Flashbangs used for military or law enforcement purposes are explosive by nature and therefore potentially harmful not only to the assailant and the user, but also to the surrounding environment. Commercial electronic flashbangs attempt to replicate the size and appearance of traditional flashbangs, but may not be powerful enough to be incapacitating while remaining unharmful in the long term. The BRITE is a more versatile alternative to these flashbangs.

Powered by a rechargeable battery and equipped with high-powered LEDs and buzzers, the BRITE can be controlled remotely and run continuously for five minutes. High-powered LEDs flash at a blinding frequency and a 110 dB buzzer goes off to disorient and distract assailants. All components are housed in a cylindrical tube made of hard plastic with soft, hexagonal end caps to absorb shocks during use.

Automated systems can optimize production and daily operations in manufacturing environments. Competitive Engineering Inc. seeks to maintain quality standards by automating the process of inspecting a gear for flatness and dimensional accuracy. The team designed a system to safely complete the inspection process with repeatability and flexibility.

The system design includes a UR5 robotic arm equipped with a custom vacuum gripper, a Gocator 3D laser profile scanner and a Keyence dimensional inspection tool. The team machined fixture plates with unique rod patterns to hold gears in the correct orientation for inspection. The design focuses on the compatibility of the fixtures with the Vention workbench, vacuum gripper and the 5th Axis mounting plates. The robot is programmed to load and unload gears throughout the system while managing the results of each inspection. The system can efficiently inspect and categorize without operator interaction.

This project presents a proof-of-concept demonstration of geometric phase in an optical system, using out-of-plane mirror systems. The team built the physical mirror system with actual hardware, while they “built” the identical virtual mirror system inside of the Airy Optics VR Lab environment. The two mirror systems are linked through software so users can interact with either system to alter one or both mirror sets. The two systems can operate independently or in sync.

In the physical space, the team designed a frame that uses motors and motor drivers to enable precise rotational and linear movement of the mirrors. A custom Mathematica algorithm precisely aligns them using a generated list of 800 possible configurations. A laser with a customizable initial geometric phase propagates through the mirrors, and a polarimeter measures the polarization change. The physical system is controlled by a standalone Java application, which can communicate with the virtual system.

In the VR space, a corresponding set of mirrors displays real-time ray tracing using Polaris-M. The virtual subsystem consists of the virtual mirror setup and a graphical user interface to control each mirror position, both of which run with the Unity engine. A user can specify the polarization angle change in the optical subsystem, which alters the mirror positioning in both systems.

Tucson Electric Power aims to provide 70% of its power through renewable energy sources and reduce carbon emission levels by 80% by 2035. As the electric vehicle market increases, one part of meeting these goals is expanding the availability of affordable solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations.

This standalone system converts solar energy into electricity using a Maximum Power Point Tracking feature, a technique that optimizes the variable solar power input energy. This optimal energy is then extracted and routed to the charging circuit subsystem that contains a 240kV step up isolation transformer and a buck converter that steps down the voltage to power an Arduino MEGA 2560 microcontroller. The Arduino monitors and communicates digital control to the closed-loop cooling subsystem to keep the internal temperature within operable limits.

The solar charging circuit, microcontroller and cooling system are enclosed in a National Electric Manufacturers Association 3R-rated external housing system, making the off-grid solar power converter able to withstand extreme weather conditions. This system will allow users to charge electric vehicles directly from solar panels without grid interconnectivity.

Vegetation stress is a key indicator of crop health, which often is determined using manual field analysis. This project presents a real-time drone analysis as a cost- and time-saving alternative. The Crop Level of Stress Analysis with Visual Export (CLOSAVE) software system can detect and categorize the level of stress in vegetation leaves.

The design is split up into two elements. The primary element is the CLOSAVE software, which receives video from a drone as it flies over a crop and then uses machine learning algorithms to indicate areas of stress detected on the plant. A commercial off-the-shelf color camera captures the video, and the software is pre-trained to recognize vegetation stress indicators. The second element is a drone, custom-built entirely by the team, that uses parts tailored to the design requirements of the software.

Many hard of hearing or deaf individuals depend on a translator or lip reading in group settings.

The Smart Voice Recognition System (SVRS) design helps users identify what a speaker is saying via voice-to-text, who the speaker is, and where they are located in a room – all using an iPad graphical user interface (GUI). Wireless transfer of direction information and audio files ensure ease of use and portability.

SVRS incorporates a neural network learning model to accomplish the voice recognition component. A built-in voice-to-text framework provides real-time mapping from speech to text. Filtered audio detected by the microphone array and defined by a GUI arrow identifies directionality. A Raspberry Pi connected to the microphone array houses all of the directionality software. The application that houses the voice recognition and voice-to-text software is loaded onto an iPad. And, the iPad and Raspberry Pi are connected via wireless ad-hoc network using MQTT.

Density and porosity measurements are critical to analyzing asteroid samples, typically found on Earth. The OSIRIS-REx project presents a unique opportunity to analyze carbon-rich samples from an actual asteroid, Bennu. Accurate porosity measurements can indicate trapped moisture during the formation of an astronomical body.

The team applied gas pycnometry theory to design a system that mitigated risk of sample contamination and damage, met material and spatial requirements, and accommodated various sample sizes.

The students used error analysis and modeling to determine optimal volume and number of reference chambers. Without lubricants, non-approved materials or shearing contact points, they designed a novel chamber with a gas-tight seal. They used a pressure transducer and LabVIEW VI for measurements. The team combined pressure measurements, the ideal gas law, and 3D sample measurements to determine porosity. Automation allowed for rapid repetition, minimal change in the sample environment, and precise measurements.

General Dynamics Mission Systems performs periodic preventative and corrective maintenance on all of its Rescue 21 direction finding (DF) radio towers for the U.S. Coast Guard. A new true north offset line of bearing must verify direction during tower maintenance. Previously, the costly process involved sailing a boat along a specific path or driving a vehicle on difficult terrain to take measurements with specialized equipment.

This project presents a lightweight, modular attachment for a drone that effectively and efficiently calibrates DF radio towers.

The design attaches a small module with data recording/measuring capabilities to a DJI Mavic Air Drone. Drone pilots toggle on power to the module, activating the Arduino microcontroller and initiating data recording. As the DF North Offset Drone Test Module (NODTM) transmits very high frequency (VHF) signals at specific time intervals during flight around the tower, it simultaneously records and stores position, time and duration data. The data is exported as a single log file and post-processed to produce a DF tower calibration.

Modern technology is providing new functionality for data processing interactions between general purpose processors (GPPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). Systems on a chip (SOCs) open up the bottlenecks when GPPs and FPGAs are implemented into different integrated circuits. Software-defined radio (SDR) boards include RFIC radio frequency integrated circuits that reduce size, weight and power while improving performance.

This project involved prototyping FPGA software to evaluate the capabilities of the Rincon Raptor board. The team examined the types of processing performed in SDRs, developed an architecture to exploit the interfaces supported by the SOC and prototyped and evaluated an RFIC/FPGA/GPP implementation on SOC hardware.

The team developed signal processing functions in VHDL to find the limitations of the Raptor board’s data rate. Equipped with a Xilinx UltraScale SOC, featuring a combination of a traditional general-purpose processor and FPGA, the Raptor board acts as an ideal environment for development. This setup allows for quicker signal processing speed.

Medical catheters are tubes inserted in body cavities, vessels and ducts to drain body fluids. The diaphragm membrane is a critical component of the catheter. It bursts at a certain pressure when a blockage occurs to allow fluids to flow through the opening created. One such use for this membrane design would be in a brain shunt to drain cerebrospinal fluid. Because of the body’s sensitivity to pressure, especially in the brain, the membrane must burst at a specific pressure to ensure no damage is done to the brain. These ultrathin membranes are difficult to produce.

This team developed a method to achieve the same burst pressure in the membrane while ensuring a consistent manufacturing process. The approach focused on creating a diaphragm membrane with an intentional slit geometry to act as a weak point and burst at a given pressure, providing an alternative path for fluid drainage. The students analyzed several slit geometries and corresponding manufacturing capabilities.

The slits in the membrane were produced using a laser ablation device. The membrane was made from biocompatible liquid silicone rubber to minimize adverse affects on surrounding tissue. The team pressure-tested its design, and, with a durometer, measured the hardness of the silicone. To ensure the system was reproducible, the team analyzed capability and performance standards using the PPK process.