Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

Development Of Dynamic Proof-Mass Configurations For Broadband Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting, Nico E. Galarza

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and develop dynamic proof-mass configurations for broadband piezoelectric energy harvesting. Conventional piezoelectric energy harvesters are typically limited by narrow operating bandwidths, restricting their performance under variable-frequency excitation. This research presents the design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of multiple proof-mass concepts intended to increase the usable frequency range of cantilever-based piezoelectric energy harvesters. Several dynamic mass configurations were developed using additive manufacturing techniques and integrated with commercially available piezoelectric cantilevers. Experimental testing was conducted under controlled vibration conditions to characterize voltage response, resonant behavior, and bandwidth performance. The results demonstrate that dynamic proof-masses …

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 …

Energy Efficient Load Balancing In Multi-Band Cellular Networks Via Reinforcement Learning, Ahmed Shoukry El Soukkary

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates energy-efficient load balancing in homogeneous multi-band cellular networks through the joint design of user association (UA) and transmit power allocation (PA). The original mixed-integer nonlinear formulation is decomposed into two coupled yet tractable subproblems: a UA stage and a PA stage for high-frequency bands. For UA, a SINR-ratio-based heuristic is proposed to prioritize users that are most sensitive to suboptimal band assignments, and it is benchmarked against a Max- SINR baseline. For PA, the high-band power control problem is addressed using reinforcement learning, where a Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) agent learns power levels and band-activation decisions under …

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 …

Autonomous Exploration Of An Environment With Static Obstacles Using A Ppo Agent, Brandon Knight

Theses

Research in autonomous exploration has created many effective algorithms that have been tested and proven to work in many different virtual and physical environments. Many optimizations have also been developed to reduce computational effort and increase exploration speed.

However, despite optimizations, these algorithms can still require considerable computational effort and time to explore even small environments. To obtain further improvements in computation and exploration speed, a reinforcement learning agent using actor-critic style proximal policy optimization (PPO) is trained to explore various environments efficiently, then compared to an algorithm using contemporary exploration methods.

Testing is performed in virtual environments with ideal …

Model Based Control And Hil Verification Of An Integrated Battery Management System, Catalin Sabou

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The rapid advancement of electric vehicle technologies necessitates highly reliable Battery Management Systems (BMS); however, validating embedded supervisory logic presents a notable challenge. While physical pack testing is accurate, it is costly and hazardous for early stage software evaluation. This thesis presents the design, implementation, and rigorous validation of an integrated BMS developed for the Battery Workforce Challenge, bridging the gap between model based design and safe hardware execution. The core of this work is a model based supervisory controller, developed in MATLAB/Simulink and executed on an STM32G4 embedded target. To facilitate embedded validation while preserving a representative battery environment, …

A Near Linear-Phase Analog Frequency Sampling Filter Design Framework Using A Second-Order Trust-Region Optimization Technique, Edreese Basharyar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Analog frequency sampling filters (FSFs) provide an efficient means of realizing finite impulse response (FIR)-like behavior in continuous-time systems, but their practical implementation is constrained by the requirement for perfect pole-zero cancellation along the imaginary axis. Because exact cancellation is physically unattainable due to component variations, ideal linear-phase Type 1 analog FSFs exhibit uncancelled poles that result in system instability. To address this limitation, this thesis introduces a near-linear-phase design framework for Type 1 analog FSFs that achieves both stability and design flexibility through the inclusion of a damping constant, ρ, which shifts the poles into the left half of …

Data-Driven Physical-Layer Optimization For Rf And Optical Communications: Transmitarray Metasurfaces, Contextual-Bandit Mud, And Coherent Optical Links, Chengtao M. Xu

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This dissertation studies three physical-layer optimization problems that share a common difficulty: the forward model, whether an electromagnetic solver or a statistical channel model, is either too expensive to evaluate at design scale or too unstable to hold across a single processing block. The first two problems are treated in their own right, as problems in antenna design and in multi-user detection over time-variant channels; the third carries the methodology onto a coherent optical link, where size, weight, and power constraints make a small-satellite deployment the natural target.

The antenna work targets a tri-layer pixelated unit cell fabricated on Avient …

Woodward Cuk Converter, Aditi Venkatesh, Jennifer Pereira

Honors Capstones

The purpose of this senior design project is to design and build a Cuk converter, a type of buck–boost converter. The project involves developing an analytical model and validating it through hardware testing. Cuk converters are important because they are widely used in everyday electronics, particularly in renewable energy systems such as solar power, power supplies, and electric vehicles. Their ability to increase, decrease, and reverse the polarity of voltage makes them flexible. The continuous input and output currents result in low ripple, reducing component stress and improving efficiency. To achieve these goals, simulations will be conducted using LTspice to …

Data-Driven Multimodal Mri Representation Learning For Subtype Discovery And Disease Progression Modeling In Parkinson’S Disease, Zihan Zhou

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) exhibits substantial clinical and neuroanatomical heterogeneity, limiting robust patient stratification and clinically meaningful progression modeling from MRI. We propose a unified multimodal 3D generative representation-learning framework that learns an interpretable latent space from co-registered baseline T1/T2 MRI with an edge-aware channel. Confound-corrected latent embeddings support unsupervised subtype discovery, while disease duration provides weak supervision to orient a continuous progression axis. On an independent external cohort (PPMI, N=171), the discovery-trained subtype structure shows significant partial replication (ARI=0.35; permutation test p=0.001) and enables longitudinal clinical stratification: mixed-effects modeling reveals subtype-dependent MDS-UPDRS III progression, with the strongest effect in subtype …

Small-Scale Analog Spiking Neural Network: Design And Simulation Of An Analog Deep Neural Network, Lucas Hogue

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

A small-scale analog schematic of a spiking neural network (SNN) is designed and demonstrated through the analog design environment (ADE) within Cadence Virtuoso. An SNN is a type of neuromorphic system that utilizes components mimicking the function of the neurons and synapses found in biological neural networks. The SNN designed in this project is composed of four layers: one input layer, two hidden layers, and one output layer. The inclusion of more than one hidden layer classifies the network as “deep” and increases the network’s efficiency at handling data with increased complexity. The SNN categorizes inputs by producing a set …