Computer Engineering Commons^™

The Dynamic Control Platform: Reinventing The Wheel, One Leg At A Time, Angel Javier Solis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Upright bipedal walking is a complex balance of forces and actions that is almost taken for granted. How this system is modeled, how it affects a prosthesis, and how it can be implemented in the real world are topics that the proposed Dynamic Control Platform aims to address.

The Dynamic Control Platform (DCP) is a bipedal robot designed to test bio-inspired control algorithms with the aim to smooth out the walking experience for prosthetic legs. The main control paradigm that the DCP centers on the principle of orthogonal constraint, which aims to enforce a perpendicular relationship between the center of …

Using Online Discussions To Connect Theory And Practice In Core Engineering Undergraduate Courses, Lisa B. Bosman, Somesh Roy, Walter M. Mcdonald, Cristinel Ababei

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Providing engineering undergraduate students opportunities to connect real-world applications with theory is key to preparing them for the workforce; however, this task often requires a balancing act between meeting course objectives in content-heavy core engineering undergraduate courses and providing experiences that connect real-world applications with theory. This study seeks to address this problem through the integration of online discussion prompts to promote a connection to real-world practical applications. The study included undergraduate students enrolled in three engineering core courses. The hypothesis was that participation in online discussions (using prompts) would lead to 1) an increase in student empowerment towards self-regulated …

Reinforcement Learning In Self Organizing Cellular Networks, Roohollah Amiri

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Self-organization is a key feature as cellular networks densify and become more heterogeneous, through the additional small cells such as pico and femtocells. Self- organizing networks (SONs) can perform self-configuration, self-optimization, and self-healing. These operations can cover basic tasks such as the configuration of a newly installed base station, resource management, and fault management in the network. In other words, SONs attempt to minimize human intervention where they use measurements from the network to minimize the cost of installation, configuration, and maintenance of the network. In fact, SONs aim to bring two main factors in play: intelligence and autonomous adaptability. …

Secure Network-On-Chip Against Black Hole And Tampering Attacks, Luka Daoud

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Network-on-Chip (NoC) has become the communication heart of Multiprocessors-System-on-Chip (MPSoC). Therefore, it has been subject to a plethora of security threats to degrade the system performance or steal sensitive information. Due to the globalization of the modern semiconductor industry, many different parties take part in the hardware design of the system. As a result, the NoC could be infected with a malicious circuit, known as a Hardware Trojan (HT), to leave a back door for security breach purposes. HTs are smartly designed to be too small to be uncovered by offline circuit-level testing, so the system requires an online …

Ensemble Malware Classification System Using Deep Neural Networks, Barath Narayanan Narayanan, Venkata Salini Priyamvada Davuluru

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

With the advancement of technology, there is a growing need of classifying malware programs that could potentially harm any computer system and/or smaller devices. In this research, an ensemble classification system comprising convolutional and recurrent neural networks is proposed to distinguish malware programs. Microsoft's Malware Classification Challenge (BIG 2015) dataset with nine distinct classes is utilized for this study. This dataset contains an assembly file and a compiled file for each malware program. Compiled files are visualized as images and are classified using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Assembly files consist of machine language opcodes that are distinguished among classes using …

Modeling And Experimental Verification Of An Unconventional 9-Phase Asymmetric Winding Pm Motor Dedicated To Electric Traction Applications, Ersin Yolacan, Mustafa K. Guven, Metin Aydin, Ayman M. El-Refaie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Multi-phase permanent magnet motors are becoming popular in various applications such as high power traction which require low cogging and torque ripple, and reduced noise and vibration. This paper presents the development process of a full order detailed mathematical model for an unconventional nine-phase permanent magnet (PM) motor with asymmetric AC windings. The phase inductances are calculated based on the individual winding functions. Using these parameters, electrical equations for each phase based on the voltages and flux linkages are generated. These equations are transformed into an arbitrary reference frame and the torque equations are developed for the 9-phase motor. A …

On-Site And External Energy Harvesting In Underground Wireless, Usman Raza, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

Energy efficiency is vital for uninterrupted long-term operation of wireless underground communication nodes in the field of decision agriculture. In this paper, energy harvesting and wireless power transfer techniques are discussed with applications in underground wireless communications (UWC). Various external wireless power transfer techniques are explored. Moreover, key energy harvesting technologies are presented that utilize available energy sources in the field such as vibration, solar, and wind. In this regard, the Electromagnetic(EM)- and Magnetic Induction(MI)-based approaches are explained. Furthermore, the vibration-based energy harvesting models are reviewed as well. These energy harvesting approaches lead to design of an efficient wireless underground …

Service Provisioning And Security Design In Software Defined Networks, Mohamed Rahouti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructures and systems are being widely deployed to support a broad range of users and application scenarios. A key trend here is the emergence of many different "smart" technology paradigms along with an increasingly diverse array of networked sensors, e.g., for smart homes and buildings, intelligent transportation and autonomous systems, emergency response, remote health monitoring and telehealth, etc. As billions of these devices come online, ICT networks are being tasked with transferring increasing volumes of data to support intelligent real-time decision making and management. Indeed, many applications and services will have very stringent Quality of …

Nonlinear Least Squares 3-D Geolocation Solutions Using Time Differences Of Arrival, Michael V. Bredemann

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

This thesis uses a geometric approach to derive and solve nonlinear least squares minimization problems to geolocate a signal source in three dimensions using time differences of arrival at multiple sensor locations. There is no restriction on the maximum number of sensors used. Residual errors reach the numerical limits of machine precision. Symmetric sensor orientations are found that prevent closed form solutions of source locations lying within the null space. Maximum uncertainties in relative sensor positions and time difference of arrivals, required to locate a source within a maximum specified error, are found from these results. Examples illustrate potential requirements …

Multimodal Mental Health Analysis In Social Media, Amir Hossein Yazdavar, Mohammad Saeid Mahdavinejad, Goonmeet Bajaj, William Romine, Amit P. Sheth, Amir Hassan Monadjemi, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, John M. Meddar, Annie Myers, Jyotishman Pathak, Pascal Hitzler

Publications

Depression is a major public health concern in the U.S. and globally. While successful early identification and treatment can lead to many positive health and behavioral outcomes, depression, remains undiagnosed, untreated or undertreated due to several reasons, including denial of the illness as well as cultural and social stigma. With the ubiquity of social media platforms, millions of people are now sharing their online persona by expressing their thoughts, moods, emotions, and even their daily struggles with mental health on social media. Unlike traditional observational cohort studies conducted through questionnaires and self-reported surveys, we explore the reliable detection of depressive …

Tech Comm Eagle Eye-Tracking Control System, Gabiella Lail, Robert Shaw, Hunter Smatla, Matthew Gary

Discovery Day - Prescott

Mobile eye-tracking systems provide usability research support as well as access to a wide range of robotics and technical communication research opportunities. Optical tracking systems are often prohibitively expensive and do not provide the mobility or flexibility needed for a variety of research application possibilities. Our team proposes building a simple mobile eye-tracking system to be used in-house at ERAU for heat-mapping, robotics, control systems, and various technical communication applications in a structured research environment. The mobile eyetracking system will become part of a larger research and hands-on technical communication usability lab and research center. The research team intends to …

Longitudinal Brain Tumor Tracking, Tumor Grading, And Patient Survival Prediction Using Mri, Linmin Pei

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This work aims to develop novel methods for brain tumor classification, longitudinal brain tumor tracking, and patient survival prediction. Consequently, this dissertation proposes three tasks. First, we develop a framework for brain tumor segmentation prediction in longitudinal multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (mMRI) scans, comprising two methods: feature fusion and joint label fusion (JLF). The first method fuses stochastic multi-resolution texture features with tumor cell density features, in order to obtain tumor segmentation predictions in follow-up scans from a baseline pre-operative timepoint. The second method utilizes JLF to combine segmentation labels obtained from (i) the stochastic texture feature-based and Random Forest …

Topology Control, Scheduling, And Spectrum Sensing In 5g Networks, Prosanta Paul

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The proliferation of intelligent wireless devices is remarkable. To address phenomenal traffic growth, a key objective of next-generation wireless networks such as 5G is to provide significantly larger bandwidth. To this end, the millimeter wave (mmWave) band (20 GHz -300 GHz) has been identified as a promising candidate for 5G and WiFi networks to support user data rates of multi-gigabits per second. However, path loss at mmWave is significantly higher than today's cellular bands. Fortunately, this higher path loss can be compensated through the antenna beamforming technique-a transmitter focuses a signal towards a specific direction to achieve high signal gain …

Heuristic-Based Threat Analysis Of Register-Transfer-Level Hardware Designs, Wesley Layton Ellington

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The development of globalized semiconductor manufacturing processes and supply chains has lead to an increased interest in hardware security as new types of hardware based attacks, called hardware Trojans, are being observed in industrial and military electronics. To combat this, a technique was developed to help analyze hardware designs at the register-transfer-level (RTL) and locate points of interest within a design that might be vulnerable to attack. This method aims to eventually enable the creation of an end-to-end design hardening solution that analyzes existing designs and suggests countermeasures for potential Trojan attacks. The method presented in this work uses a …

Effects Of Collision Damage On The Ultimate Strength Of Fpso Vessels, Muhammad Zubair Muis Alie, Dian Ramasari, Taufiqur Rachman, Ristiyanto Adiputra

Makara Journal of Technology

Floating production storage offloading (FPSO) vessels are movable offshore structures. These structures are designed with large dimensions, and their decks are loaded with several types of equipment. During collision damage, the hull and deck parts loaded with equipment are severely affected. Therefore, the ultimate strength of FPSO vessels should be thoroughly checked and evaluated. The objective of the present study is to analyze the ultimate strength of FPSO vessels against collision damage characterized by hogging and sagging under longitudinal bending. The cross section of an FPSO vessel is modeled with elements composed of stiffened and unstiffened plates. The vessel length …

Ionic Conductivity And Electrochemical Properties Of Alginate–Nn4no3-Based Biopolymer Electrolytes For Edlc Application, Norfatihah Binti Mazuki, Nur Muhitul Jalilah Rasali, Bouchta Sahraoui, Ahmad Salihin Samsudin

Makara Journal of Technology

In this work, alginate doped with various contents of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) as a solid biopolymer electrolyte (SBE) was prepared via casting by using distilled water as a solvent. Impedance studies on alginate–NH4NO3 SBE films were conducted via impedance spectroscopy. The lowest bulk resistance (Rb) showed that the maximum ionic conductivity of the sample containing 25 wt.% NH4NO3 at ambient temperature (303 K) was 5.56 × 10−5 S cm−1. The temperature dependence of ionic conductivity was evaluated, and results confirmed that electrolytes followed an Arrhenius behavior. The highest conducting sample was fabricated into an electrical double-layer capacitor and characterized in …

Synthesis Of Epoxy Monoethanolamide From Bauhinia Monandra Seed Oil, Adewale Adewuyi, Rotimi A. Oderinde

Makara Journal of Technology

In this study, we synthesized epoxidised monoethanolamide (EMA) from Bauhinia monandra seed oil (BMO) via a simple reaction route. In this process, BMO was transesterified to obtain a mixture of methyl esters, which was subjected to a urea adduct complexation reaction. The unsaturated methyl esters (BME) from the urea adduct complexation reaction were then epoxidised using performic acid produced in situ in a one-pot reaction system. The epoxidised methyl esters were converted to EMA by reacting them with monoethanolamine (1:10). The progression of the reaction was monitored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and the …

Ethylene Carbonate And Polyethylene Glycol As Efficient Plasticizers In Cmc-Pva-Nh4no3-Based Polymer Electrolyte, Noor Saadiah Mohd Ali, Yuki Nagao, Ahmad Salihin Samsudin

Makara Journal of Technology

This study investigated the influence of plasticizers (polyethylene glycol [PEG] and ethylene carbonate [EC]) on the ionic conduction of CMC-PVA-NH4NO3. Blended biopolymer electrolytes (BBEs) based on carboxymethyl cellulose–polyvinyl alcohol (CMC-PVA) doped with ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) were obtained via casting solution technique incorporated with PEG and EC, which acted as plasticizers. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was conducted to evaluate the effect of plasticization on the ionic conduction properties. The ionic conductivity improved from 1.70 × 10−3 S/cm for un-plasticized BBEs to 3.92 × 10−3 S/cm for plasticized BBEs with EC and 3.00 × 10−3 S/cm for plasticized BBEs with PEG. The …

Current Status Of Hydrothermal Treatment For Energy And Material Recovery Toward A Sustainable Post-Consumer Material Cycle, Baskoro Lokahita, Muhammad Aziz, Fumitake Takahashi

Makara Journal of Technology

The demand for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly municipal solid waste (MSW) processing has increased in developing countries. The thermochemical process offers a fast and reliable solution to reutilize or reduce the volume of MSW. Hydrothermal treatment is a novel MSW treatment technology that is compatible with high-moisture-content feedstock. It involves the thermal degradation of MSW in pressurized water or steam, which promotes the disintegration of cellulosic and polymer materials. Recent advances have shown effective MSW conversion into homogenous solid hydrochar with higher energy density. Alkali and chlorine content, which causes issues in combustors, was successfully removed due to the washing …

Liquefaction Potential Analysis Based On Nonlinear Ground Response On The Coastline Of Bengkulu City, Indonesia, Lindung Zalbuin Mase

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper presents the study of the seismic response and liquefaction potential of the coastal area of Bengkulu City during the September 2007 Sumatra earthquake. The study is conducted by collecting site investigation data (standard penetration test) and applying input motion to observe soil response. Synthetic ground motion is generated by considering the important aspects of earthquakes, including focal depth, epicenter, earthquake source, and site classification. The synthetized ground motion is then used as the input motion in the seismic response analysis. The results of this analysis are spectral acceleration and peak ground acceleration at each depth. The resulting spectral …

Comparison Of Phytoremediation And Filtration For Diamond-Mine-Tailings Water Treatment, M. Hafidhuddin Noor, Mijani Rahman, Akhmad Gazali, Nia Kania, Aulia Rahma, Erdina L.A. Rampun, Amalia E. Pratiwi, Muthia Elma

Makara Journal of Technology

The water pollution caused by diamond mine activities can kill aquatic life. In this work, we used phytoremediation and filtration to treat pond water polluted by the tailings of a diamond mine located in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Einchhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) was utilized as the biomass for the phytoremediation process. Gravel (10–15 mm) and sand (0.1–1 mm) were used as filter media in the simple filtration setup, using an up-flow system (bottom to top). In the experiment, 16 L of diamond tailing water was poured into five phytoremediation reactors (each 60 L in volume), which were then tested over seven …

Drones Detection Using Smart Sensors, Aishah Moafa

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Drones are modern and sophisticated technology that have been used in numerous fields. Nowadays, many countries use them in exploration, reconnaissance operations, and espionage in military operations. Drones also have many uses that are not limited to only daily life. For example, drones are used for home delivery, safety monitoring, and others. However, the use of drones is a double-edged sword. Drones can be used for positive purposes to improve the quality of human lives, but they can also be used for criminal purposes and other detrimental purposes. In fact, many countries have been attacked by terrorists using smart drones. …

Supporting Self-Regulation Of Children With Adhd Using Wearables: Tensions And Design Challenges, Franceli L. Cibrian, Kimberley D. Lakes, Arya Tavakoulnia, Kayla Guzman, Sabrina Schuck, Gillian R. Hayes

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

The design of wearable applications supporting children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) requires a deep understanding not only of what is possible from a clinical standpoint but also how the children might understand and orient towards wearable technologies, such as a smartwatch. Through a series of participatory design workshops with children with ADHD and their caregivers, we identified tensions and challenges in designing wearable applications supporting the self-regulation of children with ADHD. In this paper, we describe the specific challenges of smartwatches for this population, the balance between self-regulation and co-regulation, and tensions when receiving notifications on a smartwatch …

Virtual Satcom, Long Range Broadband Digital Communications, Dennis George Watson

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The current naval strategy is based on a distributed force, networked together with high-speed communications that enable operations as an intelligent, fast maneuvering force. Satellites, the existing network connector, are weak and vulnerable to attack. HF is an alternative, but it does not have the information throughput to meet the distributed warfighting need. The US Navy does not have a solution to reduce dependency on space-based communication systems while providing the warfighter with the required information speed.

Virtual SATCOM is a solution that can match satellite communications (SATCOM) data speed without the vulnerable satellite. It is wireless communication on a …

Deep Cellular Recurrent Neural Architecture For Efficient Multidimensional Time-Series Data Processing, Lasitha S. Vidyaratne

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Efficient processing of time series data is a fundamental yet challenging problem in pattern recognition. Though recent developments in machine learning and deep learning have enabled remarkable improvements in processing large scale datasets in many application domains, most are designed and regulated to handle inputs that are static in time. Many real-world data, such as in biomedical, surveillance and security, financial, manufacturing and engineering applications, are rarely static in time, and demand models able to recognize patterns in both space and time. Current machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models adapted for time series processing tend to grow in …

Analyzing And Learning The Language For Different Types Of Harassment, Mohammadreza Rezvan, Saeedeh Shekarpour, Faisal Alshargi, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Valerie L. Shalin, Amit P. Sheth

Publications

THIS ARTICLE USES WORDS OR LANGUAGE THAT IS CONSIDERED PROFANE, VULGAR, OR OFFENSIVE BY SOME READERS. The presence of a significant amount of harassment in user-generated content and its negative impact calls for robust automatic detection approaches. This requires the identification of different types of harassment. Earlier work has classified harassing language in terms of hurtfulness, abusiveness, sentiment, and profanity. However, to identify and understand harassment more accurately, it is essential to determine the contextual type that captures the interrelated conditions in which harassing language occurs. In this paper we introduce the notion of contextual type in harassment by distinguishing …

Design Of Delro Autonomous Delivery Robot And Ai Based Localization, Tolga Karakurt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous robots are employed in numerous areas. In this thesis, it is proposed to design and build a self-controlled wheeled vehicle to deliver food.

As there are many applications of an autonomous agent for indoor and outdoor environments, this study is conducted on indoor settings whereas all the requirements and design processes are achieved for both operational boundaries.

The fundamental approach is to design and implement a Wheeled Mobile Robot (WMR), and to test skid-steering performance on proposed trajectories using a System Engineering approach. From this point of view, system requirements in mechanical, electrical, and software are evaluated, and overall …

A Comparative Evaluation Of The Detection And Tracking Capability Between Novel Event-Based And Conventional Frame-Based Sensors, James P. Boettiger

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional frame-based technology continues to suffer from motion blur, low dynamic range, speed limitations and high data storage requirements. Event-based sensors offer a potential solution to these challenges. This research centers around a comparative assessment of frame and event-based object detection and tracking. A basic frame-based algorithm is used to compare against two different event-based algorithms. First event-based pseudo-frames were parsed through standard frame-based algorithms and secondly, target tracks were constructed directly from filtered events. The findings show there is significant value in pursuing the technology further.

Learning In The Machine: To Share Or Not To Share?, Jordan Ott, Erik Linstead, Nicholas Lahaye, Pierre Baldi

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Weight-sharing is one of the pillars behind Convolutional Neural Networks and their successes. However, in physical neural systems such as the brain, weight-sharing is implausible. This discrepancy raises the fundamental question of whether weight-sharing is necessary. If so, to which degree of precision? If not, what are the alternatives? The goal of this study is to investigate these questions, primarily through simulations where the weight-sharing assumption is relaxed. Taking inspiration from neural circuitry, we explore the use of Free Convolutional Networks and neurons with variable connection patterns. Using Free Convolutional Networks, we show that while weight-sharing is a pragmatic optimization …

Knowledge Infused Learning (K-Il): Towards Deep Incorporation Of Knowledge In Deep Learning, Ugur Kursuncu, Manas Gaur, Amit Sheth

Publications

Learning the underlying patterns in data goes beyondinstance-based generalization to external knowledge repre-sented in structured graphs or networks. Deep learning thatprimarily constitutes neural computing stream in AI hasshown significant advances in probabilistically learning la-tent patterns using a multi-layered network of computationalnodes (i.e., neurons/hidden units). Structured knowledge thatunderlies symbolic computing approaches and often supportsreasoning, has also seen significant growth in recent years,in the form of broad-based (e.g., DBPedia, Yago) and do-main, industry or application specific knowledge graphs. Acommon substrate with careful integration of the two willraise opportunities to develop neuro-symbolic learning ap-proaches for AI, where conceptual and probabilistic repre-sentations are combined. …