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While dual-frequency GPS receivers have been used in space for more than two decades, the size, power, and cost of this technology is an important driver for future space missions. The growing availability of launch opportunities for very small satellites known as nanosatellites and CubeSats raises the possibility of more affordable access to space measurements if the observation quality is sufficient to support the user's needs. This thesis presents the initial development and testing of the Fast, Orbital, TEC, Observables, and Navigation (FOTON) receiver: a small, reconfigurable, dual-frequency, space-based GPS receiver. Originally developed as a science-grade software receiver for monitoring ionospheric scintillation and total electron content (TEC), this receiver was designed to provide high-quality GPS signal observations. The original receiver hardware was miniaturized and the software has been adapted for low earth orbit (LEO) operations. FOTON now fits within a 0.5U CubeSat form factor (8.3 x 9.6 x 3.8 cm), weighs 326 g, and consumes 4.5 W of instantaneous power, which can be reduced to <1 W orbit average power with on-off duty cycling. The receiver has been designed with commercial parts to keep manufacturing costs low. Significant testing of FOTON has been performed with live signals and with signals generated by a Spirent GPS signal simulator. Initial terrestrial tests demonstrate behavioral consistency with the original heritage high-performance receiver. Several LEO simulations are presented, demonstrating FOTON's single-frequency and dual-frequency-enhanced positioning down to 0.5 m and 1.5 m, respectively, which can be improved using Kalman filter based POD. FOTON's potential for GPS radio occultation observation is also demonstrated. In addition, its acquisition and reacquisition performance is presented; on average, FOTON's time to first fix is approximately 45 seconds. Finally, navigation in geostationary orbit (GEO), a challenging application for space-based GPS receivers, is demonstrated. Extensive testing demonstrates that FOTON is a robust, versatile, high-precision dual-frequency space receiver. Its low cost, size, weight, and power requirements are key enablers for future small-satellite missions. / text

A radar works by radiating electromagnetic energy and detecting the reflected signal returned from the target. The nature of the reflected signal provides information about the target’s distance or speed. In this thesis, we will be using a UWB radar and a CW radar to help detect the presence and rough location of trapped survivors by detecting their motions. Range is estimated in the UWB radar using clutter removal with SVD and for the dual frequency CW Radar using STFT and median filtering. The effect of the algorithm parameters on their performance was analyzed. The performance of the implemented algorithms with regards to small motion detection, distance estimation and penetration capability was analyzed. Both systems are certainly capable of human detection and tracking.

No description available.

The novel designs of circular microstrip antennas have been investigated in this dissertation. In the linearly polarized designs, the study of single-feed dual-frequency circular microstrip antenna with an open-ring slot has been firstly presented. As for the broadband circular microstrip antenna designs, antennas with two open-ring slots, embedded reactive loading by probe feed and microstrip-line feed have been presented. The antenna bandwidth of them can be enhanced about 4% to 6%. In the circularly polarized designs, we have proposed a circularly polarized microstrip antenna with a spur line. By choosing a suitable length of the spur line, CP operation can be obtained. And then, such a design can be applied to a compact circular patch antenna with bent slots. These reduced the antenna size to be 40%~50% of that of the simple case. Finally, we use the ideas of CP operation with elliptic patch and dual-frequency operation with stacked patch to propose a dual-band circularly polarized stacked elliptic microstrip antenna design. The frequency ratio of this design is about 1.39.

The bandwidth-enhancement characteristics of slot-loaded rectangular microstrip antennas constructed on a thin microwave substrate have been investigated in this dissertation. The primary design process about this topic is demonstrated. Firstly, a new antenna design idea is provided from pre-determined antenna design specifications or obtained antenna performances from the previous antenna design, which lead to a novel antenna configuration. From the results of the simulation software IE3DTM, the characteristics of this new antenna configuration are obtained and compared with the experimental results. The antenna configuration is also modified to achieve a final optimal design from the comparison results. The study of the single-feed dual-frequency rectangular microstrip antenna with a pair of bent slots is first presented. By embedding properly-designed slots on a rectangular microstrip patch, the impedance characteristics of this antenna design have been effectively changed to exhibit dual-resonant behavior, which result in the excitation of two adjacent resonant modes with similar radiation characteristics. Furthermore, the two resonant modes can be excited at frequencies very close to each other to form a wider operating bandwidth by embedding additional perturbation slots. Four successful antenna designs with different embedded-slot shapes for bandwidth enhancement have been implemented and discussed in this dissertation.

Novel designs of printed slot antennas have been investigated in this dissertation. For the linearly polarized designs, the study of single-feed dual-frequency printed slot antennas with an open-ring conducting strip is first presented. In addition, a novel design of dual-frequency dual-loop printed slot antenna is described. As for the broadband printed slot antenna designs, a printed semicircular slot antenna with a microstripline feed is shown. The impedance bandwidth obtained reaches about 46%. For the circularly polarized designs, we propose a circularly polarized microstrip antenna with an asymmetry of the antenna structure. By choosing a suitable meandered slot, CP operation can be obtained. Finally, we apply the design concept of CP operation using a shorted section to achieve a circularly polarized printed slot antenna design. The obtained CP bandwidth of this design is greater than 8%.

Novel broadband designs of patch antennas with an air substrate have been proposed in this dissertation. In the dual-frequency design, the study of single-fed dual-frequency microstrip antenna with a V-shaped slot has been first presented. As for the broadband patch antenna design, antennas with a U-shaped slot or a pair of wide slits can have an operating bandwidth more than 2.0 times that of a conventional one at a given operating frequency. The antenna bandwidth of then can be enhanced about 25%. In the designs of reducing cross-polarization, by using dual capacitive feeds with equal input powers, but with a 180¢X-phase shift, The cross-polarization radiation can be reduce about 10 to 15dB in the H-plane. Finally, A broadband shorted patch antenna fed by an aperture-coupled feed with an H-shaped coupling slot is proposed. By using an air substrate of thickness about 0.07 free-space wavelength of the center operating frequency, the proposed antenna can have an impedance bandwidth of about 26.2%. And the antenna design reduced the antenna size to be 40%~50%of the simple case.

We study the characteristics of the dual frequency liquid-crystal (LC) optoelectronic devices in this literary. We fabricate the LC lens with the dual frequency liquid crystal in our experiment. In this study, we first prepare a parabolic polymer structure on the glass substrate to form a polymeric lens glass, then, fill the dual-frequency LC into the empty cell which consists of one ITO glass and the polymeric lens glass to fabricate a frequency modulation LC lens. Additionally, a hybrid surface alignment is also used for our LC lens. For the dual-frequency LC, a hybrid surface alignment is necessary to obtain a frequency modulation LC lens. Because of the polymeric lens, the electric fields are inhomogeneous distributions in the LC lens when a voltage is applied to the electrodes. In this situation, an inhomogeneous electric field is applied to the cell to create GRIN lens-like distribution of the gradient refractive index. Thus, the focusing effects occur when the light passes through the LC lens. Moreover, by changing the amplitude and frequency of the applied voltage, the focal length of the LC lens can be changed. We mainly discuss the optical property and the response time of the LC lens based on the voltage modulation and the frequency modulation. The experimental results reveal that the frequency modulation has more advantages, such as widen range of controlled focal length and faster response time, comparing with the voltage modulation.

Cette thèse porte sur la conception, la réalisation et l'étude expérimentale d'une source laser bifréquence de haute cohérence émettant à 1 µm en vue d'obtenir par photomélange un émetteur THz. Nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement aux lasers à semiconducteur émettant par la surface en cavité externe verticale (VeCSEL), l'objectif étant d'obtenir un fonctionnement laser bifréquence robuste en régime continu, basé sur la coexistence simultanée de deux modes transverses de Laguerre-Gauss. La sélection de seulement deux modes transverses est réalisée grâce à des masques de pertes insérés intracavité dans le plan transverses. Les caractéristiques du laser bifréquence, telles que l'équilibre entre les puissances des deux modes, le caractère monofréquence de chacun des deux modes, l'accordabilité de l'écart de fréquence, la simultanéité de l'émission et la cohérence du battement THz obtenu, sont étudiées. Enfin, la génération THz par photomélange est effectuée grâce au VeCSEL bifréquence et à une photodiode UTC commerciale. / This work focuses on the design, realization and experimental study of highly coherent dual-frequency laser sources emitting at 1 µm for THz radiation generation by photomixing. We are particularly interested in vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VeCSEL), the aim being to obtain a robust dual-frequency continuous wave operation, based on simultaneous coexistence of two Laguerre-Gaussian transverse modes. We design intracavity transverse selective losses mask to select only the two Laguerre-Gaussian modes. The stable and simultaneous dual-frequency operation, the beat-frequency tunability range and the temporal coherence was specifically studied. We demonstrated THz emission by seeding a uni-travelling-carrier photodiode by an optically-pumped dual-frequency vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting.