Navigating a River of Glass and Plastic

Project number
25015
Organization
Microsoft
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The purpose of the project is to design and build a tool, or a series of tools, to expedite the pulling of active optical cables (AOC) in the fiber trays of new and existing datacenters. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) computing, the need to construct complex network infrastructure has exploded and new techniques for deploying cables faster need to leverage. Today, AOC data cables at Microsoft data centers sit in cables trays that are mounted above the aisleways requiring personnel to be working from heights; there is an opportunity to create a tool which not only speeds up deployment but improves safety by reducing the amount of time personnel need to work at heights.

1. The design must be compatible with cable tray widths of 6", 12", and 24".
2. It must accommodate cable diameters from 3mm to 7mm, including transceivers at the ends.
3. Variants of the design for different cables and tray widths are permissible, provided they derive from the original design.
4. Safety for personnel in usage and operation of the design is imperative.
5. The design must withstand a 3-meter drop test.
6. It must prevent damage to both the cables being installed and those already in place. Detailed specifications and testing protocols will be supplied.
7. The design should be suitable for mass production, with a target of over 1000 units annually. Cost per unit will be a key measure of success.
8. The design should enable the simultaneous pulling of at least 8 cables without causing damage.
9. It should facilitate faster cable deployment.

******This sponsor will not be present at Open House. If interested, please sign up for an interview slot here - https://bit.ly/Microsoft25015******

Camera for Aerospace Situational Awareness

Project number
25014
Organization
Parker Meggitt
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
Parker Meggitt is looking to develop a platform to demonstrate new technology in the aerospace camera market. The system will simulate an aircraft with multiple cameras installed, and display the views as a single "Birds eye view". Additionally, the display will highlight objects that are near the aircraft to aid in collision avoidance.

The requirements for the system are:
1) The system shall provide a birds eye view of the area surrounding an aircraft model.
2) The system shall detect and highlight objects that are near the aircraft model.
3) Objects that will collide with the aircraft model shall be highlighted in a different manner.
4) The cameras shall be installed on an aircraft model.
5) The aircraft model shall be less than 24”wide x 24”long x 12” tall.
6) The system shall provide means to display each camera view individually.
7) The system shall require no more than one cable/harness interface to the aircraft model.

CASA Device for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment

Project number
25013
Organization
UA College of Medicine
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
This project continues the efforts initiated during the previous capstone program. The goal was to create a wearable CASA (carpal arch space augmentation) device that applies a compressive force to the carpal tunnel area and relieve the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. One of the previous groups worked on a manual approach that utilized a printed brace, spring force mechanism, and cord tightening system. The design applied a force to the carpal tunnel area via the spring force mechanism, and the force applied was controlled through the cord tightening system. The other previous group worked on an automatic approach using a medical bladder and pneumatic pump. The system was designed to inflate and deflate the medical bladder automatically at specified intervals during the treatment period. In this capstone project, the specific aim is to improve upon the supportive housing, epidermal interface, and force generator with a solution that is affordable and comfortable.

Self-sterilizing Enclosed Face Shield for Healthcare Workers.

Project number
25012
Organization
LumiVici
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The face shield and required battery power supply must be comfortable, easy to wear, and biomedically designed for safe and efficient air exchange to support human respiration. The UV LED light source may be located remotely and coupled to various locations of the face shield or alternatively, multiple LEDs may be mounted at various locations of the mask. The light level of the UV source will be monitored and regulated by a simple control circuit or a microcontroller to ensure within federal safety limits. Optical, mechanical, electrical, and software designs must be well documented. Light measurements must also be provided demonstrating that safe irradiance levels uniformly distributed within the face shield have been achieved.

Preliminary Design Study for a Blended Wing Body Seaplane

Project number
25011
Organization
The New Nose Company, Inc.
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
NNC is investigating the feasibility for a long range amphibious seaplane to support offshore missions. The primary mission includes deploying divers, submersibles, and other payloads at sea. Secondary missions include maritime surveillance and search & rescue. This project will expand on the initial concept definitions NNC is exploring.

The basic airframe will employ a blended wing body (BWB) configuration incorporating an integral catamaran hull and a cargo door for payload ingress & egress.
(1) Work with NNC engineering to define several airframe and powerplant conceptual configurations that merit initial evaluation based on the NNC supplied Requirements Specification.
(2) Perform initial sizing, configuration layout, & propulsion integration design studies.
(3) With NNC concurrence, identify 1 or more candidates for further development.
(4) Refine the down-selected configuration(s) with additional design detail.
(5) Model airframe & hull and perform basic CFD simulations to determine the representative airframe L/D and identify drag reduction strategies.
(6) Perform a Stability & Control Analysis to determine if a conventional control system is satisfactory, or if a Fly-By-Wire control system will be needed.
(7) Develop a preliminary Structural Layout for the airframe.
(8) Build (3D print) a model and verify CFD simulation data with wind tunnel data.

309 AMARG Advanced Modules

Project number
25010
Organization
DMAFB 309 AMARG, supported by the Craig M Berge Dean's Community Fund
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of using additive manufacturing to create advanced modules for aircraft storage at AMARG. Please see attached scope document for details.

3D Printer Plastic Filament Verification System

Project number
25009
Organization
Engineering Design Center
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
Project Scope: Academic Makerspaces like the Engineering Design Center and the CATalyst Studios generate a large amount of plastic waste from 3D printing. This waste is often generated from novice users learning the 3D printing process. A crucial step in this process is using the correct material settings for the material supplied to the machine. Using incorrect setting typically results in failed prints and plastic waste. This project aims to resolve this issue by creating a plastic filament verification system for the most common 3D printer plastic filaments: PLA, ASA, PETG.
Scope: (1) Work with Professors Briggs, Budinoff, and Sawyer to understand the current plastics verification methods used and the open-source information available. (2) Evaluate existing information and projects to draw inspiration and resources. (3) Design a plastic verification sensor using discrete near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to detect PLA, ASA, and PETG plastic filament. (4). Build a prototype plastic filament verification sensor that can be integrated with a Prusa Mini 3D printer, complete with optical, mechanical, electrical diagrams and source code. (5) Develop Prusa Mini firmware that will automatically change or notify the user to change the print settings based on the plastic detected. (6) Test system with supplied material and iterate on previous steps until issues are resolved. (7) Document project and resources to be distributed to an open-source community. (8) Present results in a video documentation and website for the UArizona community and the general public.

SPIDER: Semi-Autonomous Precision Intelligent Detection and Elimination Robot, Phase III

Project number
25008
Organization
UA Department of Biosystems Engineering
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
- Duplicate Phase II construct (SPIDER Beta) using same materials, plans, and software. No innovation required or desired.
- Maintain current functionality of SPIDER Beta.
- Integrate Computer Vision and Machine Learning to identify plants in grass with 90% or better certainty.
- Integrate a method to destroy plants that are identified as pests, with a preference on a mechanical means i.e. crushing, cutting, burning, etc.
-- Chemical destruction is _not_ prohibited, but discouraged.
- Integrate a 'return home' feature when the battery is at 10% or less.
- Integrate a single recharge method (rather than charging batteries individually).
- Integrate audio and visual (light) feedback to report:
-- when battery is low/full
-- when a weed has been identified for destruction
-- and when SPIDER detects an obstacle, engaging avoidance protocols
- Deliver all telemetry, controls, and inputs to a website (can be local) with a user-friendly UI.

Ocean Light Control

Project number
25007
Organization
UA Biosphere 2
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The Biosphere 2 Ocean (B2O) Lighting and Flow Project will provide supplemental lighting and current to the B2O for planned coral research in the system. A 50/50 blend of alternating LED and metal halide lamps spaced 1.5m apart creates a blending of lamps that optimizes spectral coverage in the necessary wavelengths for corals as well as energy usage and heat output. An element that is critically lacking from this project is a control system for the lights. Our smaller scale raceway tanks have lights that can operate as an array to produce customized lighting programs that provide ideal photoperiod, wavelengths and intensities for corals by ramping up in the morning and down in the evening. Such sophisticated levels of control on large scale systems using floodlights are not commercially available and would need to be designed in-house or outsourced by a contractor. Most large-scale aquariums opt for a simple on/off for their lights, which is where B2O will start. However, we have an additional challenge. The LED lights are adjusted using two knobs on top of the light itself, and safety regulations mandate that the lights be off when anyone is on the water. Therefore, we cannot adjust the lights while they are on. The aim of this project is to design an offshore controllable system with custom programming and adjustment based on sensor input for 86 LEDs and dimming for 79 metal halides at a maximum distance of 100ft away. A Senior Engineering Capstone Team will build a prototype for one out-of-warranty LED.
Requirements:
• Shall be a microcontroller-based system
• Shall have a user interface
• Shall operate at 100ft away from the light
• Shall control blue and white light intensity channels
• Shall have customizable on/off times
• Shall have customizable light parameters at certain times (lighting program)
• Shall have an optional setting where PAR sensor data adjusts the light settings automatically

Active Shooter Response, Door Breaching System

Project number
25006
Organization
UA Police Department/ALERRT, supported by the Craig M Berge Dean's Community Fund
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
Law enforcement must be prepared to rapidly and directly respond to any active shooter event, which includes breaching any barriers that stand in the way. In schools and hospitals, many doors are reinforced, metal, high-security doors, which renders traditional breaching tools like the Halligan and battering ram far less effective. When every second counts, these traditional tools require multiple officers to spend valuable minutes laboring to gain entry while lives are potentially lost and simultaneously exposing officers to extended risk inside the "fatal funnel". The next generation of dynamic entry tool needs to be usable by only one operator to breach a metal security-door in under 2 minutes and lightweight enough to be usable by smaller-framed operators.

Scope:
(1) Work directly with end-users (Team Leaders of UAPD, ALERRT, FBI, Pima Regional SWAT Team, and TPD SWAT Team) to understand the strengths and limitations of the traditional breaching tools used by first responders for dynamic entry.
(2) Evaluate specialized tools in use by SWAT at critical incidents and research, develop, and innovate a new solution to dynamic entry tools and techniques.
(3) Develop features that reduce the number of operators required to breach a door to one, the amount of time spent in the "fatal funnel" to under 2 minutes, and a design with increased accessibility/usability for smaller-sized operators.
(4) Test system for function and survivability in various environments and use cases.
(5) Work closely with and present regular updates and testing results to Team Leaders with the FBI, UAPD, SWAT, and ALERRT.
(6) Apply for and obtain a patent on behalf of the University of Arizona.

Get started and sponsor a project now!

UA engineering students are ready to take your project from concept to reality.