The central nervous system is the most likely target of mobile telephony radiofrequency field (RF) exposure in terms of biological effects. Several EEG (electroencephalography) studies have reported variations in the alpha-band power spectrum during and/or after RF exposure, in resting EEG and during sleep. In this context, the observation of the spontaneous electrical activity of neuronal networks under RF exposure can be an efficient tool to detect the occurrence of low-level RF effects on the nervous system. In this thesis research work we developed a dedicated experimental setup in the GHz range for the simultaneous exposure of neuronal networks and monitoring of electrical activity. A transverse electromagnetic (TEM) cell was used to expose the neuronal networks to GSM-1800 signals at a SAR level of 3.2 W/kg. Recording of the neuronal electrical activity and detection of the extracellular spikes and bursts under exposure were performed using Micro Electrode Arrays (MEAs). This work provides the proof of feasibility and preliminary results of the integrated investigation regarding exposure setup, culture of the neuronal network, recording of the electrical activity and analysis of the signals obtained under RF exposure. In the main experiment (16 cultures), there was a 30% reversible decrease in mean firing rate (MFR) and bursting rate (BR) during the 3 min exposures to RF. Additional experiments are needed to further characterize this effect, especially in terms of temperature elevation at the microscopic level.

There is evidence that athermal radiofrequency radiation can alter Heat Shock Protein (HSP) expression or protein phosphorylation, or alter MAP kinase signalling. Effects of long-term exposure in brain tissue due to repeated HSP perturbation (eg an inhibition of apoptosis) have been hypothesised (French et al, 2001). This study aimed to investigate the RNA expression profile (12,000 genes) and HSP family protein expression levels after either acute 1-hour or chronic 4-day intermittent exposures to simulated GSM radiation in a human primary fibroblast model. The results found minimal or no effects of GSM. Flasks were exposed to 900 MHz (217 Hz modulation) at 0.18 W/kg SAR within a Transverse Electromagnetic Mode chamber (TEM cell). Cultures rested for 2 hours before exposures. Affymetrix U95A microarray analysis of a single pilot set of experiments showed that about 40 genes were reported as upregulated &gt=2.5 fold in each condition. There was no evidence of altered expression of any MAPK-associated genes. Target genes reported in both conditions (CBFA2T1, ZNF148, ITGA1), and genes altered in one condition (CCS, PLEC1, BIRC5), and marginally altered HSP72 were selected for PCR analysis. No other members of the HSP family were altered. In three replicate experiments assayed by real-time PCR, six genes were either unchanged or showed randomly variable expression. However HSP72 RNA showed possible consistent slight upregulation of 1.37 +/- 0.21 in the chronic condition. Western immunoblots of HSP-60, -70, -72 and -V90 proteins showed no significant changes 5 hours after exposure. In preliminary studies using a serum starvation protocol, ERK-1 phosphorylation was unaltered after 5 or 30 minutes GSM (single experiments). When flasks were transiently cooled, ERK-1 phosphorylation was increased 20 minutes later, indicating a source of artefact in some protocols. An inflammatory challenge experiment with a low-dose of the cytokine IL-1???? found that acute GSM exposure post-challenge inhibited NF????B-mediated GRO???? induction by 1.5 fold (2 experiments). Preconditioning with mild heat induces transient inhibition of both NF????B signalling and apoptosis. Other studies indicate that EMF exposures similarly evoke cytoprotection. It is suggested that GSM evoked cytoprotective signalling in this inflammatory model.

La presente tesina titulada “Modernización de la red de acceso de un operador móvil para el caso de Lima Metropolitana” expone una propuesta para un operador que tiene como objetivo poder incrementar su cobertura de servicio de segunda y cuarta generación, para esto se definen conceptos teóricos en base a lo que son las tecnologías de telefonía móvil celular de tipo GSM, UMTS y LTE y se compararan con las características técnicas de los equipos que se plantean usar demostrándose que estos pueden optimizar la red de acceso del operador en cobertura y funcionamiento para brindar un mejor servicio en base a 2G y 4G. Para lograr el objetivo propuesto, esta tesina describe el diseño y dimensionamiento de proyecto, pasos para su ejecución, especificaciones técnicas de los equipos, procedimiento para la puesta en servicio y resultados en base a pruebas del servicio y KPI. The current thesis entitled “Modernización de la red de acceso de un operador móvil para el caso de Lima Metropolitana” exposes a proposal for a mobile operator that has as a target increase their second and fourth generator coverage. For achieve this we have to defined theoric concepts based on the mobile telecommunication technology GSM, UMTS and LTE and compare with the features of equipment proposed to use proving that the coverage and performance of the access network of the operator can be improved for provide a better 2G and 4G service. For achieve this target proposed, this thesis describes the design and sizing of Project, steps for execution, technical features of equipment, on air procedure and results base on the testing service and KPI.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-22T22:00:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Alexandre Lopes.pdf: 2105277 bytes, checksum: 2f8d59afe6f1a33f9fb5978e5f6328a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-01 / FAPEAM - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas / This work presents a modular architecture for hardware development and integration of various technologies of wireless communication (Bluetooth, GSM / GPRS and ZigBee) in a gateway for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Thus, the proposal seeks to address an issue not widely explored in a practical way that is the local and remote collection of data from geographically distributed networks. The objective of this research is to focus on practical technological aspects that allow the integration of different technologies in a practical and real hardware platform. The proposed architecture includes power management and selection of several technologies for wireless communication that will be used according to the application. To validate the proposed architecture case study is carried out in order to present the results achieved during the experiments. / Este trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura modular de hardware para viabilização e integração de diversas tecnologias de comunicação sem fio (Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS e ZigBee) em um gateway para Redes de Sensores Sem Fio (RSSFs). Desta forma, a proposta visa solucionar um problema pouco explorado de forma prática, que consiste na coleta presencial e remota de dados de redes geograficamente distribuídas. O objetivo é concentrar essa investigação em aspectos tecnológicos práticos que permitam a integração de diferentes tecnologias em uma solução prática e real. A arquitetura modular proposta contempla o gerenciamento de energia e a seleção da tecnologia de comunicação sem fio que será utilizada de acordo com a aplicação. Para validação da proposta um estudo de caso é realizado com o intuito de apresentar os resultados alcançados durante os experimentos realizados.

A SIM, Subscriber Identity Module, is the removable circuit board found in a modern cellular phone. It carries the network identity information and is a type of smart card which can also be found on payment cards (EMV), ID cards and so on. A smart card is basically a small computer, providing a safe and controlled execution environment. Historically smart card software was very hardware dependent and mostly developed by the manufacturers themselves. With the introduction of the open Java Card standard created by Sun Microsystems (Oracle) this was meant to change. However, information still remains scattered and is hard to obtain. This paper is meant to serve both as an introduction to the field and also as a good foundation for future studies. It begins with a theoretical discussion about smart card hardware and software architectures, network standards in the context of SIM cards, typical applications, coming trends and technologies and ends off with an overview of the Java Card standard. The following section discusses the supplied example SIM card application coupled with an introduction how to use the Gemalto Developer Suite for application development and testing. The paper ends with an extensive appendix section going in depth about some of the more important subjects.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Market information and established communication between seller and buyer play an important role in business activities. This thesis investigates the Transkei area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa to find out how to empower rural farmers by providing them with less-expensive mobile technology enabling them to post and advertise their produce, access market information on a common database, and find and communicate with potential customers. The farmers’ requirements were identified using quantitative and qualitative methods and a prototype consisting of USSD and web applications was developed. It allows the farmer to follow a sequence of menu commands to send a request to the database and access market information, such as commodity prices, and post information about their own produce so as to attract more customers. The low cost of USSD and the ubiquity of mobile phones enable the system to be usable, affordable and effective. During the final stage of development, the system was tested successfully and addressed a major problem faced by farmers, i.e. lack of access to market information. / South Africa

The aim of this thesis is to create a system that can detect fuel theft from vehicles. The systemconsists of a hardware device located in the monitored vehicles and information systemthat makes it possible to determine when and where the theft occurred. The thesis describesthe components of the hardware device and individual functionalities of the informationsystem.

This master thesis discusses design and realization of a security device for vehicles. This device can determine its actual location, discover unauthorized trespass and send information about this to a distant master system too. This distant master system can show the exact position of the security device on a map. The hardware and software for this security device and the software for the master system are described in this paper.

This thesis describes GSM communication, the method of its jamming and design of a jammer for this band. This document is mainly focused on design of the jammer with the variable bandwidth of jamming and the variable level of output power. Requested parameters of jamming are set by a control panel with a LCD display. In this document there is a detailed description of each function block and connection between them. At the end of this thesis there are released measured results of designed jammer.

This thesis deals with design of flush–mounted planar disc antenna suitable for use in vehicles. For each of the bands GSM900 and GSM1800, which are used in Czech republic, an independent antenna has been created. As a simulator of the electromagnetic field the program IE3D has been used. For the improvement of theoretical results an optimisation in the program MATLAB has been developed. As the optimisation method the genetic algorithms have been selected.