This research study examined the design of a virtual keyboard that can be used for text entry with a rotary controller, particularly when users may differ in age and experience with a particular system. I specifically examined the shape and letter arrangement on the virtual keyboard to help determine the best features to use in a design. Two keyboard shapes, an Oval and a Plus, were selected to represent different aspects of the shape. Two keyboard arrangements, Alphabetic and a Standard QWERTY-based ordering, were selected to represent a well-known and less familiar arrangement. In the experiment, older and younger adults entered words over two consecutive days. Most of the time, they used either the Oval or the Plus, but they also used the alternate shape at specific points during their practice session to allow assessment of their ability to transfer what they had learned. At the end of the second day, they also used a variation of the practiced arrangement to examine how well they had learned the letter arrangement. Text entry performance on both shapes improved as a function of practice, demonstrating that participants could learn even unfamiliar devices and virtual keyboards to complete a word entry task. No overall shape effects were found for any level of performance, but shape did affect how participants learned and performed the word entry task. In particular, unique visual features on a shape may facilitate memorization of letter/visual cue mappings. These shape features are particularly important for older adults, as younger adults seem to develop a mental model that helps them memorize letter locations on either shape. With practice, older adults could achieve optimal performance levels with an Alphabetic keyboard on the Plus shape that has the more visually unique corners. In general, alphabetic ordering is best not only because it helped visual search, but also because it facilitated better movement planning. Overall, designers should consider creating unique visual features on a virtual keyboard that will blend with the compatibility and allowed movements for the selected device to create an effective virtual keyboard.

<p>This master thesis report contains information about a project carried out at Haldex Brake Products that is situated in Redditch England. The Redditch site is part of the “Commercial Vehicle Systems” division within the Haldex group. Haldex Brake Products is designing and producing electronic anti lock brake systems. The latest product is called GEN2 and the project goal was to increase productivity and achieve more stability within the production processes of this product. The goal was achieved trough implementation suggestions affecting the three categories in overall equipment efficiency (OEE). Nine of the biggest implementations are presented in this report. Some of the suggestions are already implemented and some are under progress to be implemented. These implementations will result in an increase in productivity with additionally 953 products per week. The expected results are based on calculations on an average product. The report also contains suggestions for future actions to even more increase the efficiency of the production processes at Haldex Brake Products in Redditch.</p>

As the demand for compact, portable communication electronics increases, the technology of miniaturization has made great progress. A beneficiary of that progress has been research into new concepts for the antenna, one of the essential components in wireless communications. As the size of an antenna becomes smaller, however, the antenna suffers from high Q and low radiation resistance. The results are narrow bandwidth, poor matching, low efficiency, and, more generally, poor performance throughout the communication system. First, the design of a small antenna for HF/VHF communications is described. As the operating frequency of an antenna decreases, for example, into the HF and low VHF regions, the physical size of the antenna becomes a critical issue. It is desirable to design a truly electrically small antenna by reducing the ground plane size. Moreover, when the antenna size is very small, the bandwidth of the antenna is extremely narrow, which is critical to various deployment variances and propagation effects such as multi-path fading. The new design, which is an inductively coupled, top-loaded, monopole structure optimized by a genetic algorithm (GA), maximizes transmission of HF/VHF waves. Electrically small, spiral ground planes for the monopole and the electrically small antenna are designed for HF ground-wave transmission. In addition, a tunable small antenna is investigated that overcomes the narrow-bandwidth limitation of electrically small antennas. Second, new design methodologies for electrically small antennas are discussed. Use of an inductively coupled feed is one of the well-known methods for boosting input resistance. As the antenna size becomes smaller, however, it is found that the efficiency of an antenna using an inductively coupled feed is lower than an antenna using multiple folds. After a comparison of the two methods, the design of a thin, multiply folded, electrically small antenna is proposed for achieving high efficiency in a physically compact size. The GA is used to assess the effect of geometry on the performance (in terms of efficiency and bandwidth) of the electrically small antennas, including the folded conical helix and folded spherical helix. Finally, the prospects of using the new Yagi antennas to achieve small size are explored. Yagi antennas are used widely to obtain high gain in a simple structures. The antenna is composed of the driven element and the parasitic elements, which include a reflector and one or more directors. Typically, sufficient spacing on the order of 0.15[lambda] to 0.4[lambda] between the driven element and the parasitic elements is needed for the Yagi antenna to operate well. For some applications, however, it is desirable to reduce the spacing and the length of the elements to achieve a physically more compact size. In this dissertation, closely spaced, folded Yagi antennas in both three dimensions and two dimensions are investigated, and a design for an electrically small Yagi antenna is suggested. / text

This thesis presents a wide spectrum of novel extensions and enhancements to critical components of modern electromagnetic analysis and design systems. These advancements are achieved through the use of computational intelligence, which comprises neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, and fuzzy systems. These tools have been proven in myriad industrial applications ranging from computer network optimization to heavy machinery control. / The analysis module of an electromagnetic analysis and design system typically comprises mesh generation and mesh improvement stages. A novel method for discovering optimal orderings of mesh improvement operators is proposed and leads to a suite of novel mesh improvement techniques. The new techniques outperform existing methods in both mesh quality improvement and computational cost. / The remaining contributions pertain to the design module. Specifically, a novel space mapping method is proposed, which allows for the optimization of response surface models. The method is able to combine the accuracy of fine models with the speed of coarse models. Optimal results are achieved for a fraction of the cost of the standard optimization approach. / Models built from computational data often do not take into consideration the intrinsic characteristics of the data. A novel model building approach is proposed, which customizes the model to the underlying responses and accelerates searching within the model. The novel approach is able to significantly reduce model error and accelerate optimization. / Automatic design schemes for 2D structures typically preconceive the final design or create an intractable search space. A novel non-preconceived approach is presented, which relies on a new genome structure and genetic operators. The new approach is capable of a threefold performance improvement and improved manufacturability. / Automatic design of 3D wire structures is often based on "in-series" architectures, which limit performance. A novel technique for automatic creative design of 3D wire antennas is proposed. The antenna structures are grown from a starting wire and invalid designs are avoided. The high quality antennas that emerge from this bio-inspired approach could not have been obtained by a human designer and are able to outperform standard designs.

Design needs to collaborate with many other disciplines to achieve success. Ergonomics is one of these disciplines that design needs its collaboration. A designed object should be in good relation with the human body and cognitive system to be effectively used by its potential users. Changes in the competitive market have forced firms to enhance product differentiation for achieving market success. Design is widely used as one of the differentiation tools. As a component of design, ergonomics should also be integrated into the design process to fulfill the user requirements. There are success stories of companies integrating ergonomics into their design process and achieving differentiation and success on their products through the results of this integration. Even their marketing strategies are based on this integration. It is observed that there are some missing points in the integration of ergonomics into consumer electronics design which make results in poor interaction with the end users. The background of this problem is investigated by reviewing design processes of four different firms and integration of ergonomics into these processes. The information on the cases is collected by literal information for the former three companies and information based on the participant observation results and company reports for the last company.

No description available.

The increasing integration of digital information with our daily lives has led to the rise of big data, cloud computing, and the internet of things. The growth in these categories will lead to an exponential increase in the required capacity for data centers and high performance computation. Meanwhile, due to bottlenecks in data access caused by the limited energy and bandwidth scalability of electrical interconnects, computational speedup can no longer scale with demand. A better solution is necessary in order to increase computational performance and reduce the carbon footprint of our digital future. People have long thought of photonic interconnects, which can offer higher bandwidth, greater energy efficiency, and orders-of-magnitude distance scalability compared to electrical interconnects, as a solution to the data access bottleneck in chip, board, and datacenter scale networks. Over the past three decades we have seen impressive growth of photonic technology from theoretical predictions to high-performance commercially available devices. However, the dream of an all-optical interconnection network for use in CPU, Memory, and rack-to-rack datacenter interconnects is not yet realized. Many challenges and obstacles still have to be addressed. This work investigates these challenges and describe some of the ways to overcome them. First we will first examine the pattern sensitivity of microring modulators, which are likely to be found as the first element in an optical interconnect. My work will illustrate the advantage of using depletion mode modulators compared to injection mode modulators as the number of consecutive symbols in the data pattern increases. Next we will look at the problem of thermal initialization for microring demultiplexers near the output of the optical interconnect. My work demonstrates the fastest achieved initialization speed to-date for a microring based demultiplexer. I will also explore an thermal initialization and control method for microrings based on temperature measurement using a pn-junction. Finally, we will look at how to control and initialize microring and MZI based optical switch fabrics, which is the second element found in a optical interconnect. Work here will show the possibility of switching high-speed WDM datastreams through microring based switches, as well as methods to deal with the complexities inherent in control and initialization of high-radix switch topologies. Through these demonstrations I hope to show that the challenges facing optical interconnects, although very real, are surmountable using reasonable engineering efforts.

Ko, Chi Tung. / On t.p. "delta" and "sigma" appear as the Greek letters. / Thesis submitted in: December 2007. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.1 / 摘要 --- p.3 / Acknowledgements --- p.4 / Table of Contents --- p.5 / List of Figures --- p.8 / List of Tables --- p.13 / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.14 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.14 / Chapter 1.2 --- Objectives --- p.17 / Chapter 1.3 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.17 / References --- p.18 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Fundamentals of Delta-sigma Modulators --- p.20 / Chapter 2.1 --- Delta-sigma Modulator as a Feedback System --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2 --- Quantization Noise --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3 --- Oversampling --- p.23 / Chapter 2.4 --- Noise Shaping --- p.25 / Chapter 2.5 --- Performance Parameters --- p.27 / Chapter 2.6 --- Baseband Modulators vs Bandpass Modulators --- p.27 / Chapter 2.7 --- Discrete-time Modulators vs Continuous-time Modulators --- p.28 / Chapter 2.8 --- Single-bit Modulators vs Multi-bit Modulators --- p.29 / Chapter 2.9 --- Non-linearity and Image Problems in Multi-bit Delta-sigma Modulators --- p.29 / Chapter 2.9.1 --- Non-linearity Problem --- p.29 / Chapter 2.9.2 --- Image Problem --- p.31 / Reference --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Image Rejection and Non-linearity Suppression Techniques for Quadrature Multi-bit Δ¡♭ Modulators --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1 --- Quadrature DEM Technique --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Introduction and Working Principle --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Behavioral Simulation Results --- p.42 / Chapter 3.2 --- IQ DWA Technique --- p.44 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Introduction and Working Principle --- p.44 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Behavioral Simulation Results --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3 --- DWA and Bit-wise Data-Dependent DEM --- p.52 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Introduction and Working Principle --- p.52 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Behavioral Simulation Results --- p.54 / Chapter 3.4 --- Image Rejection Technique for Quadrature Mixer --- p.61 / Chapter 3.5 --- Conclusion --- p.63 / Reference --- p.64 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- System Design of a Multi-Bit CT Modulator for GSM/WCDMA Application --- p.65 / Chapter 4.1 --- Objective of Design and Design Specification --- p.65 / Chapter 4.2 --- Topology Selection --- p.65 / Chapter 4.3 --- Discrete-time Noise Transfer Function Generation --- p.66 / Chapter 4.4 --- Continuous-time Loop Filter Transfer Function Generation --- p.69 / Chapter 4.5 --- Behavioral Model of Modulator --- p.69 / Chapter 4.6 --- Dynamic Range Scaling --- p.75 / Chapter 4.7 --- Behavioral Modeling of Operational Amplifiers --- p.77 / Chapter 4.8 --- Impact of RC Variation on Performance --- p.85 / Chapter 4.9 --- Loop Filter Component Values --- p.88 / Chapter 4.10 --- Summary --- p.90 / Reference --- p.90 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Transistor-level Implementation of Modulators --- p.92 / Chapter 5.1 --- Overview of Design --- p.92 / Chapter 5.2 --- Design of Operational Transconductance Amplifiers (OTAs) --- p.94 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- First Stage --- p.94 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Second and Third Stages --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3 --- Design of Feed-forward Transconductance (Gm) Cells --- p.101 / Chapter 5.4 --- Design of Quantizer --- p.102 / Chapter 5.4.1 --- Reference Ladder Design --- p.102 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- Comparator Design --- p.104 / Chapter 5.5 --- Design of Feedback Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) --- p.106 / Chapter 5.5.1 --- DWA and DEM Logic --- p.107 / Chapter 5.5.2 --- DAC Circuit --- p.109 / Chapter 5.6 --- Design of Integrated Mixers --- p.111 / Chapter 5.7 --- Design of Clock Generators --- p.112 / Chapter 5.7.1 --- Master Clock Generator --- p.112 / Chapter 5.7.2 --- LO Clock Generator --- p.114 / Chapter 5.7.3 --- Simulation Results --- p.116 / Reference --- p.125 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Physical Design of Modulators --- p.127 / Chapter 6.1 --- Floor Planning of Modulator --- p.127 / Chapter 6.2 --- Shielding of Sensitive Signals --- p.130 / Chapter 6.3 --- Common Centroid Layout --- p.130 / Chapter 6.4 --- Amplifier Layout --- p.132 / Reference --- p.137 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.138 / Chapter 7.1 --- Conclusions --- p.138 / Chapter 7.2 --- Future Works --- p.138 / Appendix A Schematics of Building Blocks --- p.140 / First Stage Operational Amplifier --- p.140 / First Stage Amplifier Local Bias Circuit --- p.140 / Second and Third Stage Operational Amplifier --- p.141 / Second and Third Stage Local Bias Circuit --- p.141 / CMFB Circuit (First Stage) --- p.142 / CMFB Circuit (Second Stage) --- p.142 / Gm-Feed-forward Cells --- p.143 / Gm Feed-forward Cell Bias Circuit --- p.143 / Reference Ladder Circuit --- p.144 / Pre-amplifier Circuit --- p.145 / Latch Circuit --- p.145 / DAC Circuit (Unit Cell) --- p.146 / Author's Publications --- p.147

The objective of this thesis is to provide an initial demonstration of the feasibility of constructing highly transparent active electronic devices. Such a demonstration is successfully achieved in the fabrication of ZnO-based thin film transistors (TFTs) exhibiting transparency greater than ~90% in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and prototypical n-channel, enhancement mode TFT characteristics. Electrical characterization studies of these ZnO-based transparent TFTs and of CuYO��� / ZnO / ITO p-i-n heterojunction diodes serve to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the behavior of these devices in particular, and of transparent electronic devices in general. Energy band analysis of the degenerate semiconductor / insulator heterojunction yields insight into the phenomenon of charge injection into an insulator, with important implications for the analysis of devices containing heterojunctions of this nature. Finally, a novel technique for simultaneously characterizing carrier injection into an insulator and interface channel formation, the capacitance-(voltage, frequency) [C-(V,f)] technique, is proposed and employed in the characterization of ZnO-based TFT structures. / Graduation date: 2003

The most accurate method for performing analog signal processing in MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) integrated circuits is through the use of switched-capacitor circuits. A switched-capacitor circuit operates as a discrete-time signal processor. These circuits have been used in a variety of applications, such as filters, gain stages, voltage-controlled oscillators, and modulators. A switched-capacitor circuit contains operational amplifiers (opamps), capacitators, switches, and a clock generator. Capacitors are used to define the state variables of a system. They store charges for a defined time interval, and determine the state variables as voltage differences. Switches are used to direct the flow of charges and to enable the charging and discharging of capacitors. Nonoverlapping clock signals control the switches and allow charge transfer between the capacitors. Opamps are used in order to perform high-accuracy charge transfer from one capacitor to another. The goal of this research is to design and explore future low-voltage switched-capacitor circuits, which are crucial for portable devices. Low-voltage operation is needed for two reasons: making reliable and accurate systems compatible with the submicron CMOS technology and reducing power consumption of the digital circuits. To this end, three different switched-capacitor integrators are proposed, which function with very low supply voltages. One of these configurations is used to design a lowpass ����� modulator for digital-audio applications. This modulator is fabricated and tested demonstrating 80 dB dynamic range with a 1-V supply voltage. The second part of this research is to show that these low-voltage circuits are suitable for modern wireless communication applications, where the clock and signal frequencies are very high. This part of the research has focused on bandpass analog-to-digital converters. Bandpass analog-to-digital converters are among the key components in wireless communication systems. They are used to digitize the received analog signal at an intermediate center frequency. Such converters are used for digital FM or AM radio applications and for portable communication devices, such as cellular phones. The main block, in these converters, is the resonator, which is tuned to a particular center frequency. A resonator must be designed such that it has a sharp peak at a specific center frequency. However, because of circuit imperfections, the resonant peak gain and/or the center frequency are degraded in existing architectures. Two novel switched-capacitor resonators were invented during the second part of this research. These resonators demonstrate superior performance as compared to previous architectures. A fourth-order low-voltage bandpass ����� modulator, using one of these resonators, has been designed. / Graduation date: 2002