In this thesis, we consider the motion planning problem for an autonomous vehicle in an obstacle-cluttered environment approximated by zonotopes, and we propose an input sampling algorithm leveraging discrete-time control barrier function conditions (DCBF). Specifically, an optimization-based control barrier function that takes into account the geometric shapes of the vehicle and obstacles is constructed and verified. We then propose a discrete-time CBF that guarantees the safety during the inter-sampling intervals. It is worth noting that we do not need an explicit expression of the barrier function, but instead, an numerically efficient algorithm is proposed to evaluate and implement the CBF/DCBF conditions. Finally, an RRT algorithm is incorporated that draws the input sampling from the input space restricted to DCBF condition. Thanks to our proposed DCBF and input sampling method approach, our proposed method is less conservative, computationally efficient and guarantees the safety during the sampling intervals. Numerical simulation with unicycle model has been done to demonstrate the favorable properties of the algorithm. / I det här dokumentet tar vi upp problemet med rörelseplanering för ett autonomt fordon i en hinderfylld miljö som approximeras av zonotoper och föreslår en algoritm för insatsprovtagning som utnyttjar diskreta villkor för kontrollbarriärfunktioner (DCBF). Vi konstruerar och verifierar en optimeringsbaserad kontrollbarriärfunktion som tar hänsyn till fordonets och hindrens geometriska former. Vi föreslår sedan en diskret CBF i diskret tid som garanterar säkerheten under intervallerna mellan provtagningarna. Det är värt att notera att vi inte behöver ett explicit uttryck för barriärfunktionen, utan istället föreslås en numeriskt effektiv algoritm för att utvärdera och genomföra CBF/DCBF-villkoren. Slutligen införlivas en RRT-algoritm som drar inmatningsprovtagningen från inmatningsutrymmet som är begränsat till DCBF-villkoret. Tack vare vår föreslagna metod för DCBF och insatsprovtagning är vår föreslagna metod mindre konservativ, beräkningsmässigt effektiv och garanterar säkerheten under provtagningsintervallerna. Numerisk simulering med encykelmodell har gjorts för att verifiera algoritmen.

We consider a version of the pole placement problem for tempered one sided linear discrete time time varying linear systems. We prove a sufficient condition for assignability of the nonuniform dichotomy spectrum by linear feedback. The main result is that the nonuniform dichotomy spectrum is assignable if the system is completely controllable and certain lower asymptotic bound for the controllability Gramian holds.

Since the field of computer networks has rapidly grown in the last two decades, congestion control of traffic loads within networks has become a high priority. Congestion occurs in network routers when the number of incoming packets exceeds the available network resources, such as buffer space and bandwidth allocation. This may result in a poor network performance with reference to average packet queueing delay, packet loss rate and throughput. To enhance the performance when the network becomes congested, several different active queue management (AQM) methods have been proposed and some of these are discussed in this thesis. Specifically, these AQM methods are surveyed in detail and their strengths and limitations are highlighted. A comparison is conducted between five known AQM methods, Random Early Detection (RED), Gentle Random Early Detection (GRED), Adaptive Random Early Detection (ARED), Dynamic Random Early Drop (DRED) and BLUE, based on several performance measures, including mean queue length, throughput, average queueing delay, overflow packet loss probability, packet dropping probability and the total of overflow loss and dropping probabilities for packets, with the aim of identifying which AQM method gives the most satisfactory results of the performance measures. This thesis presents a new AQM approach based on the RED algorithm that determines and controls the congested router buffers in an early stage. This approach is called Dynamic RED (REDD), which stabilises the average queue length between minimum and maximum threshold positions at a certain level called the target level to prevent building up the queues in the router buffers. A comparison is made between the proposed REDD, RED and ARED approaches regarding the above performance measures. Moreover, three methods based on RED and fuzzy logic are proposed to control the congested router buffers incipiently. These methods are named REDD1, REDD2, and REDD3 and their performances are also compared with RED using the above performance measures to identify which method achieves the most satisfactory results. Furthermore, a set of discrete-time queue analytical models are developed based on the following approaches: RED, GRED, DRED and BLUE, to detect the congestion at router buffers in an early stage. The proposed analytical models use the instantaneous queue length as a congestion measure to capture short term changes in the input and prevent packet loss due to overflow. The proposed analytical models are experimentally compared with their corresponding AQM simulations with reference to the above performance measures to identify which approach gives the most satisfactory results. The simulations for RED, GRED, ARED, DRED, BLUE, REDD, REDD1, REDD2 and REDD3 are run ten times, each time with a change of seed and the results of each run are used to obtain mean values, variance, standard deviation and 95% confidence intervals. The performance measures are calculated based on data collected only after the system has reached a steady state. After extensive experimentation, the results show that the proposed REDD, REDD1, REDD2 and REDD3 algorithms and some of the proposed analytical models such as DRED-Alpha, RED and GRED models offer somewhat better results of mean queue length and average queueing delay than these achieved by RED and its variants when the values of packet arrival probability are greater than the value of packet departure probability, i.e. in a congestion situation. This suggests that when traffic is largely of a non bursty nature, instantaneous queue length might be a better congestion measure to use rather than the average queue length as in the more traditional models.

För närvarande utforskas quantum walk som en potentiell metod för att analysera medicinska bilder. Med inspiration från Gradys random walk-algoritm för bildbehandling har vi utvecklat en metod som bygger på de kvantmekaniska fördelar som quantum walk innehar för att detektera och segmentera medicinska bilder. Vidare har de segmenterade bilderna utvärderats utifrån klinisk relevans. Teoretiskt sett kan quantum walk-algoritmer erbjuda en mer effektiv metod för bildanalys inom medicin jämfört med traditionella metoder för bildsegmentering som exempelvis klassisk random walk, som inte bygger på kvantmekanik. Inom området finns omfattande potential för utveckling, och det är av yttersta vikt att fortsätta utforska och förbättra metoder. För närvarande kan det konstateras att det är en lång väg att vandra innan detta är något som kan appliceras i en klinisk miljö. / Currently, quantum walk is being explored as a potential method for analyzing medical images. Taking inspiration from Grady's random walk algorithm for image processing, we have developed an approach that leverages the quantum mechanical advantages inherent in quantum walk to detect and segment medical images. Furthermore, the segmented images have been evaluated in terms of clinical relevance. Theoretically, quantum walk algorithms have the potential to offer a more efficient method for medical image analysis compared to traditional methods of image segmentation, such as classical random walk, which do not rely on quantum mechanics. Within this field, there is significant potential for development, and it is of utmost importance to continue exploring and refining these methods. However, it should be noted that there is a long way to go before this becomes something that can be applied in a clinical environment.

No description available.

<h2 id="x-x-x-bp_categories-h"> </h2> / <p>The discrete-time Poisson (DTP) channel models a wide range of optical communication channels. The channel capacity and capacity-achieving distributions are generally unknown. This thesis addresses system design of DTP channels and presents novel contributions to the capacity of DTP channel, properties and closed-form expression of the capacity-achieving distribution under peak and average constraints, signalling design, and sum-capacity-achieving distributions of DTP multiple access channel (MAC) with peak amplitude constraints.</p> <p>Two algorithms are developed to compute the channel capacity of DTP channel as well as the capacity-achieving distribution with average and peak amplitude constraints. Tight lower bounds based on input distributions with simple forms are presented. Non-uniform signalling algorithms to achieve the channel capacity are also demonstrated. Fundamental properties of capacity-achieving distributions for DTP channels are established. Furthermore, necessary and sufficient conditions on the optimality of binary distributions are presented. Analytical expressions for the capacity-achieving distributions of the DTP channel are derived when there is no dark current and when the dark current is large enough. A two-user DTP multiple access channel model is proposed and it is shown that the sum-capacity-achieving distributions under peak amplitude constraints are discrete with a finite number of mass points.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

[ES] Actualmente existe una clara concienciación de la población por la sostenibilidad, el cuidado del medio ambiente y el bienestar animal. Pero, además los consumidores exigen alimentos seguros lo que implica a toda la cadena productiva empezando por la producción primaria. Un adecuado control de las enfermedades transmisibles a este nivel es uno de los pilares fundamentales de la seguridad alimentaria junto con el control en el momento del sacrificio, procesado y distribución. En esta tesis se plantea la utilización de herramientas matemáticas que permitan optimizar el uso de las medidas de bioseguridad, de implantación general en granjas de aves, como son la vacunación, la limpieza y desinfección, y la detección y eliminación de animales infectados. Esto con la fi nalidad de lograr una producción libre de infección y por lo tanto evitar el sacrificio temprano de los animales. De esta forma, se puede contribuir a la sostenibilidad de las granjas. Además, de garantizar la inocuidad de los alimentos a nivel de la producción primaria. Así se ha estudiado el comportamiento de un modelo matemático estructurado que incorpora la contaminación del medio ambiente como un modo indirecto de transmisión de la enfermedad, centrándose en el análisis de un brote de Salmonella en una granja de pollos. Las variables consideradas han sido: individuos susceptibles e infectados y la cantidad de bacterias acumuladas en el recinto (sistema (SIB), y se considera la reposición de los individuos muertos de forma que el tamaño de la población es el mismo en cualquier etapa. El sistema se considera dinámico y no lineal, en tiempo discreto y por ello su modelización se basa en ecuaciones en diferencias. Se ha analizado el comportamiento del sistema alrededor de los puntos de equilibrio a) libre de enfermedad y b) endémico. Tras el análisis del proceso se ha obtenido el número reproductivo básico R0. Este número indica el comportamiento de la enfermedad, ya que si R0 es menor que la unidad, la enfermedad tiende a desaparecer pero en caso contrario la enfermedad permanece endémica o puede llegar a crecer. El resultado obtenido del modelo indica que R0 es menor que uno, si y sólo si, la población se mantiene por debajo de cierto valor umbral, lo que permite tener la enfermedad controlada hacia su desaparición. También, se han estudiado tres modelos para conseguir redirigir la evolución de la enfermedad hacia su desaparición considerando las siguientes medidas: a) vacunación, b) limpieza y desinfección periódica y c) análisis y eliminación periódica de individuos infectados. Los objetivos a alcanzar con el modelo propuesto fueron que la vacunación redujese la incidencia de la enfermedad entre los sujetos susceptibles y determinar su impacto sobre la incidencia. Respecto a la desinfección del recinto y la eliminación de infectados, el objetivo ha sido construir, en cada caso, un nuevo sistema dinámico con coefi cientes periódicos que representase matemáticamente la estrategia de acción periódica elegida. La fi nalidad ha sido optimizar el número de etapas que se puede estar sin actuar sobre el proceso y manteniéndose este estable, es decir con el número reproductivo básico menor que la unidad. Y, por último, se han comparado ambas estrategias, en base a sus periodos máximos. Los resultados obtenidos indican que, respecto a la efectividad de la vacunación, el nuevo número reproductivo básico es función de la tasa de vacunación y de la tasa de efectividad de la vacuna. Si el proceso transcurre con un número reproductivo básico muy alto se requiere vacunar a un mayor número de individuos. Además, cuanto más efectiva sea la vacuna la tasa de vacunación se puede reducir. Para el modelo de impacto la vacunación, se ha indicado que la tasa de vacunación en los programas de vacunación se reduce si el impacto de ésta es positivo reduciendo la tasa de contagios entre los vacunados respecto a la de los susceptibles. / [CA] Actualment existeix una clara conscienciacio de la poblacio per la sostenibilitat, la cura del medi ambient i el benestar animal. Pero, a mes els consumidors exigeixen aliments segurs el que implica a tota la cadena productiva comencant per la produccio primaria. Un adequat control de les malalties transmissibles a aquest nivell es un dels pilars fonamentals de la seguretat alimentaria juntament amb el control en el moment del sacri ci, processament i distribucio. En aquesta tesi es planteja la utilitzacio d'eines matematiques que permeten optimitzar l'us de les mesures de bioseguretat, d'implantacio general en granges d'ocells, com son la vacunacio, la neteja i desinfeccio, i la deteccio i eliminaci o d'animals infectats. Aixo amb la nalitat d'aconseguir una produccio lliure d'infeccio i per tant evitar el sacri ci primerenc dels animals. D'aquesta manera, es pot contribuir a la sostenibilitat de les granges. A mes, de garantir la innocu tat dels aliments a nivell de la produccio primaria. Aix, s'ha estudiat el comportament d'un model matematic estructurat que incorpora la contaminacio del medi ambient com una manera indirecta de transmissio de la malaltia, centrant-se en l'analisi d'un brot de Salmonella en una granja de pollastres. Les variables considerades han sigut: individus susceptibles i infectats i la quantitat de bacteris acumulats en el recinte (sistema SIB), i, a mes, es considera reposicio dels individus morts de manera que la grandaria de la poblacio es el mateix en qualsevol etapa. El sistema es considera dinamic i no lineal, en temps discret i per aixo la seua modelitzacio es basa en equacions en diferencies. S'ha analitzat el comportament del sistema al voltant dels punts d'equilibri a) lliure de malaltia i b) endemic. Despres de l'analisi del proces s'ha obtingut el numero reproductiu basic R0. Aquest numero indica el comportament de la malaltia, ja ix que si R0. es menor que la unitat, la malaltia tendeix a desapareixer pero en cas contrari la malaltia roman endemica o pot arribar a creixer. El resultat obtingut del model indica que R0. es menor que un, si i nomes si, la poblacio es mante per davall d'un cert valor llindar, la qual cosa permet tindre la malaltia controlada cap a la seua desaparicio. Tambe, s'han estudiat tres models per a aconseguir redirigir l'evolucio de la malaltia cap a la seua desaparicio considerant les seg uents mesures: a) vacunacio, b) neteja i desinfeccio periodica i c) analisi i eliminacio periodica d'individus infectats. Els objectius a aconseguir amb el model proposat van ser que la vacunacio redu ra la incidencia de la malaltia entre els subjectes susceptibles i determinar el seu impacte sobre la incidencia. Respecte a la desinfeccio del recinte i l'eliminacio d'infectats, l'objectiu ha sigut construir, en cada cas, un nou sistema dinamic amb coe cients periodics que representara matematicament l'estrategia d'accio periodica triada. La nalitat ha sigut optimitzar el nombre d'etapes que es pot estar sense actuar sobre el proces i mantenint-se aquest estable, es a dir amb el numero reproductiu basic menor que la unitat. I, nalment, s'han comparat totes dues estrategies, sobre la base dels seus perodes maxims. Els resultats obtinguts indiquen que, respecte a l'efectivitat de la vacunacio, el nou numero reproductiu basic es funcio de la taxa de vacunacio i de la taxa d'efectivitat de la vacuna. Si el proces transcorre amb un numero reproductiu basic molt alt es requereix vacunar a un major nombre d'individus. A mes, com mes efectiva siga la vacuna la taxa de vacunacio es pot reduir. Per al model d'impacte la vacunacio, s'ha indicat que la taxa de vacunacio en els programes de vacunacio es redueix si l'impacte d'aquesta es positiu reduint la taxa de contagis entre els vacunats respecte a la dels susceptibles. / [EN] There is currently a clear awareness of the population for sustainability, care for the environment and animal welfare. But in addition, consumers demand safe food, which involves the entire production chain, starting with primary production. Adequate control of communicable diseases at this level is one of the fundamental pillars of food security along with control at the time of slaughter, processing and distribution. This thesis proposes the use of mathematical tools to optimize the use of biosafety measures, general implementation in bird farms, such as vaccination, cleaning and disinfection, and the detection and elimination of infected animals. This in order to achieve an infection free production and therefore avoid early slaughter of animals. In this way, it can contribute to the sustainability of farms. In addition, to ensure food safety at the level of primary production. Thus, the behavior of a structured mathematical model that incorporates environmental pollution as an indirect mode of disease transmission has been studied, focusing on the analysis of a Salmonella outbreak on a farm. chickens. The variables considered were susceptible and infected individuals and the amount of bacteria accumulated in the enclosure (SIB system), and, in addition, replacement of dead individuals is considered so that the size of the population is the same at any stage. The system is considered dynamic and nonlinear, in discrete time and therefore its modeling is based on equations in dierences. The behavior of the system around the equilibrium points a) free of disease and b) endemic has been analyzed. After the analysis of the process the basic reproductive number R0. was obtained. This number indicates the behavior of the disease, as if R0 is less than unity, the disease tends to disappear but otherwise the disease remains xiii endemic or may grow. The result obtained from the model indicates that R0 is less than one, if and only if, the population remains below a certain threshold value, which allows to have the disease controlled towards its disappearance. Also, three models have been studied to redirect the evolution of the disease towards its disappearance considering the following measures: a) vaccination, b) periodic cleaning and disinfection and c) periodic analysis and elimination of infected individuals. The objectives to be achieved with the proposed model were that vaccination would reduce the incidence of the disease among susceptible subjects and determine its impact on the incidence. Regarding the disinfection of the enclosure and the elimination of infected, the aim has been to build, in each case, a new dynamic system with periodic coecients that will mathematically represent the chosen periodic action strategy. The aim has been to optimize the number of stages that can be left without acting on the process and keeping it stable, ie with the basic reproductive number less than the unit. And nally, both strategies have been compared, based on their maximum periods. The results obtained indicate that, with respect to the eectiveness of vaccination, the new basic reproductive number is a function of the vaccination rate and the vaccine eectiveness rate. If the process proceeds with a very high basic reproductive number it is required to vaccinate a larger number of individuals. In addition, the more eective the vaccine, the lower the vaccination rate. For the vaccination impact model, it has been indicated that the vaccination rate in vaccination programs is reduced if the impact of this is positive by reducing the rate of transmission among vaccinated compared to those susceptible. / Poveda Giner, JJ. (2022). Análisis de procesos epidemiológicos mediante modelos matemáticos: aplicación a la seguridad alimentaria [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/182456

Delta-Sigma (ΔΣ) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are traditionally used in high quality audio systems, instrumentation and measurement (I&M) and biomedical devices. With the continued downscaling of CMOS technology, they are becoming popular in wideband applications such as wireless and wired communication systems,high-definition television and radar systems. There are two general realizations of a ΔΣ modulator. One is based on the discrete-time (DT) switched-capacitor (SC) circuitry and the other employs continuous-time (CT) circuitry. Compared to a CT structure, the DT ΔΣ ADC is easier to analyze and design, is more robust to process variations and jitter noise, and is more flexible in the multi-mode applications. On the other hand, the CT ΔΣ ADC does not suffer from the strict settling accuracy requirement for the loop filter and thus can achieve lower power dissipation and higher sampling frequency than its DT counterpart. In this thesis, both DT and CT ΔΣ ADCs are investigated. Several design innovations, in both system-level and circuit-level, are proposed to achieve lower power consumption and wider signal bandwidth. For DT ΔΣ ADCs, a new dynamic-biasing scheme is proposed to reduce opamp bias current and the associated signal-dependent harmonic distortion is minimized by using the low-distortion architecture. The technique was verified in a 2.5MHz BW and 13bit dynamic range DT ΔΣ ADC. In addition, a second-order noise coupling technique is presented to save two integrators for the loop filter, and to achieve low power dissipation. Also, a direct-charge-transfer (DCT) technique is suggested to reduce the speed requirements of the adder, which is also preferable in wideband low-power applications. For CT ΔΣ ADCs, a wideband low power CT 2-2 MASH has been designed. High linearity performance was achieved by using a modified low-distortion technique, and the modulator achieves higher noise-shaping ability than the single stage structure due to the inter-stage gain. Also, the quantization noise leakage due to analog circuit non-idealities can be adaptively compensated by a designed digital calibration filter. Using a 90nm process, simulation of the modulator predicts a 12bit resolution within 20MHz BW and consumes only 25mW for analog circuitry. In addition, the noise-coupling technique is investigated and proposed for the design of CT ΔΣ ADCs and it is promising to achieve low power dissipation for wideband applications. Finally, the application of noise-coupling technique is extended and introduced to high-accuracy incremental data converters. Low power dissipation can be expected. / Graduation date: 2010

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis contributes to the analysis, project and implementation of discrete-time controllers based on the Internal Model Principle, aiming to improve the performance of three-leg three-phase PWM inverters with insulating output transformer usually found in the output stage of medium power double-conversion UPS. Initially, an investigation about issues concerning to the discrete-time models of three-phase inverters with space vector modulation and the LC filter have been carried out. This investigation shows the impact of different switching sequences, sampling instants and filter cut-off frequency on the harmonic spectrum of sampled variables used for feedback. This is a concern when the switching frequency is low to limit the switching losses as in medium and high power UPS. In this way, this thesis proposes sampling methods that make possible to reduce the low order harmonics on the interest variables, which is relevant when state feedback is used. These methods allow to obtain discrete-time average linear models useful for the controller design. In addition, the saturation of the insulating transformer is addressed in details. The dc component arising from the digital implementation and from the circuit measures non idealities, and then amplified by an inadequate choice of the controller, may lead the transformer to saturate. In order to solve this problem, and in accordance with the Internal Model Principle, internal models adequate to the plant under consideration as well as discrete-time voltage controllers in stationary and synchronous frames which are not prone to amplify the dc component, are proposed. Another goal of this thesis is the improvement of the UPS output voltage transient response due to linear and non linear load steps. This is obtained considering the sampling methods before mentioned, combined with internal models with reduced number of poles and low sampling rate. It is demonstrated that it is possible to improve significantly the output voltage transient responses, as well as to satisfy the rigorous classification of the standard IEC62040-3 for UPS without degrading the steady state performance. In addition, these control structures have enough stability margins, as proved in each case, and they results in simple and attractive solutions to be implemented in 8 or 16 bits fixed-point arithmetic microcontrollers and DSP with reduced memory space. The feasibility of the proposed solutions is verified with experimental results demonstrating both transient and steady-state performances. Finally, a comparative analysis of the proposed control structures, over the light of the standard IEC62040-3, is presented. / A presente tese de doutorado contribui para a análise, projeto e implementação de controladores discretos baseados no Princípio do Modelo Interno, com o intuito de aprimorar o desempenho de inversores trifásicos PWM a três braços com transformador isolador usualmente utilizados no estágio de saída de UPS de dupla conversão de média potência. Inicialmente se realiza uma investigação sobre os aspectos relacionados à obtenção do modelo discreto de inversores trifásicos com modulação space vector e do filtro de saída. Essa investigação mostra o impacto de diferentes seqüências de comutação, instantes de amostragem e freqüência de corte do filtro no conteúdo harmônico das variáveis amostradas usadas para realimentação. Isso é uma preocupação quando a freqüência de comutação é baixa para limitar as perdas em UPS de média e alta potência. Nesse sentido essa tese propõe métodos de amostragem que possibilitam reduzir as harmônicas de baixa ordem nas variáveis de interesse o que adquire importância quando se realiza a realimentação dos estados da planta. Esses métodos permitem a obtenção de modelos médios lineares úteis para o projeto do controlador. Além disso, a saturação do transformador de isolação é analisada em detalhe. A componente contínua oriunda da implementação digital e das não idealidades dos circuitos de medição, e amplificada por uma escolha inadequada do controlador, pode levar o transformador à saturação. Com o intuito de solucionar esse problema, e de acordo com a teoria do Princípio do Modelo Interno, são propostos modelos internos adequados à planta em questão bem como controladores discretos de tensão em eixos estacionários e síncronos, que não tem tendência a amplificar a componente contínua. Outro dos objetivos dessa tese é o aprimoramento da resposta transitória das tensões de saída da UPS na presença de degraus de carga linear e não linear. Isso é obtido considerando-se os métodos de amostragem mencionados acima, combinado com modelos internos com número de pólos e taxa de amostragem reduzidos. Demonstra-se que é possível aprimorar significativamente a resposta transitória das tensões de saída bem como satisfazer a exigente classificação da norma IEC62040-3 para UPS, sem degradar o desempenho de regime permanente. Além disso, essas estruturas de controle possuem suficiente margem de estabilidade, como provado em cada caso, e estas resultam em soluções simples e atrativas para serem implementadas em microcontroladores e DSP de aritmética de ponto fixo, com palavras de 8 e 16 bits e capacidade reduzida de memória. A viabilidade prática das propostas realizadas é verificada com resultados experimentais em regime permanente e transitório. Finalmente, apresenta-se uma análise comparativa das estruturas de controle propostas, sob o enfoque da norma IEC62040-3.

In this thesis, we study the tradeoff of average delay with average service cost and average utility for both continuous time and discrete time single server queueing models without and with admission control. The continuous time and discrete time queueing models that we consider are motivated by cross-layer models for point-to-point links with random packet arrivals and fading at slow and fast time scales. Our studies are motivated by the need to optimally tradeoff the average delay of the packets (a network layer performance measure) with the average service cost of transmitting the packets, e.g. the average power required for transmission (a physical layer performance measure) under a lower bound constraint on the average throughput, in various point-to-point communication scenarios. The tradeoff problems are studied for a class of monotone and stationary scheduling policies and under the assumption that the service cost rate and utility rate are respectively convex and concave functions of the service rate and arrival rate. We also consider the problem of optimally trading off the average delay and average error rate of randomly arriving message symbols which are transmitted over a noisy point-to-point link, in which case the service cost function is non-convex. The solutions to the tradeoff problems that we address in the thesis are asymptotic in nature, and are similar in spirit to the Berry-Gallager asymptotic bounds. It is intuitive that to keep a queue stable under a lower bound constraint on the average utility a minimum number of customers have to be served per unit time. This in turn implies that queue stability requires a minimum average service cost expenditure. In the thesis we obtain an asymptotic characterization of the minimum average delay for monotone stationary policies subject to an upper bound constraint on the average service cost and a lower bound constraint on the average utility, in the asymptotic regime where the average service cost constraint is made arbitrarily close to the above minimum average service cost. In the thesis, we obtain asymptotic lower bounds on the minimum average delay for the cases for which lower bounds were previously not known. The asymptotic characterization of the minimum average delay for monotone stationary policies, for both continuous time and discrete time models, is obtained via geometric bounds on the stationary probability of the queue length, in the above asymptotic regime. The restriction to monotone stationary policies enables us to obtain an intuitive explanation for the behaviour of the asymptotic lower bounds using the above geometric bounds on the stationary probability distribution of the queue length. The geometric bounds on the stationary probability of the queue length also lead to a partial asymptotic characterization of the structure of any optimal monotone stationary policy, in the above asymptotic regime, which was not available in previous work. Furthermore, the geometric bounds on the stationary probability can be extended to analyse the tradeoff problem in other scenarios, such as for other continuous time queueing models, multiple user communication models, queueing models with service time control, and queueing models with general holding costs. Usually, queueing models with integer valued queue evolution, are approximated by queueing models with real valued queue evolution and strictly convex service cost functions for analytical tractability. Using the asymptotic bounds, we show that for some cases the average delay does not grow to infinity in the asymptotic regime, although the approximate model suggests that the average delay does grow to infinity. In other cases where the average delay does grow to infinity in the asymptotic regime, our results illustrate that the tradeoff behaviour of the approximate model is different from that of the original integer valued queueing model unless the service cost function is modelled as the piecewise linear lower convex envelope of the service cost function for the original model.