Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

2021 Department Of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition Electrical System, Grayson Capers, Shane Alayvilla, Justin Rodrigues

Electrical Engineering

In this work, the implementation of the electrical system for Cal Poly’s 2021 Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition turbine is described. The mission of this project was to complete the turbine testing tasks to the best of the team’s ability. This system includes an off the shelf slotless permanent magnet synchronous generator and rectifier to produce a DC voltage. To maximize the power output at below-rated wind speeds, current sensors, voltage sensors, and a dynamic load with variable resistance were designed and tested. To curtail the power and rotor speed in high wind events, the turbine was equipped with …

Hybrid Ac/Dc House, Vinh Q. Tran, Casey Winans, Erin O'Rourke

Electrical Engineering

The Hybrid AC/DC house is a proof of concept implementing a DC bus in residential power systems. The implementation of the DC bus is motivated by efficiency through a direct path for DC sources and loads. The avoidance of DC-to-AC and AC-to-DC conversions used in typical residential systems especially those with DC sources such as solar panels could experience higher efficiencies through only DC-to-DC conversions between the sources and the loads.

Towards Enabling Unmanned Aerial Vehicles As A Service For Heterogeneous Applications, Farid Nait-Abdesselam, Ahmad Alsharoa, Mohamed Y. Selim, Daji Qiao, Ahmed E. Kamal

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in various commercial applications, such as precision agriculture and aerial remote sensing, is fast contributing to a significant growth in the UAV market. Also, it is crucial to provide continuous coverage after failures of wireless network components or additional bandwidth in high traffic situations. By introducing the concept of UAVs as a service (UaaS), we propose a novel framework, dubbed D3S, consisting of four phases: Demand, decision, deployment, and service. The main objective of this framework is to provide a realistic and streamlined approach to support the implementation of the UaaS paradigm. …

Optical And Structural Properties Of Manganese-Doped Zinc Oxide Grown By Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, Vishal Saravade, Zahra Manzoor, Alexis Corda, Chuanle Zhou, Ian Ferguson, Na Lu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This systematic study investigates the optical properties and process−structure−property relationships of Mn-doped zinc oxide (ZnMnO) grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition with varying Mn-doping concentration and growth conditions. ZnMnO exhibits a good crystal quality oriented in the (002) direction and contains intermixtures of zinc oxide (ZnO)-like and manganese oxide (MnxOy)-like phases. The material exhibits a direct energy absorption band-edge and a reduction in bandgap with Mn-doping. Photoluminescence studies show that Mn-doping can simultaneously tailor broad green band luminescence and ultraviolet edge emissions. Post-growth air-annealing results in broad MnxOy-related photoluminescence emissions at 3.3–4.5 eV. A further reduction in the absorption band-edge …

Single Step 2-Port Device De-Embedding Algorithm For Fixture-Dut-Fixture Network Assembly, Simone Scafati, Enza Pellegrino, Francesco De Paulis, Carlo Olivieri, James L. Drewniak, Antonio Orlandi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The de-embedding of measurement fixtures is relevant for an accurate experimental characterization of radio frequency and digital electronic devices. The standard technique consists in removing the effects of the measurement fixtures by the calculation of the transfer scattering parameters (T-parameters) from the available measured (or simulated) global scattering parameters (S-parameters). The standard de-embedding is achieved by a multiple steps process, involving the S-to-T and subsequent T-to-S parameter conversion. In a typical measurement setup, two fixtures are usually placed before and after the device under test (DUT) allowing the connection of the device to the calibrated vector network analyzer coaxial ports. …

Impact Of Electric Vehicle Charging On The Performance Of Distribution Grid, Sina Ibne Ahmed, Hossein Salehfar, Daisy Flora Selvaraj

EERC Publications, Papers, & Presentations

This study has assessed the impacts of Level 1, Level 2, and DC fast charging of electric vehicles (EVs) on distribution feeder by varying the EV penetration level. Both graphical and real-time simulations have been conducted to evaluate the vehicle-charging effect on the distribution system. The outcome of the study demonstrates voltage deviation and distortion on the distribution grid.

Smart Transformer Impact On A Radial Distribution System, Tarek Saad Abdel-Salam, Ibrahem Mohamed Mahmoud, Rania Abdel-Wahed Swief

Renewable Electrical Energy Engineering

The work is intended to extend the application of a smart transformer on a radial distribution system. In this paper, an updated algorithm on the backward/forward power flow is introduced. The so-called direct approach of power flow is employed and analyzed. In addition, the paper focused on integrating a smart transformer to the network and solving the updating network also using the direct approach load flow. The solution of the smart transformer using the direct approach power flow method is quite straightforward. This model is applied to radial distribution systems which are the IEEE 33- and IEEE 69-bus systems as …

Energy Efficient Computing Using Scalable General Purpose Analog Processors, Ethan Paul Palisoc De Guzman

Master's Theses

Due to fundamental physical limitations, conventional digital circuits have not been able to scale at the pace expected from Moore’s law. In addition, computationally intensive applications such as neural networks and computer vision demand large amounts of energy from digital circuits. As a result, energy efficient alternatives are needed in order to provide continued performance scaling. Analog circuits have many well known benefits: the ability to store more information onto a single wire and efficiently perform mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, and differential equation solving. However, analog computing also comes with drawbacks such as its sensitivity to process variation …

Comparison Of Hilbert Transform And Derivative Methods For Converting Ecg Data Into Cardioid Plots To Detect Heart Abnormalities, Robert George Goldie

Master's Theses

Electrocardiogram (ECG) time-domain signals contain important information about the heart. Several techniques have been proposed for creating a two-dimensional visualization of an ECG, called a Cardioid, that can be used to detect heart abnormalities with computer algorithms. The derivative method is the prevailing technique, which is popular for its low complexity, but it can introduce distortion into the Cardioid plot without additional signal processing. The Hilbert transform is an alternative method which has unity gain and phase shifts the ECG signal by 90 degrees to create the Cardioid plot. However, the Hilbert transform is seldom used and has historically been …

Design And Characterization Of Standard Cell Library Using Finfets, Phanindra Datta Sadhu

Master's Theses

The processors and digital circuits designed today contain billions of transistors on a small piece of silicon. As devices are becoming smaller, slimmer, faster, and more efficient, the transistors also have to keep up with the demands and needs of the daily user. Unfortunately, the CMOS technology has reached its limit and cannot be used to scale down due to the transistor's breakdown caused by short channel effects. An alternative solution to this is the FinFET transistor technology, where the gate of the transistor is a three dimensional fin that surrounds the transistor and prevents the breakdown caused by scaling …

Development Of A Portable Low-Moisture Food Pasteurization Device Using Rf Heating, Eric Jason Ohata

Master's Theses

Bacterial presence in low-moisture foods such as flour, cereals, baby formula, and spices, have become a concern due to sanitizing challenges. The food industry currently focuses on wet food sanitation as opposed to low-moisture foods because of bacteria’s inability to reproduce in low water activity media. Traditionally, food processing RF heating pasteurizes in mass quantities while an equivalent consumer device does not exist the market today. A consumer product would help eliminate food waste by providing an easy way to sanitize food and extend shelf life. The Portable Food Pasteurization (PFP) project is an interdisciplinary project involving the Electrical Engineering, …

An Artificial Neural Network For Bankruptcy Prediction, Walter D. Magdefrau

Master's Theses

Assessing the financial health of organizations remains a topic of great interest to economists, financial institutions, and invested stakeholders. For more than a century, research into financial distress has focused primarily on traditional applications of statistical analysis; however, modern advances in computational efficiency have created a significant opportunity for more sophisticated approaches. This thesis investigates the application of artificial intelligence on company bankruptcy prediction. The proposed neural network model is evaluated using the Polish Companies Bankruptcy dataset and yields a 5-year prediction accuracy of 96.5% and an AUC (area under receiver operating characteristic curve) measure of 92.4%.

Hands-Free Electric Skateboard, Blaise M. Bibolet

Electrical Engineering

An electric skateboard functions as a skateboard propelled by electric motors. It is usually controlled with a handheld controller. This project describes an electric skateboard controlled via weight distribution. To accelerate, the rider leans forward, and to decelerate, the rider leans backward. It can travel 17 miles per hour and has regenerative braking to recharge the battery.

Ultra-High-Energy Neutrino Detection Antenna Simulations, Nicholas C. Garcia

Electrical Engineering

Neutrinos allow researchers to investigate high-energy galactic phenomena, such as supernovae and black holes. Neutrinos interact with their surroundings via the weak nuclear force and therefore, travel unattenuated through space and are not deflected by electromagnetic fields. However, they do rarely interact with other particles. When neutrinos interact with nucleons (protons or neutrons) in a dielectric medium (i.e.: ice sheets), they are detectable through a cone of coherent electromagnetic radiation (Askaryan Radiation) created by the particle shower generated from the neutrino interaction [1]. The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G) detects UHE neutrinos greater than 100 PeV (10¹⁵ eV) …

Online Laboratory Course Using Low Tech Supplies To Introduce Digital Logic Design Concepts, Dhanya Nair

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

This paper describes a Digital Logic Design Laboratory Course developed to engage students with hardware systems within an online setting. This is a junior level core course for students from Computer Science (CS), Computer Engineering (CE) and Electrical Engineering (EE). Hence, the laboratories are designed to provide the hands-on experience of breadboarding, testing and debugging essential to CE and EE while accommodating CS students with no prior hardware experience. Commercially available low-cost electronic trainers (portable workstations) are loaned to the students in addition to basic electronic components. To ensure a strong foundation in debugging, prior to utilizing these workstations, students …

Sound Speed Gradients In Mud, Charles W. Holland

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Various methods have been used to estimate sound speed profiles in mud at the New England Mud Patch. Some of these methods show large sound speed gradients of order 10 s−1. New measurements of the seabed reflection coefficient exhibit an angle of intromission over three octaves in frequency; these data constrain the range of possible sound speed gradient values. The data indicate that sound speed gradients must be quite weak, i.e., much smaller than |10 s−1|. This conclusion is supported by core data which indicate nearly constant porosity in most of the mud layer.

Understanding Diffusion And Electrochemical Reduction Of Li+ Ions In Liquid Lithium Metal Batteries, Witness Martin, Yang Tian, Jie Xiao

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lithium metal has drawn significant interest as an anode material for next generation lithium (Li) batteries. However, due to its propensity to form dendrites in commonly used electrolytes during repeated cycling, it has not yet been commercialized in secondary batteries. The formation of a Li protrusion is determined by the relative speed of Li+ ions being reduced and how fast they can be replenished in the vincinity of electrode. However, it is very difficult to quantify such kinetic parameters of Li+ ion in different electrolytes, not mentioning the identification of the desired electrolyte recipe to mitigate Li dendrite formation. Herein, …

Synthetic Aperture Radar Image Recognition Of Armored Vehicles, Christopher Szul, Torrey J. Wagner, Brent T. Langhals

Faculty Publications

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery is not affected by weather and allows for day-and-night observations, however it can be difficult to interpret. This work applies classical and neural network machine learning techniques to perform image classification of SAR imagery. The Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition dataset from the Air Force Research Laboratory was used, which contained 2,987 total observations of the BMP-2, BTR-70, and T-72 vehicles. Using a 75%/25% train/test split, the classical model achieved an average multi-class image recognition accuracy of 70%, while a convolutional neural network was able to achieve a 97% accuracy with lower model …

Miniaturized Ultraviolet Imager High Voltage Power Supply, Nicholas Palmer, Jason Thomas Heil

Electrical Engineering

Sending satellites into orbit becomes exponentially more expensive with weight and size, so designing high-voltage DC-DC converters that can achieve kilovolt level outputs in a small form factor is crucial to reducing costs. The Miniaturized Ultraviolet Imager (MUVI) aims to monitor Earth’s ionosphere and report weather patterns to climate scientists within a 2U cube satellite footprint. The imaging equipment consists of a microchannel plate and phosphor screen that require 2.5kV and 5.5kV respectively at microamp level currents. This report explains the implementation of a high voltage boost cascaded flyback converter to meet all of the MUVI satellite output voltage requirements. …

Tractor Hacking, Jin Huang, Kyle B. Kesler

Electrical Engineering

Tractor hacking arose from tractor owners' desire for full control over the tractors they purchase. Tractor manufacturers set strict security on the electrical components of their tractors, making it difficult for tractor owners to diagnose and monitor their tractors on their own. The UltraBlue Tractor Hacking project is a solution to this problem, allowing tractor owners to perform diagnostics and monitor the equipment they purchased without having to go through dealerships. From talking to farmers, we found that they valued a diagnostic tool that allows for clearing and resetting Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), viewing diagnostic data pertaining to a specific …

Cyber Social Threats 2021: Ai, Covid-19 Vaccine, Detection And Countering Strategies, Ugur Kursuncu, Jeremy Blackburn, Yelena Mejova, Megan Squire, Amit Sheth

Publications

In recent years, online platforms have been utilized for promoting harmful content and behavior such as extremism, harassment, mis/disinformation, human trafficking, genderbased violence among others affecting our society, often leading to real-world events. Such content and behaviors are inherently complex, making the recognition of these narratives challenging for researchers as well as social media companies. The Cyber Social Threats (CySoc) Workshop 2021 aimed to facilitate a rich forum for researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry in the areas of computing and social science, to discuss novel avenues for research on interdisciplinary aspects of harmful communications on social media, …

A Game-Theoretic Framework To Regulate Freeriding In Inter-Provider Spectrum Sharing, Mostafizur Rahman, Murat Yuksel, Thomas Quint

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Primary-secondary spectrum sharing is limited in terms of design space, and may not be sufficient to meet the ever-increasing demand of connectivity and high signal quality. The next step to increase spectrum sharing efficiency is to design markets where sharing takes place among primary providers rather than leaving it to the limited case where the primary licensee is idle. Attaining contractual spectrum sharing among primary providers, a.k.a. co-primary or inter-provider sharing, involves additional costs for the users, e.g., roaming fee. Co-primary spectrum sharing without additional charge to the users poses two major challenges: a) regulatory approaches must be introduced to …

Bibliometric Review On Iot Based System For Remote Downloading On Microcontroller, Arundhati Bandopadhyaya Ms., Diya Dodwad Ms., Diviyanshi Gupta Ms., Surya Koyyana Mr., Parag Narkhede Mr., Shripad Deshpande Mr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Working with sensors has become an area of expertise within the domain of electronic engineering. On a day to day basis, thousands of sensors are put to use around us, for instance, in smoke alarms, speedometers, motors, computers, radiators etc. to accumulate sensor data, cables that connect the sensors to the bottom station after which the information is worked on. But cabling is often expensive especially when handling large scale industrial applications ^[5]. For an equivalent reason, low-cost wireless networks came into the picture recently and are in high demand. A research paper we found during our review of …

Requirements Metrics - A Working List, William L. Honig

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A working set of metrics for review of requirements materials including documents.

Establishing Suitable Metrics To Encourage Broader Use Of Atomic Requirements, William L. Honig

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Despite the apparent benefits of singular, individual, or atomic requirements, their use remains limited, and teaching their creation is difficult. The acceptance of a set of requirements metrics specifically designed to evaluate atomic requirements may lead to their better utilization and improved requirements engineering. Twelve metrics designed to measure atomic requirements are presented here: six used on individual requirements statements and six applied to a requirements document or set of requirement statements. Example metrics for individual requirements are Requirement Completeness and Requirement Atomicity; examples to measure multiple requirements include Requirements Traceablity and Requirements Purity. These metrics are designed to work …

Real-Time Machine Learning For Quickest Detection, Yongxin Liu

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Safety-critical Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) require real-time machine learning for control and decision making. One promising solution is to use deep learning to discover useful patterns for event detection from heterogeneous data. However, deep learning algorithms encounter challenges in CPS with assurability requirements: 1) Decision explainability, 2) Real-time and quickest event detection, and 3) Time-eficient incremental learning.

To address these obstacles, I developed a real-time Machine Learning Framework for Quickest Detection (MLQD). To be specific, I first propose the zero-bias neural network, which removes decision bias and preferabilities from regular neural networks and provides an interpretable decision process. Second, I discover …

Optical Engineering Of Iii-Nitride Nanowire Light-Emitting Diodes And Applications, Ha Quoc Thang Bui

Dissertations

Applications of III-nitride nanowires are intensively explored in different emerging technologies including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes, photodiodes, biosensors, and solar cells. The synthesis of the III-nitride nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is investigated with significant achievements. III-nitride nanowires can be grown on dissimilar substrates i.e., silicon with nearly dislocation free due to the effective strain relaxation. III-nitride nanowires, therefore, are perfectly suited for high performance light emitters for cost-effective fabrication of the advanced photonic-electronic integrated platforms. This dissertation addresses the design, fabrication, and characterization of III-nitride nanowire full-color micro-LED (µLED) on silicon substrates for µLED display technologies, high-efficient …

Selective Neural Stimulation By Leveraging Electrophysiological Diversity And Using Alternative Stimulus Waveforms, Bemin Ghobreal

Dissertations

Efforts on finding the principle mechanism for selective neural stimulation have concentrated on segregating the neurons based on their size and other geometric factors. However, neuronal subtypes found in different parts of the nervous system also differ in their electrophysiological properties. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of selective activation of neurons by leveraging the diversity seen in passive and active membrane properties.

Using both a local membrane model and an axon model based on the CRRSS, the diversity of electrophysiological properties is simulated by varying four model parameters (membrane leakage-Gleak and capacitance-Cm, temperature coefficient-Ktemp, …

Intelligent And Secure Fog-Aided Internet Of Drones, Jingjing Yao

Dissertations

Internet of drones (IoD), which utilize drones as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, deploys several drones in the air to collect ground information and send them to the IoD gateway for further processing. Computing tasks are usually offloaded to the cloud data center for intensive processing. However, many IoD applications require real-time processing and event response (e.g., disaster response and virtual reality applications). Hence, data processing by the remote cloud may not satisfy the strict latency requirement. Fog computing attaches fog nodes, which are equipped with computing, storage and networking resources, to IoD gateways to assume a substantial amount of …

Controlled Reduction Of Graphene Oxide And Graphene Oxide-Carbon Nanotube Hybrids And Their Applications, Samar Azizighannad

Dissertations

Graphene and graphene derivatives are widely used in diverse research and industrial applications. Graphene production on a large scale is carried out by exfoliating graphite oxide and producing graphene oxide (GO), which comprises of graphene sheets with different oxygen-containing functional groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, and carbonyl. GO is reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which has properties that are closer to graphene. Properties of GO and rGO depend upon the oxygen content, and the effect of reducing oxygen content on the aqueous behavior of rGOs is not well understood.

In an effort to understand how properties of rGO change …