Computer Engineering Commons^™

Addressing User Requirements In Open Source Software: The Role Of Online Forums, Arif Raza, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

User satisfaction has always been important in the success of software, regardless of whether it is closed and proprietary or open source software (OSS). OSS users are geographically distributed and include technical as well as novice users. However, it is generally believed that if OSS was more usable, its popularity would increase tremendously. Hence, users and their requirements need to be addressed in the priorities of an OSS environment. Online public forums are a major medium of communication for the OSS community. The research model of this work studies the relationship between user requirements in open source software and online …

Cal Poly Library Of Pyroprints: Quality Control Analysis And Web Development, Chase Ricketts

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Wii-B-Fit Adaptive Wii Remote, Chris Lombardo

Computer Engineering

The goal of this project was to fix and supplement the original Wii-B-Fit system in order to get it running again and improve on the original design. Wii-B-Fit’s original mission is to give people with paralysis the ability to participate in activities that they would not otherwise get to do, while creating a more fun, social, and independent lifestyle.Physical activity can help stimulate brain activity and is an integral part to a healthy lifestyle. Quadriplegia however makes it extremely hard to perform most forms of physical activity and severely limits the choices available to victims of the disease. The original …

Twill: A Hybrid Microcontroller-Fpga Framework For Parallelizing Single- Threaded C Programs, Douglas S. Gallatin

Master's Theses

Increasingly System-On-A-Chip platforms which incorporate both micropro- cessors and re-programmable logic are being utilized across several fields ranging from the automotive industry to network infrastructure. Unfortunately, the de- velopment tools accompanying these products leave much to be desired, requiring knowledge of both traditional embedded systems languages like C and hardware description languages like Verilog. We propose to bridge this gap with Twill, a truly automatic hybrid compiler that can take advantage of the parallelism inherent in these platforms. Twill can extract long-running threads from single threaded C code and distribute these threads across the hardware and software domains to more …

Conception, Design And Construction Of A Remote Wifi Vehicle Using Arduino, Clayton Broman

Physics

The scope of this senior project was to make a wireless vehicle controlled via Internet Protocol. This vehicle operates remotely and without direct line of sight. Commands are sent from a program running on a laptop and transmitted using a wireless router. Visual data is retrieved from a network camera, mounted on the vehicle, in real-time, to see where you are going.

2014 (Spring) Ensi Informer Magazine, Morehead State University. Engineering Sciences Department

ENSI Informer Magazine Archive

The ENSI Informer Magazine published in the spring of 2014.

A Review Of Active Management For Distribution Networks: Current Status And Future Development Trends, Junhui Zhao, Bo Zhao, Feng Lin, Quan Zhou, Yang Wang, Caisheng Wang

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Driven by smart distribution technologies, by the widespread use of distributed generation sources, and by the injection of new loads, such as electric vehicles, distribution networks are evolving from passive to active. The integration of distributed generation, including renewable distributed generation changes the power flow of a distribution network from unidirectional to bi-directional. The adoption of electric vehicles makes the management of distribution networks even more challenging. As such, an active network management has to be fulfilled by taking advantage of the emerging techniques of control, monitoring, protection, and communication to assist distribution network operators in an optimal manner. This …

Compacting Loads And Stores For Code Size Reduction, Isaac Asay

Master's Theses

It is important for compilers to generate executable code that is as small as possible, particularly when generating code for embedded systems. One method of reducing code size is to use instruction set architectures (ISAs) that support combining multiple operations into single operations. The ARM ISA allows for combining multiple memory operations to contiguous memory addresses into a single operation. The LLVM compiler contains a specific memory optimization to perform this combining of memory operations, called ARMLoadStoreOpt. This optimization, however, relies on another optimization (ARMPreAllocLoadStoreOpt) to move eligible memory operations into proximity in order to perform properly. This mover optimization …

Nanosensor Data Processor In Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata, Fenghui Yao, Mohamed Saleh Zein-Sabatto, Guifeng Shao, Mohammad Bodruzzaman, Mohan Malkani

Computer Science Faculty Research

Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is an attractive nanotechnology with the potential alterative to CMOS technology. QCA provides an interesting paradigm for faster speed, smaller size, and lower power consumption in comparison to transistor-based technology, in both communication and computation. This paper describes the design of a 4-bit multifunction nanosensor data processor (NSDP). The functions of NSDP contain (i) sending the preprocessed raw data to high-level processor, (ii) counting the number of the active majority gates, and (iii) generating the approximate sigmoid function. The whole system is designed and simulated with several different input data.

Contrast Enhancement Using Silica Microspheres In Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopic Imaging, X. Huang, X. N. He, W. Xiong, Y. Gao, L. J. Jiang, Li Liu, Y. S. Zhou, L. Jiang, J. F. Silvain, Yongfeng Lu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is a powerful imaging technique that can provide chemical information of organic and nonorganic materials through vibrational spectroscopy. However, its contrast is not sufficient for monitoring thin film materials. In this study, silica microspheres were employed for enhancing the signal contrast in CARS imaging. One layer of optically transparent silica microspheres was self-assembled onto polymer grating samples to enhance the CARS signals. The highest contrast enhancement factor of 12.5 was achieved using 6.1-μm-diameter microspheres. Finite-difference timedomain method (FDTD) simulation was conducted to simulate the contrast enhancement with silica microspheres of different diameters.

Investigation Of Profiled Beam Propagation Through A Turbulent Layer And Temporal Statistics Of Diffracted Output For A Modified Von Karman Phase Screen, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Fathi H.A. Mohamed

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Gaussian beam propagation through a turbulent layer has been studied using a split-step methodology. A modified von Karman spectrum (MVKS) model is used to describe the random behavior of the turbulent media. Accordingly, the beam is alternately propagated (i) through a thin Fresnel layer, and hence subjected to diffraction; and (ii) across a thin modified von Karman phase screen which is generated using the power spectral density (PSD) of the random phase obtained via the corresponding PSD of the medium refractive index for MVKS turbulence.

The random phase screen in the transverse plane is generated from the phase PSD by …

Numerical Inversion And Assessment Of 2d Laplace Transforms Using The Brancik Algorithm And Its Use In 3d Holography, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Le Feng

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An analytic examination of 3D holography under a 90° recording geometry was carried out earlier in which 2D spatial Laplace transforms were introduced in order to develop transfer functions for the scattered outputs under readout [1,2].

Thereby, the resulting reconstructed output was obtained in the 2D Laplace domain whence the spatial information would be found only by performing a 2D Laplace inversion. Laplace inversion in 2D was attempted by testing a prototype function for which the analytic result was known using two known inversion algorithms, viz., the Brancik and the Abate [2]. The results indicated notable differences in the 3D …

Second-Harmonic Double-Resonance Cones In Dispersive Hyperbolic Metamaterials, Domenico De Ceglia, Maria Antonietta Vincenti, Salvatore Campione, Filippo Capolino, Joseph W. Haus, Michael Scalora

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We study the formation of second-harmonic double-resonance cones in hyperbolic metamaterials. An electric dipole on the surface of the structure induces second-harmonic light to propagate into two distinct volume plasmon-polariton channels: a signal that propagates within its own peculiar resonance cone and a phase-locked signal that is trapped under the pump's resonance cone. Metamaterial dispersion and birefringence induce a large angular divergence between the two volume plasmon polaritons, making these structures suitable for subwavelength second- and higher-harmonic imaging microscopy.

On Optimal Media/Video Distribution In Closed P2p-Based Iptv Networks, Hao Cui, Xiao Su, Weijia Shang

Faculty Publications

Video distribution over the Internet has become a popular service because of technological advances in internet (e.g., higher network bandwidth) and video coding (e.g., H.264/SVC). In this and other similar media distribution applications, a server or distribution center sends a media/video to a group peers with different bandwidth resources and display capacities. In one of the approaches, the peer-to-peer approach, the server sends only one copy of the media over Internet, and each peer receives one segment of the media and exchanges his/her segment with other peers to receive the complete media. A key design issue in this approach is …

What’S Motivation Got To Do With It? A Survey Of Recursion In The Computing Education Literature, Amber Settle

Technical Reports

One of the most challenging topics for both computing educators and students is recursion. Pedagogical approaches for teaching recursion have appeared in the computing education literature for over 30 years, and the topic has generated a significant body of work. Given its persistence, relatively little attention has been paid to student motivation. This article summarizes results on teaching and learning recursion explored by the computing education community, noting the relative lack of interest in motivation. It concludes by briefly discussing an approach to teaching recursion is appealing for students interested in web development.

Is Vehicle Characterization In Accordance With Standard Test Procedures A Necessary Prerequisite For Validating Computer Models Of A Test Vehicle?, Michael Hall

Masters

Vehicle characterization is the process by which a particular vehicle’s inherent dynamic behavior is classified by measuring its response to certain command inputs under standard test conditions. Such information is required when comparing its performance to that of other vehicles in response to the same test event and it is also used to authenticate computer models of the test vehicle. The aim of this research was to determine whether vehicle characterization is possible using data from non- standard tests and to judge whether such data can also be used for the purpose of validating a computer model of the test …

Los And Nlos Classification For Underwater Acoustic Localization, Roee Diamant, Hwee-Pink Tan, Lutz Lampe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The low sound speed in water makes propagation delay (PD)-based range estimation attractive for underwater acoustic localization (UWAL). However, due to the long channel impulse response and the existence of reflectors, PD-based UWAL suffers from significant degradation when PD measurements of nonline-of-sight (NLOS) communication links are falsely identified as line-of-sight (LOS). In this paper, we utilize expected variation of PD measurements due to mobility of nodes and present an algorithm to classify the former into LOS and NLOS links. First, by comparing signal strength-based and PD-based range measurements, we identify object-related NLOS (ONLOS) links, where signals are reflected from objects …

Speech Enhancement Using Bayesian Estimators Of The Perceptually-Motivated Short-Time Spectral Amplitude (Stsa) With Chi Speech Priors, Marek B. Trawicki, Michael T. Johnson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper, the authors propose new perceptually-motivated Weighted Euclidean (WE) and Weighted Cosh (WCOSH) estimators that utilize more appropriate Chi statistical models for the speech prior with Gaussian statistical models for the noise likelihood. Whereas the perceptually-motivated WE and WCOSH cost functions emphasized spectral valleys rather than spectral peaks (formants) and indirectly accounted for auditory masking effects, the incorporation of the Chi distribution statistical models demonstrated distinct improvement over the Rayleigh statistical models for the speech prior. The estimators incorporate both weighting law and shape parameters on the cost functions and distributions. Performance is evaluated in terms of the …

On The Use Of Gaussian Approximation In Analyzing The Performance Of Optical Receivers, George El-Howayek, C. Zhang, Y. Li, J. S. Ng, J. P.R. David, Majeed M. Hayat

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The analytical calculation of the bit error rate (BER) of digital optical receivers that employ avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is challenging due to 1) the stochastic nature of the avalanche photodiode's impulse-response function and 2) the presence of intersymbol interference (ISI). At ultrafast transmission rates, ISI becomes a dominant component of the BER, and its effect on the BER should be carefully addressed. One solution to this problem, termed the bit-pattern-dependent (PD) approach, is to first calculate the conditional BER given a specific bit pattern and then average over all possible bit patterns. Alternatively, a simplifying method, termed the bit-pattern-independent (PI) …

Providing Flexible File-Level Data Filtering For Big Data Analytics, Lei Xu, Ziling Huang, Hong Jiang, Lei Tian, David Swanson

School of Computing: Technical Reports

The enormous amount of big data datasets impose the needs for effective data filtering technique to accelerate the analytics process. We propose a Versatile Searchable File System, VSFS, which provides a transparent, flexible and near real-time file-level data filtering service by searching files directly through the file system. Therefore, big data analytics applications can transparently utilize this filtering service without application modifications. A versatile index scheme is designed to adapt to the exploratory and ad-hoc nature of the big data analytics activities. Moreover, VSFS uses a RAM-based distributed architecture to perform file indexing. The evaluations driven by three real-world analytics …

Scene-Dependent Human Intention Recognition For An Assistive Robotic System, Kester Duncan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order for assistive robots to collaborate effectively with humans for completing everyday tasks, they must be endowed with the ability to effectively perceive scenes and more importantly, recognize human intentions. As a result, we present in this dissertation a novel scene-dependent human-robot collaborative system capable of recognizing and learning human intentions based on scene objects, the actions that can be performed on them, and human interaction history. The aim of this system is to reduce the amount of human interactions necessary for communicating tasks to a robot. Accordingly, the system is partitioned into scene understanding and intention recognition modules. …

Mobile Robot Localization Based On Kalman Filter, Omar Q. Mohsin

Dissertations and Theses

Robot localization is one of the most important subjects in the Robotics science. It is an interesting and complicated topic. There are many algorithms to solve the problem of localization. Each localization system has its own set of features, and based on them, a solution will be chosen. In my thesis, I want to present a solution to find the best estimate for a robot position in certain space for which a map is available. The thesis started with an elementary introduction to the probability and the Gaussian theories. Simple and advanced practical examples are presented to illustrate each concept …

Divy: A Website For Facilitating The Sharing And Purchasing Of Digital Content, Aidan Crosbie, Lauren Falzarano, Nicole Pal

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

For our senior design project, we designed and built software that allows people to easily sell and share digital content with others. Our system was implemented as a website where users may upload any kind of digital content of their own creation, and specify the price for which other users can download it. A user can upload up to three gigabytes of data for free; however, if they wish to charge money for downloads, our site will take a percentage of the downloads/downloads sale price. A number of technologies were used in order to accomplish this, including PHP, HTML5, CSS, …

A Simple Contact Mapping Algorithm For Identifying Potential Peptide Mimetics In Protein–Protein Interaction Partners, Alex Krall, Jonathan Brunn, Spandana Kankanala, Michael H. Peters

Computer Science Publications

A simple, static contact mapping algorithm has been developed as a first step at identifying potential peptide biomimetics from protein interaction partner structure files. This rapid and simple mapping algorithm, “OpenContact” provides screened or parsed protein interaction files based on specified criteria for interatomic separation distances and interatomic potential interactions. The algorithm, which uses all-atom Amber03 force field models, was blindly tested on several unrelated cases from the literature where potential peptide mimetics have been experimentally developed to varying degrees of success. In all cases, the screening algorithm efficiently predicted proposed or potential peptide biomimetics, or close variations thereof, and …

Virtual Track: Applications And Challenges Of The Rfid System On Roads, Wei Cheng, Shengling Wang, Xiuzhen Cheng

Computer Science Publications

The RFID System on Roads (RSR), which includes RFID tags deployed on roads and RFID readers installed on vehicles, is an essential platform for future transportation systems. It can provide unique features that are missing from the current systems, including lane level position, road traffic control information, vehicle distance estimation, real time driving behavior analysis, and so on. Based on these features, several novel vehicular applications can be implemented, which can significantly improve the transportation safety and efficiency. Specifically, the proposed applications on RSR include Assisted Navigation Systems, Electrical Traffic Control, Unmanned Patrol Systems, Vehicle Distance Estimation, Parking Assistant System, …

A Method For Clustering High-Dimensional Data Using 1d Random Projections, Sangchun Han

Open Access Dissertations

Clustering high-dimensional data is more difficult than clustering low-dimensional data. The problem is twofold. First, there is an efficiency problem related to the data size, which increases with the dimensionality. Second, there is an effectiveness problem related to the fact that the mere existence of clusters in sample sets of high dimensions is questionable, as empirical samples hardly tend to cluster together in a meaningful fashion. The current approach to addressing this issue is to seek clusters in embedded subspaces of the original space. However, as dimensionality increases, a naive exhaustive search among all subspaces becomes exponentially more complex, which …

Towards A Set Of Metrics To Guide The Generation Of Fake Computer File Systems, Ben Whitham

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

Fake file systems are used in the field of cyber deception to bait intruders and fool forensic investigators. File system researchers also frequently generate their own synthetic document repositories, due to data privacy and copyright concerns associated with experimenting on real-world corpora. For both these fields, realism is critical. Unfortunately, after creating a set of files and folders, there are no current testing standards that can be applied to validate their authenticity, or conversely, reliably automate their detection. This paper reviews the previous 30 years of file system surveys on real world corpora, to identify a set of discrete measures …

A Forensic Overview Of The Lg Smart Tv, Iain Sutherland, Konstantino Xynos, Huw Read, Andy Jones, Tom Drange

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

The emerging Smart TV platform will likely replace traditional television sets over time as the entertainment and communication centrepiece in people’s homes. Given its expanded functionality and now, its online presence, there is a need to identify how they may become part of forensic investigations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the area of Smart TVs and the potential forensic value these systems present in combination with their ever advancing functionality and capabilities. We provide an overview of Smart TV systems highlighting functionality and potential issues. We also take an initial look at two particular models, from the …

Forensic Examination And Analysis Of The Prefetch Files On The Banking Trojan Malware Incidents, Andri P. Heriyanto

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

Whenever a program runs within the operating system, there will be data or artefacts created on the system. This condition applies to the malicious software (malware). Although they intend to obscure their presence on the system with anti-forensic techniques, still they have to run on the victim’s system to acquire their objective. Modern malware creates a significant challenge to the digital forensic community since they are being designed to leave limited traces and misdirect the examiner. Therefore, every examiner should consider performing all the forensics approaches such as memory forensic, live-response and Windows file analysis in the related malware incidents …

Secure Map Generation For Multiplayer, Turn-Based Strategy Games, Stephen L. Rice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In strategy games, players compete against each other on randomly generated maps in an attempt to prove their superior skill. Traditionally, these games rely on a client/server architecture with one player fulfilling the role of server and holding responsibility for the map generation process. We propose, analyze and evaluate a method that allows these maps to be created in a peer-to-peer fashion and thus reduce the potential for cheating. We provide an example map generation program that puts these concepts into action and demonstrate how it can be extended and customized for any game. Finally, we analyze the performance of …