Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Accelerating Machine Learning Inference For Satellite Component Feature Extraction Using Fpgas., Andrew Ekblad

Theses and Dissertations

Running computer vision algorithms requires complex devices with lots of computing power, these types of devices are not well suited for space deployment. The harsh radiation environment and limited power budgets have hindered the ability of running advanced computer vision algorithms in space. This problem makes running an on-orbit servicing detection algorithm very difficult. This work proposes using a low powered FPGA to accelerate the computer vision algorithms that enable satellite component feature extraction. This work uses AMD/Xilinx’s Zynq SoC and DPU IP to run model inference. Experiments in this work centered around improving model post processing by creating implementations …

Kwad - Ksu All Weather Autonomous Drone, Nick Farinacci, Sebastian Gomez, Stewart Baker, Ed Sheridan

Symposium of Student Scholars

"KWAD" or "KSU all-Weather Autonomous Drone" project was sponsored by Ultool, LLC to the KSU Research and Service Foundation to create a lightweight drone capable of capturing HD video during all-weather operations. The conditions of all-weather operation include rainfall of one inch per hour and wind speeds of up to twenty miles per hour. In addition, a global minimum structural safety factor of two is required to ensure the system's integrity in extreme weather conditions. Potential mission profiles include autonomous aerial delivery, topological mapping in high moisture areas, security surveillance, search and rescue operations, emergency transportation of medical supplies, and …

Comparative Evaluation Of Investigation Methods For Estimating The Load-Dependent State Of Charge And End Of Discharge Of A Multirotor Uav Battery, Hanna Dibbern, Morten Roßberg, Claudia Werner

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

As the scope of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications increases, more attention is being paid to UAV energy requirements, which vary depending on the mission profile. To obtain accurate information about the UAV battery during flight, the idea of a digital twin including a battery state estimation model is promising. For battery state estimation, a Kalman filter combination is the preferred approach in the literature. Comparing different Kalman filters, the unscented Kalman filter has a more accurate estimation for nonlinear systems compared to the extended Kalman filter. In the application of UAV flight with load-dependent flight missions, the comparison …

Hardware-In-The-Loop Reaction Wheel Testbed With Camera Vision, Abigail Romero, Harvey Perkins, Stephen Kwok-Choon

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Reaction wheels are widely used in aerospace systems as a method of attitude control. This research was focused on the design, development, and testing of a hardware-in-the-loop reaction wheel testbed that can be used for research and teaching applications related to satellite navigation and control. This project successfully utilized commercial off-the-shelf components to develop a reaction wheel capable of controlling the orientation of a freely rotating platform, as well as tracking objects using computer vision.

A Study Of 5g Cellular Connectivity To Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Jackson Murrin

All Theses

The market of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has seen significant growth in the past ten years on both the commercial and military sides. The applications for UAVs are endless and options by manufacturers allow users to modify their drones for their specific goals. This industry has opened up the excitement of piloting vehicles in the air, photography, videography, exploration of nature from a different point of view and many other hobbies assisted by the emergence of UAVs. The growth of this industry coincides with the roll out of new 5G cellular network technology. This upgrade in cellular network infrastructure allows …

Integrated Energy-Aware Motion Planning And Charge Scheduling Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Hayleyesus Alemayehu

All Theses

The growing demand for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is driven by their operational convenience, cost-effectiveness, availability, and adaptability to various scenarios. In energy-constrained environments, optimizing energy consumption and ensuring a continuous power supply for UAVs is crucial for mission success. The objective of this thesis is to address this issue by integrating energy-aware motion planning and charge scheduling for UAVs by utilizing a charger hosted on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), whose rendezvous locations and routes are jointly computed to minimize overall energy consumption.

This thesis proposes a hierarchical trajectory and control framework comprising local and global planners for each …

Data-Driven Porosity Prediction For Directed Energy Deposition, Georgia E. Kaufman

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Stochastic flaw formation leading to poor print quality is a major obstacle to the utility of directed energy deposition (DED), a laser and metal powder-based additive manufacturing technology for construction and repair of custom metal parts. While melt pool temperature variability is known to be a major factor in flaw formation, control schemes to decrease flaw formation are limited by a lack of physics-based models that fully and accurately describe DED. In this work, a stochastic reachability analysis with a data-driven model based on thermal images of the melt pool was conducted to determine the likelihood of violating melt pool …

Crazyflie 2.1 Quadcopter Nonlinear System Identification, Nhat V. Nguyen, Hope Storro, John Plimpton

2023 Symposium

Quadcopters (quad) are used widely in many industries with crucial applications such as infrastructure inspection or package delivery. The Crazyflie 2.1 quad from Bitcraze provides an excellent platform for research and development. In this project, our goal is to perform system identification on the Crazyflie to propose a complete model. A gray box method is explored, which includes leveraging the parameters that are already known, to develop a set of equations. Through theory, simulations, and measurements, a complete quadcopter model is developed.

Instrumented Control Column For Optionally Piloted Aircraft, Andrew J. Klein

Electrical Engineering

Natilus, an aerospace company that is rapid-prototyping optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) for the shipping industry, needs a system that retrieves control column position data in order to manipulate flight simulator parameters in software. At present, a universally compatible system for all aircraft does not exist. Typically, established aerospace companies will sink significant time and money into developing proprietary systems for control column data retrieval as every aircraft is unique in its layout and linkage design. However, as a startup developing their first aircraft, Natilus does not have the privilege of modifying an existing sensor system to work with their HIL …

Simulating Dielectric Barrier Plasma Actuators With Varying Geometries, Cass Wiederkehr

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The idea of Ionic Wind Propulsion has long been a topic of research for whether or not it can be used as a practical power source for flight. MIT researchers proved in 2018 that a plane with zero moving parts powered by Ionic Wind Propulsion was possible, and sustained flight could work with an internal power supply. However, due to the thin wire electrodes required to generate the ion cloud that made such propulsion possible, large amounts of drag rendered the plane extremely inefficient and impractical. Dielectric Barrier Discharge Devices (DBDs) are being investigated as to whether they can serve …

Classification Of Electrical Current Used In Electroplastic Forming, Tyler Grimm

All Dissertations

Electrically assisted manufacturing (EAM) is the direct application of an electric current to a workpiece during manufacturing. This advanced manufacturing process has been shown to produce anomalous effects which extend beyond the current state of modeling of thermal influences. These purported non-thermal effects have collectively been termed electroplastic effects (EPEs).

While there is a distinct difference in results between steady-state (ideal DC) testing and pulsed current testing, the very definition of these two EAM methods has not been well established. A "long" pulse may be considered DC current; a "short" pulse may produce electroplastic effects; and even "steady-state" current shapes …

Design And Implementation Of High-Efficiency, Lightweight, System-Friendly Solid-State Circuit Breaker, Dehao Qin

All Dissertations

Direct current (DC) distribution system has shown potential over the alternative current (AC) distribution system in some application scenarios, e.g., electrified transportation, renewable energy, data center, etc. Because of the fast response speed, DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) becomes a promising technology for the future power electronics intensive DC energy system with fault-tolerant capability. First, a thorough literature survey is performed to review the DC-SSCB technology. The key components for DC-SSCB, including power semiconductors, topologies, energy absorption units, and fault detection circuits, are studied. It is observed that the prior studies mainly focus on the basic interruption capability of the …

Sharprazor: Automatic Removal Of Hair And Ruler Marks From Dermoscopy Images, Reda Kasmi, Jason Hagerty, Reagan Harris Young, Norsang Lama, Januka Nepal, Jessica Miinch, William V. Stoecker, R. Joe Stanley

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: The removal of hair and ruler marks is critical in handcrafted image analysis of dermoscopic skin lesions. No other dermoscopic artifacts cause more problems in segmentation and structure detection. Purpose: The aim of the work is to detect both white and black hair, artifacts and finally inpaint correctly the image. Method: We introduce a new algorithm: SharpRazor, to detect hair and ruler marks and remove them from the image. Our multiple-filter approach detects hairs of varying widths within varying backgrounds, while avoiding detection of vessels and bubbles. The proposed algorithm utilizes grayscale plane modification, hair enhancement, segmentation using tri-directional …

A Parametric Numerical Analysis Investigation To Optimize The Performance Of The Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube, Muneer Ahmad Sungur

Theses

A vortex tube is a device that separates compressed air into two streams: one with a higher temperature (hot stream) and the other with a lower temperature (cold stream). It is a popular cooling option because it is small, safe, and affordable. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the energy separation performance of RHVT by varying the internal tapering angles of convergent angles (2°, 1.75°, 1.5°, 1.25°, 1°, 0.75°, and 0.5°), straight angles (0°), and divergent angles (0.5°, 1°, 2°, 4°, and 6°), While the cold mass fraction is constant (0.317). Length-to-diameter ratio (Lt/Dt), inlet pressure, and …

Robust Feature Matching For Visual-Based Aerial Navigation Using Registered Imagery, Luis Montenegro

Theses and Dissertations

This work leverages the SIFT detector along with known robust feature matching techniques for vision-aided sUAS navigation solutions. The proposed algorithm focuses on a sufficient number of features extracted, their quality and their distribution.

Magnetic Anomaly Mapping For Navigation, Luke T. Bergeron

Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic navigation (MagNav) has the potential to provide a global form of navigation that uses magnetic measurements of the Earth’s anomaly magnetic field and compares those measurements to a magnetic anomaly map in order to determine the user’s position. Widespread use of MagNav will require a database of fully-sampled, low-altitude magnetic anomaly maps. Existing magnetic anomaly map databases usually come from under- or poorly-sampled surveys. In this work, we provide an easy to follow MagNav anomaly map generation framework and set of survey collection metrics/requirements in an effort to help facilitate and standardize the creation of such a database. We …

Design Of A Miniaturized Cubesat Tt&C Patch Antenna, Thomas A. Butterick

Theses and Dissertations

This effort explored the design of miniaturized rectangular microstrip patch antennas for application as a telemetry, tracking, and control (TT&C) on a CubeSat. The motivation for this research was the Grissom-P CubeSat mission planned by AFIT. The TT&C antenna selected for the mission exceeded the allotted size by over a factor of two. The studies performed included analyses of simply reducing aperture size, altering substrate permittivity, and layered approaches to antenna miniaturization. The primary approach to miniaturization was based on a virtually shorted patch antenna. Other approaches included an edge-shorted, slotted patch and the use of corner truncations for improved …

Glass-Based Biodegradable Pressure Sensor Toward Biomechanical Monitoring With A Controllable Lifetime, Devdatt Chattopadhyay, Jonghyun Park, Chang-Soo Kim

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A New Class of Potentially Implantable Solid-State Sensors is Demonstrated Utilizing Biodegradable Glass as the Main Structural Material. the Device Behavior is Manipulated Via Chemical Decomposition, and Then Physically Disintegrated in a Controlled Manner. It is based on the Capacitive Sensing Mechanism, Comprising an Elastic Insulator between Two Borate-Rich Glass Substrates. This Mesoscale Pressure Sensor is Characterized by a Range of Pressure of Up to 14 MPa in a Phosphate Buffer Solution Environment. the Sensor Exhibits Good Sensitivity and Reversibility Responding to Compressive Pressures and Remains Fully Functional Before a Desired, Sudden Failure Caused by Dissolution. the Operational Lifetime Can …

Topologically Optimized Electrodes For Electroosmotic Actuation, Jianwen Sun, Jianyu Zhang, Ce Guan, Teng Zhou, Shizhi Qian, Yongbo Deng

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Electroosmosis is one of the most used actuation mechanisms for the microfluidics in the current active lab-on-chip devices. It is generated on the induced charged microchannel walls in contact with an electrolyte solution. Electrode distribution plays the key role on providing the external electric field for electroosmosis, and determines the performance of electroosmotic microfluidics. Therefore, this paper proposes a topology optimization approach for the electrodes of electroosmotic microfluidics, where the electrode layout on the microchannel wall can be determined to achieve designer desired microfluidic performance. This topology optimization is carried out by implementing the interpolation of electric insulation and electric …

Microstrip Antenna Design Using Cst Optimized By Neural Network Algorithm, Hadeer. A Shoeab, Mohamed A.Mohamed, Marzouk El Said A, Ahmed. A. Kabeel

Mansoura Engineering Journal

In this paper, a general design procedure is suggested for the microstrip antennas using artificial neural networks and this is demonstrated using the rectangular patch geometry. The model was analyzed for 1733 data sets of input output parameters. 1300 samples for training and 433 samples for testing and 1500 epoch, learning rate from (0.003 to 0.005). Python was used to create and implement the ANN algorithm model. The mean error in detection of resonance frequencies (return loss peaks) was 0.144GHz on train set, and 0.116GHz on test set. The outputs of the radial basis function are optimized by varying the …

Static I-V Based Pim Evaluation For Spring And Fabric-Over-Foam Contacts, Kalkidan W. Anjajo, Yang Xu, Shengxuan Xia, Yuchu He, Haicheng Zhou, Hanfeng Wang, Jonghyun Park, Chulsoon Hwang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Spring Clips and Fabric-Over-Foams (FOFs) Are Widely Used in Mobile Devices for Electrical Connection Purposes. However, the Imperfect Metallic Connections Tend to Induce Passive Intermodulation (PIM), Resulting in a Receiver Sensitivity Degradation, Known as RP Desensitization. Due to the Complexity of the PIM Characterization, there is Not Yet a Way to Evaluate PIM Performance using a Simple Setup for Environments Like Factories. in This Paper, a Current-Voltage (I-V) Behavior-Based PIM Evaluation Method is Proposed and Validated with Various Metallic Contacts and Contact Forces. the Test Results Demonstrated the Feasibility of the PIM Performance Evaluation based on the Measured Static I-V …

Oxidation Layer Formation On Aluminum Substrates With Surface Defects Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Emmanuel Olugbade, Hiep Pham, Yuchu He, Haicheng Zhou, Chulsoon Hwang, Jonghyun Park

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Aluminum Oxide Layer Affects the Integrity of Electrical Contact and Can Contribute Adversely to Passive Intermodulation (PIM) Behavior in Radio Frequency (RF) Devices, necessitating a Need for Understanding its Formation Mechanism and Realistic Estimation of its Thickness. using ReaxFF Molecular Dynamics Simulation Technique, This Study Investigated the Impact of Surface Defects on Aluminum Oxide Layer Formation. Results Reveal that Crystallographic Orientation Did Not Affect the Kinetics of Oxidation Process of Aluminum. However, the Reaction Kinetics Increased Significantly with Surface Inhomogeneities Such as Cracks, Scratches, and Grain Boundaries. a Non-Uniform Oxide Layer with Thickness Variation in the Range of 72-77% Was …

Ads-B Communication Interference In Air Traffic Management, George Ray

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Automated Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) provides position and state information about aircraft and is becoming an essential component in the global air traffic management system. ADS-B transponders broadcast this key information on a common frequency to both other aircraft and to secondary surveillance radar systems located at ground stations. Both the aircraft transponders and the ground stations work together to assist in managing the commercial airspace. Since the aircraft transponders all broadcast on the same frequency and are in close proximity there is an apparent risk of interference and the garbling of the communications needed to manage the airspace.

The …

Underwater Communication Acoustic Transducers: A Technology Review, Laila Shams, Tian-Bing Xu, Zhongqing Su (Ed.), Branko Glisic (Ed.), Maria Pina Limongelli (Ed.)

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper provides a comprehensive review on transducer technologies for underwater communications. The popularly used communication transducers, such as piezoelectric acoustic transducers, electromagnetic acoustic transducers, and acousto-optic devices are reviewed in detail. The reasons that common air communication technologies are invalid die to the differences between the media of air and water are addresses. Because of the abilities to overcome challenges the complexity of marine environments, piezoelectric acoustic transducers are playing the major underwater communication roles for science, surveillance, and Naval missions. The configuration and material properties of piezoelectric transducers effects on signal output power, beamwidth, amplitude, and other properties …

Optimal Deployment Of Air Vehicle As Communication Relay For Multiple Ground Vehicles, Juan David Pabon Arias

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Heterogeneous teams of both air and ground mobile vehicles can combine the advantages of mobility, sensing capability, and operation time when performing complex tasks. However, when ground vehicles operate in cluttered environments with randomized obstacles, they may experience line of sight (LoS) obstructions and loss of communication due to those obstacles. To mitigate this issue, an airborne relay can be positioned in the vicinity of the ground vehicles to aid communication by establishing two-hop communication links between the vehicles.

This thesis develops an analytical framework to calculate the probability of spanning a two-hop communication between a pair of ground vehicles …

Analysis Of Localization Algorithms For Wireless Sensor Networks Using Binary Data, Alexander Joseph Hart

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The detection, localization, and tracking of environmental and physical conditions can be accomplished using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Recent advancements in sensors, processors, and wireless communications have improved the quality and acquisition speed of data in WSNs. However, the data gathered by a WSN is inherently random due to component and environmental variations. Thus, statistical signal processing algorithms are needed to analyze the random data in a robust way. Though many algorithms for the analysis of random data are established and available, they are problem-specific and must be adapted to the application. This thesis provides an analysis of established localization …

Assessing The Performance Of A Particle Swarm Optimization Mobility Algorithm In A Hybrid Wi-Fi/Lora Flying Ad Hoc Network, William David Paredes

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on Flying Ad-Hoc Networks (FANETs) has increased due to the availability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the electronic components that control and connect them. Many applications, such as 3D mapping, construction inspection, or emergency response operations could benefit from an application and adaptation of swarm intelligence-based deployments of multiple UAVs. Such groups of cooperating UAVs, through the use of local rules, could be seen as network nodes establishing an ad-hoc network for communication purposes.

One FANET application is to provide communication coverage over an area where communication infrastructure is unavailable. A crucial part of a FANET implementation is …

Novel Locomotion Methods In Magnetic Actuation And Pipe Inspection, Adam Cox

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

There is much room for improvement in tube network inspections of jet aircraft. Often, these inspections are incomplete and inconsistent. In this paper, we develop a Modular Robotic Inspection System (MoRIS) for jet aircraft tube networks and a corresponding kinematic model. MoRIS consists of a Base Station for user control and communication, and robotic Vertebrae for accessing and inspecting the network. The presented and tested design of MoRIS can travel up to 9 feet in a tube network. The Vertebrae can navigate in all orientations, including smooth vertical tubes. The design is optimized for nominal 1.5" outside diameter tubes. We …

On-Board Artificial Intelligence For Failure Detection And Safe Trajectory Generation, Eduardo Morillo

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The use of autonomous flight vehicles has recently increased due to their versatility and capability of carrying out different type of missions in a wide range of flight conditions. Adequate commanded trajectory generation and modification, as well as high-performance trajectory tracking control laws have been an essential focus of researchers given that integration into the National Air Space (NAS) is becoming a primary need. However, the operational safety of these systems can be easily affected if abnormal flight conditions are present, thereby compromising the nominal bounds of design of the system's flight envelop and trajectory following. This thesis focuses on …

Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Shared Aperture Antenna For Cubesat Communication System, Syed Salman Kabir

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

For space exploration, a special class of small satellite known as CubeSat, has become popular in academia and industry in recent years. Due to its low cost and short development time, researchers prefer CubeSat over large-scale satellites wherever possible. In academia, CubeSat has major applications in the field of space atmosphere, space-to-ground communication, weather forecasting, etc. Like other spacecrafts, CubeSat uses multiple antennas in different frequency bands to establish a communication link with ground stations. Recent CubeSat missions are generating a large amount of data which cannot be downlinked using conventional antennas. The demand for a compact antenna system that …