The design and construction of a large scale-force feedback joystick for the use in physiotherapy

The design and construction of the joystick in this project is aimed at helping stroke patients in rehabilitation, the joystick will help exercise the wrist muscles. The joystick will have assistive behavior. This assistive behavior will work such that a patient will follow a target and if they go off course the joystick will act as to assist them to go back on course. A cube steel structure was designed as the structure for the joystick, the joystick was built using 25 x 25 x 3 steel beams this steel structure is to house the motors as well. A pulley system was used to transmit the motion of the motor to the stick and to transmit the motion of the stick to the motors. With a potentiometer mounted on the motor shaft as to determine the motor position. An Arduino Deicimila development board used to control the motors hence the joystick. A servo motor was used in this project. The motors were be programmed to move back and forth in a straight line and the force feedback will be applied so as the motors to help the patient move in the right direction a PID was be incorporated in to the control system so as to correct the errors in the shortest time possible. If time permits the joystick will be programmed to move in a rotational motion so as to get the total wrist exercise. The design of the casing for the joystick, the hardware and software were completed, testing was completed as well

Hydrophone sound level meter “Pontus”

Treball desenvolupat en el marc del programa "European Project Semester".The ocean is full of anthropogenic noise which can harm marine animals. The anthropogenic sounds can cause a threshold shift in their hearing sensibility, which can on its turn cause changes in their behavior. The aim of this project is to develop a portable hydrophone sound level meter that displays sound levels in real time. In addition, a warning signal will be displayed when a defined sound level is reached or surpassed. In order to achieve these goals, research was carried out. It was determined when sound levels and octaves become dangerous or deadly for the respective marine life. For the development process of the hydrophone sound level meter, it was important to determine requirements in order to make the device usable for this purpose. Based on the requirements, a selection of technical components and the design of the device was made. With the help of the necessary software, the measured values of a hydrophone can be displayed on the hydrophone sound level meter in an easily understandable way. In this report a final design of a hydrophone sound level meter is presented, which fulfils almost all requirements and objectives.Incomin

Mercedes-Benz Oil Level Monitor

The purpose of this project is to develop an engine oil level monitoring system that will replace the current dipstick method during vehicle testing for Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc. (MBRDNA). Currently, MBRDNA test drivers check the engine oil level twice a day after two eight hour shifts each day. To measure the oil level, the driver parks on a level surface, waits five minutes for the oil to cool, and then manually checks the oil level with the dipstick. The goal of this project is to have a reliable, physical, working prototype that MBRDNA can use for vehicle testing by spring. MBRDNA wants a prototype built by the end of this year that is capable of reading oil level without the need of a test driver to measure the oil. It is very easy for a driver to get distracted and forget to check the oil at precisely 5 minutes after the engine has been shut off. This leads to inconsistent results. Drivers are also susceptible to reading the dipstick incorrectly due to the small amount of increments on the end of the dip stick that must be read. Occasionally dipsticks will even break because they are not designed to with stand fatigue loading cycles that are seen during this testing. This leads to an expensive engine tear down to recover broken parts out of the crankcase. The prototype will consist of the following features: a SICK fiber optic cable connected to a SICK optic sensor, a clamp, a microcontroller, a digital display and a data acquisition. This project is being continued from the previous senior project group from 2011/2012 academic year

Design of a launch system for a scientific fix wing UAV without undercarriage

The general objective is to design the electric system of a vehicle (‘dolly’ type) for take-off of scientific fix wing UAV without undercarriage. The system shall ensure stability of the dolly/aircraft during rolling-take-off while maintaining a fix heading. The dolly would be able to provide additional propulsion/trust for a fast take-off. Specific objectives Determination of the dolly’s movement specifications in order to determine the heading control system and propulsion specifications. Design of the heading automatic control system. Design of the propulsion control system. Design of the breaking control system. Construction and validation. Tasks -Review of the current designs of take-off dollys. -Numerical simulation of the dolly including the movement, propulsion system, heading system and breaking system. -Definition of the safety and redundancy requirements. -Conceptual specification of the electrical system (heading, propulsion and breaking) of the dolly indicating and weighting alternatives. -Detailed definition of the dolly. -Detail specification of the electrical control system of the dolly. -Design, construction and validation of the heading system. -Design, construction and validation of the propulsions system. -Design, construction and validation of the breaking system. -Integration of the heading, propulsion and breaking system to the dolly. -Field tests of the dolly. -Review and improvement of the design. -Final tests

Crypto-processeur architecture, programmation et évaluation de la sécurité

Les architectures des processeurs et coprocesseurs cryptographiques se montrent fréquemment vulnérables aux différents types d attaques ; en particulier, celles qui ciblent une révélation des clés chiffrées. Il est bien connu qu une manipulation des clés confidentielles comme des données standards par un processeur peut être considérée comme une menace. Ceci a lieu par exemple lors d un changement du code logiciel (malintentionné ou involontaire) qui peut provoquer que la clé confidentielle sorte en clair de la zone sécurisée. En conséquence, la sécurité de tout le système serait irréparablement menacée. L objectif que nous nous sommes fixé dans le travail présenté, était la recherche d architectures matérielles reconfigurables qui peuvent fournir une sécurité élevée des clés confidentielles pendant leur génération, leur enregistrement et leur échanges en implantant des modes cryptographiques de clés symétriques et des protocoles. La première partie de ce travail est destinée à introduire les connaissances de base de la cryptographie appliquée ainsi que de l électronique pour assurer une bonne compréhension des chapitres suivants. Deuxièmement, nous présentons un état de l art des menaces sur la confidentialité des clés secrètes dans le cas où ces dernières sont stockées et traitées dans un système embarqué. Pour lutter contre les menaces mentionnées, nous proposons alors de nouvelles règles au niveau du design de l architecture qui peuvent augmenter la résistance des processeurs et coprocesseurs cryptographiques contre les attaques logicielles. Ces règles prévoient une séparation des registres dédiés à l enregistrement de clés et ceux dédiés à l enregistrement de données : nous proposons de diviser le système en zones : de données, du chiffreur et des clés et à isoler ces zones les unes des autres au niveau du protocole, du système, de l architecture et au niveau physique. Ensuite, nous présentons un nouveau crypto-processeur intitulé HCrypt, qui intègre ces règles de séparation et qui assure ainsi une gestion sécurisée des clés. Mises à part les instructions relatives à la gestion sécurisée de clés, quelques instructions supplémentaires sont dédiées à une réalisation simple des modes de chiffrement et des protocoles cryptographiques. Dans les chapitres suivants, nous explicitons le fait que les règles de séparation suggérées, peuvent également être étendues à l architecture d un processeur généraliste et coprocesseur. Nous proposons ainsi un crypto-coprocesseur sécurisé qui est en mesure d être utilisé en relation avec d autres processeurs généralistes. Afin de démontrer sa flexibilité, le crypto-coprocesseur est interconnecté avec les processeurs soft-cores de NIOS II, de MicroBlaze et de Cortex M1. Par la suite, la résistance du crypto-processeur par rapport aux attaques DPA est testée. Sur la base de ces analyses, l architecture du processeur HCrypt est modifiée afin de simplifier sa protection contre les attaques par canaux cachés (SCA) et les attaques par injection de fautes (FIA). Nous expliquons aussi le fait qu une réorganisation des blocs au niveau macroarchitecture du processeur HCrypt, augmente la résistance du nouveau processeur HCrypt2 par rapport aux attaques de type DPA et FIA. Nous étudions ensuite les possibilités pour pouvoir reconfigurer dynamiquement les parties sélectionnées de l architecture du processeur crypto-coprocesseur. La reconfiguration dynamique peut être très utile lorsque l algorithme de chiffrement ou ses implantations doivent être changés en raison de l apparition d une vulnérabilité Finalement, la dernière partie de ces travaux de thèse, est destinée à l exécution des tests de fonctionnalité et des optimisations stricts des deux versions du cryptoprocesseur HCryptArchitectures of cryptographic processors and coprocessors are often vulnerable to different kinds of attacks, especially those targeting the disclosure of encryption keys. It is well known that manipulating confidential keys by the processor as ordinary data can represent a threat: a change in the program code (malicious or unintentional) can cause the unencrypted confidential key to leave the security area. This way, the security of the whole system would be irrecoverably compromised. The aim of our work was to search for flexible and reconfigurable hardware architectures, which can provide high security of confidential keys during their generation, storage and exchange while implementing common symmetric key cryptographic modes and protocols. In the first part of the manuscript, we introduce the bases of applied cryptography and of reconfigurable computing that are necessary for better understanding of the work. Second, we present threats to security of confidential keys when stored and processed within an embedded system. To counteract these threats, novel design rules increasing robustness of cryptographic processors and coprocessors against software attacks are presented. The rules suggest separating registers dedicated to key storage from those dedicated to data storage: we propose to partition the system into the data, cipher and key zone and to isolate the zones from each other at protocol, system, architectural and physical levels. Next, we present a novel HCrypt crypto-processor complying with the separation rules and thus ensuring secure key management. Besides instructions dedicated to secure key management, some additional instructions are dedicated to easy realization of block cipher modes and cryptographic protocols in general. In the next part of the manuscript, we show that the proposed separation principles can be extended also to a processor-coprocessor architecture. We propose a secure crypto-coprocessor, which can be used in conjunction with any general-purpose processor. To demonstrate its flexibility, the crypto-coprocessor is interconnected with the NIOS II, MicroBlaze and Cortex M1 soft-core processors. In the following part of the work, we examine the resistance of the HCrypt cryptoprocessor to differential power analysis (DPA) attacks. Following this analysis, we modify the architecture of the HCrypt processor in order to simplify its protection against side channel attacks (SCA) and fault injection attacks (FIA). We show that by rearranging blocks of the HCrypt processor at macroarchitecture level, the new HCrypt2 processor becomes natively more robust to DPA and FIA. Next, we study possibilities of dynamically reconfiguring selected parts of the processor - crypto-coprocessor architecture. The dynamic reconfiguration feature can be very useful when the cipher algorithm or its implementation must be changed in response to appearance of some vulnerability. Finally, the last part of the manuscript is dedicated to thorough testing and optimizations of both versions of the HCrypt crypto-processor. Architectures of crypto-processors and crypto-coprocessors are often vulnerable to software attacks targeting the disclosure of encryption keys. The thesis introduces separation rules enabling crypto-processor/coprocessors to support secure key management. Separation rules are implemented on novel HCrypt crypto-processor resistant to software attacks targetting the disclosure of encryption keysST ETIENNE-Bib. électronique (422189901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Final Design Report: Polymer Fatigue Characterization Test Method

Polylogix is a team dedicated to the design, build, and testing of a fatigue machine to simulate cyclic loading on a biomedical polymer. This project is sponsored by Endologix, Inc. to provide test data characterizing mechanical material properties of various formulations of polymer used in abdominal aortic aneurysm surgeries. With this project goal, the machine must be able to test the polymer at body conditions; these include a testing temperature of 37°C and a cycling frequency ranging from 1 Hz to 10 Hz. This report proposes the following solution to this design challenge: an AC motor-driven mechanism utilizing a planetary gearbox and pulley system to reduce the speed of the motor to those necessary to achieve testing frequencies of 1 Hz, 2 Hz, 5 Hz, 8 Hz, and 10 Hz. From the drive mechanism, a shaft-mounted cam translates the rotational motion to linear motion through a cam follower. This cam follower carries a load cell and test specimen grip fixtures which clamp onto the specimen to apply cyclic loading. To vary the percent elongation applied to the test specimen, the cam has been designed to be interchangeable to accomplish a range of elongations: 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%

Novel Wine Pouring Machine

This Final Design Report outlines the “Novel Wine Opener” senior design project completed by a team of mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The project was sponsored by Bill Swanson, owner of the Center of Effort vineyard and winery in Edna Valley, CA. The goal of the project was to produce a novel wine pouring machine for the Center of Effort. This device should be able to remove the foil cap from a wine bottle, uncork the bottle, and pour a glass of wine at the winery and at public events. The finished product should fit the aesthetic of the remodeled winery and serve as an attraction for wine tasting visitors. After determining our sponsor’s needs and wants for the project, we refined the problem into a set of engineering specifications. Existing technologies were researched and compared to identify similar developments already on the market. The lack of similar technologies found confirmed the presence of a need that our project seeks to fill. The first step we took in tackling this design challenge was to divide the project into six subsystems: bottle gripping, foil removal, cork removal, lifting and pouring, pour volume sensing, and user interface. Our leading concepts comprise a rotating tower for foil and cork removal, a pivoting pouring tower to hold and pour the bottle, a load cell to measure the pour volume, and mechanical buttons and toggle switches for user interface. To verify the feasibility of our designs, we built conceptual and structural prototypes of the rotating tower, cork remover, and foil cutter. The next step in the design process was to redesign each individual function as needed. Prototyping highlighted areas in need of design changes. These changes were implemented, and new prototypes were made. This cycle continued until each individual function operated successfully. The final design consists of improved versions of the leading concepts selected before prototyping: rotating tower, pouring tower, bottle gripper, load cell weight sensing mechanism, and user interface. Next, the final design was manufactured and assembled with final materials. Most prototyping materials included plywood and acrylic. These materials were switched out with aluminum parts. After each function was successfully manufactured and functional, all subsystems were integrated together onto one base plate. Some redesigning and remanufacturing were necessary for successful integration of the entire device. Once the device was satisfactorily assembled, the device was tested against the engineering specifications originally identified at the beginning of the project. This document contains the research, ideation processes, design decisions, design outcomes, manufacturing processes, and test results of the entire process to date

Optimizing a Rydberg Atom-based Terahertz Imaging System

We build upon previous work by characterising and optimizing the signal from a Rydberg atom-based terahertz (THz) imaging system, where atoms are excited to a Rydberg state by a three step ladder scheme. These Rydberg atoms provide a THz imaging mechanism via a fluorescence signal, $F_\mathrm{sig}$. We implement a Pound-Drever-Hall lock and a digital scanning transfer cavity lock on the Rydberg laser. Both schemes see an improvement in the stability of fluorescence signal over time, to within 3\%. We characterise the effect of laser parameters on $F_\mathrm{sig}$. A pumping scheme consisting of alternating circular polarisations for each step are found to maximise $F_\mathrm{sig}$, providing a $\sim 38\%$ increase compared to the all-linear configuration. The dependence of $F_\mathrm{sig}$ on Rydberg laser detuning and THz detuning is also characterised, and splitting due to the AC Stark shift is observed at higher THz powers. Simultaneous resonant excitation of the Rydberg and THz transition is found to maximize $F_\mathrm{sig}$. A repump laser is implemented on both the D1 and D2 lines, and found to increase $F_\mathrm{sig}$ most on the D1 line, by a factor of seven. The effect on $F_\mathrm{sig}$ of the repump lasers power and detuning is characterised, and a two-photon transition is observed in the D2 line spectrum. A change in spatial intensity distribution of the THz beam is observed under the effect of rotation of a linear polariser, which is theorised to be due to a vector diffraction pattern

Design and analysis of a low-profile two-axis solar tracker with hybridized control

The adoption of solar power technologies throughout the world is increasing rapidly. Solar trackers are a necessary component in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) applications and have also shown up to 46% per annum energy increase in photovoltaic (PV) panels when compared with fixed mounted panels. To resist wind forces, trackers typically incorporate heavy structural components and reinforced concrete foundations. Thus, the manufacture and installation of trackers is costly due to their size, weight, and careful consideration of geological conditions. This work presents a new solar tracker design for use with concentrating solar power and photovoltaic panels. The tracker is comprised of two coplanar perpendicular linear actuators and one linkage arm that can track the sun in two axes. A hybrid control strategy combines time and location based solar position estimates, with a two-axis misalignment sensor for a robust control strategy. Part cost is lowered by the low profile tracker geometry by allowing lighter structural and actuation components to combat gusty conditions, and installation costs are reduced by the wide footprint of the system, mitigating the need for deep foundations. A tracker prototype is built and tested for functionality and tracking accuracy. Testing shows an average mechanical pointing hysteresis of 0.05 [degrees]. The tracker is outfitted with a parabolic mirror and blackbody receiving cavity, and in full sun reaches a steady-state temperature of 670 [degrees] C

Design and construction of an UAV for plague-control purposes

An UAV or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a multi-purpose platform that is capable of achieving tasks that lie beyond anything that has ever been achieved thanks to the performance, capabilities and inner characteristics that make these vehicles excel in certain aspects. The technical development of this vehicles is just as remarkable as their possible applications. This project is allocated within one of these yet undeveloped applications, which is the plague control, focusing on the mosquito nests control. To serve to the intended purpose, a complete unmanned aerial system is designed and built. The document starts with an initial classification of the multiple types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that exist up to date, basing the classification on the vehicle size, autonomy, range of action, payload capacity and mission. The created system is capable of flying completely autonomously missions up to 10 km while transmitting a video and telemetry stream through the internet, gathering information from ground sensors and carrying a mosquito-lethal dose of Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis or abbreviated BTI. To achieve the intended task, a detailed theoretical analysis is developed in order to choose the appropriate material and subsystems starting with the airframe selection to continue with a deep physical calculation regarding the lift and drag of the model wings as so the fuselage, horizontal and vertical stabilizers drag to be able to select the adequate propeller to then select the proper motor, electronic speed controller and battery to fulfill the initial technical specifications. As for the onboard hardware, the set is composed by an open-source low-cost autopilot which navigates and controls the plane, and an onboard low-weight computer used to perform the extra tasks with no relation with the aircraft control. The chosen airframe is a Skywalker 1900 mm commanded by an APM 2.6 from 3DRobotics while a Raspberry Pi takes the control over the advanced functions such as the long-range data transmission, the video-stream transmission, the connectivity with the ground sensors via an Arduino-based 2.4 GHz XBee system and the control of the BTI mosquito agent deployment system. The several test flights carried on during the project are developed in order to demonstrate that the initial objectives are accomplished. Finally, the main conclusions obtained from the project are introduced to end with the several possible modifications that could be included in light of improving the characteristics and the operation of the designed system.Un UAV o un Vehicle Aeri No Tripulat es una plataforma multiprop ´ osit que ` es capac¸ de dur ´ a terme tasques que van mes enllar de qualsevol cosa que s’hagi pogut fer mai gr ´ acies a ` les caracter´ıstiques que fan que aquests vehicles resaltin en certs aspectes. El desenvolupament tecnic d’aquests vehicles ` es tant extraordinari com les seves pos- ´ sibles aplicacions que tenen. Aquest projecte es centra en una d’aquestes aplicacions encara no desenvolupades, control de plaga, centrant-se en el control de mosquits. Per dur a terme aquesta tasca s’ha dissenyat i construit un sistema UAV complet. El document comenc¸a amb una classificacio dels m ´ ultiples tipus de Vehicles Aeris No Tri- ´ pulats que existeixen avui en dia. Aquesta classificacio es basa en el tamany, autonomia, ´ abast d’accio, capacitat de c ´ arrega i missi ` o. ´ El sistema creat es capac¸ ´ de volar autonomament missions de fins a 10 km mentre transmet video i telemetria en temps real a traves d’internet, recollint informaci ´ o de sensors ´ situats a terra i portant una carrega una dosi antimosquits de Bacillus Thuringiensis Isra- ` elensis (BTI). Per aconseguir l’objectiu del projecte, s’ha dut a terme un analisi te ` oric detallat per esco- ` llir adequadament tot el material i subsistemes necessaris comenc¸ant per l’estructura de l’aeronau per continuar amb calculs de sustentaci ` o i resist ´ encia aerodin ` amica. Aquests ` calculs han perm ` es escollir adequadament el motor necessari juntament amb l’h ` elix, el ` variador (ESC) i la bateria per complir amb les especificacions tecniques inicials. ` L’estructura escollida es el Skywalker 1900 FPV comandat per un APM 2.6 de 3DRobotics ´ mentre una Raspberry Pi s’encarrega de les funcions avanc¸ades com la transmissio de ´ video i telemetria, node entre autopilot i estacio terrestre, la recol ´ ·leccio de dades de sen- ´ sors terrestres mitjanc¸ant un sistema Arduino amb un modul XBee a 2.4 GHz i el control ` del sistema de descarrega de l’agent antimosquits BTI. ` Tots els tests que s’han dut a terme durant el desenvolupament del projecte s’han inclos` en aquest document per demostrar que els requeriments s’han complert. Finalment, es presenten les principals conclusions extretes del projecte per acabar amb possibles modificacions que es podrien fer en un futur per millorar les caracteristiques i l’operacio del ´ sistema dissenyat