Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

Autonomous Vision-Based Litter Collection Rover, Dante Michael Benedetti, Benjamin Scott Tavares, Nathan Heil

Electrical Engineering

This report documents the design, implementation, and testing of an autonomous litter-collection rover developed as a Senior Project Design Lab (EE 460/463/464) at California Polytechnic State University. The rover integrates autonomy, computer vision, embedded real-time control, mecanum-wheel omnidirectional mobility, and a two-degree-of-freedom robotic arm to detect, approach, and collect small ground-level litter such as bottles, wrappers, and paper fragments.

The system uses a two-layer compute architecture: an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano running ROS 2 for perception, SLAM, and path planning, paired with an STM32L4A6ZG microcontroller for real-time motor control and odometry. The robot is built on a multi-level aluminum frame …

Solving Linearly Constrained Quadratic Programs Using Field Programmable Analog Arrays, Tyler Wynn, Alonzo Arroyo

Electrical Engineering

This paper presents a field-programmable analog array (FPAA) implementation for solving linearly constrained quadratic programs (LCQPs) directly in the analog domain. The solver is based on a continuous-time primal-dual control architecture with integral action, anti-windup compensation, and a piecewise-linear nonlinearity for enforcing affine inequality constraints. A switched-capacitor implementation using three AN231E04 FPAAs is developed, and coefficient scaling methods are introduced to keep internal and output signals within the voltage limits of the hardware. A global scaling factor is used to reduce internal signal excursions, while solution-space scaling is shown to modify the implemented optimization coefficients and alter the local closed-loop …

Insect Inspired Behavioral Strategies For Improving Multi-Agent System Resilience In The Presence Of Contagious Faults, James E. Hand

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

As Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) become increasingly involved in every aspect of everyday life the need to maintain reliability and resilience within these systems grows. However, in equal measure bad actors wishing to maliciously control or alter these systems are growing in both scale and capability. Thus, there is a present need for control schemes and agent behaviors that provide security against these threats while also avoiding large degradation in system performance as a tradeoff. Current research has covered a wide breadth of avenues and strategies that provide measurable resilience to faulted agents. However, these strategies often require group consensus, specialized …

State-Dependent Queueing For Adaptive Signal Control: A Simulation-Based Performance Evaluation, Shaimaa Alseddiek, Usama Elrawy Shahdah, Hala B. Nafea, Hossam El-Din Moustafa, El-Said Ahmed Marzouk, Mohamed M. Ashour

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Urban traffic congestion persists as a critical challenge to transportation system efficiency, sustainability, and safety. Traditional queuing models utilizing fixed service rates inadequately represent the dynamic feedback between congestion and capacity in real vehicular flow. State-Dependent Queuing Models (SDQMs) address this limitation by modelling service rate as a function of queue length or density. This research advances SDQM application for adaptive traffic signal control through development of a calibrated state-dependent departure rate implemented within a microscopic simulation environment using SUMO and TraCI. Six control strategies including fixed-time, actuated, and two SDQM variants were evaluated across traffic demands ranging from undersaturated …

Control System Emendation And Ai-Driven Optimization For Enhancing A Smart Residential Microgrid, Anthony Nyoyoko

Master’s Theses

This thesis began with a simple idea: to restore the control system of a smart residential microgrid to respond intelligently to electricity prices while remaining safe, reliable, and practical on low-cost hardware. At the start, the goal was to design an economically aware microgrid that could look at electricity prices from the PJM market and make better operational decisions than traditional rule-based control. The motivation was straightforward. As residential renewable energy adoption increases, microgrids are expected to do more than just supply power. They are expected to respond to price volatility, integrate renewable generation, and operate reliably using embedded controllers …

Research Of The Dynamic Characteristics Of A Time-Pulse Ultrasonic Sensor, Aliev Ravshan, A.U. Djalilov

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

This article investigates the dynamic characteristics of a time-pulsed ultrasonic sensor used to measure water flow in open channels. The operating principle of the sensor, its response time in various hydrodynamic conditions, speed, and factors affecting measurement accuracy are analyzed. In the process of research, the improved ultrasonic sensor was tested and its effectiveness in measuring water flow in real time was evaluated. The results obtained showed that the sensor adapts to the velocity, temperature and turbulence level of the water flow. Based on the results of the research, the possibilities of working of time-impulse ultrasound sensors in open channels …

Hypoxic Incubator: Improving Robustness/Reliability And Demonstrating Physiological Efficacy, Damon Dennis Tan

Master's Theses

The Microphysiological Systems Laboratory aims to develop colorectal cancer tumor models under a hypoxic environment to assess model response to pharmaceutical compounds in vitro. To perform relevant studies, researchers have attempted to use different hypoxic inducing strategies such as a nitrogen pod and hypoxic incubator to recreate in vivo physiological responses to hypoxia. However, studies would be interrupted due to incubator functionality failure. To ensure successful and physiologically relevant studies, I improved and verified the robustness and reliability of a hypoxic incubator previously designed and manufactured in the lab. Through the testing and iterating design processes, I engineered and implemented …

Distributed Multi-Robot Localization And Coordination Framework For Mobile Robots, Dmitri Dobrynin, Indigo T. Garcia

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

This project aims to develop an experimental framework for multiple mobile robots, both in simulation and real-world hardware, using ROS 2 as the primary operating system. Utilizing TurtleBot 3 platforms, the team will establish a robust setup that enables tasks such as distributed localization, autonomous navigation, path planning, and formation control for mobile robots. Leveraging simulation environments like Gazebo, the project will replicate real-world setups in a simulated environment for testing and development. All tasks, communication, and sensor integration will be implemented using ROS 2, ensuring seamless coordination and interoperability among the robots. The project involves integrating various sensors and …

Convex Approach To Data-Driven Optimal Control With Safety Constraints Using Linear Transfer Operator, Joseph Raphel Moyalan

All Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with the data-driven solution to the optimal control problem with safety constraints for a class of control-affine nonlinear systems. Designing optimal control satisfying safety constraints is a problem of interest in various applications, including robotics, power systems, transportation networks, and manufacturing. This problem is known to be non-convex. One of this thesis's main contributions is providing a convex formulation to this non-convex problem. The second main contribution is providing a data-driven framework for solving the control problem with safety constraints. The linear operator theoretic framework involving Perron-Frobenius and Koopman operators provides the convex formulation and associated …

Applications Of Supercapacitors In Robotic Systems, Charles Davis, Zachary Giese, Joseph Gober, Samuel Grisham, Avery Mahan

ATU Scholars Symposium

This project explores the utilization of a bespoke supercapacitor system to energize and propel a robot across various challenging courses. The custom supercapacitor setup serves as the primary power source, providing rapid charging capabilities and high energy density. The research investigates the integration of this innovative power solution into the robot's design, aiming to optimize its performance and endurance in competitive environments.

V2i-Based Adaptive Collision Avoidance For Safety And Traffic Efficiency, Vaishnavi Balambeed

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To leverage the growing communication and connectivity among modern vehicles, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems are increasingly being used to implement active safety applications. However, current research often overlooks the impact of algorithms such as collision avoidance on traffic flow efficiency. This work investigates the adaptation of a collision avoidance algorithm implemented in V2I to incorporate a variable time headway and spacing control strategy. The proposed approach aims to maintain higher average speeds among vehicles, lower individual vehicle’s waiting, and travel times in the vicinity of the infrastructural unit while simultaneously avoiding collisions; thereby enhancing both safety and traffic …

Dynamic Modeling And Control Of A Solid State Semiconductor-Based Transformer, Microgrid And Storage Systems, Rubén Darío Viñán-Velasco

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

Smart Grids are power grid models designed with the idea of including the growing new technologies, from generation to storage devices, and are a response to the growing demands from consumers and the presence of electronic components being commonplace in the modern devices. The design requires a dynamic alternative in order to build an independent grid that can also work in cooperation with other micro-grids and the power grid in an integrated way. Smart-grids present several advantages over the traditional power grid scheme, but the economic costs of the components required to implement smart-grids is currently a great limitation. This …

Improving Cellphone-Based Bio-Imaging Technique For Fluorescence Detection, Erteza T. Efaz

LSU Master's Theses

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the design, development, and evaluation of a fluorescence detection system. The system is implemented primarily as an Android application, Auto Camera, which leverages smartphone cameras to capture and analyze fluorescent images. The application provides a user-friendly interface with some configurable features like exposure time, ISO speed, and storage limit; as well as defining detection thresholds and setting acquisition intervals. This study begins with the architectural framework of the Android application, which is written in Java using Android Studio. The API compatibility is set to version 33, and users are prompted to grant …

Distribution Of Magnetic Flux In Magnetic Chains Of Angular Displacement Measuring Transformer Converters With Variable Active Surface Of Movement Core, Sulton Faizullayevich Amirov, Ulugbek Shukhratovich Mamadaliyev, Absaid Khurramovich Sulliev

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

In the article, the magnetic chain of a differential type angular displacement transformer converter with a variable active area of a movable ferromagnetic ring is considered as a magnetic chain with distributed parameters in which the thickness of the movable ferromagnetic ring is a linear function of the angular displacement of the converter. It is shown that although in magnetic chains with a special distribution structure of the magnetic parameters of the resistance of ferromagnetic rings and the magnetic conductivity of the working gap between the rings, the same conditions are created for the passage of the lines of force …

A Study On Rapidly Exploring Random Tree Algorithms For Robot Path Planning, Sahil Sharma

Master's Theses

Robot path planning is a critical feature of autonomous systems. Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT) is a path planning technique that randomly samples the robot configuration space to find a path between the start and end point. This thesis studies and compares the performance of four important RRT algorithms, namely, the original RRT, the optimal RRT (also termed RRT*), RRT*-Smart, and Informed RRT* for six different environments. The performance measures include the final path length (which is also the shortest path length found by each algorithm), time to find the first path, run time (of 1000 iterations) for each algorithm, total …

Chatgpt As Metamorphosis Designer For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai): A Conceptual Investigation, Amarjit Kumar Singh (Library Assistant), Dr. Pankaj Mathur (Deputy Librarian)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore ChatGPT’s potential as an innovative designer tool for the future development of artificial intelligence. Specifically, this conceptual investigation aims to analyze ChatGPT’s capabilities as a tool for designing and developing near about human intelligent systems for futuristic used and developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also with the helps of this paper, researchers are analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT as a tool, and identify possible areas for improvement in its development and implementation. This investigation focused on the various features and functions of ChatGPT that …

Smartphone Control Of Rc Cars, Weston R. Fitzgerald

Electrical Engineering

The smartphone-controlled RC (remote-controlled) car is an inexpensive remote-controlled car designed to be fast and portable. Instead of manufacturing, packaging, and shipping a separate controller, the remote control is implemented in a phone application, which saves time and money in both the design process and the manufacturing process. Utilizing the user’s smartphone is more cost-effective since mobile devices are a common recurrence, and packaging fewer devices results in overall better portability of the product.

This smartphone-controlled car is speedy and intuitive to learn for typical smartphone users. The user can change the car’s speed and direction wirelessly using their phone; …

Smart City Management Using Machine Learning Techniques, Mostafa Zaman

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the growing urban population, "smart cities" are designed to improve people's quality of life by implementing cutting-edge technologies. The concept of a "smart city" refers to an effort to enhance a city's residents' economic and environmental well-being via implementing a centralized management system. With the use of sensors and actuators, smart cities can collect massive amounts of data, which can improve people's quality of life and design cities' services. Although smart cities contain vast amounts of data, only a percentage is used due to the noise and variety of the data sources. Information and communication technology (ICT) …

Integration Of Robotic And Electro-Pneumatic Systems Using Advanced Control And Communication Schemes, Chinmay Kondekar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Modern industrial automation systems are designed by interconnecting various subsystems which work together to perform a process. The thesis project aims to integrate fragmented subsystems into a flexible and reconfigurable system through advanced communication protocols and perform a process to demonstrate the effectiveness of interconnected systems.

The system consists of three six-axis robots, one electro-pneumatic robot, and two conveyors connected using EthernetIP communication and hardwired connections. The interconnected system works together to perform machining of a workpiece using advanced control methods of CAD to robot path generation, central control through a PLC, and process control through HMI.

Standardized programming blocks …

Design Of A Single-Carrier Pulse Width Modulation With Submodule Fault-Tolerant Capability For Modular Multilevel Converter, Tuanku Badzlin Hashfi

Student Works (2020-2029)

Multilevel converters are attracting a lot of attention and becoming one of the energy conversion choices for new topologies and control in industry applications and research fields. Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) are considered very promising among converter topologies for future medium-voltage and high-power applications compared to NPC, FC and CHB topologies. The improved phase disposition pulse width modulation (PDPWM) technique control for MMCs, which has a fault-tolerant capability, is presented. This study presents two methods to distribute pulses into submodules (SMs) by using PDPWM which has drawback to distribute the power equally among the submodules (SMs). First method, this study …

Dc Treasure Box, Michael A. Derrenbacher

Electrical Engineering

An all in one DC resource would enable electronics students to prototype circuits for labs and projects without the need for the lab equipment present on campus. The labs on campus can be physically far, closed, or overcrowded, preventing students from accessing the equipment. Roughly 75% of upper division electrical engineering students do not own power supplies, with even fewer students owning a source measurement unit (SMU). There is a significant need for a product capable of providing standard lab equipment functionality. The functionally this project provides are positive and negative DC power supplies, 4-Quadrant SMU, analog inputs and outputs, …

Dual-Axis Solar Tracker, Bryan Kennedy

All Undergraduate Projects

Renewable energies, and fuels that are not fossil fuel-based, are one of the prolific topics of debate in modern society. With climate change now becoming a primary focus for scientists and innovators of today, one of the areas for the largest amount of potential and growth is that of the capturing and utilization of Solar Energy. This method involves using a mechanical system to track the progression of the sun as it traverses the sky throughout the day. A dual-axis solar tracker such as the one designed and built for this project, can follow the sun both azimuthally and in …

E-Z Door: Hands-Free Front Door Unlocking And Opening Mechanism, Caleb Dyck

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The E-Z Door Senior Design project is a project with the aim of designing a hands-free system to unlock and open the front door of a home using two-factor security authentication.

The main goal of this project is to help people who may have physical limitations to be able to take advantage of recent technology, making it significantly easier to enter their homes.

Bitcoin Price Prediction Using Neural Networks, Vladislav Killiakov

Electrical Engineering

In this project, I will investigate the performance of several major neural network architectures for the task of Bitcoin price prediction. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is recently becoming increasingly more popular, and more widely adopted as a financial instrument. As a result, more efforts have been made in the past several years to model and predict its price. However, to this moment a large portion of work on Bitcoin price modeling was done using statistical or classical machine learning techniques. At the same time, other artificial intelligence based prediction techniques, and specifically neural networks, have not been explored to …

Utilizing Trajectory Optimization In The Training Of Neural Network Controllers, Nicholas Kimball

Master's Theses

Applying reinforcement learning to control systems enables the use of machine learning to develop elegant and efficient control laws. Coupled with the representational power of neural networks, reinforcement learning algorithms can learn complex policies that can be difficult to emulate using traditional control system design approaches. In this thesis, three different model-free reinforcement learning algorithms, including Monte Carlo Control, REINFORCE with baseline, and Guided Policy Search are compared in simulated, continuous action-space environments. The results show that the Guided Policy Search algorithm is able to learn a desired control policy much faster than the other algorithms. In the inverted pendulum …

Ict-Enabled Control And Energy Management Of Community Microgrids For Resilient Smart Grid Operation, Mahmoud Saleh

Dissertations and Theses

Our research has focused on developing novel controllers and algorithms to enhance the resilience of the power grid and increase its readiness level against major disturbances.

The U.S. power grid currently encounters two main challenges: (1) the massive and extended blackouts caused by natural disasters, such as hurricane Sandy. These blackouts have raised a national call to explore innovative approaches for enhanced grid resiliency. Scrutinizing how previous blackouts initiated and propagated throughout the power grid, the major reasons are lack of situational awareness, lack of real-time monitoring and control, underdeveloped controllers at both the transmission and distribution levels, and lack …

Effect Of Wireless Communication Delay On Dc Microgrids Performance, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

This paper investigates the effect of wireless communication technologies latency on the converters and the bus voltage of centrally communication based controlled DC microgrids (MGs) during islanding. A DC microgrid with its communication based control scheme was modeled to show the impact of latency. Simulation results show that the impact may be severe depending on the design, and the operational condition of the microgrid before latency occurs.

Impact Of Communication Latency On The Bus Voltage Of Centrally Controlled Dc Microgrid During Islanding, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

Maintaining a sustainable and reliable source of energy to supply critical loads within a renewable energy based microgrid (MG) during blackouts is directly related to its bus voltage variations. For example, voltage variation might trigger protection devices and disconnect DERs within the MG. Centrally controlled MGs (CCMGs) type is dependent on communication. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the impact of communication networks performance degradation, such as latency, on the bus voltage of CCMGs. This paper investigates the effect of wireless communication technologies latency on the bus voltage and performance of centralized DC MGs. Two mathematical models were developed …

Design Of A Distributed Real-Time E-Health Cyber Ecosystem With Collective Actions: Diagnosis, Dynamic Queueing, And Decision Making, Yanlin Zhou

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

In this thesis, we develop a framework for E-health Cyber Ecosystems, and look into different involved actors. The three interested parties in the ecosystem including patients, doctors, and healthcare providers are discussed in 3 different phases. In Phase 1, machine-learning based modeling and simulation analysis is performed to remotely predict a patient's risk level of having heart diseases in real time. In Phase 2, an online dynamic queueing model is devised to pair doctors with patients having high risk levels (diagnosed in Phase 1) to confirm the risk, and provide help. In Phase 3, a decision making paradigm is proposed …

Communication Based Control For Dc Microgrids, Mahmoud S. Saleh, Yusef Esa, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

Centralized communication-based control is one of the main methods that can be implemented to achieve autonomous advanced energy management capabilities in DC microgrids. However, its major limitation is the fact that communication bandwidth and computation resources are limited in practical applications. This can be often improved by avoiding redundant communications and complex computations. In this paper, an autonomous communication-based hybrid state/event driven control scheme is proposed. This control scheme is hierarchical and heuristic, such that on the primary control level, it encompasses state-driven local controllers, and on the secondary control level, an event-driven MG centralized controller (MGCC) is used. This …