Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Process/Equipment Design Implications For Control System Cybersecurity, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

An emerging challenge for process safety is process control system cybersecurity. An attacker could gain control of the process actuators through the control system or communication policies within control loops and potentially drive the process state to unsafe conditions. Cybersecurity has traditionally been handled as an information technology (IT) problem in the process industries. In the literature for cybersecurity specifically of control systems, there has been work aimed at developing control designs that seek to fight cyberattacks by either giving the system appropriate response mechanisms once attacks are detected or seeking to make the attacks difficult to perform. In this …

Verification Of Stochastic Reach-Avoid Using Rkhs Embeddings, Adam J. Thorpe

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

A solution to the terminal-hitting and first-hitting stochastic reach-avoid problem for a Markov control process is presented. This solution takes advantage of a nonparametric representation of the stochastic kernel as a conditional distribution embedding within a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). Because the disturbance is modeled as a data-driven stochastic process, this representation avoids intractable integrals in the dynamic recursion of the reach-avoid problem since the expectations can be calculated as an inner product within the RKHS. An example using a high-dimensional chain of integrators is presented, as well as for Clohessy-Wiltshire-Hill (CWH) dynamics.

Economic Model Predictive Control And Process Equipment: Control-Induced Thermal Stress In A Pipe, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Recent work on economic model predictive control (EMPC) has indicated that some processes may be operated in a more economically-optimal fashion under a time-varying operating policy than under a steady-state operating policy. However, a concern for time-varying operation is how such a change in operating policy might impact the equipment within which the processes being controlled are carried out. While under steady-state operation, the operating conditions to which equipment would regularly be exposed can be estimated, this would be more difficult to assess thoroughly a priori under time-varying operation. It could be explored whether the EMPC could be made aware …

Nonlinear Direct Torque Control Of Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive, Jackson Justo

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This paper presents a nonlinear direct torque control (NDTC) strategy of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs) for electric vehicle (EV) propulsion. The proposed NDTC scheme applies a nonlinear model of IPMSM to dynamically determine the optimal switching states that optimize the EV drivers’ decision to reduce the workload. Moreover, the proposed NDTC method has a simple control structure and can explicitly handle system constraints and nonlinearities. The performance evaluation is conducted via a prototype IPMSM test-bed with a TMS320F28335 DSP. Comparative experimental results provide the evidence of improvements of the proposed NDTC strategy over the conventional DTC strategy by …

Nonlinear Observer For Visual-Inertial Navigation Using Intermittent Landmark Measurements, Miaomiao Wang

Western Research Forum

The development of reliable orientation, position and linear velocity estimation algorithms for the 3D visual-inertial navigation system (VINS) is instrumental in many applications, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is extremely important when the global position system (GPS) is not available in GPS-denied environments. Recently, observers design for VINS using landmark position measurements from Kinect sensors or stereo cameras has been increasingly investigated in the literature.

The aim of this work is to design a nonlinear observer for VINS under the assumption that landmark position measurements are intermittent. In practice, the landmark measurements are …

System Identification Based On Errors-In-Variables System Models, Hyundeok Kang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We study the identification problem for errors-in-variables (EIV) systems. Such an EIV model assumes that the measurement data at both input and output of the system involve corrupting noises. The least square (LS) algorithm has been widely used in this area. However, it results in biased estimates for the EIV-based system identification. In contrast, the total least squares (TLS) algorithm is unbiased, which is now well-known, and has been effective for estimating the system parameters in the EIV system identification.

In this dissertation, we first show that the TLS algorithm computes the approximate maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the system …

A Low-Cost Experimental Testbed For Multi-Agent System Coordination Control, Victor Fernandez-Kim

LSU Master's Theses

A multi-agent system can be defined as a coordinated network of mobile, physical agents that execute complex tasks beyond their individual capabilities. Observations of biological multi-agent systems in nature reveal that these ``super-organisms” accomplish large scale tasks by leveraging the inherent advantages of a coordinated group. With this in mind, such systems have the potential to positively impact a wide variety of engineering applications (e.g. surveillance, self-driving cars, and mobile sensor networks). The current state of research in the area of multi-agent systems is quickly evolving from the theoretical development of coordination control algorithms and their computer simulations to experimental …

Flight Director Embedded System And Mobile Ios Application, Anthony Epshteyn

Computer Engineering

For my senior project, I was asked to assist an Aerospace Engineering professor with the design of his new glider. He needed to create a flight director-type instrument so that his pilot could get the aircraft’s positional data during flight. This positional data came from a powerful sensor mounted on the fuselage. To interface with the sensor, I created an embedded system comprised of a ESP32 micro-controller communicating with the sensor via UART/RS-232. The micro-controller was mounted on a breadboard and connected to the sensor via jumper wires. The ESP32 featured a Bluetooth chip that allowed for communication using the …

Weight Controlled Electric Skateboard, Zachary Barram, Carson Bertozzi, Vishnu Dodballapur

Computer Engineering

Technology and the way that humans interact is becoming more vital and omnipresent with every passing day. However, human interface device designers suffer from the increasingly popular “designed for me or people like me” syndrome. This design philosophy inherently limits accessibility and usability of technology to those like the designer. This places severe limits of usability to those who are not fully able as well as leaves non-traditional human interface devices unexplored. This project set out to explore a previously uncharted human interface device, on an electric skateboard, and compare it send user experience with industry leading human interface devices.

Viewpoint Optimization For Autonomous Strawberry Harvesting With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Jonathon J. Sather

Master's Theses

Autonomous harvesting may provide a viable solution to mounting labor pressures in the United States' strawberry industry. However, due to bottlenecks in machine perception and economic viability, a profitable and commercially adopted strawberry harvesting system remains elusive. In this research, we explore the feasibility of using deep reinforcement learning to overcome these bottlenecks and develop a practical algorithm to address the sub-objective of viewpoint optimization, or the development of a control policy to direct a camera to favorable vantage points for autonomous harvesting. We evaluate the algorithm's performance in a custom, open-source simulated environment and observe affirmative results. Our trained …

Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle Controller With Pid Stability Regulation, Christian E. Aguirre

Electrical Engineering

The earth’s oceans and rivers remain widely unexplored. Hobbyists and companies across the globe invest money and resources into remotely operated vehicles (ROV) to further expand underwater knowledge. Each ROV includes a controller that operates motors and monitors other crucial system vitals. The ROV Controller project makes the process of designing an ROV simpler and more affordable by providing a multi-purpose programmable controller.

The ROV controller features programmable digital inputs/outputs and analog inputs. The controller processes control signals from analog joysticks, digital signals from a gyroscope and utilizes a MUX to expand the analog input capabilities of the Arduino. The …

Design And Control Of Fiber Encapsulation Additive Manufacturing, Matt Saari

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

This work presents the design, development, and analysis of the Fiber Encapsulation Additive Manufacturing (FEAM) system developed at the Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing Robotics \& Automation at the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University. The innovation introduced by FEAM is the ability to insert a continuous fiber of different material into the flowing extrudate. Correctly positioning the fiber feed inside the extrudate while turning the fiber in arbitrary directions is a critical aspect of the technology. This will allow for the full exploitation of the capabilities of the FEAM technology to produce robotic components that actuate and sense. …

Autonomous Boat Control Software Design Using Model-Based Systems Engineering, Noah Nelson

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

While there is considerable buzz about self-driving cars, self-driving boats are actually more fully developed. The Boat Hardware Control Platform Team was tasked with developing a fleet of small autonomous boats that travel to a destination while avoiding obstacles and staying in formation. The author’s specific task was to develop software used by the boats to detect obstacles and plan a route to a destination. This was done using a method inspired by self-driving cars, which shows promise, but is still being tested at the time of writing. The entire project incorporated model-based systems engineering, which proved to be useful.

Stability Analysis Of A More General Class Of Systems With Delay-Dependent Coefficients, Chi Jin, Keqin Gu, Islam Boussaada, Silviu-Iulian Niculescu

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

This paper presents a systematic method to analyse the stability of systems with single delay in which the coefficient polynomials of the characteristic equation depend on the delay. Such systems often arise in, for example, life science and engineering systems. A method to analyze such systems was presented by Beretta and Kuang in a 2002 paper, but with some very restrictive assumptions. This work extends their results to the general case with the exception of some degenerate cases. It is found that a much richer behavior is possible when the restrictive assumptions are removed. The interval of interest for the …

Real-Time Fault Detection And Reconfiguration Of A Three-Phase Electric Motor Drive, Danyal Mohammadi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Variable-frequency drives (VFDs) are widely used for control of electrical machines such as induction motors (IMs) or permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). Similar to other electrical devices, these drives are subject to failure. Several types of faults are associated with VFDs. For instance, faults such as an open-switch fault, a short-circuit switch fault are the two common faults in VFDs. These faults can yield catastrophic consequences if proper remedial action is not taken.

A unique remedial topology for the post-fault period and a new pulse width modulation (PWM) strategy are proposed so that not only the motor drive can continue the …

Local And Central Controllers For Microgrids, Edgar Ariel Escala Calame

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this thesis is to serve as a guide, so readers are able to learn about microgrids and to design simple controllers for different AC microgrid applications. In addition, this thesis has the objective to provide examples of simulation cases for the hierarchical structure of a basic AC microgrid which can be used as a foundation to build upon, and achieve more complex microgrid structures as well as more sophisticated power-converter control techniques.

To achieve these objectives, the modeling of voltage source converters and control design in the z-domain are presented. Moreover, the implementation and transient analysis …

Autonomous Watercraft Simulation And Programming, Nicholas J. Savino

Student Scholar Showcase

Automation of various modes of transportation is thought to make travel more safe and efficient. Over the past several decades, advances to semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles have led to advanced autopilot systems on planes and boats, and an increasing popularity of self-driving cars. We predicted the motion of an autonomous vehicle using simulations in Python. The simulation models the motion of a small scale watercraft, which can then be built and programmed using an Arduino Microcontroller. We examined different control methods for a simulated rescue craft to reach a target. We also examined the effects of different factors, such as …

An Optimization Approach Based On The Interior-Point Methodology For The Tertiary Control Of Modernized Microgrids, Isaiah D. Woodruff

Honors College Theses

With the rise in popularity of the modernized microgrids (MMGs), the addition of a controller to maximize economic efficiency while considering environmental impact is crucial. Tertiary control is at the highest control level, considering economic concerns related to the optimal operation of the microgrid and using a sampling time from minutes to hours; tertiary controls manage the flow of power between the microgrid and the connected grid. In MMGs' tertiary controls, the use of optimization algorithms to minimize an objective function with equality and inequality constraints allows for powerful control over the system. In this paper, the interior-point algorithm is …

Physical Layer Discrimination Of Electronic Control Units Using Wired Signal Distinct Native Attribute (Ws-Dnda), Rahn M. Lassiter

Theses and Dissertations

The Controller Area Network (CAN) bus is a communication system used in automobiles to connect the electronic components required for critical vehicle operations. These components are called Electronic Control Units (ECU) and each one exercises one or more functions within the vehicle. ECUs can provide autonomous safety features and increased comfort to drivers but these advancements may come at the expense of vehicle security. Researchers have shown that the CAN bus can be hacked by compromising authorized ECUs or by physically connecting unauthorized devices to the bus. Physical layer (PHY) device fingerprinting has emerged as one of the accepted approaches …

Side Channel Anomaly Detection In Industrial Control Systems Using Physical Characteristics Of End Devices, Ryan D. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are described by the Department of Homeland Security as systems that are so \vital to the United States that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on our physical or economic security." Attacks like Stuxnet show that these systems are vulnerable. The end goal for Stuxnet was to spin centrifuges at a frequency rate outside of normal operation and hide its activity from the ICS operator. This research aims to provide a proof of concept for an anomaly detection system that would be able to detect an attack like Stuxnet by measuring the physical …

Active Control Of A Morphing Wing Aircraft And Failure Analysis For System Reliability, Madison J. Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations

A morphing wing aircraft has the ability to increase the efficiency of an aircraft by better optimizing lift and drag characteristics during a flight. A morphing wing UAV was designed and constructed by AFRL/RQVS and required a means of control and method of characterizing the performance of the aircraft through flight testing. This research presents the design and construction of a control system capable of adjusting the morphing wing shape based on pilot commands and current flight status. The control system was tested and improved following a flight test crash utilizing failure mode analysis.

Two-On-One Pursuit With A Non-Zero Capture Radius, Patrick J. Wasz

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we revisit the "Two Cutters and Fugitive Ship" differential game that was addressed by Isaacs, but move away from point capture. We consider a two-on-one pursuit-evasion differential game with simple motion and pursuers endowed with circular capture sets of radius l > 0. The regions in the state space where only one pursuer effects the capture and the region in the state space where both pursuers cooperatively and isochronously capture the evader are characterized, thus solving the Game of Kind. Concerning the Game of Degree, the algorithm for the synthesis of the optimal state feedback strategies of the …

Control Strategies For Multi-Evaporator Vapor Compression Cycles, Sunderlin D. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Next-generation military aircraft must be able to handle highly transient thermal loads that exceed the ability of current aircraft thermal subsystems. Vapor compression cycle systems are a particular refrigeration technology that is an attractive solution for dealing with this challenge, due primarily to their high efficiency. However, there are several barriers to realizing the benefits of vapor cycles systems for controlling thermal loads in military aircraft. This thesis focuses on addressing the challenge of controlling vapor cycles in the presence of highly transient evaporator heat loads. Specifically, a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is designed for a simple vapor cycle system, …

Design Of An Energy-Aware Enhanced Cooperative Mac Protocol In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Jaeshin Jang, Balasubramaniam Natarajan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this paper, we present a new energy-efficient cooperative MAC protocol, called the e2 BT-COMAC protocol for mobile ad hoc networks, and evaluate its performance. In the proposed MAC protocol, which is an enhanced version of our previous eBT-COMAC protocol, a cross-layer energy-aware strategy for cooperative communication is employed using mobile nodes. Considering a random waypoint mobility model for all mobile nodes, we compare the system throughput and network lifetime of the e2 BT-COMAC protocol with previously proposed cooperative MAC protocols. Using a new metric that is a weighted combination of normalized system throughput and lifetime, we determine optimal values …

On Accounting For Equipment-Control Interactions In Economic Model Predictive Control Via Process State Constraints, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Traditionally, chemical processes have been operated at steady-state; however, recent work on economic model predictive control (EMPC) has indicated that some processes may be operated in a more economically-optimal fashion under a time-varying operating policy. It is unclear how time-varying operating policies may impact process equipment, which must be investigated for safety and profit reasons. It has traditionally been considered that constraints on process states can be added to EMPC design to prevent the controller from computing control actions which create problematic operating conditions for process equipment. However, no rigorous investigation has yet been performed to analyze whether, when a …

Radar Detection, Tracking And Identification For Uav Sense And Avoid Applications, Erik George Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology have enabled wider access for the general public leading to more stringent flight regulations, such as the "line of sight" restriction, for hobbyists and commercial applications. Improving sensor technology for Sense And Avoid (SAA) systems is currently a major research area in the unmanned vehicle community. This thesis overviews efforts made to advance intelligent algorithms used to detect, track, and identify commercial UAV targets by enabling rapid prototyping of novel radar techniques such as micro-Doppler radar target identification or cognitive radar. To enable empirical radar signal processing evaluations, an S-Band and X-Band frequency …

Nonlinear Controller Design For Uavs With Time-Varying Aerodynamic Uncertainties, Michail G. Michailidis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are here and they are here to stay. Unmanned Aviation has expanded significantly in recent years and research and development in the field of navigation and control have advanced beyond expectations. UAVs are currently being used for defense programs around the world but the range of applications is expected to grow in the near future, with civilian applications such as environmental and aerial monitoring, aerial surveillance and homeland security being some representative examples. Conventional and commercially available small-scale UAVs have limited utilization and applicability to executing specific short-duration missions because of limitations in size, payload, power …

Reinforcement Learning, Intelligent Control And Their Applications In Connected And Autonomous Vehicles, Adedapo O. Odekunle

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Reinforcement learning (RL) has attracted large attention over the past few years. Recently, we developed a data-driven algorithm to solve predictive cruise control (PCC) and games output regulation problems. This work integrates our recent contributions to the application of RL in game theory, output regulation problems, robust control, small-gain theory and PCC. The algorithm was developed for $H_\infty$ adaptive optimal output regulation of uncertain linear systems, and uncertain partially linear systems to reject disturbance and also force the output of the systems to asymptotically track a reference. In the PCC problem, we determined the reference velocity for each autonomous vehicle …

Application Of Droop Control And Synchronization For Single-Phase Inverters In Ac Microgrid Integration, Shuai Yang

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

With the increasing requirements on environment-friendly and sustainable clean energy [1], people have paid more attention to renewable energy around the world in the past few decades. As a result, power systems have undergone a paradigm shift from centralized generation to distributed generation. Smart grids, which are a combination of power systems and communication networks, were proposed to allow power systems to meet future challenges. In smart grids, especially in AC microgrids, converters play an important role in many areas including microgrid integration, uninterrupted power supply, and flexible alternating current transmission systems. The inverter is a power conversion device [2] …

Machine Learning For Load Profile Data Analytics And Short-Term Load Forecasting, Md. Rashedul Haq

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Short-term load forecasting (STLF) is a key issue for the operation and dispatch of day ahead energy market. It is a prerequisite for the economic operation of power systems and the basis of dispatching and making startup-shutdown plans, which plays a key role in the automatic control of power systems. Accurate power load forecasting not only help users choose a more appropriate electricity consumption scheme and reduces a lot of electric cost expenditure but also is conducive to optimizing the resources of power systems. This advantage helps while improving equipment utilization for reducing the production cost and improving the economic …