Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Improving Performance And Energy Efficiency For The Integrated Cpu-Gpu Heterogeneous Systems, Hao Wen

Theses and Dissertations

Current heterogeneous CPU-GPU architectures integrate general purpose CPUs and highly thread-level parallelized GPUs (Graphic Processing Units) in the same die. This dissertation focuses on improving the energy efficiency and performance for the heterogeneous CPU-GPU system.

Leakage energy has become an increasingly large fraction of total energy consumption, making it important to reduce leakage energy for improving the overall energy efficiency. Cache occupies a large on-chip area, which are good targets for leakage energy reduction. For the CPU cache, we study how to reduce the cache leakage energy efficiently in a hybrid SPM (Scratch-Pad Memory) and cache architecture. For the GPU …

Fault Classification And Location Identification On Electrical Transmission Network Based On Machine Learning Methods, Vidya Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

Power transmission network is the most important link in the country’s energy system as they carry large amounts of power at high voltages from generators to substations. Modern power system is a complex network and requires high-speed, precise, and reliable protective system. Faults in power system are unavoidable and overhead transmission line faults are generally higher compare to other major components. They not only affect the reliability of the system but also cause widespread impact on the end users. Additionally, the complexity of protecting transmission line configurations increases with as the configurations get more complex. Therefore, prediction of faults (type …

Toward Biologically-Inspired Self-Healing, Resilient Architectures For Digital Instrumentation And Control Systems And Embedded Devices, Shawkat Sabah Khairullah

Theses and Dissertations

Digital Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems in safety-related applications of next generation industrial automation systems require high levels of resilience against different fault classes. One of the more essential concepts for achieving this goal is the notion of resilient and survivable digital I&C systems. In recent years, self-healing concepts based on biological physiology have received attention for the design of robust digital systems. However, many of these approaches have not been architected from the outset with safety in mind, nor have they been targeted for the automation community where a significant need exists. This dissertation presents a new self-healing digital …

The Silver Lining: A Novel, Inkjet-Printed Mesh Coplanar-Slot Antenna For The Uhf Band, Anastasios C. Karles

Undergraduate Research Posters

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is opening up frequencies within the television range (400MHz to 700MHz) of the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band for use in emerging technologies, such as cognitive radio networks and machine-to-machine communication. In order for manufacturers to produce affordable antennas that can be used in these emerging technologies, inexpensive antennas are required that meet these new spectrum needs. This paper presents a mesh coplanar-slot bowtie patch antenna fabricated using commercially available inkjet-printing technology. Two antennas were fabricated: a 27x21cm copper FR4 antenna with .25mm lines and a 27x21cm silver antenna with 2mm lines fabricated using inkjet-printing. …

Assistant Suite, Dale Greene, John Pham, Ritvik Nag

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This project was conducted to demonstrate a voice-to-mechanical application from one source to multiple platforms with the use of hardware-to-software technology. The main platforms that are used for implementation is an Amazon Echo Dot, which serves as the voice interceptor to transcribe speech through integrated software hosted within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud network, and a Raspberry Pi microcontroller, which serves as the device which controlled mechanical movements based on what is transcribed from the Echo. The user can speak a command into the Echo to control the movement of one of two RC cars without any physical engagement. …

Plant Process Emulator, Ben Horstmann, Krista Wood, David Adu-Mensah, Felix Baffoe-Ofori

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of this project is to provide the VCU Engineering Students with a training system to simulate the use of Industrial Automation systems. Students need a wide variety of training systems to adequately train and improve their knowledge of all the fundamentals of PLC systems. There are multiple companies that sell a very expensive training setup that can teach students about Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control systems and mechanical systems but those systems cost too much (~$20,000+) for a small university or trade school to fund. The training system that was built provides the student with real world control and monitoring …

Collaborative Collective Algorithms To Coordinate Ugvs, Kyle Archuleta, Christopher Lucas, Brian Richardson, Michael Stewart

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Sentel/Brilliant Innovations has developed autonomous UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) capable of generating a map of an unknown location through exploration using local software and the power of Google Tango technology. This project was tasked with developing an efficient and capable map-stitching solution allowing multiple UGVs to coordinate their movements and share information in order to greatly improve the speed at which these drones can be used to generate maps. The solution utilizes the processing power of a Raspberry Pi to pull maps from a Redis server and stitch them together. Once stitched, the maps are redistributed via the Redis server …

Fdp – Vcu Data Acquisition Device, Ferdinand Agyei-Yeboah, Tommy Huynh, Charles Nimo, Thomas Oakley

Capstone Design Expo Posters

There is a need to monitor critical information during brake testing to obtain feedback and, ultimately, more insight on the brake performance of a vehicle. Currently, much of the data logging equipment required for testing is very specialized and consequently expensive. Additionally, automotive test vehicles apply older technology that is often not integrated with data analytics for calibrating stopping distance, number of stops, deceleration, and brake squeal. Presently, drivers fill out forms describing issues with brakes.

Our team generated a device for FDP Brakes that monitors brake pad temperature, brake line pressure, and GPS location and speed of a test …

Low Cost And Durable Perovskite Solar Cells, Jack Carli, Kapil Marahatta, Feras Kakish, Jason Mcaleese

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Perovskite solar cells offer an alternative approach to photovoltaic solar power generation versus traditional silicon solar cells, by rivaling their efficiency at potentially less than half the cost. Perovskite’s name comes from the crystal structure that encompasses the active layer (Methylammonium Lead Iodide – CH₃NH₃PbI₃), the region that absorbs photons and generates electrical energy by creating electron hole pairs. The presence of the organic cation (methylammonium) causes degradation of the active layer under humidity, UV light, and high temperature, which lowers the effectiveness of the cells. This project investigates low-cost routes and materials for …

Infrared Stereo-Vision Target Tracking Robot, Alex Elliott

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Computer stereo-vision consists on a system that is able to obtain, estimate, and extract distance information of a scene in space from a set of 2D images. The system can be upgraded one step further by utilizing LWIR (Long Wave Infrared) sensors, in order to potentially place the system in low-visibility scenarios where ordinary color sensors might not be the best option. The data streams via an analog signal and is converted to serial-USB to be processed. The sensors are placed parallel, mounted on a bracket and attached to a robotics platform.

In order to estimate depth, a concept called …

Remote Aerial Mapping Spectrometer, Kenny Parker, José Ramirez, Chris Lillard, Quan Ma

Capstone Design Expo Posters

According to the EPA, harmful algal blooms may occur more frequently in coastal areas like the Chesapeake Bay due to warming waters and increased nutrient pollution. Algal blooms cause aquatic dead zones which damage the ecosystem and can produce toxins which are dangerous to animals and humans. Continual environmental monitoring is required to research algal blooms and to prevent harm to residents and industries.

We researched technologies to locate harmful algal blooms and found spectroscopic remote surveying an effective approach. A material’s wavelength-dependent reflectance reveals its material composition. Unfortunately, existing methods which can map spectral characteristics are lacking. Field researchers …

Image Processing With Dipole-Coupled Nanomagnets: Noise Suppression And Edge Enhancement Detection, Md Ahsanul Abeed, Ayan Kumar Biswas, Mamun Al-Rashid, Jayasimha Atulasimha, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Hardware-based image processing offers speed and convenience not found in software-centric approaches. Here, we show theoretically that a 2-D periodic array of dipole-coupled elliptical nanomagnets, delineated on a piezoelectric substrate, can act as a dynamical system for specific image processing functions. Each nanomagnet has two stable magnetization states that encode pixel color (black or white). An image containing black and white pixels is first converted to voltage states and then mapped into the magnetization states of a nanomagnet array with magneto-tunneling junctions (MTJs). The same MTJs are employed to read out the processed pixel colors later. Dipole interaction between the …

High-Field Electron Transport In Doped Zno, L. Ardaravičius, O. Kiprijanovič, J. Liberis, M. Ramonas, E. Šermukšnis, A. Matulionis, M. Toporkov, V. Avrutin, Ü. Özgür, H. Morkoç

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Current-voltage characteristics have been measured for ZnO:Ga and Zn:Sb epitaxial layers with electron densities ranging from 1.4x10(17) cm(-3) to 1.1 x 10(20) cm(-3). Two-terminal samples with coplanar electrodes demonstrate virtually ohmic behavior until thermal effects come into play. Soft damage of the samples takes place at high currents. The threshold power (per electron) for the damage is nearly inversely proportional to the electron density over a wide range of electron densities. Pulsed voltage is applied in order to minimize the thermal effects, and thus an average electric field of 150 kV cm(-1) is reached in some samples subjected to 2 …

S.H.I.E.L.D Relays (Shadow-Masked Hack-Proof Ion Etched Latch Deterrence Relays), Anh Dinh, Adrienne Ilustre, Thomas Nuckols, Sean Payne

Capstone Design Expo Posters

We are presenting micro-scale logic devices using single cantilever relays fabricated in-plane from single crystal Silicon. These logic devices are designed to protect electrical systems that require a high level of security by being completely hack proof by not having the ability or need to be connected to any outside internet connection. Because these devices are fabricated from silicon, they are extremely reliable, durable and adaptable. Silicon’s high Young’s Modulus allows the cantilevers to function for an extremely long time, compared to other materials such as metal that will start to fatigue over time, producing a longer life span of …

Wearable Device To Detect Cardiac Arrest, Jon Dyke, Majid Alashari, Ashraf Al Gumaei

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death globally and is unwitnessed in most cases. This begs the question: how can anyone know that an individual is experiencing cardiac arrest if no one is around to see it? MULT 603 has designed a cardiac arrest monitoring device that a person can wear on their wrist. This device detects the individual’s heartbeat; in the case that the person’s heartbeat drops below their normal individual threshold, their family, doctors, and friends along with emergency medical services will be notified of their location and condition. The hope is to drastically improve …

Automatic Dispensing Pill Caddy For The Elderly, Timothy H. Bruce, William Friend, Damien Nobles, Andrew Stasi, Courtney Bailey, Damoneke Harper

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The report, Aging in the United States, finds that baby boomers who are at retirement age are in worse health compared with previous generations. More of them are living with chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease; all which require medication. The report also anticipates the number of people with dementia could nearly triple in the coming decades, resulting in senior adults requiring more assistance with daily activities.

Our product intends to enhance the quality of life of the older adult population by providing a pill dispenser that creates convenience with alerts and notifications. This …

Real-Time Measurement Of Lung Motion For Ct Guided Lung Biopsies, A. Al Saqer, A. Cerniuk, W. Houk, D. Patel

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The objective of this project is to develop a device that allows a physician to view and measure real time lung motion of a patient inside a CT scanner during lung biopsy. This will increase time efficiency and accuracy of lung tumor treatment CT procedures, as this device will enable the collection of clear and meaningful scans. With this application, size and simplicity are of the utmost importance, as the device must be as practical as possible. Given these constraints the design involves a low profile, low volume sensor to measure data while physically attached to the patient’s bed, and …

Collision Avoidance For Quadcopters, Andrew Ward, Brad Clifford, Shane Gifford, Thomas White

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The purpose of our project is to design and implement an obstacle detection and avoidance system for use on multirotor drones. The system gathers information from two Arducam 5MP cameras, using stereoscopic vision as the primary obstacle detection source. It also uses an XL-MaxSonar-EZ3 ultrasonic sensor as a backup, in case the cameras fail to detect an obstacle. All three of these sensors will be mounted to the drone using a 3D printed mounting bracket, to ensure consistency of sensor information. The system will interface with the Naza-M v2 flight controller, overriding the user controls when the user attempts to …

Optically Transparent Antennas And Filters, Ranjita Timsina, Joshua Pitchford, Michelle Guzman, Supapon Hia

Capstone Design Expo Posters

As society continues to increase its demand for wireless network access, more antennas, base stations, and network access points is a must. By integrating these antennas into existing infrastructure, such as buildings, cars, and street lights, network engineers can begin to meet these demands. In order to integrate antennas into windows, optical transparency is paramount. Optically transparent antennas are currently created through materials known as Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs). TCOs are doped metal oxides that have high optical transmittance and low electrical resistivity. TCOs are employed in flat panel displays, touch sensitive control panels, and electromagnetic shielding windows. The most …

Portable Pure-Tone Audiometer, Zachary Conner, Zachary Clute, Min Su Ju, James Le

Capstone Design Expo Posters

This project addresses the issue of making hearing tests available to more people, specifically those who live in parts of the world where audiologist are not readily available. Most countries around the world, including first-world countries, have a large gap in hearing testing when put in the perspective of the amount of hearing loss in their people. Most portable audiometers only perform air conduction hearing tests, yet physicians are in need of vital bone conduction information for proper diagnosis. To address this need, we developed an audiometer that is portable, yet also supports air and bone conduction testing. Features that …

Growth Of Zn-Polar Bemgzno/Zno Heterostructure With Two Dimensional Electron Gas (2deg) And Fabrication Of Silver Schottky Diode On Bemgzno/Zno Heterostructure., Md Barkat Ullah

Theses and Dissertations

Title of dissertation: GROWTH OF Zn POLAR BeMgZnO/ZnO HETEROSTRUCTURE WITH TWO DIMENSIONAL ELECTRON GAS (2DEG) AND FABRICATION OF SILVER SCHOTTKY DIODE ON BeMgZnO/ZnO HETEROSTRUCTURE

By Md Barkat Ullah, Ph.D

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University,2017

Major Director: Dr. Hadis Morkoç, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

This thesis focuses on growth of Zn polar BeMgZnO/ZnO heterostructure on GaN/sapphire template with two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) for the application of UV photodetector/emitter and high speed electronics. The motivation of using …

A Hierarchical Architectural Framework For Securing Unmanned Aerial Systems, Matthew Leccadito

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are becoming more widely used in the new era of evolving technology; increasing performance while decreasing size, weight, and cost. A UAS equipped with a Flight Control System (FCS) that can be used to fly semi- or fully-autonomous is a prime example of a Cyber Physical and Safety Critical system. Current Cyber-Physical defenses against malicious attacks are structured around security standards for best practices involving the development of protocols and the digital software implementation. Thus far, few attempts have been made to embed security into the architecture of the system considering security as a holistic problem. …

Omni-Directional Infrared 3d Reconstruction And Tracking Of Human Targets, Emrah Benli

Theses and Dissertations

Omni-directional (O-D) infrared (IR) vision is an effective capability for mobile systems in robotics, due to its advantages: illumination invariance, wide field-of-view, ease of identifying heat-emitting objects, and long term tracking without interruption. Unfortunately, O-D IR sensors have low resolution, low frame rates, high cost, sensor noise, and an increase in tracking time. In order to overcome these disadvantages, we propose an autonomous system application in indoor scenarios including 1) Dynamic 3D Reconstruction (D3DR) of the target view in real time images, 2) Human Behavior-based Target Tracking from O-D thermal images, 3) Thermal Multisensor Fusion (TMF), and 4) Visual Perception …

Respiratory Prediction And Image Quality Improvement Of 4d Cone Beam Ct And Mri For Lung Tumor Treatments, Seonyeong Park

Theses and Dissertations

Identification of accurate tumor location and shape is highly important in lung cancer radiotherapy, to improve the treatment quality by reducing dose delivery errors. Because a lung tumor moves with the patient's respiration, breathing motion should be correctly analyzed and predicted during the treatment for prevention of tumor miss or undesirable treatment toxicity. Besides, in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), the tumor motion causes difficulties not only in delivering accurate dose, but also in assuring superior quality of imaging techniques such as four-dimensional (4D) Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and 4D Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Specifically, 4D CBCT used in CBCT …

Accurate Acoustic Ranging System Using Android Smartphones, Mohammadbagher Fotouhi

Theses and Dissertations

ACCURATE ACOUSTIC RANGING SYSTEM USING ANDROID SMARTPHONES

By Mohammadbagher Fotouhi, Master of Science

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University 2017

Major Director: Dr. Ruixin Niu, Associate Professor of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this thesis, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of an android ranging system, a high-accuracy acoustic-based ranging system which allows two android mobile phones to learn their physical distance from each other.

In this system we propose a practical solution for accurate ranging based on acoustic communication …

Cooperative Wideband Spectrum Sensing Based On Joint Sparsity, Ghazaleh Jowkar

Theses and Dissertations

COOPERATIVE WIDEBAND SPECTRUM SENSING BASED ON JOINT SPARSITY

By Ghazaleh Jowkar, Master of Science

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University 2017

Major Director: Dr. Ruixin Niu, Associate Professor of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this thesis, the problem of wideband spectrum sensing in cognitive radio (CR) networks using sub-Nyquist sampling and sparse signal processing techniques is investigated. To mitigate multi-path fading, it is assumed that a group of spatially dispersed SUs collaborate for wideband spectrum sensing, to determine whether or not …

Coherent/Incoherent Magnetization Dynamics Of Nanomagnetic Devices For Ultra-Low Energy Computing, Md Mamun Al-Rashid

Theses and Dissertations

Nanomagnetic computing devices are inherently nonvolatile and show unique transfer characteristics while their switching energy requirements are on par, if not better than state of the art CMOS based devices. These characteristics make them very attractive for both Boolean and non-Boolean computing applications. Among different strategies employed to switch nanomagnetic computing devices e.g. magnetic field, spin transfer torque, spin orbit torque etc., strain induced switching has been shown to be among the most energy efficient. Strain switched nanomagnetic devices are also amenable for non-Boolean computing applications. Such strain mediated magnetization switching, termed here as “Straintronics”, is implemented by switching the …

Low-Temperature Fabrication Process For Integrated High-Aspect Ratio Metal Oxide Nanostructure Semiconductor Gas Sensors, William Paul Clavijo

Theses and Dissertations

This work presents a new low-temperature fabrication process of metal oxide nanostructures that allows high-aspect ratio zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanowires and nanotubes to be readily integrated with microelectronic devices for sensor applications. This process relies on a new method of forming a close-packed array of self-assembled high-aspect-ratio nanopores in an anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template in a thin (2.5 µm) aluminum film deposited on a silicon and lithium niobate substrate (LiNbO₃). This technique is in sharp contrast to traditional free-standing thick film methods and the use of an integrated thin aluminum film …

Optical Spectroscopy Of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Heterostructures And Group-Iv Alloy Quantum Dots, Tanner A. Nakagawara

Theses and Dissertations

Efficient and robust blue InGaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light emitters have become ubiquitous; however, they still have unattained theoretical potential. It is widely accepted that “localization” of carriers due to indium fluctuations theoretically enhance their efficiency by moderating defect-associated nonradiative recombination. To help develop a complete understanding of localization effects on carrier dynamics, this thesis explores degree of localization in InGaN MQWs and its dependence on well thickness and number of wells, through temperature and power dependent photoluminescence measurements. Additionally, silicon-compatible, nontoxic, colloidally synthesizable 2-5 nm Ge_1-xSn_x alloy quantum-dots (QDs) are explored for potential visible to …

Behavioral Responses Of Sub-Adult Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser Oxyrinchus Oxyrinchus) To Electromagnetic And Magnetic Fields Under Laboratory Conditions, Andrew Mcintyre Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Electromagnetic fields (EMF) produced by high voltage (HV), submarine transmission cables leading from offshore wind energy generation facilities could affect foraging or migratory behaviors of electro-receptive fishes, including endangered Atlantic Sturgeon. However, no published studies have quantitatively evaluated the possible behavioral effects of EMF exposure on sturgeon during residence in coastal waters. This study evaluated behavioral responses by sub-adult Atlantic Sturgeon to electromagnetic and magnetic fields under controlled laboratory conditions. Fabricated EMF generators were used to emulate a range of field EMF conditions that migratory fishes could encounter in proximity to submarine HV sources. Sensor arrays and digital video recorders …