Engineering Commons^™

Autonomous Planetary Rover Final Project Report, Nolan Anthony, Gabriella Gonzalez, Clyde Johnson, Aislinn Marcee

Engineering Senior Design Reports

This report documents the 2022-2023 Autonomous Planetary Rover Team’s work. The main focus and goal of our team was to improve the locomotion of the rover through mechanical improvements to the suspension and steering systems. The final expectation for the rover given by our sponsor, Dr. Kevin Nickels, was for the rover to complete an obstacle course where it drives over obstacles the height of the radius of its wheel, traverses uneven terrain, and completes turns with a 12-inch turn radius. The main inspirations for our design of the suspension and steering systems come from previous planetary rovers that have …

Analysis Of The Adherence Of Mhealth Applications To Hipaa Technical Safeguards, Bilash Saha

Master of Science in Information Technology Theses

The proliferation of mobile health technology, or mHealth apps, has made it essential to protect individual health details. People now have easy access to digital platforms that allow them to save, share, and access their medical data and treatment information as well as easily monitor and manage health-related issues. It is crucial to make sure that protected health information (PHI) is effectively and securely transmitted, received, created, and maintained in accordance with the rules outlined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as the use of mHealth apps increases. Unfortunately, many mobile app developers, particularly those of mHealth …

Recent Developments In Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Drones, Seyed Mohammad Sanjari Pirmahalleh

ATU Scholars Symposium

Hydrogen fuel cells have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional batteries for powering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones. In recent years, there has been a significant amount of research and development in hydrogen fuel cell powered drones, with several successful demonstrations and commercial deployments. This research provides a comprehensive review of the recent developments in hydrogen fuel cell technology for UAVs and the current state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell powered drones. The research first discusses the advantages of using hydrogen fuel cells in drones, such as higher energy density, longer flight time, and lower environmental impact. It …

College Of Business Prospective Students Application, Caden Bewley, Joseph Morton, Brayden Reddin, Marvin Martinez, Ashlyn Ward

ATU Scholars Symposium

The College of Business wanted a webpage that makes applying to one of their majors more user-friendly. Currently, incoming freshmen tend to choose the wrong major as the application process can be confusing. They needed to reduce the redundancy of inputting information, so they asked for the application on their webpage to auto-fill on Arkansas Tech University's application webpage.

Graduate Faculty Directory, Christopher Andrews, Cody Mckenney, Drake Traylor, Joseph Freeman

ATU Scholars Symposium

The Graduate College would like to update the current faculty search page to filter search results by Department and Research in addition to Name. With the current system, a person who wanted to find an unknown professor based upon a department or an interest in research topic would be unable to search because the only option is to type the professor's name. We have created a website linked to a database containing graduate faculty that is able to search by name, filter by department, and search through the professors' listed research topics. This website will be much more useful and …

Optimization Of Metallic Interconnectors For Clean Energy Power Systems, Mason Cox

Symposium of Student Scholars

The need to eliminate carbon emissions coupled with intensified energy demands have led to an intensified research and development activities in clean energy technology. Taking advantage of fuels such as green hydrogen, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) power systems can serve as a potential energy conversion system. SOFCs combine O2 from air and H2 gas to generate electricity, consequently producing water (H2O) as the only byproduct of the electrochemical reaction. SOFCs typically have an operational temperature in the range of 500-900C and generate electricity without the requirement of recharging, so long as the fuel is supplied. A single SOFC cell …

Design And Development Of A Solar Module Health Monitoring Device, Elijah Madaris, Christopher Baden, Sandip Das

Symposium of Student Scholars

Solar power has emerged as a promising renewable clean energy source and installations of solar panels are increasing sharply year after year. Monitoring the power output and health of solar panels is critically important to ensure safe and reliable operation of a solar power plant throughout its operational lifetime. In this project, we have designed and built a low-cost electronic device that is capable of measuring the electrical parameters of a solar cell or module. The device consists of a microprocessor with integrated analog-to-digital converter, a supercapacitor bank, current sense amplifier, and electromechanical relays. The microprocessor performs data acquisition through …

Analyzing The Effectiveness Of Helmet Laws In Reducing Motorcycle Fatalities In The United States: A State-Level Study In 2020, Liz Furlow

Symposium of Student Scholars

Motorcycle fatalities are a significant public health issue in the United States. Motorcyclists are more vulnerable than other motorists and have a higher risk of injury and death in the event of an accident. To reduce the number of preventable motorcycle fatalities, some states have implemented mandatory helmet laws. However, the effectiveness of helmet laws in reducing fatalities remains a topic of debate.

For this study, state-level data on motorcycle fatalities, motorcycle registrations, and helmet laws in the United States was collected for the year 2020. The data was obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis …

Investigating The Severity And Rate Of Occurrence Of Motorcycle Crashes Across Different Land Uses In Georgia, Robert Edwards

Symposium of Student Scholars

In 2020, motorcycle crashes reached their highest number of fatalities nationally since 1975, when 5,579 motorcyclists were killed. Georgia, in recent years, has seen an increase in the number of fatal multi-vehicle crashes involving motorcycles. This would be indicative of the general trend and nothing more if the number of motorcycle crashes reported outside of urban populations did not increase—despite lockdown measures—by 1.7% in 2020. In this investigation, employing a thorough examination of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Crash Data (GDOT) compiled from the last ten years and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) compiled from the last five years, …

Encrypted Malicious Network Traffic Detection Using Machine Learning, Niklas Knipschild

Symposium of Student Scholars

The research project aims to find ways to detect malicious packets inside encrypted network traffic. In addition to this goal maintaining user privacy is a priority. As encryption has become less expensive to implement more and more network traffic is encrypted. Currently, 90% of all network traffic is encrypted, and this trend is expected to increase. The creators of malware areemploying various methods to ensure delivery of their malware, including encryption. One proposed method to combat this suggests implementing machine learning with various algorithms to analyze packet attributes to determine if they contain malware, without actually knowing what's inside …

Ransomware: Evaluation Of Mitigation And Prevention Techniques, Juanjose Rodriguez-Cardenas

Symposium of Student Scholars

Ransomware is classified as one of the main types of malware and involves the design of exploitations of new vulnerabilities through a host. That allows for the intrusion of systems and encrypting of any information assets and data in order to demand a sum of payment normally through untraceable cryptocurrencies such as Monero for the decryption key. This rapid security threat has put governments and private enterprises on high alert and despite evolving technologies and more sophisticated encryption algorithms critical assets are being held for ransom and the results are detrimental, including the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021 …

Advanced Biomedical Laboratory (Abl) Synergy With Communication, Robotics, And Iot, Razvan Cristian Voicu, Steven Steele, Jorge Diaz Rodriguez, Yusun Chang, Chan Ham

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper proposes a framework for integrating IoT and automation in a biomedical laboratory to improve safety, optimize processes, and enhance students' learning experience. The framework incorporates a centralized control unit and distributed subsystems to control equipment and machinery and includes autonomous robotics and intelligent monitoring systems. The paper presents the results of undergraduate students' work on automating various biomedical processes, including developing an Intelligent Autonomous Monitoring (IAM) device. IAM utilizes machine learning algorithms to identify outliers in processes and safety hazards. Moreover, IAM autonomously detects and localizes biomedical tools and equipment. Results show the feasibility of delivering real-time results …

Biomedical Sensing - A Sensor Fusion Approach For Improved Medical Detection And Monitoring, Ammy Ovando, Ricardo Ramirez, Steven Steele, Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam, Yusun Chang, Razvan Voicu

Symposium of Student Scholars

Enhanced technological advancement in computation, communication, and sensing has dramatically changed the dynamics of modern medicine. Advancing preventive medicine is paramount to a sustainable improvement in the quality of life and life expectancy. On-body sensors provide continuous measurements for healthy and ailing individuals leading to faster recovery and more timely detection of illnesses. Novel sensor designs and sensor fusion for preventive monitoring can provide extensible benefits, including a better understanding of ailment progression, treatment optimization, and patient feedback through data analytics and visualization. However, existing research does not thoroughly investigate sensor fusion approaches in biomedical sensing, as well as spot …

Development Of A Fish Robot Equipped With Novel 3d-Printed Soft Bending Actuators, Steven Steele, Jorge Diaz Rodriguez, Sharun Sripathy, Turaj Ashuri, Saleh Gharaie, Yusun Chang, Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper reports on design and fabrication of a novel soft fish robot. Application of soft actuators for the fish tail will generates continuum bending motion which resembles the natural motion of the fish. However, most soft actuator mechanisms are complex and have low efficiency. Thus, to address this issue we have developed a 3D printed soft bending actuator which can be actuated with an electromotor. The basic design idea of the soft bending actuator is explained, and iteration of the design showed to create the desired motion for the soft tail. The soft actuator has been successfully integrated with …

The Effect Of Mental Demand On Body Postures, Rodrick Adams, Valentina Niño

Symposium of Student Scholars

How we perceive our work has a profound relationship with how our body reacts to help facilitate the performance of our tasks. This is an observational study of the experiment in which participants performed tasks under four different conditions (baseline, interruptions, time, and alarm) and used NASA-TLX (NASA- Task Load Index) scores to assess their mental workload for each condition across six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, effort, performance, and frustration level. We juxtaposed their NASA-TLX score with corresponding REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) scores while standing and RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) scores while sitting to determine …

Molecular Dynamics Study For Tritium Adsorption On Novel Materials, Jason Viscardi, Benjamin Robinson, Asher Flanagan

Symposium of Student Scholars

In this study, novel materials will be researched, and their potential uses for tritium control. 12 studies have been collected on various materials that give a solid foundation for future research that will be conducted regarding tritium control. All these studies used molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) to generate results. The first paper found from a university in Crete, Greece discussed pillared graphene to store hydrogen in a novel 3D carbon nanostructure in which pore size and surface area can be adjusted to suit the need. This was the first of several studies that aim to arrange the graphene in such …

A Performance Comparison Between Nasa-Tlx And Surg-Tlx Workload Measurements, Isabella Duque

Symposium of Student Scholars

A performance comparison between NASA-TLX and SURG-TLX workload measurements

Undergraduate Student: Isabella Duque

Research Mentor(s): Dr. Luisa Valentina Nino

Mental workload has gained attention in the workplaces since technology has recently become more common. Mental workload is a concept with multiple dimensions, such as stress or time demand, that includes qualities about the task, the operator, and the workplace environment. NASA-TLX and SURG-TLX are mental workloads measurement tools. The NASA-TLX is currently the most used tool to measure workload and is a questionnaire of six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. The SURG-TLX is a …

Portable Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For Non-Invasive And Quantitative Assessment Of The Parathyroid Glands Viability During Surgery, Mark Romine, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Katie Cho, Paul Lee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Portable Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for Non-invasive and Quantitative Assessment of the Parathyroid Glands Viability During Surgery

Mark Romine, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Katie Cho and Paul Lee

The parathyroid glands (PTGs) are responsible for the regulation of calcium levels in the blood by secreting a parathyroid hormone. This parathyroid hormone then regulates the body’s absorption, storage, and secretion of calcium, which can directly affect the way muscles and nerves operate. PTGs are often at risk of damage, or accidental removal during thyroid surgeries, because it is challenging to identify PTGs and to determine their viability. Current methods of visual inspections …

Ransomware Attacks In The Software Supply Chain: A Review Of Attack Vectors, Defenses And Gaps, Corey Brookins, Ava Norouzinia, Asia Shavers, Miranda Dominguez, Marie Nassif, Kenneth Burke, Shamar Lake

Symposium of Student Scholars

The proliferation of cyberattacks in the software supply chain domain is a pressing concern making them a formidable threat to software security and compromising its integrity and credibility which needs to be critically acknowledged and investigated. The lack of familiarity with the design and pattern of emerging attacks has contributed to the occurrence of several vulnerable software supply chain attacks in the preceding years. This project aims to conduct a comprehensive study of the various tactics and techniques employed by cybercriminals in this domain along with a focus on exploring the influence of software supply chain stakeholders’ traits, limitations, and …

A Study Of Iot-Optimized Low Power Asset Tracking With Cloud-Enabled Lorawan, Fatima Salman

Symposium of Student Scholars

The world of technology is expanding very quickly today, including technologies like cloud-based asset monitoring, but this makes it difficult to keep up with this technology's development and many other things. It is possible to monitor and manage your assets remotely with a cloud-based system thanks to its many features. The lifecycle of any commodity, including inventory, machinery, vehicles, and real estate, can be tracked using this kind of cloud-based system. Wide-area networks can be used to send data with the aid of low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies like LoRa, SigFox, and NB-IoT. This project will examine traditional, cloud-based, LPWAN-based …

Behavior Analysis Of Cement Concrete With Combination Of Waste Rubber And Glass, Abdulaziz Alebra

Symposium of Student Scholars

Glass and Rubber waste materials are valuable materials to use rather than throw which we have more than enough to use and recycle. Recycled glass and rubber materials can reduce and help major climate issues in our times based on the statistics reducing glass can bring down air pollution by 20% and also reduce water pollution by 50% as well as can reduce the use of landfill space. A laboratory study will be launched, and tests will be conducted following the ASTM standards, ASTM C143 for a concrete slump, and ASTM C31 for making and curing concrete specimens. Samples of …

Wireless, Handheld Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy To Quantify Tissue Microvascular Hemodynamics, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Mark Romine, Katie Cho, Paul Lee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) is a non-invasive optical method to characterize tissue optical properties for disease diagnosis and health monitoring. Two optical fibers are often used in a DRS system: one to deliver light to the tissue and the other to gather diffuse reflectance spectra, which provide quantitative details about the structure and composition of the tissue. The conventional DRS system, however, is expensive, bulky, and composed of fragile optical fibers and multiple electrical connections. Here we propose to build a wireless, handheld, and fiber-less diffuse optical spectroscopy system. Unfortunately, the diffusion approximation utilized for data analysis of the conventional …

A Study Of Deep Neural Networks In The Application Of Distracted Driving Detection, Wesley M. Heikes

ATU Scholars Symposium

As the world continues to become more technologically advanced, distracted driving will continue to be a growing danger to the public. Convolutional neural networks can be used to monitor driving and differentiate distracted driving from safe driving. A popular distracted driving dataset created by State Farm called the Distracted Driver Dataset can be trained with the Auto-Keras model API. Auto-Keras is a system that taylors a machine learning model to fit a given dataset. While experienced neural network designers can create neural networks to produce incredibly accurate results, Auto-Keras gives those with less expertise a method of designing a network …

Kayak Automated Steering, Nick Gilbert, Emily Trotter, David Asimbaya, Jorge Garcia, Natalie Nyatsanza

ATU Scholars Symposium

The problem presented is to automate a fishing kayak to make traveling long distances more manageable while maintaining the flexibility, portability, and size of the kayak without making major modifications to the already working item. The proposed design is aimed to solve the steering issues that a fixed seat in a kayak may have and the consistent paddling by supporting them with an automated system. The device is not meant to interfere with the system's manual operation but to provide a sense of aid when needed.

Design And Fabrication Of Gearbox, Mohammed Al Omairi, Ibrahim Alshammari, Nawaf Alshammari, Abdullah Aljohani, Hezam Al Marri

ATU Scholars Symposium

In this project, the gears and other mechanical parts of the gearbox will be created using 3D printing technology, and they will be joined to shafts and combined with ball bearings for smooth motion. This is constructed to make the ideas of gear mechanics and gear shifting simple to visualize and comprehend.

Premium Single Phase Motor For Abb Group, Daniel Johnson, Sky Friar, Jesse Willer

ATU Scholars Symposium

ABB Group is in search of a next generation premium single phase motor. An integrated drive paired to a three phase motor will allow the company to take advantage of current three phase motor automation capacity while presenting the end user with a simple, ready to use motor operating off of single phase power. This project is the design of such an integrated drive.

The drive will accept 115/230 Vac, single phase supply power and send it through a full bridge rectifying, voltage doubling circuit. This circuit will rectify the alternating current to direct current and increase the voltage to …

The Aerocap Aerodynamic Attachment For Pickup Trucks, Andrew J. Tucker, David Silk

ATU Scholars Symposium

As the pickup truck continuously becomes more popular in both commercial and family applications, the fuel efficiency of modern pickup design should be brought into question. According to CBS News, pickup trucks accounted for around 20% of all new vehicles sold in America in 2022, with the three most popular vehicles sold during the year all being pickups. However, these vehicles consistently have higher drag coefficients than other types of vehicles, namely sedans or crossovers. This leads to decreased fuel economy and more overall greenhouse gas emissions. Even in the case of an electric pickup truck, the high drag coefficient …

Distracted Driving Detection System, Tristan Caja, Lizzi Riney, Chance Gregurek, Wesley M. Heikes

ATU Scholars Symposium

In 2020, distracted driving claimed 3,142 lives in the United States[1]. Using current technology, our project aims to prototype a device that uses computer vision to crack down on this dangerous behavior while working with insurance agencies that provide incentives for customers to adopt the device. At the heart of this project is a deep learning algorithm trained to classify images on a set of 10 classes: safe driving, texting - right, talking on the phone - right, texting - left, talking on the phone - left, operating the radio, drinking, reaching behind, hair and makeup, and talking to passenger. …

Improving Quality Of Life Using Ict, Iot And Ai (Honet), Charles Koduru

Symposium of Student Scholars

Autonomous robots can be assigned with various tasks such as moving payload, analyzing terrain, and capturing data in an environment. For an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) to execute such tasks the robot (Hussarion ROSbot) will require efficient algorithms and techniques to reference its current location. The robot is relative to surrounding obstacles in its predetermined path. The conducted research study explains the coordinated method used to successfully allow a robot to identify its position in the environment (Gazebo Simulation) and avoid obstructions with increasing velocity - contingent on nearby surroundings. The results show multiple robots individually tasked with distinct roles, …

Behavior Analysis Of Cement Concrete With Combination Of Waste Plastic And Glass, Mohamad Alamayreh

Symposium of Student Scholars

The waste stream in our society contains abundant plastic and glass waste, which can be effectively recycled to reduce the waste volume and save landfill space. Several studies have demonstrated that recycling glass can lower air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%, while recycling waste plastic can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy. To explore the potential use of recycled plastic and glass in concrete mixes, a laboratory investigation was conducted. Different percentages of plastic and glass waste will be tested as fine aggregates in cement concrete mixtures to evaluate their performance in terms of resistivity …