Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Using Veterans’ Technical Skills In An Engineering Laboratory, Noah Salzman, Thad B. Welch, Harish Subbaraman, Cameron H. G. Wright

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

After years of dissatisfaction with student knowledge and ability to use electrical test and measurement equipment (T&ME), a veteran with significant expertise using this equipment was placed in a Circuit Analysis Lab. This paper reports on this trial and its assessment results. Based on the overwhelming success of this program, this one-semester trial was extended for a second semester.

Senior Civil Engineering Students’ Views On Sustainability And Resiliency, Noah Salzman, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori, Sondra M. Miller, Thomas A. Robbins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, civil engineering education and workforce development have evolved to include a greater emphasis on sustainability and resiliency. Sustainability balances economic, ecological, and societal needs by being responsive to community impact, human health, and the environment. Resilient infrastructure lasts, retaining functional and structural capacity and supporting interconnected transportation, energy, water, and social systems after a distress event. While many undergraduate civil engineering programs address sustainability, it tends to be limited to individual courses, and resiliency concepts are rarely incorporated. To address these shortcomings, we are incorporating sustainability and resiliency conceptual threads and activities throughout our curriculum, from our …

Work In Progress: Progress Of The Nsf Red Revolution, Noah Salzman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The National Science Foundation (NSF) REvolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments (RED) program is an important initiative in engineering education. The goals of RED are to “enable engineering and computer science departments to lead the nation by successfully achieving significant sustainable changes necessary to overcome longstanding issues in their undergraduate programs and educate inclusive communities of engineering and computer science students prepared to solve 21^st-century challenges.” In 2015, six RED projects were funded followed by seven in 2016 and six more in 2017, bringing the total number of projects to 19. In addition, NSF funded REDPAR (RED Participatory …

Second Year Of Using The Sidekick Basic Kit For Ti Launchpad With Elementary School Students, Tara N. Kimmey, Cameron H. G. Wright, Thad B. Welch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper describes a second year, follow-on study in which 4^th and 5^th grade students were exposed to engineering-related topics using a microcontroller, input/output circuitry, sensors, and the associated software coding needed to achieve a desired functionality of the hardware. The first year study was described in a paper presented at the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference. This second year study took students to the “next level,” and showed very promising results.

A Study Of Scalability And Cost-Effectiveness Of Large-Scale Scientific Applications Over Heterogeneous Computing Environment, Arghya K. Das

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent advances in large-scale experimental facilities ushered in an era of data-driven science. These large-scale data increase the opportunity to answer many fundamental questions in basic science. However, these data pose new challenges to the scientific community in terms of their optimal processing and transfer. Consequently, scientists are in dire need of robust high performance computing (HPC) solutions that can scale with terabytes of data.

In this thesis, I address the challenges in three major aspects of scientific big data processing as follows: 1) Developing scalable software and algorithms for data- and compute-intensive scientific applications. 2) Proposing new cluster architectures …

Investigation Of The Skin Effect In Alternating Currents, Matthew Liang

The International Student Science Fair 2018

My research is on the investigation of the skin effect in alternating currents. My project is broken down into 4 sub-aims. The first aim would be, to be able to mathematically model the distribution of current in the radius of the wire, which consists of the applications of the Maxwell equation and solving zeroth order differential Bessel equations of the first kind. The next aim would be to computationally plot out the desired current readings as the depth of the wire increases from the surface, using the Matlab software. The third aim that I have would be conducting an experiment, …

Energy Conversion System For Travelers (Ecost), Thipok Bovornratanaraks

The International Student Science Fair 2018

We have innovated “The Energy Conversion System for Travelers” or the ECoST. With the fact that most travelers have wheeled cabin-bags, whilst walking, the wheels will rotate so why don’t we harvest electricity from this kinetic energy? We thus install our innovation, the ECoST, to the bag to generate electricity from the spinning wheels. The electricity is then kept in the storage unit and ready to charge your empty battery devices in an emergency case via a USB port. To make life easy, our ECoST was designed to replicate the power bank charging method; therefore, we can charge …

A Novel Hybrid 2d/Q-2d Finite Element Method For Power/Ground Plane Analysis, Ping Li, Li (Lijun) Jun Jiang, Hakan Bagci

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

By realizing the TMz modal distribution property between the power/ground plate-pairs, the magnetic field actually has only azimuthal components while longitude component is zero. Thus, if the magnetic field wave equation is solved, only a Quasi-2D issue is considered. Furthermore, since the high-order modes are only located in the near region of the anti-pad, thus for the domain far-away from the antipad has only the TEM mode. Thereby, in this region, the magnetic field is invariable along the vertical direction, which consequently is a pure 2D domain. As a result, the conventional 3D computational domain is naturally transformed to a …

Testing And Packaging For Mems Acoustic Emission Sensors, Ting-Hung Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to improve the structure and dimension of the MEMS acoustic emission sensor. Acoustic emission sensor (AE sensor) based on the piezoelectric transducer is a well-developed technology in non-destructive testing that is widely used to determine permanent damage such as cracks and corrosions in buildings and structures. The AE sensor can be used to monitor cracks in structures and to check leakage in pressurized systems. The location of cracks in a structure or system leakage causes a high-frequency surface vibration while releasing ultrasonic energy. The frequency of this energy is typically between 30 kHz to …

Gain Scheduled Torque Compensation Of Pmsg-Based Wind Turbine For Frequency Regulation In An Isolated Grid, Haixin Wang, Junyou Yang, Zhe Chen, Weichun Ge, Shiyan Hu, Yiming Ma, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Frequency stability in an isolated grid can be easily impacted by sudden load or wind speed changes. Many frequency regulation techniques are utilized to solve this problem. However, there are only few studies designing torque compensation controllers based on power performances in different Speed Parts. It is a major challenge for a wind turbine generator (WTG) to achieve the satisfactory compensation performance in different Speed Parts. To tackle this challenge, this paper proposes a gain scheduled torque compensation strategy for permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based wind turbines. Our main idea is to improve the anti-disturbance ability for frequency regulation …

Development Of 3-D Printed Hybrid Packaging For Gaas-Mems Oscillators Based On Piezoelectrically-Transduced Zno-On-Soi Micromechanical Resonators, Di Lan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research focused on CMOS-MEMS integrated oscillator has been done using various foundry compatible integration techniques. In order to compensate the integration compatibility, MEMS resonators built on standard CMOS foundry process could not take full advantage of highest achievable quality factor on chip. System-in-package (SiP) and system-on-chip (SoC) is becoming the next generation of electronic packaging due to the need of multi-functional devices and multi-sensor systems, thus wafer level hybrid integration becomes the key to enable the full assembly of dissimilar devices. In this way, every active circuit and passive component can be individually optimized, so do the MEMS resonators …

Cryptki: Mobile Hardware Wallet, Derrick Chan, Rowan Decker, William Nguyen, Yuya Oguchi

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Cryptocurrencies are rapidly receiving mainstream attention and adoption. As a result, new technologies are developing to store and transact cryptocurrencies to keep up with a rapidly developing market. We have developed a way to utilize a mobile phone to communicate with the Ethereum blockchain in order to monitor and initiate cryptocurrency transactions. The project allows users to create new Ethereum addresses and to send arbitrary amounts of Ether to existing Ethereum addresses, while maintaining security for the end user. We conclude that this method of communication with the Ethereum blockchain is viable and is an avenue for exploration in the …

Mitigating Interference With Knowledge-Aided Subarray Pattern Synthesis And Space Time Adaptive Processing, Yongjun Yoon

Theses and Dissertations

Phased arrays are essential to airborne ground moving target indication (GMTI), as they measure the spatial angle-of-arrival of the target, clutter, and interference signals. The spatial and Doppler (temporal) frequency is utilized by space-time adaptive processing (STAP) to separate and filter out the interference from the moving target returns. Achieving acceptable airborne GMTI performance often requires fairly large arrays, but the size, weight and power (SWAP) requirements, cost and complexity considerations often result in the use of subarrays. This yields an acceptable balance between cost and performance while lowering the system’s robustness to interference. This thesis proposes the use of …

At-Home Neurofeedback Treatment, Sanah Imran, Frank Cannizzaro

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

In the past two decades, the prevalence of mental health illnesses and cognitive disorders has dramatically increased both in the United States and worldwide. While the problem is an expensive one, costing billions annually in lost productivity, the greatest cost is to the patient suffering from mental health problems. Those who have the means to seek professional help may be prescribed medications that often have negative side effects and merely mitigate symptoms of these disorders without treating the underlying cause. Fortunately, there is a new and revolutionary therapy available called neurofeedback. It uses electroencephalogram (EEG) signals to self- regulate brain …

B.O.G.G.L.E.S.: Boundary Optical Geographic Lidar Environment System, Miguel Chapa, Evan Hoerl, Isaac Jorgensen, Carl Maggio

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

The purpose of this paper is to describe a pseudo X-ray vision system that pairs a Lidar scanner with a visualization device. The system as a whole is referred to as B.O.G.G.L.E.S. There are several key factors that went into the development of this system and the background information and design approach are thoroughly described. B.O.G.G.L.E.S functionality is depicted through the use of design constraints and the analysis of test results. Additionally, many possible developments for B.O.G.G.L.E.S are proposed in the paper. This indicates that there are various avenues of improvement for this project that could be implemented in the …

Camera-Based Distance Sensor, Kai Schmidt, Evan Holmes

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

While working on a robotics project at the electrical contracting company for which we work, we discovered a gap in the electronic distance sensor market in terms of range, accuracy, precision, and cost. We designed and constructed a prototype for an electronic distance sensing component which utilizes a camera, laser, and image processor to measure distances. The laser is pointed at a surface and an image of the laser dot is captured. An image processing algorithm determines the pixel position of the dot in the image, and this position is compared to a lookup table of known values to determine …

Realsense Relay Board, Shivam Gandhi, Sean Giblin

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

RealSense is an emerging technology owned by Intel. RealSense cameras are unique in the sense that they have depth sensing abilities allowing for object tracking and identification. Due to the wide range of applications RealSense cameras are found in a multitude of different environments. As with any new technology these cameras experience technical issues that can affect performance. It was the goal of this project to solve the particular problem of RealSense cameras freezing. RealSense cameras are data collection devices, often times the continuity of that data is extremely important and any downtime is to be avoided. Physical resets require …

Wireless Multi-User Communication System, Brian Tjahjadi, Andrew Song

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

The project’s ultimate goal is to send and receive information wirelessly from multiple unique users at once. Our design includes an antenna with beam-switching capabilities to serve multiple users at once. The project also focused on providing a more compact solution along with additional uplink capability and power indication. This has the potential to be used in the upcoming 5G machine to machine communication. The antenna and feed network were made smaller by making use of less conventional structures. The power indicator was made by using a digital logic circuit. These components form a proof-of-concept communication system.

Electric Water Heater Modeling For Distributed Energy Resource Aggregation And Control, Anne E. Clarke

Dissertations and Theses

Today's utilities face new challenges due to the continually increasing penetration of residential solar and other distributed, stochastic generation sources. In order to maintain balance and stability in the grid without building costly, large-scale generation plants, utilities are turning to distributed energy resources for use in demand response programs. Demand response is a cost-efficient way to balance grid load/generation without the need for increased capital investment in traditional generation resources. Demand response programs are excellent exploiters of end-user devices that otherwise further accentuate the daily load curve and thus, add to the difficulties created by daily load peaks.

Electric water …

Halo - A Personal Iot Air Monitor Powered By Harvested Energy, Benjamin Lampe, Taylor Mau, Samantha Morehead, Naeem Turner-Bandele

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Urban air pollution leads to widespread respiratory illness and millions of deaths annually. PM2.5, particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers, is the product of many common combustion reactions and poses a particularly serious health risk. Its small size allows it to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Existing air quality monitors are aimed at scientific research, di↵erentiating between pollutants and providing high accuracy in measurement. These devices are prohibitively expensive and cannot easily be carried around. Due to the highly localized nature of air pollution, and in order to allow individuals and institutions to …

Rf Roaming System Locator: A Modular Omnidirectional Antenna System, George Stathakis, Josh Sullivan, Christian Ayscue

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Drones are increasingly common in everything from entertainment to delivery services. Currently, GPS and wireless triangulation are the two main methods of tracking drones and collision avoidance. The main problem with these two methods are accuracy and mobility. This thesis goes into building a system that is able to solve the two main drawbacks, by using a completely contained antenna system. The system is robust and can work in a variety of environments and situations. While the thesis focuses on drone tracking, the system is built with modularity in mind and can be adapted to track other RF signals with …

Vehicle To Everything Communication Using Vlc, Andrew Harris, Michael Karachewski, Nick Schnabel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Autonomous vehicles are currently self contained. However, we are coming to an age where there will be so many smart vehicles on the road, they will need a way to communicate with each other. In addition, the radio frequency spectrum is crowded and additional communication methods are needed to keep up with future needs. With these two ideas, this paper looks into a very new and developing form of communication - visible light communication - to provide an alternative to traditional radio waves for vehicular communication. We analyze the viability of this system as a proof-of-concept for the technology. We …

Dark Current Rts-Noise In Silicon Image Sensors, Benjamin William Hendrickson

Dissertations and Theses

Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) noise is a random noise source defined by discrete and metastable changes in the magnitude of a signal. Though observed in a variety of physical processes, RTS is of particular interest to image sensor fabrication where progress in the suppression of other noise sources has elevated its noise contribution to the point of approaching the limiting noise source in scientific applications.

There have been two basic physical sources of RTS noise reported in image sensors. The first involves a charge trap in the oxide layer of the source follower in a CMOS image sensor. The capture …

Wearable Assistive Technologies For Autism: Opportunities And Challenges, Emma Mansouri Benssassi, Juan-Carlos Gomez, Louanne E. Boyd, Gillian R. Hayes, Juan Ye

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. Challenges with typical social engagement, common in the autism experience, can have a significant negative impact on the quality of life of individuals and families living with autism. Recent advances in sensing, intelligent, and interactive technologies can enable new forms of assistive and augmentative technologies to support social interactions. However, researchers have not yet demonstrated effectiveness of these technologies in long-term real-world use. This article presents an overview of the social and sensory challenges of autism, which offer great opportunities and challenges for …

Wind Turbine Design: Analysis And Experimentation Of Electro-Magnetic Alternator Design, Mark Hans Ewald Steinke

Honors Projects

This article explores the alternator designs for small scale wind turbines and the aspects that affect the performance of these alternators. It explores the design and testing process used to quantify, visualize, and understand the relationship between the wind turbine stator design and the performance. Additionally, the paper analyzes the data collection method using a test jig powered by a hydraulic motor set up by previous groups of students and the data intended to be collected using actual field tests on Whidbey Island located at Camp Casey. These tests were intended to identify favorable combinations of alternators and blades. However, …

Message From The Program Chairs - Volume 1, Jiannong Cao, Stelvio Cimato, Yasuo Okabe, Sahra Sedighsarvestani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Foreword Special Section On Electrical Contacts, Ronald A. Coutu Jr., Ravi Mahajan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Welcome to the Special Topics Section dedicated to the 2016 Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts. This special section contains eight high-quality papers that comprehensively describe the state of the art and potential future directions for topics of great interest to our readers. The Editor-in-Chief (EIC), in consultation with the other EICs, Associate Editors (AEs), and domain experts, selects the topics for the special sections, and a Guest Editor or AE (GE/AE), who is a leading expert in the technical area, then directs the solicitation and peer review of the papers. In cases where the GE/AE is also an author, the …

Rotation Of Two-Petal Laser Beams In The Near Field Of A Spiral Microaxicon, S. S. Stafeev, Liam O'Faolain, M. V. Kotlyar

Cappa Publications

Using a spiral microaxicon with the topological charge 2 and NA = 0.6 operating at a 532-nm wavelength and fabricated by electron-beam lithography, we experimentally demonstrate the rotation of a two-petal laser beam in the near field (several micrometers away from the axicon surface). The estimated rotation rate is 55 °/mm and linearly dependent on the on-axis distance, with the theoretical rotation rate being 53 °/mm. The experimentally measured rotation rate is found to be linear and coincident with the simulation results only on the on-axis segment from 1.5 to 3 mm. The experimentally measured rotation rate is 66 °/mm …

New Approaches For Memristive Logic Computations, Muayad Jaafar Aljafar

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past five decades, exponential advances in device integration in microelectronics for memory and computation applications have been observed. These advances are closely related to miniaturization in integrated circuit technologies. However, this miniaturization is reaching the physical limit (i.e., the end of Moore's Law). This miniaturization is also causing a dramatic problem of heat dissipation in integrated circuits. Additionally, approaching the physical limit of semiconductor devices in fabrication process increases the delay of moving data between computing and memory units hence decreasing the performance. The market requirements for faster computers with lower power consumption can be addressed by new …

New Algorithms For Compressed Sensing Of Mri: Wtwts, Dwts, Wdwts, Srivarna Settisara Janney

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the most accurate imaging techniques that can be used to detect several diseases, where other imaging methodologies fail. MRI data takes a longer time to capture. This is a pain taking process for the patients to remain still while the data is being captured. This is also hard for the doctor as well because if the images are not captured correctly then it will lead to wrong diagnoses of illness that might put the patients lives in danger. Since long scanning time is one of most serious drawback of the MRI modality, reducing …