Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
Description
In modern remote sensing, arrays of sensors, such as antennas in radio frequency (RF) systems and microphones in acoustic systems, provide a basis for estimating the direction of arrival of a narrow-band signal at the sensor array. A Uniform linear array (ULA) is the most well-studied array geometry in that its performance characteristics and limitations are well known, especially for signals originating in the far field. In some instances, the geometry of an array may be perturbed by an environmental disturbance that actually changes its nominal geometry; such as, towing an array behind a moving vehicle. Additionally, sparse arrays have become of interest again due to recent work in co-prime arrays. These sparse arrays contain fewer elements than a ULA but maintain the array length. The effects of these alterations to a ULA are of interest. Given this motivation, theoretical and experimental (i.e. via computer simulation) processes are used to determine quantitative and qualitative effects of perturbation and sparsification on standard metrics of array performance. These metrics include: main lobe gain, main lobe width and main lobe to side lobe ratio. Furthermore, in order to ascertain results/conclusions, these effects are juxtaposed with the performance of a ULA. Through the perturbation of each element following the first element drawn from a uniform distribution centered around the nominal position, it was found that both the theoretical mean and sample mean are relatively similar to the beam pattern of the full array. Meanwhile, by using a sparsification method of maintaining all the lags, it was found that this particular method was unnecessary. Simply taking out any three elements while maintaining the length of the array will produce similar results. Some configurations of elements give a better performance based on the metrics of interest in comparison to the ULA. These results demonstrate that a sparsified, perturbed or sparsified and perturbed array can be used in place of a Uniform Linear Array depending on the application.
ContributorsSilbernagel, Drake Oliver (Author) / Cochran, Douglas (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Radio communication has become the dominant form of correspondence in modern society. As the demand for high speed communication grows, the problems associated with an expanding consumer base and limited spectral access become more difficult to address. One communications system in which people commonly find themselves is the multiple access cellular network. Users operate within the same geographical area and bandwidth, so providing access to every user requires advanced processing techniques and careful subdivision of spectral access. This is known as the multiple access problem. This paper addresses this challenge in the context of airborne transceivers operating at high altitudes and long ranges. These operators communicate by transmitting a signal through a target scattering field on the ground without a direct line of sight to the receiver. The objective of this investigation is to develop a model for this communications channel, identify and quantify the relevant characteristics, and evaluate the feasibility of using it to effectively communicate.
ContributorsHerschfelt, Andrew William (Author) / Bliss, Daniel (Thesis director) / Cochran, Douglas (Committee member) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
The team has designed and built a golf swing analyzer that informs the user of his mistakes while putting with a golf club. The team also interfaced a Linux program with the analyzer that allows the user to review the flaws in his golf swing. In addition, the application is more personalized than existing devices and tailored to the individual based on his level of experience. The analyzer consists of an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, vibration motor, and microcontroller that are connected on a board that attaches to the top of the shaft of a golf club, fitting inside a 3D printed case. The team has assembled all of the necessary hardware, and is able to successfully display critical parameters of a golf putt, as well as send instant feedback to the user. The final budget for this project was $378.24
ContributorsKaur, Hansneet (Co-author) / Cox, Jeremy (Co-author) / Farnsworth, Chad (Co-author) / Zorob, Nabil (Co-author) / Chae, Junseok (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
The purpose of the solar powered quadcopter is to join together the growing technologies of photovoltaics and quadcopters, creating a single unified device where the technologies harmonize to produce a new product with abilities beyond those of a traditional battery powered drone. Specifically, the goal is to take the battery-only flight time of a quadcopter loaded with a solar array and increase that flight time by 33% with additional power provided by solar cells. The major concepts explored throughout this project are quadcopter functionality and capability and solar cell power production. In order to combine these technologies, the solar power and quadcopter components were developed and analyzed individually before connecting the solar array to the quadcopter circuit and testing the design as a whole. Several solar copter models were initially developed, resulting in multiple unique quadcopter and solar cell array designs which underwent preliminary testing before settling on a finalized design which proved to be the most effective and underwent final timed flight tests. Results of these tests are showing that the technologies complement each other as anticipated and highlight promising results for future development in this area, in particular the development of a drone running on solar power alone. Applications for a product such as this are very promising in many fields, including the industries of power, defense, consumer goods and services, entertainment, marketing, and medical. Also, becoming a more popular device for UAV hobbyists, such developments would be very appealing for leisure flying and personal photography purposes as well.
ContributorsMartin, Heather Catrina (Author) / Bowden, Stuart (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12