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Highlight
Science News featuring Dr. Nader Engheta
A brief in Science News highlighted Nader Engheta's upcoming work on "Cloaking a Sensor"
Twisting the Knob of Light: News article by Giorgio Volpe featured in Optics & Photonics Focus journal
Good things come in small packages: in the general trend towards miniaturization, our ancestors’ wisdom seems to be the leitmotif of modern technology. In fact, scientists today are scaling down everyday concepts. Following a new theoretical proposal from Andrea Alù and Nader Engheta at the University of Pennsylvania (USA), tuning the response of something as complex as an optical nano-antenna may soon become as simple as tuning into our favorite radio stations by the mere twisting of a knob.
New robot-oriented undergraduate classes announced
The six-legged mobile robot, EduBot, will be used as the working platform for the new ESE classes: ESE 313 and ESE 112 are the new robot-oriented undergraduate classes.
Little Ben making history
On a historic day in November, 2007, not only for robotics but also for Penn Engineering. Little Ben has completed a total of 19 complex driving missions in 6 hours while obeying all California driving laws. Congratulations to Dan Lee and all members of the Little Ben team for this historic achievement! They have all made us all so proud.
News & Events
Congratulations! Matteo Rinaldi from the PMaNS Lab for winning the best paper award competition for Group 1 at the IEEE Frequency Control Symposium. The paper entitled "AIN Contour-Mode Resonators for Narrow-Band Filters above 3 GHz"
Rahul Mangharam's research is highlighted in The Economist article on The Connected Car.
Dan Koditsckek has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his work in the fields of information, computing and communication. This is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications
In more news Dan Koditschek was featured in MIT Technology Review for RiSE V3, the4-Legged, Tree-Climbing Robot. « read more »
Forbes.com featured Prof. Daniel Lee in an article entitled "Making Robots More Like Us".
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Student Work
Senior Design Competition 2009 & Award Recipients
The PowerFlower
ESE Honorable Mention and 3rd Prizes
Authors: Thomas Macrina, Nicholas Araujo (MEAM), Alexander Greer (MEAM), Jason Halpern (MEAM)
Advisor: Johnathan Fiene (MEAM)
The PowerFlower is a portable solar generator based on concentrated photovoltaic technology. The prototype proves the feasibility of two provisionally-patented concepts: folding optical elements (referred to as petals) for portability and protection, and a tripod actuation system for solar tracking and petal deployment. The six parabolic polished aluminum petals focus sunlight onto concentrated photovoltaic solar cells, which convert the solar energy to electricity. Any energy not converted to electricity is converted to heat, which is dissipated using an active water cooling system. The device is capable of tracking the sun via an open-loop positioning algorithm that incorporates a variety of sensors, including a GPS, magnetometer, and accelerometer. The prototype is rated to produce up to 108 Watts of electric power, with an overall efficiency of over 30%...
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Senior Design Competition 2009 & Award Recipients
Iris: Vision Beyond Obstructions 
Frederick Ketterer Memorial & 1st Prizer winner
Authors:
Tim McKenna, Anil Venkatesh, Neeraj Wahi, and Nicholas Annetta
Advisor:
Jan Van der Spiegel
A single camera can be a useful surveillance tool, but video captured from a single point of reference becomes ineffective when objects of interest are blocked by occlusions. Furthermore, a traditional camera’s position and focal length cannot be modified after the video is captured. Our system circumvents these shortcomings .......
Senior Design Competition 2009 & Award Recipients
Vechicle-to-Vehicle Communication Platform
Harold Berger Award winner
Authors:
Andrew Avrin, Danny Lustig and Brandon Duick
Advisor:
Rahul Mangharam
Currently, drivers must utilize a third-party, such as a radio or broadband device, to learn about local traffic conditions. However, this information is often out of date by the time it reaches a driver, and the area covered by such services is often limited. The fastest and most efficient way to transmit information about road conditions to drivers would be to create vehicle-to-vehicle wireless networks. This way, cars can freely share information with each other in real-time, allowing drivers to be more aware of the current conditions. This project demonstrates the capabilities and potential impact of vehicle-to-vehicle networks. It uses modified versions of existing WiFi technology ...
Senior Design Competition 2009 & Award Recipients
EESOM: Electrical Energy Sourcing Optimization Model
Norman Gross Senior Project Award & 1st Honorable Mention
Authors:
Mike Rovito, Nick Perkins, Jason Bowlsby and Shana Hoffman
Advisor:
John Keenan, Peter Scott (L-3 Communications, retired) and Walt Sobkiw(L-3 Communications)
The United States’ electrical energy sector faces a set of challenges that, if they go unaddressed, could undermine national security and destabilize the Earth’s ecosystem. There is a clear need for a national energy system that is independent of foreign inputs and sustainable in nature. Many questions, such as when and where electrical energy is needed and how the resources that fuel its generation should be harnessed, underlie the development of a national electrical energy system. Furthermore, the answers to these questions are mutually dependent and highly interrelated. EESOM utilizes linear optimization to assess whether an independent and sustainable energy system is achievable and determines what the lowest-cost system would look like. The model ensures that electrical energy demand does not exceed supply and that resources-used do not exceed resources available while minimizing the total cost of the system. Issues addressed include: timing of demand and supply, location of natural resources, and energy transportation costs. Finally, the requirements and capacity of various power generation technologies have been assessed and included. EESOM’s ....
Senior Design Competition 2009
Authors:
Deger Atay, Gizem Goryakin, Peter Eschenbrenner, Edward Levinson
Advisor:
Scott and Sobkiw (L-3 Com.)
Until the past 15 years, Ghana was plagued with corrupt and militant governments. As a result, the nation suffered economically. Recently, Ghana has begun to rebuild its infrastructure in the hope of becoming a more stable and peaceful nation. Although Ghana has many natural resources and an abundant labor force, much of its nation remains in poverty. In completing this project we plan to provide the means and resources to achieve economic stability in the Volta Region. In order to do so, we developed a realistic model of a village in Ghana. This model village is able to show ...