Spring 2013
ECCS
CIRCUIT
IN THIS ISSUE:
A Message from the Chair
Alumni Corner
ECCS Faculty
New Faces
The Newsletter of
Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science
T.J. Smull College of Engineering
Ohio Northern University
Faculty Publications
Student News
Program Working Group
IEEE Report: Fall 2012
Senior Design Projects
ENTER HERE
www.onu.edu/eccs
Message from the Chair
I am pleased to present the second issue of ECCS Circuit, the newsletter from the Department
of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Ohio Northern.
Our students continue to enjoy instruction from ECCS faculty members who are dedicated to
excellence in undergraduate education. This academic year, Dr. Heath LeBlanc, who obtained
his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, joined our department as an assistant professor of
electrical and computer engineering to mainly cover the Control Systems area.
There were other personnel activities in the department. Sharon Badertscher, the senior
administrative assistant, retired after 20 years of dedicated service to the department. She
stated that she is going to miss all students, faculty and staff and also the opportunity to
contact the ECCS alumni. Sue Ward was hired by the department to be Sharon’s replacement.
The department is currently searching for two faculty members in the areas of computer engineering and computer
science. We are optimistic to fill the two positions with excellent and committed faculty who care mostly about the
academic needs of our students.
In July, I will complete my third year serving as chair of the department. I am thankful and honored to be part of the
talented ECCS team and see our students as they develop into productive electrical and computer engineers and
computer scientists.
I hope you enjoy the newsletter and follow us on our ECCS Alumni Facebook page where you can keep
connected. Please stop by the ECCS office whenever you have time; you are welcome as usual!
Sincerely,
Dr. Khalid S. Al-Olimat, P.E.
Professor and chair
www.onu.edu/eccs
Alumni Corner
You have a dream. A goal you vaguely
wish you would accomplish. You are
waiting for something. A moment. The
money. The person who can help you
get to the next level.
Please move, you are in the way.
I am going to reveal to you an
invaluable secret – the worth of
which is limited only by the depth
and magnitude to which you dare to
dream. I hesitate, only because I have
such precious little space to deliver
this most important message, and if I
am to be successful in my delivery, it must be plain for all to see.
The complexity of this secret lies in its simplicity. It is the very nature of
the universe, yet it is not taught in the classroom.
The secret is this: Anything you set in your mind to accomplish, and
truly believe you can accomplish, you CAN accomplish.
Of course, this is easier said than done; however, the only real
stumbling block is truly believing in yourself and your idea.
Alumni Corner
Don’t let self-doubt kill your idea.
You must believe in your idea enough to make it reality. You must
commit yourself to the accomplishment of your goal with such fervor
that you can visualize yourself having already accomplished it. You
must walk forward into the unknown with such definiteness of purpose
that others have no choice but to follow.
Don’t wait. The “right” moment will never come. You must make the
moment. The “right” amount of money will never magically appear.
You must go after it. The “right” person will never just come along. You
must seek that person.
You cannot let your fear create excuses about why now is not the right
time. If you do, you will be left with a sad, unlived dream.
Grasp hold of this secret. Let the magnitude of it wash over you. Find
yourself on the other side of believing that you can accomplish
your goal.
On your mark. Get set. Go.
Nicholas Vidovich, BSCPE ’04
Software engineer
Battelle Memorial Institute
Columbus, Ohio
The idea of the Alumni Corner is to give an opportunity to our alumni to share their stories,
memories and experiences, and to give advice to current ECCS students. This will be a recurring
and important element of our subsequent newsletters. If you would like to share your experiences,
please send your essays and pictures through email to Dr. Khalid Al-Olimat at k-al-olimat@onu.edu
www.onu.edu/eccs
ECCS Faculty
Khalid Al-Olimat,
Professor and chair
Electromagnetics, Energy Systems
1 and 2, and Advanced Power
Heath LeBlanc,
Assistant professor
Control Systems,
Electric Circuits, and
Advanced Controls
John Estell,
Professor
Introduction to Engineering,
Programming, User Interface
Design, and Mobile Computing
Ken Reid,
Associate professor and director
of first-year engineering
Introduction to Engineering
Firas Hassan,
Assistant professor
Electric Circuits, Communication
Systems, and Information Theory
David Retterer,
Associate professor
Net-Centric Computing, Software
Engineering, Databases, Design
Patterns, Programming Environment,
and Theory of Computation
Sami Khorbotly,
Assistant professor
Digital Logic, Signals and Systems,
Digital Signal Processing, and
Advanced Digital Signal Processing
Srinivasa Vemuru,
Professor
Computer Architecture, Embedded
Systems, VLSI System Design, and
Computer Networks
www.onu.edu/eccs
New Faces
Dr. Heath J. LeBlanc joined the ECCS department in fall 2012 as an assistant professor
of electrical & computer engineering. He received his MS and Ph.D. in electrical
engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and graduated
summa cum laude with his BS in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University
in 2007. His research interests include cooperative control of networked multi-agent
systems, resilient and fault-tolerant control, and networked control systems.
Sharon Badertscher, the ECCS senior administrative assistant, retired at the end of fall
semester after 20 years of dedicated service to the department. The students, faculty and
staff express their thanks to Sharon for the excellent work and the efficient performance
during her service. Sharon stated that she will miss working with students, faculty and
staff. She added that she also will miss communicating with our alumni. The department
wishes Sharon a happy retirement.
Sue Ward joined the ECCS department as the senior administrative assistant starting
spring semester. She is a graduate of Rhodes State College with a degree in digital
media. While attending Rhodes State College, she was the recipient of the STEM
scholarship and the D.L. Steiner Scholarship. Sue comes with experience working in
higher education, working at Rhodes State College in Student Affairs. Sue is married to
Scott Ward, and they have three children and five grandchildren. The ECCS department
welcomes Sue to ONU.
www.onu.edu/eccs
Publications by ECCS Faculty
1. Al-Olimat, K. S. et al, (2012). Electricity markets: an overview and
comparative study. (2nd ed., vol. 5, pp. 169-200). Bingley BD16
1WA: International Journal of Energy Sector Management.
2. Al-Olimat, K. S., Vemuru, S. R., Sawyers, D. R., Baumgartner, E.
T. (2012). A Newly Developed Advanced Energy Concentration at
Ohio Northern University, Proceedings of ASEE-NCS.
3. Al-Olimat, K. S. and Bucks, G. (2012). Effective Method for Solving
Equivalent Elements in Electric Circuits. Proceedings of ASEENCS.
4. Estell, J. K., Hurtig, J. K., (2012) Capstone Design Conference,
“Adopting Best Corporate Practices for Capstone Courses,” Champaign-Urbana, IL. (May 2012). Published in Proceedings.
5. Estell, J. K., (2012) ABET Symposium, “A Heuristic Approach to Assessing Student Outcomes Using Performance Vectors,” ABET, St.
Louis, Missouri. (April 2012). Published in Proceedings.
6. Hassan, F., (2012) “A Complete Set of Experiments for Communication Classes,” Proceedings of ASEE/NCS.
7. Hassan, F. (2012). A Complete Set of Experiments for Communication Classes, Proceedings of ASEE-NCS.
8. Khorbotly, S., (2012) “Adding an FPGA Component in the Digital Signal Processing Lab,” Proceedings of ASEE/NCS.
9. Stephon, A. C., Khorbotly, S. (2012). A Camera-Based Target Tracking System for Football Playing Robots. Jacksonville, FL: IEEE
Southeast Symposium on System Theory.
10. Khorbotly, S. (2012). Adding an FPGA Component in the Digital Signal Processing Lab, proccedings of ASEE/NCS.
11. Reid, K. J., Bryan, J., McClelland, S., Bowman, K., Anderson, M.,
“Incorporating International Service into the First Year Engineering
Curriculum: Implementing Designs Created by First-Year Students in
the International Arena,” Proceedings of ASEE/NCS.
12. Reid, K. J., North, C. L., “International Service Learning,” Proceedings
of ASEE/NCS.
13. Reid, K. J., “STeM to STEM: A New Bachelor of Science Degree with a
Major in Engineering Education,” Proceedings of ASEE/NCS.
14. Reid, K. J., Spingola, E., Hertenstein, T., Fennell, G., Hollman, J., “Why
Did Students Select a New Engineering Education Degree Program?,”
Proceedings of ASEE/NCS.
15. Reid, K. J., Budny, D., “Improving First-Year Engineering Retention and
Success,” Proceedings of ASEE/NCS.
16. Vemuru, S. R. (2012). Sensitivity Driven ANN Correction Models for RF/
Microwave Devices. International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering, A, 22(1), 30-40.
17. Vemuru, S. R., 2012 EIT Conference, “Efficient AFT Implementation in
FPGAs to Detect Potential Electromigration Failures,” IEEE, Indianapolis, IN. (May 8, 2012). Published in Proceedings.
18. Vemuru, S. R., 2012 EIT Conference, “Modeling Impact of Bypass Diodes on Photovoltaic Cell Performance Under Partial Shading,” IEEE,
Indianapolis, IN. (May 7, 2012). Published in Proceedings.
19. Vemuru, S. R. (2012). Analysis of Photovoltaic Array with Reconfigurable Modules Under Partial Shading. 2012 IEEE Photovolotaics Specialist Conference Proceedings (vol. 2012). Austin, TX: IEEE.
20. Vemuru, S. R. (2012). Efficient AFT Implementation in FPGAs to Detect
Potential Electromigration Failures. 2012 IEEE EIT Conference Proceedings (vol. 2012). Indianapolis, IN: IEEE.
21. Vemuru, S. R. (2012). Modeling Impact of Bypass Diodes on Photovoltaic Cell Performance Under Partial Shading. 2012 IEEE EIT Conference Proceedings (vol. 2012). Indianapolis, IN: IEEE.
www.onu.edu/eccs
Student News
Marc Anderson, senior electrical engineering major from Napoleon, Ohio
Academic All OAC Swimming Award, second place 100 Fly, third place 200 Fly, first
place in 200 Medley Relay at OAC; received James Klingenberger Scholarship; coauthored with Dr. Reid “Incorporating International Service into the First-Year Engineering
Curriculum: Implementing Designs Created by First-Year Students in the International
Arena.”
Courtney Hetrick, senior electrical engineering major from Frazeysburg, Ohio
IEEE Future Engineer Award, IEEE-Lima Section; worked with Dr. Khorbotly on the
R.A.C.E.R. research project; summer internship at GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wis.,
working on X-Ray tube engineering; inducted into Mortar Board and elected vice
president; elected IEEE secretary; SWE Scholarship, $5,000 for the current 2012-13
school year; Tau Beta Pi Leadership Award winner.
Brian Beckrest, sophomore computer engineering major from North Royalton,
Ohio
Inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma honor societies.
Chris Hoffman, junior computer science major from Strongsville, Ohio
All-Conference OAC for swimming; ALD and PES honor society member.
Cameron Johnson, senior electrical engineering major from Rochester, N.Y.
Summer Internship at Gleason Works, Rochester, N.Y.; received Second Team All-Great
Lakes Region, First Team All-OAC, and First Team Academic All-OAC.
Garrit Corlett, senior computer engineering major from Streetsboro, Ohio
Selected to serve as field commander for ONU’s Marching Band; received “Symphon”
Award (a senior or junior instrumentalist who has consistently exhibited the highest levels
of performance excellence in serious music).
Bridget Davis, junior electrical engineering major from Newark, Ohio
Elected treasurer of Phi Sigma Rho and IEEE; elected vice president of ONU women’s
rugby football club; Summer internship with AEP in Abilene, Texas.
Peter Kleysteuber, senior electrical engineering major from Ada, Ohio
Co-op at Distribution Standards group of American Electric Power.
Gabe Kruse, senior electrical engineering major from Ottawa, Ohio
Co-op at Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.
Matthew McCandless, senior computer science major from Broadview
Heights, Ohio
Summer internship at Timken, Canton, Ohio; inducted into Upsilon Pi Epsilon (CS
honorary) and Kappa Mu Epsilon (math honorary).
Kyle See, senior computer engineering major from Lucasville, Ohio
Summer internship at Yost Engineering Inc.
www.onu.edu/eccs
Our Program Working Group
The department appreciates the hard work and the advice of the following individuals
who serve as the Program Working Group.
Matthew Batcha, BS ’02
Software Development Group Manager
Fenetech Corporation
Aurora, Ohio
Mathew Hargett, BSEE ’92
Senior Engineer
Honda R & D Americas Inc.
Raymond, Ohio
Justin Schultz, BSEE ’03
Electrical Engineer
Metro CD Engineering
Dublin, Ohio
Megan Bessick, BS ’05
Software Engineer
Charles Schwab Corporation
Richfield, Ohio
Mark Longbrake, BSEE ’81
Principal RF Systems Engineer
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Fairborn, Ohio
Sandy Snyder-Stevens, BSEE ’92
Product Manager
Bauer Controls
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Scott Campbell, BSEE ’85
Assistant Professor
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
Mark Mishler, BSEE ’86
Director Program Management
L-3 Communications Fuzing & Ordnance
Systems
Cincinnati, Ohio
Roger Thornton, BSEE ’83
Senior Design Engineer
GE Aviation Systems LLC
Vandalia, Ohio
Michael Carr, BSEE ’96
President
Carr Engineering Inc.
Dublin, Ohio
Lynn (Roeder) Child, BA ’84
CEO
Aardvark/CentraCom Communications
Findlay, Ohio
Gordon Neumann, BA ’81
Lead Programmer
Lexis-Nexis
Dayton, Ohio
Mark Pfouts, BSEE ’86
Manager International Device Engineering
Abbott Nutrition
Columbus, Ohio
Jeffrey Garlock, BS ’85
Associate Chief Engineer
Honda of America Manufacturing
Marysville, Ohio
Stephen Pomesky, BSEE ’95
Engineering Manager
HANCO International
Canton, Ohio
Shane Griggs, BS ’96
Software Architect
Fiserv
Dublin, Ohio
Walter Schilling, BSEE ’97
Assistant Professor
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Milwaukee, Wis.
Nicholas Vidovich, BSCPE ’04
Software Engineer
Battelle Memorial Institute
Columbus, Ohio
Charles Weininger, BS ’95
Principal Development Lead
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Wash.
We are on Facebook, join us
at Ohio Northern ECCS Alumni
www.onu.edu/eccs
IEEE Report: Fall 2012
IEEE held a number of events throughout the fall semester. In an effort to increase awareness and participation in the
organization, new and returning students were provided information about IEEE during Welcome Fest. Following Welcome
Fest, a League of Legends Tournament was held as the society’s first social event of the year. Further continuing efforts to
increase involvement, the officers of IEEE met with ECE Freshman Enrichment students to discuss the benefits of joining
a professional society. This meeting also included a question-and-answer panel to allow new students to ask anything they
wanted from junior- and senior-level students.
The first technical lecture of the year addressed Design of Experiments (DoE). The lecture was given by Mike Harman, an
expert on DoE for Riverside Research in Dayton, Ohio. DoE is a statistical method of designing experiments and studies
to gain maximum knowledge from the variables being used. Rather than changing a single variable at a time during
experimentation, DoE prescribes an approach of randomly varying one variable with respect to another variable. This
scheme allows fewer test points while gaining an accurate representation of the trends being tested in a system. DoE is being used regularly by government and large
corporations. Most Fortune 500 companies are using the techniques in a number of functional areas, further increasing the importance of understanding DoE.
In November, IEEE held a Student Professional Awareness Conference (SPAC), which consisted of two lectures followed
by a panel discussion. The first lecture, presented by Jim Watson (EE and IEEE national speaker) was given to freshmen
students and focused on career planning and how to achieve career goals. The lecture provided practical ideas, based on
years of experience, for students to use in starting and maintaining their career management program.
The second lecture of the Student Professional Awareness Conference was given by Dr. Charles Alexander, BSEE ’65,
(PhD and MSEE from Ohio University). From knowledge and experience gained over his distinguished career, Alexander
presented information about engineering in the 21st century. Covering the future of engineering, the next issues which
will need to be solved, and where careers will exist in the future, he answered many key questions of young engineering
students today.
The final event of the SPAC was a panel discussion in town-hall format. The expert panel consisted of Watson, Alexander,
Gary Stroup, BSME ’63, and Dr. Heath LeBlanc. Students were able to ask questions ranging from the importance of
a graduate degree to the options of working abroad. The varied experience and backgrounds of the panel allowed for a
dynamic and informative discussion.
The ONU Student Branch of IEEE held one joint meeting with IEEE Lima Section. The joint event served to honor active
members of IEEE who joined the national organization in its infancy. Following the event, the student branch held the
second of two social movie nights. IEEE also participated in the JEC Christmas Party – a joint event with all societies and
groups in the college of engineering.
Fall semester was a very successful term for IEEE. Currently, there are more than 50 active student members in the orga
nization. For questions or more information about ONU IEEE, contact ieee@onu.edu
Officers include Kyle See (chair), Brooke Hayden (vice-chair), Courtney Hetrick (secretary), Bridget Davis (treasurer), Betsy Gall (communications), and Shawn Pavel
(webmaster). Dr. Khalid Al-Olimat is the IEEE faculty advisor.
www.onu.edu/eccs
Senior Design Projects 2012-13
Tour Guide Assistant Navigation
Amy Elmer (CS), Tyler Gutridge (CpE), Gabriel Kruse (EE)
Advisors: Drs. Heath LeBlanc and Ken Reid
This project is a continuation of the tour guide assistant robot. The robot currently has a
cart-like structure with multi-levels that can hold, in addition to its battery and circuitry, a
netbook, brochures, folders and other documents that the tour guide may need. The robot is
motorized and equipped with a vision system to track and autonomously follow the tour guide
at a specified distance. The robot also is equipped with sonar sensors to detect obstacles
and avoid running into walls and humans. This year, the team will take the existing robot
and create a navigation algorithm for it. This algorithm should use the inputs from the vision
system and the sonar sensors to decide its next move. The team can identify any additional
interfaces they need to add to improve the navigation capabilities of the robot and also add
location based behavior to it.
Natural User Interfaces
Marc Anderson (EE), Travis Burke (CS), Matthew McCandless (CS)
Advisor: Professor David Retterer
This project involves the investigation of emerging technologies that will likely revolutionize the
way humans interact with computers and other devices. A successful project will characterize
several such technologies, generate one or more substantial demonstrations of their use, and
provide an open-source library of software as a legacy for the project. In addition, a researchstyle paper will be generated by the project team. One of the devices that must be used is the
Kinect for Windows (kinectforwindows.org). This project is intended for two computer science
majors, but computer engineering majors will be accepted. Students in other majors will be
considered.
Micromouse
Spencer Cupp (EE), Kiel Wood (CpE)
Advisor: Dr. Khalid Al-Olimat
For many years, IEEE student members around the world have competed at IEEE regional
meetings to see whose mouse can make its way around a maze the fastest. Micromouse
is a tiny electromechanical robot that uses sensors and mapping technology to navigate
autonomously to reach a target. The team is required to design the mouse from scratch (not a
kit) and participate, at least, in IEEE-Region 2 competition.
Solution to the Deflection Issue in Industrial Roofs Due to Snow Loads
Courtney Hetrick (EE), Kyle See (CpE), Tobias Deardoff (CS)
Advisor: Dr. Firas Hassan
It has been observed that industrial roofs experience a deflection problem due to the
accumulation of snow. Because industrial roofs typically have large surface areas, localized
deflection may occur. Normally, most roof failures are preventable because sagging and
distortion remain for a long period of time prior to collapse of the roof. However, it is crucial to
take action before small issues become bigger issues. Action must be taken, at proper time,
by clearing snow off the roof to avoid such permanent deformations. Clearing or shoveling
the snow off the roof may often be expensive; therefore, it is important to shovel the snow
only when it is needed. Industrial roof owners often spend needless amounts of money on
roof clearing to avoid spending more money to repair the roof due to excessive deflection if
action is not taken at the right time. Hence, there is a need to develop deflection criteria to
provide warning when clearing the snow off the roof is required, ensurinthat the produced
deformations in the roof are not permanent. The proposed deflection criteria shall also be
large enough to avoid unnecessary frequent roof clearing. The objective of this study is
to develop a device to read deflections experienced in industrial roofs. The device shall
provide a warning when deflection exceeds a certain threshold. Once this warning is given, it is
the responsibility of the owner to clear the snow, thereby mitigating any increase in the load. The
accuracy of the developed device to read deflection shall be verified; models of industrial roofs will
be created and examined to ensure the accuracy of the device prior to use. The deflection criteria
obtained will ensure that behavior remains in elastic region. All snow load calculations will be
performed as per ASCE7. The developed device will be simple enough so that it does not require
any technical experience to install or to declaim its readings. The device shall be very cost-effective
as well.
Software Defined Virtual RF Laboratory
Tim Chaffin (CpE), Brook Hayden (EE)
Advisor: Dr. Srinivasa Vemuru
Software-defined radios (SDR) have become popular recently as modular, reconfigurable RF
technology. They can be utilized in a variety of applications, such as FM radios, radars and
communications. One popular inexpensive SDR used by researchers is the Universal Software
Radio Peripheral created by Ettus Research. Still, for development of these systems, researches
require expensive RF lab equipment, which can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The
Air Force Research Laboratory desires two capabilities to test the development of SDR systems.
The first would be the equivalent to a spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope. This capability would
allow users to measure (in time and frequency domains) the characteristics of RF transmissions
to include frequency or time, amplitude, bandwidth, modulation, and other common signal
parameters. The second capability focuses around functionality of an arbitrary waveform generator.
These devices can create diverse waveforms “on the fly” for advanced RF concepts. This capability
should be able to handle multiple frequencies, bandwidths and modulation types for usergenerated data or specially defined signals. The two capabilities are complementary, and each can
be tested using the other.
Robotic Football
Loren Camp (ME), Mike Horth (ME), Peter Kleysteuber (EE), Shawn Pavel (CpE), Hunter Turner
(ME), Taylor Zank (EE)
Advisors: Drs. Sami Khorbotly and JD Yoder
This project will work on improving last year’s robotic football team for another head-to-head
competition with the University of Notre Dame. ONU will host the competition, which may include
additional universities. Higher technology features will have to be added to this year’s robots.
Golf cart control
Ian Anderson (ME), Drew Gaynor (CpE), Cameron Johnson (EE), Tyler Latham (ME)
Advisors: Drs. Firas Hassan and David Mikesell
An electric golf cart has been fitted with actuators, controls and safety sensors enabling
autonomous operation, including path following. The next step would be to implement a HMI
(human-machine interface) such as a tablet or touchpad controller to enable the novice user to
instruct the cart to drive itself to key destinations across campus.
Robotic lawnmower
Dan Ashburn (ME), Bryan Burkholder (CpE), Tyler Cler (ME), Elizabeth Gall (EE), Patrick Whitten
(ME)
Advisors: Drs. John Estell and JD Yoder
The robotic lawnmower is a GPS navigating lawnmower that leaves a yard cut in a simple design.
The GPS technology would be comparable to what farmers use in their tractors for auto-steering.
There is a detachable tablet that allows the owner to monitor the mower and pick out designs.
The designs, such as checkerboard, stripes and simple logos, would be made by built-in rollers,
mowing in different directions or by mowing the grass at different lengths. This group would
compete in the following competition: www.ion.org/satdiv/alc
Congressman Bob Latta visited Dr. Al-Olimat’s Power Engineering Lab during his tour of the College of Engineering. Pictured are Dr. Al-Olimat, Congressman Latta and Dean Eric Baumgartner.
Look for the next email announcement with a direct link to the
next issue of the ECCS NEWSLETTER
www.onu.edu/eccs