Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Explaining Deep Learning-Based Anomaly Detection In Energy Consumption Data By Focusing On Contextually Relevant Data, Mohammad Noorchenarboo, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Detecting anomalies in energy consumption data is crucial for identifying energy waste, equipment malfunction, and overall, for ensuring efficient energy management. Machine learning, and specifically deep learning approaches, have been greatly successful in anomaly detection; however, they are black-box approaches that do not provide transparency or explanations. SHAP and its variants have been proposed to explain these models, but they suffer from high computational complexity (SHAP) or instability and inconsistency (e.g., Kernel SHAP). To address these challenges, this paper proposes an explainability approach for anomalies in energy consumption data that focuses on context-relevant information. The proposed approach leverages existing explainability …

Kolmogorov–Arnold Recurrent Network For Short Term Load Forecasting Across Diverse Consumers, Muhammad Umair Danish, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Load forecasting plays a crucial role in energy management, directly impacting grid stability, operational efficiency, cost reduction, and environmental sustainability. Traditional Vanilla Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) face issues such as vanishing and exploding gradients, whereas sophisticated RNNs such as Long Short- Term Memory Networks (LSTMs) have shown considerable success in this domain. However, these models often struggle to accurately capture complex and sudden variations in energy consumption, and their applicability is typically limited to specific consumer types, such as offices or schools. To address these challenges, this paper proposes the Kolmogorov–Arnold Recurrent Network (KARN), a novel load forecasting approach that …

Leveraging Hypernetworks And Learnable Kernels For Consumer Energy Forecasting Across Diverse Consumer Types, Muhammad Umair Danish, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Consumer energy forecasting is essential for managing energy consumption and planning, directly influencing operational efficiency, cost reduction, personalized energy management, and sustainability efforts. In recent years, deep learning techniques, especially LSTMs and transformers, have been greatly successful in the field of energy consumption forecasting. Nevertheless, these techniques have difficulties in capturing complex and sudden variations, and, moreover, they are commonly examined only on a specific type of consumer (e.g., only offices, only schools). Consequently, this paper proposes HyperEnergy, a consumer energy forecasting strategy that leverages hypernetworks for improved modeling of complex patterns applicable across a diversity of consumers. Hypernetwork is …

Recycled Filtered Contaminants From Liquid-Fed Pyrolysis As Novel Building Composite Material, Alessia Romani, Daniel Kulas, Joseph Curro, David R. Shonnard, Joshua Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Liquid-fed pyrolysis allows the conversion of contaminated postconsumer plastic waste into valuable resources, removing contaminants through wax dissolution and filtration. One of the main challenges is currently represented by the management of its main byproduct, the contaminant-rich retentate from the filtration process. New circular economy strategies are needed to use this waste plastic-based composite as secondary raw materials. Despite the increasing trend in using plastic and plastic-waste composites for the building sector, there are currently limited applications of industrial recycling waste as engineering construction materials, e.g., from pyrolysis. This study evaluates the suitability of contaminant-rich retentate from liquid-fed pyrolysis of …

Parametric Design Of Easy-Connect Pipe Fitting Components Using Open-Source Cad And Fabrication Using 3d Printing, Abolfazl Taherzadeh Fini, Cameron K. Brooks, Alessia Romani, Anthony G. Straatman, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The amount of non-revenue water, mostly due to leakage, is around 126 billion cubic meters annually worldwide. A more efficient wastewater management strategy would use a parametric design for on-demand, customized pipe fittings, following the principles of distributed manufacturing. To fulfill this need, this study introduces an open-source parametric design of a 3D-printable easy-connect pipe fitting that offers compatibility with different dimensions and materials of pipes available on the market. Custom pipe fittings were 3D printed using a RepRap-class fused filament 3D printer, with polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) as …

3d-Printable Pva-Based Inks Filled With Leather Particle Scraps For Uv-Assisted Direct Ink Writing: Characterization And Printability, Luca Guida, Alessia Romani, Davide Negri, Marco Cavallaro, Marinella Levi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Despite its significant environmental impacts, leather remains a popular material due to its durability, aesthetics, and mechanical properties. Recycling leather scraps is gaining increasing attention to reduce waste, pollutants, and emissions from pristine raw materials in the tanning industry. Material Extrusion additive manufacturing represents a promising way to recycle leather byproducts as secondary raw materials for new applications. This paper investigates the characterization and printability of photo- and thermal-curable PVA-based inks for UV-assisted Direct Ink Writing filled with leather filler scraps from the tanning industry, i.e., leather shavings. As a cold extrusion process, Direct Ink Writing reduces energy consumption and …

Evaluating Mixed Reality Technology For Tracking Hand Motion For Shoulder Rehabilitation Assessment*, Sergio A. Salinas, Katarina Grolinger, Marie-Eve Lebel, Ana Luisa Trejos

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Shoulder injuries and conditions are common musculoskeletal complaints that can limit a patient’s range of motion and daily activities. Recently, serious games and mixed reality technologies, such as the HoloLens, have been proposed for shoulder rehabilitation. However, it is unclear if this technology accurately tracks 3D hand movementsfor reporting therapy-related kinematic metrics. This paper presents accuracy and repeatability tests of the HoloLens 2 in tracking hand movements, and its potential for shoulder rehabilitation assessment. Comparisons were made between index fingertip, palm, and wrist movements captured by the HoloLens 2 and an Aurora electromagnetic system, which was used as the ground …

Improving The Cooling Time Of Twisted Coiled Actuators In Soft Robotics, Alex Lizotte, Parisa Daemi, Brendan Difabio, Ana Luisa Trejos

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Fabric cooling channels for twisted coiled actuators (TCAs) were recently proposed to achieve the required response times for motion assistance in a manner suitable for soft wearable robotic devices. While previous work demonstratedthat the fabric channel reduced the cooling time by 42% in comparison to the same TCA without the cooling channel, the TCAs were still not cooled quickly enough to support human motion. Therefore, in this paper, two variations to the channel are proposed to further reduce the cooling time of the TCAs. The variations include unsealing the inlet and adding vents along the length of the channel to …

Further Evaluations Of A Didactic Cpu Visual Simulator (Cpuvsim), Renato Cortinovis, Tamer Mohamed Abdellatif, Devender Goyal, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This paper discusses further evaluations of the educational effectiveness of an existing CPU visual simulator (CPUVSIM). The CPUVSIM, as an Open Educational Resource, has been iteratively improved over a number of years following an Open Pedagogy approach, and was designed to enhance novices’ understanding of computer operation and mapping from high-level code to assembly language. The literature reports previous evaluations of the simulator, at K12 and undergraduate level, conducted from the perspectives of both developers and students, albeit with a limited sample size and primarily through qualitative methods. This paper describes additional evaluation activities designed to provide a more comprehensive …

Data Lakes: A Survey Of Concepts And Architectures, Sarah Azzabi, Zakiya Alfughi, Abdelkader Ouda

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on the evolution of data-lake technology, with a particular focus on data-lake architectures. By systematically examining the existing body of research, we identify and classify the major types of data-lake architectures that have been proposed and implemented over time. The review highlights key trends in the development of data-lake architectures, identifies the primary challenges faced in their implementation, and discusses future directions for research and practice in this rapidly evolving field. We have developed diagrammatic representations to highlight the evolution of various architectures. These diagrams use consistent notations across all architectures to further …

Secure Similar Patients Query With Homomorphically Evaluated Thresholds, Mounika Pratapa, Aleksander Essex

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Patient-centric precision medicine requires the analysis of large volumes of genomic data to tailor treatments and medications based on individual-level characteristics. Because the amount of data held by a single institution is limited, researchers may want access to genomic data held by other institutions. Owing to the inherent privacy implications of genomic data, performing comparisons on encrypted data is preferable in certain settings. The Similar patient query (SPQ) is an application that enables a secure search across genomic databases for patients with similar genetic makeup. Query results can be used to draw meaningful conclusions regarding suitable therapies.

However, existing protocols …

Deep Transfer Learning For Detection Of Upper And Lower Body Movements: Transformer With Convolutional Neural Network, Kyle Lacroix, Davoud Gholamiangonabadi, Ana Luisa Trejos, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

When humans repeat the same motion, the tendons, muscles, and nerves can be damaged, causing Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI). If the repetitive motions that lead to RSI are recognized early, actions can be taken to prevent these injuries. As Human Activity Recognition (HAR) aims to identify activities employing wearable or environment sensors, HAR is the first step toward identifying repetitive motions. Deep learning models, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have seen great success in recognizing activities for participants whose data are used in the model training; however, their accuracy drops for new participants as people move in different ways. …

Federated Learning For Sentiment Analysis In Presence Of Non-Iid Data: Sensitivity Of Deep Learning Models, Davoud Gholamiangonabadi, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

In sentiment analysis, data are commonly distributed across many devices, and traditional machine learning requires transferring these data to a central location exposing data to security and privacy risks. Federated Learning (FL) avoids this transfer by training a model without requiring the clients/devices to share their local data; however, FL performance drops when data are not Independent and Identically Distributed (non-IID), such as when label distribution or data size vary across clients. Although techniques for non-IID data have been proposed primarily in the image domain, the sensitivity of various deep learning models to non-IID data needs to be examined. Consequently, …

Low-Cost Open-Source Melt Flow Index System For Distributed Recycling And Additive Manufacturing, Dawei Liu, Aditi Basdeo, Catalina Suescun Gonzalez, Alessia Romani, Hakim Boudaoud, Cécile Nouvel, Fabio A. Cruz Sanchez, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The increasing adoption of distributed recycling via additive manufacturing (DRAM) has facilitated the revalorization of materials derived from waste streams for additive manufacturing. Recycled materials frequently contain impurities and mixed polymers, which can degrade their properties over multiple cycles. This degradation, particularly in rheological properties, limits their applicability in 3D printing. Consequently, there is a critical need for a tool that enables the rapid assessment of the flowability of these recycled materials. This study presents the design, development, and manufacturing of an open-source melt flow index (MFI) apparatus. The open-source MFI was validated with tests on virgin polylactic acid pellets, …

Vertical Free-Swinging Photovoltaic Racking Energy Modeling: A Novel Approach To Agrivoltaics, Koami Soulemane Hayibo, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

To enable lower-cost building materials, a free-swinging bifacial vertical solar photovoltaic (PV) rack has been proposed, which complies with Canadian building codes and is the lowest capital-cost agrivoltaics rack. The wind force applied to the free-swinging PV, however, causes it to have varying tilt angles depending on the wind speed and direction. No energy performance model accurately describes such a system. To provide a simulation model for the free-swinging PV, where wind speed and direction govern the array tilt angle, this study builds upon the open-source System Advisor Model (SAM) using Python. After the SAM python model is validated, a …

Recycled Polycarbonate And Polycarbonate/Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Feedstocks For Circular Economy Product Applications With Fused Granular Fabrication-Based Additive Manufacturing, Alessia Romani, Marinella Levi, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Distributed recycling and additive manufacturing (DRAM) holds enormous promise for enabling a circular economy. Most DRAM studies have focused on single thermoplastic waste stream. This study takes three paths forward from the previous literature: 1) expanding DRAM into high-performance polycarbonate/ acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS) blends, 2) extending PC/ABS blend research into both recycled materials and into direct fused granular fabrication (FGF) 3-D printing and 3) demonstrating the potential of using recycled PC/ABS feedstocks for new applications in circular economy contexts. A commercial open source large-format FGF 3-D printer was modified and used to assess the different printability and accuracy of …

Using Machine Learning To Assist Auditory Processing Evaluation, Hasitha Wimalarathna, Sangamanatha Veeranna, Minh Vu Duong, Chris Allan Prof, Sumit K. Agrawal, Prudence Allen, Jagath Samarabandu, Hanif M. Ladak

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Introduction: Approximately 0.2–5% of school-age children complain of listening difficulties in the absence of hearing loss. These children are often referred to an audiologist for an auditory processing disorder (APD) assessment. Adequate experience and training is necessary to arrive at an accurate diagnosis due to the heterogeneity of the disorder.

Objectives: The main goal of the study was to determine if machine learning (ML) can be used to analyze data from the APD clinical test battery to accurately categorize children with suspected APD into clinical sub-groups, similar to expert labels.

Methods: The study retrospectively collected data from 134 children referred …

Hangprinter For Large Scale Additive Manufacturing Using Fused Particle Fabrication With Recycled Plastic And Continuous Feeding, Ravneet S. Rattan, Nathan Nauta, Alessia Romani, Joshua Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The life cycle of plastic is a key source of carbon emissions. Yet, global plastics production has quadrupled in 40 years and only 9 % has been recycled. If these trends continue, carbon emissions from plastic wastes would reach 15 % of global carbon budgets by 2050. An approach to reducing plastic waste is to use distributed recycling for additive manufacturing (DRAM) where virgin plastic products are replaced by locally manufactured recycled plastic products that have no transportation-related carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the design of most 3-D printers forces an increase in the machine cost to expand for recycling plastic at …

Impacts Of Current Limiting On The Transient Stability Of The Virtual Synchronous Generator, Kourosh Gharouni Saffar, Sina Driss, Firouz Badrkhani Ajaei

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This article investigates the impacts of different current limiting strategies on the transient stability of the virtual synchronous generator (VSG). The power–angle curve of the VSG under different operating conditions is theoretically characterized in detail and experimentally verified through tests conducted on hardware-implemented lab-scale VSGs. It is shown that the reference current saturation approaches prioritizing the current vector angle, the d -axis current, and the q -axis current reshape the VSG power–angle curve in different ways. The resulting impacts on the VSG transient stability are comprehensively investigated through time-domain simulation of a battery energy storage system that is operated as …

Scheduling Electric Vehicle Charging For Grid Load Balancing, Zhixin Han, Katarina Grolinger, Miriam Capretz, Syed Mir

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs) have been widely adopted because of their environmental benefits. However, the increasing volume of EVs poses capacity issues for grid operators as simultaneously charging many EVs may result in grid instabilities. Scheduling EV charging for grid load balancing has a potential to prevent load peaks caused by simultaneous EV charging and contribute to balance of supply and demand. This paper proposes a user-preference-based scheduling approach to minimize costs for the user while balancing grid loads. The EV owners benefit by charging when the electricity cost is lower, but still within the user-defined preferred charging …

Handheld Concentric Tube Robot For Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy, Filipe Pedrosa, Ruisi Zhang, Navid Feizi, Dianne Sacco, Rajni V. Patel, Jagadeesan Jayender

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The field of continuum robotics continues to advance rapidly, giving these manipulators potential to change the paradigm of minimally invasive medical surgery (MIS) in a near future. As MIS techniques are refined to improve recovery and cosmesis and reduce invasiveness and co-morbidity, continuum robot requirements in MIS applications have become ever stricter. One such application is Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL), a first-choice minimally invasive urological procedure for the extraction of large renal calculi (kidney stones) > 2 cm. The standard of care in PCNL entails the percutaneous insertion of a nephroscope via a small incision in the lumbar or lateral abdominal wall …

Design And Calibration Of A Robot-Driven Catheter Actuation System, Navid Feizi, Filipe C. Pedrosa, Elaheh Arefinia, Jagadeesan Jayender, Rajni V. Patel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Flexible steerable tendon-driven systems are crucial in medical interventions, due to their ease of access to narrow spaces and safe operation [1]. Two examples of these systems are ablation and intra-cardiac echocardiog- raphy (ICE) catheters, used for non-invasive ultrasound imaging and ablation in cardiac procedures inside the heart. However, precise positioning of these devices to obtain optimal anatomical views is challenging for the cardiologist and requires specialized training [2]. Custom-made tendon-driven robots have been developed and modeled using Cosserat rod theory [3], [4]. How- ever, most of these efforts have been directed towards creating new flexible robots with known parameters …

Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering With Dynamic Time Warping For Household Load Curve Clustering, Fadi Almahamid, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Energy companies often implement various demand response (DR) programs to better match electricity demand and supply by offering the consumers incentives to reduce their demand during critical periods. Classifying clients according to their consumption patterns enables targeting specific groups of consumers for DR. Traditional clustering algorithms use standard distance measurement to find the distance between two points. The results produced by clustering algorithms such as K-means, K-medoids, and Gaussian Mixture Models depend on the clustering parameters or initial clusters. In contrast, our methodology uses a shape-based approach that combines Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) with Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to classify …

Virtual Sensor Middleware: Managing Iot Data For The Fog-Cloud Platform, Fadi Almahamid, Hanan Lutfiyya, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This paper introduces the Virtual Sensor Middleware (VSM), which facilitates distributed sensor data processing on multiple fog nodes. VSM uses a Virtual Sensor as the core component of the middleware. The virtual sensor concept is redesigned to support functionality beyond sensor/device virtualization, such as deploying a set of virtual sensors to represent an IoT application and distributed sensor data processing across multiple fog nodes. Furthermore, the virtual sensor deals with the heterogeneous nature of IoT devices and the various communication protocols using different adapters to communicate with the IoT devices and the underlying protocol. VSM uses the publish-subscribe design pattern …

Optimal Inverter And Wire Selection For Solar Photovoltaic Fencing Applications, Koami Soulemane Hayibo, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Despite the benefits and the economic advantages of agrivoltaics, capital costs limit deployment velocity. One recent potential solution to this challenge is to radically reduce the cost of racking materials by using existing farm fencing as vertical photovoltaic (PV) racking. This type of fenced-based PV system is inherently electrically challenging because of the relatively long distances between individual modules that are not present in more densely packed conventional solar PV farms. This study provides practical insights for inverter selection and wire sizing optimization for fence-based agrivoltaic systems. Numerical simulation sensitivities on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) were performed for …

Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Navigation Using Reinforcement Learning: A Systematic Review, Fadi Almahamid, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

There is an increasing demand for using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), known as drones, in different applications such as packages delivery, traffic monitoring, search and rescue operations, and military combat engagements. In all of these applications, the UAV is used to navigate the environment autonomously --- without human interaction, perform specific tasks and avoid obstacles. Autonomous UAV navigation is commonly accomplished using Reinforcement Learning (RL), where agents act as experts in a domain to navigate the environment while avoiding obstacles. Understanding the navigation environment and algorithmic limitations plays an essential role in choosing the appropriate RL algorithm to solve the …

Comparison Of Machine Learning Techniques For Activities Of Daily Living Classification With Electromyographic Data, Sergio A. Salinas, Mohamed Elgalhud, Luke Tambakis, Sanket Salunke, Kshitija Patel, Kenneth Mcisaac, Katarina Grolinger, Ana Luisa Trejos, Abdelkader Ouda, Hamada Ghenniwa

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Advances in data science and wearable robotic devices present an opportunity to improve rehabilitation outcomes. Some of these devices incorporate electromyography (EMG) electrodes that sense physiological patient activity, making it possible to develop rehabilitation systems able to assess the patient’s progress when performing activities of daily living (ADLs). However, additional research is needed to improve the ability to interpret EMG signals. To address this issue, an off-line classification approach for the 26 upper-limb ADLs included in the KIN-MUS UJI dataset is presented in this paper. The ADLs were performed by 22 subjects, while seven EMG signals were recorded from their …

Monofacial Vs Bifacial Solar Photovoltaic Systems In Snowy Environments, Koami Soulemane Hayibo, Aliaksei Petsiuk, Pierce Mayville, Laura Brown, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

There has been a recent surge in interest in the more accurate snow loss estimates for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems as large-scale deployments move into northern latitudes. Preliminary results show bifacial modules may clear snow faster than monofacial PV. This study analyzes snow losses on these two types of systems using empirical hourly data including energy, solar irradiation and albedo, and open-source image processing methods from images of the arrays in a northern environment in the winter. Projection transformations based on reference anchor points and snowless ground truth images provide reliable masking and optical distortion correction with fixed surveillance cameras. …

Foam-Based Floatovoltaics: A Potential Solution To Disappearing Terminal Natural Lakes, Koami Soulemane Hayibo, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Terminal lakes are disappearing worldwide because of direct and indirect human activities. Floating photovoltaics (FPV) are a synergistic system with increased energy output because of water cooling, while the FPV reduces water evaporation. This study explores how low-cost foam-based floatovoltaic systems can mitigate the disappearance of natural lakes. A case study is performed on 10%–50% FPV coverage of terminal and disappearing Walker Lake. Water conservation is investigated with a modified Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration method and energy generation is calculated with an operating temperature model experimentally determined from foam-based FPV. Results show FPV saves 52,000,000 m3/year of water and US$6,000,000 at 50% …

The Greenest Solar Power? Life Cycle Assessment Of Foam-Based Flexible Floatovoltaics, Koami Soulemane Hayibo, Pierce Mayville, Joshua M. Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This study presents a life cycle analysis (LCA) of a 10 MW foam-based floatovoltaics (FPV) plant installed on Lake Mead, Nevada, U.S. A material inventory of the flexible crystalline silicon (c-Si)-based module involved massing and determination of material composition of the module's encapsulation layers with ATR/FTR spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The LCA was performed using SimaPro and the results were interpreted in terms of cumulative energy demands, energy payback time, global warming potential, GHG emissions, and water footprint including negative values for reduced evaporation. A sensitivity analysis was performed on the lifetime of the modules and the foam-based racking. The …