Industry-Sponsored Student Capstone Projects
2023/2024
In the 2023/24 academic year, the industry capstone program was supported by 54 sponsors, more than half of which were returning, and 95 real-world projects. Over 550 students from across the College of Engineering participated. Scroll down to learn more about each project.PSC Consulting
Identifying and Estimating Behind the Meter PV Capacity on a Feeder Using Machine Learning
The amount of Behind the Meter (BTM) generation may not be known to utilities. With increased penetration of rooftop solar, can PSC Consulting come up with estimates of solar power generation in a neighborhood or on a feeder? Recognizing solar panels from satellite imagery seems to be well-understood and well-defined. This student team will work to go through a learning exercise of combining the knowledge of recognizing solar panels from satellite imagery with other publicly available or utility provided information (e.g. address of the unit, approximate KW, connected feeder, scrape information from permits of the city or county or utility). This student team will also work to understand current regulations, data challenges, etc. - This student team will work to find and download Puget Sound metro area aerial images of roof-tops, process them with a program, and identify houses with solar panels. - This student team will also work to estimate the capacity of those panels. - This student team will work to determine the nearest feeder - This student team will work to aggregate solar generation capacity on those feeder(s). The outcomes this student team is working toward are 1) a technical paper submission and acceptance by IEEE Power & Energy Society or similar entity and 2) the usual university/department requirements.
Puget Sound Energy
Substation Capacitor Bank Sizing Tool
This student team will work to evaluate the sizing, operation, and coordination of substation capacitor banks on PSE’s distribution system. With the drive toward renewable energy and electrification, understanding how to approach reactive power flow on the distribution system is a complex problem to solve. Changing load and generation types, including Electric Vehicles, Data Centers, Solar Generation, and Energy Storage provide both a challenge and opportunity for PSE to appropriately plan for reactive power flow. This student team will work to help PSE identify how Substation Capacitor banks, as one piece of the distribution power system, can effectively coordinate to provide reactive power support. This student team will work to develop specific design parameters and performance criteria as part of the project. The scope of work includes planning, control, and operation of substation capacitor banks. This student team will work to document existing operational procedures and recommend improvements and appropriate sizing of capacitor banks in substations via an Excel-based tool. Additionally, the student team will work to create a tool that includes consideration of other reactive components on the system, such as inverter based resources, line capacitors, and transformer LTC. The desired outcomes this student team will work to achieve are a detailed understanding of current capacitor bank operational approach and the identification and recommendation of future opportunities for improvement. This student team will work to provide a summary report and Excel-based tool that provides recommendations to PSE on appropriate sizing and operation of substation capacitor banks.
Snohomish County
Enterprise Scanning Center Workflow Analysis
The county has an Enterprise Scanning Center within the Department of Information Technology. The scanning center provides scanning and imaging services to over 28 departments in the County with over 3,800 employees. The team consists of 8 imaging technicians and project coordinators as well as 1 supervisor. In 2022, the scanning center processed over 1,665,000 images. Several departments have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in external imaging services from outside vendors in order to complete large projects that the Enterprise Scanning Center could not accommodate. In order to better serve the departments in the county, this student team will work with IT to conduct an analysis of current scanning center operations with the goal of increasing the output without negatively impacting quality control. This student team will work to: -Assess the maturity of Enterprise Scanning Center processes. This includes evaluation of employee processes and document conversion processes. - Analyze outputs by types of files. - Collect and evaluate improvements of inputs/outputs, employee and customer satisfaction, and efficiency gains (time, materials, hardware/software costs, etc.) - Analyze processes including: - Physical movement - Document preparation - Scanning hardware/software - QC (quality control) processes (e.g. page-by-page vs at-a-glance) This student team will work to identify and eliminate sources of waste in workflow processes. This student team will also work to understand software/hardware needs, and identify opportunities for software/hardware upgrades. This student team will work to increase volume of image processing near, or equal to, industry standards. Finally, this student team will work to create a system for routine periodic review of systems, processes, and technologies.
Sony
Connecting Sony Products
Sony has a wide portfolio of products that fulfill a wide variety of needs. This student team worked to create relationships between different Sony products, which required the student team to think beyond use cases for gaming, audio, and TV. The student team worked to focus on TV though they were not limited just to TV, they also took into consideration home theater products, mobile audio products, IoT devices, and Sony cameras. This student team worked to identify solutions that made sense on Sony products as well as on mobile applications. Outcomes this student team worked to achieve include: -Use cases or frameworks -A final report and presentation -Notes
Sony
Rethinking spatial and augmented reality for TV
This student team worked in three groups to explore augmented/spatial reality space and trends for TV. This student team worked to explore how Sony can push the next generation of TVs or home entertainment products within these spaces. This student team worked to include the role of 360 video for Sony products in their considerations. This student team worked to focus on augmented or spatial reality TV/products. This student team focused on TV, but also considered home theatre products, mobile audio products, IoT devices, and Sony cameras. This student team worked to emphasize solutions that made sense on Sony products, not just mobile applications. Outcomes this student team worked to achieve include: - Use cases or frameworks -Final report and presentation -Notes
Sound Transit
Eye-Tracking: At-Grade Crossing Safety
Sound Transit has been investigating system-wide strategies to enhance the safety of at-grade crossings, which are any location where a road or pedestrian pathway crosses the rail tracks. This student team worked closely with Sound Transit to thoroughly evaluate existing design and placement of Link light rail signage in the Rainier Valley Corridor and applied innovative research methodologies (e.g., eye-tracking) to understand passenger/pedestrian behavior. Students also worked to draw upon secondary research from peer agencies and best practices to build an understanding of industry best practices of at-grade crossings. Students worked to build the domain specific knowledge and to utilize UX and Human Factors research and design principles to brainstorm, prototype, and validate a solution to enhance safety at at-grade crossings. The designed solution this student team worked to consider included the following requirements: - Built on an understanding of real-world users needs and challenges - Comprehensible to people from different cultural backgrounds and with different levels of English proficiency - Works for users with different mobility impairments and physical disabilities - Closely follows human factors and user-centered design principles to design the best experience The deliverables this student team worked to achieve include: - Research documentation, summaries, actionable insights, and recommendations - Secondary research: Heuristic evaluation of MUTCD standards and the current state of at-grade crossing features; review of industry best practices, peer agencies, and related literature; UX and human factors evaluation - Primary research: Qualitative studies, building persona and journey map, and conducting eye-tracking research at at-grade crossings - Design enhancement ideas, validation research report, and final presentation - Prototyping: Design and prototype enhancement ideas - Design validation: User testing (including eye-tracking studies), iteration, and recommend a final design
![](https://www.engr.washington.edu/industry/capstone-projects/images/Starbucks_Starbarks-6670ab7683b32.jpeg)
Starbucks
It's Complicated - Complexity Calculator
At the heart of Starbucks is a passion for coffee and a drive to reimagine the coffee experience – for Starbucks' partners (employees), their customers, and the environment. Whether it’s imaginative beverages, advancements in store design, or improvements in technology, innovation is at their core helping push the company in new directions. From how someone orders to how Starbucks brews and more, they're obsessed with finding the newest ways to make things better and easier for their partners and customers. But how does Starbucks know if they're on the right path? How does Starbucks know if they are making things better and easier? The missing link, Starbucks thinks, is a defined methodology for measuring complexity for all types of innovation (products, equipment, systems, etc.) to better inform business decisions and project prioritization. This student team will work to create an objective method for determining/assigning complexity factors to products, equipment, and systems at Starbucks. The method should be applicable to both the physical and non-physical. The deliverable this student team will work to achieve is a repeatable and objective method for defining and calculating complexity at Starbucks. The method this student team will work to create should be able to be used as a standalone factor that can be compared to productivity changes in a product/process/etc. to help Starbucks make more holistic business decisions that keeps the wellbeing of baristas and customers at the core of everything they do.
T-Mobile
3D RF Coverage Mapping Using Aerial Drone Data
Background: - Radio Frequency (RF) coverage mapping is crucial for optimizing the performance of wireless networks, managing interference, and ensuring robust connectivity - Traditional methods of RF data collection and coverage mapping can be resource-intensive and may not provide a comprehensive three-dimensional view of the RF environment necessary for testing massive MIMO and higher frequency bands - Placement of outdoor home internet devices by T-Mobile customers is non-intuitive and requires professional installation in most cases. Our approach is to use 3D maps to intelligently pre-select best location for customer and minimize installation costs. - Implementing drone technology can potentially enhance data collection capabilities and provide intricate 3D RF coverage maps This student team will work to develop a drone-assisted testing methodology to collect RF data and build an application to visualize this data creating a comprehensive 3D RF coverage map. The map this student team is working to create will be validated against 3D prediction models and apply machine learning to predict optimal locations for outdoor home internet devices. The RF Data Collection & Analysis this student team will work to collect and provide includes: - Data Acquisition: Utilize advanced logging tools for RF data capture - Drone Flight Plan: Plan and design flight plans for thorough data collection - Data Processing: Analyze RF data for signal strength, noise, beam pattern and other performance metrics. - Network Analysis: Identify and evaluate dead zones, interference, and signal strengths for future enhancements For the 3D Coverage Map, this student team will work to provide: - Application Development: Create a user-friendly application for visualizing 3D RF maps - Data Visualization: Process large datasets to generate accurate 3D RF maps - RF Model Validation: Validate and refine existing coverage prediction models - Home Internet Device Placement: Use machine learning to predict optimal home internet device placement The outcomes this student team will work toward includes: - Enhanced testing capability with drone-assisted 3D RF data to improve network performance - Enable outdoor home internet solutions with optimal device placement predictions - Reduce carbon footprint and operational expenses compared to traditional testing methods The deliverables this student team will work to provide include: - An application capable of generating detailed 3D RF coverage maps using drone-assisted RF data - Comparison with existing 3D RF propagation models - ML model to predict optimal CPE device placement based on 3D RF data - Presentation to T-Mobile leadership with findings, impact, and future recommendations - Final report and poster presentation showcasing UW Capstone project results
TE Connectivity
AI-Aided Expander Machine Parameter Optimization
The Automation Manufacturing Technology (AMT) team is looking for an automated method to adjust parameters for one of our medical manufacturing machines using a closed loop system assisted by a machine learning model. This student team will work to optimize the air flow to create the ideal air pressure based on different variables which would improve machine efficiency and minimize production costs. Some of the factors that affect desired air pressure include outer diameter, surface quality, and the length of product that has already been processed. This student team will work to receive data and develop an optimized air flow model with air pressure being the output. The outcome of this project can be implemented in manufacturing equipment for medical devices. Currently the air pressure is an offline parameter that operators manually adjust. Two of the independent variables this student team should work to consider in this system include outer diameter of the tubing, surface texture. This student team will work to provide the optimized air flow rate for each combination of these variables such that the air pressure is constantly increasing based on the length of the product that has been processed by the machine. In addition to this main scope, this student team can work to automate other parameters. The outcome this student team will work to create is an optimization program where the user can provide inputs in an easy excel type format and the outputs of the airflow rate will be in an excel or similar format (Need to confirm). The program should accurately predict the optimized air flow based on the input data. A stretch goal the student team could work toward is the integration of the solution into the manufacturing line.
![](https://www.engr.washington.edu/industry/capstone-projects/images/Boeing_WingingIt_737WingTransportation-6670a20945d7a.jpeg)
The Boeing Company
737 North Line Wingbox Transportation
The Boeing Company plans to add a new 737 MAX Final Assembly production line within the existing Everett Boeing factory. This new production line is currently named the 737 North Line. The 737 wingbox will continue to be built at the Renton assembly site, and this student team will work to focus on the logistics of the transportation plan for the completed wingbox assembly from Renton to 737 North Line in Everett Washington. The 737 North Line plan requires the completed wingbox to be transported from Renton to Everett via road transportation. These large airplane wing assemblies will need to transported between the two Boeing sites to meet 737 North Line's takt time production requirements. This student team will work to assess and validate the current assumptions for this logistics plan before the 737 North Line starts production in late 2024. The outcomes this student team will work to achieve include: - Create process flow documentation from wing completion in Renton to load in the Everett factory. - Use simulation software to model the transportation plan over different periods of time and traffic conditions. - Provide recommendations on the amount of time it will take to transport the wing from Renton to Everett and what time of day this transportation should occur. Provide similar timing recommendations for recycling the empty trailer back to Renton. - Using simulation results and capacity/capability planning tools, conduct a rate tool analysis and recommend the ideal number of trailers to support this transportation plan for production start-up and various other production rate scenarios. - Create a facility layout design for the ideal wing un-loading area in the Everett factory. - Create a crew utilization plan for overhead crane moves and transportation support as well as crew size recommendation.
The Boeing Company
AM Machine Gas Flow Characterization & Improvements - Phase 3
Gas flow in metal AM printers is a key process variable. Recirculation and non-uniformity of the gas flow in a printer can be a source of material defects. This student team worked to generate PIV analysis of the baseline gas flow in an EOSM290 printer, and to design devices to improve upon the EOSM290 gas flow test developed by the 2022 & 2023 capstone teams. This student team worked to use CFD to develop easily attachable devices for the EOSM290 AM printer to reduce recirculation and improve gas flow uniformity and generate PIV analysis of the improvements. This student team also worked to analyze materials printed with the improvements and/or different gas flow settings to demonstrate the impact on material properties from gas flow. The student team worked to collect new, targeted Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) gas flow measurement data to correlate it with existing material performance data (either from UW or provided by Boeing). This student team also worked to build and validate the improvement devices with PIV testing in a mock-up EOSM290 printer developed by prior capstone teams, then worked to build and test materials on the actual UW EOSM290 with these improvement devices to determine if they had an effect on material performance or defect rates.
![](https://www.engr.washington.edu/industry/capstone-projects/images/Boeing Bio Resin Team Photo2-667d8936bec7b.png)
The Boeing Company
Bio-Based Resin Composite Material Testing
The proposed project includes the material testing of a bio-based resin composite. This bio-based resin is made from the byproduct of sugarcane waste production and is being investigated for its sustainability benefits and flammability performance. Material testing will include GC-MS (gas chromatography mass spectrometry) to evaluate resin constituents. Other thermophysical evaluation like DSC and TGA are desired. The project will also include understanding material chemical sensitivity with testing and evaluation. The composite system will be composed of reinforcing fibers, either glass or carbon, with a bio-based thermosetting polymer matrix. All work will include an appropriate test plan to evaluate resin constituents and chemical sensitivity. Deliverables will include evaluation, photos, and reports of all tests done on materials.
![](https://www.engr.washington.edu/industry/capstone-projects/images/Boeing_team_photo-6675e347b09f8.jpeg)
The Boeing Company
Boeing Regional Commercial Aircraft Design & Wind Tunnel Testing
The smaller regional airplane market currently has products that are based upon older designs that have their origins in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The Boeing 2022 Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) forecasts a 2,120-unit regional aircraft over the next 20 years. This presents an opportunity to develop new regional aircraft to satisfy the 75-seat portion of the market that meets the US domestic “Scope Clause” that has significantly better fuel burn and economics than existing options. The overall goal is to be at least 20% better than existing 75 seat regional jets in 500 nmi block fuel per seat with a cost to build that is comparable to the existing aircraft. This airplane should be designed to be competitive with the Mitsubishi SpaceJet M100 (76 seats), the Bombardier CRJ700/900, the Comac ARJ21-700 and De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q400. This student team worked to achieve the following two goals: 1) Create the preliminary design of the airplane, including integration and sizing 2) Conduct model-scaled wind tunnel testing and compare against analytical predictions This student team worked to: • determine the aircraft size and propulsion system to meet the required mission (75 seat, 1500nmi range, 6000ft Take-off field requirement, cruise Mach 0.75-0.78), … (see RFP for details) • optimize the payload arrangement to allow for ergonomic passenger comfort • create a design that considered environmental impacts by using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), minimized emissions, and was sensitive to noise pollution (quiet). • minimize production cost by choosing materials and manufacturing methods appropriate for the annual production rate that was supported by the team’s assessment of the potential market size. • make the aircraft visually appealing so it is marketable and identified what features are important to the operators for different missions. • make the aircraft reliability equal or better than that of comparable aircraft. • make the aircraft maintenance equal or better than that of comparable aircraft. The project outcome this student team worked to achieve is the preliminary design of an aircraft that meets the requirements and is validated through limited testing. The deliverables this student team worked to achieve include: • a technical report that presents the design of the aircraft clearly and concisely, and that includes all relevant aspects, pertinent analyses, and studies supporting design choices. (Details of the required report content can be found in the RFP) • a scale wind-tunnel model • experimental results from the wind-tunnel test
The Boeing Company
Coatings for Improved UV protection of Additively Manufactured Photopolymers
This student team will have the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge to a real world problem with no predetermined “right answer”. Through this project, students will have the opportunity to work to execute this ambitious project and will gain insights on what it is like to work at a company like Boeing. About the project: Additive Manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing the way we fabricate aerospace components by enabling increasingly complex part designs. The Photopolymer 3D printing process has many advantages including the ability to print small complex parts with excellent surface finish. Historically the use of photopolymers in aerospace production have been limited by poor elevated temperature mechanical properties, flammability, and susceptibility to UV degradation. Recent advances in photopolymer materials have improved temperature resistance and flammability, but the material remain susceptible to degradation when exposed to ultraviolet light (UV). This student team will work to focus on evaluating and improving coating technologies to shield photopolymer parts from UV light. The students will work toward this project objective by selecting coating materials, modifying them with pigments/additives to improve their UV protective properties, and by studying the effect of coating thickness on UV protection on additivity manufactured photopolymers. This student team will work to use testing to determine the degree of UV protection offered by each coating system. This student team will work to: -Select a set of existing coating materials and additives/pigments with the potential to improve the coating's UV protective properties -Develop test plan to study the effect of coating thickness and the addition of additives/pigments on the coating's UV protective properties on additively manufactured photopolymers. -Modify coatings with selected additives/pigments -Paint and test photopolymer samples printed at Boeing according to the test plan
The Boeing Company
Composite Part Sectional Repair Housing Apparatus using Expandable Materials
Composite parts require high pressure compaction and heating for curing, which are traditionally achieved using autoclaves. However, the purchase and operation cost of autoclave is significant. In some instances, very large composite parts that have already been cured in an autoclave may require small repairs. Returning the large composite part back into the autoclave is not cost effective and create further delays to the production rate of products such as airplanes. A better method for repairs must be developed; a solution that provides local compaction and heating without the need for another large permanent structure such as autoclave. This student team will work to identify a solution where a localized repair apparatus is sufficient to achieve a capability of holding 100 psi of compaction for one hour and at 350F held constantly. This student team will work to design a system that can conform to and apply compaction pressure and heat to a local surface on a sem-complex large composite part that was previously cured. The system the student team is working to create must be capable of applying 100 psi over a 1 sq-in area and (through model based engineers show how 350F continuous heating can be applied) for one hour. Performance rated on the curing of the repair composite patch that is placed over the original part. The outcome this student is working to achieve is to fabricate a working prototype which will require machined parts, integration of pressure gauges, and proper ergonomic features. Prototype must be able to demonstrate the application of 100 psi on a 1 sq-in precure composite layer that is bonded to a previously cured composite part (coupon will be provided for project by Boeing).