01. School of Engineering and Digital Sciences
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Item Restricted PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF HYBRID VLC/RF SYSTEMS(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Ashimbayeva, AigerimThe thesis is dedicated to analysis and comparison between hard switching and soft switching methods for hybrid VLC/RF systems. VLC communication is well known for its efficient high data rate service for use in indoor environment, however it is vulnerable to the line-of-sight obstruction. Its counterpart, RF communication, is easy to implement and efficient as a back up means. Optimization of the VLC/RF heterogeneous systems in terms of the overall throughput is the novelty in the field of related studies on VLC technology based hybrid systems. It allows not only to improve the system’s bit rate but also to find the most favorable initial parameters for a system. The results of simulations performed reveal the remarkable superiority of the soft switching scheme and VLC-RF throughput functions interrelationship.Item Open Access FEASIBILITY STUDY ON WIND ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION IN MOVING TRAINS(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Nurmanova, VeneraFeasibility study on implementing wind power generation on moving train is discussed in this Thesis. Wind turbines installation over the train roof is suggested and tested from different aspects. Practical aspects of wind energy utilization are discussed and challenges are highlighted. Calculations of wind power generation for wagon roof mounted turbine are provided and air drag of turbine is discussed. Simulation study is performed in SolidWorks environment to explore air drag influence of wind turbines on moving train. Simulation of wind power generation is also conducted in MATLAB Simulink. Analytically the generated power is compared to mechanical power required to overcome the extra air drag caused by wind turbines over the train wagons. Economical profit of the suggested design is also discussed in detail. The fuel economy and resultant decrease of the carbon dioxide emission have shown the reasonableness of investments on wind turbine implementation on the passenger trains. The payback period calculations for different scenarios are also discussed at the end.Item Open Access LTE IN UNLICENSED BANDS: A RIVAL OR COLLABORATOR TO WI-FI?(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Karabayev, Omar-SayanDue to the rapidly increasing demand for internet traffic, mobile operators have faced a problem of bandwidth availability. Since only licensed spectrum has been previously utilized by wireless networks, moving LTE to the 5 GHz unlicensed bands has become a popular research initiative, known as LTELicensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA). This thesis studies the feasibility and implementation of LTE-LAA, and sets a goal of confirming the effectiveness of this technology. An alternative implementation of a Listen-Before-Talk channel contention mechanism is tested in this work with the use of LTE-A Vienna Link Level Simulator. The obtained results suggest that LTE-LAA is capable of boosting network throughput while providing harmonious coexistence with the IEEE 802.11 standard operating in the same unlicensed spectrum.Item Open Access MOVING OBJECT DETECTION WITH MEMRISTIVE CROSSBAR ARRAYS(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Duisenbay, SultanThis thesis is dedicated to the hardware implementation of a novel moving object detection algorithm. Proposed circuit includes several stages, each of which implements a particular step of the algorithm. Four higher bit planes are extracted from a grayscale image and stored in memristive crossbar arrays, and the respective bit planes are compared via memristive threshold logic gates in XOR configuration. In the next stage, compared bit planes are combined by weighted summation, with a highest weight assigned to MSB plane and smaller weights for less significant bit planes. After summation stage, obtained grayscale image is thresholded to obtain binary image. The last stage is implemented via memristive content-addressable memory array, which serves two purposes. It is used as a long-term memory in comparison to crossbar arrays, which serve as a short-term memory of proposed circuit. Content-addressable memory is updated based on the row-by-row difference between first and second pair of frames processed by previous stages. It also allows for analysis of object movement direction and velocity by observing the row capacitors’ discharge. Simulations show that accuracy of proposed circuit operation is increased with the larger array size. Delay analysis of the circuit is carried out, power and area calculations show that proposed circuit is a viable candidate as a co-processing operator for existing image sensors.Item Open Access MOVING OBJECT DETECTION USING BIT PLANE SLICING(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Dastanova, NazgulThis thesis presents moving object detection algorithm using bit plane extraction of successive frames and comparing the respective bit planes by XOR operation. The proposed methodworks on 8-bit grayscale video frames obtained from a static camera. This algorithm is able to detect the motion of single and multiple objects in outside and inside environments. Algorithm has been implemented in MATLAB by using several videos from VISOR database and was compared to existing conventional methods to show its effectiveness. Performance of an algorithm was evaluated based on ground truth metrics and results in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive prediction and accuracy proved the validity of it. Results show that the proposed algorithm performs better in terms of mentioned metrics in comparison to other algorithms. iItem Restricted EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF VLC SYSTEMS WITH CAMERA RECEIVER(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Bekkaliyev, TalgatCurrent fluorescent and incandescent lamps are being replaced by solid state Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), which offers much higher energy efficiency and longer lifespan. Apart from that LEDs are able to switch on and off at rapid rates. Such capability has given a lift to new communication technology – Visible Light Communication (VLC). LED serves as a transmitter, by providing high throughput data transfer, while photodiode or optical camera are utilized as a receiver. This thesis experimentally investigates a VLC system that uses a camera receiver. We first analyze the system with simple On-Off Keying (OOK) technique and further propose an alternative technique – Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), which increases the data rate and avoids visible flickering. Furthermore, this thesis investigates VLC exploiting rolling shutter mechanism of CMOS images sensors with OOK. The Bit Error Rate (BER) performance and some characteristics of systems are presented. Next, VLC utilizing rolling shutter mechanism with Color-Shift Keying (CSK) is developed. Such a system achieved substantially higher data rates compared to VLC exploiting rolling shutter mechanism with OOK.Item Restricted FEASIBILITY STUDY ON SOLAR ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION ON MOVING TRAINS(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016) Kudaibergenov, ZhaksylykThis Thesis is concentrated on feasibility of solar energy harvesting system implementation on top of the moving train. Following study consists of two different ways of solar energy generation. Firstly, solar system consisting of solar panels with supplementary equipments (the charge controllers, batteries, inverters) is fitted to the roof of train coaches to supply its internal energy requirement, and secondly, solar system is implemented over the shelter of platform in train stations to feed the railway grid. Then solar-powered train travels on two specific key routes from south to the north and from south to the west of Kazakhstan are simulated and studied in detail. Above described method has practical challenges in facing variable air temperature, solar radiation and sunshine hours. This data is obtained from the NASA database, and the variable parameters for each station are calculated in MATLAB. Afterwards, the entire solar system is simulated in MATLAB Simulink and the total required investment is calculated including costs of all equipments. The return investment time is calculated according to the power generated from solar system and saved money from fuel economy. Moreover, solar-powered train shows the significant cut of carbon dioxide emission because of the fuel iii economy. Both of the payback time and decreasing of CO2 emission reveal the benefits of investment.Item Open Access TIME DOMAIN EVALUATION OF MULTILEVEL CONVERTERS VOLTAGE AND CURRENT QUALITY(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016-12) Urtanbayev, NurlanMultilevel converters are power conversion devices consisting of voltage sources and semiconductor switches. This work was motivated by the fact that majority of the conducted research estimates converter quality using frequency-domain approach, which is requires tones of calculation. As an alternative for frequency-domain approach, time-domain evaluation method, developed in a recent time, was selected. This method brings novelty in deep-seated method of convertor evaluation, based on frequency-domain. General goal of this thesis is to demonstrate competency and applicability of time-domain optimization method on online adaptive inverter systems. Work will be focused on development of algorithm for calculation of optimal parameters for single phase CHB converter. Modulation optimization and local minimum finding algorithms are developed and discussed in this work. Moreover, combination of SHE and THD minimization techniques was designed and simulated. Obtained results coincide with those presented so far. However, majority of the results are novel, and has not presented to community yet. Future work will focus on development of the optimization algorithm for three-phase inverters.Item Restricted Life Cycle Analysis for Wind Turbines and/or other Electricity Generation Technologies from Renewable Sources(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016-12) Almakhan, Mukhammed; Kostas, Konstantinos; Rojas-Solórzano, LuisIn recent years, there have been increasing advances in the field of wind farms. A growing interest for wind farms brings, at the same time concerns about potential impacts on the environment. An extensive study has been conducted to contribute to the existing knowledge about influences of wind energy systems on the environment. The study involves the following stages: to measure the environmental impact of a single Vesta NM82 wind turbine, including all stages from raw material extraction to the end of life stage; in the next stage, the emissions resulting from electricity generation by wind energy extraction and coal use and combustion are compared. This study also demonstrates the potential of wind energy production sector and the necessity in development of energy production from renewable sources. In addition, this study demonstrates the importance of material recycling, which alleviates some of the negative impacts to the environment. During the research, it was realized that wind turbines, combined with additional energy sources, have significantly lower impact to the environment in comparison with coal energy. Furthermore, proper selection of materials is found to be one of the most important issues that one should take into accountItem Restricted Process Modelling of Biogas Utilization System for the Landfill in Astana(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016-12) Myrzagaliyev, Azat; Amouei Torkmahalleh, Dr.Mehdi; Rojas-Solorzano, Dr.LuisThis thesis provides estimates of energy potential of biogas produced from a landfill in Astana in the form of electricity, as well as the economic assessment of the proposed power plant design. The goals were accomplished by first assuring a sufficient amount of landfill gas production rate. Then, a field work was carried to determine the precise biogas content. Theoretical calculations were done using the empirical equations recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The energy model was simulated on ASPEN Plus. To reduce the concentration of corrosive hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the gas, a model of a water scrubbing system was simulated in this work. Further, to obtain a maximum rate of power production, the upgraded biogas was utilized in a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) unit. By adding the Rankine cycle to the Brayton cycle to build up the combined system, the efficiency of the system increased from 35% to 49%, with 5 MWh power output. After obtaining the results of the energy model, the economic viability of the project was evaluated. The analysis showed that with right investment terms, the project is highly profitable. With equity payback period of 2 years, the NPV of the project was above 6.5 billion KZT, and annual life cycle savings around 1 billion KZT.Item Open Access NATURAL VOLTAGE BALANCING IN HYBRID FCC MULTILEVEL CONVERTER(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016-12) Kunakbayev, AslzhanMultilevel converters are frequently used in high and medium power applications. The challenge associated with successful operation of multilevel converters, is the voltage balancing. There are two major techniques dedicated to deal with the voltage balancing, namely: natural and active voltage balancing techniques. Natural balancing is more preferable, since it does not require sensing and in-time controlling equipment. Accepted methods of natural balancing investigation is based on the manipulations of the frequency components. This methods imply heavy computations and not general solutions. In contrast, time-domain analysis, proposed in this paper, produces simple closed-form solutions and requires simple mathematical calculations. The project is focused on performing time-domain analysis in order to investigate natural balancing characteristics of Combined H-Bridge Flying Capacitor Converter (HFCC) converter, for which natural balancing investigations is not reported in literature yet. Modulation strategy was obtained using Matlab software simulation and were implemented with PWM control and Matlab Simulink interface. Obtained results have demonstrated the fast balancing rates with natural balancing, for the majority part of modulation range. In addition, produced analytical equations, that describe voltage balancing dynamics do not require heavy computational effort and could be calculated online.Item Restricted Regional energy system modeling with alternative energy sources in Kazakhstan(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016-12) Kazmaganbetova, Meruyert; Luis R. Rojas-Solórzano, Aiymgul KerimrayKazakhstan is emerged as a result of Soviet Union dissolution and it has 9th largest territory in the world. Despite its large territory Kazakhstan has low population density. Kazakhstan is rich of fossil fuels, particularly oil, coal and gas. Its economy is highly carbon intensive and coal plays an important role in electricity production, accounting for 75 % of electricity produced. Due to poor quality coal, low energy efficiency and high energy intensity Kazakhstan’s emissions are amongst highest in the world. Such an environmental issue challenged Kazakhstan to diversify the economy and take measures such as improving the efficiency of power plants, reducing the sectoral energy intensity and adoption of renewable energy sources. Kazakhstan has huge amount of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. The total potential of renewable energy sources in Kazakhstan is much higher than the total installed capacity of power plants operating in Kazakhstan. Along with high renewable energy sources potential, Kazakhstan established feed-in tariffs for the electricity generated by renewable energy sources. However, it is necessary to achieve a balance between economic competitiveness and the need to respond to the threat of climate change. Thus, current research aims at modeling the implementation of subsidies for renewable energy sources on regional basis using tool TIMES and observing the effect of different levels of subsidies on the electricity production sector and emissions.Item Open Access SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEUROMORPHIC LGN BASED IMAGE PROCESSING AND FEATURE EXTRACTION(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2016-12-09) Dorzhigulov, AnuarThe processing of the graphical data is popular methodology of obtaining important information. However, there is a major drawback: it typically requires large computational resources. The human brain is an excellent example of the efficient image processing hardware, due to the fact the biological visual system can allow to easily and quickly obtain the information of the world around, such as object identification and movement detection. In particular, there is one element of the biological visual system that has unique functionality in image processing, which is lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Ganglion cells, which are terminated in LGN, have high sensitivity to the image spatial intensity difference. This cell feature is used for pre-processing of the visual data before being modulated and relayed to the main processing module, visual cortex. As a result, the processing load on cortex is reduced, due to the pre-processing of the data. The aim of the project is to develop the algorithm for visual features extraction, such as edge detection, based on the structure and properties similar to the LGN, with a possibility of the hardware model implementation. Preliminary results show the edge detection property of the proposed method. Moreover, the measured performance is comparable to other popular edge detection techniques, even exceeding expectations to small extent in the noisy environment.Item Open Access HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SIGNAL PROCESSING AND STATISTICAL LEARNING(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Bakir, DaniyarClassical statistical and signal processing techniques are not generally useful in situations wherein the dimensionality (p) of observations is comparable or exceeding the sample size (n). This is mainly due to the fact that the performance of these techniques is guaranteed through classical notion of statistical consistency, which is itself fashioned for situations wherein n >> p. Statistical consistency has been viogorously used in the past century to develop many signal processing and statistical learning techniques. However, in recent years, two sets of mathematical machineries have emerged that show the possibility of developing superior techniques suitable for analyzing high-dimensional observations, i.e., situations where p >> n. In this thesis, we refer to these techniques, which are grounded either in double asymptotic regimes or sparsity assumptions, as high-dimensional techniques. In this thesis, we examine and develop a set of high-dimensional techniques with applications in classification. The thesis is mainly divided to three parts. In the first part, we introduce a novel approach based on double asymptotics to estimate the regularization parameter used in a well-known technique known as RLDA classifier. We examine the robustness of the developed approach to Gaussianity, an assumption used in developing the core estimator. The performance of the technique in terms of accuracy and efficiency is verified against other popular methods such as cross-validation. In the second part of the thesis, the performance of the newly developed RLDA and several other classifiers are compared in situations where p is comparable or exceeding n. While in the first two parts of the thesis, we focus more on double asympii totic methods, in the third part, we study two important class of techniques based on sparsity assumption. One of these techniques known as LASSO has gained much attention in recent years within the statistical community, while the second one, known as compressed sensing, has become very popular in signal processing literature. Although both of these techniques use sparsity assumptions as well as L1 minimization, the objective functions and constrains they are constructed on are different. In the third part of the thesis, we demonstrate the application of both techniques in high-dimensional classification and compare them in terms of shrinkage rate and classification accuracyItem Open Access Design and planning for a major building project in Astana(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Salmenbayeva, Aiman; Abuova, Aizada; Bakirov, Ilyas; Yeskaliyeva, Moldir; Okpenov, RollanThe current work presents an architectural, structural and geotechnical review of a four-star Hotel and Convention Center “Premium”, construction of which is strategically chosen to be conducted on the left bank of Ishim River in Astana. The structure is designed to accommodate 153 top-quality comfortable guest rooms, fitness center, conference hall, auditorium, restaurant and many other provisions. The building is projected to answer the world class requirements in terms of service level and comfort, in the meantime offering democratic prices. The territory under the main 12-story building is 30 by 30 meters, with the vast first floor occupying a territory of 50 by 60 meters beneath the main building. The hotel territory includes secure parking places and attractively landscaped environment. Architectural drawings were developed in accordance with Construction Norms and Rules of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The final part of the paper estimates the cost and feasibility of the project, presents a thorough WBS and construction activities. The hotel is planned to recover all the investment costs in eleven and a half years.Item Open Access DESIGN A MULTI-STORY OFFICE BUILDING IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA USA(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Abildinov, Tanat; Bekmurat, Altynay; Irsainova, Alina; Izimova, Altynay; Kulchmanov, AlenSan Francisco is rapidly growing financial and economic center of the region with increasing demand of the office area. This document contains the design of reinforced concrete moment frame office building in a high seismic hazardous region of San Francisco, California, USA. The project is named Sky City and performed by Trust Construction Company. Sky City is a 12 story high rise building with one underground parking floor, with the internal area of 15649 m2, located on the land area of 10,000 m2 in the Financial District of San Francisco. This document contains a detailed information of the global architectural design of the building based on the IBC with attached technical drawings of the first floor, typical floor, underground parking, site layout plans with indicated traffic flow and conceptual views, developed in accordance with CAD standards.Item Restricted DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERGROUND PARKING FACILITY IN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Mussabayeva, Aigul; Raiymbekova, Akmarzhan; Abdigaliyev, Arman; Alenayev, Iliyas; Ussenov, KhamrazhanWith increased number of vehicles and scarcity of space, there is high demand to construct more underground car parking facilities. Due to the rapid growth of underground structures, it is inevitable that new structures will have to interact with the existing ones below the ground level. Although there have been many studies about this topic, performing deep excavation without affecting nearby structures is still of great relevance. This issue is also addresses in this Capstone Project. The main aim of the project is to design and construct an underground parking facility in London, UK. The main challenge of the project is to prove that construction of the facility will not negatively affect Piccadilly line, which is lying nearby. Therefore, this paper provides with not only preliminary design and construction of underground parking facility in London, but also with the solution how to deal with existing structures in proximity. The need of the facility, preliminary architectural design, and literature review was covered in the previous semester, in Capstone I Project. At this stage, an advanced geotechnical analysis, i.e. diaphragm wall, foundation, piles design, and structural analysis will be conducted. Based on the design outputs, project management and final financial feasibility study will be produced.Item Open Access DESIGN AND ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF HOTEL BUILDING IN ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Anuarbek, Amire; Battalgazy, Nurassyl; Zeken, Zauzat; Zharaspayeva, ZarinaIn this report, the detailed architectural design, including technical drawings of the proposed hotel, is provided. It is also based on the Kazakhstani codes, such as SNiPs and RDS RK. In order to provide the technical drawings, AutoCAD software was used; whereas, the 3D model was rendered in Google SketchUp software. In addition, using the same software, the outside parking area with available usual 38 parking places and 3 parking places for disabled people is shown as well. Moreover, hand and software calculations for the structural analysis of the building are presented. In order to fulfill the construction requirements of the high-rise building and to design structural members, such as slabs, columns and beams, EEC company has followed the regulations established by the UK code and ACI 318-11 code.Item Open Access IDENTIFYING AND REMOVING BARRIERS TO INNOVATION IN BI GROUP(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Akhmetova, Ainur; Khassenova, AssiyaTo succeed in today’s fast changing world, companies specifically operating in a high knowledge-intensive industries must continuously innovate and improve. In this regard, firms worldwide are quickly raising their awareness of the significance of the role of knowledge management (KM) in the innovation process. Many successful companies have already achieved excellent results in the KM implementation, and thus have learnt how to bring innovation to their organizations. However, there is no universal approach to KM, and obviously any company first has to start with the exploring the obstacles to innovation.Item Open Access DESIGN AND ENERGY PERFOMANCE OF STUDENT BUILDING INTEGRATED WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL IN ASTANA,KAZAKHSTAN(Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2017) Makhin, Bakhytbek; Negmetova, Gulzhan; Yekpyndynova, Nadira; Madenova, Yerkezhan; Abildin, YerniyazIn this report, student resident building integrated with Phase Change Material (PCM) is designed by “EASY Engineering” Construction Company. The project is designated for Astana city’s residents. The proposed location of the 10-storey building is at the intersection of Turan avenue and 31st street, on the left coast side of the city. This paper contains architectural design of the project, structural analysis, geotechnical design and evaluation of energy performance of the building due to application of PCM.