Project Journal

7/1/2010


Moved into dormitory.

7/2/2010

First day orientation. We were asked to introduce ourselves to the room with our name, school, major, and expectations for the program. Everyone seemed pretty down-to-earth so I was less anxious. There are 11 undergraduate students in the program- 3 girls and 8 guys. Over the next 2 hours, we were told expectations, project details, assignments, workshops, and other details pertaining to the program. I was to work by myself on the Power-grid failure prevention project. This made me nervous but I was looking forward to the experience of learning something new. We then had the rest of the day to ourselves.

7/5/10

Today was interesting because I drove back to school from home for my 9:30am meeting with Dr. Lee, the electrical engineer who was to advise me on the project. I went to his office where he was talking to someone else so I read the posters in the hallway which I could barely decipher. They were other projects that students were working on. I then talked to Dr. Lee about what I wanted to get out of the project and shared that I had little experience in engineering. He seemed to be limited in his options since I didn’t have much experience in electrical engineering. He then recommended that I work on a project that’s more relevant to Biomedical Engineering so that I would remain interested after the summer ends. He showed me a “pill camera” which people can swallow and it will take pictures. He said he knew of projects in which people would have to charge the devices inside the human body, non-invasively, using electromagnetic waves and he would see if I could help with those projects. It seemed very interesting to me.

7/6/10

Dr. Lee introduced me to Dr. Mingyu Lu who was working on the projects that Dr. Lee and I had discussed the day before. Dr. Lu then showed me around the facilities. In one chamber, there was a giant dome like structure. When I walked in, I noticed that it seemed silent because the structure was lined with Styrofoam like material for absorbing electromagnetic waves. He shared with me that the structure emulated free space because all waves would not bounce around causing interference. Essentially, it prevented problems that could be caused by outside waves coming in, produced waves escaping, or waves interfering with each other. He said that his team was working with electromagnetic waves by producing circuits and antennas to interact with different objects through different channels. One application was to look for landmines underground. He then showed me model landmines buried in a sandpit. There were 3 non-interference chambers- one small, one medium-sized, and one large one (the dome). We then walked to his office where he shared with me more details and applications of the project. He works with wireless technology, specifically radar, in order to transmit and receive waves, in order to reveal information about an object including its speed, shape, distance, etc. through what we call echo. He explained the difference between wireless communication (remotes, cell phones, GPS, etc.) and radar. He then went into detail about a biomedical application of the project in which a transmitter can be used to charge implanted devices (like a pacemaker) in patients in order to avoid invasive surgery, like replacing batteries for pacemaker patients. He explained why different waves are used for different purposes, light for daytime, infrared for heat, and microwave in situations not involving the other two. He said that they are trying to figure out how to direct energy at a implanted device without damaging the skin or tissue of the patient. Microwaves heat tissue (like a microwave object) and could also damage cells. He explained that microwaves also have some other inexplicable property that caused researchers to have more girls than boys and that improves the taste of wine. His team is working on a solution called beam forming in which several transmitters direct waves at a device from different angles and at lower power so as not to damage the tissue but to eventually combine at the device to produce the necessary power in order to charge the device. This concept is called beam forming and involves the different transmitters interfering throughout the patient to prevent damage yet constructively interfering at the device. Another problem is that the tissue directly around the device could still be damaged and so the beams would have to be very precise. This sounded like a very interesting project and I would like to work on it.

7/7/2010

Repairs were being made to the testing facilities.

7/8/2010

I studied the project background including research completed by assisting graduate student, Vinay Vikram.

7/9/2010

Facilities were still being restored. I continued studying concepts relevant to the project including electromagnetic wave transmission applications in radar for automobiles.

7/13/2010

Antenna testing was conducted in the anechoic chamber yielding inconsistencies, suggesting connection problems.

7/15/2010

I attended a workshop on engineering ethics in which we discussed possible ethical dilemmas. We also shared previous experiences and a variety of approaches to making ethical decisions.

7/20/2010

The planar wideband antenna was tested, yielding expected results, consistent with prior testing. A three-stage testing method was implemented in which two identical antennas were tested, then the newly designed antenna replaced one, and then the two were connected. I observed testing and results.

7/28/2010

All REU participants attended the REU assessment to review program goals and expectations.

7/29/2010

I attended the REU Training and Graduate Studies workshop in which we learned about the benefits of research, how the research process works, ways to be successful while researching, and how to carry out a research topic. . We had the opportunity to speak with student organization representatives to discuss the impact of involvement during college. We also spoke with a group of graduate students, from whom we learned what to expect in graduate school, reasons for pursuing graduate studies, and to hear about their individual experiences.

I then met with Dr. Lu and solidified my understanding of project concepts, including radiation pattern significance and testing methods.

7/30/2010-8/9/2010

I worked on project deliverables including a poster, presentation, reflection paper, journal, and website.