara Cuneo, Hugo Alonso Valdez

Mechanical Engineering

This project aimed to improve the process of transporting 10,000-pound industrial waste bins. The current method for relocating these bins poses safety risks and requires significant manual effort. This project presents a conceptual solution that enables a single operator to efficiently and safely move roll-off bins using a custom-designed trailer system. The design incorporates three main subsystems: a trailer frame, an integrated winch system, and an off-the-market puller device to guide and secure the bin during transport. Two scaled proof-of-concept prototypes were fabricated to evaluate key aspects of the system's functionality. Testing and analysis suggested that the system is viable …

Brush Seal Cycling Test Rig, Angelo J. Reis, Neil M. Bedagkar, Max A. Soury, Eoin K. Lenham

Mechanical Engineering

To prevent backflow from the high pressure compressor stages of their gas turbines to lower pressure regions, Solar Turbines utilizes brush seals along their driveshafts. Due to manufacturing limitations, no shaft is perfectly symmetric about its rotating axis, leading to orbiting that creates asymmetric friction on the shaft through rubbing. With this biased application of friction comes a hotspot on one side of the shaft, causing bowing of the shaft and cascading into an amplified vibrational response. Our goal is to gather data on this phenomenon and offer a potential solution.