A new type of computing architecture called ePUMA is under development by the ePUMA Research Team at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Linköping University in Linköping. This contains several single instruction multiple data (SIMD) cores, which are called SIMD Units, where up to 64 computations can be done in parallel. The goal with the architecture is to create a low-power chip with good performance for embedded applications. One possible application is video games. In this work we have studied a selected set of video game related algorithms, including a Pseudo-Random Number Generator, Clipping and Rasterization & Fragment Processing, analyzing how well they fit the ePUMA platform.

Les techniques multiporteuses de type OFDM sont aujourd'hui largement déployées dans tous les systèmes de communication sans fils notamment dans les réseaux cellulaires (L TE), les réseaux de diffusion (DVB) ou encore les réseaux WiFi. Cependant, les modulations multiporteuses se caractérisent par une très grande dynamique mesurée par le Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR), ce qui empêche d'alimenter l'amplificateur de puissance non linéaire (utilisé avant l'émission des signaux) à son point optimal et ainsi conduit à diminuer son efficacité énergétique. Des techniques de réduction du PAPR peuvent alors être mises en oeuvre pour réduire le PAPR du signal et des techniques de prédistorsion peuvent alors être utilisées pour compenser les non-linéarités de l'amplificateur de puissance. L'approche développée dans le cadre de cette thèse a pour objectif d'étudier une solution intelligente pour les implémentations futures pour contrôler la réduction du PAPR et les étapes de linéa risation de manière flexible en fonction de certains paramètres prédéfinis afin qu'ils deviennent adaptatifs et auto-configurables. Plus précisément, notre travail a principalement porté sur l'analyse des différentes distorsions dans la bande (in-band distortions)mesurées par I'EVM ou Error Vector Magnitude et en dehors de la bande de transmission (out-of-band distortions) mesurées par I'ACPR ou Adjacent Channel Power Ratio de signaux à porteuses multiples. En particulier de nombreux résultats analytiques complétés par des résultats de simulation permettant d'évaluer I'EVM et I'ACPR en fonction des caractéristiques de l'amplification nonlinéaire en prenant en compte ou pas l'effet mémoire de l'amplificateur et la mise en oeuvre de techniques d'écrêtage et de pré-distorsion ont été obtenus. Ces résultats constituent une étape importante dans l'optimisation globale de la complexité, de la linéarité et de l'efficacité énergétique des émetteurs aussi bien pour la diffusion de la télévision numérique que pour les réseaux cellulaires de 4 ème génération (L TE) ou de 5""' génération. / OFDM multicarrier techniques are now widely deployed in most wireless communication systems, in particular in cellularnetworks (L TE), broadcast networks (DVB) and WiFi networks. However, multi-carrier modulations are characterized by avery large dynamic amplitude measured by the Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR). which prevents radio frequencydesigners to feed the signal at the optimal point of the Power Amplifier (PA) which reduces the PA energy efficiency. Inliterature, the PAPR reduction and linearization techniques are the main approaches to solve the PAPR problem, the PAnonlinearities problem. as well as the low PA efficiency problem.The approach developed in this thesis was to study an intelligent solution for future implementations to control thereduction of PAPR and the linearization steps in a flexible way according to some predefined parameters so that theybecome adaptive and self-configurable. More specifically, our work focused on the analytical analysis of in-band measureby the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and out-of-band distortions measured by the Adjacent Chanel Power Ratio (ACPR)for clipped multicarrier signals taking into account the impact of non-linear amplification, memory effects and predistortion.In particular. many analytical results complemented by simulation results to evaluate the EVM and ACPR are proposed.These analytical expressions depend on the PA characteristics taking into account or not the PA memory effects and theuse of clipping and pre-distortion techniques. lt is worthwhile to note that our proposed theoretical analyses could be veryuseful for optimizing future transmitter efficiency and linearity in the field of broadcasting applications for the deployment oDVB-T2 transmitters as well as for L TE cellular networks.

This thesis deals with general polygon boolean operation algorithms. Boolean operations are e.g. intersection, union or difference. A general polygon can be e.g. a selfinterecting polygon with inner hole. Clipping of polygons against a rectangular window is probably the most familiar boolean operation on polygons. At first, basic definitions are listed. Then the principles of a selected set of boolean operation algorithms are reviewed. Finally, a complex comparison of the algorithms is undertaken. Performance as well as the ability to handle degenerate cases are tested. The output of this thesis is an overall evaluation of algorithm properties and a dynamic library that contains the implementation of all of the tested algorithms.

Bananflugan (Drosophila melanogaster) är vanlig i den genetiska forskningen då deras genom är känt sedan länge, vi vet även att det finns stora könskonflikter som driver på utvecklingen av skillnader mellan könen. Det finns goda bevis för att sexuella antagonistiska gener spelar en stor roll i utvecklingen av könsskillnader hos många olika organismer. Jag har tittat på om det finns en längdskillnad mellan hanar av A1 och A2 hos CG3598 då det tidigare har bekräftats att det finns en skillnad i fitness mellan dessa. Jag har även undersökt om det finns en skillnad i fitness mellan honor av samma grupper vilket inte är bevisat. För att se om det fanns en längdskillnad mellan hanar av A1 och A2 har deras thoraxlängd mäts med ett okulärmikroskop. Honornas fitness testades genom att de antingen konkurrerade inom sin genotyp eller med honor av en annan genotyp, därefter räknades avkommorna och grupperna jämfördes. Resultatet tyder på att det inte fanns någon signifikant längdskillnad mellan hanar av A1 och A2 men de var i genomsnitt 85,3% så stora som honorna. För honorna fanns det ingen skillnad i fitness mellan A1 och A2, oberoende av om de konkurrerat inom genotypen eller med en annan. När larverna konkurrerade inom genotypen fick A1 och A2 fler avkommor per hona än om larverna konkurrerade med en annan genotyp. Slutsatserna blir att vi fortfarande inte vet varför A2 hanar får fler avkommor än A1 men vi vet att honor av A1 och A2 inte verkar ha några skillnader i fitness. Det behövs mer forskning inom området och det är viktigt att man väljer rätt konkurrenter när man testar fitness. / Drosophila melanogaster is common in genetic research as their genome has been known for a long time, we also know that there are major gender conflicts that drive the development of differences between the sexes. There is good evidence that sexually antagonistic genes play a major role in the development of sex differences in many different organisms. I have studied if there is a length difference between males of A1 and A2 in CG3598 as it has previously been confirmed that there is a fitness difference between these. I have also investigate whether there is a fitness difference between females of the same groups, which has not been proven. To see if there was a length difference between males of A1 and A2, their thorax length was measured with an ocular microscope. The females fitness was tested by either competing within their genotype or with females of another genotype, then the offspring was counted and the groups compared. The results indicated no significant difference in length between males of A1 and A2 but they were on average 85.3% as large as the females. For the females, there was no difference in fitness between A1 and A2, regardless of whether they competed within the genotype or with another. When the larvae competed within the genotype, A1 and A2 produced more offspring per female than if the larvae competed with another genotype. The conclusions are that we still don’t know why A2 males produce more offspring than A1 but we do know that females of A1 and A2 do not appear to have any differences in fitness. More research is needed in the field and it is important to choose the right competitors when testing fitness.

La llegada del sonido 3D está imponiendo cambios en varias etapas del flujo de trabajo, desde los sistemas de captación hasta las metodologías de postproducción y las configuraciones de altavoces. Esta tesis trata varios aspectos relacionados con el audio 3D: en la parte de captación, presentamos un estudio sobre las características de los micrófonos tetraédricos y una solución para obtener las componentes Ambisonics del segundo orden usando un pequeño número de transductores del primer orden; en la parte de producción, se presenta una aplicación para la mezcla automatizada de eventos deportivos, para reducir la complexidad del multicanal en tiempo real; para la restitución del audio independiente del sistema de altavoces, en el que los niveles de salida a los altavoces son una incógnita hasta la decodificación, se propone un detector de clipping independiente del layout. Finalmente, se presentan test psico-acústicos para validar aspectos perceptivos relacionados con el audio 3D. / The advent of 3D audio is dictating changes in several stages of the audio work-flow, from recording systems and microphone configurations, to post-production methodologies and loudspeaker configurations. This thesis tackles aspects related to 3D audio arising in the various stages of production. In the recording part, we present a study on the accuracy of tetrahedral microphones and a solution for obtaining second-order Ambisonics responses from first-order transducers using a small number of sensors; in the production stage, we introduce an application for automated assisted mixing of sport events, to reduce the complexity of managing multiple audio channels in real time; a clipping detector is proposed for the rendering of layout-independent audio content to generic playback systems, where the signal levels sent to the speakers are unknown until the decoding stage; finally, psychoacoustic experiments are presented for the validation of perceptual and aesthetic aspects related to 3D audio.

Digital communication systems which use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) are now widely used and have many advantages. The main disadvantage is the requirement for highly linear analogue electronics including the high power amplifier (HPA). This requirement cannot be met in all circumstances because of the occurrence of symbols with high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). Such symbols may be non-linearly distorted by limiting. Approaches to solve this problem have been either to reduce the PAPR at the transmitter or to try to mitigate the effect of the non-linearity at the receiver. Soft-limiting, i.e. applying limiting in software prior to the HPA is a simple way to reduce the PAPR. It produces non-linear distortion which will cause an increase in the bit-error-rate (BER) at the receiver. This thesis surveys existing alternatives ways of reducing the effect of non-linearity and proposes some new ones. Two iterative receiver techniques, based on statistical analysis of the nature of the non-linearity, have been implemented and investigated. These are the ‘Bussgang Noise Cancellation’ (BNC) technique and the ‘Decision Aided Reconstruction’ (DAR) techniques. As these techniques are valid for any memory-less nonlinearity, an alternative form of limiting, named as Inverted-Wraparound (IWRAP) has been included in the BNC investigation. A new method is proposed which is capable of correcting the received time-domain samples that are clipped, once they have been identified. This is named the ‘Equation-Method’ and it works by identifying constellation symbols that are likely to be correct at the receiver. If there are a sufficient number of these and they are correctly identified, the FFT may be partitioned to produce a set of equations that may be solved for the clipped time-domain samples. The thesis proposes four enhancements to this new method which improve its effectiveness. It is shown that the best form of this method outperforms conventional techniques especially for severe clipping levels. The performance of these four enhancements is evaluated over channels with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) in addition to clipping distortion. A technique based on a ‘margin factor’ is designed to make these methods work more effectively in the presence of AWGN noise. A new combining algorithm referred as ‘HARQ for Clipping’ is presented where soft bit decisions are combined from multiple transmissions. ‘HARQ for Clipping’ has been combined with the best version of the Equation-Method, and the performance of this approach is evaluated in terms of the BER with different levels of AWGN. It has been compared to other approaches from the literature and was found to out-perform the BNC iterative receiver by 3dB at signal to noise ratios around 10dB. Without HARQ, the best version of the Equation-Method performs better than the BNC receiver, at signal-to-nose ratios above about 17dB.

The master's thesis deals with the restoration of audio signals that have been damaged by clipping. Used methods are based on sparse representations of signals. The introduction of the thesis explains the issue of clipping and mentions the list of already existing methods that solve declipping, which are followed by the thesis. In the next chapter, the necessary theory of sparse representations and the proximal algorithms is described, including specific representatives from the category of convex optimization problems. The thesis contains declipping algorithm implemented in Matlab software environment. Chosen method for solving the task uses the Condat algorithm or Generic proximal algorithm for convex optimization and solves minimization of sum of three convex functions. The result of the thesis is five versions of algorithm and three of them have implemented psychoacoustic model for results improvement. For each version has been found optimal setting of parameters. The restoration quality results are evaluated using objective measurements like SDR and PEMO-Q and also using subjective listening test.

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has become a very popular method for high-data-rate communication. However, it is well known that OFDM is plagued by a large peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) problem. This high PAPR results in overdesigned power amplifiers, which amongst other things leads to inefficient amplifier usage, which is undesirable. Various methods have been recommended to reduce the PAPR of an OFDM transmission; however, all these methods result in a number of drawbacks. In this thesis, a novel method called offset modulation (OM-OFDM) is proposed to control the PAPR of an OFDM signal. The proposed OM-OFDM method does not result in a number of the drawbacks being experienced by current methods in the field. The theoretical bandwidth occupancy and theoretical bit error rate (BER) expression for an OM-OFDM transmission is derived. A newly applied power performance decision metric is also introduced, which can be utilised throughout the PAPR field, in order to compare various methods. The proposed OM-OFDM method appears to be similar to a well-known constant envelope OFDM (CE-OFDM) transmission. The modulation, structural and performance differences between an OM-OFDM and a CE-OFDM method are discussed. By applying the power performance decision metric, the OM-OFDM method is shown to offer significant performance gains when compared to CE-OFDM and traditional OFDM transmissions. In addition, the OM-OFDM method is able to accurately control the PAPR of a transmission for a targeted BER. By applying the power performance decision metric and complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF), the proposed OM-OFDM method is shown to offer further performance gains when compared to existing PAPR methods, under frequency selective fading conditions. In this thesis, the OM-OFDM method has been combined with an existing active constellation extended (ACE) PAPR reduction method. To introduce a novel method called offset modulation with active constellation extension (OM-ACE), to control the PAPR of an OFDM signal. The theoretical BER expression for an OM-ACE transmission is presented and validated. Thereafter, by applying the decision metric and CCDF, the OM-ACE method is shown to offer performance improvements when compared to various PAPR methods. The use of OM-OFDM for cognitive radio applications is also investigated. Cognitive radio applications require transmissions that are easily detectable. The detection characteristics of an OM-OFDM and OFDM transmission are studied by using receiver operating characteristic curves. A derivation of a simplified theoretical closed-form expression, which relates the probability of a missed detection to the probability of a false alarm, for an unknown deterministic signal, at various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values is derived and validated. Previous expressions have been derived, which relate the probability of a missed detection to the probability of a false alarm. However, they have not been presented in such a generic closed-form expression that can be used for any unknown deterministic signal (for instance OFDM and OM-OFDM). Thereafter, an examination of the spectrum characteristics of an OM-OFDM transmission indicates its attractive detection characteristics. The proposed OM-OFDM method is further shown to operate at a significantly lower SNR value than an OFDM transmission, while still offering better detection characteristics than that of an OFDM transmission under Rician, Rayleigh and frequency selective fading channel conditions. In addition to its attractive PAPR properties, OM-OFDM also offers good detection characteristics for cognitive radio applications. These aspects make OM-OFDM a promising candidate for future deployment. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

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ABSTRACT Social relationships, habitat utilisation and life history characteristics provide a framework which enables the survival of populations in fluctuating ecological conditions. An understanding of behavioural ecology is critical to the implementation of Natural Resource Management strategies if they are to succeed in their conservation efforts during the emergence of climate change. Egernia whitii from Wedge Island in the Spencer Gulf of South Australia were used as a model system to investigate the interaction of life history traits, scat piling behaviour and chemosensory communication in social lizards. Juveniles typically took ¡Ý 3 years to reach sexual maturity and the results of skeletochronological studies suggested longevity of ¡Ý 13 years. Combined with a mean litter size of 2.2, a pregnancy rate estimated at 75% of eligible females during short-term studies, and highly stable groups, this information suggests several life history features. Prolonged juvenile development and adult longevity may be prerequisite to the development of parental care. Parental care may, in turn, be the determining factor that facilitates the formation of small family groups. In E. whitii parental care takes the form of foetal and neonatal provisioning and tolerance of juveniles by small family or social groups within established resource areas. Presumably, resident juveniles also benefit from adult territorialism. Research on birds suggests that low adult mortality predisposes cooperative breeding or social grouping in birds, and life history traits and ecological factors appear to act together to facilitate cooperative systems. E. whitii practice scat piling both individually and in small groups. Social benefits arising from signalling could confer both cooperative and competitive benefits. Permanent territorial markers have the potential to benefit conspecifics, congenerics and other species. The high incidence of a skink species (E. whitii) refuging with a gecko species (N. milii) on Wedge Island provides an example of interspecific cooperation. The diurnal refuge of the nocturnal gecko is a useful transient shelter for the diurnal skink. Scat piling may release a species ¡®signature¡¯ for each group that allows mutual recognition. Scat piling also facilitates intraspecific scent marking by individual members, which has the potential to indicate relatedness, or social or sexual status within the group. The discovery of cloacal scent marking activity is new to the Egernia genus. E. Whitii differentiate between their own scats, and conspecific and congeneric scats. They scent mark at the site of conspecific scats, and males and females differ in their response to scent cues over time. Scat piling has the potential to make information concerning the social environment available to dispersing transient and potential immigrant conspecifics, enabling settlement choices to be made. This thesis explores some of the behavioural strategies employed by E. whitii to reduce risks to individuals within groups and between groups. Scents eliciting a range of behavioural responses relevant to the formation of adaptive social groupings, reproductive activity, and juvenile protection until maturity and dispersal are likely to be present in this species. Tests confirming chemosensory cues that differentiate sex, kin and age would be an interesting addition to current knowledge. The interaction of delayed maturity, parental care, sociality, chemosensory communication and scat piling highlights the sophistication of this species¡¯ behaviour. An alternative method for permanently marking lizards was developed. Persistence, reliability and individual discrimination were demonstrated using photographic identification and the method was shown to be reliable for broad-scale application by researchers. Naturally occurring toe loss in the field provided a context against which to examine this alternative identification method and revealed the need to further investigate the consequences of routine toe clipping, as this practice appears to diminish survivorship.