Ultrasonic sensors are popular in parking functions in automotive. They are used to measure distances between a car and obstacles near the car. Car companies need to prove that sensors are reliable before using them on vehicles since these sensors are safety-critical. Therefore, it has great practical value to research on the measurement and verification of ultrasonic sensors. The purpose of this thesis work is to analyse analog parts of some ultrasonic sensors. Measurement methods and three experimental setups are designed to get analog data. Ice, soil, stones or some other things on the road might cover the sensor, which limits the movement of horn and causes measurement errors. Sensor impedance is measured to check the possibility of blockage situation detection in a simulation of a real environment. The work also includes analysing the ultrasonic sensor beam pattern, the sound reflection from the environment, noise reduction, the relationship between the signal voltage amplitude and different positions of sensors, influences on different input signal lengths, and bandwidth investigation of the ultrasonic sensor. MATLAB compares measurement results with theory or simulation, All methods and setups are validated by getting measurement results successfully and correctly. Sensor blockage situation is recognized clearly by different impedance magnitudes. Sensors types under study are different from sensors installed on cars. However, other ultrasonic sensor measurements can utilize the same measurement methods and experimental setups. This thesis has been performed in collaboration with the company Volvo Car Corporation active safety department.

In order to realize the convergence of the optical infrastructure of fixed and mobile access networks, the objective of this thesis is to study the solutions for distributing native radio carriers through typical optical access networks.The first Part describes the contexts and the main physical properties of the optical and radio access networks: from nowadays deployed Fiber To The Home (FTTH) systems, and their expected evolutions, to the current radio system Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) towards the expected requirements of modern mobile radio systems. This allows to settle the optical environment in which the Radio over Fiber(RoF)-functionalities will have to be integrated, and to know on which radio systems'figures of merits to focus on when implementing it. The second Part shows the benefit and possibilities of re-using the optical infrastructure of the fixed access networks for distributed radio systems. Then a review of the analog and digital RoF techniques is proposed, and their feasibility of integration into legacy FTTH systems is discussed. The third part deals with the computing and simulations of an analog RoF-system where the optical link is either passive or optically pre-amplified, and even boosted. The goal is to provide numerical results to the practical lab. results of the second half of the fourth part where the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) matters. Therefore successively formal expressions, numerical results for simple 2-tone signals and more realistic UMTS signals are considered. The fourth and last part deals with the obtained practical results. These can be split into two main categories : Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)-oriented results where an Avalanche Photo-Detector (APD) is used for legacy and extended-reach PON architectures using a direction shared Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) ; and an Adjacent/Alternate Channel power Leakage Ratio (ACLR)-driven part where the focus is seton a very critical figure of merit of radio systems, especially in the downlink. The latter part turned out to be mandatory and prevailing over the initially considered EVM concerns. Hence several RoF architectures, compatible with PONs, are introduced in order to overcome the non-linearities undergone by the RoF-signals, induced by the chromatic dispersion of the PON's fiber and the laser chirp, and degrading the ACLR performances

A ciência na qual se estuda a deformação de um fluido no qual é aplicada uma tensão de cisalhamento é conhecida como reologia e o equipamento utilizado para a realização dos ensaios é chamado de reômetro. Devido a impraticabilidade de uso de reômetros comerciais, diversos pesquisadores desenvolveram reômetros capazes de analisar suspensões de macropartículas, baseados nos mesmos princípios de funcionamento dos equipamentos já existentes. Em alguns casos, a medição do torque do motor é realizada pela aquisição da tensão, uma vez que esta é proporcional ao torque. Entretanto, para melhor compreensão do resultado e para evitar a possibilidade de conclusões precipitadas, vê-se necessária correta interpretação do sinal elétrico, precisando avaliar qual frequência do sinal é relevante para o ensaio e, também, qual a melhor taxa de amostragem. Além da aquisição, para que o ensaio reológico seja realizado com precisão, é indispensável ótimo controle da taxa ou tensão do motor e uma alternativa é a utilização de um servomotor e um servoconversor. No caso desse ser comercial é essencial saber configurá-lo. Para facilitar o usuário leigo, alguns pesquisadores desenvolveram softwares para controle do equipamento e análise dos dados. Assim, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo propor uma metodologia para compreender o sinal aquisitado de um reômetro servo controlado e desenvolvimento do software de análise para o tratamento dos dados obtidos a partir de ensaios reológicos. Verificou-se a melhor configuração do servocontrolador, a melhor taxa de amostragem, de no mínimo 20 amostras/segundo, e, também, desenvolveu-se um filtro digital passa-baixa do tipo FIR para remover a frequência indesejada. Além disso, foi desenvolvido um software utilizando uma rotina em Matlab e uma interface gráfica do usuário (Graphical User Interface - GUI), para o pós-processamento dos dados para auxiliar o usuário leigo no tratamento e interpretação do resultado, que se mostrou eficaz. / Rheology is the study of the behavior of material in fluid state. Rheometer is the equipment used to perform rheological measurements. Because of the impracticability of commercial rheometer, many researchers have developed rheometer able to analyze macro particles suspension, based on the principle of operation of the existing equipment. In some cases, measurement of the motor torque is performed by acquiring voltage signal, since is proportional to torque. However, for better understanding of the rheological results, it is necessary to understand the electrical signal, evaluating which signal frequency is relevant and what is the best sample rate. In addition, for an accurate rheological testing, it is essential a precise control of the shear rate or shear stress of the motor and a good alternative is the use of a servomotor and a drive. In the case of the drive being commercial, it is essential to know how to configure it. To turn rheometer user-friendly, some researchers have developed software to control the equipment and to analyze data. Thus, this dissertation propose a methodology to understand the electrical signal of a servo controlled rheometer and development of analysis software to process the data obtained from rheological tests. It has been found the best configuration of the servo drive, minimum sampling rate of 20 samples/second, and development of a low pass digital filter to remove unwanted frequency. In addition, was developed a software using a Matlab routine and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to assist the user in the processing and interpretation of the result.

Demand for data communication capacity is rapidly increasing with more and more number of users and higher bandwidth services. As a result, a critical research issue is the implementation of wideband and flexible signal processing in communication and sensing applications. Although software defined radio (SDR) is a possible solution, it may not be practical due to the excessive requirements for analog-to-digital converter (ADCs) and digital filters for wideband signals. In this environment, discrete-time (DT) domain circuits are gaining attention in various architectures such as N-path filters, sampling mixers, and analog FIR/IIR/FFT filters. DT analog signal processing (DT-ASP) ahead of an ADC considerably relaxes the ADC requirements by flexible filtering, offers the potential for higher dynamic range performance, and provides robustness in the presence of digital CMOS scaling. The primary work presented in this dissertation is the design of wideband analog finite impulse response (AFIR) filters. Analog FIR filters have been used as low pass filters for out-of-band rejection in narrow-band applications. However, this work seeks to develop AFIR filters suitable for wideband applications, extending its possible applications. To achieve these performance goals, capacitive digital to analog converters (CDACs) have been introduced for the first time as wideband analog coefficient multipliers, which has led to high linearity analog multiplication with coefficient selection at the DAC resolution. A prototype 4th order DT FIR filter has been implemented in 32nm SOI CMOS technology and has achieved low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass filter (LPF, BPF and HPF) transfer functions corresponding to the programmed coefficient sets with IIP3>11dBm linearity and less than 2 mW/tap of power consumption. The AFIR filter is also utilized to demonstrate a proof-of-concept FIR-based beamforming. The beamforming network consisting of 4 antenna element inputs followed by AFIR filters was implemented with PCB modules with the previously fabricated AFIR filter chip. Behavioral simulations are used to verify the beamforming function with given coefficient sets. Based on the developed AFIR filter modules, FIR-based beamforming was demonstrated with measurement results matching well with the simulations. Further work presented is the design and optimization of multi-section CDAC (MS-CDAC) structures. The proposed MS-CDAC approach provides wide range of options to optimize the tradeoff between kT/C noise, linearity versus switching energy, speed and area. When the optimization approach is applied to a proof-of-concept 10-bit CDAC design, the selected MS-CDAC structure reduces total capacitance and switching energy by 97% and 98%, respectively for given linearity and noise limitations. The proposed MS-CDAC structures are applicable in both DT-ASP coefficient multiplier and SAR-ADC applications. / PHD / In communication systems, filter design is a fundamental task required to recover the signal of interest in the presence of interference. As upcoming communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) mobile communications and future IEEE 802.11 standards (Wi-Fi), require higher speed and flexibility in signal processing due to the rapidly increasing number of users and data rates, it becomes more challenging to design such filters. In general, analog filters are useful for high-speed, digital filters features flexibility. To take advantage of both aspects, discrete-time (DT) domain filters have become a promising alternative, which can be used to implement digital signal processing functions in the analog domain. This dissertation presents the development of DT analog finite-impulse-response (AFIR) filter design for mixed-signal processing applications. The core idea in this work is to adopt the capacitive DAC (CDAC) as a coefficient multiplier, which enables digital code coefficient multiplication as well as high-speed and high-linearity performance while consuming low power. A prototype 4th order DT FIR filter implemented in 32nm SOI CMOS process is demonstrated with measurements. Based on the developed AFIR filters, proof-of-concept FIR-based beamforming is investigated as well. For this purpose, AFIR filter modules are built on printed-circuit-boards (PCBs) and coefficients are calculated by a simplified method. In addition, this dissertation also includes analysis and optimization of multi-section CDAC (MS-CDAC) structures. Traditional CDAC approaches have a fundamental trade-off between noise and linearity versus size, switching energy and speed. This work explores the characteristics of CDACs depending on the section segmentations and the optimal structure is selected based on the trade-off. Through comprehensive simulations and calculations, the selected structure for 10-bit MS-CDAC achieved 97% and 98% reduced total capacitance and switching energy, respectively.

Afin de réaliser la convergence de l'infrastructure optique des réseaux d'accès fixes et mobiles, l'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier les solutions pour la distribution de porteuses radio natives à travers des réseaux d'accès optiques typiques. La première partie décrit les contextes et les principales propriétés physiques des réseaux d'accès optiques et radio : depuis les systèmes Fiber To The Home (FTTH) actuellement déployés et leurs évolutions attendues, en passant par l'actuel système radio Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) jusqu'aux exigences des futurs systèmes modernes de téléphonie mobile. Ceci permet de fixer le cadre de l'environnement optique dans lequel les fonctionnalités Radio over Fiber (RoF) devront être intégrées, et d'anticiper les figures de mérite, se rapportant aux systèmes radios, auxquelles une attention particulière devra être protée durant la mise en oeuvre. La seconde partie montre l'intérêt et les possibilités de réutiliser l'infrastructure optique des réseaux d'accès fixes pour les systèmes de radio distribuée. Ensuite est proposé un inventaire des techniques RoF analogiques et numériques, ainsi qu'une discussion quant à leur intégrabilité dans des systèmes FTTH courants. La troisième partie traite du calcul formel et de simulations d'un système de transmission RoF analogique, où la liaison optique est soit passive ou optiquement pré-amplifiée, et voire amplifiée à l'émission. L'objectif est de fournir des résultats numériques en complément aux résultats pratiques (seconde moitié de la quatrième partie) pour lesquels le rapport signal à bruit est le souci majeur. Pour cela nous utilisons successivement des expressions formelles, et des résultats numériques obtenus pour des signaux sinusoïdaux et pour des signaux UMTS plus réalistes. La quatrième et dernière partie concerne les résultats expérimentaux : d'une part ceux concernant les architectures à base de récepteur APD et à portée étendue grâce à un SOA exploité de manière bidirectionnelle, et ayant pour figure de mérite principale l'EVM ; d'autre part les résultats ayant pour figure de mérite l'ACLR, qui pour les systèmes radio dans le sens descendant, est un paramètre critique, et s'avérant être plus important que l'EVM. C'est pourquoi sont présentées des architectures RoF compatibles avec les budgets PON, permettant de surmonter les non-linéarités d'ordre 3 induites par la dispersion chromatique et le chirp du laser, qui dégradent les performances de ACLR / In order to realize the convergence of the optical infrastructure of fixed and mobile access networks, the objective of this thesis is to study the solutions for distributing native radio carriers through typical optical access networks.The first Part describes the contexts and the main physical properties of the optical and radio access networks: from nowadays deployed Fiber To The Home (FTTH) systems, and their expected evolutions, to the current radio system Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) towards the expected requirements of modern mobile radio systems. This allows to settle the optical environment in which the Radio over Fiber(RoF)-functionalities will have to be integrated, and to know on which radio systems'figures of merits to focus on when implementing it. The second Part shows the benefit and possibilities of re-using the optical infrastructure of the fixed access networks for distributed radio systems. Then a review of the analog and digital RoF techniques is proposed, and their feasibility of integration into legacy FTTH systems is discussed. The third part deals with the computing and simulations of an analog RoF-system where the optical link is either passive or optically pre-amplified, and even boosted. The goal is to provide numerical results to the practical lab. results of the second half of the fourth part where the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) matters. Therefore successively formal expressions, numerical results for simple 2-tone signals and more realistic UMTS signals are considered. The fourth and last part deals with the obtained practical results. These can be split into two main categories : Error Vector Magnitude (EVM)-oriented results where an Avalanche Photo-Detector (APD) is used for legacy and extended-reach PON architectures using a direction shared Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) ; and an Adjacent/Alternate Channel power Leakage Ratio (ACLR)-driven part where the focus is seton a very critical figure of merit of radio systems, especially in the downlink. The latter part turned out to be mandatory and prevailing over the initially considered EVM concerns. Hence several RoF architectures, compatible with PONs, are introduced in order to overcome the non-linearities undergone by the RoF-signals, induced by the chromatic dispersion of the PON's fiber and the laser chirp, and degrading the ACLR performances

This dissertation focuses on design and implementation of a fully-integrated SRAM-based arbitrary waveform generator for analog signal processing applications in a CMOS technology. The dissertation consists of two parts: Firstly, a fully-integrated arbitrary waveform generator for a multi-resolution spectrum sensing of a cognitive radio applications, and an analog matched-filter for a radar application and secondly, low-power techniques for an arbitrary waveform generator. The fully-integrated low-power AWG is implemented and measured in a 0.18-¥ìm CMOS technology. Theoretical analysis is performed, and the perspective implementation issues are mentioned comparing the measurement results. Moreover, the low-power techniques of SRAM are addressed for the analog signal processing: Self-deactivated data-transition bit scheme, diode-connected low-swing signaling scheme with a short-current reduction buffer, and charge-recycling with a push-pull level converter for power reduction of asynchronous design. Especially, the robust latch-type sense amplifier using an adaptive-latch resistance and fully-gated ground 10T-SRAM bitcell in a 45-nm SOI technology would be used as a technique to overcome the challenges in the upcoming deep-submicron technologies.

Αντικείμενο της παρούσας Ειδικής Επιστημονικής Εργασίας είναι η ανάπτυξη φίλτρων στο πεδίο της τετραγωνικής ρίζας με τη μέθοδο του γραμμικού μετασχηματισμού (Linear Transformation). Ως παράδειγμα, δίνεται η σχεδίαση, η εξομοίωση και τέλος η φυσική σχεδίαση ενός ελλειπτικού βαθυπερατού φίλτρου 3ης τάξης στο πεδίο της τετραγωνικής ρίζας (Square-Root Domain). Για λόγους σύγκρισης, η σχεδίαση του φίλτρου γίνεται με τέσσερις διαφορετικές μεθόδους εξομοίωσης παθητικών φίλτρων (Leapfrog, Topologic, Wave και Linear Trasformation method) και η ανάλυση κάθε μεθόδου παρουσιάζεται σε αντίστοιχο κεφάλαιο. / The subject of this master thesis is the design of analog filters in square root domain utilizing the method of Linear Transformation. As a design example a third order elliptic lowpass filter transfer function will be realized. For comparison results we are using four different design methods (Leapfrog, Topologic, Wave and Linear Trasformation)in order to realize such filter. Each synthesis method is demonstrated in different chapter.

Στην παρούσα Διπλωματική Εργασία μελετάται η δομή και τα χαρακτηριστικά ενός νέου μετατροπέα ψηφιακού σήματος σε αναλογικό (Digital to Analog Converter DAC). Η δομή του DAC βασίζεται στη γνωστή δομή του συμβατικού R2R Ladder και θα μπορούσε να θεωρηθεί σαν μία δισδιάστατη ανάπτυξη του Ladder. Αυτό σημαίνει ότι η νέα μορφή του DAC χρησιμοποιεί σαφώς περισσότερες αντιστάσεις από τον συμβατικό Ladder, όμως δίνεται η δυνατότητα της ρύθμισης του ρεύματος εξόδου του κάθε κλάδου. Αυτό έχει ως συνέπεια τη δραματική βελτίωση της γραμμικότητας του DAC. Επιπλέον στην Εργασία αυτή μελετήθηκαν με χρήση της θεωρίας των πιθανοτήτων τα χαρακτηριστικά του απλού Ladder και χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την εξαγωγή συμπερασμάτων που αφορούν στη γραμμικότητα της νέας δομής Ladder. Τα θεωρητικά αποτελέσματα επιβεβαιώθηκαν με εξομοιώσεις. Τέλος, μία σχεδίαση σε φυσικό επίπεδο με την χρήση μόνο MOSFETS και CMOS τεχνολογίας (χωρίς την χρήση αντιστάσεων) σχεδιάσθηκε και εξομοιώθηκε στο Cadence ένας Ladder της νέας δομής. / This Diploma Thesis studies on a new Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) structure developed in the Applied Electronics Laboratory of the University of Patras. The new DAC structure is based on the simple R2R ladder combining several of them in a 2-dimentional grid. As result a high linearity DAC is derived after a simple calibration procedure. The Diploma Thesis presents results on probability of the simple R2R Ladder, employs these results so as to forecast the linearity of the 2-dimentional Ladder, whereas confirms theoretical results with simulations. Finally, a DAC based on the 2-dimentional topology has been designed and simulated using Cadence, in the framework of this Diploma Thesis.

Tato disertační práce pojednává o návrhu nových funkčních bloků použitelných v oblasti zpracování analogového signálu. Jde o obvody v proudové módu, které mohou ve vhodné konfiguraci pracovat v proudovém i v napěťovém módu. To umožnílo získat velmi nadějné výsledky v soustavách s nízkým napájecím napětím. Mnohostrannost těchto obvodů nalezne uplatnění v mnoha aplikacích. Zesilovač s proudovou zpětnou vazbou byl zavolen jako hlavní stavební blok pro detailní zkoumání funkce obvodů s RC operační sítí. Tato disertační práce pojednává o studiu, syntéze a návrhových aspektech realizace nových imitančních funkcí, jmenovitě induktivních a superkapacitních, proudových a napěťových konvejorech, kmitočtových filtrech s velkou jakostí, integrátorech a diferenciátorech, fázovacích členech s neminimální fází a napětím řízených oscilátorech. Disertační práce se detailně zabývá těmito novými bloky, které jsou popsány teoreticky a vyhodnoceny na základě simulací vlastností.

This thesis contributes new algorithms and implementations for particle filter-based target tracking. From an algorithmic perspective, modifications that improve a batch-based acoustic direction-of-arrival (DOA), multi-target, particle filter tracker are presented. The main improvements are reduced execution time and increased robustness to target maneuvers. The key feature of the batch-based tracker is an image template-matching approach that handles data association and clutter in measurements. The particle filter tracker is compared to an extended Kalman filter~(EKF) and a Laplacian filter and is shown to perform better for maneuvering targets. Using an approach similar to the acoustic tracker, a radar range-only tracker is also developed. This includes developing the state update and observation models, and proving observability for a batch of range measurements. From an implementation perspective, this thesis provides new low-power and real-time implementations for particle filters. First, to achieve a very low-power implementation, two mixed-mode implementation strategies that use analog and digital components are developed. The mixed-mode implementations use analog, multiple-input translinear element (MITE) networks to realize nonlinear functions. The power dissipated in the mixed-mode implementation of a particle filter-based, bearings-only tracker is compared to a digital implementation that uses the CORDIC algorithm to realize the nonlinear functions. The mixed-mode method that uses predominantly analog components is shown to provide a factor of twenty improvement in power savings compared to a digital implementation. Next, real-time implementation strategies for the batch-based acoustic DOA tracker are developed. The characteristics of the digital implementation of the tracker are quantified using digital signal processor (DSP) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations. The FPGA implementation uses a soft-core or hard-core processor to implement the Newton search in the particle proposal stage. A MITE implementation of the nonlinear DOA update function in the tracker is also presented.