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51-60 of 253 results

  • The Development and Validation of the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS)

    PI Barbara Chaparro

    PI Joseph Keebler

    CO-I Mikki Phan, User Experience Researcher, Google

    The purpose of this research is to develop and psychometrically validate a new instrument that comprehensively measures video game satisfaction based on key factors. The video game industry often conducts playtesting sessions in order to provide insight into players’ attitudes and preferences. However, quality feedback is difficult to obtain from playtesting sessions without a quality gaming assessment tool. ​



    A new instrument measuring video game satisfaction, called the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS), with nine subscales emerged. These scales included Usability/Playability, Narratives, Play Engrossment, Enjoyment, Creative Freedom, Audio Aesthetics, Personal Gratification, Social Connectivity, and Visual Aesthetics.

    The GUESS was developed and validated based on the assessments of over 450 unique video game titles across many popular genres. Thus, it can be applied across many types of video games in the industry both as a way to assess what aspects of a game contribute to user satisfaction and as a tool to aid in debriefing users on their gaming experience. Based on current best practices of scale development and validation, the project used a mixed-method design that consisted of item pool generation, expert review, questionnaire pilot study, exploratory factor analysis (N = 629), and confirmatory factor analysis (N = 729).

    Results from this multistage process demonstrate that the GUESS can be administered to video game players with various gaming experience (e.g., newbie/novice, hardcore/expert) playing a variety of game genres. Ratings of all the items per factor can be averaged to obtain a score of each subscale and average scores for each subscale can be added together in order to obtain a composite score of video game satisfaction. This can aid game designers in determining aspects of a game to improve as well as emphasize to target gaming markets. 

    Since its development and validation, the GUESS continues to be used to understand video game satisfaction across platforms and user groups by both the GEARS and User Experience Research labs at ERAU as well as gaming labs from other universities. 

    This was dissertation research by Dr. Mikki Phan supervised by Dr. Barbara Chaparro and Dr. Joseph Keebler.  Mikki is now a User Experience Researcher at Google in Mountain View, CA. For more information, see Phan, M. H., Keebler, J. R., & Chaparro, B. S. (2016). The Development and Validation of the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS). Human Factors, 58(8), 1217-1247 and http://www.wired.co.uk/article/science-can-now-determine-how-good-any-video-game-is . Contact Barbara.Chaparro@erau.edu to obtain the GUESS instrument.

    Mikki Phan, PhD​ Mikki Phan, PhD

    Categories: Graduate

  • A Boltzmann Simulator for Porous Media Flows

    PI Leitao Chen

    ​This project develops numerical simulations through parallel development of a Boltzmann model to capture and elucidate multiscale thermos-fluids behaviors in porous media, as well as the fluid-solid interactions.

    ​To accurately simulate porous media flow problem, a kinetic model based on the Boltzmann equation (BE) was developed. Two primary reasons justified the choice of a BE-based approach over conventional Navier-Stokes (N-S) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. First, the fluid flow within porous media often occurs in extremely narrow channels, representing high-Knudsen-number flow regimes. The Knudsen number (Kn), defined as the ratio of molecular mean free path to the smallest channel dimension, indicates that traditional N-S equations are physically inadequate for accurately describing these flow conditions. Conversely, BE-based models are well-established to yield physically accurate results for high-Kn flows. Second, from a computational standpoint, the BE inherently involves a simpler mathematical structure due to its linear advection term, substantially reducing computational overhead compared to the nonlinear N-S equations. This simplification significantly improves computational efficiency, especially critical for simulating flow within complex porous structures. To better capture the complex boundaries in porous media, a meshless discretization method of the BE has been developed in this project. This meshless approach entirely eliminates dependency on mesh generation, offering significant advantages in accurately simulating flow through porous media.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Cost Optimization Modeling for Airport Capacity Expansion Problems in Metropolitan Areas

    PI Woo Jin Choi

    CO-I Dothang Truong

    The purpose of this research was to develop a cost optimization model to identify an optimal solution to expand airport capacity in metropolitan areas in consideration of demand uncertainties. The study first analyzed four airport capacity expansion cases from different regions of the world to identify possible solutions to expand airport capacity and key cost functions which are highly related to airport capacity problems. Using mixedinteger nonlinear programming (MINLP), a deterministic optimization model was developed with the inclusion of six cost functions: capital cost, operation cost, delay cost, noise cost, operation readiness, and airport transfer (ORAT) cost, and passenger access cost. These six cost functions can be used to consider a possible trade-off between airport capacity and congestion and address multiple stakeholders’ cost concerns.



    This deterministic model was validated using an example case of the Sydney metropolitan area in Australia, which presented an optimal solution of a dual airport system along with scalable outcomes for a 50-year timeline. The study also tested alternative input values to the discount rate, operation cost, and passenger access costs to review the reliability of the deterministic model. Six additional experimental models were tested, and all models successfully yielded optimal solutions. The moderating effects of financial discount rate, airport operation cost, and passenger access costs on the optimal solution were quantitatively the same in presence of a deterministic demand profile.

    This deterministic model was then transformed into a stochastic optimization model to address concerns with the uncertainty of future traffic demand, which was further reviewed with three what-if demand scenarios of the Sydney Model: random and positive growth of traffic demand, normal distribution of traffic demand changes based on the historical traffic record of the Sydney region, and reflection of the current COVID- 19 pandemic situation. This study used a Monte Carlo simulation to address the uncertainty of future traffic demand as an uncontrollable input. The Sydney Model and three What-if Models successfully presented objective model outcomes and identified the optimal solutions to expand airport capacity while minimizing overall costs. The results of this work indicated that the moderating effect of traffic uncertainties can make a difference with an optimal solution. Therefore, airport decision-makers and airport planners should carefully consider the uncertainty factors that would influence the airport capacity expansion solution.

    This research demonstrated the effectiveness of combining MINLP and the Monte Carlo simulation to support a long-term strategic decision for airport capacity problems in metropolitan areas at the early stages of the planning process while addressing future traffic demand uncertainty. Other uncertainty factors, such as political events, new technologies, alternative modes of transport, financial crisis, technological innovation, and demographic changes might also be treated as uncontrollable variables to augment this optimization model.

    Categories: Graduate

  • Project Global Officer

    PI Aaron Clevenger

    Project GO provide's overseas language instruction consisting of a minimum of 8 weeks and/or 150 contact hours (per grant program) to ROTC students nationwide with the goal of helping student to reach an ILR 1 proficiency level in a critical language: Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan, and Arabic in Jordan. All students should reach the objective of successfully applying the target language and cultural knowledge in actual communication with native speakers.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Project Haiti

    PI Marc Compere

    The goals of Project Haiti are to provide Haitians with clean drinking water, to expose our college students to another culture, and to give them a hands-on experience using their engineering skills to directly help people.



    ​

    Many Haitians living in the tent cities after the earthquake deal with chronic intestinal sickness from contaminated water. Our solar water purifier is designed to provide clean drinking water for 500 adults per day.The Summer 2014 purifier will be installed at the Dayspring Missions orphanage in Croix des Bouquets area, a suburb east of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. It will provide up to 6000 gallons of water a day with the water being used by the orphans, distributed to three local church communities, as well as being sold to the community to generate income and filter replacement costs.

    This project is an ideal intersection of humanitarian aid and engineering. Our students designed and built Embry‑Riddle's solar powered water purifier for delivery to a Haitian tent camp. They learned how to use solar panels, batteries, pumps, and filters to construct a purifier that runs entirely from the sun. Now that it is completed, our students have become better engineers and they have learned a global perspective and the satisfaction of helping people in a developing country.

    More on Project Haiti

    Past Efforts

    Summer 2010

    In Summer 2010 Embry‑Riddle students delivered a 1 gallon-per-minute (gpm) water purifier powered entirely from the sun. The 2010 trip report presentation is available here. It was a valuable success for over 150 college student volunteers who traveled to Haiti that summer to help the disaster relief effort. The Nehemiah Vision Ministries camp upgraded to a 10gpm unit for greater capacity.

    Summer 2011

    In Summer 2011, our team of students designed and installed a 4gpm unit powered entirely from the sun. We installed it at the Anne Clemande Children's Foundation in Chambellan, Haiti. They operate a children's home and school with approximately 600 children and staff. They had no access to clean drinking water. The 2011 trip report is downloadable here.

    Summer 2012

    In Summer 2012, our team of Embry‑Riddle students delivered a community water system providing 14gpm of clean, safe water to an Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp named Onaville The purifier is in daily operation delivering roughly 15,000 gallons per day. Onaville was the largest tent city in Haiti during post-earthquake Haiti. This is our most successful trip from a partnership standpoint, a purifier standpoint, and also an academic standpoint. Students received credit during a summer course titled ME595 Practicum in Water Purification. The 2012 trip report is here.

    Summer 2013

    The Summer 2013 unit was installed in Michaud, Haiti, at the Ryan Epps Home for Children. Michaud is a suburb of Port-Au-Prince. This is a 14gpm unit powered entirely by the sun which means nearly zero recurring cost to operate the unit. This is ideal for starting a sustainable micro-business. This system combined with the micro-business provides clean, safe drinking water and also create jobs, generate recurring income, and improve community health. The 2013 trip report is available for download here.
     

    Academic Integration

    • Our 2012 EPA P3 Entry was a Portable Solar Water Purification Backpack for Disaster Releief. It won the $90k EPA Phase II award, the US Army's NetZero Water Award, and the Student's Choice Award at the 2012 National Sustainable Design Expo
    • Dr. Compere teaches two water courses:
      • ME595J, Practicum in Water Purification is a lab based, hands-on course that provides students with practical experience in testing for water-borne pathogens, water purification methods, and solar power systems
      • HON350, Emerging Trends in Global Water Supply and Demand is a humanities survey course raising awareness of water as the new high-value commodity. This course highlights the major issues in the water-energy nexus, water-food nexus, and water-climate nexus.
    • An American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) SouthEast Regional conference paper on the 2012 unit and trip is available here.

    Contact

    Donate

    Gifts at any level make a direct impact: Donate to Project Haiti.

    Categories: Undergraduate

  • Pure Water Project (PWP)

    PI Marc Compere

    Pure Water Project aims to improve the health and sustainability of individual communities in the Dominican Republic by installing a solar-powered water purification system. Embry‑Riddle students design, build, test and deliver a solar water purifier to carefully selected communities in the Dominican Republic and launch water selling businesses to benefit the local community’s health and economy.



    Many in the Dominican Republic either pay for clean water or live with chronic intestinal sickness from contaminated water. Our solar water purifier is designed to provide clean drinking water for 500 adults per day. It generates 1000 gallons of clean water daily, which is enough to bottle and sell to the surrounding community.

    This project is an ideal intersection of humanitarian aid and engineering. Our students design and build Embry‑Riddle's solar-powered water purifier for delivery to a carefully selected community each year. Students learn how solar power systems work with batteries, pumps and filters to construct a purifier that runs entirely from the sun. This project provides our students a global perspective and makes them better engineers through their efforts to achieve goals despite the dynamic, fluid environment in a different culture.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Virtual Communities of Practice: Scaling, Belonging, and Effective Feedback

    PI Cristina Cottom

    CO-I Angela Atwell

    CO-I Lisa Martino

    CO-I Sara Ombres

    The purpose of this research study is to extend CTLE-W's previous research on virtual faculty learning communities (VCoP) by testing a new VCoP for scalability with an expanded participation pool. This study also seeks to increase the sense of belonging among non-collocated faculty participants and to use the VCoP to provide continuing education on effective feedback practices.This VCoP and the research study will last for 8 weeks during the fall and spring. As part of the participation in the VCoP faculty will complete several online asynchronous activities using VoiceThread to discuss effective feedback practices, as well as a survey at the beginning and end of their VCoP experience. 



    This research study is an extension and expansion of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence’s existing VCoP. In 2016, our research team was awarded a grant from the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network to create a VCoP tailored specifically to online adjunct faculty, which yielded positive findings. In this current study, we were awarded additional grant funds from POD to build upon this success by designing a VCoP that recruits from our entire faculty pool in order to measure how it affects their sense of belonging and to test the framework we created for scalability. In addition, this collaborative experience will not focus on teaching in a single modality, but will instead address a shared practice that is relevant to all instructors. Regardless of modality, all instructors can improve effective feedback practices. Therefore, in this extended and expanded VCoP all faculty will have an opportunity to explore practices around effective feedback. This research will contribute to the existing literature by studying the scalability of VCoPs in faculty development settings and test how participation in VCoPs promotes belonging among dispersed faculty members teaching in multiple modalities. In addition, this study will also result in the production of documents that will facilitate future VCoP development and will generate valuable co-created knowledge on effective feedback. This study will employ a mixed-methods design that will use both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze the results of the survey. In addition, data will be collected from VoiceThread, facilitator reflections, observation notes, and artifact analysis. 

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Maritime RobotX Challenge

    PI Eric Coyle

    CO-I Patrick Currier

    CO-I Charles Reinholtz

    CO-I Brian Butka

    The Maritime RobotX Challenge entails the development and demonstration of an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV). Embry‑Riddle is one of three U.S. schools selected to compete in the challenge, which is co-sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Foundation.



    ​The 2014 ERAU platform, named Minion, is a 16-foot fully-autonomous Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V) platform and is registered as an autonomous boat in the state of Florida. Minion's development currently focuses on autonomous tasks of buoy channel navigation, debris avoidance, docking, target identification and sonar localization. To accomplishing these tasks, the team has developed as set of system software nodes including state estimation, object classification, mapping and trajectory planning. These nodes run in parallel across a set of networked computers for distributed processing. Minion's propulsion system is centered around a set rim-driven hubless motors attached to articulated motor pods. This design reduces the risk of entanglement, and provides consistent thrust by maintaining motor depth in rough seas.

    The group is currently developing the 2016 platform for the competition

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion for ASV Situational Awareness

    PI Eric Coyle

    CO-I Patrick Currier

    An investigation into strategies and techniques for maritime object detection and classification using visual and spatial data with an emphasis on sensor fusion.

    This project focuses on enhancing autonomous surface vessel (ASV) situational awareness through the fusion of visual and spatial sensing, aiming to improve the detection and classification of objects in the surrounding environment. Such technologies have applications in patrolling test ranges, enhancing harbor security, and using ASVs as support vessels for manned operations. The research is structured around four main objectives: creating and annotating multi-modal maritime data for sensor fusion, developing accurate surface maps for navigation, applying machine learning techniques for robust object identification, and creating sensor fusion strategies for improved robustness. The team uses a custom data acquisition system, which was used to create the open-source ER-Coast dataset. This dataset includes Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), high-resolution cameras, infrared cameras, and localization sensors to capture coastal waterways in Florida, both day and night, across 36 sequences. A portion of this data has been made publicly available for future LiDAR semantic segmentation, image segmentation, and object detection studies.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Exploring vulnerabilities, threats, and exploits in small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS)

    PI John Craiger

    Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), also known as drones, have been called flying computers given the overlap in their technologies. The purpose of this research is to conduct cybersecurity vulnerability assessments of several sUAS to identify vulnerabilities, threats, and associated exploits to the sUAS. Cyber vulnerabilities could theoretically allow a bad actor to take control of the sUAS, cause it to malfunction while in flight, and more. 



    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that purchases of hobbyist small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) will grow from 1.9 million in 2016 to 4.3 million by 2020, and commercial sUAS to increase from 600,000 in 2016 to 2.7 million by 2020. sUAS, often referred to as ‘drones,’ are comprised of aeronautical hardware, a CPU, RAM, onboard storage, radio frequency communications, sensors, a camera, and a controller used by the pilot-in-command.  Some have argued that a sUAS is essentially a flying computer.  As such, sUAS may be susceptible to many of the types of attacks that are often used on personal computers attached to a computer network.  Potential attacks on sUAS include de-authentication (i.e., ‘terminating’ the sUAS from the network); GPS spoofing (e.g., modifying or faking GPS coordinates); unauthorized access to the computer flight systems and onboard storage; jamming the communications channel (resulting in the possible loss of the sUAS); and contaminating the sUAS geofencing mechanism (allowing the sUAS to fly in a ‘no-fly-zone’). The result of these types of attacks include theft of the sUAS; flying the sUAS into sensitive/off- limits areas; purposefully crashing the sUAS to cause damage to persons or equipment (including airplanes, crowds, etc.); and theft or adulteration of sensitive data (e.g., law enforcement surveillance data).

    The purpose of this research is to identify potential threats, vulnerabilities, and exploits for a subset of consumer/hobby sUAS that were included in the 2016 ERAU sUAS Consumer Guide. The research will apply a threat modeling approach to identify cyber-based vulnerabilities; potential attack vectors; commercial-off-the-shelf and “home-built” equipment required to effectuate attacks; cyber and kinetic ramifications of attacks; and mitigating strategies for protecting sUAS from cyber-attacks.  Vulnerability assessments are to be conducted via network scanning tools to identify open network ports, vulnerability scanners that identify system vulnerabilities, and tools used for the associated exploitation of these vulnerabilities.  The exploitation (i.e., attack) architecture will use an attack proxy consisting of a Raspberry PI running Kali Linux OS, and specifically outfitted with multiple network interface cards, allowing the proxy to capture and manipulate network traffic in either managed or monitor (i.e., active vs. passive) mode.  Given that most personal computers are known to suffer from various cyber vulnerabilities, and many of the components and software are the same as used in personal computers, we expect to observe the same for the sUAS. 

    Identifying threats and vulnerabilities has two purposes, one defensive, and one offensive.  From the defensive side, manufacturers, and even users, should be aware of potential threats.  Manufacturers should be aware that the design and component decisions can effect the cybersecurity of the sUAS.  From the offensive side, sUAS pilots are known to fly them for nefarious purposes, including flying into no-fly zones, violating the privacy of individuals using attached high-definition cameras, etc.  Indeed, a new and growing industry involves developing anti-drone techniques to protect against rogue sUAS and their pilots.  

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

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