Other Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Three-Dimensional Indoor Rfid Localization System, Jiaqing Wu

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an information exchange technology based on radio waves communication. It is also a possible solution to indoor localization. Due to multipath propagation and anisotropic interference in the indoor environment, theoretical propagation models are generally not sufficient for RFID-based localization. In fact, the radio frequency (RF) signal distribution may not even be monotonic and this makes range-based localization algorithms less accurate. On the other hand, range free localization algorithms, such as k Nearest-Neighbor (kNN), require reference tags to be spread throughout the whole three-dimensional (3D) space which is simply not practical. In this work, a hybrid …

Fast Super-Resolution Using An Adaptive Wiener Filter With Robustness To Local Motion, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth J. Barnard

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a new adaptive Wiener filter (AWF) super-resolution (SR) algorithm that employs a global background motion model but is also robust to limited local motion. The AWF relies on registration to populate a common high resolution (HR) grid with samples from several frames. A weighted sum of local samples is then used to perform nonuniform interpolation and image restoration simultaneously. To achieve accurate subpixel registration, we employ a global background motion model with relatively few parameters that can be estimated accurately. However, local motion may be present that includes moving objects, motion parallax, or other deviations from the background …

Active Storage And Ssd Caching In An Object Storage Environment, Michael T. Runde

Master's Theses

The advancing performance and lowering costs required to implement additional processing power on system peripherals such as disk drives are increasingly allowing additional computing ability to be located directly on individual drives. Active Storage attempts to take advantage of this excess by moving some computationally intensive applications directly to the disk drives. This can remove the bottlenecks seen through interconnects between the drives and the CPU of an initiating system as well as remove the need for systems to handle these applications.

The contributions of this thesis are in two areas. The first is the development of a framework designed …

A Resistance Based Structural Health Monitoring System For Composite Structure Applications, Dennis N. Boettcher

Master's Theses

This research effort explored the possibility of using interwoven conductive and nonconductive fibers in a composite laminate for structural health monitoring (SHM). Traditional SHM systems utilize fiber optics, piezoelectrics, or detect defects by nondestructive test methods by use of sonar graphs or x-rays. However, these approaches are often expensive, time consuming and complicated.

The primary objective of this research was to apply a resistance based method of structural health monitoring to a composite structure to determine structural integrity and presence of defects.

The conductive properties of fiber such as carbon, copper, or constantan - a copper-nickel alloy - can be …

Classification Of Genomic Sequences By Latent Semantic Analysis, Samuel F. Way

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Evolutionary distance measures provide a means of identifying and organizing related organisms by comparing their genomic sequences. As such, techniques that quantify the level of similarity between DNA sequences are essential in our efforts to decipher the genetic code in which they are written.

Traditional methods for estimating the evolutionary distance separating two genomic sequences often require that the sequences first be aligned before they are compared. Unfortunately, this preliminary step imposes great computational burden, making this class of techniques impractical for applications involving a large number of sequences. Instead, we desire new methods for differentiating genomic sequences that eliminate …

Spectral Analysis Of Encrypted Chaotic Signals Using Fast Fourier Transforms And Laboratory Spectral Analyzers, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Abhinay Kundur

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The use of acousto-optic chaos, as manifested via first-order feedback in an acousto-optic Bragg cell, in encrypting a message wave and subsequently recovering the message in the receiver using a chaotic heterodyne strategy, has been reported recently [1-3]. In examining the dynamical system analytically using computer simulation, (expected) modulated chaos waveforms are obtained within specified observation windows.

Because of the relatively random nature inherent in chaos waveforms, it is essentially impossible to ascertain from the visual display of the chaotic wave whether a given message signal has in fact modulated the chaotic "carrier". In fact, it has been observed from …

Nanowire Giant Magnetoresistance Thin Films For Magnetic Sensors, Bryan Cox

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation details a novel method to fabricate magnetic sensors using nanowire giant magnetoresistance (GMR) thin films. In 1988, Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg both independently discovered a new physical phenomenon called GMR. GMR is a quantum mechanical effect found in thin film materials that are composed of alternating nanoscale ferromagnetic and non-magnetic conductive layers. When a GMR material is in the presence of a magnetic field, a change in electrical resistance is observed. The GMR effect has been utilized to produce magnetic sensors that have been used in a variety of applications, such as computer hard drive read heads, …

Scalability Study Of Explicit Finite Element Method On Shared And Distributed Memory Architectures, Leonardo Orea-Amador, Jack F. Chessa Ph.D.

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

Parallel architectures in computer systems are powerful tools for processing enormous amounts of information. The results of this research will illustrate their optimal usage by evaluating the scalability of the code Abaqus in the cases of domain decomposition and loop parallelization architectures. The scalability was analyzed using concomitant variation having the DoF (Degrees of Freedom) and CPU (Central Processing Unit) numbers as the variables. Abaqus jobs with less than 100,000 DoF showed similar scalability than that of jobs with more than 500,000. These results contradict the original hypothesis which proposed that small jobs would show poor scalability and vice versa. …

A Knowledge-Based Clinical Toxicology Consultant For Diagnosing Single Exposures, Joel D. Schipper, Douglas D. Dankel Ii, A. Antonio Arroyo, Jay L. Schauben

Publications

Objective: Every year, toxic exposures kill twelve hundred Americans. To aid in the timely diagnosis and treatment of such exposures, this research investigates the feasibility of a knowledge-based system capable of generating differential diagnoses for human exposures involving unknown toxins.

Methods: Data mining techniques automatically extract prior probabilities and likelihood ratios from a database managed by the Florida Poison Information Center. Using observed clinical effects, the trained system produces a ranked list of plausible toxic exposures. The resulting system was evaluated using 30,152 single exposure cases. In addition, the effects of two filters for refining diagnosis based on …

Touchspice: Physical-Virtual Circuit Emulator, Kevin Christopher Peters

Master's Theses

This thesis involves the creation of a system of embedded touchscreen devices called touchSPICE to aid in the learning of basic circuits. Traditionally, circuit theory is taught to students in two different methods, lectures and laboratory exercises. Lectures focus on auditory and visual learning and are largely passive learning. Lab experiments allow students to physically interact with the circuits, and learn visually through viewing output waveforms from simulators or on measurement devices. The goal of the touchSPICE project is to develop a physical system for virtual, real-time SPICE simulation that mimics the laboratory experience. In touchSPICE, touchscreen devices act as …

Music Driven Graphical Visualization System, Glenn Bruner

Electrical Engineering

In today’s society, we are able to enjoy listening to music on an assortment of high-tech devices such as home computers, or multimedia players, or personal audio players. A common characteristic of typical audio media players is that they lack the ability to provide visual stimulation in addition to the provided audio stimulus. Large public events, such as concerts, could be enhanced if they included visual effects in addition to audio stimulation. The goal of this project is to provide a graphical visualization that is automatically synchronized to an audio signal with a goal of enhancing the overall musical experience. …

Lyfi, Kianoosh Salami, Justin Cotton, Elush Shirazpour

Electrical Engineering

This paper will cover the steps necessary to design, build, and manage networkable smart light switches over WiFi via a mobile application. It contains a microcontroller running a real time operating system, a WiFi module, a Java server with SQLite databasing, and a mobile phone application.

LyFi is designed to turn on/off and dim household lights while only requiring the same installation procedure as a less capable dimmer switch. Once installed and connected to a network, LyFi will self-discover and configure. The server automatically propogates a database of nodes where any mobile device running an application can receive an updated …

Linear Power-Efficient Rf Amplifier With Partial Positive Feedback, Matthew E. King

Master's Theses

Over the last decade, the number of mobile wireless devices on the market has increased substantially. New “multi-carrier” modulation schemes, such as OFDM, WCDMA, and WiMAX, have been developed to accommodate the increasing number of wireless subscribers and the demand for faster data rates within the limited commercial frequency spectrum. These complex modulation schemes create signals with high peak-to-average power ratios (PAPR), exhibiting rapid changes in the signal magnitude. To accommodate these high-PAPR signals, RF power amplifiers in mobile devices must operate under backed-off gain conditions, resulting in poor power efficiency. Various efficiency-enhancement solutions have been realized for backed-off devices …

Towards The Deployment And Adoption Of Location-Based Services For Optimal Mobile Communication Operations In Africa, Folasade Dahunsi

The African Journal of Information Systems

Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent with about one billion people. Mobile phones are a major source of communication and means of taking information and technology to rural and remote areas of the continent. With low-cost and readily available mobile phones, underprivileged, low-income earners and rural dwellers can also participate in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution. Services are introduced by mobile operators and vendors to enhance and optimize this mobile evolution. One of such service is location-based services (LBS); LBS make available personalized services based on the geographical location of the subscriber’s phone. …

Bluebeats, Aaron Martinez, Jake Muir, Mishal Shah, Richard Wissemann

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Our group’s senior project is called BlueBeats. The BlueBeats product was created in order to provide a wireless audio gateway between Bluetooth enabled devices. Users of BlueBeats can use an Android or computer application to interface with the BlueBeats device. The Android and computer applications allow the user to easily scan for devices, add/remove devices from their personal list, and pair/connect with a selected Bluetooth enabled device. Once the user is connected to the BlueBeats device, he/she has two options. The first option occurs when the user connects the BlueBeats device to a device with speakers (using 3.5mm audio jack …

Dynamical Model Of Harmonic Generation In Centrosymmetric Semiconductors At Visible And Uv Wavelengths, Michael Scalora, Maria Antonietta Vincenti, Domenico De Ceglia, N. Akozbek, Vito Roppo, M. J. Bloemer, Joseph W. Haus

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We study second and third harmonic generation in centrosymmetric semiconductors at visible and UV wavelengths in bulk and cavity environments. Second harmonic generation is due to a combination of spatial symmetry breaking, the magnetic portion of the Lorentz force, and quadrupolar contributions from inner core electrons. The material is assumed to have a nonzero, third-order nonlinearity that gives rise to most of the third harmonic signal. Using the parameters of bulk silicon we predict that cavity environments modify the dependence of second harmonic generation on incident angle, while improving third harmonic conversion efficiency by several orders of magnitude relative to …

Bluebeats, Jake Muir, Aaron Martinez, Mishal Shah, Richard Wissemann

Computer Engineering

Our group’s senior project is called BlueBeats. The BlueBeats product was created in order to provide a wireless audio gateway between Bluetooth enabled devices. Users of BlueBeats can use an Android or computer application to interface with the BlueBeats device. The Android and computer applications allow the user to easily scan for devices, add/remove devices from their personal list, and pair/connect with a selected Bluetooth enabled device. Once the user is connected to the BlueBeats device, he/she has two options. The first option occurs when the user connects the BlueBeats device to a device with speakers (using 3.5mm audio jack …

Verification Of Particle Image Velocimeter For Study Of Martian And Lunar Regoliths, Kristopher Burch, Eric Wright, Jozey Mitcham, Alfredo Bravo Iniguez

College of Engineering Poster Presentations

The behavior of dust, or regolith, on Mars and the moon is critical to our understanding of the Martian and lunar environments. The dust interaction with space suits and other equipment is a major concern for long term space missions. Dust on the moon greatly deteriorated the space suits in NASA’s Apollo program. We have developed a test enclosure for the study of dust motion. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a Particle Image Velocimeter (PIV) to measure the velocity and size of thousands of moving particles. The PIV was developed as a demonstration project for use on possible …

Information Encryption And Retrieval In Mid-Rf Range Using Acousto-Optic Chaos, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Abhinay Kundur

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In recent work, low-frequency AC signal encryption, decryption and retrieval using system-parameter based keys at the receiver stage of an acousto-optic (A-O) Bragg cell under first-order feedback have been demonstrated [1,2]. The corresponding nonlinear dynamics have also been investigated using the Lyapunov exponent and the so-called bifurcation maps [3]. The results were essentially restricted to A-O chaos around 10 KHz, and (baseband) signal bandwidths in the 1-4 KHz range. The results have generally been satisfactory, and parameter tolerances (prior to severe signal distortion at the output) in the ±5% - ±10% range have been obtained.

Periodic AC waveforms, and a …

Near Earth Object Detection Using A Poisson Statistical Model For Detection On Images Modeled From The Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System, Curtis J. R. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research effort is to develop, simulate, and test a new algorithm to detect Near Earth Objects (NEOs) using a Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) based on a Poisson statistical model for the arrival of photons. One detection algorithm currently in use is based on a Gaussian approximation of the arrival of photons, and is compared to the proposed Poisson model. The research includes three key components. The first is a quantitative analysis of the performance of both algorithms. The second is a system model for simulating detection statistics. The last component is a collection of measured data …

Using Qr Factorization For Real-Time Anomaly Detection Of Hyperspectral Images, Kelly R. Bush

Theses and Dissertations

Anomaly detection has been used successfully on hyperspectral images for over a decade. However, there is an ever increasing need for real-time anomaly detectors. Historically, anomaly detection methods have focused on analysis after the entire image has been collected. As useful as post-collection anomaly detection is, there is a great advantage to detecting an anomaly as it is being collected. This research is focused on speeding up the process of detection for a pre-existing method, Linear RX, which is a variation on the traditional Reed-Xiaoli detector. By speeding up the process of detection, it is possible to create a real-time …

A Threshold-Based Approach To Calorimetry In Helium Droplets: Measurement Of Binding Energies Of Water Clusters, William K. Lewis, Barbara A. Harruff-Miller, Michael A. Gord, Joseph R. Gord, Elena A. Guliants, Christopher E. Bunker

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Helium dropletbeam methods have emerged as a versatile technique that can be used to assemble a wide variety of atomic and molecular clusters. We have developed a method to measure the binding energies of clusters assembled in helium droplets by determining the minimum droplet sizes required to assemble and detect selected clusters in the spectrum of the dopeddropletbeam. The differences in the droplet sizes required between the various multimers are then used to estimate the incremental binding energies. We have applied this method to measure the binding energies of cyclic waterclusters from the dimer to the tetramer. We obtain measured …

Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting For Hydrogen Production With Metal Oxide (Hematite And Cupric Oxide) Based Photocatalysts, Houwen Tang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Solar hydrogen is one ideal energy source to replace fossil fuel, as it is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Solar hydrogen can be generated in a number of ways. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the most promising methods for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. In this research project, metal oxide-based photocatalysts, especially hematite (fÑ-Fe2O3) and cupric oxide (CuO), were investigated for use as electrodes in PEC water splitting for solar hydrogen production.

In our research project of hematite-based electrodes, we started with the incorporation of transition metal, particularly titanium (Ti), in hematite thin films to modify the valence and …

Examination Of The Nonlinear Dynamics Of A Chaotic Acousto-Optic Bragg Modulator With Feedback Under Signal Encryption And Decryption, Mohammed A. Al-Saedi, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An acousto-optic Bragg cell with first-order feedback, which exhibits chaotic behavior past the threshold for bistability, was recently examined for possible chaotic encryption and recovery of simple messages (such as low-amplitude periodic signals) applied via the bias input of the sound cell driver. We carry out a thorough examination of the nonlinear dynamics of the Bragg cell under intensity feedback for (i) dc variations of the feedback gain (β˜) and the phase shift parameter (α^ 0) and (ii) ac variations of α^ 0; total under signal encryption, investigating both from two different perspectives: (i) examining chaos in view of the …

Commentary And Interpretations Of Tagore’S 'Ode To Africa', Monish Ranjan Chatterjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This is a commentary/interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's poem "Ode to Africa."

Time Dynamics Of Self-Pumped Reflection Gratings In A Photorefractive Polymer, Partha P. Banerjee, S. H. Buller, C. M. Liebig, S. A. Basun, Gary Cook, Dean R. Evans, Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, J. Thomas, Cory W. Christenson, N. Peyghambarian

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The time dynamics of self-pumped reflection gratings in a commonly used photorefractive polymer PDCST:PVK:ECZ-BBP:C60 with no additional electron sources or traps is investigated. While holes are normally the mobile charges and responsible for grating formation, our experimental observations, analyzed using multi-exponential fitting curves, show evidence of electrons in addition to holes as charge carriers, particularly above an applied field of 40 V/μm.

The dependence of effective carrier mobilities on the applied electric field, deduced from experimental results, show stronger field dependence of electron mobility at high electric fields. At an applied field of 70 V/μm, electron and hole mobilities become …

Mobispatial: Open Source For Mobile Spatial Interaction, Junjun Yin, James Carswell

Conference papers

This paper describes our Mobile Spatial Interaction (MSI) prototype MobiSpatial, which benefits from location and orientation aware smartphones and existing open source spatial data initiatives to facilitate user interaction with the geospatial query process. We utilize today’s ubiquitous mobile device as the central computing platform to calculate a mobile user’s visibility shape at his/her current location. MobiSpatial uses this shape as a query “window” in a spatial database to perform line-of-sight, field-of-view and 360º Isovist visibility searches. These visibility based spatial queries reduce the risk of “information overload” by exploiting “hidden query removal” functionality to retrieve only those objects that …

Openness, Intellectual Property And Standardization In The European Ict Sector, Carl Mair

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Material Characterization Of Zinc Oxide In Bulk And Nanowire Form At Terahertz Frequencies, Forest Emerson Kernan

Dissertations and Theses

Many new applications are being proposed and developed for use in the terahertz (THz) frequency region. Similarly, many new materials are being characterized for possible use in this area. Nanostructured forms are of particular interest since they may yield desirable properties, but they remain especially challenging to characterize. This work focuses on the characterization of zinc oxide (ZnO) in bulk and nanowire form. A method for characterizing nanostructures at THz by use of a parallel-plate waveguide (PPWG) is presented. This method is novel in that it is simple, both in theory and practice, and does not require the use of …

Evolved Design Of A Nonlinear Proportional Integral Derivative (Npid) Controller, Shubham Chopra

Dissertations and Theses

This research presents a solution to the problem of tuning a PID controller for a nonlinear system. Many systems in industrial applications use a PID controller to control a plant or the process. Conventional PID controllers work in linear systems but are less effective when the plant or the process is nonlinear because PID controllers cannot adapt the gain parameters as needed. In this research we design a Nonlinear PID (NPID) controller using a fuzzy logic system based on the Mamdani type Fuzzy Inference System to control three different DC motor systems. This fuzzy system is responsible for adapting the …