Partners' Day and Senior Design Showcase 2020-2021

In our ever growing technological world security is a key feature that we all depend on, recently we have seen how ransomware is a growing threat to the security of many institutions within the cyber domain. Universities’ have had information stolen, oil pipeline operations get halted, hospitals get shut down. Our goal in this project was to work with Nutanix to research and design a system that can detect ransomware on the hypervisor level with high accuracy. (cf. short version below)

An API that makes working with IP Address data more user-friendly and more efficient. Improves security and adds additional functionalities that weren’t present before.

Our goal was to benchmark the efficiency of a parallelized approach to removing unused data from cloud backups.

The PSLab plugin for OpenTAP combines two open source technologies to provide cheap and portable automated electronics testing.

GoGuard is a cure to the messy menagerie of technologies in established private clouds. It builds and manages a transparent, secure, homogeneous network of services for a private cloud.

In this project, we investigated different storage transport protocols to determine which would be best for SAP GCS systems based on gathered latency and bandwidth data. Resulting evaluations would allow SAP GCS to integrate and improve the performance of their cloud servers at a reduced cost.

Scientific studies show that individuals who work outdoors among trees, fresh air, and sunlight experience less stress and are more productive.  The Mobile Power Station team has developed a novel and environmentally friendly  proof of concept product that will promote and prolong productivity outdoors.

Students working on SlugSat are designing what is known as a CubeSat: a small satellite roughly the size of a loaf of bread, which we plan to launch roughly 250 miles (400 km) above Earth’s surface. We are building the spacecraft from the ground up, and we’ve formed a highly interdisciplinary team in order to do it. Student members have backgrounds in physics, software, mechanical design, and electrical engineering, and continue to broaden their skill sets with each new challenge. Our goal is to give UC Santa Cruz students and scientists a platform in low Earth orbit to further atmospheric research and lay a foundation for space-based engineering at UCSC.

UCSC Waste Management conducts audits on contents of residential recycling bins on campus in order to analyze the amount of specific plastics within the waste stream and sort out non-recyclable plastics from the recycling bins.  To aide UCSC Waste management the Portable PLA Spectrometer developed a small and cheap spectrometer that allows auditors in the field to quickly identify non-recyclable plastics.

The Plastic to Fuel Portable Diesel Lab team developed a system that when combined with a state of the art plastic to fuel device can turn any shipping container into a portable fuel-to-diesel lab.  

SimpleSort is an at-home garbage can that automatically sorts garbage into recycling, compost, or trash compartments.

After reaching out to local farmers for input, the Automated Greenhouse team developed a platform that enables users to automate control of a greenhouse environment.

Working with Dr. Peter Weiss of the UCSC chemistry department the Automated Fog Collection team developed a solution to automate the collection of fog water samples.  These samples can be used to determine many different aspects of air and water quality of the surrounding areas.

The Dynamic Bicycle Safety System aims to provide a way to provide instantaneous and backup power to cyclists, with a full set of semi-automatic safety lights including a headlight, rear visibility light, brake light, and turn signals.

The Passive Biosensor Suite is a sensor suite that challenges the norms of physiological monitoring modules for research.

A fully automated hands-free facial recognition door lock system to enhance security and also make life easier. Furthermore, it is a highly cost effective system designed with an Android phone app feature as well a real-time display user interface. This device is designed for all audiences, whether you’re an elderly person with mobility issues, a forgetful person often leaving behind your keys, or simply a tech enthusiast, this product is built for you!

People typically experience the dynamic and variable stress symptoms outside professional visits may, resulting in a gap of information that could be used to help identify ways to reduce stress.  The Mood Tracking Biosensors team have created a system to track patients stress symptoms when not in therapeutic settings.

The Affordable Piano Amplification team has developed a system where sensors are placed on the soundboard of the piano and slid under the strings and cast iron plate. Wires connect the sensors to the amplification circuit, which is placed outside of the piano and outputs the resultant signal to a ¼” jack amplifier.