Ein tieffrequenter lauter Suppressorton verlagert das Corti-Organ periodisch in Richtung Scala vestibuli und Scala tympani. Simultan registrierte DPOAE (Distorsionsprodukte otoakustischer Emissionen) werden in beiden Richtungen unterschiedlich supprimiert. Bei Vorliegen eines endolymphatischen Hydrops (EH) ist die Beweglichkeit der Basilarmembran eingeschränkt, so daß keine oder eine nur geringe Modulation des DPOAE-Pegels entstehen kann. In dieser Arbeit wird die diagnostische Aussagekraft von Messungen tieftonmodulierter DPOAE bei zwei Patientenkollektiven mit Verdacht auf EH im Vergleich mit einem Normalkollektiv (n = 22) geprüft: bei Patienten mit M. Menière (n = 23) und Patienten mit Ohrdruckgefühl ohne Schwindelsymptomatik (n = 8). Bei den M. Menière-Patienten sind die ipsilateralen Modulationstiefen (MD) im Median hochsignifikant geringer als die des Normalkollektivs. Dies wird als Hinweis auf einen EH gewertet. Bei Primärtonpegeln mit L2 = 20 dB SL ergibt sich für den Grenzwert der MD mit 6 dB die Sensitivität von 64% und die Spezifität von 90%. Die kontralateralen MD der M. Menière-Patienten sind im Median signifikant geringer als die des Normalkollektivs. Für Primärtonpegel mit L2 = 20 dB SL liegen 33% der Werte unter dem Grenzwert, von diesen Ohren ist die Hälfte symptomfrei. Auch im kontralateralen Ohr kann ein – eventuell asymptomatischer – Hydrops vorliegen. Die Ergebnisse der Patienten mit Ohrdruckgefühl ohne Schwindel zeigen im Median hochsignifikant geringere MD als die der Normalhörenden und unterscheiden sich nicht signifikant von den Werten der ipsilateralen Ohren der M. Menière-Patienten. Das Ohrdruckgefühl kann auf einen cochleären Hydrops hinweisen und die weitere Entwicklung eines EH ankündigen. Bei den Verlaufsuntersuchungen zeigen die MD beider Patientenkollektive, deren Symptomatik sich während dieses Zeitraums änderte, Variabilitäten: mit Zunahme der Heftigkeit der spezifischen Symptome nimmt die MD ab und umgekehrt. Die Tieftonmodulation scheint den Zustand der Cochlea widerspiegeln zu können. Im Vergleich mit den in der Klinik gängigen Verfahren zur Hydropsdiagnostik wie der ECochG oder dem Glyceroltest erweist sich das in dieser Arbeit angewandte objektive Verfahren als vorteilhaft: es ist schnell durchführbar, nicht belastend und nicht invasiv. Es eignet sich als Screeningverfahren und kann zur Verlaufskontrolle eingesetzt werden. / The cochlear partition is moved periodically towards scala vestibuli and scala tympani by a low-frequency high-level suppressor tone. Simultaneously recorded DPOAEs (distortion product otoacoustic emissions) are suppressed differently in both directions. This modulation of the DPOAE level may be reduced or even missing if the displacement of the basilar membrane is inhibited by endolymphatic hydrops (EH). In this thesis the diagnostic significance of the low-frequency modulation of DPOAEs is tested in two patient groups with suspected EH: patients with Menière’s disease (n = 23) and patients with aural fullness without vertigo (n = 8), compared to a control group of normal hearing adults (n = 22). In the patients with Menière’s disease the ipsilateral modulation depths (median) are high significantly lower than in the control group. This can be interpreted as a sign of EH. At primary tone levels with L2 = 20 dB SL and a limiting value of 6 dB modulation depth (MD), a sensitivity of 64% and a specificity of 90% are found. The contralateral MDs of the patients with Menière’s disease (median) are significantly lower than in the control group. At primary tone levels with L2 = 20 dB SL, 33% of the MDs are below the limiting value, half of these ears are symptom-free. So in the contralateral ear a possibly asymptomatic hydrops may be present as well. The patients with aural fullness without vertigo show high significantly lower MDs (median) than the normal hearing adults and no significant difference to the ipsilateral MDs of the patients with Menière’s disease. Aural fullness can be a sign of cochlear hydrops and may indicate the further development of EH. During the course of disease the MDs of both patient groups vary when symptoms change: with increasing intensity of the specific symptoms the MD is reduced and vice versa. Low-frequency modulation seems to reflect the state of the cochlea. Compared to the generally used clinical tests for the assessment of EH like ECochG or the glycerol test, the objective method presented in this thesis is advantageous: it is fast, not straining and non-invasive. It is suitable for screening and can be used to monitor the course of disease.

This thesis deals with the design of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and EVs. More specifically, a tri-mode high-efficiency non-isolated half-bridge converter is developed for the LEV based HESS applications. A 2 kW, 100 V interleaved two-phase converter prototype was implemented. The peak efficiency of 97.5% and a minimum efficiency of 88% over the full load range are achieved. Furthermore, a power-mix optimizer utilizing the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the EV based HESS is proposed. For a specific design, it is shown that at the cost of less than 1.5% of the overall energy savings, the proposed scheme reduces the peak battery charge and discharge rates by 76% and 47%, respectively. A 30 kW bi-directional dc-dc converter is also designed and implemented for future deployment of the designed HESS into a prototype EV, known as A2B.

This thesis deals with the design of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and EVs. More specifically, a tri-mode high-efficiency non-isolated half-bridge converter is developed for the LEV based HESS applications. A 2 kW, 100 V interleaved two-phase converter prototype was implemented. The peak efficiency of 97.5% and a minimum efficiency of 88% over the full load range are achieved. Furthermore, a power-mix optimizer utilizing the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the EV based HESS is proposed. For a specific design, it is shown that at the cost of less than 1.5% of the overall energy savings, the proposed scheme reduces the peak battery charge and discharge rates by 76% and 47%, respectively. A 30 kW bi-directional dc-dc converter is also designed and implemented for future deployment of the designed HESS into a prototype EV, known as A2B.

Signal processing has been playing a key role in providing solutions to key problems encountered in communications, in general, and in wireless communications, in particular. Time-Frequency Signal Processing (TFSP) provides eective tools for analyzing nonstationary signals where the frequency content of signals varies in time as well as for analyzing linear time-varying systems. This research aimed at exploiting the advantages of TFSP, in dealing with nonstationary signals, into the fundamental issues of signal processing, namely the signal estimation and signal separation. In particular, it has investigated the problems of (i) the Instantaneous Frequency (IF) estimation of Linear Frequency-Modulated (LFM) signals corrupted in complex-valued zero-mean Multiplicative Noise (MN), and (ii) the Underdetermined Blind Source Separation (UBSS) of LFM signals, while focusing onto the fast-growing area of Wireless Communications (WCom). A common problem in the issue of signal estimation is the estimation of the frequency of Frequency-Modulated signals which are seen in many engineering and real-life applications. Accurate frequency estimation leads to accurate recovery of the true information. In some applications, the random amplitude modulation shows up when the medium is dispersive and/or when the assumption of point target is not valid; the original signal is considered to be corrupted by an MN process thus seriously aecting the recovery of the information-bearing frequency. The IF estimation of nonstationary signals corrupted by complex-valued zero-mean MN was investigated in this research. We have proposed a Second-Order Statistics approach, rather than a Higher-Order Statistics approach, for IF estimation using Time-Frequency Distributions (TFDs). The main assumption was that the autocorrelation function of the MN is real-valued but not necessarily positive (i.e. the spectrum of the MN is symmetric but does not necessary has the highest peak at zero frequency). The estimation performance was analyzed in terms of bias and variance, and compared between four dierent TFDs: Wigner-Ville Distribution, Spectrogram, Choi-Williams Distribution and Modified B Distribution. To further improve the estimation, we proposed to use the Multiple Signal Classification algorithm and showed its better performance. It was shown that the Modified B Distribution performance was the best for Signal-to-Noise Ratio less than 10dB. In the issue of signal separation, a new research direction called Blind Source Separation (BSS) has emerged over the last decade. BSS is a fundamental technique in array signal processing aiming at recovering unobserved signals or sources from observed mixtures exploiting only the assumption of mutual independence between the signals. The term "blind" indicates that neither the structure of the mixtures nor the source signals are known to the receivers. Applications of BSS are seen in, for example, radar and sonar, communications, speech processing, biomedical signal processing. In the case of nonstationary signals, a TF structure forcing approach was introduced by Belouchrani and Amin by defining the Spatial Time- Frequency Distribution (STFD), which combines both TF diversity and spatial diversity. The benefit of STFD in an environment of nonstationary signals is the direct exploitation of the information brought by the nonstationarity of the signals. A drawback of most BSS algorithms is that they fail to separate sources in situations where there are more sources than sensors, referred to as UBSS. The UBSS of nonstationary signals was investigated in this research. We have presented a new approach for blind separation of nonstationary sources using their TFDs. The separation algorithm is based on a vector clustering procedure that estimates the source TFDs by grouping together the TF points corresponding to "closely spaced" spatial directions. Simulations illustrate the performances of the proposed method for the underdetermined blind separation of FM signals. The method developed in this research represents a new research direction for solving the UBSS problem. The successful results obtained in the research development of the above two problems has led to a conclusion that TFSP is useful for WCom. Future research directions were also proposed.

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta a geração de pulsos de microondas linearmente e não-linearmente modulados em frequência (LFM e NLFM) através da técnica fotônica de auto-heterodinagem. Ao utilizar eletrônica de baixa frequência para modular um diodo laser de feedback distribuído, a variação da portadora óptica no tempo (chirp) é observada, o que é causado predominantemente por efeito térmico. Este efeito, combinado com batimento auto-heteródino, foi capaz de produzir pulsos LFM com alto produto largura de banda-tempo (TBWP). Uma outra abordagem é necessária para geração de pulsos NLFM. Primeiro, é introduzida a técnica Espectroscopia Óptica Resolvida no Tempo para caracterização do chirp de um diodo laser. Em seguida, um estímulo de corrente em formato de função degrau é aplicado ao diodo laser para aquisição da função de transferência de seu chirp, H(s). Com a posse de H(s), uma simulação numérica foi usada para descobrir o estímulo necessário de corrente i(t) para obtenção de pulsos de microondas NLFM através da técnica de auto-heterodinagem. Os resultados experimentais coincidem com a simulação. / [en] This work reports the photonic generation of both linear and non-linear frequency modulation (LFM and NLFM) microwave pulses through a self-heterodyne scheme. By using low-frequency electronics to drive a distributed feedback laser diode, optical chirping is generated predominantly by thermal effect. Combining laser chirping and self-heterodyning, LFM pulses with high time-bandwidth product (TBWP) were achieved. A different approach is required for generation of NLFM microwave pulses. First, for characterization of the laser diode chirp, it is introduced a technique named Time- Resolved Optical Spectroscopy. Then, by using a step-shaped current stimulus, the laser chirp transfer function H(s) was obtained. With knowledge on H(s), a numerical simulation produced the suitable current stimulus i(t) needed to generate NLFM microwave pulses through self-heterodyning. Experimental results agreed with the numerical simulations.

This thesis deals with generalizations of the analytic signal (AS) construction proposed by Gabor. Functional extensions of the fractional Hilbert Transform (FrHT) are proposed using which families of analytic signals are obtained. The construction is further applied in the design of a secure communication scheme. A demodulation scheme is developed based on the generalized AS, motivated by perceptual experiments in binaural hearing. Demodulation is achieved using a signal and its arbitrary phase-shifted version which, in turn translated to demodulation using a pair of flat-top bandpass filters that form an FrHT parir. A new family of wavelets based on the popular Gammatone auditory model is proposed and is shown to lead to a good characterization of singularities/transients in a signal. Allied problems of computing smooth amplitude, phase, and frequency modulations from the AS. Construction of FrHT pair of wavelets, and temporal envelope fit of transient audio signals are also addressed.

The common objective of this project is implementation of software defined radio (SDR) into FPGA. The text contains review and comparison of several hardware concepts intended for SDRs implementation then the methods for digital implementation of various components of radios as the filters, mixers and others are mentioned. Part of the text introduces used hardware platform and describes software support for designing, simulations and implementation into hardware. Significant part of project describes complex of external hardware components as filter, amplifier and control panel designed and built within the project realization. But the main part of project demonstrates design of the software solution of radio receiver. There is specified architecture of radio for FM broadcast receiving, next the more complex systems with carrier recovery algorithm are presented. These systems are able to work with AM, BPSK and QPSK modulations. It is possible to implement all these receivers into hardware and verify their operation. The practical laboratory theme has been outlined within the project run.

This master thesis is focused on the theoretical description and practical implementation of software defined transmitter. The main aim of this thesis was made the prototype of software defined transmitter in FM band. Theoretical part is determined to description of basic parts of equipment and working principles to understand the basic principle of digital transmitters and define the appropriate component base for construction. Discussed are used types of A/D and D/A converters, blocks of digital signal processing and the roles, which these components performs. The second part is focused practical. Specified are suitable types of components and block diagram is proposed for following electrical connection and printed circuit board in Eagle program as a plug-in modul for developmental platform Arduino. The main point is program, which sets and controls the transmitter. Next important part is impedance match and antenna tuning, which is explain in practical part of thesis. The result is prototype of software defined transmitter compatible with Arduino Uno platform.

[pt] A necessidade de transmitir energia e dados através de barreiras metálicas tem sido cada vez maior em aplicações industriais, onde não é possível a penetração de cabos elétricos, ou o uso de ondas eletromagnéticas, tais como, por exemplo, em sistemas de sensoriamento de cimentação em poços de petróleo. Ondas acústicas podem ser uma solução para esse problema, porque não são afetadas pelo efeito gaiola de Faraday, além de possuírem baixa atenuação ao atravessarem metais. Diversos esforços foram feitos para realizar a transmissão de dados através de camadas metálicas, com abordagens que variam em composição do canal acústico, taxa de transmissão, transmissão simultânea de dados e energia e complexidade dos circuitos empregados; existe, porém, carência de trabalhos que envolvam camadas metal-fluído-metal. Este trabalho apresenta uma possível solução utilizando ondas acústicas como meio de transportar energia e dados em um canal composto de barreiras com duas camadas metálicas e uma de fluído. Aqui propõe-se uma inovadora técnica de controle automático de ganho e um melhor aproveitamento da largura de banda do canal acústico, que permite maior taxa de transmissão de dados. É ainda proposta uma técnica para controle dinâmico da portadora enviada ao lado passivo do sistema. Inicialmente, foi feita uma análise de um modelo numérico, baseado em trabalhos anteriores, fundamentado na propagação de ondas acústicas e baseado na analogia acustoelétrica. Em seguida, desenvolveu-se um sistema eletrônico para receber / transmitir energia e dados digitais, modulados em frequência, de um lado ao outro do sistema. Por fim, análises experimentais foram feitas utilizando como canal acústico, um conjunto de duas placas planas de aço (de 5 mm) separadas por uma camada de fluído (de 100 mm) e dois transdutores alinhados axialmente, realizando a transferência de energia e dados digitais modulados em frequência. O sistema foi capaz de realizar a transferência de dados a uma taxa de 19200 bps e simultaneamente uma transferência de energia de 66 mW, com essa energia foi possível alimentar o modulo eletrônico e um sensor de pressão e temperatura. Durante os testes foi constatado um aproveitamento de 5,5 por cento da energia aplicada ao canal, e foi possível atingir uma taxa de erro de bit de 5 por cento em um teste com 2 h e 30 min de duração, utilizando o canal acústico com camadas de múltiplos materiais propostos. O sistema de controle de portadora funcionou adequadamente, permitindo uma redução de consumo de até 53 por cento. O controle automático de ganho permitiu uma redução de 50 por cento na taxa de erro de decodificação. Demonstra-se, então, a viabilidade de tais sistemas de controle propostos, os quais podem ser úteis em casos onde existam variações nas características acústicas do canal em questão que, em conjunto com a transferência não intrusiva, pode prover solução para sistemas de sensoriamento. / [en] The need for energy and data transmission through metallic barriers is increasing in industrial applications, where the penetration of electrical waves or the use of electrical waves is not possible. An example of such a scenario is the monitoring of cementing in wellbore applications. Acoustic waves are promising to solve this problem, since they are not affected by the Faraday cage effect, in addition, they present low attenuation when propagating in metals. Several efforts have been made to carry out data transmission through metallic layers, with approaches that vary in composition of the acoustic channel, transmission speed, simultaneous transmission of data and energy and the complexity of the circuits used, but there is a lack of works involving metal-fluid-metal layers. This work presents a possible solution using acoustic waves as a mean of transporting energy and data in a channel composed of barriers with two metallic layers and one fluid layer. Here, it is proposed a novel technique for automatic gain control and better use of the available bandwidth of the acoustic channel, which allows higher data transmission speed. Also, a technique for dynamic control of the carrier sent to the passive side of the system is proposed. Initially, an analysis with a numerical model was made, following previous works, which is based on the propagation of acoustic waves and relying on the acoustoelectric analogy. Then, an electronic system was developed to receive/transmit power and digital data, frequency modulated, from one side of the system to the other. Finally, experimental analyzes were performed using as an acoustic channel, a set of two flat steel plates (5 mm) separated by a fluid layer (100 mm) and a pairs of axially aligned transducers, performing the energy transfer and frequency modulated digital data. The system was able to transfer data at a rate of 19200 bps and simultaneously a transfer of energy of 66 mW, with this energy it was possible to feed the inside block module and a pressure and temperature sensor. During the tests, it was verified that 5.5 per cent of the energy applied to the channel was used, and it a bit error rate down to of 5 per cent was reached in a test with 2 h and 30 min of duration, using the multi-layered acoustic. The automatic carrier control system worked as expected and allowed one to reduce energy consumption in 53 per cent. The automatic gain control allowed one to reduce the error rate in 50 per cent. These control systems prove the feasibility of the proposed system and further show the usefulness of the system in scenarios that are subject to variations in the acoustic characteristics of the channel.