Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Digital Design For A Sweeping Langmuir Probe Board, Omar Morales

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In-situ probing of the Earth's upper atmosphere has greatly contributed to the understanding of the ionosphere's variations and structures. The purpose of this research project has been to develop the digital component of a Swept Langmuir Probe that will be used on a sounding rocket to be launched through the equatorial ionosphere. The probe will make measurements of the plasma density and temperature in the ionosphere.

The digital component uses an FPGA to perform three main functions in parallel which are generating a sweeping voltage on the probe, sampling data channels, and communicating measured data to external devices. The FPGA …

Ece3260 - Science Of Sound, Spring 2004, Paul Wheeler

Electrical and Computer Engineering - OCW

Welcome to Science of Sound. This course is offered as a regular class Fall Semesters on the USU campus in Logan, Utah. It is also available over the internet Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters, or as a yearlong independent-studies course. In each case, work is submitted using the internet. The only difference in the regular class held Fall semester is that students meet with the professor three times a week to discuss the material in the text. A teaching assistant is assigned to answer questions via the internet. The course consists of reading the text, supplementing concepts using the Internet, …

Real-Time Image Analysis Of Living Cellular-Biology Measurements Of Intelligent Chemistry, J.C. Solinsky, Scott E. Budge, P.D. Majors, B. Rex

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper reports on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) DOE Initiative in Image Science and Technology (ISAT) research, which is developing algorithms and software tool sets for remote sensing and biological applications. In particular, the PNNL ISAT work is applying these research results to the automated analysis of real-time cellular biology imagery to assist the biologist in determining the correct data collection region for the current state of a conglomerate of living cells in three-dimensional motion. The real-time computation of the typical 120 MB/sec multi-spectral data sets is executed in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology, which has …

Spatial And Temporal Considerations In Vehicle Path Tracking With An Emphasis On Spatial Robustness, Donald L. Cripps

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation researches the task and path management of an autonomous vehicle with Ackerman-type steering.

The task management problem was approached as a path training operation in which a human operator drives the desired path through an environment. A training trajectory is converted into a series of path segments that are driveable by the autonomous vehicle by first fitting a general path to the dataset. Next, transition segments are added to the general path to match the vehicle velocity and steering angle rate limit.

The path management problem has been approached by first deriving a kine- matic model of the …

Bit-Level Erasure Decoding Of Reed-Solomon Codes Over Gf(2/Sup M/), T.K. Moon, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The algorithms for bit-level erasure decoding of (n,k) Reed-Solomon codes over GF(2/sup m/) beyond the design erasure decoding distance of n-k are considered. Erasure decoding takes place in the (mk, nk) binary image code. When the number of erasures exceeds n-k, then additional parity check equations must be developed. We describe how these equations are obtained and some of their properties. Decoding algorithms are discussed which tradeoff decoding performance for computational complexity. Simulation results for several families of codes are presented which provide information about good binary image codes.

A Model Of Plasma Frequency Probes Utilizing Plasma Fluid Equations And Finite Difference Time Domain (Fdtd) Theory, Jeffrey D. Ward

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As man continues to search the unknown, additional tools are needed to develop and analyze new probes. This thesis will present a full wave Finite Difference Time Domain model that is capable of analyzing radio frequency probes immersed in realistic ionospheric plasma. The five moment approximations, Maxwell's equations and the plasma fluid equations, are discretized using a finite difference time domain method. Balmain's and Adachi theories are used to validate the simulation at the gyro and hybrid resonance points. Finally, with the model developed, the simulation is used to analyze a microstrip patch plasma impedance probe immersed in hot collisional …

Design Of An Fpga-Based High-Speed Filter-Decimator For The Gifts Imaging Interferometer, Scott E. Budge, Charles R. O'Brien

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents the design of an FPGA-based frame filter-decimator for the geostationary imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (GIFTS). The decimator reduces samples from two 128/spl times/128 sample imaging arrays from 1638.4 fps to 102.4 complex fps for the long wave IR (LWIR) band and from 1638.4 fps to 204.8 complex fps for the medium wave IR (MWIR) band. The design uses a novel parallel pipeline architecture to handle the bandpass sampling and decimation of the 16 k array samples which arrive a frame-at-a-time. The design is challenging because of significant speed, size, weight and power restrictions for satellite implementation.

A Fast Full-Search Adaptive Vector Quantizer For Video Coding, Scott E. Budge, Christian B. Peel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a novel VQ structure which provides very good quality encoding for video sequences and exploits the computational savings gained from a fast-search algorithm. It uses an adaptive-search, variable-length encoding method which allows for very fast matching of a wide range of transmission rates. Both the encoding quality and the computational benefits from the fast-search algorithm are presented. Simulations show that full-search tree residual VQ (FTRVQ) can provide up to 3 dB improvement over a similar RVQ encoder on video sequences.

Very Fast Tree-Structured Vector Quantization, Todd K. Moon, Christian B. Peel, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Very fast tree-structured vector quantization employs scalar quantization decisions at each level, but chooses the dimension on which to quantize based on the coordinate direction of maximum variance. Because the quantization is scalar, searches are no more complex than scalar quantization - providing significant improvement in complexity over full-searched or even tree-structured vector quantization - but the method preserves the shape and memory advantages of conventional vector quantization. However, the space filling advantage of VQ is forfeited, since each Voronoi cell is a rectangular cuboid.

Design Of A Control System For Fmc Jetway Systems' Teleradial Bridge, Briclyn Jon Rogers

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

FMC Jetway Systems has been manufacturing and servicing airport products for over forty years. These products include passenger boarding bridges, pre-conditioned air units, potable water systems and solid-state 400 hertz converters. Components produced by Jetway can be found on over 190 airports across the world. Their Apron Drive Passenger Boarding Bridge (Fig. 1) is the most versatile and widely used boarding bridge in the world. Only recently has the company aimed at gaining a portion of the quickly expanding market of commuter flights.

Rate-Distortion Adaptive Vector Quantization For Wavelet Imagecoding, Qun Gu, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We propose a wavelet image coding scheme using rate-distortion adaptive tree-structured residual vector quantization. Wavelet transform coefficient coding is based on the pyramid hierarchy (zero-tree), but rather than determining the zero-tree relation from the coarsest subband to the finest by hard thresholding, the prediction in our scheme is achieved by rate-distortion optimization with adaptive vector quantization on the wavelet coefficients from the finest subband to the coarsest. The proposed method involves only integer operations and can be implemented with very low computational complexity. The preliminary experiments have shown some encouraging results: a PSNR of 30.93 dB is obtained at 0.174 …

Adaptive-Rate Tree-Structured Residual Vector Quantization, Christian B. Peel, X. Liu, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Full-search vector quantization (VQ) provides optimal results only with high memory and computational cost. We describe the computational and memory requirements of tree-structured VQ, residual VQ (RVQ), and tree-structured RVQ. We present multiple-rate, adaptive-search implementations of these VQ structures, and simulation results with video sequences. Tree-structured RVQ provides up to 1.5 db PSNR quality improvements over RVQ, as well as significant perceptual improvement. These algorithms maintain many of the benefits of full-search VQ, while providing trade-offs between computational, storage, and performance requirements.

Locally Optimal, Buffer-Constrained Motion Estimation And Mode Selection For Video Sequences, C. B. Peel, Scott E. Budge, K. Liang, C.-M. Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We describe a method of using a Lagrange multiplier to make a locally optimal trade off between rate and distortion in the motion search for video sequences, while maintaining a constant bit rate channel. Simulation of this method shows that it gives up to 3.5 dB PSNR improvement in a high motion sequence. A locally rate-distortion (R-D) optimal mode selection mechanism is also described. This method also gives significant quality benefit over the nominal method. Though the benefit of these techniques is significant when used separately, when the optimal mode selection is combined with the R-D optimal motion search, it …

Impedance Of A Dipole Antenna In Ionospheric Plasma, Pavel Nikitin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Different approaches to evaluating the behavior of the impedance of an electrically short dipole antenna in the ionosphere as a function of the driving frequency are discussed. The induced EMF method in quasi-static approximation is chosen for evaluating the impedance and explained in great detail. The E-region of the ionosphere is considered and the cold collisional plasma model is used.

The influence of a density gradient in plasma on the impedance is explored, and the possible current distributions on the surface of the antenna are considered, including the current distribution for the antenna with a gap. The conclusions are drawn …

Home Automation System, Joshua James Earl

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The home is the place where people should feel the most comfortable. Considerable technological development is dedicated to making the home more comfortable; smart appliances are a good example of this. There is always a market for products that provide easier control of home appliances and electrical devices. With this in mind, I have designed and implemented a PC-controlled Home Automation System (HAS). This HAS allows complete control of home appliances and electrical devices from the homeowner's IBM-compatible PC. make use of advanced technology in the transmission of the control signals by way of power-lines already present in the home. …

The Fm Radio Program, Andrew Olsen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The PC FM Radio program allows a PC user to listen to FM radio stations while using a PC. The application includes controls that will let the PC user select different FM stations, preset a favorite FM station, select a preset station, and record the current station. The FM hardware is an ISA expansion card that provides the audio signal to the PC through the auxiliary input jack in the sound card. The supporting software runs on Windows 95 machines. A help file is included for simple instructions. The software runs in the background and doesn't use much of the …

Cr9000 Measurement And Control System Pcmcia-Ata Software Device Interface, Ryan Jon Soulier

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Many industries have a need for high speed data collection of a large amount of data. For example, the auto industry extensively tests vehicles for resistance to stress, temperature, and moisture. Campbell Scientific, Inc. (CSI) has built the CR9000 measurement and control system that fills this need by being able to measure up to 252 separate sensors at a sustained rate of up to ten thousand samples per second.

The CR9000 system lacks efficiency because it has only a small, fixed amount of memory and is capable of recording data only for a short period. Older devices designed by CSI …

Progress In The Smart Pixel Technologies, Harvard Scott Hinton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent progress in the developing smart pixel technologies. The paper begins by reviewing some of the rapidly evolving smart pixel terminologies. It then describes several of the smart pixel technologies that have recently emerged. Finally, it outlines the performance of these technologies in both device complexity and aggregate capacity. The reviewed SPA technologies include both the modulator-based FET-SEED, hybrid CMOS-SEED, and LCOS smart pixels and the source-based hybrid VCSEL/MSM, ELO, flip-chip-bonded VCSEL/MSM, and monolithic MSM/MESFET/VCSEL smart pixels.

An Atm-Based Intelligent Optical Backplane Using Cmos-Seed Smart Pixel Arrays And Free- Space Optical Interconnect Modules, Dominic J. Goodwill, Kent E. Devenport, Harvard Scott Hinton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The architecture, smart pixel array chip design, and optical design of an intelligent free-space digital optical backplane for ATM switching are presented. The smart pixel chip uses reflective SEED (self-electrooptic effect device) optical modulators and detectors flip-chip bonded to CMOS circuitry. This chip is one of the most complex designs ever reported in this technology, and it operates at a simulated backplane clock rate of 125 MHz. The low-loss optical system employs f/4 diffractive minilenses and microlenses to interconnect clusters of smart pixels, and it is shown to allow 2060 connections per chip if 1-cm2 -sized smart pixel chips are …

A Hybrid-Seed Smart Pixel Array For A Four-Stage Intelligent Optical Backplane Demonstrator, David R. Rolston, David V. Plant, Ted H. Szymanski, Harvard Scott Hinton, W. S. Hsiao, Michael H. Ayliffe, David Kabal, Michael B. Venditti, P. Desai, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy, Keith W. Goossen, J. A. Walker, B. Tseng, S. P. Hui, J. C. Cunningham, W. Y. Jan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes the VLSI design, layout, and testing of a Hybrid-SEED smart pixel array for a four-stage intelligent optical backplane. The Hybrid-SEED technology uses CMOS silicon circuitry with GaAs-AlGaAs multiple-quantum-well modulators and detectors. The chip has been designed based on the HyperPlane architecture and is composed of four smart pixels which act as a logical 4-bit parallel optical channel. It has the ability to recognize a 4-bit address header, inject electrical data onto the backplane, retransmit optical data, and extract optical data from the backplane. In addition, the smart pixel array can accommodate for optical inversions and bit permutations …

Design, Modeling, And Characterization Of Fet-Seed Smart Pixel Transceiver Arrays For Optical Backplanes, David V. Plant, Alain Z. Shang, Marcos R. Otazo, David R. Rolston, Brian Robertson, Harvard Scott Hinton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The design, modeling, and characterization of FET-SEED smart pixel transceiver arrays fabricated for application in optical backplanes are presented. Results of digital and analog measurements on 4×4 transmitter arrays and 4×4 receiver arrays, packaged at the printed circuit-board level, will be presented. In addition, these results will be compared to device and circuit models developed for these optoelectronics. Finally, the description of the successful application of these optoelectronics to interconnect two printed circuit boards will be described.

An Adaptive "Natural Law" Fuzzy Controller, Sandeep D. Sequeira

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fuzzy control has met with a tremendous interest in applications over the past few years. Despite its application potential, a broader industrial exploitation of fuzzy control has been hindered by the lack of standard design methods for fuzzy control systems. Fuzzy controllers have had to be designed on a case-by-case basis employing heuristics and reflecting the designer's limited insight into the control object's behavior. A number of fuzzy theorists have investigated the fuzzy system theoretic problems and results reported in the literature have been encouraging.

This thesis research has explored the notion that fuzzy control, despite being a rule-based control …

Techniques To Improve Electron Density Measurements In The D Region Of The Ionosphere, Earl F. Pound

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The electron density of the ionosphere can be measured using rocket-borne probes that measure changes of the impedance of an antenna as it traverses the plasma. The resistive component of the antenna impedance is difficult to measure accurately in the D region of the ionosphere (50-90 km) because it has such a small value and is in series with a much larger capacitive reactance. The resistance term is squared during data analysis and this further adds to the inaccuracy. Previous data analysis has usually ignored the resistive term and led to errors of as much as 35% for the altitude …

An Optical Backplane Demonstrator System Based On Fet-Seed Smart Pixel Arrays And Diffractive Lenslet Arrays, D. V. Plant, B. Robertson, Harvard Scott Hinton, W. M. Robertson, G. C. Boisset, N. H. Kim, Y. S. Liu, M. R. Otazo, D. R. Rolston, A. Z. Shang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We have demonstrated a representative portion of an optical backplane using FET-SEED smart pixels and free-space optics to interconnect printed circuit boards (PCB's) in a two board, unidirectional link configuration. 4×4 arrays of FET-SEED transceivers were designed, fabricated, and packaged all the PCB level, The optical interconnection was constructed using diffractive microoptics, and custom optomechanics. The system was operated in two modes, one showing high data throughput, 100 MBit/sec, and the other demonstrating large connection densities, 2222 channel/cm2.

Design And Construction Of An Active Alignment Demonstrator For A Free-Space Optical Interconnect, G. C. Boisset, B. Robertson, Harvard Scott Hinton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An x-y active alignment system based on Risley beam steerers is described. The demonstrator features a quadrant detector which detects the misalignment error between the center of a spot of light and the center of the quadrant detector. This misalignment error is then used by a new algorithm to calculate the rotational displacement required for the two Risley beam steerers to steer the spot of light to the center of the quadrant detector. The experimental results indicate that any spot misaligned by up to 160 μm on the quadrant detector will be systematically centered by the demonstrator system.

The Design Of An Augmentative Communications Device, Darren Blaser, Scott Sorenson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

There is an extremely large number of people in the modem world who have difficulty communicating. Among these are approximately 25 million people with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a disability that is usually caused during, or shortly after birth. Cerebral palsy usually affects a person's motor skills and sense of balance, often rendering them incapable of speaking clearly enough to be understood well. Because this group of people cannot communicate as effectively as other individuals, many uninformed people suppose they do not have as great a need to speak, to say things like, "How are you?", ''I'm Hungry", "Thank …

Advanced Navigation For Planetary Vehicles Applying An Approximate Mapping Technique, Timothy R. Mcjunkin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis provides a method for compressing the information provided by JPL Mars rover obstacle sensors by creating an approximate map of the terrain around the vehicle. This thesis demonstrates that this method provides adequate information for a human operator to negotiate complex obstacles fields.

By dividing the area around the vehicle into regions and classifying each region as to how dangerous (impassable), the sensor data can be accumulated with minimal overhead. The terrain in each region has a number between zero and one, with zero meaning completely passable and one meaning completely impassable. A continuum of possible values between …

Developing A Benchmark For Evaluating The Performance Of Parallel Computers, D. Ladd Williamson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper discusses the development of a portable suite of benchmarking programs for parallel computers. Comparative measurement of the performance of parallel computing systems has been limited because of the great diversity of architectures and of processor interconnection schemes. One solution is to translate benchmark codes into a consistent and portable parallel language. This paper reports on progress in developing such a portable suite of benchmarks. An extensive introduction to parallel computing is included as an appendix, to provide a thorough understanding of the factors complicating development of the performance suite. Key to the development was the use of p4, …

Classification Using Set-Valued Kalman Filtering And Levi's Decision Theory, T.K. Moon, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We consider the problem of using Levi's expected epistemic decision theory for classification when the hypotheses are of different informational values, conditioned on convex sets obtained from a set-valued Kalman filter. The background of epistemic utility decision theory with convex probabilities is outlined and a brief introduction to set-valued estimation is given. The decision theory is applied to a classifier in a multiple-target tracking scenario. A new probability density, appropriate for classification using the ratio of intensities, is introduced.

Epistemic Decision Theory Applied To Multiple-Target Tracking, T. K. Moon, Scott E. Budge, W. C. Stirling, J. B. Thompson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A decision philosophy that seeks the avoidance of error by trading off belief of truth and value of information is applied to the problem of recognizing tracks from multiple targets (MTT). A successful MTT methodology should be robust in that its performance degrades gracefully as the conditions of the collection become less favorable to optimal operation. By stressing the avoidance, rather than the explicit minimization, of error, the authors obtain a decision rule for trajectory-data association that does not require the resolution of all conflicting hypotheses when the database does not contain sufficient information to do so reliably. This rule, …