Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

Evaluation Of General Voronoi Diagram Decomposition For Harmonic Fields In Navigation Of Dynamic Environments, Franco Abullarade

Master's Theses

Harmonic potential fields provide provably minimum-free navigation, but any change to the workspace geometry invalidates the field and forces a costly global recomputation, typically restricting them to static environments. This thesis extends the harmonic map framework of Vlantis et al., which maps the free workspace onto a unit disk and uses an atlas of per-region transformations, to dynamic indoor settings. First, we replace their manually annotated room partition with an automatic decomposition based on the Generalized Voronoi Diagram, allowing the atlas to be built from an arbitrary occupancy grid in an automated way. Second, we introduce a localized repair procedure …

System Integration And Validation Of The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator Mk. Iv, Bricen S. Rigby

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator (SADS) is an ongoing project that seeks to enable the simulation and validation of sensors, actuators, and control logic related to spacecraft attitude control. The SADS platform rests atop a spher- ical air-bearing device which allows for nearly frictionless rotation in all three axes. The orientation of the platform is controlled by four reaction wheels arranged in a pyramidal configuration. Over the past few years, there have been significant updates to the reaction wheel subsystem, as well as requests for a more capable central com- puter. Therefore, a new system architecture for the …

Integration Of Robotic Arm And Conveyor With Programmable Logic Controller, Drake A. Small

Master's Theses

To meet new curriculum demands brought on by Cal Poly's upcoming switch to semesters, a new, cross-disciplinary lab module was developed for EE 435 (Industrial Power Control and Automation). The module emphasizes career-applicable skills, preparing students for the field of controls engineering within the manufacturing industry. These skills include robotic control, computer networking and configuration, and embedded systems. The work focused on integrating a collaborative robot arm to pick-and-place boxes on a conveyor. A myCobot 320 Pi and an Ultimation Powered Roller MDR Conveyor were integrated with the existing PLC system using Modbus RTU and EtherNet/IP communication protocols, respectively. A …

A Comparative Study Of Model Predictive Control And The Stanley Method For Vehicle Path Tracking Applications, Noah S. Fitzgerald

Master's Theses

This thesis compares a model predictive controller (MPC) and a lateral Stanley controller for vehicle path-tracking applications under simulation-based and perception-driven operating conditions. Both controllers were evaluated in simulation using a nonlinear dynamic bicycle model executing single and double lane change maneuvers. Following simulation-based evaluation, both controllers were implemented on hardware within a perception-driven steering-control pipeline. This pipeline utilized recorded sensor data from the MXcarkit 1/8^th-scale autonomous vehicle platform, incorporating lane instance segmentation and homography-based roadway estimation.

Under idealized simulation conditions, the MPC demonstrated improved trajectory-tracking performance during aggressive maneuvers while requiring greater steering activity and computational effort …

Analysis And Design Of A 2-Bit Millimeter-Wave Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface And Investigation Of Fss-Assisted Angular Stability, Max Spalek

Master's Theses

Millimeter-Wave (mm-wave) technology utilizes high frequency spectrum and can deliver multi-gigabit speeds, ultra-low latency, and massive bandwidth capacity. However, this technology is rather new and many technical challenges remain. On the other hand, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) have emerged as promising structures for controllable electromagnetic wavefront manipulation in wireless communication systems. This thesis presents the design of a 2-bit RIS unit-cell element operating throughout the 30–34 GHz mm-wave band, where the structure was progressively refined from an initial resonating geometry toward a grounded reflective RIS configuration. The proposed structure utilizes PIN-diode switching states to produce four discrete reflected phase states …

Hallucination Techniques For Self-Supervised Synthetic Datasets For Mobile Robots, Wyatt D. Colburn

Master's Theses

Classical techniques in autonomous navigation struggle in tightly constrained spaces. Machine learning has been shown to perform better in these difficult environments but most techniques require large amounts of navigation experience for training. Using a new machine learning paradigm learning from hallucination (LfH), training data can be collected in a safe environment and not require supervision. Data is collected in real time while an agent performs a random walk in free space, supervision is not required as there are no obstacles for the robot to run into. After a random walk a post processing pipeline will hallucinate a safety corridor …

Nonlinear Integral Control Schemes For A Cadence-Heartrate Process: A Matlab Exploration, Alexander G. Elliott

Master's Theses

Keeping one’s heart-rate within a specific range during a cardiovascular workout can be difficult due to many factors including variations in the exercise environment and changes in energy level. One’s heart-rate can be controlled by tuning the intensity level of the activity over time. This study focuses on the relationship between a runner’s cadence and their heart-rate and explores ways to control the heart-rate by adjusting the cadence. Previous work in this area modeled the cadence-heartrate plant as a first-order linear system, but this has been shown to be insufficient. This work improves upon previous research in this area by …

Analog Hardware Implementation Of A Linearly Constrained Quadratic Program Real-Time Solver, Claire E. Tylutki, Claire Tylutki

Master's Theses

This thesis presents the design, implementation, and analysis of a hardware system for solving Linearly Constrained Quadratic Programs (LCQPs) in real time. The architecture follows a generalized feedback structure composed of three key elements: gradient descent on the quadratic cost function, saturation-based nonlinearity to enforce inequality constraints, and an integral controller with an anti-windup mechanism to regulate dynamic behavior and determine steady-state error. This majority analog system converges with equilibria that satisfy the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions. Using a representative LCQP, this work presents simulation of the circuit in PLECS and LT Spice to confirm the feasibility of the novel …

Distributed Formation Control Of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots: Safety-Critical Leader-Follower Approach With Obstacle Avoidance And Dynamic Reconfiguration, Kelvin C. Villago

Master's Theses

Networked control systems for multi-agent robotics have emerged as a critical paradigm for executing complex coordinated tasks in diverse environments. While formation control serves as the backbone of such systems, real-world deployment introduces significant challenges including communication constraints, environmental obstacles, and the need for adaptive reconfiguration. This research addresses these challenges by developing a novel unified framework that seamlessly integrates obstacle avoidance algorithms with dynamic formation reconfiguration capabilities, specifically designed for communication-limited networked control architectures. The proposed framework represents a significant advancement over existing approaches by simultaneously handling both static and dynamic obstacles while maintaining system cohesion under communication constraints. …

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 …

Providing Cadence Feedback In Real-Time To Guide Cardiovascular Workouts, Levi O. Rash

Master's Theses

Cardiovascular workouts offer numerous health benefits, yet beginners often find it challenging to initiate them. Existing wearable technologies, although providing valuable feedback such as heart rate zones, often disrupt the workout flow and distract users due to the need for interaction with the wearable display. In response, we propose an alternative feedback mechanism: cadence, measured in steps per minute. This feedback mechanism uses multiplicative control to produce the correct cadence for the user’s target heart rate (HR). To model the HR and cadence relationship, a first-order system was used. The prototype implementation of this system was completed in Arduino, using …

Harmonic Flow Modeling And Analysis Of A Green Hybrid Ac/Dc Seaport Power System, Krishan Kaushal Ram, Taufik, Helen Yu, Siddharth Vyas

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to design and develop a model for a proposed Green Seaport power system and perform harmonic analysis. The model was developed using MATLAB Simulink and tests were performed by dividing the system into several Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) operating modes such as simultaneous charging and discharging, simultaneous charging, and simultaneous discharging. For each mode, BESS state of charge and other factors such as solar irradiance for the PV system, load levels and power factor were varied to observe the impact on system’s voltage Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) level and current Total Demand Distortion (TDD). 62 separate …

Optimal False Data Injection (Fdi) In Simulated Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (Cacc) Systems, Lovro Dukic

Master's Theses

In the rapidly advancing field of autonomous vehicles, ensuring the security and reliability of self-driving systems is crucial. Autonomous vehicle systems, such as cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC), must undergo significant research and testing before their integration into commercial intelligent transportation systems. CACC considers multiple vehicles in close proximity as a single entity, or platoon, with each vehicle equipped with a controller that uses sensor-based measurements and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to control inter-vehicle spacing. While this system offers numerous potential benefits for traffic safety and efficiency, it is also susceptible to False Data Injection (FDI) attacks, which can cause the …

A Sindy Hardware Accelerator For Efficient System Identification On Edge Devices, Michael Sean Gallagher

Master's Theses

The SINDy (Sparse Identification of Non-linear Dynamics) algorithm is a method of turning a set of data representing non-linear dynamics into a much smaller set of equations comprised of non-linear functions summed together. This provides a human readable system model the represents the dynamic system analyzed. The SINDy algorithm is important for a variety of applications, including high precision industrial and robotic applications. A Hardware Accelerator was designed to decrease the time spent doing calculations. This thesis proposes an efficient hardware accelerator approach for a broad range of applications that use SINDy and similar system identification algorithms. The accelerator is …

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 …

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 …

Hypoxic Incubation Chamber, Simone Lisette Helfrich, Makenzie Nicole Jones

Master's Theses

This paper describes the design, manufacturing, and testing of a novel controllable hypoxic incubator with fully functional oxygen gas control and temperature control in a humid environment. On the current market, a majority of the few hypoxic incubators use pre-mixed gas that does not offer precise control over gas concentration. The objective for this project was to create a chamber that allows the user to set the O2 concentration to varying set points of % O2 while maintaining the chamber at a constant body temperature, CO2 level, humidity, and sterility. To start the project, multiple concepts were developed for the …

Model-Based Design Of An Optimal Lqg Regulator For A Piezoelectric Actuated Smart Structure Using A High-Precision Laser Interferometry Measurement System, Grant P. Gallagher

Master's Theses

Smart structure control systems commonly use piezoceramic sensors or accelerometers as vibration measurement devices. These measurement devices often produce noisy and/or low-precision signals, which makes it difficult to measure small-amplitude vibrations. Laser interferometry devices pose as an alternative high-precision position measurement method, capable of nanometer-scale resolution. The aim of this research is to utilize a model-based design approach to develop and implement a real-time Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) regulator for a piezoelectric actuated smart structure using a high-precision laser interferometry measurement system to suppress the excitation of vibratory modes.

The analytical model of the smart structure is derived using the …

An Examination Of The Fuzzy Inference System On Probabilistic Roadmap Path Planning, Brandon Replogle

Master's Theses

In recent years, multi-robot systems have been widely used in many applications such as warehouse inventory tracking and automatic search and rescue operations. Probability roadmap (PRM) is a typical path planning algorithm that can determine an optimal trajectory once the robot start and goal positions are specified. However, when the number of robots in the system increases, it converges slowly and may even fail to find the solution.

In this thesis, a fuzzy inference system is proposed and combined with the probability roadmap algorithm for robot path planning. Computer simulation results in five different environments show this approach is very …

Field Testing The Effects Of Low Reynolds Number On The Power Performance Of The Cal Poly Wind Power Research Center Small Wind Turbine, John B. Cunningham

Master's Theses

This thesis report investigates the effects of low Reynolds number on the power performance of a 3.74 m diameter horizontal axis wind turbine. The small wind turbine was field tested at the Cal Poly Wind Power Research Center to acquire its coefficient of performance, C­_p, vs. tip speed ratio, λ, characteristics. A description of both the wind turbine and test setup are provided. Data filtration and processing techniques were developed to ensure a valid method to analyze and characterize wind power measurements taken in a highly variable environment. The test results demonstrated a significant drop in the …

An Exploratory Study Of Pulse Width And Delta Sigma Modulators, Logan B. Penrod

Master's Theses

This paper explores the noise shaping and noise producing qualities of Delta-Sigma Modulators (DSM) and Pulse-Width Modulators (PWM). DSM has long been dominant in the Delta Sigma Analog-to-Digital Converter (DSADC) as a noise-shaped quantizer and time discretizer, while PWM, with a similar self oscillating structure, has seen use in Class D Power Amplifiers, performing a similar function. It has been shown that the PWM in Class D Amplifiers outperforms the DSM [1], but could this advantage be used in DSADC use-cases? LTSpice simulation and printed circuit board implementation and test are used to present data on four variations of these …

Decentralized, Noncooperative Multirobot Path Planning With Sample-Basedplanners, William Le

Master's Theses

In this thesis, the viability of decentralized, noncooperative multi-robot path planning algorithms is tested. Three algorithms based on the Batch Informed Trees (BIT*) algorithm are presented. The first of these algorithms combines Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance (ORCA) with BIT*. The second of these algorithms uses BIT* to create a path which the robots then follow using an artificial potential field (APF) method. The final algorithm is a version of BIT* that supports replanning. While none of these algorithms take advantage of sharing information between the robots, the algorithms are able to guide the robots to their desired goals, with the …

Design, Modeling And Control Of A Two-Wheel Balancing Robot Driven By Bldc Motors, Charles T. Refvem

Master's Theses

The focus of this document is on the design, modeling, and control of a self-balancing two wheel robot, hereafter referred to as the balance bot, driven by independent brushless DC (BLDC) motors. The balance bot frame is composed of stacked layers allowing a lightweight, modular, and rigid mechanical design. The robot is actuated by a pair of brushless DC motors equipped with Hall effect sensors and encoders allowing determination of the angle and angular velocity of each wheel. Absolute orientation measurement is accomplished using a full 9-axis IMU consisting of a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a 3-axis magnetometer. …

An Application Of Sliding Mode Control To Model-Based Reinforcement Learning, Aaron Thomas Parisi

Master's Theses

The state-of-art model-free reinforcement learning algorithms can generate admissible controls for complicated systems with no prior knowledge of the system dynamics, so long as sufficient (oftentimes millions) of samples are available from the environ- ment. On the other hand, model-based reinforcement learning approaches seek to leverage known optimal or robust control to reinforcement learning tasks by mod- elling the system dynamics and applying well established control algorithms to the system model. Sliding-mode controllers are robust to system disturbance and modelling errors, and have been widely used for high-order nonlinear system control. This thesis studies the application of sliding mode control …

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 …

Viewpoint Optimization For Autonomous Strawberry Harvesting With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Jonathon J. Sather

Master's Theses

Autonomous harvesting may provide a viable solution to mounting labor pressures in the United States' strawberry industry. However, due to bottlenecks in machine perception and economic viability, a profitable and commercially adopted strawberry harvesting system remains elusive. In this research, we explore the feasibility of using deep reinforcement learning to overcome these bottlenecks and develop a practical algorithm to address the sub-objective of viewpoint optimization, or the development of a control policy to direct a camera to favorable vantage points for autonomous harvesting. We evaluate the algorithm's performance in a custom, open-source simulated environment and observe affirmative results. Our trained …

Dynamics Simulation And Optimal Control Of A Multiple-Input And Multiple-Output Balancing Cube, Felix K. Haimerl

Master's Theses

This thesis document outlines the development of a multibody dynamics simulation of an actively stabilized multiple-input, multiple-output, coupled, balancing cube and the process of verifying the results by implementing the control algorithm in hardware. A non-linear simulation of the system was created in Simscape and used to develop a Linear Quadratic Gaussian control algorithm. To implement this algorithm in actual hardware, the system was first designed, manufactured, and assembled. The structure of the cube and the reaction wheels were milled from aluminum. DC brushless motors were installed into the mechanical system. In terms of electronics, a processor, orientation sensor, motor …

Towards Autonomous Localization Of An Underwater Drone, Nathan Sfard

Master's Theses

Autonomous vehicle navigation is a complex and challenging task. Land and aerial vehicles often use highly accurate GPS sensors to localize themselves in their environments. These sensors are ineffective in underwater environments due to signal attenuation. Autonomous underwater vehicles utilize one or more of the following approaches for successful localization and navigation: inertial/dead-reckoning, acoustic signals, and geophysical data. This thesis examines autonomous localization in a simulated environment for an OpenROV Underwater Drone using a Kalman Filter. This filter performs state estimation for a dead reckoning system exhibiting an additive error in location measurements. We evaluate the accuracy of this Kalman …

Artificial Neural Network-Based Robotic Control, Justin Ng

Master's Theses

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are highly-capable alternatives to traditional problem solving schemes due to their ability to solve non-linear systems with a nonalgorithmic approach. The applications of ANNs range from process control to pattern recognition and, with increasing importance, robotics. This paper demonstrates continuous control of a robot using the deep deterministic policy gradients (DDPG) algorithm, an actor-critic reinforcement learning strategy, originally conceived by Google DeepMind. After training, the robot performs controlled locomotion within an enclosed area. The paper also details the robot design process and explores the challenges of implementation in a real-time system.

Modeling And Charging Control Of A Lithium Ion Battery System For Solar Panels, Garrett David Heinen

Master's Theses

The advancement in solar panel and battery technology makes them useful for energy supply and storage. This thesis involves the modeling and charging control of a lithium ion battery system for solar panels. The proposed model is based on the parameters and characteristics of a realistic battery and solar panel system; and the hybrid control approach combines the advantages of the adaptive incremental conductance method and the perturb and observe method to track the maximum power point of the solar panel for charging the battery unit. Computer simulation results demonstrate that this proposed approach offers a faster convergence rate than …