Computer Engineering Commons^™

Technology Corner: Visualising Forensic Data: Evidence Guidelines (Part 2), Damian Schofield, Ken Fowle

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Visualisation is becoming increasingly important for understanding information, such as investigative data (for example: computing, medical and crime scene evidence) and analysis (for example, network capability assessment, data file reconstruction and planning scenarios). Investigative data visualisation is used to reconstruct a scene or item and is used to assist the viewer (who may well be a member of the general public with little or no understanding of the subject matter) to understand what is being presented. Analysis visualisations, on the other hand, are usually developed to review data, information and assess competing scenario hypotheses for those who usually have an …

How Often Is Employee Anger An Insider Risk Ii? Detecting And Measuring Negative Sentiment Versus Insider Risk In Digital Communications–Comparison Between Human Raters And Psycholinguistic Software, Eric Shaw, Maria Payri, Michael Cohn, Ilene R. Shaw

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This research uses two recently introduced observer rating scales, (Shaw et al., 2013) for the identification and measurement of negative sentiment (the Scale for Negativity in Text or SNIT) and insider risk (Scale of Indicators of Risk in Digital Communication or SIRDC) in communications to test the performance of psycholinguistic software designed to detect indicators of these risk factors. The psycholinguistic software program, WarmTouch (WT), previously used for investigations, appeared to be an effective means for locating communications scored High or Medium in negative sentiment by the SNIT or High in insider risk by the SIRDC within a randomly selected …

Trends In Android Malware Detection, Kaveh Shaerpour, Ali Dehghantanha, Ramlan Mahmod

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper analyzes different Android malware detection techniques from several research papers, some of these techniques are novel while others bring a new perspective to the research work done in the past. The techniques are of various kinds ranging from detection using host based frameworks and static analysis of executable to feature extraction and behavioral patterns. Each paper is reviewed extensively and the core features of each technique are highlighted and contrasted with the others. The challenges faced during the development of such techniques are also discussed along with the future prospects for Android malware detection. The findings of the …

Risk Management Of Email And Internet Use In The Workplace, John Ruhnka, Windham E. Loopesko

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The article surveys the changing risk environment for corporations from their employees’ electronic communications. It identifies the types of liabilities that corporations can incur from such employee communications. It discusses the objectives of corporate internet use policies and the types of provisions such policies should contain. It suggests an alternative risk-based approach to corporate acceptable use policies instead of a traditional “laundry list” of internet use prohibitions.

Table Of Contents

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of A Second Hand Google Mini Search Appliance, Stephen Larson

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Information and the technological advancements for which mankind develops with regards to its storage has increased tremendously over the past few decades. As the total amount of data stored rapidly increases in conjunction with the amount of widely available computer-driven devices being used, solutions are being developed to better harness this data (LaTulippe, 2011). One of these solutions is commonly known as a search appliance. Search appliances have been used in e-discovery for several years. The Google Mini Search Appliance (Mini) has not only been used for e-discovery, but for indexing and searching internal documents. To accomplish these tasks, search …

System-Generated Digital Forensic Evidence In Graphic Design Applications, Enos Mabuto, Hein Venter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Graphic design applications are often used for the editing and design of digital art. The same applications can be used for creating counterfeit documents such as identity documents (IDs), driver’s licences, passports, etc. However, the use of any graphic design application leaves behind traces of digital information that can be used during a digital forensic investigation. Current digital forensic tools examine a system to find digital evidence, but they do not examine a system specifically for the creating of counterfeit documents created through the use of graphic design applications. The paper in hand reviews the system-generated digital forensic evidence gathered …

Independent Component Analysis Enhancements For Source Separation In Immersive Audio Environments, Yue Zhao

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

In immersive audio environments with distributed microphones, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) can be applied to uncover signals from a mixture of other signals and noise, such as in a cocktail party recording. ICA algorithms have been developed for instantaneous source mixtures and convolutional source mixtures. While ICA for instantaneous mixtures works when no delays exist between the signals in each mixture, distributed microphone recordings typically result various delays of the signals over the recorded channels. The convolutive ICA algorithm should account for delays; however, it requires many parameters to be set and often has stability issues. This thesis introduces the …

Efficient, Scalable, Parallel, Matrix-Matrix Multiplication, Enrique Portillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For the past decade, power/energy consumption has become a limiting factor for large-scale and embedded High Performance Computing (HPC) systems. This is especially true for systems that include accelerators, e.g., high-end computing devices, such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), with terascale computing capabilities and high power draws that greatly surpass that of multi-core CPUs. Accordingly, improving the node-level power/energy efficiency of an application can have a direct and positive impact on both classes of HPC systems.

The research reported in this thesis explores the use of software techniques to enhance the execution-time and power-consumption performance of applications executed on a …

Anasic Design And Test Methodology For An Undergraduate Design And Fabrication Project, Arun Joseph Kurian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

During the 1990's the main focus of chip design methodologies was on the timings and area constraints. Power consumption was considered significant only after a drastic increase of device densities from 130nm on as well as dramatic increases in sub threshold leakage. As technology advanced from 130nm to 90nm and below there was a significant increase in leakage current due to lower threshold voltage and the influence of the deep submicron effects. High power consumption causes different problems such as increasing the cost of the product, reducing the reliability, reducing the battery life among others. Therefore EDA tools were designed …

Fpga-Based Implementation Of Dual-Frequency Pattern Scheme For 3-D Shape Measurement, Brent Bondehagen

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Structured Light Illumination (SLI) is the process where spatially varied patterns are projected onto a 3-D surface and based on the distortion by the surface topology, phase information can be calculated and a 3D model constructed. Phase Measuring Profilometry (PMP) is a particular type of SLI that requires three or more patterns temporarily multiplexed. High speed PMP attempts to scan moving objects whose motion is small so as to have little impact on the 3-D model. Given that practically all machine vision cameras and high speed cameras employ a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) interface directly to the image sensors, …

Human Performance Regression Testing, Amanda Swearngin, Myra B. Cohen, Bonnie E. John, Rachel K. E. Bellamy

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

As software systems evolve, new interface features such as keyboard shortcuts and toolbars are introduced. While it is common to regression test the new features for functional correctness, there has been less focus on systematic regression testing for usability, due to the effort and time involved in human studies. Cognitive modeling tools such as CogTool provide some help by computing predictions of user performance, but they still require manual effort to describe the user interface and tasks, limiting regression testing efforts. In recent work, we developed CogTool-Helper to reduce the effort required to generate human performance models of existing systems. …

Trading Wind Power In A Competitive Electricity Market Using Stochastic Programing And Game Theory, Ting Dai, Wei Qiao

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Wind power is one of the most rapidly growing clean and renewable energy sources. However, due to the uncertainty and intermittency of wind power, the increasing penetration of wind power into the electric power system will pose challenges to power system operators. Moreover, as a participant in a competitive electricity market, a wind power producer’s behavior and profit will be influenced by other participants’ behaviors. This paper proposes a model of using stochastic programming to generate optimal bidding strategies to maximize the total profits of wind and conventional power producers in both the energy market and a bilateral reserve market, …

Application-Aware Routing For Multi-Hop Cognitive Radio Networks With Channel Bonding, Feng Ye, Jiazhen Zhou, Rose Qingyang Hu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Due to the unequal spectrum resources in different areas, multi-hop wireless cognitive radio network (MWCRN) faces the challenge of a relatively poor performance. In this paper, we propose an application-aware routing scheme with channel bonding technique to help improve the efficiency and performance of a MWCRN network. More specifically, we formulate an optimization problem aiming to meet the application request, as well as operating at low transmission cost. To solve this problem, we first study the greatest lower bound of transmission cost named as Utopian cost, as well as an upper bound of transmission cost. Moreover, we propose two distributed …

Imbalance Fault Detection Of Direct-Drive Wind Turbines Using Generator Current Signals, Xiang Gong, Wei Qiao

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Short-Term Wind Power Prediction Using A Wavelet Support Vector Machine, Jianwu Zeng, Wei Qiao

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reliability-Driven Optimum Standby Electric Storage Allocation For Power Distribution Systems, Salman Kahrobaee, Sohrab Asgarpoor

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Integration of distributed energy resources (DER) has become an indispensable aspect of the future smart grid. The significant and valuable impact of these resources is expected to lead toward a more reliable and efficient power system. As the number of distributed generation and storage systems increases, the availability of sensitive and critical loads may be improved by allocating a portion of electricity storage capacity as a reserve. The goal of this paper is to determine the optimum standby storage capacity in a smart grid based on reliability indices such as the Expected Interruption Cost (EIC) of the system using particle …

The Effect Of Demand Side Management On Reliability Of Automated Distribution Systems, Salman Kahrobaee, Sohrab Asgarpoor

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Demand side management (DSM) provides power systems with the opportunity to supply electricity to the customers more efficiently and reliably. In a smart grid incorporating automated control and distributed energy systems, an effective DSM can alleviate the peak load and shift part of the demand to off-peak hours. This paper evaluates the impact of DSM on reliability of automated power distribution systems. Unlike the previous research studies, we perform load flow analysis and state enumeration to include actual restrictions of distribution systems such as voltage limits of buses and power flow limits of branches. The effects of demand curve and …

Real-Time Temporal Stereo Matching Using Iterative Adaptive Support Weights, Jedrzej Kowalczuk, Eric T. Psota, Lance C. Pérez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Stereo matching algorithms are nearly always designed to find matches between a single pair of images. A method is presented that was specifically designed to operate on sequences of images. This method considers the cost of matching image points in both the spatial and temporal domain. To maintain real-time operation, a temporal cost aggregation method is used to evaluate the likelihood of matches that is invariant with respect to the number of prior images being considered. This method has been implemented on massively parallel GPU hardware, and the implementation ranks as one of the fastest and most accurate real-time stereo …

A Survey Of Energy-Efficient Compression And Communication Techniques For Multimedia In Resource Constrained Systems, Tao Ma, Michael Hempel, Dongming Peng, Hamid Sharif

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Advances in wireless multimedia communication technologies enable new types of pervasive and ubiquitous applications such as mobile health care, environmental monitoring, facility monitoring and traffic surveillance. Among different factors concerned, energy efficiency is one of the most challenging issues in multimedia communication due to the resource constraints, and the requirements for high bandwidth and low transmission delay. In this survey, we provide a broad picture of the state of- the-art energy efficient techniques that have been proposed in wireless multimedia communication for resource-constrained systems such as wireless sensor networks and mobile devices.

Following the essential stages required for multimedia communication, …

Design Considerations Of Switched Reluctance Motors With Bipolar Excitation For Low Torque Ripple Applications, Cong Ma, Liyan Qu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Switched reluctance motors (SRMs) have been applied to many applications over the past decades due to their simple structure, low cost, and robustness. The primary disadvantage of SRMs is the relatively high torque ripple. In this paper, the machine design is considered under a two-mode bipolar excitation to achieve the optimum performance of a mutually coupled switched reluctance motor (MCSRM) for low torque ripple applications. Geometrical design equations and practical challenges are investigated. In addition, a six-slot, tenpole (6/10) SRM with a six-phase winding configuration under the two-mode bipolar excitation is optimized by solving a multiobjective optimization problem using a …

Improved Microcontroller-Based Electronic Respiratory Training, Steven A. Parkison, Jay D. Carlson, Lance C. Pérez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Respiratory training is a critical component of many rehabilitation plans, including those of stroke patients. Many current respiratory training techniques lack efficient methods for quantifying progress and updating testing parameters. A previously-developed microcontroller-based device, designed in conjunction with clinicians at the Institute for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, has demonstrated promising results. Here, a prototype of a revised device that is network connected and remoatly sends trial information is presented.\ The proposed device demonstrates enhanced functionality, while being smaller and using less power than the original prototype.

Effective Capacity Of Two-Hop Wireless Communication Systems, Deli Qiao, Mustafa Cenk Gursoy, Senem Velipasalar

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A two-hop wireless communication link in which a source sends data to a destination with the aid of an intermediate relay node is studied. It is assumed that there is no direct link between the source and the destination, and the relay forwards the information to the destination by employing the decode-and-forward scheme. Both the source and intermediate relay nodes are assumed to operate under statistical quality of service (QoS) constraints imposed as limitations on the buffer overflow probabilities. The maximum constant arrival rates that can be supported by this two-hop link in the presence of QoS constraints are characterized …

Online Soc And Soh Estimation For Multicell Lithium-Ion Batteries Based On An Adaptive Hybrid Battery Model And Sliding-Mode Observer, Taesic Kim, Wei Qiao, Liyan Qu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper proposes an adaptive hybrid battery model-based high-fidelity state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) estimation method for rechargeable multicell batteries. The hybrid battery model consists of an enhanced Coulomb counting algorithm for SOC estimation and an electrical circuit battery model. A variable-length sliding window least squares (VSWLS)-based online parameter identification algorithm is designed to estimate the electrical parameters of the electrical battery model, which are then used as the parameters of an adaptive discrete-time sliding-mode observer (ADSMO) for terminal and open-circuit voltage estimation of a battery cell. The error of the SOC estimated from the enhanced …

A Survey On Smart Grid Communication Infrastructures: Motivations, Requirements And Challenges, Ye Yan, Yi Qian, Hamid Sharif, David Tipper

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A communication infrastructure is an essential part to the success of the emerging smart grid. A scalable and pervasive communication infrastructure is crucial in both construction and operation of a smart grid. In this paper, we present the background and motivation of communication infrastructures in smart grid systems. We also summarize major requirements that smart grid communications must meet. From the experience of several industrial trials on smart grid with communication infrastructures, we expect that the traditional carbon fuel based power plants can cooperate with emerging distributed renewable energy such as wind, solar, etc, to reduce the carbon fuel consumption …

Fea Estimation And Experimental Validation Of Solid Rotor And Magnet Eddy Current Loss In Single-Sided Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Machines, Xu Yang, Dean Patterson, Jerry Hudgins, Jessica Colton

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The rotor and magnet loss in single-sided axial flux permanent magnet machines with non-overlapped windings is studied in this paper. FEA estimations of the loss are carried out using both 2-D and 3-D modeling. The rotor and magnet losses are determined separately for stator slot passing and MMF space harmonics from currents in the stator. The segregation of loss between the solid rotor plate and the magnet is addressed. The eddy current loss reduction by magnet segments is discussed as well. The prototype 24 slot/22 pole single-sided AFPMs, fabricated with both single layer and double layer windings are assembled. Methods …

Multi-Objective Design Optimization Of A Single-Sided Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Machine, Xu Yang, Dean Patterson, Jerry L. Hudgins

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper presents an optimal design approach for a single-sided axial flux permanent magnet(AFPM) machine. A multi-objective differential evolution based optimization algorithm is implemented, which is to maximize the output torque density (Nm/kg) and efficiency. Design constraints including geometrical and operating limits are considered. Total of seven independent variables are employed in the design. Optimization results are compared with a prototype design.

Binocular Video Object Tracking With Fast Disparity Estimation, Yun Ye, Song Ci, Yanwei Liu, Haohong Wang, Aggelos K. Katsaggelos

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a binocular PTU (pan-tilt unit) camera video object tracking scheme using the MeanShift algorithm and the runtime disparity estimation. The proposed method is to accommodate the requirement of 3D content generation and accurate tracking in more advanced video surveillance applications. The disparity estimation process for each stereoscopic pair is formulated as an energy minimization problem. The iterative solution procedure is implemented in a course-to-fine manner. The estimated disparity is used to scale the tracking window by the MeanShift algorithm, i.e. the size of the tracking area is adjustable according to its inner disparity, and thus the moving …

A Multi-Camera Motion Capture System For Remote Health Care Monitoring, Yun Ye, Song Ci, Aggelos K. Katsaggelos, Yanwei Liu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a multi-camera motion capture system aiming to provide caregivers with timely access to the patient's health status through mobile communication devices. The major components include video capture, object detection, video coding and transmission, error concealment, and video analysis. Our contribution is twofold. First, several novel ideas are developed, including fast object detection, and content-aware and adaptive video coding and transmission. Second, all components are seamlessly integrated in a unified optimization framework dedicated for online data transmission. In the scenario, the subject walked on a treadmill with four tripod cameras capturing the video from different viewpoints. After video …

A Single-Switch Lcl-Resonant Isolated Dc-Dc Converter, Jianwu Zeng, Wei Qiao, Liyan Qu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Isolated converters are desirable in the DC-DC power conversion applications where isolation and/or a large voltage step-up gain is needed. Traditional isolated DC-DC converters either utilize many switches to achieve high efficiency or use few switches which result in low efficiency. This paper proposes a new single-switch isolated DC-DC converter with a LCL-resonant circuit. The proposed isolated DC-DC converter has the advantages of not only using the least number of (i.e., one) switch, but also achieving zero-current switching (ZCS) and zero-voltage switching (ZVS) when the switch is turned on and off, respectively. Experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical …