senior design day brochure

Monday, May 4th 2015 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

G re at Room, P r yz by la Ce nter

7th ANNUAL ENGINEERING

Senior Design Day

9:30 - 9:45 An In Vitro Model of Collagen Response to Tumor Pressure with Dynamic Tracking of Birefringence and Intratissue Strain Ruby Huynh, Rachel Garabedian, Patrick Gibbons

9:45 - 10:00 Implementation of a Force Feedback Controller to Increase the Effectiveness of a Robotic Gripper Claw Brian Keith, Nicholas Jarboe, Albara Alsaywed

10:00 - 10:15 Quantifying Wrist Hypertonia in Individuals with Cerebral Palsy Jessica Donaldson, Frank Broussard, Moneerah Almuhanna

10:15 - 10:30 The Potential to Reduce Muscle Activation during Shoulder Flexion using a Novel Rehabilitative Exoskeleton Angeline Premraj, Nicholas Civetti, Brendan Breslin

10:30 - 10:45 Validation of the Kinect v2 vs GAITRite for Gait Patterns Parameters: Pilot Study Tyler Cork, Reagan McCloskey, Reanna Sealey

10:45 - 11:00 Effect of Handedness on Novel Dexterity Tasks Alex Hetzel, Hunter Steel, Luke Palguta, Jon Paciorek

C O N C U R R E N T S E S S I O N I G R E A T R O O M A

9:00 - 9:30 AM Attendee Check-in 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SESSION CHAIR: SAHANA KUKKE, PH.D.

11:00 - 11:15 AM COFFEE BREAK

11:15 AM - 1:00 PM, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SESSION CHAIR: JOHN JUDGE, PH.D.

1:00 - 1:45 PM LUNCH & POSTER SESSION GREAT ROOM B

01:45 - 2:00 PM AWARDS PRESENTATION/CONCLUDING REMARKS

11:15 - 11:30 Thermoelectric Cooler Joseph Shillinglaw, Alexander Belk, Christian Guzman, Peter Clemente

11:30 - 11:45 Thermoelectric Cooling Helmet Ali AlShafai, Huy Le, Minh Ngo, Mohammed Al-Ayesh

11:45 - 12:00 CUA Autonomous Surface Vehicle Design Augusto César Santos Peixoto, Rafael Lima Thomaz, Ronaldo Chaves Reis

12:00 - 12:15 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Competition Joshua Bryant, Cameron Daniels, Diogenes Dichoso, Hannah Gillis

12:15 - 12:30 CNC Machine with Cooling, Dust-Collection, and Safety Systems Vincent Maggio, Christian Riegle, Michael Spielberger

12:30 - 12:45 High Lift Model Airplane Andre Aquino, Dominic Renner, Emma Needham, Fahad Jambi

12:45 - 1:00 Senior Design: SAE Aero Design Competition Steven O'Leary, Colin Feeney, Steven Mastro, Will Horne

C O N C U R R E N T S E S S I O N I I G R E A T R O O M C

9:00 - 9:30 AM Attendee Check-in 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM, CIVIL ENGINEERING SESSION CHAIR: MIN LIU, PH.D.

10:30 - 10:45 AM COFFEE BREAK

10:45 AM - 12:45 AM, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE SESSION CHAIR: OZLEM KILIC, PH.D.

12:45 - 1:45 PM LUNCH & POSTER SESSION GREAT ROOM B

01:45 - 2:00 PM AWARDS PRESENTATION/CONCLUDING REMARKS

10:45 - 11:00 Crib Monitoring System Dat Tran, Kiet Duong

11:00 - 11:15 Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department Interactive Hallway Informational Display James Huddleston, Alexandra Gillis, Tho Vi, Meshari Alluqmani

11:15 - 11:30 Real Environment Collision in Virtual Space Matthew Melly, Lance VanArsdale

11:30 - 11:45 Rice Cooking Robot Anthony Nguyen, Tri Nguyen, Tung Nguyen

11:45 - 12:00 Self-Balancing Skateboard

Matthew Dillon, Jorge Coronado

12:00 - 12:15 Spectrum Management with Watson Ngoc Tran, Austin Mueller

12:15 - 12:30 The Weather Balloon Project Paul Burns, Sarah Cunningham, Peter Shagnea, Seth Tavera, Abdulkader Turkistani, Joseph Wright

12:30 - 12:45 3D-Imaging and Near-Field Measurements using Anechoic Chamber Toan K Vo Dai, Anh Thai

9:30 - 9:45 Triton's Palace : The Underwater Hotel Alec Droussiotis, Mohammad Mataqi, Mary O'Neill, Jaime Soto, Brian Zamorski

9:45 - 10:00 Green Space Nareg Khachadorian, Shane Kelly, Nick Sangwa, Cheryl Anderson, Steven Manozzi

10:00 - 10:15 Monroe Market - Brookland Works: Linear Schedule versus Critical Path Method Schedule Kevin Hanula, Robert Ferrara, Dang Nguyen, Patrick Michalski, Patrick LaPorta

10:15 - 10:30 Underground Concrete Structure Dante DeAnnuntis, Daniel Coleman, Ryan Van Fleet, Michael Hogan

The interaction of tumor cells with the mechanical microenvironment at sites of primary cancer and metastasis is an expanding study area. Modeling tumor stroma with a collagen gel can provide response information of stromal matrix microstructural to tumor forces. To achieve this goal, a bioreactor was designed to contain a collagen gel, with a cylindrical plunger to exert compression within the gel, and an optical window to view dynamic microstructural alterations with microscopy. A type I collagen gel was seeded with 7 µm beads to serve as displacement markers for strain estimation by digital image correlation. After each plunger step, birefringence signal emanating from the gel was quantified as the optical retardance via Senarmont method. Co-localized maps of optical retardance and estimated intratissue strain were correlate qualitatively at pixel level. To determine the role of non-cell-mediated force on collagen network in this system, collagen concentration and microstructure were varied. Results directly relate collagen birefringence to intratissue strain, provide an initial approach of

understanding tissue remodeling in the complex, dynamic environment of the tumor-stroma.

Many current teleoperated robots provide only visual feedback to operators. Operating these robots requires extensive practice and can be very difficult without the assistance of additional feedback mechanisms. The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of dynamic force feedback when operating a gripping robot. This study compares an individual’s ability to effectively operate the gripping robot when they rely solely on visual feedback and when there is also dynamic force feedback to aid them. A CUA-approved IRB study was conducted in which 20 individuals used a robotic gripper claw to grasp an egg at a constant force without breaking it. Individuals performed the task ten times without dynamic force feedback and ten times with the aid of dynamic force feedback. Results indicate that the implementation of the dynamic

force feedback mechanism increases the user’s ability to effectively operate the gripping robot.

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

An In Vitro Model of Collagen Response to Tumor Pressure with Dynamic Tracking of Birefringence and Intratissue Strain

Ruby Huynh, Rachel Garabedian, Patrick Gibbons Advisor: Dr. Christopher Raub

Implementation of a Force Feedback Controller to Increase the Effectiveness of a Robotic Gripper Claw

Brian Keith, Nicholas Jarboe, Albara Alsaywed Advisor: Kyle Rohrbach

Physicians lack an effective means to quantify the severity of wrist hypertonia in patients with cerebral palsy. The assessment of hypertonia is used as a substantial factor in distinguishing the necessary rehabilitation and interventional needs of individual patients. Currently, physicians assess wrist hypertonia by moving the joint passively and scoring the severity based on what they feel. To be more objective, we designed a device to passively flex and extend the wrist using elastic bands while recording the resistance torque using a torque sensor. Preliminary results indicate that individuals with wrist hypertonia have larger torque responses to passive movement compared to typically developing individuals. Results also show that torque responses in patients are velocity-dependent; they are larger when the wrist is moved faster. Future work to validate our quantitative hypertonia assessment tool will include the addition of a motor for more precise velocity control, and testing a larger sample of patients. Our long-term goal is to provide physicians with a

quantitative method to track hypertonia over time and in response to therapeutic interventions.

Current shoulder exotendon designs are inadequate in that they are often too expensive and complex for simple upper limb rehabilitation, while also prone to bending due to their rigid structure. A novel pneumatically actuated exotendon has been developed for flexion about the shoulder joint, targeted towards individuals with moderate upper limb impairment due to stroke. Ten healthy subjects (5 females, 5 males) were recruited for a study approved by the IRB at CUA in which they were equipped with the device and performed shoulder flexion. Muscle activation was measured through electromyography for all subjects, who performed flexion with 0%, 30%, and 60% device assistance. Results show that with calibrated user input based on subject weight, there is reduced activation of the anterior deltoid at higher levels of device assistance. This outcome could support the potential of this device to aid rehabilitation for stroke patients by compensating for moderate muscle weakness. Future optimization of the device for further testing will include the integration of a swivel attachment in order to guide

movement in various planes and usability for both arms.

Quantifying Wrist Hypertonia in Individuals with Cerebral Palsy

Jessica Donaldson, Frank Broussard, Moneerah Almuhanna Advisor: Dr. Sahana N. Kukke

The Potential to Reduce Muscle Activation during Shoulder Flexion using a Novel Rehabilitative Exoskeleton

Angeline Premraj, Nicholas Civetti, Brendan Breslin Advisor: Dr. Sang Wook Lee


Accurate and precise, gold-standard motion tracking systems are impractical for mobile, clinical at-home use in terms of affordability and convenience. Through the use of the Microsoft Kinect v2’s depth and infrared capabilities, this research aims to focus on the installation of an affordable alternative motion tracking system to analyze the concurrent validity of spatiotemporal data against GAITRite while additionally examining the effect of added weight on the ankle of the subject. A study consisting of 4 subjects was conducted in which a subject’s normalized, self-selected speed was compared to ankle loading of 1.134 kg and 2.268 kg during a 5-meter walk. Simultaneous kinematic data was collected by GAITRite and the Kinect, then the post hoc effects of ankle weight during step length, step time, and cadence were analyzed. We hypothesize the Kinect kinematic data, in comparison to GAITRite, will not be statistically significant, and will confirm previous evidence that 1.0–1.8 kg of additional loading on the ankle does not affect gait cycle. Future development of the Kinect v2 for motion tracking include modifying the

algorithm from sinistrodextral tracking to centroid tracking.

This study utilized a biomedical device that measures the acceleration of individual fingers to test whether handedness affected a subject’s ability to perform a novel dexterity task. College-aged subjects were presented with an adapted keyboard and instructed to type a preset pattern while wearing the device, one hand at a time. The subject repeated the test numerous times to determine if any improvements occurred over multiple tests. While accuracy, words per minute, and finger velocity were measured; the primary outcome measurement of improvement was finger fluidity, the number of movements per key typed. ANOVA tests were conducted to see how handedness affected hand efficiency in dominant vs. non-dominant and right-handed vs. left-handed subjects. The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that left-handed subjects would become more efficient with their non-dominant hand than right-handed counterparts, while the non-dominant hand of the right-handed subjects

would improve at a greater rate than the non-dominant hands of the left-handed subjects.


Validation of the Kinect v2 vs GAITRite for Gait Patterns Parameters: Pilot Study

Tyler Cork, Reagan McCloskey, Reanna Sealey Advisor: Andrew Gravunder

Effect of Handedness on Novel Dexterity Tasks

Alex Hetzel, Hunter Steel, Luke Palguta, Jon Paciorek Advisor: Dr. Pete Lum

Triton's Palace will be an innovative and eco-friendly luxury hotel anchored to the ocean floor off the coast of Maui, Hawaii at a depth of 30 ft. The hotel will be accessible through a floating hardwood dock anchored to the superstructure. Triton's Palace will have an area of 18,777 sf and will include a restaurant, three observation rooms, and 18 guest rooms. The primary materials that will be used in the construction are steel, aluminum, and acrylic. All sections are designed as cylindrical shapes which allows for an even distribution of the hydrostatic forces across the surface of the structure. Originally, we planned on designing our main structure and hallways with precast reinforced concrete. However, this design would not be feasible for our needs so we have changed the design to utilize NV SAW 450 steel with a concrete coating: material that has been used for deepwater, large diameter pipelines. The structure is designed based on the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Subsea Pipeline Systems. The main structure, hallways, guest rooms, and observation rooms will all be prefabricated separately on

land and then assembled underwater.

"Green Sound" is a one-story public/private music space that provides a destination through a poetic journey from the nature of the National Arboretum to a structure designed to intertwine architectural aesthetics and engineering design that complements musical experience. In essential design aspect of the "floating glass box" reinforces the concept of “lightness" which carries through from its environmental impact as well as the tectonics of its structure. A space truss along with vertical trusses will be used to achieve the structural integrity of the building while using the lightest possible cross-sectional area for the members. The environmental aspects of the building are seen through the "floating glass box" that provides a gap between the glazing and the foundation structure. This allows fresh air to flow in while maintaining minimum heat/cool loss generated from geothermal energy from the interior providing natural ventilation to substitute mechanical systems. The lighting system of the structure will be generated by a "Wind Facade" that combines aesthetic, dynamic, and functional value to the building through utilizing piezo-electronics.

CIVIL ENGINEERING

Triton's Palace : The Underwater Hotel

Alec Droussiotis, Mohammad Mataqi, Mary O'Neill, Jaime Soto, Brian Zamorski Advisor: Dr. Min Liu

Green Space

Nareg Khachadorian, Shane Kelly, Nick Sangwa, Cheryl Anderson, Steven Manozzi Advisor: Dr. Chanseok Jeong

The current U.S. construction industry scheduling standard is the Critical Path Method (CPM). CPM is a sufficient way to schedule construction projects; however, CPM is one-dimensional only dealing with activity duration and float. The goal of our project was to compare and analyze Bozzuto Construction’s CPM schedule to our two-dimensional linear schedule. We chose Bozzuto’s Monroe Market project because it is directly across Michigan Avenue and CUA students are familiar with the apartments. Our group met with Kelly Wallace, a Construction Executive for Bozzuto, to guide us in our project. With his help and detailed scheduling documents, we decided to re-design Block C’s, Brookland Works, CPM schedule into a linear schedule. One of the advantages of using a linear schedule is the ability to easily visualize activity production rates. On the contrary, a CPM schedule cannot visually portray production. In the future, the U.S. construction scheduling standard will change as scheduling software develops. Linear scheduling has

potential to be advantageous for this new software.

The Underground Concrete Structure will primarily serve as a space for a division of the military. The structure will be located on a military base and be used for a variety of activities, including meetings, training, housing, and storage. The underground structure will have many positive benefits for the military and provide a safe and hidden space for any use the military sees fit. It also will not impact the amount of available space on the base since it is an underground structure and be able to accommodate a large number of people . DDRM Designs will design and build the structure including all geotechnical, structural, and concrete work. The specific division of the military will be responsible for outfitting the structure with any weapons, technology, or equipment that it would need. The base will also be able to withstand most bomb threats and emergency situations. It will also meet the minimum blast and radiation requirements. Overall, the Underground Concrete Structure will provide an efficient, safe, and versatile space for a

division of the military that will be able to accommodate a variety of needs and activities.

CIVIL ENGINEERING

Monroe Market - Brookland Works: Linear Schedule versus Critical Path Method Schedule Kevin Hanula, Robert Ferrara, Dang Nguyen, Patrick Michalski, Patrick LaPorta Advisor: Dr. Gunnar Lucko

Underground Concrete Structure

Dante DeAnnuntis, Daniel Coleman, Ryan Van Fleet, Michael Hogan Advisor: Dr. Paul Lade

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the sudden death of an infant less than 1 year of age that cannot be explained even after a thorough investigation. Continuous monitoring of vital signs has the potential to improve infant health care and reduce SIDS. With the emergence of micro-sensors and wireless technology, we can now change the conventional health care systems by replacing it with wearable and non-contact based wireless health monitoring system. In this project, we used an infra-red non-contact temperature sensor, and a heart rate and pulse oximetry sensor to continuously monitor an infant’s health condition. A microphone-based breathing monitoring system used to be a part of the project but was later dropped due to physical and cost constrain. Interfacing different sensors, and acquiring and processing data in real time is a challenging task and requires dedicated hardware. Therefore, we chose to implement this project using field programmable gate array (FPGA), which has

become one of the most widely used platforms for real-time application.

Our project aims to create an interactive display for the EECS department in order to make it more welcoming as well as showcase student and faculty projects more easily. Design setup is accomplished by encasing a large screen, a computer, and a Kinect in a display on the second floor of Pangborn Hall. This project is divided into two main tasks: (1) Make the screen interactive by connecting it with a portable computer and a Windows Kinect camera that interprets gestures of users, and (2) create a user friendly application that contains information from the EECS website and other locations. All information is updated through files stored in Dropbox and controlled by the EECS office. Small games are included to make the display beyond simply informational. The Kinect camera is programmed to recognize a user’s hand, replacing mouse input while emitting equivalent hardware events, enabling the user to remotely control the display in a manner transparent to the OS. The programming for the Kinect is accomplished using the Kinect open source API and C#; the user friendly application is written using JavaFX Scene Builder to aid in the GUI creation and

Java for the back end functions.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE

Crib Monitoring System

Dat Tran, Kiet Duong Advisor: Dr. Ujjal K.Bhowmik

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department Interactive Hallway Informational Display

James Huddleston, Alexandra Gillis, Tho Vi, Meshari Alluqmani Advisor: Dr. Patricio Simari & Dr. Georges Nehmetallah

The objective of this project is to create an augmented reality system. The system will allow the user to introduce virtual objects into a physical environment and to simulate the interactions between the two. There are many applications for this type of system in areas of industrial training, entertainment, and advertising. For example where training might be an expensive endeavor, this system could reduce the costs of training and increase its portability. To our knowledge, this kind of system has not been robustly implemented using open source, easily obtainable, and low cost components. The hardware for this project consists entirely of off the shelf materials and custom parts that can be easily manufactured at home or on a 3D printer. Specifically, this project will take Xbox Kinect, Oculus Rift DK2, and generic webcams to create the augmented reality platform. The Xbox SDK and Unity/Oculus SDKs will also be used to write the software. As part of the contributions of this project, all of the source code generated as part of this

project will also contribute to the open source community surrounding the Oculus Rift.

A rice cooking robot is designed to provide college students the nutritional essentials to maintain a balanced diet and the ability to cook rice at anytime and anywhere. The rice cooking robot features a Wi-Fi module that receives information from a cellular application: indicating the quantity of rice to be cooked. The project aims at writing an application for the Android platform. Features of the program include: quantity of rice to be cooked and status of each ingredient and the status of the rice. Each of the containers has sensors alerting the rice and water levels. Should the amount of rice be inadequate in cooking the designated amount; the robot will relay messages to the cellular device. The same case is applied when the rice is finished cooking. This design project considers both a mechanical and an electrical engineering component. The frame, pulleys, water pumps and servos constitute a mechanical aspect while programming the Arduino, crafting an application and analyzing the circuitry pertains to an electrical point of view. Because communicating with the robot is

wireless, the robot is valuable for cooking rice at a long distance without the presence of any individual.


Real Environment Collision in Virtual Space

Matthew Melly, Lance VanArsdale Advisor: Dr. Patricio Simari

Rice Cooking Robot

Anthony Nguyen, Tri Nguyen, Tung Nguyen Advisor: Dr. Mathews and Dr. Liu

Self balancing robotics has been readily deployed in several modern control systems, particularly in the aviation industry and autonomous robots. Our goal was to design a self‐balancing robotic control system for a skateboard that will balance a variety of loads, particularly a human user under a reasonable terrain and environment. The design of the system is similar to that of the inverted pendulum control system, which consists of a gyroscope and accelerometer sensor input to a microcontroller. The Arduino fuses the sensor data and calculates using a PID motor controller, the appropriate speed for motors to balance the system. Closed loop feedback is used to take the input inclination angle from the sensors and make the corrections based off the closed-loop error. To test the system response, MATLAB simulations were performed where the system was modeled as an inverted pendulum in order to show the system is stable. Parameters such as rise time and percent overshoot were found from plotting the real-time response. Future work includes enhancing the self-balancing algorithm for balancing the roll, rather than

limiting it to pitch as well as a more compact hardware design.

The main objective of this project is to take advantage of IBM's Watson’s cognitive reasoning capability and use it for spectrum management purposes. We will be submitting queries to a web-based Watson Q&A application in order to get responses that may help us with spectrum managing decisions. To make it easy for end users, we will be creating an Android application that will both interface with Watson web application and function as a tool to aid the users in propagation loss predictions. The application will have functionality that will help the users calculate the path loss over various types of geographical terrains. This calculator will make use of the Deygout Method for forested/mountainous regions and the Okumura-Hata model for built-up areas. In order to make the app more user-friendly, we would like to add guides to help the users figure out the appropriate values to input as the variables used in the calculations, as well as speech-to-text functionality for the query input. The goal for this application is to gather data and

calculate values used for spectrum management as efficiently and easily as possible.


Self-Balancing Skateboard

Matthew Dillon, Jorge Coronado Advisor: Dr. Erion Plaku

Spectrum Management with Watson

Ngoc Tran, Austin Mueller Advisor: Dr. Ramesh Bharadwaj, Dr. Ozlem Kilic, and Dr. Lin-Ching Chang

High-altitude weather balloons were used to launch an increasingly sophisticated series of payloads starting with simple atmospheric sensors, adding "edge-of-space" photo and sub-atomic particle detectors, and finishing with a glider payload that autonomously returns itself to a predetermined landing zone. Payloads were designed, built, and tested using a systems engineering approach then launched from 35,000 to 110,000 feet and successfully recovered. All payloads contained a basic atmospheric sensor suite, an embedded system controller, GPS geo-location sensor, video camera, and a communications link for telemetry reporting to the ground station. Later flights added a satellite communications link for remote command and control over the payload, and an RF link for live streaming video. High-fidelity weather models were used to plan all launches to identify candidate launch and landing sites, iterated and updated on launch day 4 hours before launch. To insure the packages were flight ready three tests were preformed. A bench test to test the sensors, a crash test to test the casing, and a tethered outdoor

launch test to test the launching process.

Our senior design is to build the real anechoic chamber with an antenna positioning system for Synthetic Aperture Radar to sense visually obscured objects and has applications on geological surveys, crack detection in concrete, or mine detection. Based on the data collected from the scanning, imaging technique and some signal processing techniques is applied to reconstruct the 3D image of scanned objects. Another application for this system is the Antenna pattern measurements, in this measurements, a testing antenna with known pattern will be the transmitter and an antenna as a receiver will scan and the data collected will be processed to get the measured pattern. This measured pattern will be compared with the standard pattern of that transmitter

to see how similar they are.


The Weather Balloon Project

Paul Burns, Sarah Cunningham, Peter Shagnea, Seth Tavera, Abdulkader Turkistani, Joseph Wright Advisor: Dr. Russo and Dr. Schuette

3D-Imaging and Near-Field Measurements using Anechoic Chamber

Toan K Vo Dai, Anh Thai Advisor: Dr. Ozlem Kilic & Prof. Kevin Russo

The goal of this project is to design a cooling system that minimizes moving parts, and thus vibrations, while matching the specification of the current device, the NesLab RTE 7. The current device is used for the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer, a system of imaging arrays, and creates a significant amount of vibrations, which adds noise that needs to be removed for very precise measurements. The new system will utilize design will utilize the Peltier chips to remove heat from the water. These chips will be placed on the side of a tank using clamps. Pressure from the clamps and thermal paste will be used to maximize heat transfer. A combination of heatsinks and forced air flow is used to dissipate the heat generated by the chips. The frame is designed not only to house the components but also to optimize air flow around the heatsinks and create a firm connection between the all of the parts. The power supply of the design is designed specifically for needs of the device and include both DC and AC voltages. The system is controlled via PID temperature

controller connected to a steady state relay that set the Peltier module chips in an on or off state.

The purpose of this project is to design a thermally comfortable helmet that would keep the human head at a relatively cool temperature that is lower than the outside ambient air temperature. The helmet functions by utilizing the Peltier effect in the thermoelectric cooling chips, this is a new approach compared to the traditional fan cooling system that is widely used in many applications. The inspiration for the initial design came from technological advances currently utilized by the Peltier effect. The system includes a water bag that is in contact with the Peltier chip’s cold side and cools the human head by conduction. The Peltier chip’s hot side is connected to a heat sink that would help dissipate the heat by convection. Several design components were developed and analyzed using Solid Works to determine the heat transfer. The Peltier chip is connected to an Arduino microcontroller with a relay switch for ease of comfort control, as well as an additional safety mechanism within the Arduino code to power

off the device.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Thermoelectric Cooler

Joseph Shillinglaw, Alexander Belk, Christian Guzman, Peter Clemente Advisor: Dr. John Judge

Thermoelectric Cooling Helmet

Ali AlShafai, Huy Le, Minh Ngo, Mohammed Al-Ayesh Advisor: Dr. John Judge

Usain boat is a fully autonomous surface vehicle designed to fulfill the main task of navigating through an unknown path of water buoys. Due to the requirement of autonomous vehicle, the engineering students and faculty have developed a computer vision software integrated with a system of navigation and electronic sensors (IMU and GPS) which will work together with the goal of producing accurate commands that will

control the boat's impellers and consequently the direction that the boat moves.

The CUA Cardinals' aircraft displays the engineering skills that The Catholic University of America School of Engineering has instilled in its students. Its innovated features of a unique fuselage connection, slim rod-like main body, and inversely controlled aircraft control systems set it apart from other aircrafts. During the first semester, the CUA Cardinals team researched, designed, analyzed, and optimized their SolidWorks designs. During the first half of the second semester, they ordered and manufactured their specific components to fit and mirror their design from last semester. By March the final assembly and first flight test was conducted with additional test flights in April. The CUA Cardinals team plans to travel

to Van Nuys, California in late April to compete in the SAE Aero West Competition.

The purpose of this project is to extend the prototyping capabilities for the Engineering School. It will improve the quality and experience in the McCarthy Design Lab for all engineering students. The GreenLean vertically oriented CNC machine kit was purchased with several major missing components. In order to run the machine reliably over extended periods of time and allow numerous diverse users, the CNC Team designed several integral sub-systems around the purchased kit. The CNC Team designed a dust collection system with an integrated high-powered dust collector, cooling


CUA Autonomous Surface Vehicle Design

Augusto César Santos Peixoto, Rafael Lima Thomaz, Ronaldo Chaves Reis Advisor: Dr. John Judge

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Competition

Joshua Bryant, Cameron Daniels, Diogenes Dichoso, Hannah Gillis Advisor: Dr. John Judge

CNC Machine with Cooling, Dust-Collection, and Safety Systems

Vincent Maggio, Christian Riegle, Michael Spielberger Advisor: Dr. John Judge

system for the water-cooled spindle, safety enclosure for user safety, safe-shutdown sensors, and a support structure that enables users to transport the machine to different locations via leveling casters. The final product will be useful to future senior design projects, other student projects, faculty research

projects, etc., from all Engineering departments.

A remote-control plane was designed to meet the regular class requirements for the SAE Aero competition. This category requires that the maximum dimensions, (the sum of the length, width, and height) of the plane be no more than 175 inches (in.). The maximum weight, including the payload, cannot exceed 55 pounds (lb). The maximum takeoff distance is 200 ft, and the maximum landing distance is 400 ft. The CUA Cardinals defined the main goals to be succeed. Firstly, the ideal payload weight that the plane would be able to carry was 25 lb. In addition, the team designed the airplane to be as light, ideally under 10 lb, stable, manufacturable and aerodynamically efficient. To achieve these goals, the CUA Cardinals designed the plane with a tapered wing located on top of the fuselage, and a traditional tail. It has a tail-dragger landing gear setup and the back of the fuselage consists of ribs to reduce the weight of the aircraft. The majority of the airplane was constructed with balsa wood and

foam.

The SAE Aero Design competition has universities compete against each other to design, build, and ultimately fly an RC plane that can lift as much weight as possible, while the structure remains as light as possible. This project allows us to translate the skills we have learned in the classroom to a real life engineering experience. Our goal was to design a plane that would be constructed almost entirely out of balsa wood to minimize the weight as much as possible, and have the majority of the weight be from the payload. To do this we needed to design the wing with an airfoil that could produce enough of a lift force to carry the total weight of the plane and the payload into the air. We spent the entirety of the Fall 2014 semester designing our plane,

and the Spring 2015 fabricating it just in time for our preliminary flight test on April 1st.


High Lift Model Airplane

Andre Aquino, Dominic Renner, Emma Needham, Fahad Jambi Advisor: Dr. John Judge

Senior Design: SAE Aero Design Competition

Steven O'Leary, Colin Feeney, Steven Mastro, Will Horne Advisor: Dr. John Judge, Dr. Eric Kommer, and Ken Romney

School of Engineering The Catholic University of America

620 Michigan Ave, NE, Washington DC 20064 http://engineering.cua.edu EMAIL: [email protected]

The engineering program was established in 1896, soon after the founding of The Catholic University of America. Formally established in 1930, it was shortly thereafter renamed the School of

Engineering & Architecture until 1992, when engineering and architecture were separated.

Prior to 1950, Engineering’s primary focus was on undergraduate studies, as well as graduate programs. Research activity and graduate professional offerings increased steadily after 1950. Today, the school offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in five academic programs as well as a master's degree in engineering management. The school prides itself on being a small, Catholic engineering school, providing quality education with a personal touch. Students can expect close interaction with faculty, small class sizes, small student-to-faculty ratios, and a faculty dedicated to

teaching and research.

The school's strong ties with local research institutions such as NASA, NIH and NRL, etc. foster

research collaborations and enable our faculty to bring research experience into the classroom.

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

SDD ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Dr. Sahana Kukke (BE, CUA)

Dr. Eric Kommer (ME, CUA)

Dr. John Judge (ME, CUA)

Dr. Ozlem Kilic (EECS, CUA)

Dr. Min Liu (CE, CUA)

SENIOR DESIGN INSTRUCTORS

Afshin Nabili (SOE)

Dr. Steve Brown (SOE)

Cecelia Harper (SOE)

Peggy Bruce (SOE)

Ruth Hicks (ME)

Renay Serrano (CE)

Suraya Adam (BE)

Amanda Crowe (EECS)

Maria Sorensen (EM)

senior design day brochure

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