Consumer drones have used both standards such as Wi-Fi as well as proprietary communication protocols, such as DJI's OcuSync. While these methods are well suited to certain flying scenarios, they are limited in range to around 4.3 miles. Government and military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) controlled through satellites allow for a global reach in a low-latency environment. To address the range issue of commercial UAVs, this thesis investigates using standardized cellular technologies for command and control of UAV systems. The thesis is divided into five chapters: Chapter 1 is the introduction to the thesis. Chapter 2 describes the equipment used as well as the test setup. This includes the drone used, the cellular module used, the microcontroller used, and a description of the software written to collect the data. Chapter 3 describes the data collection goals, as well as locations in the sky that were flown in order to gather experimental data. Finally, the results are presented in Chapter 4, which draws limited correlation between the collected data and flight readiness Chapter 5 wraps up the thesis with a conclusion and future areas for research are also presented.

RSA cryptography is one of the most widely used cryptosystems in the world. FPGA/ASIC implementations for the classic RSA cryptosystem have high resource utilization due to the use of the Extended Euclid's algorithm for MOD inverse generation, the MOD exponent operation for encryption and decryption, and through non finite-field arithmetic. This thesis translates the RSA cryptosystem into the finite-field domain of arithmetic which greatly increases the range of encryption and decryption keys and replaces the MOD exponent with a multiplication. A new algorithm, the SPX algorithm, is presented and shown to outperform Euclid's algorithm, which is the most widely used mechanism to compute the GCD in FPGA implementations of RSA. The SPX algorithm is then extended to support the computation of the MOD inverse and supply decryption keys. Lastly, a finite-field RSA system is created and shown to support character encryption and decryption while being designed to be integrated into any larger system.

In this dissertation a computationally efficient cognitive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division duplexing (OFDM) detector is designed to decode perfect space-time coded signals which are able maximize the diversity and multiplexing properties of a rich fading MIMO channel. The adaptive nature of the cognitive detector allows a MIMO OFDM communication system to better meet to needs of future wireless communication networks which require both high reliability and low run-time complexity depending on the propagation environment. The cognitive detector in conjunction with perfect space-time coding is able to achieve up to a 2 dB bit-error rate (BER) improvement at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) while also achieving comparable runtime complexity in high SNR scenarios.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) systems are important in many areas, such as medical, communication, transportation, and consumer electronics. The underlying WPT system is comprised of a transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX). For biomedical applications, such systems can be implemented on rigid or flexible substrates and can be implanted or wearable. The efficiency of a WPT system is based on power transfer efficiency (PTE). Many WPT system optimization techniques have been explored to achieve the highest PTE possible. These are based on either a figure-of-merit (FOM) approach, quality factor (Q-factor) maximization, or by sweeping values for coil geometries. Four WPT systems for biomedical applications are implemented with inductive coupling. The thesis later presents an optimization technique for finding the maximum PTE of a range of frequencies and coil shapes through frequency, geometry and shape sweeping. Five optimized TX coil designs for different operating frequencies are fabricated for three shapes: square, hexagonal, and octagonal planar-spirals. The corresponding RX is implemented on polyimide tape with ink-jet-print (IJP) silver. At 80 MHz, the maximum measured PTE achieved is 2.781% at a 10 mm distance in the air for square planar-spiral coils.

This thesis presents the realization of an intelligent cognitive radio network that uses long short term memory (LSTM) neural network for sensing and predicting the spectrum activity at each instant of time. The simulation is done using Python and GNU Radio. The implementation is done using GNU Radio and Universal Software Radio Peripherals (USRP). Simulation results show that the confidence factor of opportunistic users not causing interference to licensed users of the spectrum is 98.75%. The implementation results demonstrate high reliability of the LSTM based cognitive radio network.

This thesis presents a multi-stage rectifier for wireless power transfer in biomedical implant systems. The rectifier is built using Schottky diodes. The design has been simulated in 0.5µm and 130nm CMOS processes. The challenges for a rectifier in a wireless power transfer systems are observed to be the efficiency, output voltage yield, operating frequency range and the minimum input voltage the rectifier can convert. The rectifier outperformed the contemporary works in the mentioned criteria.

DC to DC converters stabilize the voltage obtained from voltage sources such as solar power system, wind energy sources, wave energy sources, rectified voltage from alternators, and so forth. Hence, the need for improving its control algorithm is inevitable. Many algorithms are applied to DC to DC converters. This thesis designs fuzzy adaptive dynamic programming (Fuzzy ADP) algorithm. Also, this thesis implements both adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and Fuzzy ADP on DC to DC converters to observe the performance of the output voltage trajectories.

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have a great potential to enhanced situational awareness in public safety operations. Many UASs operating in the same airspace can cause mid-air collisions. NASA and the FAA are developing a UAS traffic management (UTM) system, which could be used in public safety operations to manage the UAS airspace. UTM relies on an existing communication backhaul, however natural disasters may disrupt existing communications infrastructure or occur in areas where no backhaul exists. This thesis outlines a robust communications alternative that interfaces a fleet of UASs with a UTM service supplier (USS) over a mesh network. Additionally, this thesis outlines an algorithm for vehicle-to-vehicle discovery and communication over the mesh network.

The Chief Security Officer Problem (CSO) consists of a CSO, a group of agents trying to communicate with the CSO and a group of eavesdroppers trying to listen to the conversations between the CSO and its agents. Through Lemmas and Theorems, several Information Theoretic questions are answered.

The world is getting busier and more crowded each year. Due to this fact resources such as public transport, available energy, and usable space are becoming congested and require vast amounts of logistical support. As of February 2018, nearly 95% of Americans own a mobile cell phone according to the Pew Research Center. These devices are consistently broadcasting their presents to other devices. By leveraging this data to provide occupational awareness of high traffic areas such as public transit stops, buildings, etc logistic efforts can be streamline to best suit the dynamics of the population. With the rise of The Internet of Things, a scalable low-cost occupancy monitoring system can be deployed to collect this broadcasted data and present it to logistics in real time. Simple IoT devices such as the Raspberry Pi, wireless cards capable of passive monitoring, and the utilization of specialized software can provide this capability. Additionally, this combination of hardware and software can be integrated in a way to be as simple as a typical plug and play set up making system deployment quick and easy. This effort details the development and integration work done to deliver a working product acting as a foundation to build …

The ways that people use libraries have changed drastically over the past few decades. Proliferation of computers and the internet have led to the purpose of libraries expanding from being only places where information is stored, to spaces where people teach, learn, create, and collaborate. Due to this, the ways that people occupy the space in a library have also changed. To keep up with these changes and improve patron experience, institutions collect data to determine how their spaces are being used. This thesis involves the development a system that collects, stores, and analyzes data relevant to occupancy to learn how a space is being utilized. Data is collected from a temperature and humidity sensor, passive Infrared sensor, and an Infrared thermal sensor array to observe people as they occupy and move through a space. Algorithms were developed to analyze the collected sensor data to determine how many people are occupying a space or the directions that people are moving through a space. The algorithms demonstrate the ability to track multiple people moving through a space as well as count the number of people in a space with an RMSE of roughly 0.39 people.

In the first part of this thesis, we propose a distributed consensus algorithm under multi-layer multi-group structure with communication time delays. It is proven that the consensus will be achieved in both time-varying and fixed communication delays. In the second part, we study the distributed optimization problem with a finite-time mechanism. It is shown that our distributed proportional-integral algorithm can exponentially converge to the unique global minimizer when the gain parameters satisfy the sufficient conditions. Moreover, we equip the proposed algorithm with a decentralized algorithm, which enables an arbitrarily chosen agent to compute the exact global minimizer within a finite number of time steps, using its own states observed over a successive time steps. In the third part, it is shown the implementation of accelerated distributed energy management for microgrids is achieved. The results presented in the thesis are corroborated by simulations or experiments.

This thesis aims to increase photovoltaic (PV) panel power efficiency by employing a cooling system based on water circulation, which represents an improved version of water flow based active cooling systems. Theoretical calculations involved finding the heat produced by the PV panel and the circulation water flow required to remove this heat. A data logger and a cooling system for a test panel of 20W was designed and employed to study the relationship between the PV panel surface temperature and its output power. This logging and cooling system includes an Arduino microcontroller extended with a data logging shield, temperature sensing probes, current sensors, and a DC water pump. Real-time measurements were logged every minute for one or two day periods under various irradiance and air temperature conditions. For these experiments, a load resistance was chosen to operate the test panel at its maximum power point. Results indicate that the cooling system can yield an improvement of 10% in power production. Based on the observations from the test panel experiments, a cooling system was devised for a PV panel array of 640 W equipped with a commercial charge controller. The test data logger was repurposed for this larger system. An identical …

In this dissertation, some multi-function and flexible RF/microwave devices have been studied to solve the issues in the modern microwave system designs. First, a power divider with two functions is proposed. The first function is a zero-phase delay power divider using zero-phase impedance transformer. The second function is a power divider with impedance transforming property. To achieve the first function, the two arms are treated as zero-phase impedance transformers. When the phase requirement is relaxed, the second function is obtained. Shunt transmission line stubs are employed to connect the isolation resistor, which provides great flexibility in the design. Then, a balun with transparent termination impedance and flexible open arms is designed. The design parameters of the balun are independent to the port impedance. This property allows the balun to work with different system impedances. Furthermore, the two output ports of the balun do not need to be connected together, which enables the device to have a very flexible structure. Finally, the continuous research of a tunable/reconfigurable coupler with equal output impedance is presented. In addition to the tunable/reconfigurable responses, unequal output impedance property is added to the microstrip line coupler. To shrink the size at the low frequency and make …

This thesis presents design and development of a gesture recognition system to recognize finger spelling American Sign Language hand gestures. We developed this solution using the latest deep learning technique called convolutional neural networks. This system uses blink detection to initiate the recognition process, Convex Hull-based hand segmentation with adaptive skin color filtering to segment hand region, and a convolutional neural network to perform gesture recognition. An ensemble of four convolutional neural networks are trained with a dataset of 25254 images for gesture recognition and a feedback unit called head pose estimation is implemented to validate the correctness of predicted gestures. This entire system was developed using Python programming language and other supporting libraries like OpenCV, Tensor flow and Dlib to perform various image processing and machine learning tasks. This entire application can be deployed as a web application using Flask to make it operating system independent.

Modern power generation aims to utilize renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind to supply customers with power. This approach avoids exhaustion of fossil fuels as well as provides clean energy. Microgrids have become popular over the years, as they contain multiple renewable power sources and battery storage systems to supply power to the entities within the network. These microgrids can share power with the main grid or operate islanded from the grid. During an islanded scenario, self-sustainability is crucial to ensure balance between supply and demand within the microgrid. This can be accomplished by a smart microgrid that can monitor system conditions and respond to power imbalance by shedding loads based on priority. Such a method ensures security of the most important loads in the system and manages energy by automatically disconnecting lower priority loads until system conditions have improved. This thesis introduces a prioritized load shedding algorithm for the microgrid at the University of North Texas Discovery Park and highlight how such an energy management algorithm can add reliability to an islanded microgrid.

In situations where information infrastructure is destroyed or not available, on-demand information infrastructure is pivotal for the success of rescue missions. In this paper, a drone-carried on-demand information infrastructure for long-distance WiFi transmission system is developed. It can be used in the areas including emergency response, public event, and battlefield. In years development, the Drone WIFI System has developed from single-CPU platform, twin-CPU platform, Atmega2560 platform to NVIDIA Jetson TX2 platform. By the upgrade of the platform, the hardware shows more and more reliable and higher performance which make the application of the platform more and more exciting. The latest TX2 platform can provide real time and thermal video transmission, also application of deep learning of object recognition and target tracing. All these up-to-date technology brings more application scenarios to the system. Therefore, the system can serve more people in more scenarios.

This thesis aims to utilize data analysis and predictive modeling techniques and apply them in different domains for gaining insights. The topics were chosen keeping the same in mind. Analysis of customer interests is a crucial factor in present marketing trends and hence we worked on twitter data which is a significant part of digital marketing. Neuroscience, especially psychological behavior, is an important research area. We chose eye tracking data based on which we differentiated human concentration while watching controllable (video game) videos and uncontrollable (sports) videos. Currently, cities are using data analysis for becoming smart cities. We worked on the City of Lewisville emergency services data and predicted the vehicle-accident-prone areas for development of precautionary measures in those areas.

One of the challenges of utilizing higher frequencies in the RF spectrum, for any number of applications, is the hardware constraints of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Since mid-20th century, we have accepted the Nyquist-Shannon Sampling Theorem in that we need to sample a signal at twice the max frequency component in order to reconstruct it. Compressive Sampling (CS) offers a possible solution of sampling sub-Nyquist and reconstructing using convex programming techniques. There has been significant advancements in CS research and development (more notably since 2004), but still nothing to the advantage of everyday use. Not for lack of theoretical use and mathematical proof, but because of no implementation work. There has been little work on hardware in finding the realistic constraints of a working CS system used for digital signal process (DSP). Any parameters used in a system is usually assumed based on stochastic models, but not optimized towards a specific application. This thesis aims to address a minimal viable platform to implement compressive sensing if applied to a wireless sensor network (WSN), as well as address certain parameters of CS theory to be modified depending on the application.

This thesis presents the implementation of some of the basic concepts of digital logic design in a fun and creative way with the help of paper electronics. This involves circuit building on paper using conductive tape or conductive ink and circuit components as electronics craft materials. Paper electronics toolkit called circuit sticker microcontroller which is deployed by a company named Chibitronics and AT89C51 microcontroller were used for the computational functioning of the circuits built on paper. This can be used to teach the fundamentals of digital logic design to the students in their early stage of studies in an attractive way and can help them them gain a better understanding. This thesis can also be helpful in grabbing the attention of high school students and motivate them towards choosing the engineering discipline for their higher studies.

Today, there is a growing number of buildings in a neighborhood and business parks that are utilizing renewable energy generation, to reduce their electric bill and carbon footprint. The most current way of implementing a renewable energy generation is to use solar panels or a windmill to generate power; then use a charge controller connected to a battery bank to store power. Once stored, the user can then access a clean source of power from these batteries instead of the main power grid. This type of power structure is utilizing a single module system in respect of one building. As the industry of renewable power generation continues to increase, we start to see a new way of implementing the infrastructure of the power system. Instead of having just individual buildings generating power, storing power, using power, and selling power there is a fifth step that can be added, sharing power. The idea of multiple buildings connected to each other to share power has been named a microgrid by the power community. With this ability to share power in a microgrid system, a catastrophic event which cause shutdowns of power production can be better managed. This paper then discusses the data …

Renewable power systems are becoming more affordable and provide better options than fossil-fuel generation, for not only the environment, but a benefit of a reduced cost of operation. Methods to optimize charging batteries from renewable technologies is an important subject for off-grid and micro-grids, and is becoming more relevant for larger installations. Overcharging or undercharging the battery can result in failure and reduction of battery life. The Arduino hybrid MPPT controller takes the advantage of solar and wind energy sources by controlling two systems simultaneously. The ability to manage two systems with one controller is better for an overall production of energy, cost, and manageability, at a minor expense of efficiency. The hybrid MPPT uses two synchronous buck DC-DC converters to control both wind and solar. The hybrid MPPT performed at a maximum of 93.6% efficiency, while the individual controller operated at a maximum 97.1% efficiency when working on the bench test. When designing the controller to manage power production from a larger generator, the inductor size was too large due to the frequency provided by the Arduino. A larger inductor means less allowable current to flow before the inductor becomes over saturated, reducing the efficiency of the controller. Utilizing …

This dissertation presents beamforming designs. Using novel techniques and methods, the performance of the beamforming is improved on dual-band, tri-band, flexible function, tunable function in THz, and dynamic controllability on incident wave.

This Master thesis proposes a human-computer interface for individual with limited hand movements that incorporate the use of facial gesture as a means of communication. The system recognizes faces and extracts facial gestures to map them into Morse code that would be translated in English in real time. The system is implemented on a MACBOOK computer using Python software, OpenCV library, and Dlib library. The system is tested by 6 students. Five of the testers were not familiar with Morse code. They performed the experiments in an average of 90 seconds. One of the tester was familiar with Morse code and performed the experiment in 53 seconds. It is concluded that errors occurred due to variations in features of the testers, lighting conditions, and unfamiliarity with the system. Implementing an auto correction and auto prediction system will decrease typing time considerably and make the system more robust.