Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Securing Distributed Energy Resources: A Dnp3 Master Station With Semantic Web Integration For Decentralized Der Data Sovereignty, Ethan J. Coffman

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

As current electrical grids trend toward a heavier reliance on DERs, there is a growing need to secure DER communications while maintaining data sovereignty for device owners. Previously, work by Donna Thakadipuram established the foundation for a decentralized framework using Solid by implementing a prototype that used a Raspberry Pi and a DSP to simulate Modbus traffic and upload the data to a Solid server. This thesis extends her work to simulate multiple DERs using Typhoon HIL and communicate to each device over DNP3/TCP. The system uses a Python-based DNP3 master to collect telemetry from all 12 DERs before transforming …

Protocol-Aware Enforcement-Point Postcards And Collector Feedback For Ot/Ics Forensic Readiness And Closed-Loop Defense, Haden Fowler

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this work, we apply P4-programmable switches to Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control System (ICS) traffic with the objective of turning enforcement decisions into structured forensic evidence that can also support fast, scoped feedback. OT investigations often rely on later correlation of endpoint logs, passive packet traces, and historian data, but those sources can be incomplete, hard to align in time, and missing the decision made at the enforcement point. We address this gap by implementing a P4-based enforcement switch that parses Modbus/TCP write traffic, applies protocol-aware policy checks, and exports protocolaware postcards to a collector. The collector stores …

Small-Scale Analog Spiking Neural Network: Design And Simulation Of An Analog Deep Neural Network, Lucas Hogue

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

A small-scale analog schematic of a spiking neural network (SNN) is designed and demonstrated through the analog design environment (ADE) within Cadence Virtuoso. An SNN is a type of neuromorphic system that utilizes components mimicking the function of the neurons and synapses found in biological neural networks. The SNN designed in this project is composed of four layers: one input layer, two hidden layers, and one output layer. The inclusion of more than one hidden layer classifies the network as “deep” and increases the network’s efficiency at handling data with increased complexity. The SNN categorizes inputs by producing a set …

​Autonomous Agentic Orchestration For Physics-Aware Scientific Discovery: An Integrative Multimodal Framework For 2d Material Characterization​, Sankalp Pandey

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The advancement of next-generation semiconductor and quantum technologies relies on the scalability of the fabrication of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals heterostructures. However, this process is severely bottlenecked by characterization workflows. Optical microscopy provides high-throughput imaging of 2D material flakes, but lacks the explicit physical priors required for the discernment of sub-nanometer thickness variations, such as distinguishing monolayers from bilayers. The use of computer vision models to automate the localization and characterization process of the flakes was proposed. As a part of this effort, we develop QuantumFlake, an open-source framework to streamline the integration and deployment of computer vision models …

Performance Comparison Of A Two-Level And A Three-Level 1500v Three-Phase Grid-Tied Solar Inverter, Shawn Sproles

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the global switch to renewable energy sources, photovoltaic energy has become an integral source to harvest from. When solar panels convert sunlight into a DC voltage, a grid-tied inverter is needed to transform this DC voltage into an AC voltage to interface with the AC grid. The most widely used topologies for grid-tied solar inverters are two-level three-phase inverters and three-level NPC three-phase inverters. Compared to two-level inverters, three-level NPC inverters have advantages such as lower EMI, lower THD, and lower switching losses. Moreover, three-level NPC inverters are shown to have higher efficiency in low-voltage applications at medium to …

Mitigating Inertial Measurement Unit Drift In Quadcopter Trajectory Tracking Using Kalman Filter Sensor Fusion With Global Positioning Measurements, Juan Sandro Caballero Aguilar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) like quadcopters are widely used in civilian and military applications such as farming, photography, search and rescue missions, and autonomous navigation and motion. The performance and stability of these systems depend on accurate state estimation, which provides real-time information about the vehicle’s position, velocity, and orientation. However, achieving reliable state estimation is challenging due to sensor noise, measurement uncertainty, and inaccurate modeling. Common navigation sensors such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) exhibit complementary characteristics. GPS provides absolute position measurements but suffers from noise, multipath effects, and low update rates, while …

Design And Optimization To Advance Silicon Carbide Modules For Medium Voltage High Power Applications, Ahmed Ismail

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The commercial availability of the first 10 kV silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET removes the principal semiconductor barrier to medium-voltage power conversion, enabling converter topologies that are structurally inaccessible to silicon IGBT solutions at this voltage class. This dissertation presents the characterization infrastructure, device-level data, and preliminary system-level validation needed to advance the deployment of the third-generation 10 kV SiC MOSFET in converter applications. A custom-built 10 kV double-pulse test platform is developed with a fully documented component-sizing methodology, custom medium-voltage magnetics, and a measurement infrastructure capable of high bandwidth waveform capture at kilovolt common-mode potentials. On this platform, the third-generation …

Uav-Based Sensor Integration For In-Situ Lake Water Quality Monitoring, Alec R. Campbell

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Surface water monitoring is often constrained by limited spatial and temporal coverage due to the labor-intensive nature of traditional sampling methods, particularly in environments that are difficult to access or pose safety risks. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer a promising solution by enabling more frequent, spatially distributed, and cost-effective data collection. This study presented the design, development, and field evaluation of a UAV-based system for real-time, in-situ water quality monitoring. The system integrated multiple sensors, including oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), RGB spectrometry, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), and a multispectral spectrometer within a UAV platform.

Field testing was conducted …

Control And Stability Analysis Of Three-Phase Grid-Connected Inverters In Renewable Energy Systems, Yasser Ayeva

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The increase in demand for renewable energy sources such as solar and wind systems has led to widespread use and integration of a three-phase grid connected inverters in electric modern electric power systems. The inverters are essential to convert DC power into AC power and to control the delivered power to the grid. However, the use of the inverters in a renewable energy system has some challenges related to stability and control due to the presence of power electronic interfaces and filter dynamics. This paper analyzes the control and stability of three phase grid connected inverter through an LCL filter. …

Delay-Doppler Integrated Sensing And Communications (Dd-Isac) With Predictive Beamforming, Mohammad Abdul Mobin, Yanjun Pan, Jingxian Wu

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A new delay-Doppler (DD) integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) framework is proposed for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems. In the DD-ISAC framework, both sensing and communications are performed by using the orthogonal delay Doppler division multiplexing (ODDM) waveforms, which unify sensing and communication designs through the unique ODDM waveform properties, such as local DD-domain bi-orthogonality and dual-resolution. Specifically, the dual-resolution property enables the generation of a range-Doppler map for accurate and low complexity sensing, and the bi-orthogonality minimizes interference for both sensing and communications. The ODDM waveforms are used in combination with the phase comparison monopulse technique and a scaled …

Development Of A Scalable 32x32 Capacitive Sensing Array Using Fpga Controlled Multi-Bus I2c Communication, Jonathan Digby

2026 Research Poster Competition

High-resolution capacitive sensor arrays are widely used in applications such as robotics, wearable devices, and biomedical devices where accurate detection of touch, proximity, and motion is crucial. As these systems are scaled up to achieve higher resolutions, challenges pertaining to communication reliability, data synchronization, and system latency become more important. Capacitive sensor arrays detect changes in capacitance caused by disturbances in nearby electric fields. While these arrays are effective at small scales, large arrays often suffer from signal degradation and latency when all sensors rely on a single controller and communication bus. This research addresses these challenges by developing a …

Rapid Prototyping Of Low-Cost Sensor Systems Towards A Platform For Upper Limb Posture Estimation, Russell Rathbun

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Physical therapy requires patients to perform repeated actions to achieve meaningful results in rehabilitation. This thesis explores production methods and various sensor systems by utilizing rapid prototyping, inertial measurement units (IMUs), and capacitive sensor arrays (CSAs). CSAs can be made from a wide ar- ray of materials and techniques including 3d printing and laser ablation–to rapidly create CSAs that can be custom fit to enable proximity, force, and touch detection. IMU and CSA systems individually are able to track upper limb movements, ges- tures, and positions. This combination of sensors enables accurate upper limb pos- ture estimation of patients. This …

Cattlefever: An Automated Cattle Fever Estimation System, Trong Thang Pham, Ethan Coffman, Beth Kegley, Jeremy G. Powell, Jiangchao Zhao, Ngan Le

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Farmers face the critical challenge of monitoring cattle well-being for both ethical and economic success, relying on signals like body temperature and facial expressions to assess their animals' health. However, these indicators have traditionally relied on human observation with manual measurement, which is time-consuming and subjective. Despite this clear need, no automated system currently exists for monitoring cattle body temperature, and available datasets remain limited in scope. To address these challenges, we make two key contributions: (i) We introduce CattleFace-RGBT, a novel RGB-Thermal (RGB-T) Cattle Facial Landmark dataset consisting of 2,300 paired RGB and thermal images (4,600 images in total), …

Beam Steering Control For A Small-Scale 5g Antenna Array, Omar Wagih Elkalesh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis demonstrates the design, development, and validation of a full-scale adaptive beam steering control system of a small-scale 5G antenna array, designed and thoroughly evaluated with MATLAB Simulink. Overcoming the significant challenge of establishing strong wireless links in dynamic environments, the new system uses a new closed-loop control framework that can automatically detect the signal sources and automatically change the beam direction in real-time. The use of the adaptation is necessary to combat tracking errors that are caused by the mobility of the mobile users, environmental variations, as well as channel estimation errors, widespread in future wireless communication systems. …

Study And Simulation Of Model-Reference Adaptive Control Via The Heffron-Philips Model For Enhanced Power System Stability, Laila Ayman Dallol

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improving power transmission and quality has been an area of research interest over the past decades and was improved using renewable energy resources, mainly wind, and solar generation. Renewable energy penetration into power grids aims to replace some traditional synchronous generators, affecting the overall power system with reduced gas emissions that help with climate change and pollution issues. However, renewable generation in power systems ranging from microgrids to national grids is subjected to large disturbances that affect its transient stability, which is measured by its critical clearing time. As increased amounts of renewable generation connected to power systems have resulted …

Implementation Of A Three-Port Solar Converter With A Battery Energy Storage System, Maison Christopher Phipps

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing deployment of distributed solar and energy storage systems has created the need for integrated power converters that can efficiently manage photovoltaic (PV) generation, battery energy storage, and grid-tied AC output. This thesis presents the implementation and validation of a 5kW non-isolated Three-Port Converter (TPC) adapted for residential solar applications. The converter consolidates three power stage into a high-frequency, compact architecture: a unidirectional boost converter for PV input, a bidirectional interleaved buck-boost converter for battery energy storage, and a configurable DC/AC inverter for 120Vac single-phase output. The system is controlled using a central controller implemented on a TI C2000™ …

Design And Optimization Of High-Frequency Medium-Voltage Dual Active Bridge Dc/Dc Converter Using Sic Device, Hui Cao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High frequency Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converters have become a key enabling technology in medium- and high-power applications such as renewable energy integration, electric vehicle fast charging, and emerging DC power distribution systems. However, when operating at high power and high frequency, DAB converters face critical challenges including limited soft-switching range, uneven semiconductor loss distribution, deadtime-induced resonance, switching-frequency constraints of wide-bandgap (WBG) devices, and transformer DC bias during dynamic transitions. This dissertation addresses these challenges through advancements in modulation strategies and converter architecture. First, an enhanced triple-phase-shift (E-TPS) modulation scheme is proposed to achieve balanced switching and conduction losses across …

Optical Characterization Of Ge And Gesn Grown In Aspect Ratio Trapping Structures For Enhanced Emitter Performance, Abdulla Said Ali

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon (Si) began dominating the electronics industry since 1960s, the dominance came due to its affordability and well developed fabrication processes. But when it comes to light emitting devices and photonics devices in general, the indirect bandgap of Si has caused many scientists to search for alternative semiconductor materials that can deliver better light emission, materials that can also improve wavelengths detection which is also very limited when it comes to Si, reduce losses and greater light amplification, all this while still being affordable. Despite these limitations, Si has been widely used in Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing and …

Optimal & Robust Control Of A Bidirectional Dc-Dc Converter In Ev Systems, Yasser Ayeva

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper analyzes the performance of PI, LQR, and H∞ controllers for the regulation of a bidirectional buck boost converter in electric vehicle systems. To get the system state space equations, a continuous conduction average model is linearized. For analysis a PI controller will be used as baseline, the LQR controller will be used to improve transient response, and the H∞ controller will be used for the system robustness and disturbance rejection. The simulation results show that the advanced controllers surpass the PI controller in terms of overshoot, settling time, and voltage ripple, with the H∞ controller offering the best …

Series Resonant Converters With Medium Voltage Sic Mosfets For Electric Aircraft Applications, Xinyuan Du

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To develop high-performance high- power-density MV power converters, the emerging silicon carbide (SiC) devices are more attractive than their silicon (Si) counterparts, since the fast switch frequency brought by the SiC can effectively reduce the volume and weight of the filter components and thus increase the converter power density. From the converter topology perspective, with the MV dc distribution, the single stage isolated dc/dc converter are suitable for next-generation electric aircraft system due to soft switching and high power density. In this work, comprehensive static and dynamic characterizations were conducted for the latest 6.5 kV silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs from …

Design Of Phase Shifter And True Time Delay Gan Mmics For High-Temperature Ku-Band Applications, Michael Lee Thompson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design, implementation, and high-temperature characterization of Gallium Nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) developed for beamforming and phased-array systems operating in the Ku-band (12-14 GHz). Two integrated circuits were designed: a 3-bit digital phase shifter and a 3-bit true time delay (TTD), both optimized for high linearity, low insertion loss, low phase error, and stable operation at elevated temperatures up to 300°C. Developing both a phase shifter and a TTD enabled a direct comparison of their beamforming performance and the evaluation of beam squint effects over frequency, a critical factor in wideband array design. The …

Solar Powered Conservation: The Effects Of Solar Photovoltaic Facilities On Avian Community Composition, Michael Christopher Ferrara

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The expansion of solar photovoltaic energy infrastructure is transforming landscapes worldwide. Increasingly, facilities are planted with native vegetation, yet how vegetation characteristics and landscape variables shape wildlife communities in solar facilities remains poorly understood. Because avian populations have been in decline and are sensitive to habitat changes, understanding how solar facilities influence avian communities is important. In Chapter 1, we used autonomous recording units, local vegetation measurements, and land use and land cover data to quantify how avian community occupancy is influenced by solar cover in solar facilities and comparable reference sites. We used a Bayesian multi-species occupancy model to …

Volume Status Detection With Integral Pulse Frequency Modulation Model Of Peripheral Venous Pressure, Jeremiah Rhys Wimer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the effectiveness of utilizing a modified integral pulse frequency modulation (IPFM) algorithm to synthesize peripheral venous pressure (PVP) waveforms for the detection of several physiological conditions using logistic regression. PVP waveforms are collected from 18 human patients and 4 porcine subjects. Human data are used to train models for determining the hypovolemic status of the patient, while the porcine data are used to train models for determining level of anesthesia and detecting internal hemorrhaging. In the human dataset, the waveforms collected from the 18 patients are classified into two groups according to serum chloride levels: resuscitated (≥100 …

Design And Testing Of A Gallium Nitride Power Amplifier For High-Temperature Radar Applications, Walker Landry Harbison

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier integrated circuit (IC) intended for high-temperature radar applications. Radar systems are used in many different applications, such as defense, aerospace, and weather. For their function, these systems require high power, efficiency, and reliability under a wide range of operating conditions. Taking advantage of the material properties of GaN, including its high breakdown voltage, wide bandgap, and thermal conductivity bolstered by the use of silicon carbide in the substrate, this work focuses on examining amplifier performance in both ambient and elevated temperature conditions. The PA was …

A Radiation-Hardened 4-Bit Flash Adc With Compact Fault-Tolerant Logic For Seu Mitigation, Fnu Naveed, Jeff Dix

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a radiation-hardened 4-bit flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) implemented in a 22 nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) process for high-reliability applications in radiation environments. To improve single-event upsets (SEU) tolerance, the design introduces a compact fault-tolerant logic scheme based on Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR), offering reliability comparable to Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) while using two storage nodes instead of three, and a simple XOR-based check in place of a majority voter. A distributed sampling architecture mitigates SEU vulnerabilities in the input path, while thin-oxide devices are used in analog-critical circuits to enhance total ionizing dose (TID) resilience. Post-layout …

Switching Performance Optimization Of Sic Mosfets With Digital Active Gate Drivers, Liyang Du

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) have extensive applications in high-power density devices, but they exhibit quick switching transients that are problematic, including electromagnetic interference (EMI), voltage overshoot, and current imbalance between paralleled devices. The purpose of this dissertation is to maximize the switching performance of SiC MOSFETs using digital active gate drivers (AGDs). A three-level gate driving approach is presented to improve current sharing in paralleled SiC MOSFETs through turn-on voltage and gate signal delay adjustment. Closed-loop control with real-time feedback ensures high-reliability operation. For better practicability, a compact AGD structure of a single-path Class-B amplifier-based topology is …

Land8fire: A Complete Study On Wildfire Segmentation Through Comprehensive Review, Human-Annotated Multispectral Dataset, And Extensive Benchmarking, Anh Tran, Minh Tran, Esteban Marti, Jackson Cothren, Chase Rainwater, Sandra Eksioglu, Ngan Le

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Early and accurate wildfire detection is critical for minimizing environmental damage and ensuring a timely response. However, existing satellite-based wildfire datasets suffer from limitations such as coarse ground truth, poor spectral coverage, and class imbalance, which hinder progress in developing robust segmentation models. In this paper, we introduce Land8Fire, a new large-scale wildfire segmentation dataset composed of over 20,000 multispectral image patches derived from Landsat 8 and manually annotated for high-quality fire masks. Building on the ActiveFire dataset, Land8Fire improves ground truth reliability and offers predefined splits for consistent benchmarking. We evaluate a range of state-of-the-art convolutional and transformer-based models, …

Design And Validation Of A High-Frequency Multi-Output Dc-Dc Converter For Radar Power Applications, Tory Sutton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern radar systems and advanced electronics demand compact, efficient, and reliable power solutions capable of delivering multiple tightly regulated voltage rails under strict size, weight, power, and reliability (SWaP-R) constraints. This thesis presents the design, implementation, and validation of a high-frequency (460 kHz – 1 MHz), multi-output DC-DC converter for a mission?critical radar platform, addressing both integration and performance requirements. The first implementation, an isolated modular converter (IMC), utilizes isolated silicon?based DC-DC modules to deliver twelve isolated voltage outputs from a single input. This approach provided robust electrical isolation, simplified system integration, and minimized design risk, making it well-suited for …

Sidesense: Robust Physiological Motion Detection Via Mmwave Joint Communication And Sensing Systems With Multiple Beams, Mohammed Shadman Ishrak, Jannatun Noor Sameera, Alvin Yang, Yanjun Pan, Yao Zheng, Olga Boric-Lubecke, Victor M. Lubecke

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A 28-GHz multibeam joint communication and sensing system called SideSense is presented, in which a line-of-sight (LoS) beam is used to maintain reliable communication, while other sensing beams are used to enhance physiological motion detection. SideSense decodes the motion frequency and shape from the channel state information (CSI) by first tuning the gain ratio and phase differences between the LoS communication beam and non-LoS (NLoS) beam to maximize the sensing signal-to-noise ratio (SSNR) without significantly degrading the communication channel capacity (CCC). Analytical results based on a bistatic model are presented to show a gain ratio of around 1 and a …

Comprehensive Risk Assessment Of Power Grids Using Fuzzy Bayesian Networks Through Expert Elicitation: A Technical Analysis, Yasir Mahmood, Nof Yasir, Nita Yodo, Ying Huang, Di Wu, Roy A. Mccann

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Power grid infrastructures, essential to modern societies for electricity distribution, are prone to vulnerabilities due to their numerous sensitive components, necessitating a comprehensive risk assessment. Uncertainty in historical failure data often compromises accurate risk quantification, leading to the integration of expert elicitation as a solution. This study develops a Bayesian network (BN) risk assessment model integrated with fuzzy set theory (FST), referred to as the fuzzy Bayesian network (FBN). By incorporating expert insights, this model quantifies internal and external risk variables more comprehensively. Crisp probabilities (CPr), derived from regional transmission operator (RTO) failure incident data, are complemented by fuzzy probabilities …