Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) is a class of online planning algorithms for Markov decision processes (MDPs) and related models that has found success in challenging applications. In the online planning approach, the agent makes a decision in the current state by performing a limited forward search over possible futures...
Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) enable opportunistic access to the licensed channel resources by allowing unlicensed users to exploit vacant channel opportunities. One effective technique through which unlicensed users, often referred to as Secondary Users (SUs), acquire whether a channel is vacant is cooperative spectrum sensing. Despite its effectiveness in enabling...
Over the last 20 years, there has been rapid growth in the amount of installed wind power in the Pacific Northwest, specifically in the Columbia River Gorge. The variable and non-dispatchable nature of this resource requires that it be balanced in some form by other sources on the grid. In...
Disaster response robots need to be simultaneously able to survive extreme environment and complete the mission efficiently and robustly. One of the determinants is the performance of the actuators in each joint, which drive the robot to the desired motion accurately. In robotics society, people usually build their robots directly...
This thesis compares the implementation of additive manufactured suspension uprights against subtractive manufactured suspension uprights from concept generation, design, and validation through simulation. Additive manufactured suspension uprights were designed for Global Formula Racing’s 2023 electric vehicle. Utilizing Siemens NX, Nastran, Fusion 360, and Ansys Workbench both subtractive and additive manufactured...
Radio frequency (RF) sensing arises as a promising option for enabling the internet of things (IoT) applications that transform our life into a world of smart homes, smart cities, and smart industries. The innovation of IoT reveals the benefits of RF sensing across cost, pervasiveness, unobtrusiveness, and privacy. However, challenges...
This thesis concerns the development of a direct torque control strategy using a sliding mode control approach to optimize the power output of an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter (WEC). The OWC WEC is a device that has a submerged vertical tail tube open at both ends, which...
The United States depends on the electrical grid infrastructure for nearly every facet of its operation. Understanding how inclement weather affects the reliability of the grid and what the U.S. is doing to ensure its resiliency will be a key step moving forward into the 21st century as global climate...
The electrical grid of the Western Interconnection is vulnerable to earthquake damage, especially large-magnitude megathrust events, due to the unique seismic profile of the region. However, the size of the Western Interconnection makes it difficult to model seismic failure in electrical substations to the level of detail necessary to improve...
This thesis is the combination of two research publications working toward a unified strategy in which to represent complex engineered systems as complex networks. Current engineered system modeling techniques segment large complex models into multiple groups to be simulated independently. These methods restrict the evaluations of such complex systems as...