Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

Hardware-In-The-Loop Reaction Wheel Testbed With Camera Vision, Abigail Romero, Harvey Perkins, Stephen Kwok-Choon

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Reaction wheels are widely used in aerospace systems as a method of attitude control. This research was focused on the design, development, and testing of a hardware-in-the-loop reaction wheel testbed that can be used for research and teaching applications related to satellite navigation and control. This project successfully utilized commercial off-the-shelf components to develop a reaction wheel capable of controlling the orientation of a freely rotating platform, as well as tracking objects using computer vision.

Programmable And Modular Dc-Dc Converter, Joshua C. Hutchinson, Elijah M. Gordon

Electrical Engineering

This project considers the design, implementation, and testing of an open-source dc-dc converter for microgrid prototyping. Unlike conventional dc-dc converters that are proprietary and require specialist knowledge, and are usually designed for a single function, the proposed dc-dc converter will comprise of a programmable MCU and a Raspberry Pi (RPi) interface to allow less-skilled consumers to monitor and modify a power converting system. We will develop an open-source library that contains voltage control, current control, maximum power point tracking, and battery charge control profiles. Each library will be easy to implement through a GUI on the Raspberry Pi and will …

Hvac Fan Cooling System Using Modicon M580, Ogbonnaya Okoronkwo Okorie, Nicolas Jens Fache

Electrical Engineering

A common problem that many devices have when operating is overheating. Whether it is operating at full capacity or idle, those devices that we use exert heat to some type of extent. The physical and electronic components of the device can only withstand so much heat before the component becomes damaged. This product provides a method of preventing overheating by being a cooling system for your device. A solution for preventing overheating of the components in these electronic devices is by having some sort of cooling system. Our product’s cooling system will be based on energy efficiency, which means that …

Industrial Automation And Controls Lab: Smart Led Dimmer Control, Trevor J. Beck

Electrical Engineering

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are rugged industrial computers used extensively in many industries for automation and control. EE 435 is a course being developed to introduce students to PLCs. This project will focus on one section of the course, with the primary objective being to control the brightness of an LED based on input received from an ambient light sensor. The control logic will use a PLC with analog input and output modules to interface with the sensor and actuator hardware. The light sensor will output 4-20mA proportional to the intensity of visible light, measured in lumens. The analog input …

Reaction Wheel Based Rocket Active Spin Stabilization, Tanuj Vemuri

Electrical Engineering

Cal Poly Space Systems is the high-powered and experimental rocketry club at Cal Poly SLO. They aim to design, test, and launch fully integrated launch vehicles. In order to create efficient and reliable vehicles, stabilization systems must be implemented. One parameter that can be actively stabilized is the vehicle’s roll. The roll of the vehicle can have noticeably effects on vehicle performance, as uncontrolled roll leads to decreased system stability in flight. Un-controlled roll can also have negative impacts on the quality of onboard video, which is used for post-flight analysis and marketing.

Reaction wheels are a popular method for …

Programmable Vibration Table Retrofit With Eagle Medical, Jonathan Ilagan, Madhav Asok, Max Lewter

Biomedical Engineering

This project aimed to repair and upgrade a vibration table used for package testing for the sponsor, Eagle Medical - a medical packaging and sterilization company based in Paso Robles, California. The current vibration table is not programmable and lacks circuit diagrams, making it difficult to repair. In addition, it is not functional due to internal circuitry issues and power requirements. To address these issues, the team will implement several upgrades to improve the product and allow for better random cyclic vibration testing. A full assessment of the existing vibration table will be conducted to ensure the viability of these …

Tank Level Controller Plc Lab, Siddhi Upadhyaya, Teghvir Grewal

Electrical Engineering

The California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo’s Electrical Engineering Department is currently developing lab experiments for the new EE435 (Industrial Power Control and Automation) class. In order to support these efforts, fourth year Cal Poly students are expected to develop laboratory experiments that will be conducted during this new class for the semester system. The lab experiment focused on in this project is called the Tank Level Controller. This experiment will introduce EE 435 students to Schneider Electric Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) hardware and software, which is prominent in the automation industry.
This experiment will require students to develop …

Energy Storage And Communication System, Noah R. Johnson, Marc Wong

Electrical Engineering

The Industrial Power and Controls Lab in Engineering East is welcoming the addition of a new lab course, EE 435. Schneider Electric sponsors this course, which seeks to teach students how to use the Modicon M580 Program Logic Controller (PLC) in various industry use cases. This project is a continuation of previous senior projects and focuses on developing a lab experiment to teach students how to utilize the M580 in an energy storage use case. More specifically, it focuses on the battery management system that oversees the units and exposes students to the various situations this system may encounter during …

Instrumented Control Column For Optionally Piloted Aircraft, Andrew J. Klein

Electrical Engineering

Natilus, an aerospace company that is rapid-prototyping optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) for the shipping industry, needs a system that retrieves control column position data in order to manipulate flight simulator parameters in software. At present, a universally compatible system for all aircraft does not exist. Typically, established aerospace companies will sink significant time and money into developing proprietary systems for control column data retrieval as every aircraft is unique in its layout and linkage design. However, as a startup developing their first aircraft, Natilus does not have the privilege of modifying an existing sensor system to work with their HIL …

Simple Open-Source Formal Verification Of Industrial Programs, Christopher Disney Peterson

Master's Theses

Industrial programs written on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) have become an essential component of many modern industries, including automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, infrastructure, and even amusement parks. As these safety-critical systems become larger and more complex, ensuring their continuous error-free operation has become a significant and important challenge. Formal methods are a potential solution to this issue but have traditionally required substantial time and expertise to deploy. This usability issue is compounded by the fact that PLCs are highly proprietary and have substantial licensing costs, making it difficult to learn about or deploy formal methods on them.

This thesis presents the …