Computer Engineering Commons^™

Decoding Ldpc Codes With Probabilistic Local Maximum Likelihood Bit Flipping, Rejoy Roy Mathews

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Communication channels are inherently noisy making error correction coding a major topic of research for modern communication systems. Error correction coding is the addition of redundancy to information transmitted over communication channels to enable detection and recovery of erroneous information. Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are a class of error correcting codes that have been effective in maintaining reliability of information transmitted over communication channels. Multiple algorithms have been developed to benefit from the LDPC coding scheme to improve recovery of erroneous information. This work develops a matrix construction that stores the information error probability statistics for a communication channel. This …

Emotional Awareness During Bug Fixes: A Pilot Study, Jada O. Loro, Abigail L. Schneff, Sarah J. Oran, Bonita Sharif

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the effects of a programmer's emotional awareness on progress while fixing bugs. The goal of the study is to capitalize on emotional awareness to ultimately increase progress made during software development. This process could result in improved software maintenance.

Minet Magnetic Indoor Localization, Michael Drake

Honors Theses

Indoor localization is a modern problem of computer science that has no unified solution, as there are significant trade-offs involved with every technique. Magnetic localization, though less popular than WiFi signal based localization, is a sub-field that is rooted in infrastructure-free design, which can allow universal setup. Magnetic localization is also often paired with probabilistic programming, which provides a powerful method of estimation, given a limited understanding of the environment. This thesis presents Minet, which is a particle filter based localization system using the Earth's geomagnetic field. It explores the novel idea of state space limitation as a method of …

Performance Of Malware Classification On Machine Learning Using Feature Selection, Nusrat Asrafi

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

The exponential growth of malware has created a significant threat in our daily lives, which heavily rely on computers running all kinds of software. Malware writers create malicious software by creating new variants, new innovations, new infections and more obfuscated malware by using techniques such as packing and encrypting techniques. Malicious software classification and detection play an important role and a big challenge for cyber security research. Due to the increasing rate of false alarm, the accurate classification and detection of malware is a big necessity issue to be solved. In this research, eight malware family have been classifying according …

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 …

An Eye Tracking Replication Study Of A Randomized Controlled Trial On The Effects Of Embedded Computer Language Switching, Cole Peterson

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The use of multiple programming languages (polyglot programming) during software development is common practice in modern software development. However, not much is known about how the use of these different languages affects developer productivity. The study presented in this thesis replicates a randomized controlled trial that investigates the use of multiple languages in the context of database programming tasks. Participants in our study were given coding tasks written in Java and one of three SQL-like embedded languages: plain SQL in strings, Java methods only, a hybrid embedded language that was more similar to Java. In addition to recording the online …

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 …

An Algorithm For Building Language Superfamilies Using Swadesh Lists, Bill Mutabazi

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The main contributions of this thesis are the following: i. Developing an algorithm to generate language families and superfamilies given for each input language a Swadesh list represented using the international phonetic alphabet (IPA) notation. ii. The algorithm is novel in using the Levenshtein distance metric on the IPA representation and in the way it measures overall distance between pairs of Swadesh lists. iii. Building a Swadesh list for the author's native Kinyarwanda language because a Swadesh list could not be found even after an extensive search for it.

Advisor: Peter Z. Revesz

A Memory Usage Comparison Between Jitana And Soot, Yuanjiu Hu

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There are several factors that make analyzing Android apps to address dependability and security concerns challenging. These factors include (i) resource efficiency as analysts need to be able to analyze large code-bases to look for issues that can exist in the application code and underlying platform code; (ii) scalability as today’s cybercriminals deploy attacks that may involve many participating apps; and (iii) in many cases, security analysts often rely on dynamic or hybrid analysis techniques to detect and identify the sources of issues.

The underlying principle governing the design of existing program analysis engines is the main cause that prevents …

Finding Optimal Input Parameters For Bayeswave, Kelsey M. Rook

Honors Theses

This project involves data analysis for LIGO with the goal of finding optimal input parameters for the BayesWave analysis pipeline, which is an algorithm for the detection of unmodelled gravitational wave transients. To test the BayesWave pipeline, we add binary black hole gravitational waveforms to LIGO noise, and run BayesWave with different combinations of parameters on the resulting signal data to find the best method of separating gravitational waves from noise and glitches. From the results, we calculate various statistical measures for each parameter combination in order to determine which allows for the most accurate classification of gravitational wave transients.

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 …

Accelerating Reinforcement Learning With Prioritized Experience Replay For Maze Game, Chaoshun Hu, Mehesh Kuklani, Paul Panek

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper we implemented two ways of improving the performance of reinforcement learning algorithms. We proposed a new equation to prioritize transition samples to improve model accuracy, and by deploying a generalized solver of randomly-generated two-dimensional mazes on a distributed computing platform, our dual-network model is available to others for further research and development. Reinforcement Learning is concerned with identifying the optimal sequence of actions for an agent to take in order to reach an objective to achieve the highest score in the future. Complex situations can lead to computational challenges in terms of both finding the best answer …

Qlime-A Quadratic Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanation Approach, Steven Bramhall, Hayley Horn, Michael Tieu, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we introduce a proof of concept that addresses the assumption and limitation of linear local boundaries by Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), a popular technique used to add interpretability and explainability to black box models. LIME is a versatile explainer capable of handling different types of data and models. At the local level, LIME creates a linear relationship for a given prediction through generated sample points to present feature importance. We redefine the linear relationships presented by LIME as quadratic relationships and expand its flexibility in non-linear cases and improve the accuracy of feature interpretations. We coin …

The Data Market: A Proposal To Control Data About You, David Shaw, Daniel W. Engels

SMU Data Science Review

The current legal and economic infrastructure facilitating data collection practices and data analysis has led to extreme over-collection of data and the overall loss of personal privacy. Data over-collection has led to a secondary market for consumer data that is invisible to the consumer and results in a person's data being distributed far beyond their knowledge or control. In this paper, we propose a Data Market framework and design for personal data management and privacy protection in which the individual controls and profits from the dissemination of their data. Our proposed Data Market uses a market-based approach utilizing blockchain distributed …

Hardware Security Of The Controller Area Network (Can Bus), David Satagaj

Senior Honors Theses

The CAN bus is a multi-master network messaging protocol that is a standard across the vehicular industry to provide intra-vehicular communications. Electronics Control Units within vehicles use this network to exchange critical information to operate the car. With the advent of the internet nearly three decades ago, and an increasingly inter-connected world, it is vital that the security of the CAN bus be addressed and built up to withstand physical and non-physical intrusions with malicious intent. Specifically, this paper looks at the concept of node identifiers and how they allow the strengths of the CAN bus to shine while also …

Open Dynamic Interaction Network: A Cell-Phone Based Platform For Responsive Ema, Gisela Font Sayeras

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The study of social networks is central to advancing our understanding of a wide range of phenomena in human societies. Social networks co-evolve concurrently alongside the individuals within them. Selection processes cause network structure to change in response to emerging similarities/differences between individuals. At the same time, diffusion processes occur as individuals influence one another when they interact across network links. Indeed, each network link is a logical abstraction that aggregates many short-lived pairwise interactions of interest that are being studied. Traditionally, network co-evolution is studied by periodically taking static snapshots of social networks using surveys. Unfortunately, participation incentives …

Advanced Techniques To Detect Complex Android Malware, Zhiqiang Li

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Android is currently the most popular operating system for mobile devices in the world. However, its openness is the main reason for the majority of malware to be targeting Android devices. Various approaches have been developed to detect malware.

Unfortunately, new breeds of malware utilize sophisticated techniques to defeat malware detectors. For example, to defeat signature-based detectors, malware authors change the malware’s signatures to avoid detection. As such, a more effective approach to detect malware is by leveraging malware’s behavioral characteristics. However, if a behavior-based detector is based on static analysis, its reported results may contain a large number of …

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 …

Multi-Objective Signal Timing Optimal Model For Rural-Urban Fringe Area Intersection, Xiaoyu Zhang, Chunfu Shao

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: With the acceleration of the urbanization process in our country, the road traffic problems in the urban-rural fringe area are becoming serious. In order to improve the traffic efficiency, environmental benefits and traffic safety, a multi-objective optimal model for signal timing is established under the comprehensive consideration of several factors, such as the delay, capacity, number of stops and vehicle emissions. The genetic algorithm is used to solve the problem. A typical intersection is taken as the example for the analysis and the improved design schemes can be achieved and evaluated by the road traffic simulation. The …

Lightmap-Based Gi Collaborative Rendering System For Web3d Application, Shao Wei, Liu Chang, Jinyuan Jia

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: For the real-time dynamic lighting rendering in low-end web environment, a view-independent collaborative real-time rendering system is presented. The whole system consists of a cloud renderer which produces the global illumination, a web renderer which computes the local illumination, and a scalable collaboration solution which takes the user behavior into account to adjust the range and frequency of the lighting computation. The cloud renderer computes the lighting data into the Lightmap, streams the Lightmap to the web client. After computing the direct light, the web renderer achieves the global illumination information by Sampling the Lightmap, and shows the …

Research On Modeling And Analyzing Method Of Task-Oriented Network Information System Of Systems, Zhu Tao, Weitai Liang, Songhua Huang, Jieyong Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: As the catalyst and fusion agent of the system combat capability in the information age, the network information system of systems has been changing the form of information-based warfare and the mode of combat effectiveness generation. On the basis of studying the concept of the network information system of systems and introducing association mapping rules between tasks and systems, a new modeling and analyzing method of the network information system of systems with two dimensions and four networks, based on super-network and service-oriented characteristics, is proposed. The definitions of services information flow motif delay, the task execution accuracy …

Thinking On Digital Twin For Weapon System, Junhua Zhou, Junjie Xue, Heyu Li, Ji Hang, Tingyu Lin, Guoqiang Shi

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The main development process of the digital twin technology is reviewed and its necessity for the weapon system is put forward. The definition and composition of the digital twin for the weapon system is given and its application architecture and key technologies, such as the construction of the digital thread, bi-directional collaborative simulation and control, intelligent autonomous evolution, digital twin operation support based on the container-simulation-cloud, et al, are analyzed. The preliminary research and practice of some key technologies is expounded, and the future research directions are summarized and looked forward to.

Modeling And Propeller Location Optimization For Diving Propeller Vehicle, Jianjun Zhang, Yang Bing, Jinhui Wu, Yan Qiang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Focus on the rapid physical exertion and the poor flexibility of diving propeller vehicle, a wearable diving propeller equipped with buoyancy control devices is proposed, and the position of the propeller in the device is optimized. The human body structure is regarded as a rigid body to establish a spatial 6-degree-of-freedom motion equation, and its surrounding hydrodynamic performance is analyzed. The hydrodynamic parameters in the model are obtained based on the FLUENT. The propeller position optimization model based on the minimum external force of rectilinear diving and slewing motions is established. The optimization results demonstrate that the optimized …

Research On Image Description Method Based On Neural Network, Kong Rui, Xie Wei, Lei Tai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The automatic recognition and automatically describing image content is an important research direction to the artificial intelligence to connect the computer vision and the natural language processing. A method of describing the image content is proposed to generate the natural language by using the deep neural network model. The model consists of a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a recurrent neural network (RNN). The CNN is used to extract features of the input image to generate a fixed-length feature vector, which initializes the RNN to generate the sentences. Experimental results on the MSCOCO image description dataset show the syntactic …

Multi-Objective Dynamic Programming Algorithm Of Energy-Efficient Scheduling For Tow-Train, Xinyan Zhang, Yuqing Zhou

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To balance the performance and energy consumption of the mixed-model assembly lines effectively, a multi-objective energy-saving scheduling method for the tow-train is proposed. The energy-saving objective is introduced into the traditional material handling scheduling model for the tow-train and a multi-objective mixed integer programming model is constructed with two objective functions of minimizing the maximum line-side inventory and the total energy consumption. A forwards multi-objective dynamic programming based on the time window and dominance rules is presented to obtain the Pareto solutions: the definition for new states is given to obtain the Markov property, the time window and dominance …

Design Of Space-Based Surveillance Distributed Simulation System For Space Targets, Zhang Yang, Qingbo Gan, Yuan Hong, Jiangliang Fu, Chengming Sun

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Following the wide application of the HLA in the aerospace system simulation, the space-based surveillance distributed simulation system for the space targets based on the HLA is designed. In the infrastructure design level, the hierarchical structure including data layer, model layer and mission layer are designed. In the system design level, the simulation control members, space-based surveillance member, space target member, optical payload member, and visual simulation member are divided and confirmed. The orbit dynamics and maneuvering model, attitude dynamics and control model, payload pointing and optical imaging model are established. In system implement level, the …

One Design Mode Of Highly Configurable Modular Simulation System, Chunsheng Hu, Chengdong Xu, Penfei Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The computer simulation technology is an essential verification way to the design, construction and application optimization of the modern complex system. Following the continuous growing complexity of the system, the higher requirement on the configurability of the simulation system is needed to face the rapidly change. Based on the analysis on the configurability and some coupling factors with the adverse effect, a design mode of highly configurable and open and easy to expend modular simulation system is proposed. The results show that, despite the cost of some real-time performance, the design mode can realize the high configurability of the …

Modeling And Simulation Of Locating Water Resources For Forest Fire Extinguishing, Guoxiong Zhou, Li Tong, Aibin Chen, Mingfang He

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: At the time of the forest fire, the effective water resource position is a good assistance to the firefighters to put out the fire. Taking a state-owned tree-farm, Huangfeng Bridge as an example in You Xian, an approach is proposed to optimally locate and determine the water resources to extinguish the forest fires, which uses the barycenter of a Weighted Voronoi Diagram and is generated dynamically via Cellular Automata and locally optimized by Alternative Location and Allocation algorithm. In order to reduce the low ratio impact of the water resource to the high fire risk areas, a barycenter model …

Cost-Efficiency Analysis Of Weapon System Portfolios For Effect Based Operation, Zhong Lin, Mingan Tong, Zhang Jian, Jianhai Liang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In considertion of the cost-efficiency analysis of weapon system mainly for the target based operation, the uncertainties about preferences and possible interactions of different weapon systems, a cost-efficiency analysis method weapon system portfolios for effect based operation is presented. The framework of weapon system assignment for effect based operation is presented, the Bayesian network is used to build up the connection between effects and targets, and the cost-efficiency analysis model based on robust portfolio optimization is carried out. In view of the combinatorial explosion, the approximation algorithm based on the Tchebycheff norm and the linear integer programming is proposed …

System Dynamics And Multi-Agent Simulation Research On Ground Combatpersonnel Attrition, Xiaoxiong Hao, Jianwei Ma, Zhaohui Huang, Yungui Wang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In order to study the law of the combat personnel attrition and guide the military medical logistics support, the relevant researches are systematically sorted out and the key questions are clarified. Based on Lanchester equation theory, a system dynamics model of the combat attrition process is established, and the consistency between the model conclusion and the historical experience is analyzed. A multi-agent model of the combat attrition process is also constructed, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two models are analyzed. The main conclusion is that the theoretical model’s outcomes of combat attrition are relatively consistent with the …