Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is a highly bandwidth efficient transmission technique for digital communications. It makes use of multiple signal phase and amplitude levels to carry multiple bits per symbol. This requires accurate and robust carrier phase and frequency estimation in the receiver. / Thesis (PhDElectronicEngineering)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is a highly bandwidth efficient transmission technique for digital communications. It makes use of multiple signal phase and amplitude levels to carry multiple bits per symbol. This requires accurate and robust carrier phase and frequency estimation in the receiver. / Thesis (PhDElectronicEngineering)--University of South Australia, 2002

The thesis focuses on measurements of oscillators’ frequency stability. The theoretical part describes the basic concepts of measurement of frequency, measuring systems and measurement errors. The second part of thesis describes the design of measurement system. The design contains all data for build prototype and software, including all source codes.

L’utilisation des technologies MEMS dans la navigation aéronautique présente deux difficultés majeures.D’une part, le bon fonctionnement des appareils de mesure de l’aviation civile requiert l’anticipation des défaillances susceptibles de se produire durant des décennies. D’autre part, le remplacement des capteurs macroscopiques traditionnels par des cellules MEMS ne peut se faire qu’à niveau de performances équivalent. Vis-à-vis de ces deux enjeux de fiabilité et de performance, le comportement fortement non-linéaire des résonateurs MEMS est souvent considéré comme un frein voire une limite infranchissable aux progrès technologiques.Cependant, l’exploitation de ces phénomènes non-linéaires constitue en réalité une source extrêmement riche d’améliorations. Au prix d’une complexité mathématique accrue et d’efforts de conception spécifiques, la modélisation précise des phénomènes non-linéaires affectant le comportement des MEMS donne accès à des informations précieuses, aussi bien pour la détection de défaillances que pour l’amélioration des performances.Dans cette thèse, on développe une procédure de caractérisation linéaire et non-linéaire de cellules MEMS résonantes. Après avoir démontré l’intérêt et vérifié expérimentalement la précision d’une telle caractérisation, on montre comment la connaissance des caractéristiques non-linéaires permet de déterminer des points de fonctionnement optimaux en termes de stabilité fréquentielle des capteurs oscillants, et donc de précision et de justesse des mesures. / The use of MEMS technologies in navigation measurements faces two main challenges.On the one hand, reliability improvement requires a deep understanding of MEMS failure mechanisms. These components are meant for long-term use and are subject to harsh mechanical and thermal constraints during their expected lifetime, usually longer than a decade. On the other hand, the replacement of macroscopic navigation sensors by MEMS components remains impossible as long as the performances of MEMS sensors do not match those of their macroscopic equivalents. With respect to these two challenges, the nonlinear behavior of MEMS resonators is usually seen as an obstacle, if not an insurmountable barrier to technological progress.However, nonlinear phenomena are actually a rich source of potential improvements. At the cost of increased mathematical complexity and specific design efforts, a precise model of MEMS nonlinear behaviors gives access to valuable information about the internal structure of the device. This information may then be used for failure detection and performance optimization.In this thesis, a linear and nonlinear characterization method is developed and experimentally-demonstrated. The knowledge of such nonlinear characteristics allows the determination of optimal operating points in terms of frequency stability and, hence, measurement accuracy.

L'objectif de la thèse est de concevoir et développer un système numérique de combinaison de signaux d'horloges hétérogènes (PPS, horloges atomiques, quartz, ...). Le signal résultant possède une meilleure stabilité que chacune des entrée quelque soit la durée d'intégration et il peut détecter des défaillances chez une des entrées. / The goal of the PhD is to design and build a numerical system capable of combining clock signals from various sources (PPS, atomic clocks, quartz, ...). The output signal will have a better stability at each integration time than any single input signal and it could detect failures in input sources.

Ce mémoire porte sur l’étude de la stabilité de fréquence d’une horloge atomique à piégeage cohérent de population. Le cadre de cette étude est d’une part d’approfondir la connaissance du piégeage cohérent de population en cellule de vapeur et d’autre part de construire un prototype d’horloge démontrant une stabilité de fréquence à l’état de l’art des meilleures horloges compactes de laboratoire. Grâce à une interrogation impulsionnelle et un schéma d’excitation en polarisations linéaires et orthogonales, cette horloge présenterait une stabilité de fréquence relative nettement inférieure à 10^-13 à 1 s si elle était limitée par un bruit fondamental tel que le bruit de photon. Après une présentation du montage expérimental, la première partie de ce mémoire est consacrée à l’étude des différentes sources de bruit limitant la stabilité de fréquence court-terme. Le soin particulier donné à la modélisation, à la caractérisation expérimentale et à la réduction des transferts de bruit de fréquence de l’oscillateur local (effet Dick) et du bruit d’intensité du laser en bruit de fréquence de l’horloge, a permis de mesurer une stabilité de fréquence au niveau de 3.2x10^-13 à 1 s. Dans un deuxième temps une étude théorique et expérimentale du déplacement de fréquence micro-onde en fonction de la puissance laser est présentée. Au-delà de la mise en évidence du caractère clé de la déformation de la raie dans l’explication de ce déplacement, elle a posé les bases de la dernière partie de ce mémoire qui propose une méthode d’insensibilisation du déplacement de fréquence aux fluctuations de puissance. / This report refers to the frequency stability study of a compact clock using coherent population trapping. The frame of such a study is firstly to deal in depth with the understanding of the systematic effects affecting the frequency of a coherent population trapping resonance. A second goal is to build a state-of-the-art compact atomic clock. Because of a pulsed interrogation and laser beams linearly and orthogonally polarized, our prototype would present a fractional frequency stability distinctly below 10^-13 at 1 s integration if it was shot-noise limited. Further to a setup description, the first part of this report is devoted to study the noise sources which limit the short-term stability of the clock. A special attention has been paid to model, experiment and reduce the transfer of local oscillator frequency noise and of laser intensity noise to microwave frequency noise. It led to measure an interesting stability measurement at the level of 3.2x10^-13 at 1 s. An experimental and theoretical study of the frequency shift due to laser intensity fluctuation is then presented. Beyond the influence on this shift of dark resonance overlapping that has been enlighted, this study gives the basics to understand the insensibilization method of the frequency to power fluctuations presented in the last chapter.

Power grids constitute an essential infrastructure providing and distributing electrical energy. The grid structure is currently subject to rapid changes due to the integration of renewable energy sources. In this development one is confronted with several challenges and opportunities as, for instance, the reduction of inertial masses in the system, the strongly increasing decentralisation of generators, and the fluctuating power feed-in by generators relying on renewable energy sources. In this thesis, models are studied that describe the non-linear power-grid dynamics in the presence of fluctuating power feed-in from renewable energy sources, primarily wind turbines. Realistic features of wind-power feed-in are captured by using real data measured at a research platform located in the North Sea. This approach is applied to test systems provided by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in which one conventional generator is replaced by a wind turbine. It is found that so-called dead ends and other weakly coupled network parts are particularly prone to power fluctuations and perturbations. In contrast to previous studies, the often pronounced heterogeneities of the power grid elements are taken into account when solving the non-linear power-flow and swing equations. Also reactances between locations of power generation and power feed-in are considered, which causes the link topology in the power grid to correspond to a full graph, where all nodes are effectively connected. Both the grid heterogeneities and the additional generator reactances have a decisive impact on power grid stability. Some structures considered as particularly stable in simplified models are prone to perturbations when utilising the more realistic model and vice versa. By the analysis of various quantities characterising functional grid operation, it is shown that a reliable assessment of power grid stability requires the consideration of heterogeneities and generator reactances.

Many AC grids suffer from decreased frequency stability due to less system inertia. This has increased the risk of large-scale blackouts. This thesis and its papers address the frequency stability problem from a hydropower perspective. Grid frequency stability assessments often require accurate system inertia estimates. One approach is to estimate the inertia of all individual power plants and sum up the results. We implemented three inertia estimation methods on a Kaplan unit and compared their results. The generator contributed with 92-96% of the unit inertia, which verified the results from previous studies. However, the three methods estimated slightly different values for the unit inertia, which raises the question of when to use which method. Hydropower often deliver frequency control, yet we found no studies which validate Kaplan turbine models for large grid frequency disturbances on strong grids. Therefore, we performed frequency control tests on a Kaplan unit, implemented three hydropower models, and compared the simulation results to the measurement data. The models overestimated the change in output power and energy delivered within the first few seconds after a large change in frequency. Thus, it is important to have sufficient stability margin when using these types of hydropower models to assess the grid frequency stability. The Nordic transmission system operators are updating their frequency control requirements. We used measurement data and simulation models to assess whether improved runner blade angle control could help a Kaplan unit fulfill the coming requirements. The results showed that improved runner control does not improve the performance sufficiently for requirements fulfillment. The requirements are based on an assumption on minimum system inertia and became easier to fulfill if they were implemented with more system inertia. Thus, more inertia could allow more participants to deliver frequency control in the Nordic grid.

This thesis deals with thermal stabilization of crystal oscillators. A simple thermostat of piezoelectric crystal unit is designed in first part. Main emphasis is set to low input power. The second part deals with crystal oscillators with 102,5MHz and 10MHz frequency. They are simulated with Ansoft Designer software. Both of these oscilators are measured for short term and midterm frequency stability.

Resonant cavity controlled klystron frequency stabilization circuits and quartz-crystal oscillator frequency stabilization circuits were investigated for reflex klystrons operating at frequencies in the X-band range. The crystal oscillator circuit employed achieved better than 2 parts in 10 in frequency stability. A test of the functional properties of the frequency standard was made using the Stark effect in molecules.