Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

The Influence Of Branches In The Performance Of Power-Line Communication Systems That Use Mc-Coma With Reed Solomon Coding, Emmanuel Felix

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Power-line network is proposed as an infrastructure for Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)
services provision. However, there are a number of factors that contribute greatly to power-line communication performance degradation. These include number of branches that can be added or removed from the power- line network, lengths of the branch lines, loading etc. It has been pointed out that the number of branches is one of the factors that affects power-line performance to a certain extent. In this paper the influence of number of branches on the performance of Broadband Power-line communication (BPLC) that uses MC- CDMA modulation scheme with …

One Million Plug-In Electric Vehicles On The Road By 2015, Ahmed Yousuf Saber, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

It is mentioned that one million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles will be on the road by 2015 in United States to reduce emission. If one million electric vehicles (EVs) are connected to the existing electric grid randomly, peak load will be very high. Electrified transportation based on a traditional thermal power system will be costly economically and environmentally though it has a great value for electric power and transportation sectors. EVs cannot alone solve the emission problem completely since they need electric power, which is one of the main sources of emission. Therefore, significant emission reduction greatly depends on …

Structural Identification Using A Low-Cost Search Method, James W. Fonda, Steve Eugene Watkins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An easily implementable and trainable damage detection method is proposed and implemented for a simple truss structure. The approach uses the iterative search identification method and is compatible with low-cost and low-power microcontroller hardware. This method employs pattern matching for a data set from a strain sensor array and predicts location (truss member) and severity (member cross sectional area) of damage. As a health monitoring approach, the method is not as robust or rigorous as more complex methods. However, it has modest processing requirements and can handle noisy signals. The work presents an algorithm applied to a truss structure, the …

Real-Time Modeling Of Distributed Plug-In Vehicles For V2g Transactions, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Pinaki Mitra, Keith Corzine, Chris Huston

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A real-time model of a fleet of plug-in vehicles performing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) power transactions is presented in this paper. Two sets of four vehicles are connected to both the grid and to each other through a short transmission line. the real-time modeling is carried out on a Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS). This setup allows for two different case studies with either two distributed sets of four individual vehicles or two smart parking lots with several vehicles. Output power levels and charge/discharge times are scheduled intelligently in order to maximize profits from grid transactions based on one-day ahead electricity pricing. the …

Ieee Conference On Intelligent Transportation Systems, Proceedings, Itsc: Welcome Message From Conference General Chair, Steve Eugene Watkins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Alan Turing Se Fraye Un Chemin Jusqu'À La Place De L'Ordinateur, Christof Teuscher

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A brief statement on the significance, impact and future developments related to the work of computer pioneer Alan Turing, in conjunction with Turing Day, held to commemorate his 90th birthday.

*The article is in French

Channeling University-Based Sponsored Research Into Classroom Education, Badrul H. Chowdhury

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An important mission of university-Based research that often gets overlooked is the education component. based on the 2005-2006 Electric Power Engineering Education Resources report produced by PES, tens of millions of dollars' worth of research is being conducted annually by university faculty throughout North America. While such sponsored research almost always produces master's and Ph.D. dissertations, how much of that is channeled into creating a broader impact of educating undergraduate and graduate students is of concern to many sponsoring agencies. This paper presents a summary of panel presentations that describe and discuss examples of how some faculty members have brought …

Potentials And Promises Of Computational Intelligence For Smart Grids, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The electric power grid is a complex adaptive system under semi-autonomous distributed control. It is spatially and temporally complex, non-convex, nonlinear and non-stationary with a lot of uncertainties. the integration of renewable energy such as wind farms, and plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles further adds complexity and challenges to the various controllers at all levels of the power grid. a lot of efforts have gone into the development of a smart grid to align the interests of the electric utilities, consumers and environmentalists. Advanced computational methods are required for planning and optimization, fast control of power system elements, processing of …

Missing-Sensor-Fault-Tolerant Control For Sssc Facts Device With Real-Time Implementation, Wei Qiao, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Control of power systems relies on the availability and quality of sensor measurements. However, measurements are inevitably subjected to faults caused by sensor failure, broken or bad connections, bad communication, or malfunction of some hardware or software. These faults in turn may cause the failure of power system controllers and consequently severe contingencies in the power system. to avoid such contingencies, this paper presents a sensor evaluation and (missing sensor) restoration scheme (SERS) by using auto-associative neural networks (auto-encoders) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). based on the SERS, a missing-sensor-fault-tolerant control (MSFTC) is developed for controlling a static synchronous series …

Design And Implementation Of Dstatcom For Fast Load Compensation Of Unbalanced Loads, Wei-Neng Chang, Kuan-Dih Yeh

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper proposes a distribution level static synchronous compensator (DSTATCOM) for fast load compensation of unbalanced loads in electric power distribution systems. For fast response requirement, a new feedforward compensation scheme is derived and employed in the paper. First, the compensation scheme of the DSTATCOM is derived with the symmetrical components method. Then, computer simulation with the program Matlab/Simulink preliminarily verifies the effectiveness of the proposed DSTATCOM. Accordingly, a hardware prototype is built with a floating-point DSP TMS320C6711-based system. Use of a current-regulated PWM (CRPWM) inverter as the power stage of the DSTATCOM generates needed compensation currents for real-time load …

Spectroscopicellipsometer And Polarmeter Systemis, John A. Woollam, Blaine D. Johs, Craig M. Herzinger, Ping He, Martin M. Liphardt, Galen L. Pfeiffer

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A rotating compensator spectroscopic ellipsometer or polarimeter system having a source of a polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation, a polarizer, a stage for Supporting a material system, an analyzer, a dispersive optics and a detector system which comprises a multiplicity of detector elements, the system being functionally present in an environmental control chamber and therefore suitable for application in wide spectral range, (for example, 130-1700 nm). Preferred compensator design involves a Substantially achromatic multiple element compensator systems wherein multiple total internal reflections enter retardance into an entered beam of electromagnetic radiation, and the elements thereof are oriented to minimize changes …

Dsp-Based Implementation Of A Real-Time Doa Estimator For Underwater Acoustic Sources, Sheng-Yun Hou, Shun-Hsyung Chang, Hsien-Sen Hung, Jiang-Yao Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Many direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation algorithms for acoustic sources based on sensor array measurements have been well developed and verified via computer simulations and/or small-scale water trough experiments. However, these results are not in practical use because the testing scenarios may not reflect real underwater environments. In order to have a better understanding of DOA estimation in sea experiments, a prototype of DSP-based acoustic DOA estimator is designed and implemented. The prototype system is based on TMS320VC33 digital signal processor and is validated by both computer simulation and experiments performed on the shallow water of Bi-Sha fishery harbor located near the …

Spanning Trees For Binary Directed De Bruijn Networks And Their Applications To Load Balancing, Ming-Bo Lin, Ming-Hong Bai, Gene Eu Jan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

One of the major reasons of using parallel computer systems is that they have the potential for improving performance and resource sharing. To achieve this, an efficient way must be provided to broadcast a message or messages from a node to every other nodes in the system. However, the efficiency of transferring messages in a system is determined by the architecture of the underlying interconnection network of the system. In this paper, we consider the systems based on binary directed de Bruijn networks and define two shortest path spanning trees: the upward-0 spanning tree and the downward-0 spanning tree, to …

Decision-Based Data Fusion Of Complementary Features For The Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, Metin Ahiskali

Theses and Dissertations

As the average life expectancy increases, particularly in developing countries, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is the most common form of dementia worldwide, has increased dramatically. As there is no cure to stop or reverse the effects of AD, the early diagnosis and detection is of utmost concern. Recent pharmacological advances have shown the ability to slow the progression of AD; however, the efficacy of these treatments is dependent on the ability to detect the disease at the earliest stage possible. Many patients are limited to small community clinics, by geographic and/or financial constraints. Making diagnosis possible at …

Labrat™: Miniature Robot For Students, Researchers, And Hobbyists, Paul Robinette, Ryan Meuth, Ryanne Dolan, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

LabRat™ is an autonomous, self-contained mobile robot kit with batteries, motors, two bumper whisker sensors, and three infrared proximity sensors that double as channels for "Rat-to-Rat" communication. the vehicle determines its position with an optical sensor that detects movement in both lateral directions. the LabRat™ design is completely open source, including software examples and libraries. LabRat™ is designed to fit inside the body of a computer mouse and has applications in the classroom, the lab and the home. the device has been successfully used in an undergraduate robotics class. © 2009 IEEE.

Heuristic Algorithms For Solving Convex And Nonconvex Economic Dispatch, Yusuf Yare, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ahmed Yousuf Saber

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Economic dispatch (ED) is a power system optimization problem, and its objective is to reduce the total generation cost of units while satisfying constraints. the presence of nonlinearities in practical generator operation makes solving the ED problem more challenging. These generator nonlinearities are modeled as constraints to be met in the form of ramp-rate limits and prohibited operating zones. This paper proposes three heuristic algorithms, namely, the genetic algorithm (GA), differential evolution (DE) and modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) to solve this ED problem for two test systems. Simulation, numerical results and convergence performances of these three algorithms are presented …

Cellular Multilayer Perceptron For Prediction Of Voltages In A Power System, Lisa L. Grant, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

With the increase in renewable energy sources connected to the power grid, better identification tools are needed for power system voltage profile prediction. Current deregulation trends have led to voltages operating close to stability limits which increases the need for quick estimation tools for system security and contingency analysis. This paper presents a Cellular Multilayer Perceptron (CMLP) architecture for fast identification and prediction of bus voltages. the CMLP method is compared with a standard MLP neural network for bus voltage prediction on the 12-bus three-area test power system. CMLPs can represent a direct mapping of any power system simplifying the …

Short To Medium Range Time Series Prediction Of Solar Irradiance Using An Echo State Network, Stephen M. Ruffing, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An Echo State Network (ESN) can make multi-step predictions since it can process temporal information without the training difficulties encountered by conventional recurrent neural networks. an ESN is applied in this paper to make multistep predictions of solar irradiance, 30 minutes to 270 minutes into the future. the ESN is trained and tested using two performance metrics (correlation coefficient and mean squared error) on meteorological and solar data recorded at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Solar Radiation Research Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. When feedback of target outputs is utilized, an improvement is seen for the first performance metric, while no …

Comparison Of Enhanced-Pso And Classical Optimization Methods: A Case Study For Statcom Placement, Yamille Del Valle, Ronald G. Harley, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper validates the effectiveness of an enhanced particle swarm optimizer (Enhanced-PSO) method in solving the problem of optimal allocation of FACTS devices in a power system. the performance of the Enhanced-PSO method is compared with classical optimization approaches using a simple but realistic case study of optimal allocation of STATCOM devices, considering steady state and economic criteria. This paper also discusses the concepts and details about the optimization process that tend to be overlooked in the literature since the selection of an optimization algorithm highly depends on them. © 2009 IEEE.

Comparative Study Of Population Based Techniques For Power System Stabilizer Design, Pinaki Mitra, Chuan Yan, Lisa Grant, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Komla Folly

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) are used in interconnected power systems in order to mitigate low frequency oscillations. the comparison of the performances of four advanced population-based techniques in tuning the parameters of PSS in a three-machine-nine-bus test system is presented in this paper. the algorithms considered in this paper are A) Differential Evolution based Particle Swarm Optimization (DEPSO), b) Modified Clonal Selection Algorithm (MCSA), c) Small Population based Particle Swarm Optimization (SPPSO) and d) Population based Incremental Learning (PBIL). the comparative study is focused on the frequency domain performances. It is observed that MCSA is performing better than the other …

An Introduction To The Echo State Network And Its Applications In Power System, Jing Dai, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald G. Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Echo State Network (ESN) is a new type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) proposed in recent years. the training process of ESN is easier and requires less computational effort than regular RNN which has the same size. Due to its high modeling capability of complex dynamic system, ESN has been used in various power system applications such as power system nonlinear load modeling and true harmonic current detection, wide area monitoring, intelligent control of an Active Power Filter (APF), overhead conductor thermal dynamics identification, wind speed or water inflow forecasting, etc. This paper introduces the basic concept and the offline …

Atomic Force Microscopy Of Dna Self-Assembled Nanostructures For Device Applications, Hieu Bui, Craig Onodera, Bernard Yurke, Elton Graugnard, Wan Kuang, Jeunghoon Lee, William B. Knowlton, William L. Hughes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

DNA nanotechnology, which relies on Watson-Crick hybridization, is a versatile selfassembly process whereby a variety of complex nanostructures can be fabricated with sublithographic features.[1] Adopting this technology, 1012 identical devices can be synthesized to have hundreds of components with 1nm resolution. Example nanostructures include: 1) DNA motifs [2], 2) two-dimensional DNA crystals [3], and DNA origami [4]. Currently, this technology is being adopted towards electronic, optical, and opto-electronic devices.[5]

Heat And Current Propagation In Buffered Superconducting And Hyper-Conducting Wire, Jesse L. Lynn

Theses and Dissertations

This research models and analyzes the distribution of heat and current in a buffered superconducting or hyper-conducting wire that shows potential for use in different capacities in multiple Air Force systems including the Active Denial System. The thesis includes a brief background of the reaction-diffusion system of partial differential equations provided by AFRL/RZPG and development of the numerical scheme. It then explores solutions to the model. These solutions indicate some of the various heat-related failures that may be observed in such a wire. The nature of the solutions observed depends on the characteristics of the wire, operating temperature and efficiency …

Electromagnetic Field Control And Optimization Using Metamaterials, Jeffrey S. Mcguirk

Theses and Dissertations

Transformation optics has shown the ability to cloak an object from incident electromagnetic radiation is possible. However, the material parameters are inhomogeneous, anisotropic, and, in some instances, singular at various locations. In order for a cloak to be practically realized, simplified parameter sets are required. However, the simplified parameters result in a degradation in the cloaking function. Constitutive parameters for simplified two-dimensional cylindrical cloaks have been developed with two material property constraints. It was initially believed satisfying these two constraints would result in the simplified cylindrical cloaks having the same wave equation as an ideal cloak. Because of this error, …

A Physical Model Of Human Skin And Its Application For Search And Rescue, Abel S. Nunez

Theses and Dissertations

For this research we created a human skin reflectance model in the VIS and NIR. We then modeled sensor output for an RGB sensor based on output from the skin reflectance model. The model was also used to create a skin detection algorithm and a skin pigmentation level (skin reflectance at 685nm) estimation algorithm. The average root mean square error across the VIS and NIR between the skin reflectance model and measured data was 2%. The skin reflectance model then allowed us to generate qualitatively accurate responses for an RGB sensor for different biological and lighting conditions. To test the …

Graphene On Pt(111): Growth And Substrate Interaction, Peter Sutter, Jerzy T. Sadowski, Eli Sutter

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

In situ low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) of graphene growth combined with measurements of the graphene structure and electronic band structure has been used to study graphene on Pt (111). Growth by carbon segregation produces macroscopic monolayer graphene domains extending continuously across Pt (111) substrate steps and bounded by strongly faceted edges. LEEM during cooling from the growth temperature shows the propagation of wrinkles in the graphene sheet, driven by thermal stress. The lattice mismatch between graphene and Pt (111) is accommodated by moiré structures with a large number of different rotational variants, without a clear preference for a particular interface …

Studies On The Performance And Impact Of Channel Estimation In Mimo And Ofdm Systems, Michael David Larsen

Theses and Dissertations

The need for reliable, high-throughput, mobile wireless communication technologies has never been greater as increases in the demand for on-the-go access to information, entertainment, and other electronic services continues. Two such technologies, which are at the forefront of current research efforts, are orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, their union being known simply as MIMO-OFDM. The successful performance of these technologies depends upon the availability of accurate information concerning the wireless communication channel. In this dissertation, several issues related to quality of this channel state information (CSI) are studied. Specifically, the first part of this dissertation …

Efficient Implementation Of Raid-6 Encoding And Decoding On A Field Programmable Gate Array (Fpga), David Jacob

Theses and Dissertations

RAID-6 is a data encoding scheme used to provide single drive error detection and dual drive error correction for data redundancy on an array of disks. Here we present a thorough study of efficient implementations of RAID-6 on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Since RAID-6 relies heavily on Galois Field Algebra (GFA), an efficient implementation of a GFA FPGA library is also presented. Through rigorous performance analysis, this work shows the most efficient ways to tradeoff FPGA resources and execution time when implementing GFA functions as well as RAID-6 encoding and decoding.

Quality-Driven Cross Layer Design For Multimedia Security Over Resource Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks, Wei Wang

Department of Computer Electronics and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The strong need for security guarantee, e.g., integrity and authenticity, as well as privacy and confidentiality in wireless multimedia services has driven the development of an emerging research area in low cost Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). Unfortunately, those conventional encryption and authentication techniques cannot be applied directly to WMSNs due to inborn challenges such as extremely limited energy, computing and bandwidth resources. This dissertation provides a quality-driven security design and resource allocation framework for WMSNs. The contribution of this dissertation bridges the inter-disciplinary research gap between high layer multimedia signal processing and low layer computer networking. It formulates the …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2009, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Each student in his or her senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. The senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real-world solution to an engineering challenge.

A highlight of the year-long senior design project is the senior design competition. This competition, which usually takes place the week before finals each semester, helps focus the senior students on increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects.

Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on innovation, commercial …