Senior Design Project Details 2023-24

Aulick Industries is developing an Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) web application as an internal, universal tool for all parts needed to manufacture and repair Aulick products. The EPC will streamline orders, checkout processes and eliminate errors by allowing personnel to browse parts by specific product lines using the same image, part number, and description when ordering. The project aims to move the EPC into an E-commerce division for customers to order parts online. The scope of work includes designing and implementing the database, backend systems, and the EPC web application.

CLAAS, founded in 1913, is one of the world's leading agricultural engineering equipment manufacturers. In the assembly process of ag machinery, a single worker often assembles multiple components with numerous bolted joints and a vast range of torque tools, fastener sizes, and clamping loads. This project aims to use the exhaust or clutch disengagement as a signal to prompt a marking device to spray a witness mark on the top, side, or next to the bolt being torqued. The ag industry is gradually converting to using Direct Current (DC) tools with higher accuracy. Witness marking capabilities are needed in environments where these tools are not connected to data acquisition systems programmed to ascertain the number of joints torqued per unit.

This is an interdisciplinary project including Senior Design and Mechanical Engineering students.

Compass North is an aircraft management software platform developed to streamline the business side of private, business, and corporate aviation operations. From trip creation to expense tracking, private aircraft managers and pilots can easily communicate details, log information, and view aggregated reports through the Compass North Manager Hub and the free mobile app. The main goals of this project are to change the existing frontend React mobile application to a progressive web application (PWA) and reimplement the existing server in an on-demand, scalable serverless or microservice architecture.

The project's objective is to develop a customer-facing Freight Tracking System (FTS) web application. The FTS web application will display trip history and current truck location when en route. Images of bills of lading and additional documentation the driver uploaded need to be available to the customer after trip completion. The product must include an internal interface allowing Crete Carrier and Hunt Transportation employees to log in based on Active Directory.

DMSi is independently owned, privately held, and completely dedicated to the lumber and building materials industry. The Forklift Automated Inventory Tag Moves project will place a camera system on a forklift to track inventory location and moves of hardwood lumber bundles in a warehouse. The camera system will identify a tag ID on the bundles and track the exact bin location and warehouse locations. This information will be downloaded to a backend system in real-time or batch mode if there is no connection. The front end should be written in React Native with Expo to integrate with the existing DMSi mobile apps.

ValveLink™ is an Emerson software product developed by Fisher Instruments for customers to configure, calibrate, and diagnose problems with the Fisher FIELDVUE™ Digital Valve Controllers. This software was originally written in 1995 and is currently being rewritten using contemporary development tools and methods. The updated product is ValveLink Pro, and the follow-on mobile version is ValveLink Pro Mobile. The project goal is a functional prototype for proof-of-concept maturation. The prototype system outlined in this document consists of the following and will use Azure for development:

1. Smartphone Application (Supports both iOS & Android)
1. Act as a data mule to bridge to disconnected systems.
2. A data collection utility.
3. A software license fulfillment utility.
2. Cloud Server Application (Downloads from Google Play & the Apple App Store)
1. A user authentication mechanism for smartphone application users.
2. An inbox function to receive files from the smartphone application.
3. An outbox function to deliver files to the smartphone application.

The Senior Design project requires the creation of the FieldFolio product, an online tool that combines the visualization of farmland with integrated data layers that provide key insights into agriculture operations, land value potential, and investment opportunities. The tool would be a resource for FCS customers and prospects to maximize their current ag operations and identify or evaluate investment opportunities.

Revision 1 of the Navigation Application was built by a prior UNL Senior Design student group in the spring of 2023. Vehicle-based camera systems are used in powerline inspections and have a business model that includes driving entire utility systems with a car. Rev 1 of the app allows a user to input a .kmz file, and the tool determines a route to drive and displays it in a turn-by-turn navigation format on a cell-enabled device. This Rev 2 project aims to enhance the app’s main functionality, including testing and pushing to production. This is a real product being used commercially as part of a business's essential services.

Henderson State Bank would like to develop a lending program for one of its customers, who provides ag-related input products for many farmers. The project goal is to develop functioning software that Henderson’s customers can use to gather all required information for loan determination. It will also provide any compliance-related disclosures to the customers, collect and analyze data, and work with APIs to integrate into the loan documentation software and E-sign software to generate the correct documents.

The goal of this project is to engineer Mutual of Omaha’s Group Insurance observability platform for a large, distributed architecture. Observability focuses on quantitatively assessing the state of a system based on the collection and evaluation of system outputs describing things like metrics, interactions, and events. Students will be exposed to the complexities of enterprise-scale systems challenges and be mentored on tradeoff analysis around key tenants of well-engineered solutions. The project will be developed and deployed in the AWS Cloud.

National Indemnity Company (NICO) is a part of the Berkshire Hathaway group (BHHC), specializing in commercial auto and general liability insurance. The purpose of this project is to analyze, ingest, and model telematics data to access and review the data attributes and provide a recommendation on the data model, AI/ML used to train the model, provide additional data points when evaluating insurance premiums, and augment insight into customers while allowing NICO/BHHC to refine driver-scoring algorithms. The AI project will consist of three main stages:

• Stage I – Project planning and data collection, integration
• Stage II – Modeling data, Design, and training of the Machine Learning (ML) model
• Stage III- Deployment and maintenance

The project will identify possible high-consequence infectious disease (HCID) patients and prevent disease spreading by isolation while providing high-quality patient care. The project will educate healthcare providers on the "Identify, Isolate, and Inform" (3I) process to address health-security issues and develop scalable immersive Virtual Reality (VR) simulations that will revolutionize our approach to 3I education.

The Nebraska Water Center’s long-term goal is to build a sustainable youth education well water program by extending the scope of previous Know Your Well (KYW) projects with a Natural Resources Districts (NRD) led program supported by the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) and Kearney (UNK), involving up to 50 schools and 1,000 private wells across Nebraska. Specific objectives are to:

1. Improve KYW’s online presence, strengthen links to NRD stakeholders, and improve the usability of the progressive web app for data collection and display.
2. Involve and train NRD staff in KYW-III program materials, and
3. Recruit and engage up to 50 school groups in sampling and testing up to 1,000 domestic water wells, helping students relate results to land use, well construction, and hydrogeology.

Multiple versions of financial calculators are available online for individuals to use to assist in their financial decisions. Many of these calculators assist people in determining the monetary impact of major life decisions. This project’s goal is to create a budgeting solution that provides a more holistic view of how decisions could potentially impact a person’s future and how to create a stronger financial standing throughout their lifetime. Rather than using multiple tools, use one that creates an interactive interface and flexibility to allow a user to create a more realistic view of their future. The utilization of real-time accurate data sources and potential integrations that artificial intelligence can provide should be considered.

OrderEZ is an international food and beverage distributor that built its own distribution software and is proposing developing a fully integrated operations management platform for Outlets making industry adoption easy, integrating with customers’ POS, and accounting systems, and enabling them to leverage those ancillary platforms as marketing and partnership channels to take advantage of a growing network. OrderEZ recently acquired a competitor, (www.FoodRazor.com), focusing on automated accounts payable, procurement, and reporting. The plan is to incorporate the functionality of FoodRazor into OrderEZ’s existing infrastructure.

Streck Research and Development (R&D) is seeking to enhance its data collection and analysis processes for new product development initiatives in biotech. The current manual extraction of information from data files is time-consuming and prone to human error. The objective of this project is to develop and implement an automated system that streamlines data extraction, organization, and analysis to improve efficiency and accuracy.

UNL BSE developed a swine monitoring system integrating RFID, digital, and depth cameras to determine pigs needing management attention. The system captures RFID reads from both the feeder and the drinkers, summarizes the time feeding and drinking for anomaly detection, triggers a digital and depth camera to capture and tag images of animals, then converts the data to volume and estimated weight. The system is designed to monitor pigs, alert the producer and animal caretaker to potential problems, and let the animal caretaker know which pigs are ready for marketing.

The project goal is to develop impactful, informal virtual learning experiences that can reach youth anywhere and engage them to do and learn more about science and arachnids. We first need to test whether virtual reality informal science learning games such as (a) a player (i.e., informal science learner) or (b) a facilitator (informal science teacher) are as effective as real-life experiences. We are interested in comparing outcomes associated with attitudes toward science and spiders.

The Husker Scope project is an all-in-one cross-platform (IOS, Android, and Web App) application that implements a Dual Channel Function Generator, Oscilloscope, and Spectrum Analyzer functionality for use within UNL engineering courses worldwide. Husker Scope 3.0 will expand the platform application to accept multiple inputs and analyze analog and digital signals outside the standard audio range (20Hz to 20,000Hz). Additionally, it will add a Spectrum Analyzer functionality for frequency analysis and a Logic Analyzer functionality for digital signal analysis.

In this project, the goal is to build a fine-grained 3D map of the UNL Campus via sensor fusion. Students will build a collection platform on a full-size vehicle, collect the data in the field, and post-process the data for constructing a 3D map. The outcomes will serve as the essential components of the autonomous driving project in the Intelligent Network System (INT) lab and may be used for outreach activities of UNL.

In this project, the team will create and test a novel web-based and smartphone-accessible emotional regulation training for homeless individuals recovering from substance use disorders in residential treatment facilities. This application development is highly important because this population has a high relapse rate, primarily due to emotion regulation difficulties. This app will help improve regulation skills in the environment where the challenges occur. The program has two functions. The first is to train emotion regulation through a guided video and to assess potential change in emotion regulation experiences through pre- to post-guided video. The second is reinforcing multiple viewing through social and personal prompts.

The project aims to develop an immersive virtual reality (IVR) experience that provides an in-depth dive and learning modality to educate students on the cardiovascular system. Based on the Magic School Bus concept and experiential learning strategies, the IVR game will take the student inside the heart to encounter its structures, functions, and electrical activity and discover the pathophysiology of the heart. It is essential to understand the purpose of these functions to provide quality patient care, develop treatments and medications or conduct research in this area.

The project will update the existing ArcGIS Pro-compatible wetland delineation tool with additional document management features that allow users to create publication-quality maps and letters. The update will further automate the wetland determination process, which supports the National Food Security Act Manual and Food Security Act Conservation Compliance Program.

The Virtual Learning Foundation (VLF) aims to teach young adults crucial soft skills, which we call DELTAS (Distinct Areas of Talent), as they prepare to enter the workforce. VLF proposes effectively leveraging Virtual Reality (VR) technology to deliver these lessons. The University of Nebraska students will be vital in creating the necessary VR infrastructure to support this initiative. This project will revolutionize how soft skills are taught and provide an immersive learning experience for students.

Werner is a successful transportation company for many reasons, the most important being keeping trucks on the road. One of Werner’s mottos is “We Keep America Moving,” and the way that’s done is by having dependable trucks and trailers. Tracking tractor and trailer health is crucial in preventing breakdowns. Informing drivers of their current trailer’s health ensures safe and on-time deliveries. Werner monitors maintenance with sensors, fault codes, lights, and many other maintenance areas, extending the tractors' life. This continuation project will create a page in the Drive Werner Pro Application where drivers can keep track of the health of their equipment.

This project is a Virtual Reality (VR) Simulation using Escape/Survival Rooms that draw inspiration from the “Run Hide Fight” concept during an active shooter situation. By familiarizing participants with the run, hide, and fight tactics and providing basic first aid knowledge, the product aims to prepare and empower individuals to survive potential attacks, regardless of location. Disturbing as it may be, the reality is that as of July 2023, there have already been 335 active shooter situations this year. While the goal is to prevent such incidents in the future, it is crucial to equip people with the necessary skills to respond effectively in such violent situations.