Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

Algorithm Development For Column Water Vapor Retrieval Using The Sun And Aureole Measurement (Sam) Sensor, Joshua Bruce Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

To understand and model the energetics of the Sun-Earth connection, measurements of specific atmospheric molecules are beneficial. The objective is to formulate an algorithm to derive temporally varying atmospheric water vapor concentrations as functions of altitude, latitude, and longitude from solar irradiance absorption measurements. The Visidyne SAM (Sun and Aureole Measurement) instrument, which studies the size and distribution of cloud particles, was used to obtain the experimental data. By introducing a spectrometer to the SAM instrument, column water vapor is produced as part of the data product. A new model optimized algorithm is developed and tested versus existing algorithms. Through …

A Ladar-Based Pose Estimation Algorithm For Determining Relative Motion Of A Spacecraft For Autonomous Rendezvous And Dock, Ronald Christopher Fenton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Future autonomous space missions will require autonomous rendezvous and docking operations. The servicing spacecraft must be able to determine the relative 6 degree-of-freedom (6 DOF) motion between the vehicle and the target spacecraft. One method to determine the relative 6 DOF position and attitude is with 3D ladar imaging. Ladar sensor systems can capture close-proximity range images of the target spacecraft, producing 3D point cloud data sets. These sequentially collected point-cloud data sets were then registered with one another using a point correspondence-less variant of the Iterative Closest Points (ICP) algorithm to determine the relative 6 DOF displacements. Simulation experiments …

Algorithm Development Of The Aglite-Lidar Instrument, Christian Marchant

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Particulate emissions from agricultural operations are increasingly receiving attention from regulatory bodies as a potential source of air pollution. The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) has developed the Aglite system, a suite of instruments including a lidar that is capable of measuring particulate emission levels from agricultural facilities. This system provides a novel method of measuring particulate mass (PM) pollution, allowing measurements to be taken of diverse types of facilities with high temporal and spatial resolution. This high resolution allows for the measurement of emission levels generated by specific activities, fostering the development and determination of best management practices.

The Aglite …

A Field Programmable Gate Array Based Finite-Domain Constraint Solver, Prasad Subramanian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Constraint satisfaction and optimization techniques are commonly employed in scheduling, industrial manufacturing, and automation processes where concepts from Operations Research (OR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are applied. In embedded systems, Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) finds use in design, synthesis, and optimization. However, most application areas of CSP employ offline solving techniques where design requirements and constraints are captured before the system is deployed online. There is a significant amount of pre-planning and human intervention required.

In embedded systems, online constraint solving techniques are primarily used as onboard control software in order to enable a system that can dynamically adapt to …

The Numerical Modeling Of An Antenna In Plasma, Jeffrey D. Ward

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation presents a full-wave, self-consistent numerical model that enables a greater understanding of how an antenna interacts with warm, collisional, magnetized, multi-species plasma. The model focuses primarily on the frequency region around the critical electron resonances for ionospheric plasma conditions. At these resonances, the dielectric representation of the plasma can become complex or negative, and the current distribution strongly deviates from free space. These effects are difficult to model analytically, necessitating the use of numerical techniques. This dissertation develops a Finite Difference Time Domain model that includes the plasma fluid equations along with Maxwell's equations, and incorporates boundary conditions …

An Adaptive "Natural Law" Fuzzy Controller, Sandeep D. Sequeira

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fuzzy control has met with a tremendous interest in applications over the past few years. Despite its application potential, a broader industrial exploitation of fuzzy control has been hindered by the lack of standard design methods for fuzzy control systems. Fuzzy controllers have had to be designed on a case-by-case basis employing heuristics and reflecting the designer's limited insight into the control object's behavior. A number of fuzzy theorists have investigated the fuzzy system theoretic problems and results reported in the literature have been encouraging.

This thesis research has explored the notion that fuzzy control, despite being a rule-based control …