Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-53). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) technology is advancing rapidly. Gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers, also referred to as an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), has traditionally been associated with aerospace and industrial robotics but is now within every smart phone. The proliferation of these low-cost devices has facilitated countless new applications with many more still unrealised. This dissertation presents work towards this end. A significant contribution of this work was the development of novel Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) algorithms that fuse together sensor data from an IMU to provide an absolute measurement of orientation relative to the Earth. The novel work presented on non-gyro IMU s demonstrated the potential practical benefits of such kinematically redundant sensor arrays. Low-cost MEMS can only be fully utilised if they are combined with a calibration solution to provide precise measurements with a determined accuracy. This dissertation presents a comprehensive calibration solution to the specific requirements of these sensors based on extensive characterisations investigations. The calibration solutions enable sensors costing <10 United States Dollar (USD) to achieve a static pitch/roll accuracy of <10 and a static heading accuracy of <2°. This performance is equivalent to commercial 1M Us costing up to 3000 USD. The AHRS algorithm and sensor calibration works were brought together in the development of three IMU hardware platforms. To date, >500 have been sold and the open-source associated algorithm downloaded> 10,000 times. Each platform addressed a specific design need and together these facilitated a wide range of new applications; demonstrated by the numerous scientific publications that resulted from collaborative projects and user projects.

Over the last 20 years, navigation has almost become synonymous with satellite positioning, e.g. the Global Positioning System (GPS). On land, sea or in the air, on the road or in a city, knowing ones position is a question of getting a clear line of sight to enough satellites. Unfortunately, since the signals are extremely weak there are environments the GPS signals cannot reach but where positioning is still highly sought after, such as indoors and underwater. Also, because the signals are so weak, GPS is vulnerable to jamming. This thesis is about alternative means of positioning for three scenarios where gps cannot be used. Indoors, there is a desire to accurately position first responders, police officers and soldiers. This could make their work both safer and more efficient. In this thesis an inertial navigation system using a foot mounted inertial magnetic mea- surement unit is studied. For such systems, zero velocity updates can be used to significantly reduce the drift in distance travelled. Unfortunately, the estimated direction one is moving in is also subject to drift, causing large positioning errors. We have therefore chosen to throughly study the key problem of robustly estimating heading indoors. To measure heading, magnetic field measurements can be used as a compass. Unfortunately, they are often disturbed indoors making them unreliable. For estimation support, the turn rate of the sensor can be measured by a gyro but such sensors often have bias problems. In this work, we present two different approaches to estimate heading despite these shortcomings. Our first system uses a Kalman filter bank that recursively estimates if the magnetic readings are disturbed or undisturbed. Our second approach estimates the entire history of headings at once, by matching integrated gyro measurements to a vector of magnetic heading measurements. Large scale experiments are used to evaluate both methods. When the heading estimation is incorporated into our positioning system, experiments show that positioning errors are reduced significantly. We also present a probabilistic stand still detection framework based on accelerometer and gyro measurements. The second and third problems studied are both maritime. Naval navigation systems are today heavily dependent on GPS. Since GPS is easily jammed, the vessels are vulnerable in critical situations. In this work we describe a radar based backup positioning system to be used in case of GPS failure. radar scans are matched using visual features to detect how the surroundings have changed, thereby describing how the vessel has moved. Finally, we study the problem of underwater positioning, an environment gps signals cannot reach. A sensor network can track vessels using acoustics and the magnetic disturbances they induce. But in order to do so, the sensors themselves first have to be accurately positioned. We present a system that positions the sensors using a friendly vessel with a known magnetic signature and trajectory. Simulations show that by studying the magnetic disturbances that the vessel produces, the location of each sensor can be accurately estimated.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 83-86. Also available online.

The structural chemistry and magnetic properties of a number of manganese containing hexagonal perovskites have been studied by X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction and magnetometry. Trends in the magnetic properties are investigated as a function of the hexagonal stacking sequence and manganese oxidation state. The synthesis of the series of BaMnO_3-x hexagonal perovskites is discussed. By varying both the partial pressure of oxygen and the firing temperature, stacking sequences with a range of hexagonal to cubic layer ratios can be synthesised. Factors which increase the structural tolerance factor are found to increase the proportion of hexagonal layers in the stacking sequence. The crystallographic properties of the BaMnO_3-x compounds are discussed, and the oxide vacancies are found to be exclusively located in the face-sharing hexagonal (h) layers, particularly those which are adjacent to two apex-sharing cubic (c) layers. The preferential localisation of oxide vacancies in chc sites can be used to rationalise the observed stacking sequences, as well as the limiting stoichiometries of BaMnO_3-x structures. The magnetic behaviour of the BaMnO_3-x phases is investigated, both individually and as a function of the stacking sequence. A strong direct exchange interaction between face-sharing cations couples all magnetic moments antiferromagnetically above ambient temperature. A slightly weaker interaction (utilising the 180° superexchange pathways between apex-sharing MnOe octahedra) results in three-dimensional antiferromagnetic order at a temperature in the range 230 ≤ T (K) ≤ 280. The strength of this interaction is found to be dependent on the length of the face-sharing chains. A third interaction occurs at T ~ 45K, believed to represent a canting transition. Low temperature neutron diffraction data reveal that the magnetic moments order in a simple antiferromagnetic manner. The magnitude of the ordered moment shows a dependence on the length of the face sharing chains, where phases with shorter chains have a larger ordered moment. Long-range magnetic order is disrupted by charge disorder in the mixed Mn(III)/Mn(IV) system 4H-BaMnO_{2.6 5(1)}. The hexagonal BaMn_1-zTi_z O_{3- x} and BaMn_1-zZr_z0_3-x systems were also studied. Synthesis under argon atmospheres allows a range of new phases to be accessed. These include a novel manganese-zirconium phase, 6H-BaMn_0.8Zr_0.2O_2.81(1), and BaMn_o.55Ti<sub>0.45,/sub>O_3-x, which adopts the rare 15R' stacking sequence. The BaMn_1-z Ti_zO_3-x system confirms that although the tolerance factor controls the proportion of cubic layers, it does not control the arrangement of these layers. This is controlled by the size of the B cations and the proportion of oxide vacancies. Partial cation order occurs in 6H-BaMn_o.8Zr_0.2O_2.81(1), which can be rationalised on the basis of the size difference between manganese and zirconium ions. Topotactic reductions using binary hydrides are carried out in order to decouple the manganese oxidation state from the adopted stacking sequence. Using hydride reductions, 4H-Ba_o.5Sr_o.5MnO_3-x can be topotactically reduced to 4H-Ba_o.5Sr_o.5MnO_2.o2(1). This increases the strength of the 180° superexchange interaction, and antiferromagnetic order is achieved above ambient temperature. Using the same techniques, 4H-BaMnO_3-x can be reduced to 4H-BaMnO_2.47(1) or 4H-BaMnO_2.o6(1). These phases undergo a distortion to an orthorhombic unit cell.

Thesis (M.Sc.) -- Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Bibliography : leaves 174-177. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-214).

No description available.

Two new fiber optic magnetostrictive phase modulators and magnetometers using the highly magnetostrictive rare-earth iron compound Tb_xDy_l-xFe₂ are investigated. They demonstrated to have a high sensitivity, dynamic range, minimum field detectability, and a better structural suitability than metallic glasses. For the first sensor, the experimental linear phase shifting coefficient was 1.102 rad/Vp-m with the corresponding phase shift nonnalized to the magnetic field of 0.306 radiO-m. For the second sensor, the experimental linear phase shifting coefficient was 0.5 rad/Vp-m with the corresponding phase shift nonnalized to the magnetic field of 0.136 rad/G-m. A minimum detectable phase shift of better than 1 μrad was obtained, which corresponds to 2 μG/m for a 4 Hz bandwidth and 1 μG/â HZ per meter of fiber interaction length. The projected minimum detectable magnetic field for 30 meters, for the first sensor, is thus seen to be 3pT/â HZ. The experimental results presented have clearly demonstrated the utility of the Terfenol based magnetostrictive fiber optic phase modulator and magnetometer. / Master of Science