Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

An Unmanned Surface Vehicle: Autonomous Sensor Integration System For Bathymetric Surveys, Fernando Sotelo Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) have been applied to earth sciences, with only a few studies conducted in water environments, as these systems provide autonomous measurement capabilities and transferability to other environmental settings. In this thesis, a reliable, yet economical, USV has been developed for bathymetric surveying of lakes. The system combines an autonomous navigation framework, environmental sensors and a multibeam echosounder to collect submerged topography, temperature, windspeed and monitor the vehicle status during prescribed path planning missions.

The main objective of this study is to provide a methodological framework to build a USV, with independent decision-making, efficient control, and long-range …

Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Systems For Residential Hvac Load Management, Oscar Samuel Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With an ongoing mission of utility operators to maintain a resilient and reliable power grid in the face of continuously increasing load demand, it is essential that advancements be made in developing both technology and methodology to help account for the increasing energy requirements. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Information Administration (EIA), the residential end-use sector alone counted for 22% of all electricity used in the U.S. in 2020. Of this, approximately 32% of household electricity load is the direct result of air conditioning and space heating units (HVAC). One way to account for this …

Electric Power Grid Resilience Under Extreme Weather Events, Orlando Quezada Simental

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Electric power distribution grids are experiencing blackouts at higher rates than ever before due to extreme weather, leaving hundreds of customers without electric energy for hours or even days. While these events are considered low-probability events, the socioeconomic costs and impacts are extensive as the distribution systems are unreliable under emergency events. The improvement of the resilience of the power distribution system can be accomplished through the implementation of microgrids (MGs) throughout the grid, which can be constituted by distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar roof-top PV generation and electric vehicles (EVs) and many others. The development of new …

Development Of An Automated Electronic Prototyping System, Cesar Yahir Sanchez Zambrano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Prototyping systems with interconnected components can be a time and resource expensive process. The process consists of three main phases (design, build and analysis) with each having their own associated cost. For the case of electronic circuits, the building phase is the costliest phase among the three, being prone to human errors which causes the circuit to fail. All three phases of the prototyping process are important. However, often a disproportionate amount of time is spent on the build phase due to the difficulty of making and troubleshooting circuits by hand. In this thesis we will discuss a system that …

Goes-16 Level 2 Land Surface Temperature Product-Filling For Cloud Masked Data, Guadalupe Ortega

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The GOES-16 satellite ground segment team develops different levels of environmental products and makes them readily available to the public. The level 2 Land Surface Temperature (LST) product aims to provide a remote measurement of the Earth’s surface temperature every hour. LST is of fundamental importance to many aspects of the geosciences, for example, to study the Urban Heat Islands (UHI) effect. The product however, does not provide values for pixels where the satellite imager’s view is obstructed by clouds, as determined by a cloud mask intermediate product. The objective of this thesis is to estimate LST in the cloud …

Radio Direction Finding Implementing Music Algorithm With Usrp Node Arrays, Kevin Valdez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Direction Finding techniques are widely used across the fields of radar, telecommunications, geolocation systems, sonar, among many others to estimate the reference position of the incoming signal source. For this, the implementation of antenna arrays is essential as it allows the use of more advanced techniques in signal processing called spatial spectrum estimation [1]. This method of estimation is performed based on the antenna or sensor array response to the signal spatial parameters in every direction and estimate the location of the incoming signals. Algorithms have been developed for the purpose of spatial spectrum analysis, the most popular are MUSIC …

Small Satellite Development And Mission Design For Low Earth Orbit And Geostationary Transfer Orbit Missions, Ashiqur Rahman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Aerospace Center formerly known as cSETR at UTEP is a NASA funded center of excellence in aerospace and exploration, focusing on strategic capability development in propulsion and robotic lander, lunar surface exploration, and small spacecraft technologies. To support the center’s mission for space exploration and to demonstrate advancements in small satellite technologies, the Aerospace Center at The University of Texas at El Paso is on track to develop and launch several CubeSats in next few years. A CubeSat is a small satellite that has become popular in recent years due to their low cost, low complexity and short development timeline. …

Development Of Metaheuristic Algorithms For The Efficient Allocation Of Power Flow Control Devices, Eduardo Jose Castillo Fatule

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Modern energy grids have become extremely complex systems, requiring more variable and active flow control. As a remedy to this, Distributed Flexible AC Transmission Systems (D-FACTS) are cost-efficient devices used to mitigate power flow congestion and integrate renewable energies. The objective of this research is then to propose an efficient multiple objective evolutionary algorithm to solve a stochastic model for D-FACTS allocation, which aims to optimize various objectives related to cost, grid health, and environmental impacts. The model was implemented on a modified RTS-96 test system, and the results show that optimally allocating D-FACTS modules using the proposed model can …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Tin (Sn) Incorporated Ga2o3, Guillermo Nicolas Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this work, we report on the synthesis, characterization of tin (Sn) incorporated gallium oxide Ga2O3 compounds, also included in this work is the effect of tin concentration related to the optical and electrochemical properties. The Sn incorporation into Ga2O3 creates a significant reduction in the bandgap and causes a nonlinear optical activity as the concentration varies. Substantial investigation performed to the structure, phase, and morphology of the mixed compounds governed by the stoichiometry equation Ga2−2xSnxO3-ɗ indicates that the Sn incorporation from 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.30 has a significant effect on these properties. To synthesize the Ga-Sn-O compounds a …

Hardware For Quantized Mixed-Precision Deep Neural Networks, Andres Rios

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recently, there has been a push to perform deep learning (DL) computations on the edge rather than the cloud due to latency, network connectivity, energy consumption, and privacy issues. However, state-of-the-art deep neural networks (DNNs) require vast amounts of computational power, data, and energyâ??resources that are limited on edge devices. This limitation has brought the need to design domain-specific architectures (DSAs) that implement DL-specific hardware optimizations. Traditionally DNNs have run on 32-bit floating-point numbers; however, a body of research has shown that DNNs are surprisingly robust and do not require all 32 bits. Instead, using quantization, networks can run on …

Fast Magnetic Resonance Image Reconstruction With Deep Learning Using An Efficientnet Encoder, Tahsin Rahman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis aims to develop an efficient, deep network based method for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) acceleration through undersampled MR image reconstruction. Deep Neural Networks, particularly Deep Convolutional Networks, have been demonstrated to be highly effective in a wide variety of computer vision tasks, including MRI reconstruction. However, modern highly efficient encoder structures, such as the EfficientNet can potentially reduce reconstruction times further while improving reconstruction quality. To that end, we have developed a multi-channel U-Net MRI reconstruction network which uses an EfficientNet encoder and a custom asymmetric. The network was trained and tested using 5x undersampled multi-channel brain MR …

Downscaling Of Goes-16'S Land Surface Temperature Product Using Epitomes, Roberto Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Land surface temperature (LST) is an environmental variable derived from thermal infrared (TIR) imagery. Satellite platforms are a good source of TIR imagery because of their ability to provide widespread and frequent coverage of the Earthâ??s surface. It is common that a single satellite remote sensing platform is able to provide images with good spatial resolution or temporal resolution but not both. LST is an important parameter for studies on the urban heat island (UHI) effect. These studies are limited by the spatial or temporal resolutions of available LST products. This Thesis presents an algorithm to estimate land surface temperature …

Non-Invasive In-Vitro Glucose Monitoring Using Optical Sensor And Machine Learning Techniques For Diabetes Applications, Maryamsadat Shokrekhodaei

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Diabetes is a major public health challenge affecting more than 451 million people. Physiological and experimental factors influence the accuracy of non-invasive glucose monitoring, and these need to be addressed before replacing the finger prick method with a non-invasive glucose measurement technique. Also, the suitable employment of machine learning techniques on experimental data can significantly improve the accuracy of glucose predictions.

This work includes the design, development, testing and data analysis of an optical based sensor for glucose measurements. The feasibility of non-invasive measurement of glucose within aqueous solutions that assimilate the composition of human blood plasma is investigated. The …

Discrepancy-Based Analysis Of Measurement Sampling Points In Compressive Sensing, Felipe Batista Da Silva

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Compressive sensing (CS) is a technique in signal processing that under certain conditions allows someone to reconstruct sparse signals from fewer linear measurements. A problem in CS is modeled in terms of an underdetermined linear system, whose associated matrix is previously designed. Then, it is of interest in CS to know what a good sampling defined by the sensing matrix is and how to measure it. In this work, we provided analytical proofs of properties of the metric discrepancy that allow us to propose a fast algorithm for discrepancy calculation. Such metric measures the quality of the sampling measurement points …

Application Of Compressive Sensing To Microwave Tomography, Rafael Gerardo Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Microwave tomography(MT) allows the safe, non-intrusive examination of the internal structureof an object by irradiating it with microwave signals and measuring how they get attenuated and diffracted as they propagate through the object. Measurement of these signals is difficult and slow, it depends on the objectâ??s physical properties and the test setup used for this. MT is based on a scanning process that yields measurement data with unique characteristics that make it difficult to process using standard computational methods. As the number of measurements needed for an image with acceptable resolution increases, the complexity of processing all the data becomes …

Early Detection Of Asthma Via Enhanced Resolution Of Small Airways Using Ultra-Low Frequency Impulse Oscillometry, Christopher M. Aguilar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Examination of lung function for diagnosis and monitoring of diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma can be performed with a variety of pulmonary function testing (PFT) techniques. The most commonly prescribed of these procedures are spirometry and whole-body plethysmography. However, these active participation tests depend on forced breathing maneuvers, may be physically exhausting, might not produce enough information, and are susceptible to being subject-dependent. In contrast, passive PFT approaches such as the forced oscillation technique (FOT) and the impulse oscillometry system (IOS) are increasingly being utilized for measuring lung mechanics because they require only minimal participation, …

Development And Characterization Of Perovskite Solar Cells For Tandem Device Configuration, Angel Moiseis De La Rosa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Photovoltaic devices based on perovskite materials are constantly progressing towards more applicability in large-area panels. In order for perovskite-based photovoltaics to reach reliable and stable commercialization, common issues with the use of perovskite still need to be resolved, including the need to identify fabrication processes that can yield optimal material parameters for better photovoltaic performance. Defining an optimal fabrication process requires that researchers and manufacturers alike come to an agreement regarding perovskite characteristics that result from device operation and material processing. This work focuses on characterizing physical, electrical, and electronic properties of a FAxCs1-xPb(IyBr1-y)3 perovskite, and how some of these …

Development Of The Payload System And Obc Microcontroller Coding For A Cubic Satellite Performing An Additive Self-Repair Experiment In Space, Eduardo Macias-Zugasti

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive manufacturing, which is also known as three-dimensional printing, in space is one of the most promising technologies advancing current capabilities for in-orbit space manufacturing and assembly. Additive manufacturing contributes to the reduction of cost per kilogram and number of launches, thus facilitating extraterrestrial colonization and deep-space exploration. The state of the art includes advancing efforts inside the International Space Station (ISS). However, the ISS is a controlled environment and, to the best of our knowledge, no spacecraft or satellite has performed additive manufacturing tasks in the extreme environment of outer space. In this work a 1U CubeSat named Orbital …

Development Of A Mems Fabrication Process On Soi To Study High Strain In Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides, Edgar Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the recent years there has been an increasing demand of better performing electronics. However, as the semiconductor industry keeps on improving and scaling the technology to the nanometer regime, the passive power density has overcome the overall power consumption of transistors. The inability to reduce the power alongside the scaling of transistors has led the scientific community in the search for alternatives or different solutions to overcome this power crisis. The use of two-dimensional Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDCS) and Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) actuators, in conjunction, has been proposed as an alternative solution [1]. Recent studies of TMDCS have shown a …

Tram System Automation For Environmental Spectroscopy And Vegetation Monitoring, Enrique Anguiano Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Spectroscopy is the science of studying the interactions of matter and electromagnetic radiation (EMR). In particular, field spectroscopy takes place in a natural environment with a natural source of EMR. The paper presents progress towards the development and automation of a tram cart system. The new system in development collects high resolution, hyperspectral images and data from a spectrometer. Alternatives for a sensor cover mechanism to provide cover for the sensors mounted while the system is not operating are discussed, analyzing and comparing the benefits and disadvantages. An implementation for a charging station in an environment isolated from the electric …

Mathematical Modeling, Optimal Control And Stability Analysis For Dynamic Supply Chains, Yasser Alberto Davizon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Dynamic supply chains (SC) are important to reduce inventory, to enable the flow of materials, and maximize profits. By this, dynamic SC require proper decision-making with effective performance and synchronization. In operations and production planning processes, decision-makers develop convenient and suitable decisions, to validate their hypoThesis about which decisions incorporate more profit while reducing costs on enterprise operations. Based on this, inventory management plays a crucial point in the supply chain analysis. In general, SC processes raw material, cash, and information flows, taking into account the demand profile of the system. This research work presents the mathematical modeling, optimal control, …

Photovoltage Enhancement For Stable Perovskite Solar Cells With A Temperature-Controlled Grain Growth Technique, Luis Eduardo Valerio

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

By performing strong characterizations methods, one can begin to fully understand the chemistry and composition behind a great performing perovskite solar cell. Understanding how the interaction between layers inside a solar cell is driven by the temperature and overall environment is a key element to improve the fabrication process and overall efficiency of such cells. This Thesis will present a study of the hybrid organic-inorganic, mixed-cation, mixed-halide, temperature and thickness-controlled perovskite solar cell. A constant power conversion efficiency (PCE) ranging between 15-17% and an open circuit voltage V¬oc above 1.05 V for a wide-band gap perovskite cell is presented.

Testing The Reliability And Flexibility Of Digitizers Adapting The Rf/If Signals Over Ip Applications Using A Testbed Platform, Jose Carlos Sandoval

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As physical constraints can be challenging for Radio Frequency (RF) telemetry, a new solution has been exploited to support the demand for RF transmissions. As frequency spectrum gets crowded with more technologies, a solution to a reliable transmission is needed. Digitizers can mitigate many of the physical constraints in order to achieve a successful RF transmission. The method includes the conversion of the RF signals to be sent over IP networks, transmit and de-convert the signal. IP networks will mitigate many disadvantages over a regular signal transmission. The authority in charge to allocate frequency bands is the Federal Communications Commission …

Microstructure Evolution Of Chalcogenide Materials Via Molecular Dynamics, Sharmin Abdullah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The properties of a material are defined by its granular microstructure which is determined by its grain evolution and the types of grain boundaries present in the structure. For example, the performance of Cadmium Sulfide/Cadmium Telluride (CdS/CdTe) solar cells can be affected by the presence of grain boundaries which makes the study of grain structure evolution a very important part of solar cell performance optimization. Grain boundary mobilities are important properties in material science and engineering as they determine grain structures under given processing and operating conditions.

In this thesis, several computational tools were used to analyze the formation and …

Energy Management And Control Of Smart Power Distribution Systems, Eric Galvan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the development of distributed energy resources (DERs) and advancements in technology, microgrids (MGs) appear primed to become an even more integral part of the future distribution grid. In this transition to the smart power grid of the future, MGs must be properly managed and controlled to allow efficient integration of DERs. Over the past years, there has been rapid adoption of roof-top solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Although roof-top solar PV and BEVs can provide environmental benefits (e.g., reduction of emissions), they also create various challenges for power system operators. For example, roof-top solar PV generation …

Artificial Intelligence In The Assessment Of Transmission And Distribution Systems Under Natural Disasters Using Machine Learning And Deep Learning Techniques In A Knowledge Discovery Framework, Rossana Villegas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Warming trends and increasing temperatures have been observed and reported by federal agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Extreme-weather events, especially hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms, are among the highly devastating natural disasters responsible for massive and prolonged power outages in Electrical Transmission and Distribution Systems (ETDS). Moreover, the failure rate probability of any system component under extreme-weather tends to increase in the impacted geographic area. This Dissertation proposes an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Decision Support System that can predict damage in the ETDS and allow operators to mitigate disastrous extreme weather events. The document reports the …

Hfo Detector Based On Eeg Mean Energy Change Detection, Raul Ontiveros

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The main goal of this work is to support automated seizure prediction by identifying preictal states using multiple detectors of high-frequency oscillations (HFOs). Assessment of HFOs from a seizure onset zone may be facilitated using automatic HFO detectors. However, studies have shown that HFOs can be generated by physiological or pathological brain processes. Distinguishing between pathological and physiological HFOs is challenging due to a lack of discriminant information in signals' morphology and other characteristics. Other complicating factors include a lack of consistency in definitions of HFO frequency ranges, the need for expert verification of HFO detection, and lack of robustness …

Material Characterizations Of Organic-Inorganic Halide Perovskites Using Various Deposition Techniques For Planar Perovskite Solar Cell, Shaimum Shahriar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Organic-inorganic halide perovskites have rapidly become emerging materials for photovoltaic applications. Strong characterization methods are needed to fully comprehend the chemistry and composition of perovskite solar cells. Understanding the interaction between layers inside a cell and how they react with the environment is important to achieve optimum manufacturing processes, and improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. The present work demonstrates the material characterizations of organic-inorganic halide perovskites using (i) one-step deposition, (ii) two-steps deposition, (iii) solvent-to-solvent extraction, and (iv) mixed-cation solution processing. Investigations by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been undertaken …

Characterization And Quality Assessment Of Smart Polymer Systems Fabricated By Using 3d Printing Technique, Carlos Alejandro Garcia Rosales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are classified as smart materials due to their inherent stimulus-induced response. SMP is capable of recovering its original shape from a high degree of deformation by applying an external stimulus such as thermal energy. Other stimuli are electricity, light, chemical, and magnetic field. Shape memory polymers (SMPs) and its fabrication process has recently attracted much attention as a result of their potential application as soft active materials. Demonstration of SMP systems fabricated via 3D printing technologies has been one of the most popular attempts. This Dissertation presents an integration of two commercial SMP materials (DiAPLEX and …

Conductivity Modulation In Strained 2d Transition- Metal- Dichalcogenides Via Micro- Electro- Mechanical Actuation, Aldo Ivan Vidaña

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, strain-induced conductivity modulation in bi-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) flakes is experimentally investigated and modeled. Uniaxial tensile strain in the MoS2 flakes is achieved using a micro-electro-mechanical (MEM) actuator. Conductivity ratios up to 400 are demonstrated. Theoretical predictions of conductivity versus applied voltage in the MEMS-MoS2 device match experimental data reasonably well using only the effective width of the TMDC flakes as the sole fitting parameter. The amount of strain induced in the MoS2 flakes was determined to be as high as 2.7% for one flake using the model fitted to the experiment data. The switching energy required …