Computer Engineering Commons^™

Darling, Robot For Roborodentia 2018, Michael Le, Steven Liu

Computer Engineering

For our senior project, our group decided to build a robot to participate in Roborodentia 2018, an annual robotics competition overlooked by Professor Seng that takes place during open house. When taking into consideration the classes that Computer Engineering students had to have taken and the skills that we have developed throughout our time here on campus, a robotics project seemed to be an appropriate culmination of both the technical and non-technical skills that we have acquired.

Dynamic Video Streaming For Nano Quadcopters, Shane Daniel Kent, Ryan Weideman, Nicholas Kimball

Computer Engineering

The objective of this project was to develop a system that streams real-time video from a Crazyflie 2.0 nano quadcopter. We discuss the motivation behind the project including applications to swarm robotics and computer vision research. We highlight the initial research and design goals that guided the development of the system such as hardware selection and system specifications. We detail the software and hardware subsystems that we implemented including the video-streaming board, firmware, and video-streaming user application. We examine the performance of the final system and discuss the limitations imposed by the hardware. We conclude by describing future work that …

Arm Mke1xf Mcu Replatform, Nathan Hong, Derek Lung, Japsimran Singh, Bevin Tang

Computer Engineering

After Cal Poly Racing’s electrical team began to hit the technical limits of the ADC and other I/O features of the current 8-bit Atmel AT90 microcontroller unit, it became clear that an upgrade was due. This replatforming project takes the functionalities of the old, 8-bit architecture, and aims to provide a 32-bit version using the ARM MKE1xF MCU. With the idea of having a working PCB as a stretch goal, the scope of the library development was limited to enable base functionality. Thus, the only libraries developed were for the Timer, ADC, SPI, UART, and CAN. Additionally, this document discusses …

Roborodentia, Bryan D. Hendricks

Computer Engineering

This project is an autonomous robot, designed to perform a series of basic tasks without any human input. It’s based on the 2018 Roborodentia competition, in which teams of students design and build a small (roughly 1 square foot) robot that collects small foam spheres from vertical tubes on the edges of a table-sized arena, and shoot them into goals across the field. The more foam spheres the robot makes into the goals after a 3 minute time period, the more points they get. The challenge is doing so autonomously, without any human input after the initial timer for the …

Otd 360 Corsa Plate And Pcb Recreation, Patrick Ryan Malapira

Computer Engineering

Mechanical keyboards have a rich history alongside the development of personal computers with keyboards from leading manufacturers such as IBM and Apple, which are sought after by today’s enthusiast. As the hobby matured and hobbyist began straying from original equipment manufacturer, OEM, mechanical keyboards, enthusiasts sought to create their own keyboards.The custom mechanical keyboard hobby’s origins can be traced back to Korea on an online forum otd.kr. Custom mechanical keyboards has progressed far past the provided OEM solutions focusing on various aspects such as ergonomics, programmability, and portability. In today’s do it yourself, DIY, culture, hobbyists can play a role …

Lionfish Detection System, Carmelo Furlan, Andrew Boniface

Computer Engineering

Deep neural networks have proven to be an effective method in classification of images. The ability to recognize objects has opened the door for many new systems which use image classification to solve challenging problems where conventional image classification would be inadequate. We trained a large, deep convolutional neural network to identify lionfish from other species that might be found in the same habitats. Google’s Inception framework served as a powerful platform for our fish recognition system. By using transfer learning, we were able to obtain exceptional results for the classification of different species of fish. The convolutional neural network …

Roborodentia Final Report, Trevor James Gesell, Zeph Colby Nord, Mitchell Tyler Myjak

Computer Engineering

The Senior Project consisted of competing in Roborodentia, a competition in which groups build robots to complete a particular task. This event took place at the Cal Poly Open House on Saturday, April 12th, 2018. For the competition, the robot was to collect Nerf balls from supply tubes raised approximately 7” from the board and shoot them into nets placed along the opposite side of the course. The design, manufacture, and testing of the robot began the first week of Cal Poly winter quarter and lasted until the day of the competition.

A Basic, Four Logic Cluster, Disjoint Switch Connected Fpga Architecture, Joseph Prachar

Computer Engineering

This paper seeks to describe the process of developing a new FPGA architecture from nothing, both in terms of knowledge about FPGAs and in initial design material. Specifically, this project set out to design an FPGA architecture which can implement a simple state machine type design with 10 inputs, 10 outputs and 10 states. The open source Verilog-to-Routing FPGA CAD flow tool was used in order to synthesize, place, and route HDL files onto the architecture. This project was completed in terms of the spirit of the original goals of implementing an FPGA from scratch. Although, the project resulted in …

Tracking Eye Movements Over Source Code, Faith Chan

Computer Engineering

Studies on software developers’ behavior guide the development of tools that facilitate source code reading and reviewing. Eye trackers have allowed researchers to study this behavior in more detail–to pinpoint where the developer is looking, or even to detect which source code element the developer is viewing. However, systems that map gaze to characteristics as specific as source code elements are often expensive, either because of the cost of compatible eye trackers or because of the cost of the required software. This project aims to use existing technology to create a lower-cost system that provides information on the source code …

Bicycle Power Meter, Andrew Mcguan

Computer Engineering

A power meter is a cycling training tool used to record the power a rider is outputting. This is very useful to athletes who regularly do bike workouts, because the power output is a consistent measure of the rider’s effort level, and is not affected by outside factors such as wind or road gradient. If a cyclist does a workout with the intent to carry a certain speed for a certain amount of time, a strong headwind will slow them down and make them work harder to maintain the same speed, defeating the goal of the workout. When a power …

Real-Time Audio-Midi Controller, Brian Shino Balberchak

Computer Engineering

Most MIDI controllers used in music production use a regular keyboard to generate the MIDI notes that are sent to the synthesizer. This project aims to provide the user with a different way of generating MIDI data: by playing an instrument of their choice with a passive electronic pickup to generate MIDI notes that correspond with the fundamental frequency of the musical pitch being played. The pitch-detecting algorithm used in this application utilizes a modified form of auto-correlation.

As an embedded systems project that uses signal-processing techniques, the knowledge of topics from the following courses was essential:

EE 211: Op-Amp …

Plant Identification Using Tensorflow, Kody G. Dangtongdee

Computer Engineering

Exploring the diverse nature that is available in San Luis Obispo is one of my favorite activities, however, I often am frustrated that I am unable to identify or learn more about the plants that I appreciate. This project is an attempt at using the concepts of neural networks to create an image classifier which can identify plants. Machine learning is one of the biggest topics in computer science at the moment, and its many uses make it a topic that will continue to be researched for a very long time. Convolutional neural networks are a popular realm of machine …

Skylux Smartphone Controlled Skylight, James A. Green Vi

Computer Engineering

There are numerous electric skylight openers available for purchase for home-use, but the majority of them are remote based, or operated by a wall-unit. Furthermore, these devices are in hard to reach places, so if one were to lose the remote on a remote operated system, the only option is to contact the manufacturer for a new device. As such, my senior project, in collaboration with Colton Sundstrom’s senior project, build upon our existing capstone project in order to allow operation of the Internet of Things (IoT) device over the internet. Our client, Richard Murray, was unsatisfied with the current …

Streaming Mysql Database Activity To Aws Kinesis, Chris I. Voncina

Computer Engineering

Connecting Amazon RDS MySQL engine with AWS Kinesis is a feature that RDS customers have often requested. A good example indicating customer demand is demonstrated on AWS’ forum post at https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?messageID=697516.

Upon completion, my project will enable Amazon RDS to pick up the MySQL open source project, integrate the MySQL plugin with Amazon RDS MySQL and deliver this feature to Amazon RDS MySQL customers. Other open source engine projects can follow and build upon my project.

Amazon Aurora delivered similar capability to the project. See details at https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2016/10/amazon-aurora-new-features-aws-lambda-integration-and-data-load-from-amazon-s3-to-aurora-tables/

Real Time And High Fidelity Quadcopter Tracking System, Tyler Mckay Hall

Computer Engineering

This project was conceived as a desired to have an affordable, flexible and physically compact tracking system for high accuracy spatial and orientation tracking. Specifically, this implementation is focused on providing a low cost motion capture system for future research. It is a tool to enable the further creation of systems that would require the use of accurate placement of landing pads, payload acquires and delivery. This system will provide the quadcopter platform a coordinate system that can be used in addition to GPS.

Field research with quadcopter manufacturers, photographers, agriculture and research organizations were contact and interviewed for information …

Blend It Applications And Server, Rebecca Mckinley, Cory Mayer, Tyler Fox, Alex Bartlett, Aly Chapman

Computer Engineering

No abstract provided.

Motherbrain Swarm Robots, Tam Van, Mytch Johnson, Matthew Ng, Darius Holmgren

Computer Engineering

A trial in small-scale, cheap fleet autonomy with computer vision as the feedback controls system.

Skin Tone Tracking Device (Chromaband), Ziyang Bian

Computer Engineering

It’s long been said that your skin is a window into your health and with many illnesses the first signs of trouble actually show up in your skin. So if we have this natural warning system, then why isn’t anyone able to effectively use it to predict changes in our health? The problem is that currently there is no reliable way to accurately measure the change in skin tone and how these changes may or may not change with variations in health. This project’s aim is to design and develop a device that will record the changes in a user’s …

Poly Drop, Zachary T. Scott, Lilly J. Paul

Computer Engineering

Poly Drop is a software interface to control an Open Drop digital micro-fluidics system. We obtained a hardware system from Gaudi labs. Our task was to create a Graphical User Interface that made the control of the device easier and more automated for better testing. We created software that had 3 parts: a control GUI, arduino code to control the hardware, and Image Analysis that gives the user information such as location and color of liquid drops as they move across the electrode grid of the Open Drop system. The GUI was developed using Java Swing. The communication between the …

Slither.Io Deep Learning Bot, James Caudill

Computer Engineering

Recent advances in deep learning and computer vision techniques and algorithms have inspired me to create a model application. The game environment used is Slither.io. The system has no previous understanding of the game and is able to learn its surroundings through feature detection and deep learning. Contrary to other agents, my bot is able to dynamically learn and react to its environment. It operates extremely well in early game, with little enemy encounters. It has difficulty transitioning to middle and late game due to limited training time. I will continue to develop this algorithm.

Sense Yo Soles, Aimee M. Davis, Anthony S. Childers, Alexander Bravo

Computer Engineering

The Sense Yo Soles project is a system that is embedded into a shoe insert; the plantar pressure distribution is measured by calculating the ratio of pressure on 6 individual pressure sensors located on the lateral, medial, and heel areas of both the left and right foot to the total pressure distributed across both feet. The alpha prototype created by our client and her Biomedical Engineering senior project team at San Jose State University, measured and analyzed data using the above method while connected to power and a computer. In CPE 350, we made the system stand alone and wireless …

Smartfarm, Nathan A. Oto, Caleb Fink

Computer Engineering

The overall expectation of this product is to create an autonomous Arduino library that accurately and robustly collects plant environment data from the Smart Farm board. The Smart Farm PCB is split into two primary functions: Data Acquisition(DAQ) and Power Control. Each function of the PCB is controlled by an Atmega 328P Microcontroller. The primary concern for this report is the functionality of the DAQ microcontroller.

Underwater Computer Vision - Fish Recognition, Spencer Chang, Austin Otto

Computer Engineering

The Underwater Computer Vision – Fish Recognition project includes the design and implementation of a device that can withstand staying underwater for a duration of time, take pictures of underwater creatures, such as fish, and be able to identify certain fish. The system is meant to be cheap to create, yet still able to process the images it takes and identify the objects in the pictures with some accuracy. The device can output its results to another device or an end user.

Multispectral Identification Array, Zachary D. Eagan

Computer Engineering

The Multispectral Identification Array is a device for taking full image spectroscopy data via the illumination of a subject with sixty-four unique spectra. The array combines images under the illumination spectra to produce an approximate reflectance graph for every pixel in a scene. Acquisition of an entire spectrum allows the array to differentiate objects based on surface material. Spectral graphs produced are highly approximate and should not be used to determine material properties, however the output is sufficiently consistent to allow differentiation and identification of previously sampled subjects. While not sufficiently advanced for use as a replacement to spectroscopy the …

M3 Pi: Obd-Ii Touchscreen Car Computer, Geoffrey Wacker

Computer Engineering

There are a wide range of off-the-shelf OBD-II car computers available for purchase, but the majority of them are either prohibitively expensive or simply unreliable. Furthermore, almost all of these devices are closed-box systems that cannot be expanded or modified. As such, this project aims to create a Raspberry Pi-powered OBD-II car computer that will allow data from the ECU of a 1997 BMW M3 to be displayed on an interactive touchscreen GUI. This will allow the user to quickly monitor important information about the vehicle during high performance applications such as track use. The end product should be low-cost, …

Sublimesurf, Nathan Sfard, Karis Russell

Computer Engineering

Surf conditions change rapidly day to day and location to location, which forces modern day surfers to utilize online forecasts and obtain a detailed knowledge of the places they want to surf. To ease this pain, we are developing SublimeSurf, an iOS application that will keep track of the current surf conditions and allow users to rate aspects of the surf. We plan to use this rating data in combination with surf forecast data available online to notify a user when conditions look favorable, based on their previous ratings. We also intend to mine the data submitted by all users …

Greenbin, Jessica Chao

Computer Engineering

Greenbin is an iteration of a larger project to implement a zero-waste container tracking system for use in Cal Poly’s dining facilities. The system utilizes a database system as well as passive RFID technologies to track the checking-in and checking-out of plastic reusable food containers. These plastic food containers can be checked out by campus dining patrons, and returned autonomously to collection bins that contain these scanners, allowing the containers to be recollected, re-accounted for, and reused.

Design And Proof Of Concept Of Parking Garage Capacity Network Using Distributed Ultrasonic Devices Interfaced With Mqtt Protocol, Justin M. Distaso, Erik C. Olsen

Computer Engineering

This paper overviews the Smart Structure project. We found a desire from the City of San Luis Obispo for a way to tell the availability of parking spaces in local parking garages. In addition to meeting this need the project aims to provide functionality and adaptability based on future “smart” devices and making the device fit into an Internet of Things (IoT) system. Currently drivers must manually navigate the parking garage to determine which floor has a parking spot. With our proposed solution drivers would be able to tell at a glance which floors had the most spots, as well …

Dungeon Master’S Sheet Aid, Alex F. Grazela

Computer Engineering

The Dungeon Master’s Sheet Aid is a program made to assist players of tabletop rpg games in keeping track of and using their “character sheets”, a vital part of the game. In particular. It is made to be helpful to the players taking the role of “Dungeon” or “Game” Master, as these players need to manage many more character sheets than anyone else.

Smartgarden, Samuel S. Lees, Matthew T. Lindly

Computer Engineering

The problem that the SmartGarden project seeks to solve is the challenge of watering succulents correctly and maintaining consistent plant health. Too much water can cause root rot and drowning while too little water can cause dehydration and starvation.
The SmartGarden solves this common problem by configuring a Raspberry Pi to measure soil moisture, store the data to an AWS server in the cloud, and water the succulent when necessary, informing the user by providing both a web-interface and a variety of notifications.