RED

Microelectronic Test Characterization Station:Turn key implementation(s) of parameter extraction from standardized test structures

NREC supports some shared instrumentation in the test laboratory that includes wafer/die leveling probing, capacitive versus voltage measurements, and current versus voltage measurements. These tools and techniques need to be upgraded and the whole lab experience from a user’s perception should be an easy to use integrated experience. This would involve studying and analyzing what instruments, software, wiring and space are available for the upgrade and designing the best station possible as an integrated solution. The second part is the actual implementation of the plan and system design including test verification on devices. As this project will enhance researcher’s abilities in the test area, training and documentation are very important to help teach others how to perform these test on the new system.

EE Autonomous Mobile Robot Platform

An Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) is a robot that can understand and move through its environment without being overseen directly by an operator or on a fixed predetermined path. AMRs have an array of sophisticated sensors that enable them to understand and interpret their environment, which helps them to perform their task in the most efficient manner and optimum path, navigating around fixed obstructions (building, racks, work stations, etc.) and various potential obstructions (such as people, lift trucks, and debris). The Mechatronics, Robotics and Embedded Systems Track is moving forward to develop its own Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) platform to support the new and existing courses related to Robotics & Control. It is expected that this proposed Autonomous Mobile Robot platform can be used as a teaching platform for the following topics: state estimation (Bayes filtering, probabilistic motion and sensor models), control (Feedback, Lyapunov, LQR, MPC), planning (roadmaps, heuristic search, incremental densification)

Design, Implementation and Validation of an Industrial Robot Work Cell

A Robot Cell is a complete system that includes the robot, controller, and other peripherals. Robot cells are sometimes referred to as Workcells. The EE Department stablished a partnership program with ABB Robotics in order to train/certify students in the industrial robotics area. The ABB’s robotic program for education is designed to offer students an insight into: How industrial robots operate – The design and control principles of industrial robots – The design and control principles of Robotic Workcells – Programming ABB robots using the offline programming software, RobotStudio – Robotic cell hazards, health and safety and maintenance requirements. With the design, fabrication and labs experiment development of its own Robot Workcell: The EE Department seeks to ensure the undergrad and graduate level students’ training in this key area of Electrical Engineering.

Impedance Measurement of a three phase Grid Connected System voltage source converter

The project is designed to enable students to learn about real-time measurements to obtain the characteristics properties of a power system, especially power electronics interfaced renewable energy resources, such as PV, wind, etc. The project is about designing an algorithm to measure the impedance (admittance) of a network by capturing the current and voltage measurements at some specific location. The impedance characteristics are an essential tool to study the system under consideration, especially for understanding the stability margins and power system protections. Here, the project aims to obtain the impedance of a 3 phase grid-connected voltage source converter (VSC). The system and the impedance measurement algorithm will be implemented using Texas Instruments microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi. First, proper simulations will be performed to outline the algorithm before moving to the hardware implementation. A team of 4 students has been envisioned: 1) Simulation modeling, 2) Microcontroller Implementations, 3) Raspberry Pi programming, 4) Result analysis.

Implementation, Control, and Operation of Multi-port Hybrid Converter

The project design purpose is to inspire students to explore the hybrid converter in the renewable energy area, which are employed by industries in systems integrated with solar PV, battery cells, EVs, etc. Therefore, a proper starting point will be EMT simulation modeling of DC/DC boost converters and study the available voltage source inverter (VSI) chips. The simulation shall be verified and evaluated by Dr. Miao prior to the hardware implementation. Further, a three-phase multi-port hybrid converter testbed is implemented incrementally within some iterations. A team of 4 students is envisioned: 1) EMT simulation modeling, 2) Real-time controller implementation, 3) Hardware implementation, 4) Experimental result analysis.

Indoor Human Detection and Tracking via Wi-Fi signals

The possibility of using radio devices as non-invasive sensors has gained a lot of interest in the literature. With the pervasion of Wi-Fi in nearly all aspects of life, several works and start-ups have emerged utilizing Wi-Fi signals for detecting the environment. The efforts in this area are ongoing, with standardization efforts also taking place to make Wi-Fi more “sensing-friendly”. This project can be used as a steppingstone to develop more complex wireless sensing applications and novel/flexible PHY designs for joint sensing and communication. The pilot signals in the wireless communication systems are used to estimate the channel state information. In this project, the students are expected to detect and track human mobility in an indoor environment by utilizing channel state information (CSI) and/or received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and comparing the performance. This project aims to teach students how to sense the environment via radio signals and observe the relationship of the channel to environmental changes.

Southeastcon 2022 Hardware Competition

Develop a robot to autonomously navigate the Mardi-Gras route while performing tasks. The robot must complete the track and/or achieve the highest possible score by making multiple rounds within the time frame while throwing beads and moon pies and cleaning up obstacles and avoiding obstacles. (https://attend.ieee.org/southeastcon-2022/wp-content/uploads/sites/309/2022_SoutheastCon_HardwareRules.pdf)

Dual Band L1-L5 GPS Antenna

Develop a dual band L1-L5 GPS antenna for aviation platforms. Design requirements are driven by the industry specification (DO-373). The project includes the design of a passive antenna supporting RHCP polarized operation at L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L5 (1176.45 MHz) and a low noise amplifiers. The complete design should be validated against the requirements using antenna range and bench testing along with integration with a Collins GPS receiver. Mechanical Requirements: Correct form factor (must satisfy industry standard outline). Other Mechanical Requirements: Packaging of the antenna and testing the package for environmental factors such as humidity, vibration, etc. (optional and TBD based on group progress and information from Collins)

Harsh Temperature Monitoring

Create monitoring tools and hardware constructed to withstand high heat and rugged environments. This is hardware that will be used to monitoring heat on large construction grade concrete crushers and associated bearings.

SeaWolf Marine

Create a series of monitoring and alerting tools for small to medium size boats utilizing the NuvIoT platform. This will include some software sensor programing, as well as the construction of hardware to support the “brain” of SeaWolf Marine. Additional Details: -Ability to monitor parts on a vessel such as: Battery Voltage, Battery Switches, Bilge Pumps, Temperatures & Location / GPS -Create Alerts for: High/Low Battery Voltage Alerts, Distance Alerting, High Water & Temperature Alerting -Define 3 core sensors to achieve the above. Minimum of one sensor utilizing Bluetooth to communicate with the NuvIoT platform – requiring no hardwire to the SeaWolf Marine “brain”. This will be achieved by utilizing NuvIoT and a series of sensors.

EE Autonomous Mobile Robot Platform

VNA Frequency Extender

Design model and build a VNA Frequency extender to convert a 6 GHz Network Analyzer (UVNA-63) to a 5G band of interest centered at 28 GHz (25.5-29.5GHz). Make a calibrated reflection and/or transmission measurement of a DUT. Design will be for Megtron7 or similar high frequency multilayer structure. Open “Eval Board” design with optional plastic protective enclosure.

Optical Characterization Instrument

The device will measure the current-voltage characteristics of a solar cell under user specified illumination conditions. The tool must have (1) a completely dark housing for mounting the solar cell, (2) a selectable filter wheel, (3) white light source, (4) motors for movement of wheel etc., (5) power supply with adjustable/controllable output to provide power to light source, (6) measurement instrumentation for the collection of data, (7) a user interface for entering initial measurement requirements, (8) all electrical probes, connectors etc necessary to measure the solar cell.

150kW 3-Phase Traction Inverter

Design of a 3-Phase Traction Inverter. Design & simulation of gate driver circuit board. Design of DSP motherboard. If SW is necessary, the DSP could be programmed in C implementing a Field Oriented Control Algorithm of a Perm. Magnet Motor.

UV transmission of hydrophobic materials

NASA is looking for a team of all US citizens to study the complex index refraction of a few hydrophobic materials including Hafnium Oxide (HfO2) and Zirconium oxide (ZrO2). The students have to submit a proposal to NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) by September 10, 2021 (https://floridaspacegrant.org/program/ksc-senior-design-projects/). The Technical Mentor (Dr. Takshi) provides assistance in submitting the proposal. If the project is funded, NASA will award the project up to $2000 toward the project expenses. The project scope is to design and build a system to measure the light absorption and the refraction angle of a thin film sample. The designed device should be able to measure the real and imaginary values of the refraction every 1-2 nm from 180 nm to 400 nm wavelength. The device will be used to measure the refraction index of HfO2 and ZrO2 samples and verify the measurements with a standard tool.

Collision Detection Bucket Sensor

FPL has hundreds of line trucks which can prove to be large and complex to maneuver. These trucks have built in situational awareness sensors for driving (MobileEye) but nothing to warn them about hazards that are within proximity of the upper profile of the truck and/or bucket. This project will be to create a system that can integrate with existing FPL Bucket Trucks and alert drivers of imminent hazards to the vehicle such as trees, street signs, and overhangs. This will be a parallel effort in addition to an internal innovation campaign that FPL engineers will be participating in to come up with solutions for this problem and there will be opportunities for the students to meet, learn and integrate with these internal teams throughout the semester as an additional engagement opportunity.

Advanced battery technology for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of Infrastructure

The reliability of the Structural Health Monitoring depends on how the data being recorded by sensors, getting transferred to the cloud services, getting analyzed and how the critical information is being sent out to the infrastructure owners. Its reliability depends on the power that is generated on site (solar or wind) and its storage. Traditionally different types of batteries are used; however, the infrastructure to be monitor, i.e. bridge sites are remote, and its quite challenging to setup a reliable battery charging system. To this end, in the first phase of development, we want to modularize the battery unit, by replacing the traditional heavy batteries with other potential solutions such as using small D cell LiFe batteries (connected either in parallel or series) for better SHM performance, ease of installation, and designed to improve battery life cycle management. The new design will also include the use of modern fiber reinforced composite casing for better IP68 protectio