Matching Items (17)
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- All Subjects: engineering
- Creators: Electrical Engineering Program
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
The Phoenix CubeSat is a 3U Earth imaging CubeSat which will take infrared (IR) photos of cities in the United Stated to study the Urban Heat Island Effect, (UHI) from low earth orbit (LEO). It has many different components that need to be powered during the life of its mission. The only power source during the mission will be its solar panels. It is difficult to calculate power generation from solar panels by hand because of the different orientations the satellite will be positioned in during orbit; therefore, simulation will be used to produce power generation data. Knowing how much power is generated is integral to balancing the power budget, confirming whether there is enough power for all the components, and knowing whether there will be enough power in the batteries during eclipse. This data will be used to create an optimal design for the Phoenix CubeSat to accomplish its mission.
ContributorsBarakat, Raymond John (Author) / White, Daniel (Thesis director) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Current technology does not allow for the full amount of power produced by solar arrays (PV) on spacecraft to be utilized. The arrays are designed with non-reconfigurable architectures and sent on fifteen to twenty year long missions. They cannot be changed once they are in space, so the arrays are designed for the end of life. Throughout their lifetime, solar arrays can degrade in power producing capabilities anywhere from 20% to 50%. Because there is such a drastic difference in the beginning and end of life power production, and because they cannot be reconfigured, a new design has been found necessary in order to increase power production. Reconfiguration allows the solar arrays to achieve maximum power producing capabilities at both the beginning and end of their lives. With the potential to increase power production by 50%, the reconfiguration design consists of a switching network to be able to utilize any combination of cells. The design for reconfiguration must meet the power requirements of the solar array. This thesis will explore different designs for reconfiguration, as well as possible switches for implementation. It will also review other methods to increase power production, as well as discuss future work in this field.
ContributorsJohnson, Everett Hope (Author) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Ozev, Sule (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In this paper, we propose an autonomous throwing and catching system to be developed as a preliminary step towards the refinement of a robotic arm capable of improving strength and motor function in the limb. This will be accomplished by first autonomizing simpler movements, such as throwing a ball. In this system, an autonomous thrower will detect a desired target through the use of image processing. The launch angle and direction necessary to hit the target will then be calculated, followed by the launching of the ball. The smart catcher will then detect the ball as it is in the air, calculate its expected landing location based on its initial trajectory, and adjust its position so that the ball lands in the center of the target. The thrower will then proceed to compare the actual landing position with the position where it expected the ball to land, and adjust its calculations accordingly for the next throw. By utilizing this method of feedback, the throwing arm will be able to automatically correct itself. This means that the thrower will ideally be able to hit the target exactly in the center within a few throws, regardless of any additional uncertainty in the system. This project will focus of the controller and image processing components necessary for the autonomous throwing arm to be able to detect the position of the target at which it will be aiming, and for the smart catcher to be able to detect the position of the projectile and estimate its final landing position by tracking its current trajectory.
ContributorsLundberg, Kathie Joy (Co-author) / Thart, Amanda (Co-author) / Rodriguez, Armando (Thesis director) / Berman, Spring (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This project examines the science of electric field sensing and completes experiments, gathering data to support its utility for various applications. The basic system consists of a transmitter, receiver, and lock-in amplifier. The primary goal of the study was to determine if such a system could detect a human disturbance, due to the capacitance of a human body, and such a thesis was supported. Much different results were obtained when a person disturbed the electric field transmitted by the system than when other types of objects, such as chairs and electronic devices, were placed in the field. In fact, there was a distinct difference between persons of varied sizes as well. This thesis goes through the basic design of the system and the process of experimental design for determining the capabilities of such an electric field sensing system.
ContributorsBranham, Breana Michelle (Author) / Allee, David (Thesis director) / Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia (Committee member) / Phillips, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
A hybrid PV/T module was built, consisting of a thermal liquid heating system and a photovoltaic module system that combine in a hybrid format. This report will discuss the work on the project from Fall 2012 to Spring 2013 and the extended section on the economics for the Honors Thesis. Three stages of experiments were completed. Stage 1 showed our project was functional as we were able to verify our panel produced electricity and increased the temperature of water flowing in the system by 0.65°C. Stage 2 testing included “gluing” the flow system to the back of the panel resulting in an average increase of 4.76°C in the temperature of the water in the system. Stage 3 testing included adding insulating foam to the module which resulted in increasing the average temperature of the water in our flow system by 6.95°C. The economic calculations show the expected energy cost savings for Arizona residents.
ContributorsHaines, Brent Robert (Author) / Roedel, Ronald (Thesis director) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Rauch, Dawson (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This thesis details the design and construction of a torque-controlled robotic gripper for use with the Pheeno swarm robotics platform. This project required expertise from several fields of study including: robotic design, programming, rapid prototyping, and control theory. An electronic Inertial Measurement Unit and a DC Motor were both used along with 3D printed plastic components and an electronic motor control board to develop a functional open-loop controlled gripper for use in collective transportation experiments. Code was developed that effectively acquired and filtered rate of rotation data alongside other code that allows for straightforward control of the DC motor through experimentally derived relationships between the voltage applied to the DC motor and the torque output of the DC motor. Additionally, several versions of the physical components are described through their development.
ContributorsMohr, Brennan (Author) / Berman, Spring (Thesis director) / Ren, Yi (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / School for Engineering of Matter,Transport & Enrgy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In the next decade or so, there will be a shift in the industry of transportation across the world. Already today we have autonomous vehicles (AVs) tested in the Greater Phoenix area showing that the technology has improved to a level available to the public eye. Although this technology is not yet released commercially (for the most part), it is being used and will continue to be used to develop a safer future. With a high incidence of human error causing accidents, many expect that autonomous vehicles will be safer than human drivers. They do still require driver attention and sometimes intervention to ensure safety, but for the most part are much safer. In just the United States alone, there were 40,000 deaths due to car accidents last year [1]. If traffic fatalities were considered a disease, this would be an epidemic. The technology behind autonomous vehicles will allow for a much safer environment and increased mobility and independence for people who cannot drive and struggle with public transport. There are many opportunities for autonomous vehicles in the transportation industry. Companies can save a lot more money on shipping by cutting the costs of human drivers and trucks on the road, even allowing for simpler drop shipments should the necessary AI be developed.Research is even being done by several labs at Arizona State University. For example, Dr. Spring Berman’s Autonomous Collective Systems Lab has been collaborating with Dr. Nancy Cooke of Human Systems Engineering to develop a traffic testbed, CHARTopolis, to study the risks of driver-AV interactions and the psychological effects of AVs on human drivers on a small scale. This testbed will be used by researchers from their labs and others to develop testing on reaction, trust, and user experience with AVs in a safe environment that simulates conditions similar to those experienced by full-size AVs. Using a new type of small robot that emulates an AV, developed in Dr. Berman’s lab, participants will be able to remotely drive around a model city environment and interact with other AV-like robots using the cameras and LiDAR sensors on the remotely driven robot to guide them.
Although these commercial and research systems are still in testing, it is important to understand how AVs are being marketed to the general public and how they are perceived, so that one day they may be effectively adopted into everyday life. People do not want to see a car they do not trust on the same roads as them, so the questions are: why don’t people trust them, and how can companies and researchers improve the trustworthiness of the vehicles?
Although these commercial and research systems are still in testing, it is important to understand how AVs are being marketed to the general public and how they are perceived, so that one day they may be effectively adopted into everyday life. People do not want to see a car they do not trust on the same roads as them, so the questions are: why don’t people trust them, and how can companies and researchers improve the trustworthiness of the vehicles?
ContributorsShuster, Daniel Nadav (Author) / Berman, Spring (Thesis director) / Cooke, Nancy (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
With the progression of different industries moving away from employing secretaries for business professionals and professors, there exists a void in the area of personal assistance. This problem has existing solutions readily available to replace this service, i.e. secretary or personal assistant, tend to range from expensive and useful to inexpensive and not efficient. This leaves a low cost niche into the market of a virtual office assistant or manager to display messages and to help direct people in obtaining contact information. The development of a low cost solution revolves around the software needed to solve the various problems an accessible and user friendly Virtual Interface in which the owner of the Virtual Office Manager/Assistant can communicate to colleagues who are at standby outside of the owner's office and vice versa. This interface will be allowing the owner to describe the status pertaining to their absence or any other message sent to the interface. For example, the status of the owner's work commute can be described with a simple "Running Late" phrase or a message like "Busy come back in 10 minutes". In addition, any individual with an interest to these entries will have the opportunity to respond back because the device will provide contact information. When idle, the device will show supplemental information such as the owner's calendar and name. The scope of this will be the development and testing of solutions to achieve these goals.
ContributorsOffenberger, Spencer Eliot (Author) / Kozicki, Michael (Thesis director) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This creative project is an extension of the work being done as part of Senior Design in<br/>developing the See-Through Car Pillar, a system designed to render the forward car pillars in a car<br/>invisible to the driver so they can have an unobstructed view utilizing displays, sensors, and a<br/>computer. The first half of the paper provides the motivation, design and progress of the project, <br/>while the latter half provides a literature survey on current automobile trends, the viability of the<br/>See-Through Car Pillar as a product in the market through case studies, and alternative designs and <br/>technologies that also might address the problem statement.
ContributorsRoy, Delwyn J (Author) / Thornton, Trevor (Thesis director) / Kozicki, Michael (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This thesis proposes hardware and software security enhancements to the robotic explorer of a capstone team, in collaboration with the NASA Psyche Mission Student Collaborations program. The NASA Psyche Mission, launching in 2022 and reaching the metallic asteroid of the same name in 2026, will explore from orbit what is hypothesized to be remnant core material of an early planet, potentially providing key insights to planet formation. Following this initial mission, it is possible there would be scientists and engineers interested in proposing a mission to land an explorer on the surface of Psyche to further document various properties of the asteroid. As a proposal for a second mission, an interdisciplinary engineering and science capstone team at Arizona State University designed and constructed a robotic explorer for the hypothesized surfaces of Psyche, capable of semi-autonomously navigating simulated surfaces to collect scientific data from onboard sensors. A critical component of this explorer is the command and data handling subsystem, and as such, the security of this system, though outside the scope of the capstone project, remains a crucial consideration. This thesis proposes the pairing of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology for increased hardware security and the implementation of SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux) for increased software security for Earth-based testing as well as space-ready missions.
ContributorsAnderson, Kelly Joanne (Author) / Bowman, Catherine (Thesis director) / Kozicki, Michael (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05