engineering design day 2012 - College of Engineering @ The ...

ENGINEERING DESIGN DAY May 1, 2012

ENGINEERING DESIGN DAY 2012 

Sponsored by the University of Arizona College of Engineering 

SpoNSoRING A DESIGN pRoJECT 

Are you considering a design or manufacturing project of about 1,000 hours in scope that can be accomplished 

during an academic year (August-May)? Contact the appropriate program below by the end of June 2012 to 

develop the project and find out the conditions that apply. 

Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program Ara Arabyan arabyan@email.arizona.edu 520 621-2116 

Aerospace Engineering Sergey Shkarayev svs@email.arizona.edu 520 626-4470 

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Donald Slack slackd@email.arizona.edu 520 621-1607 

SpoNSoRING DESIGN DAY EVENTS oR AWARDS 

You can be a sponsor for Design Day 2013! Sponsorships and awards provide companies with expanded public 

visibility and supports the College of Engineering in its efforts to improve the training and employability of its graduates. 

If interested, please contact Ara Arabyan at 520-621-2116 or arabyan@email.arizona.edu for additional information. 

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May 1, 2012 

Dear Participants in the 10th Annual Engineering Design Day: 

I would like to welcome each of you to the 10th Annual Engineering Design Day. This event is where we demonstrate the broad array 

of design work going on here in the UA College of Engineering. Our audience today includes UA students, faculty, industry partners, 

alumni, local K-12 students, and family and community members. This is the best day of the academic year for all of us. 

This event is the product of the hard work of students, mentors, and faculty and, importantly, the generous support of and partnership 

with many individuals and organizations. The projects you find on display are sponsored and funded by companies, inventors, student 

clubs, and faculty. Professional mentors guide students through industry-standard procedures to realize their designs and to build 

prototypes within the framework formal design processes taught by faculty. On behalf of our students and faculty, I would like to 

thank all of our sponsors for their support and the time spent by everyone mentoring and guiding our students. 

Please stop, look and talk with the student teams about their projects. Give them a chance to “show you their stuff ” and please make a 

point of asking questions. They’ve spent a lot of time on their projects and would like nothing better than to help you see what they are 

all about. 

Above all, enjoy the day, as this is what engineering at the UA is all about! 

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey B. Goldberg 

Dean, College of Engineering 

College of Engineering 

Office of the Dean 

Civil Engineering Building #72 

P. O. Box 210072 

Tucson, AZ 85721-0072 

(520) 621-6594 

FAX: (520) 621-2232

TABLE oF CoNTENTS 

Engineering Design Day 2012 

DEAN‘S WELComE __________________________________ Page 2 

EVENT SChEDuLE __________________________________ Page 4 

EVENT mAp ______________________________________ Page 5 

LIST oF pRoJECTS DISpLAYED _________________________ Page 6-9 

AWARDS ________________________________________ Page 10-14 

pRoJECT DESCRIpTIoNS _____________________________ Page 15-71 

Photographs in this booklet are from Engineering Design Day 2011 by Pete Brown, UA College of Engineering. 

All contents ©2012 Arizona Board of Regents. All rights reserved. The University of Arizona an EEO/AA - M/W/D/V Employer. 

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ENGINEERING DESIGN DAY EVENT SChEDuLE 

May 1, 2012 

10:00am - 3:00pm Design Day Demos – Bear Down 

Gymnasium and outdoor area on 

north side of gymnasium* 

1:20pm - 3:00pm Judging of Design Day Demos 

to finalize awards 

3:00pm - 4:00pm Judges’ Meeting – Judges’ Area 

in Bear Down Gymnasium 

3:30pm - 4:00pm Comment cards delivered to each team by judges – Bear Down Gymnasium 

4:00pm - 4:30pm Awards Ceremony – Bear Down Gymnasium 

*Large projects can be found on ground level on the north side of the Bear Down Gymnasium just outside the entrance facing the UA Mall.

EVENT mAp 


See pages 6-9 to identify projects. 

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LIST oF pRoJECTS DISpLAYED 

AGRICuLTuRAL AND BIoSYSTEmS ENGINEERING 

Page Team# Project Title 

15 ABE-01 Portable Aquaponics 

16 ABE-02 Design and Construction of a Pilot Plant 

to Convert Waste Cooking Oil to Biodiesel 

17 ABE-03 Development of Very Quick Polymerase 

Chain Reaction (PCR) Device 

AERoSpACE ENGINEERING 


18 AERO-01 American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics: Design/Build/Fly Competition 

19 AERO-02 Autonomous Soaring Techniques for Application 

to Small Scale Unmanned Gliders 

20 AERO-03 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: 

Fast Aerial Reconnaissance (FAR) UAV 

21 AERO-04 Fixed-Wing VTOL Micro Air Vehicle 

22 AERO-05 The Clipperspirit Seaplane 

23 AERO-06 Joined Wing 

2012 LIST oF pRoJECTS DISpLAYED 

See map on page 5 to locate project tables

LIST oF pRoJECTS DISpLAYED (cont.) 

See map on page 5 to locate project tables 

INTERDISCIpLINARY ENGINEERING DESIGN pRoGRAm 


24 4873 Aircraft Thrust Recovery Valve (TRV) 

25 4891 Design of Experiments on Honeywell’s Heat Transfer Rig 

26 4892 High Power and Efficiency Generator Shaft Conduction Cooling 

27 4894 High Power and Efficiency Generator Insulating Compound 

28 4911 Alternate Methods of Bonding Teflon Liner to Metallic 

Substrates in Aircraft Bearings 

29 4912 Wireless Powered Sensor Network 

30 4913 Enhanced Digital Passenger Control Unit 

31 4914 Intelligent Webcrawler for Identifying Construction Leads 

32 4915 Robust Shaft Measurement Technique 

33 4916 CUVOPS V: Cooperative Unmanned Vehicle 

Operations Planning System 

34 4918 Small Mammal GPS Tracker 

35 4919 Automating Construction Digital Record Drawings 

36 4920 Jockey “Smart Helmet” for Horse Racing 

37 4921 Thermal Control for Emergency Shelters 

38 4931 SAMURAI (Semi-Autonomous Mapping and 

Urban Rescue Area Inspection) 

39 4932 Block-on-ring Sliding Wear Environmental Test Machine 

40 4934 Closed Cycle Cooled FIR Detector 

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INTERDISCIpLINARY ENGINEERING DESIGN pRoGRAm (cont.) 




41 4935 Digital Upgrade of a Fuel Flow Indicator 

42 4937 Ruggedized Helicopter Rotor Health Instrumentation 

43 4938 Autopilot Integration on Micro Air Vehicles 

44 4940 Automated Desiccant Bag Sealer 

45 4941 Simulated Aneurysm Deployment Model 

46 4942 Helium Testing Enclosure and Turbulence Mitigation Study 

47 4943 Portable Survey Tool 

48 4944 Design of Mounting Structures for Solar Array Modules: 

Roof Mount 

49 4946 Power Generation for a Building in Rural Vietnam 

50 4947 Fabrication Device for a Porous, Polymeric Vascular Graft 

51 4951 NASA Remote Imaging System Acquisition (RISA) 

Space Environment Multispectral Imager 

52 4952 Adhesive Dispensation Onto Microscope Slides 

53 4953 Micro-Fluidic Dispense System 

54 4954 Social Traveler Mobile Application 

55 4955 Warning System for Children/Pets Left in Cars 

56 4956 Intelligent Arc Fault Detector 

57 4957 The ‘Perfect Pour’ – Precision Liquid Dispensing 

and Inventory Tracking



INTERDISCIpLINARY ENGINEERING DESIGN pRoGRAm (cont.) 


58 4959 Viewing Earth’s Curvature with a Weather Balloon 

59 4961 Remote Listening Device 

60 4962 “Ring the Bell” Force Indicator 

61 4963 Fully-Automated Soil Testing and Control Systems 

62 4964 Electronic pH Pool Water Tester 

63 4965 Low-Cost Gimbal-less Image Stabilization System 

for Aerial Surveillance 

64 4966 Rotating Polarizer Polarimeter 

65 4967 Target Sensor System for Coastal Patrol Boat 

66 4968 Computational Optics 

67 4969 Modern Control Design for a Guided Missile Launcher 

68 4970 Dioptric Power Testing Device 

69 4971 Design of Mounting Structures for Solar Array Modules: 

Ground Mount 

70 5226 ASME – Human Powered Vehicle 

71 5227 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: 

Fast Aerial Reconnaissance – Launch Vehicle (FAR-LV) 

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AWARDS 


BAE SYSTEmS BEST oVERALL DESIGN AWARD (1ST pRIZE: $1,000, 2ND pRIZE: $750) 

While several designs may meet the judging criteria, this award is given to the designs that do so the 

most effectively. The project that receives this award excels in many ways. The design is well thought 

out and its implementation is of high quality. It accomplishes all key design requirements and is supported 

by rigorous analysis and/or testing as appropriate. Its poster and presentation are easy to understand 

and professional looking. 

TEXAS INSTRumENTS ANALoG DESIGN 

CoNTEST AWARDS (1ST pRIZE: $1,500, 2ND pRIZE: $500) 

Regardless of whether a design project is sponsored, who is sponsoring it, or what you choose to design, 

there are often analog integrated circuits required. Projects are judged on originality of design, quality 

of design, creativity of design, level of engineering analysis, and a written description of how each TI 

analog chip benefited the design. 

VENTANA INNoVATIoN IN ENGINEERING AWARD ($1,000) 

Innovation may include the novel use of existing components or the creation of entirely new components 

to meet customer requirements. The most innovative design will not only be a creative solution to a 

problem but also an effective solution that is well implemented. This award recognizes the team that 

has created or made use of components in the most innovative way and/or that has demonstrated 

excellence in the implementation innovative design in its project.

AWARDS 


hYDRoNALIX BEST CompuTER moDELING/ANALYSIS AWARD ($1,000) 

The purpose of this award is to recognize the team that best balances the use of Computer Modeling and/or Analysis with 

actual hardware testing and evaluation to verify their design parameters. Teams will be judged on the appropriateness of their 

computer modeling and/or analysis and its use to advance or enable the overall capability and effectiveness of their design. 

No preference will be given to the particular type of computer modeling/analysis performed or the computer tool(s) used to 

perform the modeling/analysis. 

EDmuND opTICS BEST uSE oF oFF-ThE-ShELF CompoNENTS AWARD ($750) 

A key aspect of the art of design is being able to design not just a functional product, but one that hits both cost and lead-time 

requirements. A custom part might easily fit the needs, but costs and lead-time associated with manufacturing it may not meet the 

goals of the project. This award recognizes a team’s ability to incorporate standard components into their design, to reduce costs 

and lead times. The award will be judged based on the ingenuity involved in finding a solution that avoided the need for custom 

manufacturing, the amount of components used and the complexity of the design involving the standard components. 

pADT BEST uSE oF pRoToTYpING AWARD ($750) 

This award recognizes the team that best used prototyping in their project. This award will go to the team that best used a physical 

prototype model in their project to understand and study the fit, form and/or function of the device or system they designed. Teams 

will be judged on the appropriateness of the prototyping technology used, how effectively they used prototyping to improve their 

design, and how effectively they communicated the use of prototyping in their study. Prototypes can be made using rapid fabrication 

technology, traditional manufacturing or be hand built. 

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AWARDS 


RAYThEoN BEST ENGINEERING ANALYSIS AWARD ($750) 

This award recognizes the team with the strongest strategy, implementation and documentation of analyses supporting their 

design. Analyses vary from project to project, but may include market research and analysis, analysis of prior solutions to 

the design problem posed, trade studies that justify the final design that was selected from among alternatives considered, 

system modeling to demonstrate that the final design is sound and should perform as desired, analysis of potential reasons 

for failure and a mitigation plan, and economic or other analysis of the benefits of the final design in its intended application. 

Criteria for judging will include the completeness of the project analysis based on the above categories, thoroughness of the 

analyses, application of sound engineering principles and practice, a demonstrated understanding by team members of any 

tools or models used, reasonableness of all assumptions, and the quality of the documentation of the analyses. 

RINCoN RESEARCh BEST pRESENTATIoN AWARD ($750) 

This award reflects the quality of the overall verbal and poster presentations. Verbal presentations should be well structured to 

describe efficiently the overall problem being solved and the specifics of how the team accomplished their design. Answers to 

questions should be direct and demonstrate mastery of the project. Presenters should speak in a clear and easily audible voice, 

making good eye contact with the judging pod. The poster board should be visually interesting, and graphically well organized to 

tell a stand-alone story of the project to outsiders. 

TEChNICAL DoCumENTATIoN CoNSuLTANTS oF ARIZoNA BEST DESIGN DoCumENTATIoN AWARD ($750) 

Successful implementation of any innovative design requires that all members of the design and production team communicate effectively. 

Design intent must be communicated from the design activity to the rest of the team using design documentation with a clear map for 

others to reproduce the design based on documentation only. The mechanical portion of the design will be evaluated on the use of drawings 

with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, solids models, illustrations, presentations, etc. that can be used to manufacture and inspect 

design hardware. Software and other systems will be evaluated on the use of documentation that clearly and fully describes the system.

AWARDS 


SARGENT AERoSpACE & DEFENSE VoLTAIRE DESIGN AWARD ($750) 

The French Philospher Voltaire is credited with the saying “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien” which roughly translated means 

“Better is the enemy of good enough.” Leonardo DaVinci is also credited with the saying “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. 

This award is intended to recognize the design team that best emulated these ideals and resisted the temptation to overly 

complicate the design and yielded a clean, simple, elegant, lowest cost design that simply works well. 

W.L. GoRE AND ASSoCIATES CREATIVE SoLuTIoN AWARD ($750) 

This award honors the student team that has implemented a unique and creative solution within their project. It recognizes outside 

the box thinking that pushes boundaries and hands-on approaches to creative solutions. Projects will be judged on the elegance 

and creativity of the technical solutions and the implementation thereof. Teams should be able to communicate effectively their 

design and the processes they used for creativity. 

LATITuDE ENGINEERING BEST phYSICAL ImpLEmENTATIoN oF ANALYTICALLY DRIVEN DESIGN ($500) 

Some individuals gravitate toward hands-on engineering, preferring to cut metal and build parts. Others are attracted to analytical 

approaches, developing simulations and models describing the real world. An excellent team encompasses both these skills, enabling 

optimal design followed by quality execution. This award seeks to recognize the integration of these skill sets. Bonus points are awarded 

for non-intuitive physical implementations driven by discoveries made through analytical design. 

RIDGETop GRoup BEST ELECTRoNIC DESIGN AWARD ($500) 

This award is given to the electronic design that best exemplifies innovation and quality. The best-practice design must meet the project 

requirements with minimum superfluous features and be capable of being duplicated with minimal tuning. It must be made from readily 

obtainable components, not be harmful to humans, and be capable of surviving a human body model electrostatic discharge (ESD) shock. 

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AWARDS 


hoNEYWELL TEAm LEADERShIp AWARD (TWo INDIVIDuALS AT $250 EACh) 

The purpose of this award is to recognize those students who best exemplify teamwork skills, including 

the ability to work cooperatively with others to produce high quality work, to take initiative, to support 

and respect the opinions of fellow team members, to give and receive feedback, to demonstrate 

effective leadership, to keep their team focused, and to elevate the work of their fellow team members. 

Nominees for this award are nominated by their teammates. 

pRoToTRoN CIRCuITS BEST CIRCuIT DESIGN AWARD ($250) 

This award recognizes the team that has designed or used the most elegant and efficient electronic 

circuit(s) in their project. Priority will be given to best PCB designs or applications. Originality and 

manufacturability of the design will be key criteria in selecting the winning team. However, all teams 

that have used any circuitry in their projects will be eligible for consideration. In the absence of any 

original designs, the originality of the use of off-the-shelf products and the manufacturability of the 

overall design will be used as selection criteria. 

FISh ouT oF WATER AWARD (1ST pRIZE $250, 2ND pRIZE $150) 

The Fish Out of Water award is intended to congratulate students for successfully accomplishing a 

task that was not in their realm of expertise. The projects for senior design require skills from many 

disciplines. Sometimes, students must learn a new subject or skill in an area outside of their major to 

best help the team succeed. A student that not only learns this new subject or skill, but also uses it to 

effectively help the team thrive within the allotted time shows dedication and initiative, traits that will 

continue to help in an engineering career.

poRTABLE AquApoNICS 

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering 

CLASS 

ABE 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Peter Livingston 

SpoNSoR mENToR/ADVISoR 


pRoJECT mENToR 


James Ebeling 

Kevin Fitzsimmons 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Angy Guzman (ABE) 

Jon Lepage (ABE) 

Sarah Cook (ABE) 

ABE = Agricultural and Biosystems 

Engineering 

TEAm ABE-01: pRoJECT SummARY 

Increasing demands on our natural 

resources require unique solutions. 

Our design combines an aquaculture 

subsystem with a hydroponics 

subsystem to maximize efficiency and 

fully utilize all resources with minimal 

waste and environmental impact. 

Current aquaponics designs use either 

rectangular raceways or circular 

tanks for the aquaculture subsystem. 

Circular tanks are very common and offer the advantage of efficient solid waste 

removal. Solids can be pushed down towards a center drain and flushed out of 

the system easily with rotational flow within the tank. Raceway designs are also 

used extensively and offer the advantage of better utilization of floor space. Our 

design brings these two configurations together by creating circular flow in three 

hydraulically separate units within one rectangular raceway. In this way, solids 

removal is maximized and floor space is utilized fully. 

Our system is also designed to be fully portable on a flatbed trailer so that it can be 

used as an education exhibit around the region. 

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DESIGN AND CoNSTRuCTIoN oF A pILoT pLANT To CoNVERT WASTE 

CookING oIL To BIoDIESEL Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering 

CLASS 

ABE 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

UA Green Fund 

Grecycle, Inc. 


Mark Riley 


Mak Riley 

Michael Kazz 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Aloys Ongla (ABE) 

Azar Mukhida (ABE) 

Benjamin Erlick (ABE) 

Maricela Rivera (ABE) 




Decreasing our environmental impact, 

recycling waste, and saving money are all 

reasons why the University of Arizona’s 

movement to produce biodiesel from waste 

cooking oil is of utmost importance. As part 

of an ongoing project, the university has 

made valiant efforts to produce biodiesel from 

recycled waste cooking oil collected from 

the main Student Union and Park Student 

Union, which will ultimately be used to help power various on campus vehicles, 

such as the CatTran. Biodiesel is an alternative to petroleum based diesel fuel that 

is composed of new and used vegetable oils and animal fats, which are cleaner 

burning, nontoxic, and biodegradable. Approximately 500 gallons of waste cooking 

oil can be collected every month from the student unions, which means about 

500 gallons of petroleum based diesel can be replaced every month by this clean, 

biodegradable fuel. The role of our senior design team on this project was to design 

and construct a pilot plant at the Campus Agricultural Center, which is located at 

the northwest corner of Campbell and Roger in Tucson. It was vital to construct a 

plant that followed the protocols and procedures for the biochemical processing of 

waste cooking to biodiesel that abides by specific ASTMD6751 standards. The pilot 

plant was characterized by its ability to perform batch by batch processing of waste 

cooking oil at a maximum capacity of 60-70 gallons per batch.

DEVELopmENT oF VERY quICk poLYmERASE ChAIN REACTIoN (pCR) DEVICE 

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering 

CLASS 

ABE 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

UA Biosensors Lab, Jeong-Yeol 

Yoon’s Research Group 


Dr. Jeong-Yeol Yoon 


Dr. Jeong-Yeol Yoon 

Dr. David You 

Dustin Harshman 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Ramon Muñoz (ABE) 

Franklin Garcia (ABE) 

Franklin Ventura (ABE) 




Using designs and methods developed 

in Dr. Yoon’s Lab the team has created 

a very quick Polymerase Chain 

Reaction (PCR) device. PCR is a wellestablished 

method for the detection 

and amplification of DNA and RNA 

used in medical research and clinical 

medicine to detect infectious diseases 

and gene mutations. PCR uses three 

steps—denaturing, annealing, and 

extension—to amplify specific DNA 

sequences of interest. Current commercial PCR devices require two hours or more 

to complete the process. The method developed in this design reduces the time to 

less than 10 minutes and allows for real-time detection. 

Specific Design Goals: 

• Optimize/Manufacture heating circuit & PID control 

• Miniaturize circuit board 

• Develop coating for device 

• Develop real-time detection method 

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AmERICAN INSTITuTE oF AERoNAuTICS AND ASTRoNAuTICS: 

DESIGN/BuILD/FLY CompETITIoN Aerospace Engineering 

CLASS 

AME 420A/422A 

SpoNSoR 

The University of Arizona 

Department of Aerospace and 

Mechanical Engineering 


Dr. Jeffrey Jacobs 


Dr. Edward J. Kerschen 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Stephen Conatser (AE) 

Amy Douglas (AE) 

David Roberts (AE) 

Kelly Tingstad (AE) 

Jason Troyer (AE) 

AE = Aerospace Engineering 

TEAm AERo-01: pRoJECT SummARY 

Design/Build/Fly (DBF) is an annual competition 

held by the American Institute of Aeronautics 

and Astronautics (AIAA), Raytheon Missile 

Systems, and Cessna Aircraft Company. Each 

year teams of college students from around 

the world design and build remote-controlled 

airplanes that meet specific rules and 

requirements. During competition, each team 

aims to prove the capabilities of its design in three different missions. 

The missions required in 2012 were: 

1. Complete as many laps over the flight course as possible in 4 minutes 

2. Fly three full laps while carrying eight simulated passengers (aluminum blocks) 

3. Carry 2 liters of water and climb to 100 meters as fast as possible and 

then release the water while completing a full lap 

The score obtained at competition was based on performance in each mission, as 

well as a written report score. The report, due prior to competition, detailed the 

design and the processes used. The DBF rules change each year, and in 2012 the 

plane was limited to 1.5 pounds of nickel cadmium or nickel-metal hyride batteries 

and a maximum current draw of 20 Amps. Ground takeoff was required, using less 

than 100 feet of runway, and a successful landing was required in each mission in order 

to move on to remaining mission(s). The DBF competition was held in Wichita, KS on 

April 13-15, 2012.

AuToNomouS SoARING TEChNIquES FoR AppLICATIoN To SmALL SCALE 

uNmANNED GLIDERS Aerospace Engineering 

CLASS 

AME 420A/422A 

SpoNSoR 

Dr. Ricardo Sanfelice 

Dr. Hermann Fasel 


Ricardo Sanfelice 

Hermann Fasel 


Ricardo Sanfelice 

Hermann Fasel 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Nikolas Kaplan (AE/Applied Math) 

Christopher Grusenmeyer (AE/ME) 

Daniel Jones (AE) 

AE=Aerospace Engineering 

ME=Mechanical Engineering 


Soaring is an action that can be 

readily seen in nature. Birds have 

long been known to stay aloft 

by using the naturally occurring 

lift sources generated in the 

environment. These sources, such 

as thermals and terrain fluctuations, 

create a region of updrafting air which 

affords a natural increase in the lift 

produced by wings. Utilizing these 

environmental lift sources offers major 

technical advantages. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are limited in range only 

by their power source; whether that may be battery or fuel, the UAV will eventually 

need to land to recharge this source. Due to limited payload constraints UAVs often 

are implemented in short-range and low-endurance missions. These constraints can 

be relaxed significantly if the UAV is capable of autonomously extracting this energy 

from the environment. Accomplishing this task requires advanced control algorithms 

which are capable of executing decision-making strategies to cope with the 

uncertain variability of the environment. This project addresses the need for this 

system as well as experimentally show its application via computer aided simulation 

and radio-controlled model flight testing using an autopilot on board the aircraft. 

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AmERICAN INSTITuTE oF AERoNAuTICS AND ASTRoNAuTICS: 

FAST AERIAL RECoNNAISSANCE (FAR) uAV Aerospace Engineering 

CLASS 

AME 420A/422A 

SpoNSoR 

UA AIAA 


AIAA Executive Board 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Ryan Crompton (AE) 

Kevin Schwab (AE) 

Lijun Shan (AE) 

Chris Wellons (AE) 

Alex Yang (AE) 



The goal of the FAR project is to 

create a single affordable aerial 

surveillance package that combines 

the speed of a rocket and the 

maneuverability of an airplane. The 

FAR-UAV team is responsible for 

designing and building the UAV that 

will be deployed from the FAR-LV 

rocket. In order to fit inside of the 

rocket, the UAV was designed to 

collapse inside the payload bay of the rocket and then unfold after being deployed. 

Once deployed, the UAV transmits a live video feed and telemetry data back 

to a ground station at the launch site. The ground station monitors and records 

all system parameters and displays the video feed. The UAV is able to fly semiautonomously 

or under the control of a pilot based at the ground station. An electric 

propulsion system allows the UAV to fly to multiple observation locations or loiter for 

long periods of time before returning to the ground station. 

The UAV and LV teams presented the FAR concept at the AIAA Region VI Student 

Paper Conference on March 29th-April 1st in Seattle, Washington. The teams will 

also compete in the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association’s 7th Annual IREC 

competition on June 21-23, 2012.

FIXED-WING VToL mICRo AIR VEhICLE 

Aerospace Engineering 

CLASS 

AME 420A/422A 

SpoNSoR 

Sergey Shkarayev 





TEAm mEmBERS 

Aaron Petras (AE) 

Jordan Odle (AE) 

Sean Katsarelis (AE) 

Brandon Pitts (AE) 

Daigario Juan Cota (AE/ME) 




The purpose of this Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) 

design project was to develop a vertical take-off 

and landing (VTOL) MAV that incorporates all the 

necessary components for autonomous flight in 

the smallest possible airframe and to design an 

efficient manufacturing process for producing this 

airframe. The final aircraft is expected to be used 

in the 2012 International MAV (IMAV) competition, 

where it will need to complete a series of flights that will test its maneuvering, 

surveillance, and autonomous capabilities. Since the competition includes both 

outdoor and indoor flights, one of the main focuses of the project was to design 

the MAV such that it could transition to and from hovering flight and conventional 

horizontal flight. Doing this would allow the aircraft to maneuver in confined spaces 

in hovering mode and also cover long distances quickly in the conventional flight 

configuration. The airframe was designed to incorporate a new manufacturing scheme 

that would minimize build time and error while increasing product quality. In order to 

meet the autonomy requirements of the competition, the airframe was also designed 

to house the autopilot systems being developed by the interdisciplinary MAV Autopilot 

Integration team. Fulfilling the flight envelope requirements stated in the project goals 

has involved extensive component research and testing, as well as an aerodynamic 

analysis of the airfoil. Selective laser sintering (SLS) manufacturing technology was 

chosen in order to meet construction goals. This enabled integration of design elements 

such as easier access to vital components. The MAV’s capabilities and precise airframe 

construction should not only serve as an ideal aircraft for the IMAV competition, but also 

as a potential product for both military and civil surveillance use. 

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ThE CLIppERSpIRIT SEApLANE 


CLASS 

AME 420A/422A 

SpoNSoR 

The New Nose Company, Inc. 


Charles Simpson 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Aaron Avery (AE) 

Bolivar Peralta (AE) 

Luis Pichardo (AE) 

Keith Sangston (AE) 

Brett Van Wormer (AE) 



A preliminary hull design was 

completed for the amphibious 

aircraft, the ClipperSpirit, last year 

the team was tasked with analyzing 

and defining the aerodynamic and 

hydrodynamic characteristics of the 

fuselage/hull. 

This seaplane project posed 

challenges not typically encountered 

in the aviation industry - the 

interaction of the aircraft with water and a fuselage shape that is not ideal for 

flight. An experimental setup was designed to investigate the water interaction by 

obtaining qualitative and quantitative results. Additionally, the flow near the step of 

the fuselage (a feature typical of seaplanes) was characterized. These tasks involved 

learning new software, modeling the fuselage in SolidWorks, manufacturing models, 

basic flow visualization, and the experimental process. 

The results of the tests can be used to consider alternate configurations of the 

fuselage design. Of particular interest was the afterbody, the portion of the fuselage 

after the step that experiences increased drag.

JoINED WING 


CLASS 

AME 420A/422A 

SpoNSoR 


Hermann Fasel 


Hermann Fasel 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Kevin Ferguson (AE) 

Jared Hainsworth (AE/ME) 

Nathan Thorne (AE) 

Colton Iske (AE) 

William Gratzl (AE) 




This design team has designed and built 

a joined wing unmanned aerial vehicle. 

The goal of the project is to examine the 

potential for aerodynamic improvements 

over a traditional wing design. Following 

in the footsteps of the Joined Wing’s 

spiritual predecessor, the AVATAR, this 

design has adopted many of the traits 

and advantages afforded by that design. 

By utilizing a similar fuselage and wing 

planform area, the Joined Wing performance is comparable to the performance 

of an existing and well tested design and thus the improvements afforded by the 

design can be quantitatively measured. 

The Joined Wing is built of light-weight, high-strength composite material. This 

allows for the lightest possible design while maintaining high structural strength. 

This results in a greatly reduced aircraft weight and thus a much higher payload 

capacity than a similar aircraft constructed with other materials. 

The Joined Wing design grants several advantages over a traditional design, included 

reduced structural weight, aerodynamic improvements, and payload capacity, making 

this design a highly capable and efficient aerial vehicle. 

23

24 

AIRCRAFT ThRuST RECoVERY VALVE (TRV) 

Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Honeywell Aerospace 


Darrell Horner 


Kevin H. Prodromides 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Ahmed Al Salman (ME) 

Christopher Grusenmeyer (AE/ME) 

Patrick Joyce (ME) 

Jeffrey Pyne (ME) 

Bradley Warner (ME) 

Jing Yang (ME) 



TEAm 4873: pRoJECT SummARY 

For commercial flight, internal cabin 

pressure of an aircraft must be 

controlled. Compressed air is taken 

from the engines and distributed 

through the cabin. The air then 

exits through a thrust recovery 

valve (TRV) in order to maintain the 

cabin pressure. Current TRV designs 

at Honeywell Aerospace have a 

modified butterfly valve that utilizes 

two doors, that move in parallel to 

create a nozzle that accelerates 

the air flow to supersonic velocities. This creates a small amount of thrust that 

helps the aircraft to recover some of the energy lost to the cabin pressure control 

system. This project aims to improve the linkage, hinge, noise, leakage, and 

nozzle of a previous model to a production quality design. To do this, the valve 

must withstand the force of a pressure differential without mechanically failing. 

Additionally, the valve must leak no more than 0.5 lb/min in the fully closed position. 

The valve must accelerate the flow exiting the nozzle to supersonic speeds. Due to 

the commercial application of the valve, no audible tones must be produced. The 

valve must be capable of opening to the full effective area allowing for the maximum 

mass flow rate for the given dimensions. Ultimately, this project should produce an 

aerospace quality prototype valve to potentially replace existing models.

DESIGN oF EXpERImENTS oN hoNEYWELL’S hEAT TRANSFER RIG 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Alexander MirzaMoghadam 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Abdullah Ahmad Al-Abadi (SE) 

Michael Gallo (EMG) 

Ben Reidy (EMG) 

Taylor Runger (SE) 

Yew Leong Sien (ME) 


EMG = Engineering Management 


SE = Systems Engineering 


Since the Wright brothers first took 

off in 1903, top engineers have 

dedicated their lives to improving 

safety and performance within the 

aerospace industry. Today there 

is still a lack of validation data 

concerning the internals of a modern 

turbine engine. More specifically, this 

needed data reflects the heat transfer 

characteristics between the disk 

bore coolant flow and the disk bore 

itself within a turbine engine. This incomplete understanding of test data stems 

from the inaccessible nature of a turbine engine. As a result, turbine engines are 

overdesigned to prevent operational failure. Our project is a continuation of the 

2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Senior Design projects for Honeywell Aerospace. Our 

goal is to accurately collect missing heat transfer data through the incorporation 

of a design of experiments. The design of experiments will be conducted on the 

influential factors surrounding a rotating test rig designed to simulate the shaft of a 

turbine engine. Our team was also tasked with improving the mechanical aspects of 

the test rig and incorporating a real-time data logging system that can transmit data 

wirelessly to a PC during the operation of the test rig. This collected data will be used 

to create a Nusselt-Reynold number correlation, which will lead to a foundation built to 

improve turbine efficiency and better understand disk bore life. 

25

26 

hIGh poWER AND EFFICIENCY GENERAToR ShAFT CoNDuCTIoN CooLING 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Cristian Anghel 

Balwinder Birdi 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Daniel Hand (ME) 

Kevin Witwer (ME) 

Dana Sandoval (ME) 

Gavin Stockus (ME) 

Levi Tubb (ME) 



Currently, Honeywell Aerospace cools its 

generators’ rotor assembly through two 

methods: spray cooling and conduction 

cooling. Conduction cooling is done by 

flowing oil through the shaft of the rotor 

assembly. The conduction is enhanced 

through the use of an insert in the shaft. 

Spray cooling is done by directing some 

of the pressurized oil in the shaft through 

nozzles placed at the edge of the rotor. The sprayed oil cools the windings from 

ends of the rotor. The sprayed oil falls to the bottom of the generator where it is 

pumped into a holding tank. Some of this oil leaks into the small gap between the 

rotor and stator resulting in drag on the rotor (windage losses). This drag results 

in tremendous losses in overall generator efficiency. The goal of this project is to 

minimize the amount of spray cooling by designing a better conduction cooling 

shaft insert. Increasing the amount of heat removed through the conducting insert 

allows for a reduction in spray cooling thus decreasing the windage losses. The 

conduction cooling insert is improved by optimizing the geometry of the insert to 

maximize the velocity and turbulence of the oil while minimizing the pressure drop 

across the insert. Several shaft insert designs were created and analyzed using CFD 

software. Three of the most promising designs were built and tested to verify the 

CFD software results. A testing environment was also designed and built to provide 

Honeywell with empirical data proving the improvement of the conduction insert.

hIGh poWER AND EFFICIENCY GENERAToR INSuLATING CompouND 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Cristian Anghel 

Baldwinder Birdi 

Ted Won 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Jason Bowman (EMG) 

Michael Chin (EMG) 

Cody Jensen (MSE) 

Heather Johnson (EMG) 

Sushil Sharma (ME) 

Alec Zimmermann (EE) 

EE = Electrical Engineering 



MSE = Materials Science & Engineering 


We are working with Honeywell 

Aerospace in Tucson on improving 

the thermal interface material 

that is used in high power and 

efficiency generators. We have 

been tasked to improve their 

current material, RB-160, based on 

the criteria of temperature, thermal 

conductivity, dielectric properties, 

adhesion, and cost. Our team 

has created multiple designs using epoxy and various ratios of particulates that 

involve aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, and boron nitride. The compound will be 

considered successful if we improve on at least one of the criteria listed. Our new 

compound will increase the efficiency of Honeywell Aerospace’s generators. 

27

28 

ALTERNATE mEThoDS oF BoNDING TEFLoN LINER To mETALLIC 

SuBSTRATES IN AIRCRAFT BEARINGS Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Sargent Aerospace and Defense 


Matt Johnson 


Dr. Gerald Pine 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Don Barnes (ME) 

Ryan Biggie (MSE) 

Daniel Dooley (MSE) 

Noah Yablong (EMG) 





Our project is to design and test 

a new way to bond Teflon liners 

to aircraft bearings. The current 

system involves using metal arbors, 

which when heated apply pressure 

and compress the liner onto the 

inner diameter of the bearing to be 

lined. The problem with the current 

system is that it requires a high 

number of differently sized arbors in order to accommodate the myriad of bearing 

sizes. With a newly designed, flexible arbor system, Sargent would be able to use 

one size of expanding arbor to accommodate a range of diameters of bearings. 

In order to accomplish this we are developing an inflatable bladder system which 

utilizes a flexible tubing mounted between machined end caps. The tubing can be 

inflated using shop air and, once the system is placed into the bonding ovens, it will 

apply the pressure needed while the resin cures.

WIRELESS poWERED SENSoR NETWoRk 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Michael Marcellin 

Hao Xin 


Michael Marcellin 

Hao Xin 


Ivar Sanders 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Emily Adams (SE) 

Ayman Albagshi (EE) 

Khaleel Alnatar (SE) 

Gregory Jacob (OSE) 

Nathan Mogk (MSE) 

Alexis Sparrold (EE) 



OSE = Optical Sciences & Engineering 



Systems that monitor environments 

often rely on cumbersome wires to 

supply power to the sensing equipment 

or batteries that require monitoring 

and replacement. This system design 

focuses on the creation of a wireless 

sensor network with emphasis on the 

implementation of wirelessly charged 

sensing nodes by utilizing microwaves. 

Three subsystems make up this “proof 

of concept” wireless sensor system: 

a power transmitting base station, three sensor nodes, and a communication 

base station. The power transmitting base station transmits microwaves to the 

nodes. Each node is composed of a rectenna, a power regulation circuit, an XBee 

radio transmitter, and a supercapacitor. These nodes monitor the temperature and 

humidity of the environment. The rectenna on the nodes converts the transmitted 

microwaves into DC power. Therefore, the nodes must be compatible with the 

rectenna provided by the project sponsors, Professor Marcellin and Professor 

Xin from the University of Arizona. For the communication aspect of the system, 

Zigbee protocol, which belongs to IEEE 802.15.4 protocol, was used as a wireless 

communication protocol between the communication base and the node. This protocol 

is implemented using XBee modules. Through the combination of power regulation, 

microwave energy, and radio transmission, users are able to utilize this system to collect 

environmental sensor data wirelessly. 

29

30 

ENhANCED DIGITAL pASSENGER CoNTRoL uNIT 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

B/E Aerospace 


Ian Frost 

Lucas Baer 


Jytoi Mukherjee 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Miguel Ruiz (ME) 

Daigaro Cota (ME) 

Corey Coolidge (EE) 

Ronald Russell (EE) 

Aaron Gibson (CoE) 

Jose Maytorena (CoE) 

CoE = Computer Engineering 


ME = Mechanical Engineering 


B/E Aerospace produces first-class 

passenger suites for commercial 

air travel. A super first-class 

suite is the ultimate in air travel. 

Passengers pay a high fee for 

luxury and comfort, and they 

have high expectations in the 

suite’s features. B/E Aerospace 

desires an enhancement to its 

existing digital passenger control 

unit (DPCU) in order provide 

additional functionality in their 

super first class suite. The project 

has designed and developed an enhanced “proof of concept” digital passenger 

control unit. The DPCU must fit into the existing armrest of the seat and match the 

aesthetics of the super first class environment. The DPCU must interface with existing 

equipment to communicate a passenger’s desire to adjust any of the functions of the 

airline seat. 

The enhanced DPCU must also provide a certain “wow” factor that adds to the list 

of other high-end features that B/E Aerospace offers in their super first class suite.

INTELLIGENT WEBCRAWLER FoR IDENTIFYING CoNSTRuCTIoN LEADS 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Sundt Construction Inc. 


Aidan M Garza 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Jesse Gunsch (CoE) 

Gregory R Ksionda (CoE) 

Gregory A Reid (CoE) 

Alberto Molina (EMG) 




It is the responsibility of Sundt 

Construction’s Business Development 

department to locate clients who 

are planning a construction project 

and to persuade them that Sundt 

should get the job. One method that 

they currently use to complete this 

task is keeping a list of websites that 

advertise the early stages of projects, 

having to regularly check each 

website for changes, and manually 

recording and entering any new leads into their lead tracking software. Since 

this process is both time consuming and restrictive, Sundt wanted an Intelligent 

Webcrawler application that can aid them with this task. The application is able to 

search the internet for websites with construction leads based on keywords, and 

maintain a list of any new discoveries. It analyzes the content of its list of websites 

and provides professional reports of its findings on a user specified schedule. The 

Webcrawler is able to support multiple programmed searches and report schedules, 

as well as adapting to new browsers, and OS updates. An intuitive GUI allows users 

to select keywords for new searches, define report schedules, and view previously 

generated reports in order to develop a higher level of intelligence allowing the 

application to refine its own searches and adapt to new information formats. 

31

32 

RoBuST ShAFT mEASuREmENT TEChNIquE 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Caterpillar Inc. Proving Grounds 

Green Valley, AZ 


Burhan Hamdan 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Jun Chai (ME) 

Thomas Ireson (ME) 

Adam Mullenbach (ME) 

Eric Prewitt (ME) 

Kai Yu (INE) 

INE = Industrial Engineering 



Caterpillar Proving Grounds is a 

testing facility for most of Caterpillar’s 

large construction and mining 

equipment. One such test performed 

by Caterpillar involves wirelessly 

transmitting data from a rotating shaft 

in order to verify shaft parameters. 

Caterpillar’s instrument of choice to 

conduct the test is the Accumetrics 

AT-5000 telemetry device. Data 

collected from the AT-5000 is useful for calculating shaft performance, validating 

shaft lifetime and determining shaft anomalies. The AT-5000 in its current design 

iteration only lasts for 20-30 hours, is difficult to install and costs Caterpillar time 

and money. The ultimate goal of the project involved extending the unit operational 

testing life of the Accumetrics device from 20-30 hours to 2-3 weeks. Team 

4915’s design includes lithium-ion/polymer rechargeable batteries with an electrical 

timer circuit. An inertia switch and timer are key components in order to maximize 

testing life and reduce unusable data. The inertia switch triggers the timer, which 

in turn provides power to the AT-5000 for 10 minutes after the shaft stops rotating. 

Team 4915’s design also includes a calibration mode for initial set-up of the AT-5000. 

Lastly, Team 4915’s design integrates the use of Caterpillar’s existing Kevlar straps in 

conjunction with battery pack design, which functions as a strap cinching system.

CuVopS V: CoopERATIVE uNmANNED VEhICLE opERATIoNS 

pLANNING SYSTEm Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

BAE Systems, San Diego 


Rex Helton 

Tom Deakin 


Greg Ogden 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Alison Baier (SE) 

Christopher Dunlop (EMG) 

James Mertz (SE) 

Michael Nava (SE) 

James Oliver (CoE) 

Michael Schaffner (SE) 





In its fifth year of development, CUVOPS 

aims to provide a very real service to the 

community. CUVOPS is a planning system 

that dynamically routes unmanned ground 

vehicles (UGVs) to respond to emergency 

events such as fire, flooding, searchand-rescue 

efforts, and other hazardous 

situations. The main goals of the 2011/2012 

academic year are to: 

• Create a distributed system with an integrated database 

• Create a detailed systems architecture for future teams 

A distributed system allows any user, authorized by HTTP authentication, to 

utilize CUVOPS with nothing more than an internet connection and a supported 

web browser. Differing from previous standalone designs, the performance-critical 

aspects are now distributed over three servers. Additionally, the new design supports 

seamless and concurrent operation of the web application, which allows for better 

coordination and role separation among users. Data redundancy and backups are 

implemented without adding complexity to the user’s experience. A detailed systems 

architecture and proper code documentation enable future teams to easily build off of 

the progress of Team 4916. This will result in much greater overall progress by future 

design teams, which is paramount to the success of a multi-year project like CUVOPS. 

33

34 

SmALL mAmmAL GpS TRACkER 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Dr. Michael Marcellin 

Dr. Kathleen Melde 


Dr. Kathleen Melde 


Ivar Sanders 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Ruben Sanchez (EMG) 

Martin Velazquez (SE) 

Jared Fowler (IE) 

Jon Austin (EE) 

Kathy Estrada (EE) 

Robyn Mohr (EE) 



IE = Industrial Engineering 



The overall goal of the project is 

to design a GPS location system 

for the tracking of small animals 

in a remote forested region. The 

system includes two parts: a 

small collar with GPS receiver and 

VHF transmitter and a portable 

receiver for data retrieval. The 

design challenge lies in creating 

an antenna capable of being 

embedded in a small wearable 

collar. The ultimate goal is to size these on a golden lion tamarin, a small primate 

on the endangered species list. The system must be safe and durable, easily 

reproducible by others, inexpensive, and portable. The collar must retrieve GPS 

signals and then transmit them to the receiver at 153 MHz. At the end of the senior 

project, we hope to deliver one system with three working collars to the National Zoo 

in Washington, D.C.

AuTomATING CoNSTRuCTIoN DIGITAL RECoRD DRAWINGS 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Sundt Construction Inc. 


Aidan M. Garza 


Clayton Grantham 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Alex Babis (CoE) 

Mark McKissick (CoE) 

Benjamin Zarin (EMG) 




The goal of this project was to 

design a software program that 

automated a time-consuming, errorprone 

and tedious process, that 

is a necessity for each of Sundt’s 

new projects. The current process 

demands that Sundt employees 

manually link and bookmark each 

detail in the Digital Record Drawings 

(DRD) using Adobe Acrobat Pro. 

In any given construction task, the number of details to be referenced can range 

from tens to hundreds depending on the magnitude of the project. By automating 

this process, a huge reduction in the completion time of the tasks will be observed, 

saving Sundt nearly $80,000 per year in labor costs; if the software is adopted at 

each of their headquarters, their savings will increase dramatically. To mitigate any 

incompatibilities between the automated and the current processes, the software 

was designed to operate using Adobe Acrobat Pro. The software will output the DRDs 

that the user is accustomed to, however, it will be accomplished much more readily 

and efficiently. To accomplish this task, batch processes written in JavaScript were 

generated to accomplish each step of the bookmarking and linking processes. After the 

individual batch processes were written, they were assimilated into a larger program, 

responsible for systematically employing the individual processes in Adobe Acrobat Pro. 

35

36 

JoCkEY “SmART hELmET” FoR hoRSE RACING 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Equisight, LLC 


David Matt 

Kenleigh Hobby 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Stephen Nelson (EMG) 

W. A. Garret Weaver (CoE) 

Trevor West (CoE) 

Patrick Lull (OSE) 

Cedric Bosch (SE) 

Louie Benitez (SE) 






The horse racing industry 

currently lacks media attention. 

Studies have indicated the sport’s 

viewing and gambling declination 

over the decades. While popular 

televised sports such as football 

and NASCAR racing maintain a 

modernized entertainment culture 

through high-definition wireless 

streaming, horseracing remains in 

the “binocular era”. 

The objective of this project was to develop a helmet for the horse racing industry 

capable of streaming video, GPS, and audio. This product will revolutionize the 

industry and bring it back to the forefront of the sports entertainment industry. 

It will also give those who participate in horse racing on the internet an opportunity 

to change between perspectives during the course of a race.

ThERmAL CoNTRoL FoR EmERGENCY ShELTERS 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Paragon Space Development 

Corporation® 


Christie Iacomini 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Sean Morehouse (ME) 

Evan Dunn (EE) 

Daniela Taborga (IE) 

Joe Levy (ME) 

David Renner (ME) 

Mason Shaw (SE) 






Paragon Space Development 

Corporation ® is a premier provider 

of environmental controls 

for extreme and hazardous 

environments. Paragon has asked 

us to design a prototype thermal 

control system for an existing 

emergency shelter in the mine 

industry. Currently, the shelters 

provide oxygen supply and carbon 

dioxide scrubbing for trapped miners and isolation from the external environment. 

However, an effective cooling system is not available in many existing shelters. 

Therefore, the focus of our design is to build a thermal control system for use in 

mine shelters. 

The selected thermal control system is an absorption cooler. The central features 

of the absorption cooler are an evaporator, which cools down the air via evaporative 

cooling, and an absorber, which absorbs water back out of the cooled air using a 

hygroscopic lithium bromide salt solution. 

37

38 

SAmuRAI (SEmI-AuToNomouS mAppING AND uRBAN RESCuE AREA 

INSpECTIoN) Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Tucson Embedded Systems 


Jon Schwab 

Garrett Scott 


Greg Ogden 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Roger Anderson (EE) 

Delbert Gallego (ME) 

Sean Culbertson (ME) 

Craig Cumblidge (CoE) 

Jarl Haggerty (CoE) 





The goal of the project was 

to produce an autonomous 

unmanned ground vehicle 

capable of mapping the interior 

of a building, giving the end user 

a safe way to explore indoor 

terrain in a potentially hazardous 

environment. The vehicle utilizes 

a host of sensors, including a 

laser range finder, multiple sonar 

sensors, wheel encoders, GPS, and an inertial management unit to autonomously 

navigate its way through an indoor environment. The on-board sensors allow the 

vehicle to transmit the mapping data back to the user through a command and 

control center, where a visualization of the building is created. The sponsor tasked 

the team of five engineers to make additions to the already impressive autonomous 

vehicles of previous years by adding the aforementioned indoor capabilities to the 

outdoor autonomous navigation already implemented. The team also participated in a 

cooperative effort with the BAE Systems team to create a comprehensive package of 

indoor and outdoor autonomous capabilities by adding the BAE CUVOPS (Cooperative 

Unmanned Vehicle Operations Planning System) outdoor waypoint guidance system.

BLoCk-oN-RING SLIDING WEAR ENVIRoNmENTAL TEST mAChINE 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Sargent Aerospace and Defense 


John Reinhardt 

Bryan Badgett 

Gary Spangenberg 


Jyoti Mukherjee 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Martin Nakajima (ME) 

Chris Kennedy (ME) 

Jarom Kartchner (ME) 

Angel Tellez (ME) 

Leo Fuentes (ME) 

Kurt Nola (ME) 



Tribology is the science and engineering 

of interacting surfaces in relative motion. 

It includes the study and application 

of the principles of friction, lubrication 

and wear. Any product where one 

material slides or rubs over another is 

affected by tribological interactions. 

Friction increases wear and the power 

required at the area of material pairing 

interaction. This results in increased 

costs due to more frequent replacement, loss of tolerance as dimensions shift and 

reduction of life expectancy. The scope of this project is to develop a machine that 

has the ability of batch comparison of the sliding wear of different material pairings. 

This machine is designed around the principles of the block-on-ring tribology testing 

method defined in ASTM G-77. During the test a ring rotates at a known angular 

velocity and a block pushes against this ring with a known normal force. A load 

cell measures the frictional force between the block and ring. This frictional force is 

used along with the known applied normal force to calculate the coefficient of friction 

between the material pair. Tests are performed in a chamber that recreates real world 

conditions; these conditions being of ambient to high temperatures (up to 1200 degrees 

Fahrenheit) or the introduction of lubricants. The resulting scars are measured and a 

qualitative analysis is performed on the various material pairings. 

39

40 

CLoSED CYCLE CooLED FIR DETECToR 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Infrared Laboratories 


Chris Foster 


Gerald Pine 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Alhareth Alhosani (IE) 

Valeria Aragundi (EMG) 

Samantha Fallon (EMG) 

Joshua Galyon (ME) 

Kevin Hegedus (EMG) 

Frank Rifi (EE) 






The goal of this project is make an 

existing bolometer system more 

cost-effective. The current system 

uses liquid helium and nitrogen as 

total-loss coolants. Our group’s 

task is to integrate closed-cycle 

refrigeration to eliminate the need 

for liquid cryogens.

DIGITAL upGRADE oF A FuEL FLoW INDICAToR 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Airtronics, Inc. 


Frank Oliver 


Patrick Marcus 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Jared Evans (ME) 

Alex Hale (EE) 

Kira Travis (CoE) 

Kyle Sheets (ME) 





This project consists of 

re-engineering a legacy fuel flow 

indicator for the F-16 to modernize 

its operation and deal with parts 

obsolescense issues. The original 

instrument is an electromechanical 

device that uses motors and 

mechanical feedback to drive a 

dial system. 

This project focuses on replacing 

the analog electromechanical 

system with digital components. The end result has an identical form fit and 

function to the original instrument, but with increased reliability. 

To accomplish this, we have designed electrical circuits, a PCB layout, a mechanical 

layout of PCB mountings and programmed a controller to provide LED display output. 

41

42 

RuGGEDIZED hELICopTER RoToR hEALTh INSTRumENTATIoN 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Airtronics, Inc. 


Frank Oliver 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Alan Olsen (ME) 

Daniel Carman (ME) 

Danielle Theodore (SE) 

Vladimir Medina (ME) 




This project focused on the 

development of a rugged wireless 

sensor system suitable for installation 

on a helicopter rotor system. The 

wireless sensor must be able to 

transmit into the body of the helicopter 

for data collection and analysis. The 

system uses accelerometers and strain 

gauges to measure the forces in rotor 

system components. The system uses 

microprocessors to monitor the sensors, 

tag the data and control the transmitter. 

The system must be bondable to the rotor system with sufficient strength to not 

disengage from the rotor during flight. 

The rotor system of a helicopter is a perfect application for a health monitoring system. 

Helicopter rotor systems have mechanical components that operate in an environment 

of extreme forces. Blade lag shock absorbers, which this project instruments, respond 

to forces in excess of 10 tons at a frequency of 5 Hz. Instrumentation for stress, 

strain and accelerations in this single component can provide critical lifecycle and 

reliability information for helicopter operators. Systems health monitoring provides real 

time monitoring and alerts operators and maintenance crew of impending failure.

Autopilot integrAtion on Micro Air Vehicles 


clAss 

ENGR 498A/B 

sponsor 

Dr. Jonathan Sprinkle, ECE 

Dr. Sergey Shkarayev, AME 

sponsor Mentor/ADVisor 

Dr. Jonathan Sprinkle, ECE 

Dr. Sergey Shkarayev, AME 

project Mentor 

Dr. Patrick Marcus 

teAM MeMBers 

Jared Hainsworth (AE/ME) 

Kyle Merry (Physics/CoE) 

Daniel Schucker (CoE) 

Chris Wozny (CoE/CSC) 



CSC = Computer Science 


teAM 4938: project suMMAry 

The project involved the integration of various 

specialized autopilots into micro air vehicles (MAV). 

The open-source Paparazzi and GINA autopilot 

provide for autonomous flight of the MAV using 

control theory and various sensors to pilot the 

aircraft without human interaction. The autopilot 

team integrated the two separate autopilots into 

the airframes and optimized the flight and navigation 

systems while an aerospace team designed two airframes: one for outdoor flight 

and one for indoor. These 3D printed airframes operate using servos, elevons, rudder, 

electronic speed controller, and two contra-rotating motors. These can be interfaced 

with a remote control to fly the plane in a stability augmented mode in addition to fully 

autonomous flight. The autopilot controls the elevons, rudder, and speed controller. 

The system uses GPS for location estimation and IMU for the attitude and heading 

reference system to pilot the aircraft. For one autopilot, the data is processed directly on 

the plane using an ARM Cortex microcontroller. For the other, the controls computation 

is done on the base station and then transmitted back to the aircraft. A modem allows 

for communication between the autopilot and the ground control station (GCS). The GCS 

software provides the operator with the ability to make and modify flight plans and monitor 

the MAV’s flight path in real time. Also, a video system on the aircraft allows the operator 

a view from the MAV for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in real time. The true 

benefit of this project is that the autopilot is relatively inexpensive compared to commercial 

autopilots; however, it functions as accurately and as efficiently, if not more so. 

43

44 

AuTomATED DESICCANT BAG SEALER 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

AGM Container Controls, Inc. 


Tom Christie 


Greg Ogden 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Abdulaziz Alsehaim (IE) 

Meng Lui (IE) 

Marshall Siekmann (EE) 

Senobio Pinela (ME) 

James Vilchis (ME) 





AGM Container Controls, Inc. has 

been a leader in design and fabrication 

of products that control and monitor 

environmental factors. Currently, an 

operator manually folds and seals 

material to form a bag, weighs 

desiccant on a scale, fills the bag and 

seals it. Since this process is slow 

and operator intensive, AGM wants to 

reverse engineer an existing machine 

currently on lease to AGM. 

Our project consists of designing and fabricating a new machine that will be able to 

create, fill, and seal custom-sized bags, increasing production speed and reducing 

operator involvement. AGM will use our project as a functioning system for use on the 

production floor. Our system includes devices for forming the desiccant bags, 

accurately filling them with a variable weight of desiccant, and sealing the resulting 

product. All these components are controlled by an electrical control system. This is 

a heavily hands-on project requiring a multidisciplinary approach. 

Upon completion of the automated dessicant bag sealer, an operator we will be able to 

produce any custom size bag with a desired weight in less than one minute. This will reduce 

the labor cost incurred by manually creating these bags.

SImuLATED ANEuRYSm DEpLoYmENT moDEL 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

W.L. Gore & Associates 


Dan Gabrys 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Ahmad Al Matouq (SE) 

German Castillo (ME) 

Aaron Gibson (CoE/EE) 

Erin Lauterbach (ME) 

Isaac Tineo (ME) 

Heeje Yang (ME) 






This project focuses on the GORE ® 

EXCLUDER ® AAA Endoprosthesis, 

an implantable device manufactured 

by the Gore Medical Products 

Division, used to treat an abdominal 

aortic aneurysm (AAA), which 

is a bulge in the aorta that could 

rupture with life-threatening results. 

Endovascular repair using this device 

is less invasive than open surgery 

and involves excluding (sealing off) 

the aneurysm by placing the device inside of the diseased aorta, making a new path 

for the blood to flow. The scope of this project was to design and build a simulated 

abdominal aortic aneurysm deployment model which represents the anatomy for R&D 

and demonstration of deployment of the GORE ® EXCLUDER ® AAA Endoprosthesis under 

simulated use conditions. Some of the characteristics of the model include: 

• Designed for delivery and deployment of the device within the model 

• Simulate anatomical conditions of the body (geometry, temperature, flow, etc.) 

• Portable and suitable for public demonstrations and of size to fit on a tabletop 

• Allows visualization of device deployment 

• Controls system inputs and displays outputs from a GUI application on a laptop 

• Collects real-time data for temperature, pressure and flow rate 

45

46 

hELIum TESTING ENCLoSuRE AND TuRBuLENCE mITIGATIoN STuDY 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

MIT Lincoln Laboratory 


Kurt Abdelmaseh 


Gregory Ogden 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Amber Luttmann (OSE) 

Jeffery Chia (OSE) 

Joseph Cocchi (OSE) 

Edgar Madril (OSE) 

Cameron Solem (OSE) 

Ivdan Vargas (SE) 




The helium enclosure is a 

containment unit that houses 

helium and an embedded optical 

system in order to improve the 

wavefront error with the relative 

reduction of the thermal gradient 

that is typically induced by air. The 

final helium enclosure product is 

able to perform optical testing 

under an effectively eliminated 

thermal gradient, enabling a much closer result to theoretical analysis than 

before. This project will also verify the effectiveness of helium in mitigating thermal 

gradients that are normally seen in air.

poRTABLE SuRVEY TooL 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Raytheon Missile Systems 


Kevin Oxnam 


Patrick Marcus 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Roxan Cruz (CoE) 

Natasha Dennison (EMG) 

Rae Gargione (IE) 

Dimuth Kulasinghe (CoE) 

Leonardo Montoya (SE) 

Luke Seavitt (IE) 







Given the task of determining the efficiency of 

specific Raytheon employees on the Critical Chain 

program throughout the day, QuiPST was created. 

Simply, QuiPST (Quick Portable Survey Tool), is a 

smart phone application that allows users to answer 

survey questions from their phone. With a randomly 

generated ‘ping’ feature, a notification appears on a 

user’s phone notifying them that they should answer 

a survey, making it the least intrusive and data altering 

technique. This allows for data to be collected multiple 

times throughout the day, generally answering the 

question “What are you doing right now?” and “How 

long have you been doing this?” This type of data is 

useful for any company to determine how its employees spend their time, or the amount 

of time they are working on a specific project or task. What company wouldn’t want to 

allocate its resources better and utilize their employees in the best way possible? This 

data can be found using QuiPST. 

QuiPST is a web-based application that allows users to log in and take surveys created 

by their administrators at any time. The experience can be enhanced by downloading the 

QuiPST mobile application for Android and iPhone platforms, giving users quick accessibility 

to their accounts and the ability to be alerted by QuiPST at random time intervals to take 

surveys, based on the users own integrated schedules. 

47

48 

DESIGN oF mouNTING STRuCTuRES FoR SoLAR ARRAY moDuLES: 

RooF mouNT Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Sunora Energy Solutions 


Tommy Thompson 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Kambiz Dinyariyan (ME) 

Eissa Alnattar (SE) 

Ana Ibarra (IE) 

James Morris (ME) 

Steven Wittenberg (SE) 





The purpose of the project was 

to design a solar array mounting 

solution for roof application, which 

will decrease manufacturing 

cost and improve the ease of 

installation. 

A major problem that has been 

affecting mounting solution vendors is the decline in solar panel cost, while 

mounting costs remained stagnant. There are multiple advantages and benefits 

that solar panels provide. By decreasing the cost of components necessary for the 

solar system to work, we can increase the probability of consumers “going solar”. 

The mounting frame is to be installed on an industrial building’s roof; therefore, 

the team has used the roof of the northern Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering 

Building, at the University of Arizona, to develop and build the design.

poWER GENERATIoN FoR A BuILDING IN RuRAL VIETNAm 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Bruce Langone 


Gerald Pine 


Gerald Pine 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Jose S.Dominguez (EE) 

James Mars (EE) 

Neil Bhargava (EE) 

Mladen Prelic (ME) 

Kenji Hernandez (IE) 





A building with approximately 

7,500 sq. ft. of space near Hue, 

Vietnam, needs a reliable and 

sustainable means for its electrical 

power needs. The building is 

currently powered off a 150-yearold 

grid, which is not very reliable. 

The owner wants the building to 

be powered independently by preferably renewable means. The building is 

located about 1/3 of a mile away from an undammed river. Solar and “run of 

the river” hydro (or any combination thereof) are possible options for the power 

generation system. 

49

50 

FABRICATIoN DEVICE FoR A poRouS, poLYmERIC VASCuLAR GRAFT 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Soft Tissue Biomechanics Laboratory 


Dr. Jonathan Vande Geest 


Dr. Jonathan Vande Geest 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Alex Florez (ME) 

Amanda Fron (ME) 

Kevin Glaser (ME) 

Eric Hebeisen (ME) 



The design team, working alongside 

Dr. Vande Geest and his graduate 

student Greg Johnson, built a 

device capable of producing 

vascular grafts to be used for 

abdominal aortic aneurysms 

(AAA’s). The project started from 

initial ideas of how to make the 

device and developed all the way to 

assembly and fabrication of grafts. 

Through the use of LabView software, changes can be made in the fabrication 

process to allow for variation in the porosity of the graft. While the device was 

tested with a spray and nozzle setup, it was built with the purpose for future use 

with an electrospinning unit.

NASA REmoTE ImAGING SYSTEm ACquISITIoN (RISA) 

SpACE ENVIRoNmENT muLTISpECTRAL ImAGER Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA) 


S. Douglas Holland 



Dr. Elmer Grubbs 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Samuel Martin (OSE) 

Jackeline Mayer (OSE) 

Parker Owan (EE) 

Kyle Stephens (OSE) 

Lee Suring (ME) 





The NASA RISA project is a 

prototype camera intended to 

be used for planetary surface 

exploration and onboard 

NASA space vehicles. Due 

to new mission requirements 

associated with future space 

vehicles, less physical volume is 

available compared to the Space 

Shuttle. As a result, NASA has 

commissioned the development of a general-use camera, able to perform multiple 

functions and support new mission objectives. It is the intent of the RISA project 

to provide an imaging system that can be used for a variety of applications, thus 

decreasing the stowage volume required to support mission imaging requirements. 

The final camera is expected to be radiation hardened, multispectral, completely 

wireless, and take both high-quality video and still images. 

For the prototype developed this year, the team concentrated on creating an 

appropriate optical system that can be traced to radiation-hardened components, 

implementing a liquid lens for focus adjustment, utilizing an electrically-tunable 

bandpass filter, and developing a wireless communication system for data and system 

control. A camera enclosure and lens barrel were developed to support this prototype. 

51

52 

ADhESIVE DISpENSATIoN oNTo mICRoSCopE SLIDES 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. 


Troy Paluszcyk 


Dr. Gregory E. Ogden 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Ramon Chavez (ME) 

Damen Haughey (ME) 

Andrew Greteman (CoE) 

Jose Monreal (SE) 





Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., a member 

of the Roche group, is the world’s leading 

manufacturer of tissue-based diagnostic 

instruments and tests for cancer detection. 

Our team was charged to design and produce 

a device that dispenses adhesive onto 

microscope slides. 

Current Process Activation liquid dispensed 

onto a microscope slide combined with an adhesive-coated coverslip. 

Client Need To improve visual quality by dispensing adhesive onto a microscope 

slide combined with a non-adhesive-coated coverslip. 

Design Summary Our device consists of five subsystems with the purpose of 

dispensing adhesive accurately within a 50-100 microliter range at a precision level of 

+/- 5 microliters. 

• Reservoir – Adhesive storage with minimal surface exposure. 

• Transfer – A valveless piston metering pump with stepper motor. 

• Microcontroller – Allows user control of dispensation amount while monitoring 

reservoir levels. 

• Applicator – Custom nozzle manifold, team designed and constructed. 

• Structure – Mounting apparatus for system components.

mICRo-FLuIDIC DISpENSE SYSTEm 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. 


Kevin Marshall 


Greg Ogden 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Luis A Almanza (SE) 

Mohamed Ferhaoui (EE) 

Rohith Jayaram (ME/ABE) 

David R Maynard (ME) 

Julie Anne Schmautz (MSE) 

ABE = Agricultural & Biosystems 







Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. is a leader 

in automated tissue diagnostic systems. 

These systems use a saline chemical buffer 

in the advanced staining process to prepare 

biopsy samples for pathologists to identify 

cancerous tissues. 

The current implementation of the 

micro-fluidic dispense system (µFD) at Ventana has some drawbacks and 

limitations that need to be improved upon. Due to the high salinity of the solution, 

salt crystallization clogs develop on the dispense hardware and impede the 

performance of the system. Hanging solution drops on the dispense nozzle are 

also problematic because they can cause drops to fall on the label of the slide and 

possibly damage it or make it difficult to identify. Additionally, hanging drops allow 

for variation in the volume of fluid dispensed on slides. The objective of the project is 

to design an automated micro-fluidic dispense system that can reliably and accurately 

dispense 20 μl (microliters) of a concentrated saline buffer solution onto a microscope 

slide. The allowable preventative maintenance interval should be at least six months 

and the cost of goods of the system should be less than $500. The use of electrical 

control concepts, fluid mechanics, intelligent material selection, testing techniques and 

statistical analysis were used to determine the best solution. Two different dispense 

system designs and a mechanical scrubber were implemented as solutions. 

53

54 

SoCIAL TRAVELER moBILE AppLICATIoN 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

VirtualTourist 


Todd Ellermann 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Nick Woodgate (EMG) 

Ashley Marks (EMG) 

Miguel Salmon (EMG) 

Gerardo Villalobos (EMG) 

Pakorn Avakul (EMG) 

Panu Avakul (CoE) 




VirtualTourist is a social networking 

website that centers around 

travel. Within the VirtualTourist 

community there have been 

1.8 million reviews created and 

3.8 million travel photos uploaded, 

and roughly one million users. 

VirtualTourist desires to implement 

a mobile application that will allow the users to interact with the community 

via a smart phone. Thus, VirtualTourist has requested our team to implement a 

prototype of the application that will model its actual application in deployment. 

The goal of this project is to create an mobile application that exhibits the desired 

functionality as agreed upon in the critical design review. These functions include 

taking a picture and uploading it to the server (Capture Trip), listing local precautions 

or things to do (Do/Do not do this), checking in to a VirtualTourist location (Check-in), 

displaying comments from other users that are associated with the area (Words on 

the Street), and updating user status (Status Update). Moreover, this application is 

required to communicate with a server to retrieve and to write data from or onto the 

server. All functionality will be displayed on Design Day using mobile devices that will 

connect to a test-server created by the team, and the final product will be delivered to 

VirtualTourist as complete as possible.

WARNING SYSTEm FoR ChILDREN/pETS LEFT IN CARS 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

College of Engineering 


Dean Jeffrey Goldberg 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Kenneth Wilson (IE) 

Kiona Meade (IE) 

Maxwell Roth (EE) 

Nawaf Abdullah (IE) 

Matthew Berry (OSE) 





Every year, children die from 

being left unattended in a vehicle. 

Sometimes this is because they 

are forgotten by the caregiver 

and other times they are simply 

playing in the car. The purpose of 

the system is to send a warning 

signal if a child is detected 

inside of a car, particularly in 

locations which would cause 

the car to reach extremely 

high temperatures. Ideally, the 

implementation of this system will 

reduce the number of child and infant fatalities that occur within a vehicle. 

55

56 

INTELLIGENT ARC FAuLT DETECToR 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Texas Instruments 


Dwight Bryd 

Rafael Ordonez 

John Caldwell 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Aaron Remmy (SE) 

Abel Molina (ME) 

David Mitchell (EE) 

Nathaniel Palma (EE) 

Samuel Delacruz (EE) 





Arcing is currently one of the 

most common causes of electrical 

fires. New electrical codes require 

the installation of arc fault circuit 

interrupters in new construction. 

As a result, there is an emerging 

market for AFCIs. Our system 

uses a digital signal processor 

(DSP) to detect arc fault 

conditions. The system is capable 

of distinguishing two major types 

of arcs: series arcs and parallel 

arcs. This system was developed 

using Texas Instruments’ components, and will be displayed at trade shows to 

demonstrate the capabilities of said components.

ThE ‘pERFECT pouR’ – pRECISIoN LIquID DISpENSING AND INVENToRY 

TRACkING Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Marc Royer 

Christopher Hall 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Amit Juneja (CoE) 

Beverly Valdez (ME) 

Kevin Smith (SE) 

Sean Grotle (EE) 






The ‘Perfect Pour’ system 

accurately dispenses a preset 

amount of liquid specified by a 

user, and tracks fluid inventory 

used in an establishment or 

facility. 

This system has two main 

component types: a dispenser and 

a central computer. These components communicate over a wireless network. 

The dispenser fits onto a bottle (medicine, beverage, etc.). When the user starts 

the pour, the dispenser opens a solenoid valve and begins dispensing liquid. Sensors 

then measure flow and temperature. The user’s preset volume adjustment controls 

the amount of time the valve remains open. Once the pour is finished, the dispenser 

sends the pour information wirelessly to the central computer. The user may then 

review the pour data from the central computer’s graphical user interface. This GUI 

tracks the inventory information of the system and can track which device 

is associated with which product. 

This design is targeted for use in the beverage, pharmaceutical, and/or chemical 

industries. 

57

58 

VIEWING EARTh’S CuRVATuRE WITh A WEAThER BALLooN 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Lockheed Martin 

Advanced Technology Center 


Richard Tansey 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Austin Byrne (ME) 

Xochitl Cooper (OSE) 

Devinna Fleming (OSE) 

Derek Koomar (ME) 

John Morales (EE) 

Sam Nerenberg (OSE)) 





The scope of the project was to 

design, fabricate, and launch a 

suitably equipped weather balloon 

to take a video at a sufficient 

height to see the curvature of 

the Earth. Different types of 

sensors were employed in the 

project to acquire environmental 

data in the area of launch. The 

platform that the team developed could be used for remote sensing to detect 

environmental concerns such as ozone increases, nuclear radiation levels from 

the Japanese accident, or other forms of pollution. In addition, the team included 

a more advanced live video transmission module to be added to the platform for 

instantaneous viewing of video captured. 

The goal and final result to be delivered to the sponsor: 

Launch camera to a sufficient altitude to see the Earth’s curvature, locate and retrieve 

camera and recording, and display the video at design day.

REmoTE LISTENING DEVICE 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Lockheed Martin Corporation 


Dr. Richard Tansey 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Nick Neuenfeldt (OSE) 

Matt Hamel (OSE) 

Nick Melena (OSE) 

Adam Slagel (OSE) 

Collin Smith (ME) 

Charles Mackin (EE) 





There currently exists a void for a 

long-range covert listening device 

capable of being easily deployed 

against an adversary in a vehicle. 

Existing system designs focus on 

retrieving audible sound between 

100-3,000 Hz, i.e. sensitive 

receivers, wireless transmitters, 

etc. These systems do not work 

when a physical barrier exists between the target and the receiver, such as when 

the target is in a car. A system based on reflected light would overcome this 

limitation and be capable of retrieving the remote audio. 

We were given the task of designing a remote listening device capable of receiving 

a conversation held inside a vehicle. The design incorporates a laser light source, 

collection system, detector, and data-processing backend. The laser is emitted 

against the target window, while the collection system and detector captures the 

direct reflection to be processed into an audio signal. 

59

60 

“RING ThE BELL” FoRCE INDICAToR 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Jose Duenas 

Luis Chioye 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Juma Belknap (EE) 

Corey Booker (CoE) 

Joseph Ott (ME) 

Andru Roysden (EE) 

Gaston Torres (IE) 






The goal of this project is to create 

a system that will effectively 

assign a fair figure of merit to 

indicate strength and endurance to 

users of various sizes. This project 

will be used by Texas Instruments 

in trade shows to highlight the capabilities of their products. The system first 

measures the weight of the user and assigns a fair goal. The user then begins 

the fitness test by pumping air into a tank. The air in the tank is measured for 

pressure and temperature using sensors. The arms rotated by the system user are 

measured for rotational speed. The Texas Instruments MSP430 microprocessor 

collects the data from the sensors and displays the results and progress through a 

laptop computer display. 

The amount of force required by the user relates to the pressure inside the tank. 

To account for different sizes of various system users, the MSP430 microcontroller 

regulates the air pressure with a controlled venting system. 

This system was designed to be highly interactive to attract attention at trade shows.

FuLLY-AuTomATED SoIL TESTING AND CoNTRoL SYSTEmS 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Ian Williams 

Anjana Govil 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Eric Campbell (CoE) 

Kyle Chong (EE) 

Eric Herman (OSE) 

Adjete Wilson (EE) 





Large-scale farming operations 

require great amounts of energy 

and time to ensure that crops will 

be healthy and ready for harvest 

time. This project can provide the 

ability to automate part of the 

farming process, easing the burden 

on farms by reducing the effort and 

resources required to keep their 

plant within optimal conditions 

prior to harvest. This project 

considers four potted plants where each pot is fitted with sensors that monitor 

three environmental variables: soil temperature, soil moisture, and ambient light 

levels. The data from these sensors is transmitted over a 4-20mA current loop and 

multiplexed into a microcontroller-based control system which decodes the sensor 

data and reports each environmental variable through a graphical user-interface 

created in LabVIEW. The 4-20mA current loop transmission method was selected 

since it is suitable for extremely long transmission distances, and a real-world farming 

application could require transmission distances greater than one mile. 

61

62 

ELECTRoNIC ph pooL WATER TESTER 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Scott Gulas 

Preeti Rajendran 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Ahmed Alani (EE) 

Alex Mattioli (ME) 

Ryan Caskey (CoE) 

Emanuel Soimaru (CoE) 

Trevor Husseini (CoE) 





The primary goal of this project is 

to produce a pH pool water tester 

that is low power. This system 

will be used by Texas Instruments 

at trade shows in order to attract 

attention to their booths and 

showcase their latest products. 

The pH pool water tester allows 

pool owners to monitor the pH 

level and temperature of their pools remotely, so that they can take necessary 

preventive measures to keep their pools clean and safe. A floating waterproof 

housing is needed to store all electronic devices and sensors. It must also be able 

to wirelessly transmit data to the android device. 

A green energy theme is incorporated into the design by using a solar panel for power 

management. An MSP430 from Texas Instruments does all the computing needed to 

display temperature and pH values. 

The Android application allows the user to communicate with the pH monitoring 

system. The interface serves as a means of sending/receiving data, calibrating the pH 

probe, as well as viewing pertinent measurements plotted against time.

LoW-CoST GImBAL-LESS ImAGE STABILIZATIoN SYSTEm FoR AERIAL 

SuRVEILLANCE Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Quenten Duden 

Sean Keller 


Ivar Sanders 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Eric de Groot (CoE) 

Garrett Vanhoy (EE) 

Jeffrey Larson (ME) 

Anthony Clutter (OSE) 

Steven Glass (OSE) 

Madeline Hack (OSE) 






Currently, UAV surveillance systems 

are only available at extremely high 

costs. Last year’s team, 4817, 

provided proof that Risley Prisms can 

be used to stabilize images. Raytheon 

has chosen to continue the design 

efforts into a functional system. 

By achieving a low-cost design, 

Raytheon would be able to provides 

UAV surveillance systems in the 

government and civilian markets. The 

goal of this project was to design a 

low-cost, gimbal-less system capable of providing a stabilized video from a UAV. 

The team designed and built a system that operates in an aerial vehicle at a height 

above ground level and provides a live video stream to a designated ground station. 

The image is stabilized and provides on-command steering of the live image with the 

use of a Risley Prism Assembly (RPA). A wireless data link is established between the 

aircraft’s mounted subsystem and a ground-level command station. The wireless data 

link is able to maintain a data rate capable of transmitting a constant live low-resolution 

video stream, GPS data, and system status data. 

63

64 

RoTATING poLARIZER poLARImETER 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Dr. Eric Fest 

Dr. Karlton Crabtree 


Dr. Jyoti Mukherjee 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Nick Driscoll (OSE) 

Noel Eloriaga (OSE) 

Page King (OSE) 

Jacob Krause (OSE) 

Chang Lee (SE) 

Shuqi Li (OSE) 




The goal of this project was to build 

a polarimeter using a linear polarizer 

mounted to a rotation stage and an 

existing camera. This polarimeter 

obtains polarimetric data by recording 

images of a scene taken through 

the linear polarizer at different 

rotation angles. These images are 

then post-processed to determine 

linear polarization content of a scene 

through the computed Degree of 

Linear Polarization (DoLP) and Angle 

of Linear Polarization (AoLP) of each 

scene pixel. The polarimeter was 

designed to be robust and to work with existing cameras for three different 

wavebands: visible, mid-wave infrared, and long-wave infrared. 

An application for this polarimeter will be to measure the polarization sensitivity of the 

mirrors in Raytheon’s Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor. VIIRS is a 

production 22-band imaging radiometer used for weather and environmental studies.

TARGET SENSoR SYSTEm FoR CoASTAL pATRoL BoAT 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Gary Yanamura 


Ivar Sanders 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Austin Cynecki (EE) 

David Lester (EE) 

Renee Mckernan (EE) 

Tyler Steeb (SE) 

Mohammed Al-Duwayhis (SE) 




The goal of this project was to 

design a Combat Management 

System (CMS) to be used on 

coastal patrol boats. The purpose 

of this system is to be able to 

connect to an already present 

commercial radar system that can 

track air and surface targets. 

Along with tracking, our system also uses an algorithm to rank the different 

targets in order of potential threat based on the different attributes of the targets 

(e.g. range, speed, elevation, bearing). The ranked targets are then displayed onto 

a graphical user interface (GUI) known as our Combat Control Panel (CCP). This CCP 

allows ease of use for any user to be able to observe each of the targets and their 

respective attributes as they traverse the world within the radar’s range. 

In order to bypass purchasing an expensive radar system, we simulated the world 

and targets through software as well. The world in which the targets roam is our 

server and all the vehicles connecting to the server (using a form of ports and sockets) 

are the clients. Using this method the clients can be terminated individually, making 

the process of eliminating hostiles from the simulated world a simple process within 

the code. 

65

66 

CompuTATIoNAL opTICS 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



Casey Streuber 

Michael Easton 


Ivar Sanders 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Kate Green (IE) 

Lena Wolfe (OSE) 

Nan Ding (OSE/EE) 

Josh Brent (OSE) 

Matthew Barnum (OSE) 

Saúl Corrales (SE) 






Experimental comparison of phase and 

amplitude modulation plates in computational 

optics are performed to extend depth of 

focus, reduce lens system mechanical 

constraints, and minimize costs. 

Many aerospace sensor platforms have a 

fixed opto-mechanical layout due to harsh 

environmental conditions. This design decision 

results in tight opto-mechanical tolerances. 

An experimental test bed of computational 

approaches to alleviate this constraint is 

presented. 

System scope includes: 

• Requirements development 

• Prototype hardware demonstration system 

• Design of experiments 

• Phase optimization for depth of focus increase

moDERN CoNTRoL DESIGN FoR A GuIDED mISSILE LAuNChER 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 



William Schwind 

Samuel Sirimarco 


Ivar Sanders 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Weston Behling (ME) 

Heston Castelino (ME) 

Brandon Deanda (MSE) 

Fang Yang (EE) 

Elmoeiz Abdalla (EE) 

Ali Bindawood (SE) 



MSE = Material Science & Engineering 



Develop a modern control design 

for a guided missile launcher that 

will meet the desired performance 

requirements. 

As part of the project, the team 

has built a scale-size trainable 

missile launcher that can be 

pointed in both azimuth and 

elevation. The launcher will need 

to be able to hold an inertially 

stable position on a non-inertially 

stabilized platform. It will also need to be able to rapidly and accurately slew from 

one commanded position to another while avoiding designated keep-out zones. 

The team has developed modern control topologies to optimize launcher performance 

subject to the desired performance requirements. 

67

68 

DIopTRIC poWER TESTING DEVICE 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Edmund Optics 


Jeremy Govier 

Katie Schwertz 


Gerald Pine 

TEAm mEmBERS 

Thomas Myers (OSE) 

Tim Armenta (OSE) 

Amy Hill (EE) 

Scott Slanina (OSE) 

Eric Ramon (OSE) 




Collimators are devices that use 

light to project an image of a 

reticle from the collimator. This 

image can then be used in the 

alignment of optical systems by 

using the reflections from the 

optical elements to overlay all of 

the reflected reticle images. 

A certain type of these collimators 

is being used in the alignment of ocular scopes; however, the focus (dioptric 

power) setting on the collimators is not accurate. In addition to this, it has been 

determined that the angular measurements on the reticle are not accurate. 

We have been tasked with creating a device that can determine the actual focus 

location as well as the accuracy of the reticle measurements of these collimators. 

Since the collimators being used are large, our device must be able to interface with 

them wherever they are located. This device must also have a user interface so that 

the user can quickly read out the dioptric power and reticle accuracy information. This 

will allow the companies utilizing these collimators to calibrate them, which will help 

them to create a more accurate and precise product.

DESIGN oF mouNTING STRuCTuRES FoR SoLAR ARRAY moDuLES: 

GRouND mouNT Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

Sunora Energy 


Tommy Thompson 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Charlie Burmood (ME) 

Patrick Doyle (ME) 

Jordan Landwerlen (ME) 

Cesar Ramirez (SE) 

Sean Orsburn (EE) 





We were given the task of 

designing a ground-mounted 

structure for solar array modules 

that can be assembled in a 

controlled environment, shipped to 

the location of construction, and 

assembled quickly with minimal 

technical installation expertise. 

This is a joint venture between 

Dynamic Energy Solutions and 

NRG Solar under the name Sunora 

Energy. To complete the given task, we have optimized and updated an already 

existing ground mount structure for a solar array; The key focus points are labor/ 

installation costs, material costs, weight reduction, and shipping capabilities. 

69

70 

ASmE – humAN poWERED VEhICLE 


CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

The University of Arizona 

Student Chapter of the American 

Society of Mechanical Engineers 


Dr. Cholik Chan 

Joe Hartley 



TEAm mEmBERS 

Giancarlo Guevara (ME) 

Michael Lesnewski (ME) 

Justin Monson (ME) 

Charles King (ME) 

Abdulla Al-Hail (ME) 



Human-powered transport is often the only 

type available in underdeveloped parts of the 

world, and if well designed, can be 

an increasingly viable form of sustainable 

transportation. ASME’s International Human 

Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) provides 

an opportunity for undergraduate engineering 

students to demonstrate the application of sound 

engineering design principles in the development 

of sustainable and practical transportation 

alternatives. In the HPVC, students work in teams 

to design and build efficient, highly engineered 

vehicles for everyday use – from commuting to 

work, to carrying goods to market. 

Though some Speed Class vehicles have topped 60 mph, the competition assigns 

greater value to the elegance and ingenuity of the design, including presentation, 

practicality, safety and functionality. 

This year’s Speed Class Team was tasked with building a fully-faired (enclosed) Human 

Powered Vehicle for the 2012 West Coast HPVC held at the Miller Motorsports Park in 

Tooele, Utah. This project required knowledge of analytical tools, machining and fabrication 

of different materials including composites, project management and test plan development.

AmERICAN INSTITuTE oF AERoNAuTICS AND ASTRoNAuTICS: FAST AERIAL 

RECoNNAISSANCE - LAuNCh VEhICLE (FAR-LV) Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program 

CLASS 

ENGR 498A/B 

SpoNSoR 

UA AIAA 


AIAA Executive Board 


Doug May 

TEAm mEmBERS 

John Kidd (AE) 

Kyle Pack (AE) 

Scott Kendrick (AE) 

William Roulo (ME) 

Monem Al-Dhaif (EMG) 





The goal of the FAR project is to 

create a single affordable aerial 

surveillance package that combines 

the speed of a rocket and the 

maneuverability of an airplane. The 

FAR-LV team is responsible for 

designing and building the rocket 

that will deploy the FAR-UAV. In 

order to safely deploy the UAV at 

9,000 ft above ground level, the LV 

has multiple computers onboard that detect the current position and velocity of 

vehicle. At the maximum altitude of the LV trajectory, a series of ejection charges are 

detonated so that the UAV is deployed from the LV payload fairing without entangling 

with the LV recovery system. The recovery system will slow the LV descent rate using 

two staged parachutes. The first parachute is small enough that the LV will descend 

rapidly but in a controlled manner so that cross winds will not carry the rocket down 

range. The main parachute is substantially larger and will be deployed at 800 ft. above 

ground level to allow the LV to be recovered in such a state that allows it to be reflown. 

The UAV and LV teams presented the FAR concept at the AIAA Region VI Student Paper 

Conference on March 29-April 1 in Seattle, Washington. The teams will also compete 

in the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association’s 7th Annual IREC competition on June 

21st-23rd (Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition). 

71

72 

AERIAL VIEW oF ThE uNIVERSITY oF ARIZoNA CAmpuS 

Bear Down Gymnasium – the location of this year’s Engineering Design Day 2012 

Bear Down Gymnasium by Scott Kirkessner 

Aerial view of the UA Campus by Margaret Hartshorn, AHSC BioCommunications

Our thanks to all sponsors 

of design projects and for all the support we receive 

for interdisciplinary engineering design at the University of Arizona. 

EnginEEring DEsign DAy 2012 is spOnsOrED by:

engineering design day 2012 - College of Engineering @ The ...

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