Electrical and Electronics Commons^™

Μmodules: A Low-Cost, Eurorack-Compatible Modular Audio Synthesis System, Nolan K. Juneau

Honors Theses and Capstones

The modular audio synthesizer is one of the fastest-growing industries in contemporary music technology. Unlike a traditional audio synthesizer, a modular synthesizer allows for the user to directly control the signal path and effects of the synthesized sound, allowing for a workflow that is completely customizable to an individual musician and their creative vision. However, the modules and cases currently in production for the common “Eurorack” design standard can be prohibitively expensive to new users, often costing thousands of dollars for even a small system. The µModules project aims to eliminate this financial barrier to modular synthesis by using inexpensive …

Pillpetz: A Smarter Way To Encourage Medication Adherence In Children, John H. Begley

CMC Senior Theses

Medication adherence is usually framed as a problem of patient behavior, but this thesis argues that it is equally a problem of design. Children who take daily medication face barriers that adults often do not: developing executive function, dependence on caregivers, shifting school and home routines, privacy concerns, and stigma around being perceived as different. The standard prescription bottle, by contrast, was designed primarily for dispensing efficiency, safety, and accidental ingestion prevention—not for sustained daily use by a developing child.

This thesis proposes PillPetz, a smart pill case and digital companion that uses routine, play, dose confirmation, and caregiver-connected support …

Array Signal Processing And Machine Learning In 5g/6g Networks, Roopesh Kumar Polaganga

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation investigates advanced methodologies in Array Signal Processing (ASP) and Machine Learning (ML) to enhance the performance, efficiency, and intelligence of next-generation wireless networks, with a primary focus on 5G and emerging 6G systems. As wireless networks face rapid traffic growth, increasingly heterogeneous service requirements, and more complex propagation environments, conventional design and optimization approaches become insufficient to meet evolving demands in reliability, capacity, spectral efficiency, and energy efficiency. On the network intelligence side, this work develops data-driven frameworks for causal discovery, scheduler enhancement, session-duration prediction, and Radio Resource Control (RRC) state optimization using real-world telecommunication network data. On …

Physics-Informed Temperature Prediction Of Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Decomposition-Enhanced Lstm And Bilstm Models, Seyed Saeed Madani, Yasmin Shabeer, Michael Fowler, Satyam Panchal, Carlos Ziebert, Hicham Chaoui, François Allard

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurately forecasting the operating temperature of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential for preventing thermal runaway, extending service life, and ensuring the safe operation of electric vehicles and stationary energy-storage systems. This work introduces a unified, physics-informed, and data-driven temperature-prediction framework that integrates mathematically governed preprocessing, electrothermal decomposition, and sequential deep learning architectures. The methodology systematically applies the governing relations to convert raw temperature measurements into trend, seasonal, and residual components, thereby isolating long-term thermal accumulation, reversible entropy-driven oscillations, and irreversible resistive heating. These physically interpretable signatures serve as structured inputs to machine learning and deep learning models trained on temporally …

Multi-Objective Optimization Strategy For Component Sizing In Solar-Hydrogen Microgrids Using An Advanced Hybrid Genetic Algorithm, Dylan Jones

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the development of a genetic algorithm (GA) optimization framework for the design and component sizing of hybrid solar-hydrogen microgrids. The framework addresses a critical gap in research and existing commercial tools by unifying performance maximization and cost minimization objectives across both grid-tied and islanded configurations. Integrating solar photovoltaics, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, and batteries, the GA employs adaptive weighting and dynamic boundary constraints to balance technical feasibility with economic efficiency. To ensure real-world viability, the algorithm relies on a novel Daylight Sun Factor (DSF) for localized solar assessment and was rigorously validated against multi-year, high-fidelity irradiance …

Experimental Validation Of Optical Wireless Communication And Power Transfer For Uav Applications, Fnu Dhruv

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have revolutionized emergency response, disaster assessment, and search-and-rescue operations. However, their operational efficacy is fundamentally constrained by limited battery endurance and the susceptibility of traditional radio-frequency communication to disruption in adverse weather. To address these limitations, this thesis proposes and experimentally validates a novel architecture integrating Free-Space Optical (FSO) communication with Simultaneous Lightweight Information and Power Transfer (SLIPT). This system utilizes a split-beam configuration to concurrently enable high-bandwidth data transmission and optical energy harvesting to replenish the UAV's battery pack. The research was conducted in three progressive phases. Initially, system feasibility was established through rigorous optical …

A Digital Calibration Source For 21 Cm Cosmology Telescopes, Kalyani Balkrishna Bhopi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Precise calibration of radio telescope beams and gains is a central requirement for 21 cm intensity mapping experiments, which aim to measure large scale cosmological structure through the redshifted emission line of neutral hydrogen. Bright astrophysical foregrounds dominate the sky at these frequencies, and separating them from the cosmological signal demands precise control over instrumental systematics, particularly the telescope beam and its frequency-dependent response. Existing aerial calibration sources are incoherent broadband emitters, detectable only as total power. They provide no direct phase information and suffer from poor sensitivity in low signal-to-noise regimes.

We present the Precision Emitter for 21cm Array …

Federated And Explainable Spiking Neural Networks For Fair And Privacy-Preserving Nail Disease Diagnostics, Ch Pavani Reddy, Krishnanaik Vankdoth

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Automated nail disease diagnostics provide a non-invasive pathway for identifying underlying systemic health conditions; however, conventional centralized deep learning approaches often raise concerns related to privacy, fairness, and interpretability. Although the original NeuroNail-SNN framework demonstrated an energy-efficient and edge-ready diagnostic solution, its broader clinical adoption remained limited by unresolved trust, transparency, and ethical considerations. In this study, we propose the Federated and Explainable NeuroNail-SNN, which extends the original spiking neural architecture by integrating federated learning (FL), explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), fairness evaluation, and uncertainty quantification within a unified framework. Federated learning enables decentralized model training across hospitals and mobile clinics …

Printer For Music Box, Chad Lewis, Caleb Murawski, Zion Smith, Bryan Tibbs

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The traditional method of creating music box sheet music involves manually punching holes into a paper strip using a hand-operated hole punch. This process involves precise knowledge of each note’s location and the ability to achieve perfect accuracy for hours.

The goal of this system is to automate this process, significantly reducing the time required while greatly improving the accuracy of the resulting music box playback. The user simply uploads a MIDI file of their choice into a user-friendly application. Here, the file is modified based on the user’s needs and sent to an automated hole-punching system to punch the …

Adaptive Lighting System, Jacob Samerdak, Ethan Schwartz, Brandon Breen, Matthew Carozza

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Adaptive Lighting System is a modular network of components that requires minimal installation in homes. Additionally, all components of the system communicate wirelessly and interface with a mobile application. The system utilizes occupancy and daylight sensors to detect the environment of a room and adjust the lighting accordingly. The system detects ambient lighting as well as occupancy within a room. Using the data collected from the sensors, the system adjusts lighting temperature, color, and brightness. The user can also manually control these settings. The Adaptive Lighting System aims to help regulate circadian rhythm, so there is a configuration in …

Dashboard And Racing Telemetry, Cole Barach, Jacob Koshel, Ethan Zifzal, Matthew Sullivan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The main goal of the project is to design and manufacture a combined dashboard and data logger for the vehicles produced by the Zips Racing design team. The dashboard will intuitively display real-time information to the driver and record all received information while driving. This information may be pulled off the device later for performing data analysis. This project will incorporate custom PCB design, surface mount soldering, embedded software development, and the CAN communication protocol.

Aquaflow Pro, Ashton Henley, Jeannie Fritz, Khalin Rubbo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Changing aquarium water is a hassle, and when done incorrectly, it will result in changes in water quality and potential harm to aquatic life. Aquarium water changes are crucial in removing toxins such as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. There is a need for an automated, stressless fish tank water-changing solution that ensures aquatic safety. To this end, an automatic temperature-controlled fish tank water changing system was designed, carrying out a water change for a designated main tank in which water heated within an inbound reservoir is pumped into the tank to replace the outbound water, responding to both the tank’s …

Brrbox, Shawn J. Myers, Lane Cline, Michael Davis, Christian Secrest

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This report details the project known as “The BRRBOX”, a reusable, insulated thermoelectric cooler developed to keep internal temperatures at refrigeration levels or cooler for at least 48 hours. The cooler will track its internal temperature during this period and be able to give the data at the end of its delivery cycle to keep up with food and pharmaceutical standards during delivery. The BRRBOX uses Peltier-based cooling alongside vacuum insulation panels and fans to achieve efficient thermal control. An onboard microcontroller will monitor temperature, record the data, and adjust the cooling output to minimize power consumption. The box will …

Automated Pill Dispenser, Ryan Oderkirk, Connor Beaven, Rachelle Labrie, Josue Panchana

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project we propose is an automated system for dispensing dosages of medication throughout the day. It will be able to alert a user when their pills need to be taken and give them the correct dosages of up to four different medications. These dosages are configurable as well as the scheduled time they are to be taken. In addition, the pill dispenser will alert users when they are low on medications and need to refill the machine.

Automatic Pet Feeder Network, Daniel J. Herttna, David A. Bechtel, Alexander Deskovich

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will describe the design process and research behind the Automatic Pet Feeder Network, otherwise known as The Petwork. The system consists of a tank to hold the food, a latching system to drop the food at the desired time, a weight sensor to verify that the proper amount of food has been dispensed, a power supply unit that steps down 120V AC standard wall outlet power, & a microcontroller that will interpret the user's input from a mobile phone application. The networking portion is covered by having a primary and a secondary feeder. The mobile application will communicate …

Nanomagnet Based Straintronic Devices For Unconventional Computing: Simulation And Performance Analysis, Rahnuma Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

Nanomagnetic devices are of great interest in digital hardware because of their non-volatility and dynamic ability to change magnetization but suffer from high switching error rates and temperature sensitivity. Magnetostrictive nanomagnets that utilize strain to switch between stable magnetization states encoding bit information are of interest since they are extremely energy efficient as piezoelectric layers can be used to rotate magnetization that have switching energies in the range of attojoules. Their stochasticity can also be useful in probabilistic, analog, neuromorphic, and collective computing systems, where occasional switching errors are not devastating. The dissertation extends spintronics beyond conventional computing schemes by …

Nanomagnet Based Reservoir Computing And Quantum Control, Fahim F. Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

Conventional CMOS scaling has driven remarkable advances in computing but faces increasing physical and energy constraints, motivating alternative computing paradigms that integrate memory and computation while improving energy efficiency. Nanoscale magnetic systems offer a promising platform for such approaches because their intrinsic nonlinear dynamics and localized magnetic fields can support both classical and quantum information processing. This thesis investigates nanomagnetic systems for physical reservoir computing and, with primary emphasis, for localized quantum control of spin qubits.

The first part explores dipole-coupled nanomagnet arrays as physical reservoirs. Micromagnetic simulations demonstrate nonlinear dynamical behavior with high short-term memory and parity-check capacity, enabling …

Automation And Habitat Development For A Space Based Marine Life Environment, Logan Trimmer, Alexander Hang

Harrisburg University Other Works

This project was a cross-collaboration between the Environmental Sciences and Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics programs for the company Monolith Space.

The goal of this project was to design an autonomous system to be able to track qualities of water in an aquaculture system designed to be sent to space.

Design, Optimization, And Techno-Economic Analysis Of A Standalone Pv-Wind-Battery Microgrid For A Remote Load In Kurdistan Region Of Iraq, Harwan Mohammed Taha, Laith Akram Mohammed

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Standalone microgrids play a crucial role in rural areas where grid electricity delivery is difficult and expensive. This research verifies the effectiveness of a standalone microgrid in a rugged area, Pers Mountain in Akre district, Duhok governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan. A first hybrid renewable energy system (HRES)-based standalone microgrid is presented to supply a remote load. Solar and wind energy are employed for their reliability, sustainability, and abundance, with battery storage ensuring continuous power when solar and wind are unavailable. Simulation results demonstrate reliable power supply during summer months (loss of power supply probability < 5%), with the system operating across three modes — PV-dominant daytime, combined wind-battery evening, and battery-discharge nighttime. The inverter achieved minimum total harmonic distortion of 1.53% for both current and voltage outputs, below the IEEE 519 limit. A full-year hourly particle swarm optimization (PSO) sizing analysis assessed annual reliability and each source's economic contribution: the original fixed sizing yields an annual loss of power supply probability (LPSP) of 26.80% (expected energy not served ~1,471 kWh/year), motivating a PSO-optimized PV-battery configuration achieving annual LPSP of 5% (~274 kWh/year unserved) at comparable cost. The site's wind resource is reasonable (13.8% capacity factor), but the fixed tower and controller cost outweighs its contribution at this small scale. The proposed HRES totals $11,960–$16,317 depending on configuration, approximately 28–38 times lower than grid extension ($455,600) to the site, while producing zero CO₂ emissions and avoiding approximately 4,189 kg/year versus an equivalent HOMER Pro-simulated diesel generator.

Early-Time/High-Frequency Electromagnetic Induction Sensing For Minimal-Metal And None-Metallic Subsurface Targets, Michele Louise Maxson

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Conventional electromagnetic induction (EMI) systems operate within the quasi-static regime, where measurements are dominated by conduction currents and are primarily sensitive to highly conductive targets and bulk soil properties. As a result, these systems exhibit limited sensitivity to low-conductivity and layered media, such as permafrost, composite materials, and minimum-metal landmines, where diagnostically relevant information resides in early-time/high-frequency electromagnetic responses, generally above 100 kHz. This limitation reflects a mismatch between conventional EMI system design and the underlying target physics, restricting the ability of standard EMI approaches to resolve fine-scale non-metallic subsurface structure.

In this thesis, I investigate early-time/high-frequency sensitivity as a …

A Portable Potentiostat Integrated With A Pt/Zno/Lig Electrode For Non-Enzymatic Glucose Detection, Reagan Aviha, Gymama Slaughter

Center for Bioelectronics Publications

Continuous glucose monitoring is critical for effective diabetes management; however, conventional benchtop potentiostats are bulky, costly, and unsuitable for decentralized point-of-care (PoC) applications. To address these limitations, this work presents a miniaturized, low-cost electrochemical sensing platform integrating a non-enzymatic glucose sensor with a portable potentiostat. The sensing electrode is based on laser-induced graphene modified with zinc oxide and platinum nanostructures via electrodeposition to enable sensitive glucose detection under physiological conditions. A custom-designed portable potentiostat was developed to control electrode potentials and perform electrochemical measurements, and its performance was experimentally validated against a commercial Metrohm system. Glucose detection was evaluated using …

Modern Potentiostat Architectures For Electrochemical Sensing: Design, Integration, And Future Directions, Reagan Aviha, Gymama Slaughter

Center for Bioelectronics Publications

Potentiostats are essential to electrochemical sensing, enabling precise control of electrode potentials and measurement of current responses. As demand grows for portable, wearable, and point-of-care systems, potentiostat design has evolved from benchtop instruments to compact, low-power, and wirelessly connected platforms. This review provides a comprehensive, system-level perspective on modern potentiostat architectures, covering operational principles, analog front-end design, signal generation and acquisition, communication protocols, and software integration. Unlike prior reviews that treat these aspects independently, this work integrates electrochemical theory with electronic design and data communication frameworks. Key components, including operational amplifiers, transimpedance amplifiers, DAC/ADC subsystems, and microcontroller-based control, are examined …

Bowtie Antenna-Coupled Bi₂Te₃–Sb₂Te₃ Thermoelectric Detector For Millimeter-Wave Radiation, Rumana Zahir

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

We explore the development of antenna-coupled thermoelectric detectors for long-wavelength radiation using sputtered bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) and antimony telluride (Sb₂Te₃) thin films. Detection in the infrared, millimeter-wave, and terahertz regimes is critical for sensing, imaging, and energy applications; however, many existing detectors rely on cryogenic operation, exhibit narrow spectral response, or require complex material systems. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of reliable, room-temperature long-wavelength detection using microfabricated thermoelectric thin films integrated with antenna structures. A systematic full-factorial experimental approach was employed to determine how sputtering parameters and post-deposition annealing influence …

Optically-Pumped Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers, Dhruvkumar Desai

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) offer a low-cost, compact solution for power amplification needs in an optical communication system compared with the dominant erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). They can also provide a wide gain bandwidth. However, conventional electrically-pumped SOAs suffer from larger noise figures, low saturation power, and polarization dependence, in comparison with EDFAs. We propose an optically-pumped SOA (OP-SOA) that will maintain the benefits of conventional SOAs while closing the gaps in other amplifier performance metrics. The underlying reasons for optical pumping are twofold. First, optical pumping allows higher carrier injection and thus "population inversion." Second, optical pumping decouples carrier …

Timing And Stability Of Uav Operations In Smart City Environments: Experimental Analysis And Design Implications, Rabia Ipek Yasar

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the deployment and performance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) within the Virginia Commonwealth University Open Cyber City (OCC) testbed. The study focuses on evaluating real-time indoor positioning performance using the Crazyflie drone platform. High-precision position measurements are obtained using the Vicon motion capture system, enabling analysis of the latency between the drone’s actual position and the system-reported position. In a closed-loop control system, the time difference between the position measurement and the application of the control command is called the system delay. Both stationary (hovering) and trajectory-following experiments are conducted to evaluate system performance. Communication delays in …

Communication-Aware Energy Optimization For Electric Vehicles With Adaptive Cruise Control, Shahriar Shahram

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation develops information-driven methods to reduce traction energy in battery electric vehicles during adaptive and cooperative cruise control. Physics-grounded energetics are embedded in a predictive controller that accounts for intermittent V2V preview, sensing noise, packet loss, and powertrain limits. To ensure deployability, the nonconvex traction–power map is replaced by locally convex surrogates so each step solves a small, strictly convex QP in real time (average ≈ 70 ms/step on a desktop CPU: 8 cores/16 threads, 4.2–5.0 GHz), leaving margin at typical sampling rates (Ts =0.05–0.10 s; N=15–25).

Across standardized drive cycles from NREL DriveCAT—including FTP–75 (light duty), NREL Class …

A Solar Pv System For Industrial Application- A Case Study Of A Cement Industry In Tanzania, Santos Kihwele

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This study presents an implementation of the largest behind-the-meter solar photovoltaic (PV) system for a cement industry in Tanzania. The project aims to supply energy for the industry’s own use, without any energy injection into the utility grid, for the purposes of cutting energy-related expenditure and reducing reliance on the utility grid. The project also aims to contribute to the efforts towards the application of renewable and alternative energy sources as a means to reducing carbon footprints, towards achieving the net-zero CO₂ emission goal. A comprehensive site assessment was conducted, analyzing factors such as location, land availability, climate data, …

Wind Tunnel Instrumentation And Testing, Nicholas Marek, Abraham Mezera, Laura Jin, Hayden Smith, Curtis Cook

Student Scholar Symposium

The Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering was contacted by an automotive engineering firm seeking to use the college’s wind tunnel for gathering data on the aerodynamic performance of a proprietary prototype automotive door. Specifically, the client requested the quantification of the drag coefficient of the model at extreme wind speeds. The drag coefficient, a dimensionless number that quantifies the resistance of a specific geometric shape to airflow, will be a valuable datapoint for the client’s design iteration. Due to the sensitive nature of their work, the client has wished to remain anonymous. RBJCOE professors tasked a senior design team …

Development Of An Iot-Based Energy Theft Detection System For A Single-Phase Smart Meter, Ojo Julius Oladele, Funso Kehinde Ariyo, Samson Oladayo Ayanlade, Ayooluwa Peter Adeagbo, Ismail Adeniyi Adeleke

Al-Bahir

Electricity theft causes annual global losses exceeding $96 billion, severely impacting distribution networks. This paper presents a novel IoT-based system integrating current differential sensing, physical tamper detection, and edge-cloud analytics to detect energy theft in single-phase smart meters. The design employs three ACS712 current sensors to monitor Kirchhoff-compliant current flow at the grid pole, meter input, and load output, coupled with a PIR sensor for cabinet intrusion. A SIM800L GSM module enables real-time theft alerts and remote disconnection, while closed-loop control autonomously restores power after tamper resolution — a feature absent in prior GSM-only systems. An Android application provides geotagged …

“Bridging The Gap To Midwave Infrared Event-Based Sensors: Design, Sensitivity, And Radiation-Hardness Characterization Of A Single-Pixel Iii-V Event-Based Infrared Sensor For Space Applications, Zinah M. Alsaad

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Event-based sensing presents a revolutionary paradigm shift for next-generation space surveillance systems, where power consumption is an ever-worsening constraint as temporal resolution demands increase. In addition to reduced power consumption, low latency, and wide dynamic range, the event-based sensor fundamentally only produces data when there is a change in illumination from which events are generated; no data is produced if the scene remains static. With their event-based datastream being inherently focused on the dynamic information of the scene, they are particularly well-suited to machine vision and autonomous sensing applications. While these sensors have many compelling advantages, there are presently no …