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Drone Swarm Search and Rescue
Get PDFDrone swarms offer the potential to drastically reduce search times and improve the effectiveness of search and rescue operations. This senior project explores the development of a drone swarm system for search and rescue missions, focusing on two key challenges: (1) precise localization of each drone within the swarm relative to one another and (2) accurate localization of a target beacon relative to the drones. The project utilizes Real Time Kinematic (RTK) processing to enhance the accuracy of drone localization, achieving centimeter-level precision. Target localization is achieved through a triangulation-based approach using Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) data from a radio transmitter beacon. A leader-follower algorithm is implemented for formation control, enabling coordinated movement of the swarm towards the detected target. The project successfully demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed approach through simulations and field tests, highlighting the potential of drone swarms in revolutionizing search and rescue operations. Future work will focus on refining the algorithms, optimizing communication protocols, and expanding the swarm\u27s capabilities to handle more complex search scenarios and a larger number of agents
San Luis Obispo In A Box: Damage Accumulation And Combined Stressor Matching In Accelerated UV Testing
Get PDFThe goal of service life prediction is to accurately predict the useful lifetime of a coating system in a typical service environment. Field testing is the most true-to-life form of service life testing but requires long exposure times, often not quick enough to readily aid redesign in the product development cycle. As an alternative, accelerated weathering chambers are used to speed up coating failure in a laboratory setting. These devices do indeed accelerate failure but often produce failure modes that are not seen in actual service or produce material rankings that are not reproducible. This work explores the principle of cumulative stressor damage for an exterior architectural coating being exposed to outdoor conditions in San Luis Obispo, California, as well as an accelerated UV/moisture protocol. The accelerated UV/moisture protocol is executed first by ASTM D4587, and then by creating a custom exposure test cycle based on locally observed weather. Comparison of failure mode and quantification of failure is determined by gloss and spectral reflectance measurements. Finally, acceleration factor determination for the new SLO-in-a-box protocol is outlined, with a discussion of preliminary results
Solid State Thermoelectric Generator for Remote Applications
Get PDFThis paper proposes a device that utilizes thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for energy generation from solid biomass combustion, with a focus on addressing the low power electricity needs of off-grid dwellings and remote cabins in Alaska. The feasibility of a device utilizing TEG technology to convert waste heat from wood stoves into electrical power is explored, with the goal of offering a continuous and weather-independent energy source. Potential customers and stakeholders were consulted to build requirements for the system, including power output, size, ease of use, safety features, and cost considerations. The design utilizes passive water cooling to provide a temperature differential – a highly efficient strategy for thermoelectric generation. The final prototype is designed to fit the form factor of off grid cabins, occupying roughly 1ft2 on the stove and 1ft3 for the associated electronics. The device produces a steady state power of 13W with boiling water in the reservoir and a maximum of 25W intermittently. This design meets the needs of portability, affordability, and ease of use for the potential market. This system has the potential to enhance energy access and reliability in off-grid locations and offers a promising solution for improving the quality of life in remote areas
A Federation Of Sentries: Secure And Efficient Trusted Hardware Element Communication
Get PDFPrevious work introduced TrustGuard, a design for a containment architecture that allows only the result of the correct execution of approved software to be outputted. A containment architecture prevents results from malicious hardware or software from being communicated externally. At the core of TrustGuard is a trusted, pluggable device that sits on the path between an untrusted processor and the outside world. This device, called the Sentry, is responsible for validating the correctness of all communication before it leaves the system. This thesis seeks to leverage the correctness guarantees that the Sentry provides to enable efficient secure communication between two systems each protected by their own Sentry. This thesis reviews the literature for methods of enabling secure communication between two computer-Sentry pairs. It categorizes the pieces of the solution into three sections: attestation, establishing a tunnel, and communicating securely. Attestation in this context provides evidence of identity. It proposes a new configurable design for a secure network architecture, which includes a new version of the Sentry with a hardware accelerator for secure symmetric encryption, ring oscillator-based physically unclonable functions, and random number generators for attestation and key generation. These design elements are then evaluated based on how they might affect the overall system in terms of resource constraints, performance impacts, and scalability
Semantic Structuring Of Digital Documents: Knowledge Graph Generation And Evaluation
Get PDFIn the era of total digitization of documents, navigating vast and heterogeneous data landscapes presents significant challenges for effective information retrieval, both for humans and digital agents. Traditional methods of knowledge organization often struggle to keep pace with evolving user demands, resulting in suboptimal outcomes such as information overload and disorganized data. This thesis presents a case study on a pipeline that leverages principles from cognitive science, graph theory, and semantic computing to generate semantically organized knowledge graphs. By evaluating a combination of different models, methodologies, and algorithms, the pipeline aims to enhance the organization and retrieval of digital documents. The proposed approach focuses on representing documents as vector embeddings, clustering similar documents, and constructing a connected and scalable knowledge graph. This graph not only captures semantic relationships between documents but also ensures efficient traversal and exploration. The practical application of the system is demonstrated in the context of digital libraries and academic research, showcasing its potential to improve information management and discovery. The effectiveness of the pipeline is validated through extensive experiments using contemporary open-source tools
Accessible Real-time Eye-Gaze Tracking For Neurocognitive Health Assessments, A Multimodal Web-based Approach
Get PDFWe introduce a novel integration of real-time, predictive eye-gaze tracking models into a multimodal dialogue system tailored for remote health assessments. This system is designed to be highly accessible requiring only a conventional webcam for video input along with minimal cursor interaction and utilizes engaging gaze-based tasks that can be performed directly in a web browser. We have crafted dynamic subsystems that capture high-quality data efficiently and maintain quality through instances of user attrition and incomplete calls. Additionally, these subsystems are designed with the foresight to allow for future re-analysis using improved predictive models, as well as enable the creation and training of new eye-gaze tracking datasets. As we explored gaze patterns for various user-performed tasks, we developed generalizable eye-gaze metrics that capture and reflect the distinct gaze trends among different cohorts. And through testing various feature extraction and classification methods, we have found promising results that have enabled us to effectively classify individuals with Mild Neurocognitive Disorder (MiNCD) / Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in a crowdsourced pilot study (N = 35) with an average accuracy of 0.94 (f1 = 0.83). Although just the beginning, this work represents the first step towards establishing predictive eye-gaze tracking as an accessible and important modality for healthcare applications moving forward, with the potential to significantly impact remote screening and monitoring of neurocognitive health
Design And Implementation Of A Vision-Based Deep-Learning Protocol For Kinematic Feature Extraction With Application To Stroke Rehabilitation
Get PDFStroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, affecting thousands of individuals annually and significantly impairing their mobility, independence, and quality of life. Traditional methods for assessing motor impairments are often costly and invasive, creating substantial barriers to effective rehabilitation. This thesis explores the use of DeepLabCut (DLC), a deep-learning-based pose estimation tool, to extract clinically meaningful kinematic features from video data of stroke survivors with upper-extremity (UE) impairments.
To conduct this investigation, a specialized protocol was developed to tailor DLC for analyzing movements characteristic of UE impairments in stroke survivors. This protocol was validated through comparative analysis using peak acceleration (PA), mean squared jerk (MSJ), and area under the curve (AUC) as kinematic features. These features were extracted from the DLC output and compared to those derived from the assumed ground-truth data from IMU sensors worn by the participants. The accuracy of this analysis was quantified using percent mean squared error (PMSE) between each IMU sensor and DLC.
PMSE analysis indicates that DLC-based kinematic features capture aspects of both accelerometer and gyroscope for the control participant. PA (8.78%) and AUC (3.28%) align more closely with the gyroscope, while MSJ (5.20%) demonstrates greater agreement with the accelerometer. On the other hand, for the stroke participant, DLC estimations for all kinematic features predominantly reflect data from the accelerometer. Across all datasets, AUC has the smallest PMSE values, suggesting that, based on our data, motor effort and energy expenditure in the tasks are best represented by DLC. Additionally, PMSE values for the stroke dataset are higher than those for the control, highlighting DLC\u27s limitations in accurately detecting finer details of motion data in individuals with UE impairments. The results indicate that DLC reasonably estimates kinematic data for both participants, although further refinement of the methods is necessary to enhance the analysis of stroke data
Design, Estimate, and Cut-Sheet of Playhouse for Girls Build Summer Academy
Get PDFThis Project-Based-Project was inspired by the Girls Build Summer Academy which is run by Professor Stacy Kolegraff. The camp is a week-long and the group of girls will construct a playhouse from scratch. The camp is to immerse young girls into the construction industry. This senior project is composed of 3 different components which include the Design, Estimate, and Cut-sheet of the playhouse. The project did not have any type of needed funding. This project is aimed to create an in-depth but intuitive set of plans and directions to create the playhouse for the girls. This project’s goal is to help aid these young girls with their playhouse project and to hopefully help them gain interest in the construction industry. There were very few requirements to this project, but some basic guidelines to what they wanted the playhouse to consist of. The building has the basic yet traditional style of a playhouse. This was chosen so that to ensure that the finished product is not only practical but also visually pleasing. After the design was approved excel was used to create the estimate and cut-sheet. The estimate provides a detailed breakdown of costs associated with the required materials. The cut-sheet offers a detailed guide for the cuts needed for construction; it lists all the necessary materials and their exact measurements to streamline the building process and minimize waste
Skip the Grid: Bringing Power to Navajo Nation Students
Get PDFSkip the Grid is an annual joint initiative facilitated by the non-profit Heart of America involving California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) students and faculty, and SOLV Energy. The Skip the Grid project brings power and lighting to Navajo Nation families with school-age children by installing a self-contained solar battery system. Completed from March 24th through March 28th of 2024, this year the Skip the Grid project brought photovoltaic energy systems with solar panels, a battery, lights, and outlets to 24 homes, benefiting over 100 students in the Consolidated School District within the Navajo Nation. For the past 3 years, Cal Poly students have used Skip the Grid as an interdisciplinary senior project, working with other majors to make the installations and planning processes more efficient. This specific senior project included two different objectives. The first was to create a clear pre-task plan; the pre-task plan is a guide for how and when to physically install the solar panels, batteries, and lights during the installation process. The second objective was to develop a toolbox pack-out checklist to ensure all PPE, tools, and materials were packed for the trip and readily available before and after each mobilization
Exploring California Residents’ Perspectives on Solar Panel Viability for Residential Properties
Get PDFThe qualitative research conducted in this study aims to analyze the overall consensus of feelings and attitudes from California residents towards photovoltaic systems being installed on to their properties. The intended audience for this study are for stakeholders in the renewable energy markets, and more specifically in California’s solar panel market. Additional audiences for this study may be for additional or other research regarding solar panel or photovoltaic technology specifically within the state of California. Through a Google Forms questionnaire distributed via email, participants provide insight on their thoughts and feelings regarding certain aspects of solar panels on properties that may influence one’s decision to adopt solar panels onto their properties. The overall trends found in responses were that the stigma surrounding solar panels was generally good. The least influential aspects of solar were found to be about environmental concerns and property values. Because of this, stakeholders in the California solar power market should not be focusing solely on these topics if they are trying to reach the largest audience possible. Instead, factors regarding costs and installation processes should be looked more towards in regards to getting the most people to adopt photovoltaic systems on their properties in California