Computer Engineering Commons^™

Scu Evals, Fredrik Blomqvist, Joseph Théberge

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Evaluating professors and classes is a common task at universities across the United States. It helps professors improve courses, and guides students when choosing classes tailored to their learning style. The current available evaluation platforms do not offer intuitive, up-to-date, and encouraging solutions to this problem; thus, SCU Evals was launched. Our platform has a production-ready foundation with a significant amount of optimized features to maximize the user experience. Furthermore, it utilizes the latest technologies, and the project is fully open source to increase its overall lifetime. The end goal is to provide a platform that would improve the academic …

Communication System For Firefighters, Nicholas Goodpaster, Steven Booth, Griffin Moede, John-Paul Hurley

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Currently firefighters use two-way radios to communicate on the job, and they are forced to write reports based on their memory because there is not an easy way to record the communications between two-way radios. Firefighters need a system to automatically document what happened while they were responding to a call. To save them a significant amount of time when creating reports, our solution is to implement an application that allows firefighters to take pictures, record video and communicate in real time with their team of on-site responders. The proposed system will use a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) hosted …

Musical Casual Creator For Easy Self-Expression, Louis Lin, Ian Santillano

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

People with autism often struggle with the ability to communicate. As a result, many people with autism become frustrated in their attempts to express their thoughts and feelings fully. Current forms of music therapy are designed to improve the lives of patients with autism, but are inefficient at developing their communication skills. Our project is designed to help music therapy patients express themselves through the creation of music. A patient will be able to “write” a song through the power of his or her feelings. With our system, music therapy patients can actively drive the entire creative process and learn …

Machine Learning Models For Context-Aware Recommender Systems, Yogesh Jhamb

Engineering Ph.D. Theses

The mass adoption of the internet has resulted in the exponential growth of products and services on the world wide web. An individual consumer, faced with this data deluge, is expected to make reasonable choices saving time and money. Organizations are facing increased competition, and they are looking for innovative ways to increase revenue and customer loyalty. A business wants to target the right product or service to an individual consumer, and this drives personalized recommendation. Recommender systems, designed to provide personalized recommendations, initially focused only on the user-item interaction. However, these systems evolved to provide a context-aware recommendations. Context-aware …

Pressure Ulcer Prevention System, Rey-David Palomares, Ojus Rao

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, are a widespread but often understated problem. A pressure ulcer is an injury that develops with constant pressure on an area of skin for a long time. They range from bruises to open wounds to even exposed bone. These injuries especially impact bedridden and elderly hospital inpatients, since these people must depend on nursing staff for mobility.

Pressure ulcers can seem to be a solved problem. Solutions that completely eliminate pressure ulcers do exist. These solutions, however, are too expensive for widespread use, at thousands of dollars per bed. Other solutions, such as relying …

Urinalysis Screening For Rural Communities, Dana Bren-Cardali, Lilian Dao, Jeffrey Destruel, Ryan Fernandez

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Access to medical care and health screenings is a necessity for patients around the globe, but it can be difficult to provide this without screenings becoming costly or convoluted. In rural and underdeveloped areas, patients are often disadvantaged when it comes to finding reliable and affordable healthcare. The isolation provided by their location and the rising costs of physicians makes it impossible for most impoverished communities to attain personalized care. Because of this, treatable diseases often go unaddressed, allowing diseases to progress to a critical condition. Mortality rates have shown to be higher in communities located in rural areas and …

The Human Keyboard, Derek Char, Thomas Chung, Alexander Mckee, Allen Pai

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Most products that implement features for user interactions utilize buttons or switches for the user to command to select actions to perform. Such designs are typically controlled with direct motions, such as touch or voice and are seldom designed in consideration of those unable to utilize direct control. In this project, we designed technology that reads naturally occuring biosignals from the body, which then can be apply those signals with any interface. For our specific application in this project, we decided to implement a keyboard. Instead of teaching the fingers how to type on a mechanical keyboard, the body can …

Login Authentication With Facial Gesture Recognition, Ruiwen Li, Songjie Cai, Tor Saxberg

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Facial recognition has proven to be very useful and versatile, from Facebook photo tagging and Snapchat filters to modeling fluid dynamics and designing for augmented reality. However, facial recognition has only been used for user login services in conjunction with expensive and restrictive hardware technologies, such as in smart phone devices like the iPhone x. This project aims to apply machine learning techniques to reliably distinguish user accounts with only common cameras to make facial recognition logins more accessible to website and software developers. To show the feasibility of this idea, we created a web API that recognizes a users …

Non-Mpm Mode Coding For Intra Prediction In Video Coding, Taru Kanchan

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

The High Efficiency Video Coding standard introduced thirty-five intra prediction modes. It employed a method based on three most probable modes (MPM) to improve intra mode coding. This method significantly improved the performance by extracting three MPMs out of the thirty-five intra modes. The Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET) defines sixty-seven intra prediction modes for a possible future video coding standard. In the latest JVET development, six MPMs are chosen, and the remaining sixty-one modes are divided into sixteen “selected” and forty-five “non-selected” modes. These non-MPM modes are coded using fixed length coding. This research focusses on finding more efficient …

Unsupervised Parkinson’S Disease Assessment, Alexander S. Adranly, Senbao Lu, Yousef Zoumot

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disease that affects 6.2 million people worldwide. The most popular clinical method to measure PD tremor severity is a standardized test called the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), which is performed subjectively by a medical professional. Due to infrequent checkups and human error introduced into the process, treatment is not optimally adjusted for PD patients. According to a recent review there are two devices recommended to objectively quantify PD symptom severity. Both devices record a patient’s tremors using inertial measurement units (IMUs). One is not currently available for over the counter purchases, …

Multi-Bot Easy Control Hierarchy, Ryan Cooper, Marton Demeter, Jonathan Ho, Alan Nguyen

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

The goal of our project is to create a software architecture that makes it possible to easily control a multi-robot system, as well as seamlessly change control modes during operation. The different control schemes first include the ability to implement on-board and off-board controllers. Second, the commands can specify either actuator level, vehicle level, or fleet level behavior. Finally, motion can be specified by giving a waypoint and time constraint, a velocity and heading, or a throttle and angle. Our code is abstracted so that any type of robot - ranging from ones that use a differential drive set up, …

Scudent Books: A University-Focused Bookselling Platform, Winston Chang, Christina Ciardella, Renee Prescilla

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

As the beginning of each university semester or quarter commences, so does the rush to acquire books for classes. The search for school books is a busy and important task for many students. However, an entire slew of problems and frustrations emerge with this academic race to gather books. To begin, students have to deal with the traditional frustrations of expensive textbooks sold at the university bookstore which is especially troublesome for those on a tight budget. Additionally, required textbooks for classes may not be available at the bookstore or require restocking which can take an unknown amount of time. …

Smartmirror: A Glance Into The Future, Jason Chen, Matthew Koken

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

In todays society, information is available to us at a glance through our phones, our laptops, our desktops, and more. But an extra level of interaction is required in order to access the information. As technology grows, technology should grow further and further away from the traditional style of interaction with devices. In the past, information was relayed through paper, then through computers, and in todays day and age, through our phones and multiple other mediums. Technology should become more integrated into our lives - more seamless and more invisible. We hope to push the envelope further, into the future. …

Low Cost Sms-Enabled Ekg For Use In Developing Countries, Gabriel Christ, Shachi Kakkar, Michael Mcelroy, Augustus Boling

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

According to official estimates, cardiovascular disease will become the leading cause of death in the developing world by 2020 [1]. This makes regular screening and early detection a priority for these regions. At present, such screening relies on stationary electrocardiogram (ECG) machines, but this technology has several drawbacks. Most machines are costly, stationary, and require a physician onsite to collect and interpret the data; as a result many isolated rural communities lack access to basic heart disease screening. In order to better meet the screening needs of these populations, we propose a twopart solution involving a simplified, inexpensive ECG device …

Rf Location Tracking: A Modular Antenna System Implementation, Alan Tao Feng, Razma Mogharrab, Carlos Rivera

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

From the Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service to the usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in military operations, recent years have seen the development of autonomous flight technologies becoming one of the major research topics in the drone industry. Tracking the geographic position of drones is a crucial part of any autonomous flight, but the common methods of drone location tracking either have too large of an error margin or require extensive environmental setup. The aforementioned issues are major roadblocks in the advancement of autonomous flight operations. The proposed solution is a new and improved method to track the …

Artificial Intelligence Hardware Accelerator, Maor Bernstein, Patrick Miller

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

This paper documents the investigation and implementation of the mathematics behind artificial intelligence using a programmable gate array interfaced through a software API. Machine learning is made possible through training on large amounts of information and is often performed across clusters of CPUs in an attempt to minimize runtime. In an attempt to make this process less resource intensive, we are researching how to optimize the most intensive of operations by offloading them to a field of programmable gate array.

Point Cloud Framework For Rendering 3d Models Using Google Tango, Maxen Chung, Julian Callin

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

This project seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of point cloud meshing for capturing and modeling three dimensional objects on consumer smart phones and tablets. Traditional methods of capturing objects require hundreds of images, are very slow and consume a large amount of cellular data for the average consumer. Software developers need a starting point for capturing and meshing point clouds to create 3D models as hardware manufacturers provide the tools to capture point cloud data. The project uses Googles Tango computer vision library for Android to capture point clouds on devices with depth-sensing hardware. The point clouds are combined and …

Sclork 2.0, Juan Miguel Baluyut, Jowy Curameng

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

For the past 10 years, the Laptop Orchestra is an emerging interdisciplinary field that involves Computer Science, Engineering, and music. In the past 4 years, Santa Clara University has developed it’s own Laptop Orchestra ensemble called SCLork. For this project, we will be making improvements to the Laptop Orchestra by incorporating a mobile phone element for audience participation. In addition, we will be designing an original composition using computer science sound synthesis techniques. Our mobile element is implemented as a mobile-friendly website that will be accessed by audience members. This website will be used in tandem by both audience and …

Track My Hoist, Brett Harrison, Madison Rubia, Paras Zaveri

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Construction sites all over the world rely on hoist lifts for transporting material and workers at the job site. Despite being such an integral part of construction projects, there is currently no tool to track the use of this critical and highly necessary piece of equipment at the construction site. The purpose of this project is to design a systemthat would enable the managers and employees of construction companies to efficiently track and manage the hoist lifts at their sites.

Efficient tracking and management of the lifts would result in savings of cost, time, and energy for the construction companies. …

Beta: Bioprinting Engineering Technology For Academia, Max Abrams, Jeffrey Barone, Cynthia Le, Jacob Ososke, Franz Plum, Emily Takimoto, Josie Warren

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Higher STEM education is a field of growing potential, but too many middle school and high school students are not testing proficiently in STEM subjects. The BETA team worked to improve biology classroom engagement through the development of technologies for high school biology experiments. The BETA project team expanded functionality of an existing product line to allow for better student and teacher user experience and the execution of more interesting experiments. The BETA project’s first goal was to create a modular incubating Box for the high school classroom. This Box, called the BETA Box was designed with a variety of …

Powerplaylist: A Collaborative Web Application That Aims To Give Everyone A Voice, Sara Cassella, Alexander Polatnick, Kristen Ronhovde

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

PowerPlaylist is a client-server based online collaborative playlist that allows guests of a party to have private access to the hosts playlist. Guests can access the queue of songs, request songs, or up-vote or down-vote songs already requested by other guests. Before PowerPlaylist, there was no musical platform that allowed guests at an event to express his or her opinions on what music should be played without distracting the host or DJ. This web application platform solves that problem while requiring little authentication, and not requiring any software downloads in order to be used. PowerPlaylist aims to give every guest …

Virtual Reality Rhythm Game, Joshua Yi, Jordan Lai

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Virtual reality headsets such as the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift bring robust virtual reality technology in the hands of consumers. However, virtual reality technology is still a very new and unexplored domain with a dearth of compelling software that takes advantage of what virtual reality has to offer. Current rhythm games on the virtual reality platform lack a sense of immersion for the player. These games also require players to remain stationary during gameplay. Our solution is a game where players have to hit musical notes that appear in a trail around them. The trail will move in different …

Design And Implementation Of A Direct/Indirect Hybrid Trust Model For Secure Authentication In A Mobile Ad Hoc Network, Immanuel Amirtharaj, Eric Bonilla, Parker Newton

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

We investigated the problem of cryptographic key authentication in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). Using the theory of digital trust, we propose an authentication scheme for MANETs that includes a hybrid trust model between the direct and indirect approaches. Our hybrid trust model supplies trust data to a decentralized web of trust in order to authenticate nodes in a MANET. We ran some simulations of our authentication scheme to verify its security and investigate potential trust threshold values. Also, we designed and implemented a proof-of-concept iOS application that implements our authentication scheme. Some future work includes investing several implications …

Ehras: Electronic Healthcare Record Management For Ad Hoc Settlements, Jack Kingsman, Evan Paul, Max Werner

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Providing reliable and accurate healthcare to refugees in an ad hoc setting can be challenging for a variety of reasons, and most settlements currently utilize little to no record keeping for patients. EHRaS, our mobile-first electronic healthcare record management system, can provide an inexpensive electronic healthcare record (EHR) solution that is flexible in last-mile applications where infrastructure and technical support is at a minimum. By utilizing NFC technology, novel caching practices, and an extensible interface, our system not only securely identifies patients and authorizes staff to access sensitive medical data, but generally provides a competitive, low-overhead alternative to other open …

Pro-Resume: The Infographic Resume Builder, Ivy Wu, Kyra Wayne, Sanika Lakka, Tanisha Rai

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Scoring an interview is a challenge for any job seeker these days, thus having a unique and well-organized resume is crucial to grab a recruiter’s attention. Online resume builders such as ResumeNow and VisualizeMe have been created to help users build resumes; however, their templates are lacking in quantity, customizability, and in some instances, even legibility. Thus, our team set out to create an infographic online resume builder, a web application that allows its users to build, organize, and beautify their resumes to aid them in their job search. Our system allows for easy integration with their LinkedIn profiles so …

Real Time Analysis Of Eye Gaze Data, Nathan Ng, Andrew Wei

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Eye Tracking is an up and coming form of technology that allows the analysis of human interaction and attention patterns. This can be extremely useful in multiple aspects such as the automotive industry, the medical field, gaming industries, and schools and universities. But what hasn't been done yet is the real time analysis of that data. In this document, we propose to bridge the gap between raw data gathered from the Tobii Pro X3-120 Eye Tracker and the real time analysis of that data. Doing so will unlock untapped potential in the form of dynamic applications and real time experiment …

Intelligent Coordination And Automation For Smart Home Accessories, Alexander Choulos, Tian Zhang

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Smarthome accessories are rapidly becoming more popular. Although many companies are making devices to take advantage of this market, most of the created smart devices are actually unintelligent. Currently, these smart home devices require meticulous, tedious configuration to get any sort of enhanced usability over their analog counterparts. We propose building a general model using machine learning and data science to automatically learn a user's smart accessory usage to predict their configuration. We have identified the requirements, collected data, recognized the risks, implemented the system, and have met the goals we set out to accomplish.

On The Relative Positioning Of Mobile Devices Through Bluetooth Analysis, Karsten Andersen, Matt Gibson

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Currently, there is no way to accurately track a mobile devices position in a given space without the use of GPS or WiFi. This means that people who are interested in understanding where they currently are in relationship to other people or landmarks and do not have access to these technologies are not able to get accurate location information. In many cases, GPS and WiFi fail to provide the accuracy required to provide useful information as well.

Our solution is a software layer that utilizes existing bluetooth hardware to create a highly accurate relative positioning system. The software layer utilizes …

Shot Clock, Kory Bartlett, Farzad Fred Feyzi

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

The sports sector has experienced major growth over the past couple of decades and is anticipated to grow even faster in the foreseeable future, especially as media technology continues to advance and access to sports games continues to increase. As the audience of sports enthusiast and observers expands, more people may miss the most recent and interesting sporting events from the previous night. Many websites have attempted to serve these groups, but they have become cluttered with articles or short-clips that hold little to no significance to the sporting outcome. These websites have begun to get away from the simple …

Conversation Station, Davis Allen, Robert Bayer

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

We built a mobile application that improves speed and personalization in conversations for people struggling with verbal communication. Many people diagnosed with autism, Down syndrome, and other disorders face daily challenges involving communication due to speech impediments. Existing solutions allow users to communicate via speech cards or typing on a keyboard. However, these solutions make tradeoffs between personalization and speed, compromising what it takes to have fluid, natural) and rewarding conversations. Our solution speeds up personalized communication by applying Machine Learning principles, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing. Our project will predict how a user will respond based on natural …