Senior Design Projects - Fall 2025 Showcase

Aging infrastructure and toxic materials such as lead in water service lines pose great public health risks. Furthermore, assessing the integrity of these underground water pipes has been a critical challenge for municipalities and environmental agencies. This project aims to develop a simple Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system using Software-Defined Radio (SDR) technology. The SDR-based GPR leverages radio frequency wave propagation and advanced signal processing to detect and characterize subsurface anomalies in diverse mediums. Through iterative design, analysis, and stakeholder feedback, the system has been engineered to deliver detection with around 90% accuracy within a 2-meter depth range while providing real-time data visualization. By addressing a pressing societal need, this project contributes to public health initiatives and infrastructure improvement, showcasing a cost-effective, hardware-effective, and innovative solution to underground pipe detection. 

This proposal outlines the development of an innovative Sound Effect System designed to address critical needs in live event performances and music production. The system combines high-quality sound processing with extensive real-time customization, offering performers, producers, and sound engineers a reliable and cost-effective tool to enhance their creative workflows. Using an ESP32 microcontroller, the system integrates digital sound processing, an amplifier for audio output, and intuitive physical controls, ensuring a seamless user experience. Designed for compatibility with a wide range of audio equipment, including musical instruments, microphones, audio mixers, and speakers, the system supports popular formats such as MP3, MP4, and WAV, making it a versatile addition to any professional or amateur audio setup.

The project focuses on meeting three core objectives: functionality, compatibility, and affordability. The system is tailored to be fast, durable, and user-friendly, featuring a stationary design optimized for live performances and studio use. Real-time audio effects customization, low-latency processing, and scalability for future upgrades are central to the system's capabilities. Addressing common limitations in existing sound effect systems, such as insufficient customization, limited compatibility, and durability concerns. This project aims to provide a solution that is both accessible and high-performing.

During the development process, the team accomplished several significant milestones, such as smooth MP3 playback through SD card integration, potentiometer-based real-time volume control, a 4x4 keypad for easy navigation, and an OLED display for dynamic user feedback. The system's creative versatility was increased with the implementation of audio manipulation features like pitch modification and playback speed change. The finished prototype showed effective file browsing, sound effect triggering while music was playing, and steady audio output using the MAX98357A amplifier. Software-based methods were used to optimize functionality even though simultaneous audio input and output through I2S presented difficulties.

The plan takes into account important aspects such as sustainability, health and safety, and ethical consequences in addition to technical development. The project was guided by thorough feasibility studies and risk assessments, which made sure it was in line with international standards and market expectations. A completely tested and working prototype, thorough technical documentation, and a roadmap for future improvements were among the deliverables. The system was ready to manage both present user demands and upcoming technology developments by incorporating features like an SD card reader for increased storage and a reliable dedicated power source.

This initiative bridges the gap between professional-grade performance and cost, making a substantial contribution to the audio technology scene. It lays the groundwork for a system that fosters innovation and adjusts to changing user needs, making it a vital resource for sound engineers, musicians, and live event planners. Through successful prototype demos and system testing, the team has produced a sound effect system that is both unique and robust, redefining accessibility and variety in audio processing. 

This project focuses on developing a Battery Diagnostic and Prognostic Tool to improve lithium-ion battery health monitoring and predictive maintenance. Current battery management systems (BMS) effectively monitor the State-of-Charge (SOC) but struggle to provide accurate, long-term insights into the State-of-Health (SOH). Our tool integrates machine learning (ML) techniques and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations to address this gap and deliver precise lifespan predictions, failure forecasts, and real-time diagnostics.

The tool operates as a full-stack hybrid application, supporting cloud-based and offline functionality to ensure reliability in diverse environments. Key activities involved interviews with potential users, surveys to gather feature requirements, and iterative design development, prioritizing compatibility with legacy systems and energy efficiency. Using simulation data and real-world testing, we evaluated the system’s ability to predict battery performance accurately.

The results indicate that our tool enhances battery monitoring capabilities, reduces waste by extending battery life, and promotes safer energy storage practices. This project addresses societal needs for sustainable energy solutions and contributes to our professional development by advancing our understanding of ML integration, real-time diagnostics, and system design.

The inline network tap is an extensible, open-source penetration testing solution for monitoring, enumerating, and disrupting an enterprise network segment. The device can intercept packets, change key values in the IP and Ethernet layers, and forward the packets, forming both a network tap and a man-in-the-middle attack vector. The network tap uses PetaLinux built on an AMD Spartan 7 SP701 FPGA development board. This iteration can monitor and modify traffic in an active state and operate undetected in a bypass state. The user-space program that manages and copies the PCapPlusPlus library enables fine-tuned packet inspection and adjustment. The network tap can be a key tool for penetration testing by trained cybersecurity engineers. The ability to map networks and disrupt a target computer or switch will be invaluable for ensuring an organization's security posture. At a much lower price than leading network taps, our device will undercut the market and provide a low-cost solution to enable a broader range of engineers to utilize a powerful security testing tool. This FPGA-based network tap represents a comprehensive security solution with room to grow and expand to the needs of a professional with capable skills and knowledge of the network security landscape.