Defense Notices


All students and faculty are welcome to attend the final defense of EECS graduate students completing their M.S. or Ph.D. degrees. Defense notices for M.S./Ph.D. presentations for this year and several previous years are listed below in reverse chronological order.

Students who are nearing the completion of their M.S./Ph.D. research should schedule their final defenses through the EECS graduate office at least THREE WEEKS PRIOR to their presentation date so that there is time to complete the degree requirements check, and post the presentation announcement online.

Upcoming Defense Notices

Jennifer Quirk

Aspects of Doppler-Tolerant Radar Waveforms

When & Where:


Nichols Hall, Room 129 (Apollo Auditorium)

Committee Members:

Shannon Blunt, Chair
Patrick McCormick
Charles Mohr
Alessandro Salandrino
Zsolt Talata

Abstract

The Doppler tolerance of a waveform refers to its behavior when subjected to a fast-time Doppler shift imposed by scattering that involves nonnegligible radial velocity. While previous efforts have established decision-based criteria that lead to a binary judgment of Doppler tolerant or intolerant, it is also useful to establish a measure of the degree of Doppler tolerance. The purpose in doing so is to introduce a Doppler "quasi-tolerant" trade-space that can ultimately inform automated/cognitive waveform design in increasingly complex and dynamic radio frequency (RF) environments. This idea of Doppler quasi-tolerance leads to the development of random FM (RFM) waveforms that retain a degree of Doppler tolerance while still providing the diversity of a nonrepeating waveform structure. The ensuing ambiguity functions split the delay/Doppler ridge into a variety of different patterns. Since these patterns are known at transmission, a strategy for appropriate coherent slow time combining is demonstrated in simulation. Separately, the application of slow-time coding (STC) to the Doppler-tolerant linear FM (LFM) waveform has been examined for disambiguation of multiple range ambiguities. However, using STC with non-adaptive Doppler processing often results in high Doppler "cross-ambiguity" side lobes that can hinder range disambiguation despite the degree of separability imparted by STC. To enhance this separability, a gradient-based optimization of STC sequences is developed, and a "multi-range" (MR) modification to the reiterative super-resolution (RISR) approach that accounts for the distinct range interval structures from STC is examined. The efficacy of these approaches is demonstrated using open-air measurements. Pulse agility is an alternative range disambiguation technique that relies on pulse-to-pulse waveform separability. Although pulse-agile waveforms are often uncorrelated and therefore amenable to range disambiguation, they may exhibit poor Doppler tolerance. To preserve Doppler tolerance and achieve separability, a class of hybrid waveforms is developed whereby a phase code is embedded on an LFM base waveform. A gradient-based optimization is developed for this waveform structure to achieve enhanced suppression of range-folded scattering in desired delay/Doppler regions. The Doppler tolerance and separability of the optimized waveforms are examined in simulation, and open-air measurements are used to demonstrate the range disambiguation capability.


Logan Schmalz

A Framework for Controlled Key Release

When & Where:


Nichols Hall, Room 246 (Executive Conference Room)

Committee Members:

Perry Alexander, Chair
Drew Davidson
Sankha Guria


Abstract

Modern security relies heavily on public key cryptography, and private keys and secrets in general must be protected from attackers. Against a highly-capable adversary it is ideal to store secrets outside of main memory, which is easy on general purpose systems with the now widely-available Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0. However, the lack of integration between the TPM and the OS makes protecting secrets with automated availability needs difficult. We develop a strategy to authenticate OS entities and protect TPM-stored secrets without restricting access to the TPM, using standard features available on Linux---SELinux, Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA), Extended Verification Module (EVM), and Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS).


Pranav Sudhakar Raju

Information Theoretic Waveform Design and Receive Processing for Pulse Agile Radar

When & Where:


Nichols Hall, Room 246 (Executive Conference Room)

Committee Members:

James Stiles, Chair
Shannon Blunt
Patrick McCormick
Charles Mohr
Zsolt Talata

Abstract

Modern radar systems are increasingly required to operate in complex, dynamic environments where traditional waveform design and signal processing techniques reach fundamental limitations. To address this, waveform diversity has been utilized to increase design degrees of freedom and improve detection performance in challenging scattering scenarios. This dissertation leverages an information-theoretic framework to implement waveform design and receive processing techniques in pulse-agile radars.

First, a modification of Fishers Information known as Marginal Fishers Information is adapted specifically for application to pulse-agile radars, where the ensuing waveform sets are optimally designed to minimize the error covariance of the scene estimate, improving target detection. This methodology is applied to range-Doppler estimation, where some knowledge of the scattering scene is known a priori. By incorporating the a priori knowledge of the scene into the waveform design, the waveforms are able to inherently suppress the self-interference introduced by pulse-agility.

Second, the information theoretic framework is used to create pulse-agile receive processing techniques for range-only and range-Doppler estimation. The range-only implementation is an iterative minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimator similar to a Kalman filter, where the innovation-based update suited to pulse-agility, mirrors the Kalman filter’s correction step. The range-Doppler implementation leverages the same principles as the range-Doppler waveform design technique, where some knowledge of the scattering scenario a priori is used to suppress self-interference and improve the range-Doppler estimate in a desired region.

Both the waveform design and advanced receive processing techniques are first developed in the fast-time slow-time parameterization space, and then translated to a frequency-domain implementation to reduce computation complexity and improve tractability. Finally, future work is proposed to round out the content of the dissertation.


Sirisha Thippabhotla

From Fragments to Function: Computational Approaches for Reconstructing Biological Context in Metagenomic and Exosomal Discovery

When & Where:


Eaton Hall, Room 2001B

Committee Members:

Cuncong Zhong, Chair
Prasad Kulkarni
Fengjun Li
Zijun Yao
Liang Xu

Abstract

Advances in high-throughput Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies have transformed our ability to study biological systems. However, a fundamental gap remains between generating data and interpreting it. Sequencing produces genomes, transcriptomes, and cell-derived signals as millions of short, fragmented sequences, resulting in the loss of biological context, specifically the long-range relationships that determine genes, structured RNAs, or regulatory signals. This work investigates computational and experimental approaches to improve functional discovery by reconstructing or preserving biological context. The concept is developed across three interconnected dimensions: sensitivity, scalability, and biological fidelity, demonstrating that context is lost and must be recovered at two distinct stages of the discovery process.

The first contribution handles the loss of context that occurs after sequencing. By representing metagenomic sequencing reads as connected paths in an assembly graph and guiding graph traversal with biological models, this work recovers both protein-coding and non-coding signals that conventional fragment-level analyses fail to detect, thereby revealing functional pathways that would otherwise be missed. The second contribution makes this recovery practical at scale by introducing a significantly faster framework that preserves the sensitivity of graph-based methods while reducing computational costs by over an order of magnitude, thus enabling the analysis of large present-day datasets.

The third contribution studies the loss of context prior to sequencing. Using extracellular vesicles as a model system, the findings show that cells cultured in conventional two-dimensional environments generate signals that differ from their physiological state. In contrast, cells cultured in three-dimensional models produce signals that closely resemble those observed in patients. This shows that an accurate biological model is essential for reliable discovery, since computational methods cannot recover signals that are fundamentally distorted at their origin.

Taken together, these contributions establish a set of methods and principles for extracting meaningful biological information from fragmented, high-throughput genomic data, thereby enabling more accurate functional discovery.


Past Defense Notices

Dates

DARSHAN RAMESH

Configuration of Routing Protocols on Routers using Quagga

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Joseph Evans, Chair
Victor Frost
Glenn Prescott


Abstract

With the increasing number of devices being connected to the network, efficient connection of those devices to the network is very important. The routing protocols have evolved through time. I have used Mininet and Quagga to implement the routing protocols in a topology with ten routers and eleven host machines. Initially the basic configuration of the routers is done to bring its interfaces administratively up and the IP addresses are assigned. Static routes are configured on the routers using Quagga zebra daemons. With the amount of overhead observed, static protocol is replaced with RIPv2 using the Quagga ripd daemon and the features of RIPv2 are implemented like MD5 authentication and split horizon. RIPv2 is replaced with OSPF routing protocol. The differences between static and dynamic protocol are observed. Complex OSPF applications are implemented using the Quagga ospfd daemon. The best route to the neighboring routers is changed using the OSPF cost attribute. Next the networks in the lab are 
assumed to belong to different autonomous systems and BGP is implemented using the Quagga bgpd daemon. The routing updates are filtered using the access list attributes. The path to the neighboring routers is changed using BGP metrics such as MED, weight, AS_PATH and local_pref. Load balancing is also implemented and the results are verified using traceroute and routing tables.


RUXIN XIE

Single-Fiber-Laser-Based Multimodal Coherent Raman System

When & Where:


250 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Ron Hui, Chair
Chris Allen
Shannon Blunt
Victor Frost
Carey Johnson

Abstract

Single-fiber-laser-based coherent Raman scattering (CRS) spectroscopy and microscopy system can automatically maintain frequency synchronization between pump and Stokes beam, which dramatically simplifies the setup configuration. The Stokes frequency shift is generated by soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) through a photonic crystal fiber. The impact of pulse chirping on the signal power reduction of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) have been investigate through theoretical analysis and experiment. The strategies of system optimization is discussed. 
Our multimodal system provides measurement diversity among CARS, SRS and photothermal, which can be used for comparison and offering complementary information. Distribution of hemoglobin in human red blood cells and lipids in sliced mouse brain sample have been imaged. Frequency and power dependency of photothermal signal is characterized. 
Instead of using intensity modulated pump, the polarization switched SRS method is applied to our system by changing the polarization of the pump. Based on the polarization dependency of the third-order susceptibility of the material, this method is able to eliminate the nonresonant photothermal signal from the resonant SRS signal. Red blood cells and sliced mouse brain samples were imaged to demonstrate the capability of the proposed technique. The result shows that polarization switched SRS removes most of the photothermal signal. 


VENU GOPAL BOMMU

Performance Analysis of Various Implementations of Machine Learning Algorithms

When & Where:


2001B Eaton Hall

Committee Members:

Jerzy Grzymala-Busse, Chair
Luke Huan
Bo Luo


Abstract

Rapid development in technologies and database systems result in producing and storing large amounts of data. With such an enormous increase in data over the last few decades, data mining became a useful tool to discover the knowledge hidden in large data. Domain experts often use machine learning algorithms for finding theories that would explain their data. 
In this project we compare Weka implementation of CART and C4.5 with their original implementation on different datasets from University of California Irvine (UCI). Comparisons of these implementations has been carried in terms of accuracy, decision tree complexity and area under ROC curve (AUC). Results from our experiments show that the decision tree complexity of C4.5 is much higher than CART and that the original implementation of these algorithms perform slightly better than their corresponding Weka implementation in terms of accuracy and AUC. 


SRI HARSHA KOMARINA

System Logging and Analysis using Time Series Databases

When & Where:


2001B Eaton Hall

Committee Members:

Joseph Evans, Chair
Prasad Kulkarni
Bo Luo


Abstract

Logging system information and its metrics provides us with a valuable resource to monitor the system for unusual activity and understand the various factors affecting its performance. Though there are several tools that are available to log and analyze the system locally, it is inefficient to individually analyze every system and is seldom effective in case of hardware failure. Having centralized access to this information aids the system administrators in performing their operational tasks. Here we present a centralized logging solution for system logs and metrics by using Time Series Databases (TSDB). We provide reliable storage and efficient access to system information by storing the parsed system logs and metrics in a TSDB. In this project, we develop a solution to store the system’s default log storage - syslog as well as the system metrics like CPU load, disk load, and network traffic load into a TSDB. We further extend our ability to monitor and analyze the data in our TSDB by using an open source graphing tool. 


EVAN AUSTIN

Theorem Provers as Libraries — An Approach to Formally Verifying Functional Programs

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Perry Alexander, Chair
Arvin Agah
Andy Gill
Prasad Kulkarni
Erik Van Vleck

Abstract

Property-directed verification of functional programs tends to take one of two paths. 
First, is the traditional testing approach, where properties are expressed in the original programming language and checked with a collection of test data. 
Alternatively, for those desiring a more rigorous approach, properties can be written and checked with a formal tool; typically, an external proof system. 
This dissertation details a hybrid approach that captures the best of both worlds: the formality of a proof system paired with the native integration of an embedded, domain specific language (EDSL) for testing. 

At the heart of this hybridization is the titular concept -- \emph{a theorem prover as a library}. 
The verification capabilities of this prover, HaskHOL, are introduced to a Haskell development environment as a GHC compiler plugin. 
Operating at the compiler level provides for a comparatively simpler integration and allows verification to co-exist with the numerous other passes that stand between source code and program. 

The logical connection between language and proof library is formalized, and the open problems related to this connection are documented. 
Additionally, the resultant, novel verification workflow is applied to two major classes of problems, type class laws and polymorphic test cases, to judge the real-world feasibility of compiler-directed verification. 
These applications and formalization serve to position this work relative to existing work and to highlight potential, future extensions.


CAMERON LEWIS

Ice Shelf Melt Rates and 3D Imaging

When & Where:


317 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Prasad Kulkarni, Chair
Chris Allen
Carl Leuschen
Fernando Rodriguez-Morales
Rick Hale

Abstract

Ice shelves are sensitive indicators of climate change and play a critical role in the stability of ice sheets and oceanic currents. Basal melting of ice shelves plays an important role in both the mass balance of the ice sheet and the global climate system. Airborne- and satellite based remote sensing systems can perform thickness measurements of ice shelves. Time separated repeat flight tracks over ice shelves of interest generate data sets that can be used to derive basal melt rates using traditional glaciological techniques. Many previous melt rate studies have relied on surface elevation data gathered by airborne- and satellite based altimeters. These systems infer melt rates by assuming hydrostatic equilibrium, an assumption that may not be accurate, especially near an ice shelf’s grounding line. Moderate bandwidth, VHF, ice penetrating radar has been used to measure ice shelf profiles with relatively coarse resolution. This study presents the application of an ultra wide bandwidth (UWB), UHF, ice penetrating radar to obtain finer resolution data on the ice shelves. These data reveal significant details about the basal interface, including the locations and depth of bottom crevasses and deviations from hydrostatic equilibrium. While our single channel radar provides new insight into ice shelf structure, it only images a small swatch of the shelf, which is assumed to be an average of the total shelf behavior. This study takes an additional step by investigating the application of a 3 D imaging technique to a data set collected using a ground based multi channel version of the UWB radar. The intent is to show that the UWB radar could be capable of providing a wider swath 3 D image of an ice shelf. The 3 D images can then be used to obtain a more complete estimate of bottom melt rates of ice shelves.


RALPH BAIRD

Isomorphic Routing Protocol

When & Where:


250 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Victor Frost, Chair
Bo Luo
Hossein Saiedian


Abstract

A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) routing algorithm defines the path packets take to reach their destination using measurements of attributes such as adjacency and distance. Graph theory is increasingly applied in many fields of research today to model the properties of data on a graph plane. Graph theory is applied to in networking to form structures from patterns of nodes. Conventional MANET protocols are often based on path measurements from wired network algorithms and do not implement mechanisms to mitigate route entropy, defined as the procession of a converged path to a path loss state as a result of increasing random movement. Graph isomorphism measures equality beginning in the individual node and in sets of nodes and edges. The measurement of isomorphism is applied in this research to form paths from an aggregate set of route inputs, such as adjacency, cardinality to impending nodes in a path, and network width. A routing protocol based on the presence of isomorphism in a MANET topology is then tested to measure the performance of the proposed routing protocol.


DAIN VERMAAK

Application of Half Spaces in Bounding Wireless Internet Signals for use in Indoor Positioning

When & Where:


246 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Joseph Evans, Chair
Jim Miller
Gary Minden


Abstract

The problem of outdoor positioning has been largely solved via the use of GPS. This thesis addresses the problem of determining position in areas where GPS is unavailable. No clear solution exists for indoor localization and all approximation methods offer unique drawbacks. To mitigate the drawbacks, robust systems combine multiple complementary approaches. In this thesis, fusion of wireless internet access points and inertial sensors was used to allow indoor positioning without the need for prior information regarding surroundings. Implementation of the algorithm involved development of three separate systems. The first system simply combines inertial sensors on the Android Nexus 7 to form a step counter capable of providing marginally accurate initial measurements. Having achieved reliable initial measurements, the second system receives signal strength from nearby wireless internet access points, augmenting the sensor data in order to generate half-planes. The half-planes partition the available space and bound the possible region in which each access point can exist. Lastly, the third system addresses the tendency of the step counter to lose accuracy over time by using the recently established positions of the access points to correct flawed values. The resulting process forms a simple feedback loop.


ANDREW FARMER

HERMIT: Mechanized Reasoning during Compilation in the Glasgow Haskell Compiler

When & Where:


250 Nichols Hall

Committee Members:

Andy Gill, Chair
Perry Alexander
Prasad Kulkarni
Jim Miller
Chris Depcik

Abstract

It is difficult to write programs which are both correct and fast. A promising approach, functional programming, is based on the idea of using pure, mathematical functions to construct programs. With effort, it is possible to establish a connection between a specification written in a functional language, which has been proven correct, and a fast implementation, via program transformation. 

When practiced in the functional programming community, this style of reasoning is still typically performed by hand, by either modifying the source code or using pen-and-paper. Unfortunately, performing such semi-formal reasoning by directly modifying the source code often obfuscates the program, and pen-and-paper reasoning becomes outdated as the program changes over time. Even so, this semi-formal reasoning prevails because formal reasoning is time-consuming, and requires considerable expertise. Formal reasoning tools often only work for a subset of the target language, or require programs to be implemented in a custom language for reasoning. 

This dissertation investigates a solution, called HERMIT, which mechanizes reasoning during compilation. HERMIT can be used to prove properties about programs written in the Haskell functional programming language, or transform them to improve their performance. 
Reasoning in HERMIT proceeds in a style familiar to practitioners of pen-and-paper reasoning, and mechanization allows these techniques to be applied to real-world programs with greater confidence. HERMIT can also re-check recorded reasoning steps on subsequent compilations, enforcing a connection with the program as the program is developed. 

HERMIT is the first system capable of directly reasoning about the full Haskell language. The design and implementation of HERMIT, motivated both by typical reasoning tasks and HERMIT's place in the Haskell ecosystem, is presented in detail. Three case studies investigate HERMIT's capability to reason in practice. These case studies demonstrate that semi-formal reasoning with HERMIT lowers the barrier to writing programs which are both correct and fast. 


JAY McDANIEL

Design, Integration, and Miniaturization of a Multichannel Ultra-Wideband Snow Radar Receiver and Passive Microwave Components

When & Where:


129 Nichols

Committee Members:

Carl Leuschen, Chair
Stephen Yan
Prasad Gogineni


Abstract

To meet the demand for additional snow characterization from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a new “Airborne” Multichannel, Quad-Polarized 2-18GHz Snow Radar has been proposed. With tight size and weight constraints from the airborne platforms deploying with the Navy Research Laboratory (NRL), the need for integrated and miniaturized receivers for cost and size reduction is crucial for future deployments. 

A set of heterodyne microwave receivers were developed to enable snow thickness measurements from a survey altitude of 500 feet to 5000 feet while nadir looking, and estimation of SWE from polarimetric backscattered signals at low elevation 30 degree off nadir. The individual receiver has undergone a five times size reduction with respect to initial prototype design, while achieving a sensitivity of -125 dBm on average across the 2-18 GHz bandwidth, enabling measurements with a vertical range resolution of 1.64 cm in snow. The design of a compact enclosure was defined to accommodate up to 18 individual receiver modules allowing for multichannel quad-polarized measurements over the entire 16 GHz bandwidth. The receiver bank was tested individually and with the entire system in a full multichannel loop-back measurement, using a 2.95 μs optical delay line, resulting in a beat frequency of 200 MHz with 20 dB range side lobes. Due to the multi-angle, multi-polarization, and multi-frequency content from the data , the number of free parameters in the SWE estimation can thus be significantly reduced. 

Design equations have been derived and a new method for modeling Suspended Substrate Stripline (SSS) filters in ADS for rapid-prototyping has been accomplished. Two SSS filters were designed which include an Optimized Chebyshev SSS Low Pass Filter (LPF) with an 18 GHz cutoff frequency and a Broadside Coupled SSS High Pass Filter (HPF) with a 2 GHz cutoff frequency. Also, a 2-18 GHz three-port Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) Mode Hybrid 8:1 power combiner was designed and modeled at CReSIS. This design will be integrated into the Vivaldi Dual Polarized antenna array with 8 active dual-polarized elements to implement a lightweight and compact array structure, eliminating cable and connector cost and losses.