Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

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 …

Dc/Dc Converter For A Solar Module, Francine Therese A. Canal, Jesus Cruz, Juan Jose Gonzalez

Electrical Engineering

This project presents the design and implementation of a DC/DC power converter intended for photovoltaic (PV) modules with varying electrical output characteristics. Solar panels experience significant changes in output voltage and power due to variations in sunlight, temperature, and load conditions. To ensure reliable operation across a range of conditions, the proposed converter is capable of both step-up and step-down operation to accommodate solar modules with power ratings from 50 W to 450 W and open-circuit voltages between 10 V and 80 V. The system operates at load currents up to 10 A and provide a user-adjustable output voltage within …

Dc/Dc Converter For A Solar Module, Stella Uribe, Richie Zaragoza, Olivia Grace Tran, Phillip Tyler Rich

Electrical Engineering

This project focuses on the design and validation of a general-purpose DC/DC power converter intended for use with photovoltaic (PV) solar modules operating under variable environmental and loading conditions. Solar panels exhibit significant variation in output voltage, current, and available power due to changes in irradiance, temperature, and operating point, making direct connection to downstream loads impractical. The proposed system addresses this challenge by providing a single, user-adjustable regulated DC output capable of both stepping up and stepping down the solar module voltage. The converter is designed to interface with solar modules rated between 50 W and 400 W, with …

Stationary Bike Power/Efficiency Monitor, Paula J. Diaz, Pilar M. Cook, Danielle Rhind

Electrical Engineering

This project developed a real-time power and efficiency monitoring system for a SportsArt ECO-POWR stationary exercise bicycle. The goal was to measure rider mechanical power and electrical power delivered to the utility grid simultaneously, allowing the overall bike-to-grid efficiency to be calculated and displayed in real time. Rider power was measured using Garmin Rally ANT+ power pedals, while grid power was measured using a Yokogawa WT310E power analyzer. A Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ synchronized both data sources, calculated efficiency, displayed live performance metrics through a graphical user interface, and logged measurement data to CSV files for later analysis. The …

Autonomous Terrain-Mapping Robot For Search And Rescue, Soumil Joshi, Seann Calub

Electrical Engineering

This report documents the design, modular testing, and challenges faced while developing an autonomous terrain-mapping robot intended to navigate to a destination waypoint and deliver a small payload for search-and-rescue applications. The system combines a LiDAR sensor, an IMU sensor, and a Raspberry Pi 3B as the onboard processor, and an ESP32 microcontroller interfacing with motor drivers over a four-wheel chassis. A companion mobile application was developed to enable remote control and monitoring of the robot over a WiFi hotspot connection. A lithium-ion battery pack supplies power to all onboard components, with power budgets verified against component datasheets. Testing progresses …

Development Of A Multi-Mode Switching-Inverter Laboratory Module For An Introductory Power Electronics Course, Darcy Eliasi

Master's Theses

DC–AC converters, or inverters, are essential power‑electronic interfaces widely used in photovoltaic systems, microgrids, energy‑storage installations, and numerous other modern electrical applications. This thesis presents the design, construction, and testing of an improved laboratory module developed as a student learning tool for demonstrating four fundamental inverter switching techniques: simple square wave (SSWI), modified square wave (MSWI), bipolar PWM, and unipolar PWM. Building upon the previous module, the improved design centers on three key enhancements. These include the selection of a more suitable wave‑generation solution, a multiplexer‑based mode‑selection architecture that reduces user complexity and eliminates conflicting signal configurations, and the integration …

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 …

Me3329 Modular Phonograph Gearbox, Garrett Andrik Leighton, Preston Robert Hupe, Gavin Carter Ebner, Andrew Renato Reyes

Mechanical Engineering

The Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), seeks to develop a laboratory tool allowing students to reinforce concepts of gears for Mechanical Systems Design (ME329). Some current laboratories do not provide students with hands-on interaction, and the department lacks equipment and documentation to support a standardized lab. With ME329 expanding from ten to fifteen weeks, there is an opportunity to create a physical gearbox design lab allowing students to reinforce lecture material in engaging ways, while standardizing student learning. This senior project is presented and sponsored by Professor Alan Zhang. It will be …

Custom Animatronic Puppet, Jake Schuman, Fredy Herrarte, Madison Reedy, Jackson Reynolds

Mechanical Engineering

This project involved the design, fabrication, and implementation of a custom audio-animatronic puppet modeled after Dr. Brian Davis for the California Polytechnic State University Mechanical Engineering Department. The objective was to create an expressive, lifelike character capable of synchronized speech, head movement, arm gestures, and seated-to-standing motion while demonstrating the integration of mechanical design, controls, manufacturing, and artistic fabrication.

The final system consists of an 18-degree-of-freedom animatronic platform utilizing servo-driven facial and upper-body actuation combined with a pneumatic standing mechanism. A modular aluminum and 3D-printed structural framework was developed using SolidWorks and validated through engineering analysis. Character shells were digitally …

Mass - Modular Acoustic Suppression System, Julia Megargle, Michael A. Milner, Lucas Kaemmererer, Jonathan Corvera, Gabriel Choi, Emmi Cayer

Mechanical Engineering

The Modular Acoustic Suppression System (MASS) is a mass tuned damper that reverberates a membrane atop a cavity to absorb select acoustic frequencies produced by the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) within NASA's Artemis Human Lander. The height of the reverberation chamber is adjusted to mitigate a range of varying tonal frequencies within the human lander.

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 …

Elevate Grill, Brady Alexander

Electrical Engineering

The Elevate Grill Senior Project is a Santa Maria style grill with an electrical lifting/lowering mechanism and temperature sensor feedback. The grill allows for a dynamically controlled cooking surface, able to be automatically set or manually set by the user. The grill’s user interface informs the user about the temperature in different zones on the grill and alerts the user when the target temperature is hit. Additionally, the user can program preset temperature ranges and apply them to the grill’s control system. The system incorporates safe failure modes in the event of a power outage and also allows the user …

Pcb Design For Place Cells Vlsi Chip, Gavin Reaksecker, Alex Krier, Joshua Lin

Electrical Engineering

This project presents the design and implementation of a 2 layer test-bench printed circuit board (PCB) for evaluating the functionality of a custom 40-pin VLSI integrated circuit. The objective is to create a reliable and portable platform capable of supplying configurable bias voltages, generating variable input signals, and monitoring both analog and digital outputs. The board integrates adjustable bias networks using potentiometers, digital and analog buffering stages, and optional battery supply operation. The VLSI device under test is mounted in dual-in-line (DIP) sockets to enable rapid replacement and repeated characterization. Dedicated test points are incorporated throughout the PCB to facilitate …

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 …

Autonomous Rover Solar And Battery Management System: Team B, Karla Jazmin Lira Gonzalez, Paige Ambriz, Kunj Shah, Elhom Delasa Sheykhi

Electrical Engineering

This project focused on the software and printed circuit board (PCB) integration for Poly1Rover’s battery management system (BMS). Poly1Rover is a student organization dedicated to building a low-cost autonomous rover designed to operate on Mars. Since solar availability, temperature, and other conditions on Mars vary, the rover requires a reliable battery management system that accurately monitors battery health and status. This team’s work included the communication and control side of the BMS. The subsystem was designed around the Renesas ISL94202 battery monitor and the MSP430 controller. Battery information was read from the ISL94202 registers through I2C communication, converted from raw …

Polysaber: A Custom Reactive Lightsaber Soundboard, Pedro B. Medeiros

Computer Engineering

The PolySaber project was developed as a custom reactive lightsaber control system built as a fully custom PCB design. The purpose of the project was to create a lower-cost and more customizable alternative to commercially available lightsaber soundboards while simultaneously providing hands-on experience in PCB design, embedded systems development, and hardware integration. Commercial lightsaber soundboards are expensive, proprietary, and difficult for hobbyists to customize. The PolySaber project addresses this by creating a modifiable hardware platform built around the ESP32 microcontroller. The system supports programmable firmware, RGB NeoPixel blade control, motion sensing, reactive swing and clash effects, onboard audio amplification, and …

Design And Characterization Of A Pulsed Electric Field Chamber For Microalgae Lysis, Connor Strutin

Electrical Engineering

Microalgae are a promising renewable source of biofuel due to their high lipid content and rapid growth rates; however, algae cells must be electroporated (lysed) to release these lipids. The system developed in this project applies short (40 μs–10 ms), high-intensity (up to 33 kV/cm) pulsed electric fields (PEF) across cell membranes to enable electroporation.

Our lab-scale PEF chamber generates uniform, high-intensity electric fields using parallel-plate electrodes with sub-millimeter spacing. The system is designed to efficiently lyse microalgae cells for lipid extraction and biofuel production.

Test Bench Pcb Design For A Vlsi Grid Cell Chip, Nicholas Bruk, Jason Alexandar

Electrical Engineering

This report presents the design, implementation, and validation of a custom printed circuit board (PCB) test bench for a VLSI grid cell emulation chip. The final board provides two independently adjustable 5V supplies using LM317 linear regulators, eleven potentiometer-controlled bias voltages, high-impedance buffering of analog outputs via an MCP6022 dual operational amplifier, and buffering of digital outputs using a 74HC244 buffer IC. The design includes a 40-pin DIP socket for the VLSI chip, extensive test-point headers for probing, and a 9V battery input for portable operation. Five fully functional boards were fabricated using ExpressPCB and assembled with through-hole components. An …

Design And Parametric Testing Of A Transimpedance Amplifier For Low-Power Biomedical Applications, Stanlon Tan, William Chung, Brandon Wu

Electrical Engineering

This project developed and evaluated an optical sensing system for detecting changes associated with glucose concentration. The system combined a laser-diode, cuvette sample holder, photodiode, resistive-feedback transimpedance amplifier, high-resolution analog-to-digital converter, and microcontroller. Parametric testing evaluated the effects of input current and feedback resistance on transimpedance gain, output range, and linearity. Firmware was developed to configure the ADC, average repeated conversions, monitor measurement variation, convert raw digital counts into voltage using a source-meter calibration equation, and compare sample measurements with a water reference. A cuvette enclosure maintained alignment between the laser-diode, sample, and photodiode while reducing external optical interference. Testing …

Portable Food Pasteurization Using Pulsed Electric Fields (Pef), Thomas E. Mcmillan Iii

Electrical Engineering

Foodborne illnesses remain a significant public health concern, motivating continued development of alternative food pasteurization technologies. Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is a non-thermal pasteurization method that inactivates microorganisms through electroporation while minimizing thermal degradation of food products. The long-term objective of this project was development of a portable PEF food pasteurization system.

An iterative design approach was used to investigate generation of the high-voltage pulses required for PEF treatment. Multiple pulse forming network topologies were evaluated through simulation, leading to selection of a solid-state Marx generator architecture. A low-voltage five-stage prototype was designed, constructed, and tested to validate the …

Lora Networking Hardware Reference Designs For Terrestrial And Low-Earth-Orbit Communications, Kevin Nottberg

Master's Theses

The work presented here demonstrates a highly robust and tested LoRa networking hardware reference design to meet the needs of the embedded networking company OWL Integrations. The hardware presented integrated a unique combination of features and design choices. The detailing of its unique design is potentially of use to others for use in fielded battery powered terrestrial sensor networking hardware utilizing LoRa. Also, the terrestrial hardware presented is shown to have the capability to support command and control (C2) LoRa links in low-earth orbit beyond terrestrial systems. The design presented has a more U.S. centric component bill-of-materials (BOM), with the …

Design And Reliability Analysis Of A Radiation-Tolerant On-Board Computer System For Martian Surface Missions, Jack Ryan

Master's Theses

Space environments present complex challenges for electronic devices, perhaps most notably in the form of radiation effects; the natural protections provided by Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere are largely absent in deep space and extraterrestrial environments, making single-event effects (SEE) a critical concern. Although radiation-hardened components offer near-immunity to SEE, they possess tremendous drawbacks in both cost and performance. To circumvent such issues, this thesis investigates the feasibility of leveraging a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) device, the AMD KRIA K24 system-on-module (SOM), for use in Martian surface missions.

Detailed models were used to predict SEE rates in the system, and system-level fault tree …

Central Pattern Generator Test Bench Report, Stephanie Wing-Yee Lee, Dustin Wong, Joseph Hernandez

Electrical Engineering

The project presents the design, fabrication, and implementation of a PCB test bench that interfaces with a custom VLSI chip designed to emulate the neural activity of a Central Pattern Generator (CPG). The test bench provides a precise and reliable platform for supporting signal operations and validating neuromorphic functionality. The design integrates both analog and digital circuitry to provide stable biasing, signal routing, and measurement access for chip characterization. The incorporation of op-amp buffers and adjustable potentiometers enables precise voltage tuning, resulting in controlled neuron-like behavior within the custom IC. The two-layer PCB supports modular interfacing with standard laboratory instruments …

Portable Ice Cube Maker, Ayden Ziegler, Emiliano Hansen, Wyatt Engdahl, Dane Hansen

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Report outlines the senior design project undertaken by a team of mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, for the development of a portable backpacking ice cube maker. The project aims to design, build, and test a lightweight, compact device that produces ice cubes for backpackers in remote outdoor environments. The goal is to create a functional prototype that is durable, user-friendly, and suitable for backcountry use. This document details background research, project objectives, and project plan, and current design status.

Sustainabake, Kevin Kunta Swanson Ii

Electrical Engineering

This senior project outlines the development of an oven that utilizes renewable energy to operate safely and effectively. It aims to test building an oven using mostly basic hardware students acquired during their time at Cal Poly and provide a starting point for those interested in creating a solar-powered oven. As our society continues to innovate and increasingly relies on electricity, it is important to place more emphasis on how we can make our lives sustainable to take care of our environment without introducing excessive pollutants. Food preparation is a daily activity that typically involves significant energy consumption, making this …

Platforming For Circuit Education, Grady Oliver Schneider

Computer Engineering

The purpose of this project was to provide an alternative for students being introduced to resistive circuits. As a freshman in electrical engineering (transferred to computer engineering), I saw the struggles of other freshman to grasp the conceptual basics of circuits. While there’s lots of guides to circuit education, I think many of them fall short of being both engaging and teaching the intuition behind circuits. A lot of the more advanced concepts in circuits depends on the basic intuition of KCL, KVL, and Ohm’s Law. While there’s several basic techniques (such as voltage divider, current divider, and mesh current …

Isolated Dc-Dc Converter For An Ev Microgrid, Oscar Yu, William Leiker

Electrical Engineering

This product is a redesign of a DC-DC buck-boost converter which utilizes a new topology, the flyback converter, for use in an electric vehicle (EV) as a microgrid. The main driver behind the redesign is to provide electrical isolation between elements in the microgrid. The EV microgrid consists of the battery, motor, external DC and AC ports, and the power electronics (DC-DC converter and AC-DC inverter) which were designed and built in previous senior projects. Using EV’s as microgrids can help relieve stress from the main power grid caused by charging electric vehicles. Implementing EV’s as a microgrid enables the …

Modeling An Energy Management System For Residential Hybrid Ac/Dc Power Networks, Theodor Buerchner, Giovanni Malone, Alex Maldonado

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

In pursuit of supporting the global efforts in reducing carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels, this project seeks to continue the development of a hybrid AC/DC house prototype at Cal Poly State University. To enhance the power flow to DC loads, a dedicated 48 V DC bus will be constructed to replace the impractical multiple DC buses in the previous system. This iteration will also add a key feature that enables users to monitor real-time AC and DC powers. Another new functionality will involve the provision of a mix of latching and non-latching relays to switch between sources, thus …

Exopg Maturation And Owl Interface, Duncan Michael Louden

Electrical Engineering

The maturation of the ExOPG buoy generator consists of an interface to facilitate remote data acquisition of an existing battery charge controller. This module telemeters battery controller data including voltage, temperature, and state of battery charge. The data is transmitted to a communication system and is able to be viewed by humans on a 24/7 basis for continuous operation and human usage. The module works seamlessly as an addition to the existing ExOPG generator, and it does not interfere with any existing and planned components of the generator. The module is highly efficient and draws minimal power from the existing …

Owl Solar-Powered Link: Duck Radio Mesh For Autonomous Monitoring, Jaden Tran, Shane Williams

Electrical Engineering

The Solar Duck Sensor Node transforms a standard DuckLink into a fully self-sustaining environmental monitor. A compact solar panel / power bank module plugs into the power ports of both the DuckLink and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, keeping them charged through day-night cycles. The Pi Zero 2 W will perform local processing of sensor data. Sensor output will come from the Raspberry Pi AI Camera and its object detection capabilities. This output will be distilled into metadata and advertised over BLE. The DuckLink captures these packets, encapsulates them into LoRa payloads, and forwards them across the ClusterDuck mesh …