VLSI and Circuits, Embedded and Hardware Systems Commons^™

Evaluation And Analysis Of Null Convention Logic Circuits, John Davis Brady

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Integrated circuit (IC) designers face many challenges in utilizing state-of-the-art technology nodes, such as the increased effects of process variation on timing analysis and heterogeneous multi-die architectures that span across multiple technologies while simultaneously increasing performance and decreasing power consumption. These challenges provide opportunity for utilization of asynchronous design paradigms due to their inherent flexibility and robustness.

While NULL Convention Logic (NCL) has been implemented in a variety of applications, current literature does not fully encompass the intricacies of NCL power performance across a variety of applications, technology nodes, circuit scale, and voltage scaling, thereby preventing further adoption and utilization …

Demand-Side Load Management Using Single-Phase Residential Static Var Compensators, Muhammad Kamran Latif

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Distribution systems are going through a structural transformation from being radially-operated simple systems to becoming more complex networks to operate in the presence of the distributed energy resources (DERs) with significant levels of penetration. It is predicted that the share of electricity generation from DERs will keep increasing as the world is moving away from the power generation involving carbon-emission and towards cleaner energy sources such as solar, wind, and biofuels. However, the unstable behavior of the renewables resources presents challenges to the already existing distribution systems. One such problem is when the distribution feeder experience variable power supply due …

Algorithms And Circuits For Analog-Digital Hybrid Multibeam Arrays, Paboda Viduneth A. Beruwawela Pathiranage

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fifth generation (5G) and beyond wireless communication systems will rely heavily on larger antenna arrays combined with beamforming to mitigate the high free-space path-loss that prevails in millimeter-wave (mmW) and above frequencies. Sharp beams that can support wide bandwidths are desired both at the transmitter and the receiver to leverage the glut of bandwidth available at these frequency bands. Further, multiple simultaneous sharp beams are imperative for such systems to exploit mmW/sub-THz wireless channels using multiple reflected paths simultaneously. Therefore, multibeam antenna arrays that can support wider bandwidths are a key enabler for 5G and beyond systems.

In general, N- …

Continuous-Time Algorithms And Analog Integrated Circuits For Solving Partial Differential Equations, Nilan Udayanga Galabada Kankanamge

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Analog computing (AC) was the predominant form of computing up to the end of World War II. The invention of digital computers (DCs) followed by developments in transistors and thereafter integrated circuits (IC), has led to exponential growth in DCs over the last few decades, making ACs a largely forgotten concept. However, as described by the impending slow-down of Moore’s law, the performance of DCs is no longer improving exponentially, as DCs are approaching clock speed, power dissipation, and transistor density limits. This research explores the possibility of employing AC concepts, albeit using modern IC technologies at radio frequency (RF) …

Edge Iot Driven Framework For Experimental Investigation And Computational Modeling Of Integrated Food, Energy, And Water System, Yemeserach Taye Mekonnen

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the global population soars from today’s 7.3 billion to an estimated 10 billion by 2050, the demand for Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) resources is expected to more than double. Such a sharp increase in demand for FEW resources will undoubtedly be one of the biggest global challenges. The management of food, energy, water for smart, sustainable cities involves a multi-scale problem. The interactions of these three dynamic infrastructures require a robust mathematical framework for analysis. Two critical solutions for this challenge are focused on technology innovation on systems that integrate food-energy-water and computational models that can quantify the …

5-Bit Dual-Slope Analog-To-Digital Converter-Based Time-To-Digital Converter Chip Design In Cmos Technology, Jojoe S. Sagoe

LSU Master's Theses

Time-to-Digital Converters (TDC) have gained increasing importance in modern implementations of mixed-signal, data-acquisition and processing interfaces and are used to perform high precision time intervals in systems that incorporate Time-of-Flight (ToF) or Time-of-Arrival (ToA) measurements. The linearity of TDCs is very crucial since most Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems require very linear inputs to achieve high accuracy.

In this work, a TDC has been designed in the 0.5 μm n-well CMOS process that can be used for on-chip integration and in applications requiring high linearity. This TDC used a Dual-Slope-ADC-based architecture for the time-to-digital conversion and consists of the following …

Time-Difference Circuits: Methodology, Design, And Digital Realization, Shuo Li

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis presents innovations for a special class of circuits called Time Difference (TD) circuits. We introduce a signal processing methodology with TD signals that alters the target signal from a magnitude perspective to time interval between two time events and systematically organizes the primary TD functions abstracted from existing TD circuits and systems. The TD circuits draw attention from a broad range of application fields. In addition, highly evolved complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology suffers from various problems related to voltage and current amplitude signal processing methods. Compared to traditional analog and digital circuits, TD circuits bring several compelling features: …

A Study On Controlling Power Supply Ramp-Up Time In Sram Pufs, Harshavardhan Ramanna

Masters Theses

With growing connectivity in the modern era, the risk of encrypted data stored in hardware being exposed to third-party adversaries is higher than ever. The security of encrypted data depends on the secrecy of the stored key. Conventional methods of storing keys in Non-Volatile Memory have been shown to be susceptible to physical attacks. Physically Unclonable Functions provide a unique alternative to conventional key storage. SRAM PUFs utilize inherent process variation caused during manufacturing to derive secret keys from the power-up values of SRAM memory cells.

This thesis analyzes the effect of supply ramp-up times on the reliability of SRAM …

Vehicle Sensing And Communications Using Led Headlights To Enhance The Performance Of Intelligent Transportation Systems: Proof Of Concept, Implementation, And Applications, Sabit Ekin, Samir Ahmed

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18ITSOKS01. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"This project investigates the use of vehicle light-emitting diode (LED) headlamp devices for improving the accuracy and reliability of traffic (sensing and communication) data measurements required for developing effective intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies and solutions.

Vehicular communication and sensing technologies are mainly based on conventional radio frequency (RF) or laser technologies. These systems suffer from several issues such as RF interference and poor performance in scenarios where the incidence angle between the speed detector and the vehicle is rapidly varying. Introducing …

Switching Trajectory Control For High Voltage Silicon Carbide Power Devices With Novel Active Gate Drivers, Shuang Zhao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The penetration of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor devices is increasing in the power industry due to their lower parasitics, higher blocking voltage, and higher thermal conductivity over their silicon (Si) counterparts. Applications of high voltage SiC power devices, generally 10 kV or higher, can significantly reduce the amount of the cascaded levels of converters in the distributed system, simplify the system by reducing the number of the semiconductor devices, and increase the system reliability.

However, the gate drivers for high voltage SiC devices are not available on the market. Also, the characteristics of the third generation 10 kV SiC MOSFETs …

Weight Controlled Electric Skateboard, Zachary Barram, Carson Bertozzi, Vishnu Dodballapur

Computer Engineering

Technology and the way that humans interact is becoming more vital and omnipresent with every passing day. However, human interface device designers suffer from the increasingly popular “designed for me or people like me” syndrome. This design philosophy inherently limits accessibility and usability of technology to those like the designer. This places severe limits of usability to those who are not fully able as well as leaves non-traditional human interface devices unexplored. This project set out to explore a previously uncharted human interface device, on an electric skateboard, and compare it send user experience with industry leading human interface devices.

Dashboard, Bradley Manuel Levin, Kyle Matthew King

Computer Engineering

Modern gamers are always looking for new and exciting ways to play board games. Our senior project, DashBoard, is intended to capitalize on this interest and upgrade board games to have pre-programmed moves and easy piece moving. It is a proof-of-concept project for a programmable chess-style game board using an electromagnet array to move the pieces around the board. With an easily programmable interface with the Raspberry Pi 3, users can make their own programs or find ones others have made online to move pieces in creative ways.

Flight Director Embedded System And Mobile Ios Application, Anthony Epshteyn

Computer Engineering

For my senior project, I was asked to assist an Aerospace Engineering professor with the design of his new glider. He needed to create a flight director-type instrument so that his pilot could get the aircraft’s positional data during flight. This positional data came from a powerful sensor mounted on the fuselage. To interface with the sensor, I created an embedded system comprised of a ESP32 micro-controller communicating with the sensor via UART/RS-232. The micro-controller was mounted on a breadboard and connected to the sensor via jumper wires. The ESP32 featured a Bluetooth chip that allowed for communication using the …

Tidalsim Senior Project Report, Kent Zhang, Colin Vandervoort

Computer Engineering

Throughout the course of this project, our team helped the Cal Poly Biological Sciences department refine an intertidal zone simulator. The aim of this device is to allow any marine biologist to easily simulate a vast range of tidal zones in order to test animal behaviors within these zones. Another goal of this project is to make each simulation tank independent from the others by using a single microcontroller to handle all inputs and outputs of the system as well as logging all relevant data. The current system is set up so that a separate microcontroller handles dissolved oxygen and …

Analog Single Sideband-Pulse Width Modulation Processor For Parametric Acoustic Arrays, Vikrant A. Marathe

Master's Theses

Parametric acoustic arrays are ultrasonic-based loudspeakers that produce highly directive audio. The audio must first be preprocessed and modulated into an ultrasonic carrier before being emitted into the air, where it will self-demodulate in the far field. The resulting audio wave is proportional to the double time-derivative of the square of the modulation envelope. This thesis presents a fully analog processor which encodes the audio into two Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signals in quadrature phase and sums them together to produce a Single Sideband (SSB) spectrum around the fundamental frequency of the PWM signals. The two signals are modulated between …

Cmos Design Of An 8-Bit 1ms/S Successive Approximation Register Adc, Ameya Vivekanand Ganguli

Master's Theses

Rapid evolution of integrated circuit technologies has paved a way to develop smaller and energy efficient biomedical devices which has put stringent requirements on data acquisition systems. These implantable devices are compact and have a very small footprint. Once implanted these devices need to rely on non-rechargeable batteries to sustain a life span of up to 10 years. Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are key components in these power limited systems. Therefore, development of ADCs with medium resolution (8-10 bits) and sampling rate (1 MHz) have been of great importance.

This thesis presents an 8-bit successive approximation register (SAR) ADC incorporating an …

Automated Greenhouse Watering System For Schenectady Arc, Lisa Gu

Honors Theses

All people need to feel useful and able to perform productive jobs. Since 1952, the ARC has strived to provide people with developmental disabilities the resources, services, and support that enable them to advocate and participate within their communities. One way in which the ARC accomplishes this mission is by encouraging people with disabilities to develop skills and hobbies that give them independence and purpose. An integral part of their center is the greenhouse. Individuals at the Maple Ridge Center are responsible for operating the water system to irrigate the plot daily and ensuring that the proper amount of water …

Design Of An Embedded Iris Recognition System For Use With A Multi-Factor Authentication System., Christopher David Hess

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper describes in detail the design, manufacturing and testing of an embedded iris scanner for use with a multifactor authentication system. The design process for this project included hardware design from part selection to board design to populating. Additionally, this process included the entirety of the software development, though the iris recognition process was largely based on other works. The functional requirements for the overall multi-factor authentication system were to have three authentication methods with a thirty second window to complete all three. The system acceptance accuracy was required to be greater than 75%. Those requirements therefore dictate that …

Hardware Ip Classification Through Weighted Characteristics, Brendan Mcgeehan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Today’s business model for hardware designs frequently incorporates third-party Intellectual Property (IP) due to the many benefits it can bring to a company. For instance, outsourcing certain components of an overall design can reduce time-to-market by allowing each party to specialize and perfect a specific part of the overall design. However, allowing third-party involvement also increases the possibility of malicious attacks, such as hardware Trojan insertion. Trojan insertion is a particularly dangerous security threat because testing the functionality of an IP can often leave the Trojan undetected. Therefore, this thesis work provides an improvement on a Trojan detection method known …

Real-Time Fault Detection And Reconfiguration Of A Three-Phase Electric Motor Drive, Danyal Mohammadi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Variable-frequency drives (VFDs) are widely used for control of electrical machines such as induction motors (IMs) or permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). Similar to other electrical devices, these drives are subject to failure. Several types of faults are associated with VFDs. For instance, faults such as an open-switch fault, a short-circuit switch fault are the two common faults in VFDs. These faults can yield catastrophic consequences if proper remedial action is not taken.

A unique remedial topology for the post-fault period and a new pulse width modulation (PWM) strategy are proposed so that not only the motor drive can continue the …

Asynchronous Circuit Synthesis Using Multi-Threshold Null Convention Logic, Nicholas Renoudet Mize

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the demand for an energy-efficient alternative to traditional synchronous circuit design grows, hardware designers must reconsider the traditional clock tree. By doing away with the constrains of a clock, asynchronous sequential circuit designs can achieve a much greater level of efficiency. The utilization of asynchronous logic synthesis flows has enabled researchers to better implement asynchronous circuit designs which have been optimized using the same industry standard tools that are already used in sequential synchronous designs. This thesis offers a new flow for such tools which implements the MTNCL asynchronous circuit architecture.

Model Development And Assessment Of The Gate Network In A High-Performance Sic Power Module, William Austin Curbow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this effort is to determine points of weakness in the gate network of a high-performance SiC power module and to offer remedies to these issues to increase the overall performance, robustness, and reliability of the technology. In order to accomplish this goal, a highly accurate model of the gate network is developed through three methods of parameter extraction: calculation, simulation, and measurement. A SPICE model of the gate network is developed to analyze four electrical issues in a high-speed, SiC-based power module including the necessary internal gate resistance for damping under-voltage and over-voltage transients, the disparity …

An Electrooculography Prosthetic Control System, Walker Arce

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

For many surface EMG (sEMG) prosthetic control systems, the muscles on the affected limb are used to trigger the control system. This can lead to fatigue in the user as they have to maintain continuous muscle activation and coactivation in order to achieve prosthetic control [3]. The crux of any prosthetic control system is the human machine interface that is developed, and at present many control systems have complicated interfaces that limit the degrees of freedom of the prosthetics. This study focuses on the development of a low-cost prosthetic control peripheral that is compatible with the prosthetics developed by Dr. …

Experimental Study And Modeling Of The Gm-I Dependence Of Long-Channel Mosfets, Michael Fong Cheng

Master's Theses

This thesis describes an experimental study and modeling of the current-transconductance dependence of the ALD1106, ALD1107, and CD4007 arrays. The study tests the hypothesis that the I-gm dependence of these 7.8 µm to 10 µm MOSFETs conforms to the Advanced Compact Model (ACM). Results from performed measurements, however, do not support this expectation. Despite the relatively large length, both ALD1106 and ALD1107 show sufficiently pronounced ‘short-channel’ effects to render the ACM inadequate. As a byproduct of this effort, we confirmed the modified ACM equation. With an m factor of approximately 0.6, it captures the I-gm dependence with sub-28% maximum error …

Investigation Of Radiation-Hardened Design Of Electronic Systems With Applications To Post-Accident Monitoring For Nuclear Power Plants, Qiang Huang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research aims at improving the robustness of electronic systems used-in high level radiation environments by combining with radiation-hardened (rad-hardened) design and fault-tolerant techniques based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. A specific of the research is to use such systems for wireless post-accident monitoring in nuclear power plants (NPPs). More specifically, the following methods and systems are developed and investigated to accomplish expected research objectives: analysis of radiation responses, design of a radiation-tolerant system, implementation of a wireless post-accident monitoring system for NPPs, performance evaluation without repeat physical tests, and experimental validation in a radiation environment.

A method is developed …

The Concept Of Substrate Integrated Circularly Polarized Horn Antennas, Venkata Naga Kalyan Ram Akunuru

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In this thesis, a new type of Substrate Integrated Waveguide for Horn Antennas is proposed for implementing circularly polarization on printed circuit boards. E-plane type of circuits cannot be realized by the conventional substrate integrated waveguide. Substrate integrated E-plane waveguide consists of two circuit boards attached to each other by the two copper strips which are inserted in between two circuit boards, where plated through holes are penetrated through them along the transmission direction. The plated through holes and copper strips altogether played as side walls of a conventional waveguide to support longitudinal and vertical currents. Circular Polarization has its …

S.A.V.E. M.E., Taylor Davis, Kelly Nicole O'Neill, Adrianna M. Dunlap, Parsa Esshaghi Bayat

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

S.A.V.E. M.E. stands for Submerged Automated Vehicular Elevation Minor Extraction or alternatively a Home Swimming Pool Rescue Device. The objective of this project is to design and prototype a system that will make unattended swimming pools through detecting a victim’s presence, deploying a means to save the victim, and alerting others nearby of the situation. This system encompasses sensors and devices within the pool and an alarm system outside of the pool. Upon detection of a sufficiently sized object entering the pool when the system is armed, a device will maneuver to the victim and deploy a flotation device that …

Autonomous Combat Robot, Andrew J. Szabo Ii, Chris Heldman, Tristin Weber, Tanya Tebcherani, Holden Leblanc, Fabian Ardeljan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This honors project will also serve as an engineering senior design project.

The objective is to design and build the software and electrical systems for a 60 lb weight class combat robot that will function autonomously and outperform manually driven robots during competition.

While running autonomously, the robot will use LiDAR sensors to detect and attack opponent robots. This robot will also be able to be remote controlled in manual mode. This will mitigate the risk in case the autonomy or sensors fail. LED lights on the robot will indicate whether it is in autonomous or manual mode. The system …