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Field-wise wind estimation (also known as model-based wind estimation) is a sophisticated technique to derive wind estimates from radar backscatter measurements. In contrast to the more traditional method known as point-wise wind retrieval, field-wise techniques estimate wind field model parameters. In this way, neighboring wind vectors are jointly estimated, ensuring consistency. This work presents and implementation for field-wise wind retrieval for the SeaWinds scatterometer on the QuikSCAT satellite. Due to its sophistication, field-wise wind retrieval adds computational complexity and intensity. The tradeoffs necessary for practical implementations are examined and quantified. The Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for minimizing the field-wise objective function is presented. As the objective function has several near-global local minima, several wind fields represent ambiguous wind field estimates. A deterministic method is proposed to ensure sufficient ambiguities are obtained. An improved method for selecting between ambiguous wind field estimates is also proposed. With a large set of Sea-Winds measurements and estimates available, the σ° measurement statistics are examined. The traditional noise model is evaluated for accuracy. A data-driven parameterization is proposed and shown to effectively estimate measurement bias and variance. The parameterized measurement model is used to generate Cramer-Rao bounds on estimator performance. Using the Cramer-Rao bound, field-wise and point-wise performances are compared.

Maximum likelihood symbol timing estimation for communication over a frequency non-selective MIMO fading channel is developed. The cases of known data (data-aided estimation) and unknown data (non-data-aided estimation) together with known channel and unknown channel are considered. The analysis shows that the log-likelihood functions and their approximations can be interpreted as SISO log-likelihood functions operating on each of the receive antennas. Previously published symbol timing estimators are shown to be special cases of the more general framework presented. Architectures based on both block processing and sequential processing using a discrete-time phase-locked loop are summarized. Performance examples over a MIMO channel based on measured data and on a simple stochastic MIMO channel model are given. These examples show that the mean-squared error performance of these techniques is not strongly dependent on the MIMO channel and is able to reach the Cramer Rao bound when sufficient complexity is applied.

Embarqué sous le radôme du missile, les autodirecteurs existants utilisent une rotation mécanique du plan d’antenne pour balayer le faisceau en direction d’une cible. Les recherches actuelles examinent le remplacement des composantes mécaniques de rotation de l’antenne par un nouveau réseau d’antennes 3D conformes à balayage électronique. Les antennes 3D conformes pourraient offrir des avantages significatifs, tels qu’un balayage plus rapide et une meilleure couverture angulaire mais qui pourraient aussi offrir de nouveaux challenges résultant d’un diagramme de rayonnement plus complexes en 3D qu’en 2D. Le nouvel autodirecteur s’affranchit du système mécanique de rotation ce qui libère de l’espace pour le design d’une nouvelle antenne 3D conforme. Pour tirer le meilleur parti de cet espace, différentes formes de réseaux sont étudiées, ainsi l’impact de la position, de l’orientation et de la conformation des éléments est établi sur les performances de l’antenne, en termes de directivité, ellipticité et de polarisation. Pour faciliter cette étude de réseaux 3D conformes, un programme Matlab a été développé, il permet de générer rapidement le diagramme de rayonnement en polarisation d’un réseau donné dans toutes les directions. L’une des tâches de l’autodirecteur consiste à estimer la position d’une cible donnée afin de corriger la trajectoire du missile. Ainsi, l’impact de la forme du réseau sur l’erreur entre la direction d’arrivée mesurée de l’écho de la cible et sa vraie valeur est analysé. La borne inférieure de Cramer-Rao est utilisée pour calculer l’erreur minimum théorique. Ce modèle suppose que chaque élément est alimenté séparément et permet ainsi d’évaluer le potentiel des réseaux 3D conformes actifs.Finalement, l’estimateur du monopulse en phase est étudié pour des réseaux 3D conformes dont les quadrants n’auraient pas les mêmes caractéristiques. Un nouvel estimateur, plus adapté à des quadrants non identiques, est aussi proposé. / Embedded below the radome of a missile, existing RF-seekers use a mechanical rotating antenna to steer the radiating beam in the direction of a target. Latest research is looking at replacing the mechanical antenna components of the RF-seeker with a novel 3D conformal antenna array that can steer the beam electronically. 3D antennas may offer significant advantages, such as faster beam steering and better coverage but, at the same time, introduce new challenges resulting from a much more complex radiation pattern than that of 2D antennas. Thanks to the mechanical system removal, the new RF-seeker has a wider available space for the design of a new 3D conformal antenna. To take best benefits of this space, different array shapes are studied, hence the impact of the position, orientation and conformation of the elements is assessed on the antenna performance in terms of directivity, ellipticity and polarisation. To facilitate this study of 3D conformal arrays, a Matlab program has been developed to compute the polarisation pattern of a given array in all directions. One of the task of the RF-seeker consists in estimating the position of a given target to correct the missile trajectory accordingly. Thus, the impact of the array shape on the error between the measured direction of arrival of the target echo and its true value is addressed. The Cramer-Rao lower bound is used to evaluate the theoretical minimum error. The model assumes that each element receives independently and allows therefore to analyse the potential of active 3D conformal arrays. Finally, the phase monopulse estimator is studied for 3Dconformal arrays whose quadrants do not have the same characteristics. A new estimator more adapted to non-identical quadrants is also proposed.

La capture de mouvement ambulatoire est un sujet en plein essor pour des applications aussi diverses que le suivi des personnes âgées, l'assistance des sportifs de haut niveau, la réhabilitation fonctionnelle, etc. Ces applications exigent que le mouvement ne soit pas contraint par un système externe, qu’il puisse être réalisé dans différentes situations, y compris en extérieur, que l’équipement soit léger et à un faible coût, qu’il soit réellement ambulatoire et sans procédure complexe de calibration.Actuellement, seuls les systèmes utilisant un exosquelette ou bien des modules inertiels (souvent combinés avec des modules magnétiques) permettent d'effectuer de la capture de mouvement de façon ambulatoire. Le poids de l’exosquelette est très important et il impose des contraintes sur les mouvements de la personne, ce qui le rend inutilisable pour certaines applications telles que le suivi de personnes âgées. La technologie inertielle est plus légère. Elle permet d'effectuer la capture du mouvement sans contrainte sur l’espace de mesure ou sur les mouvements réalisés. Par contre, elle souffre de dérives des gyromètres, et le système doit être recalibré.L'objectif de cette thèse est de développer un système de capture de mouvement de chaînes articulées, bas-coût et temps réel, réellement ambulatoire, ne nécessitant pas d'infrastructure de capture spécifique, permettant une utilisation dans de nombreux domaines applicatifs (rééducation, sport, loisirs, etc.).On s'intéresse plus particulièrement à des mesures intra-corporelles. Ainsi, tous les capteurs sont placés sur le corps et aucun dispositif externe n'est utilisé. Outre un démonstrateur final permettant de valider l'approche proposée, on s'astreint à développer également des outils qui permettent de dimensionner le système en termes de technologie, nombre et position des capteurs, mais également à évaluer différents algorithmes de fusion des données. Pour ce faire, on utilise la borne de Cramer-Rao.Le sujet est donc pluridisciplinaire. Il traite des aspects de modélisation et de dimensionnement de systèmes hybrides entièrement ambulatoires. Il étudie des algorithmes d'estimation adaptés au domaine de la capture de mouvement corps entier en traitant les problématiques d'observabilité de l'état et en tenant compte des contraintes biomécaniques pouvant être appliquées. Ainsi, un traitement adapté permet de reconstruire en temps réel la posture du sujet à partir de mesures intra-corporelles, la source étant également placée sur le corps. / Ambulatory motion capture is of great interest for applications ranging for the monitoring of elderly people, sporty performances monitoring, functional rehabilitation, etc. These applications require that the movement is not constrained by an external system, that it can be performed in different situations, including outdoor environment. It requires lightweight and low cost equipment; it must be truly ambulatory without complex process of calibration.Currently, only systems using an exoskeleton or inertial modules (often combined with magnetic modules) can be used in such situations. Unfortunately, the exoskeleton weight is not affordable and it imposes constraints on the movements of the person, which makes it unusable for certain applications such as monitoring of the elderly.Inertial technology is lighter. Itcan be used for the capture of movement without constraints on the capture space or on the movements. However, it suffers from gyros drift, and the system must be recalibrated.The objective of this thesis is to develop a system of motion capture for an articulated chain, low-cost, real-time truly ambulatory that does not require specific capture infrastructure, that can be used in many application fields (rehabilitation, sport, leisure, etc.).We focus on intra-corporal measurements. Thus, all sensors are placed on the body and no external device is used. In addition to a final demonstrator to validate the proposed approach, we also develop tools to evaluate the system in terms of technology, number and position of sensors, but also to evaluate different algorithms for data fusion. To do this, we use the Cramer-Rao lower bound. \\The subject is multidisciplinary. It addresses aspects of modelling and design of fully ambulatory hybrid systems. It studies estimation algorithms adapted to the field of motion capture of a whole body by considering the problem of observability of the state and taking into account the biomechanical constraints that can be taken into account. Thus, with an appropriate treatment, the pose of a subject can be reconstructed in real time from intra-body measurements.

Cette thèse est dédié à l’étude de la problématique des interférences multi utilisateurs dans le système Argos et à la proposition des diverses techniques pour réduire les effets de ces interférences. Le système Argos est un système mondial de localisation et de collecte de données géo positionnées par satellite. Il permet à l’échelle mondiale de collecter et de traiter les données émises par des émetteurs installés sur la surface de terre. Ces émetteurs sont connus sous le nom de balises. Ces balises sont installées sur des voiliers, des stations météo, des bouées, ainsi que sur quelques animaux (phoques, penguins, etc.…). Le système Argos a été créé en 1978 par le Centre National des Études spatiales (CNES), l’agence spatiale américaine (NASA) et l’agence américaine d’étude de l’atmosphère et de l’océan (NOAA). Depuis sa création, le nombre de balises Argos n’a cessé d’augmenter afin de couvrir au mieux la couverture mondiale. Nous sommes orientés ainsi à la saturation de la bande d’émission et à la présence des interférences multi utilisateurs (MUI) provenant de la réception simultanée de plusieurs signaux émis par les balises. Cette MUI limite la capacité du système Argos et dégrade les performances en termes de Taux Erreur Bit (TEB). Actuellement, le système Argos n’est capable de traiter qu’un seul signal reçu à un instant donné. D’où, l’intérêt d’implanter des techniques au niveau du récepteur capable de réduire les effets des interférences et de traiter les signaux émis par toutes les balises. Plusieurs techniques de détection multi utilisateurs (MUD) ont été développées dans le cadre de cette problématique. Ces techniques sont principalement implantées dans les systèmes CDMA où des codes d’étalement sont utilisés afin de différencier entre les différents signaux. Ceci n’est pas le cas du système Argos où les signaux ne présentent pas des séquences d’étalement et que les bandes de fréquences pour ces différents signaux ne sont pas disjointes à cause de l’effet Doppler et donc, un recouvrement spectral au niveau du récepteur est très probable. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif du travail présenté dans cette thèse est d’étudier différentes techniques MUD appliquées au système Argos et d’évaluer ces techniques au niveau des performances en termes de TEB et de complexité d’implantation. Dans ce travail, nous présentons les différentes composantes du système Argos ainsi que son mode de fonctionnement. Ensuite, nous présentons la problématique dans le système Argos ainsi que les différentes solutions proposées. Parmi ces solutions, nous montrons celle basant sur l’implantation des techniques MUD au niveau du récepteur. Ces différentes techniques MUD sont alors présentées ainsi que les avantages et les inconvénients de chacune d’elles. Parmi les techniques possédant un bon compromis entre les performances d’une part et la complexité d’autre part, nous notons la technique d’annulation par série d’interférence (SIC). Dans cette technique, les signaux sont démodulés successivement suivant l’ordre décroissant des puissances. Cette technique nécessite une étape d’estimation des paramètres des signaux à chaque étape. L’impact d’une estimation imparfaite des différents paramètres est aussi étudié. Après l’étude des impacts des erreurs d’estimation, nous proposons des estimateurs adaptables au système Argos. Les performances de ces estimateurs sont obtenues en comparant les variances de leurs erreurs aux bornes de Cramer Rao (CRB). Enfin, nous terminons le travail par une conclusion générale des résultats obtenus et nous envisageons les perspectives des prochains travaux. / In our thesis, we investigate the application of multi user detection techniques to a Low Polar Orbit (LPO) satellite used in the Argos system. Argos is a global satellite-based location and data collection system dedicated for studying and protecting the environment. User platforms, each equipped with a Platform Transmitter Terminal (PTT), transmit data messages to a 850 km LPO satellite. An ARGOS satellite receives, decodes, and forwards the signals to ground stations. All PTTs transmit at random times in a 100 kHz bandwidth using different carrier frequencies. The central carrier frequency f0 is 401.65 MHz. Due to the relative motion between the satellite and the platforms, signals transmitted by PTTs are affected by both a different Doppler shift and a different propagation delay. Thus, the Argos satellite receives overlapping signals in both frequency and time domains inducing Multiple Access Interference (MAI). One common approach to mitigate the MAI problem is to implement Multi User Detection (MUD) techniques at the receiver. To tackle this problem, several MUD techniques have been proposed for the reception of synchronous and asynchronous users. In particular, the Successive Interference Cancelation (SIC) detector has been shown to offer a good optimality-complexity trade-off compared to other common approaches such as the Maximum Likelihood (ML) receiver. In an Argos SIC receiver, users are decoded in a successive manner, and the signals of successfully decoded users are subtracted from the waveform before decoding the next user. This procedure involves a parameter estimation step and the impact of erroneous parameter estimates on the performance of Argos SIC receiver has been studied. Argos SIC receiver has been shown to be both robust to imperfect amplitude and phase estimation and sensitive to imperfect time delay estimation. The last part of our work focuses on the implementation of digital estimators for the Argos system. In particular, we propose a time delay estimator, a frequency estimator, a phase estimator and an amplitude estimator. These estimators are derived from the ML principle and they have been already derived for the single user transmission. In our work, we adapt successfully these estimators for the multi user detector case. These estimators use the Non Data Aided (NDA) cases in which no a priori information for the transmitted bits is required. The performance of these different estimators are compared to the Cramer Rao Bound (CRB) values. Finally, we conclude in our work by showing the different results obtained during this dissertation. Also, we give some perspectives for future work on Argos system.

Darbo tikslas - atlikti gęstančių sinusinių signalų modelių klasės įvertinimo metodų lyginamąją analizę, palyginant Kumaresan – Tufts ir DMUSIC metodus. Darbe trumpai aprašyta šių metodų teorinė dalis. Pagrindinis dėmesys skiriamas šių metodų eksperimentiniam palyginimui. Eksperimentams atlikti buvo sukurta grafinė vartotojo sąsaja MATLAB aplinkoje. Aprašyti atlikti eksperimentai skirti, polių tikslumo įvertinimo tyrimui bei slenkstinės SNR nustatymui. Nagrinėjami tiek lėtai gęstantys, tiek greitai gęstantys signalai. Pateikiami skaitinių eksperimentų rezultatai bei programiniai MATLAB kodai. / The aim of this study is the comparative analysis of damped sinusoidal signal model class estimation methods. Two methods – Kumaresan – Tufts and DMUSIC – are compared. Theoretical preliminaries of these methods are described briefly in the work. The main attention is paid to experimental comparison of these methods. In order to conduct experiments, a MATLAB graphical user interface was created. The experiments devoted to investigation of poles estimation accuracy and to determining of the threshold and SNR. Both slowly damped and quickly damped signals are considered. The results of numerical experiments are presented and MATLAB programs are given.

The demand for sophisticated wireless applications capable of conveying information content represented in various forms such as voice, data, audio and video is ever increasing. In order to support such applications, either additional wireless spectrum is needed or advanced signal processing techniques must be employed by the next-generation wireless communication systems. An immediate observation that can be made regarding the first option is that radio frequency spectrum is a limited natural resource. Moreover, since existing spectrum allocation policies of several national regulatory agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restrict spectrum access to licensed entities only, it has been identified that most of the licensed spectrum across time and frequency is inefficiently utilized. To facilitate greater spectral efficiency, many national regulatory agencies are considering a paradigm shift towards spectrum allocation by allowing unlicensed users to temporarily borrow unused spectral resources. This concept is referred to a dynamic spectrum access (DSA). Although, several spectrum measurement campaigns have been reported in the published literature for quantitatively assessing the available vacant spectrum, there are certain aspects of spectrum utilization that need a deeper understanding. First, we examine two complementary approaches to the problem of characterizing the usage of licensed bands. In the first approach, a linear mixed-effects based regression model is proposed, where the variations in percentage spectrum occupancy and activity period of the licensed user are described as a function of certain independent regressor variables. The second approach is based on the creation of a geo-location database consisting of the licensed transmitters in a specific geographical region and identifying the coverage areas that affect the available secondary channels. Both of these approaches are based on the energy spectral density data-samples collected across numerous frequency bands in several locations in the United States. We then study the mutual interference effects in a coexistence scenario consisting of licensed and unclicensed users. We numerically evaluate the impact of interference as a function of certain receiver characteristics. Specifically, we consider the unlicensed user to utilize OFDM or NOFDM symbols since the appropriate subcarriers can be turned off to facilitate non- contiguous spectrum utilization. Finally, it has been demonstrated that multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas yield significant throughput while requiring no increase in transmit power or required bandwidth. However, the separation of spectrally overlapping signals is a challenging task that involves the estimation of the channel. We provide results concerning channel and symbol estimation in the scenario described above. In particular, we focus on the MIMO-OFDM transmission scheme and derive capacity lower bounds due to imperfect channel estimation.

<p>Periodic signal modeling plays an important role in different fields. The unifying theme of this thesis is using nonlinear techniques to model periodic signals. The suggested techniques utilize the user pre-knowledge about the signal waveform. This gives these techniques an advantage as compared to others that do not consider such priors.</p><p>The technique of Part I relies on the fact that a sine wave that is passed through a static nonlinear function produces a harmonic spectrum of overtones. Consequently, the estimated signal model can be parameterized as a known periodic function (with unknown frequency) in cascade with an unknown static nonlinearity. The unknown frequency and the parameters of the static nonlinearity are estimated simultaneously using the recursive prediction error method (RPEM). A treatment of the local convergence properties of the RPEM is provided. Also, an adaptive grid point algorithm is introduced to estimate the unknown frequency and the parameters of the static nonlinearity in a number of adaptively estimated grid points. This gives the RPEM more freedom to select the grid points and hence reduces modeling errors.</p><p>Limit cycle oscillations problem are encountered in many applications. Therefore, mathematical modeling of limit cycles becomes an essential topic that helps to better understand and/or to avoid limit cycle oscillations in different fields. In Part II, a second-order nonlinear ODE is used to model the periodic signal as a limit cycle oscillation. The right hand side of the ODE model is parameterized using a polynomial function in the states, and then discretized to allow for the implementation of different identification algorithms. Hence, it is possible to obtain highly accurate models by only estimating a few parameters.</p><p>In Part III, different user aspects for the two nonlinear approaches of the thesis are discussed. Finally, topics for future research are presented. </p>

Periodic signal modeling plays an important role in different fields. The unifying theme of this thesis is using nonlinear techniques to model periodic signals. The suggested techniques utilize the user pre-knowledge about the signal waveform. This gives these techniques an advantage as compared to others that do not consider such priors. The technique of Part I relies on the fact that a sine wave that is passed through a static nonlinear function produces a harmonic spectrum of overtones. Consequently, the estimated signal model can be parameterized as a known periodic function (with unknown frequency) in cascade with an unknown static nonlinearity. The unknown frequency and the parameters of the static nonlinearity are estimated simultaneously using the recursive prediction error method (RPEM). A treatment of the local convergence properties of the RPEM is provided. Also, an adaptive grid point algorithm is introduced to estimate the unknown frequency and the parameters of the static nonlinearity in a number of adaptively estimated grid points. This gives the RPEM more freedom to select the grid points and hence reduces modeling errors. Limit cycle oscillations problem are encountered in many applications. Therefore, mathematical modeling of limit cycles becomes an essential topic that helps to better understand and/or to avoid limit cycle oscillations in different fields. In Part II, a second-order nonlinear ODE is used to model the periodic signal as a limit cycle oscillation. The right hand side of the ODE model is parameterized using a polynomial function in the states, and then discretized to allow for the implementation of different identification algorithms. Hence, it is possible to obtain highly accurate models by only estimating a few parameters. In Part III, different user aspects for the two nonlinear approaches of the thesis are discussed. Finally, topics for future research are presented.