Almost hemispherical scanning capabilities are required for modern wireless communication systems to produce broad coverage without performance degradation. Phased array antennas are commonly used as a fully-electronic beam-steering solution for its rapidity in beam switching. However, the effective aperture for high scanning angles is reduced, causing a reduction of the gain with the cosine of the elevation angle. Quasi-optical systems are used to achieve high directivity for wide scanning in combination with phased arrays. An interesting solution is the dielectric dome antenna, where rotationally symmetric dielectric lenses are used to enhance the scanning performance of an antenna with limited scanning capabilities. Using a full-wave simulator to evaluate lenses combined with arrays is very time-consuming, making the lens design inefficient and laborious. In this work is presented a Ray-Tracing tool used to simulate in a fast and efficient way the far-field of two-dimensional dielectric lenses. While a full-wave simulation of a three-dimensional lens could take approximately 3 hours, the Ray-Tracing evaluation takes less than 3 minutes, making possible the full optimization and design of these lenses. A numerical calculation of the ray path is used to evaluate the phase of the electric field at the lens aperture, while the amplitude is evaluated using ray-tube power theory. The far-field radiation pattern of the lens antenna is calculated using the Kirchhoff-Fresnel diffraction formula. In this work, it is also presented a full study of the reflection and absorption losses, which is something that was not previously done in the state of the art. Matching layers are designed and evaluated to reduce the reflection losses at each interface. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, we compare the radiation patterns produced by a two-dimensional dielectric dome antenna with those computed using COMSOL, showing a significant reduction in time and computational resources. / För moderna trådlösa kommunikationssystem krävs nästan halvklotformiga skanningsmöjligheter för att åstadkomma bred täckning utan försämrad prestanda. Fasstyrda antenner används vanligen som en helt elektronisk lösning för strålstyrning på grund av dess snabbhet vid byte av strålar. Den effektiva aperturen för höga skanningsvinklar minskar dock, vilket leder till att förstärkningen minskar med cosinus av elevationsvinkeln. Kvasiooptiska system används för att uppnå hög riktningsförmåga för bred avsökning i kombination med fasade matriser. En intressant lösning är den dielektriska kupolantennen, där rotationssymmetriska dielektriska linser används för att förbättra skanningsegenskaperna hos en antenn med begränsad skanningskapacitet. Att använda en fullvågssimulator för att utvärdera linser i kombination med matriser är mycket tidskrävande, vilket gör linsdesignen ineffektiv och arbetskrävande. I detta arbete presenteras ett Ray-Tracing-verktyg som används för att på ett snabbt och effektivt sätt simulera fjärrfältet för tvådimensionella dielektriska linser. Medan en fullvågssimulering av en tredimensionell lins kan ta ungefär 3 timmar tar strålföljningssimuleringen mindre än 3 minuter, vilket gör det möjligt att optimera och konstruera dessa linser fullt ut. En numerisk beräkning av strålbanan används för att utvärdera fasen hos det elektriska fältet vid linsaperturen, medan amplituden utvärderas med hjälp av strålrörsteori. Linsantennens strålningsmönster i fjärrfältet beräknas med hjälp av Kirchhoff-Fresnel-diffraktionsformeln. I detta arbete presenteras också en fullständig studie av reflektions- och absorptionsförlusterna, vilket är något som inte tidigare har gjorts inom detta forskningsområde. Anpassningsskikt utformas och utvärderas för att minska reflektionsförlusterna vid varje gränssnitt. För att visa hur effektivt detta tillvägagångssätt är, jämför vi strålningsdiagrammen som produceras av en dielektrisk kupolantenn med dem som beräknats med COMSOL, vilket visar på en betydande minskning av beräkningsresurserna.

Game engines are well known for their use in the gaming industry but are starting to have an impact in other areas as well. Architecture, automotive, and the defence industry are today using these engines to visualise and, to some extent, test their products. In this thesis, we have examined how the game engine Unity could be used for simulating a radar with the purpose of detecting and measuring sea clutter. Following a pre-study examining different implementation approaches, it was decided to use ray tracing. The radar itself is simulated by using the camera to emit rays and having a plane object directly behind it act as a receiver. Rays are then individually traced for each pixel, propagating throughout the scene and saving information such as hit coordinates, distance travelled, and direction. By using the total travel distance of each ray that returned to the receiver, the phase of each ray is calculated. This is then used to compute the total amplitude, which represents the returned signal strength. Using a compute shader, most of the computations are done in parallel on the GPU, enabling millions of rays to be traced. As measuring sea clutter was an objective of the study, tests measuring the ocean were carried out. These used ocean surfaces with two different sea states, using the Phillips spectrum to generate realistic waves. A ship object was then tested in free space and on two different ocean surfaces. The calculated amplitude and the number of rays returned were used to determine the signal strength returned and the RCS of the object. The purpose of this was to compare with other results of sea clutter studied, observed both in the real world and in simulated scenarios, and determine if our approach could be a valid choice for the industry. Some results matched the findings of a similar study that used a professional radar simulation tool called OKTAL. Other results of sea clutter were found to not be realistic due to certain limitations. The current main limitation of our implementation is not being able to trace a large enough ocean surface with the finer details needed for realistic results. However, this could be solved by creating a better implementation. These findings suggest that simulating radar and sea clutter in Unity is a feasible approach worth continuing to explore. / Spelmotorer är välkända för sin användning inom spelindustrin men har också fått genomslag inom andra områden. Arkitektur, fordonsindustrin och försvarsindustrin använder idag dessa verktyg för att visualisera och till viss mån, även testa sina produkter. I detta examensarbete har vi undersökt hur spelmotorn Unity kan användas för att simulera en radar i syfte att detektera och mäta sjöklotter. Efter en förstudie där olika implementeringsmetoder undersöktes, beslutades det att använda strålspårning (eng. ray tracing). Själva radarn simuleras genom att använda kameraobjektet i Unity för att sända ut strålar. Bakom kameran finns ett planobjekt som fungerar som mottagare. Strålar spåras sedan individuellt för varje pixel och sprider sig genom en given scen. Samtidigt sparas information såsom träffkoordinater, den totala färdsträckan samt riktning. Genom att använda det totala färdavståndet för varje stråle som återvänt till mottagaren kan fasen för varje stråle beräknas. Detta kan sedan användas för att beräkna den totala returnerade amplituden, vilket motsvarar den returnerade signalstyrkan. Med hjälp av en "compute shader" kan databeräkningarna göras parallellt av GPU:n vilket underlättar när så många strålar ska spåras. Eftersom syftet med uppsatsen var mätning av simulerat sjöklotter, genomfördes tester för att mäta på ett simulerat hav. Havsytorna hade två olika sjöstadier, vilka genererades med Phillips-spektrumet för att få realistiska vågor. Ett fartygsobjekt testades sedan i frirymd och sedan även i de två olika havsytorna. Amplituden och mängden strålar som returnerades användes för att bestämma den totala returnerade signalstyrkan och "Radar Cross Section" (RCS) för objektet. Syftet med detta var att kunna jämföra med andra studier gällande sjöklotter, både simulerade som verklighetsbaserade och avgöra om vårt tillvägagångssätt kunde resultera i ett användbart verktyg för branschen. De olika amplituder och antalet strålar som vi fick tillbaka varierade beroende på vilka vinklar och havsytor som användes.Vissa resultat var inte realistiska jämfört med verkliga mätningar av sjöklotter. Det beror främst på våra nuvarande begränsningar i att inte kunna spåra en tillräckligt stor och tillräckligt detaljerad havsyta, vilket behövs för att mätningarna ska vara mer realistiska. Däremot matchade vi några resultat med de från en liknande studie, där verktyget OKTAL, som är ett professionellt radarsimuleringsverktyg, användes. Detta i kombination med möjligheterna för en förbättrad implementation tyder på att användningen av en spelmotor som Unity är ett intressant verktyg värd att vidareutforska radarsimuleringar med.

Bifacial photovoltaic (PV) modules have greater energy yield than traditional monofacial modules because they convert front and rear incident irradiance to electrical energy. Single-axis tracking systems can further increase energy yield and reduce the levelized cost of energy by rotating the modules throughout the day. However, racking elements in tracking systems introduce both shade and reflections on the rear face, increasing irradiance nonuniformity and fostering further electrical mismatch that reduces module power. The impact of racking, particularly that of the torque tube which spans the middle of the rear collector surface, must be accurately quantified in energy yield predictions to increase stakeholder confidence, and hasten the adoption of tracked bifacial modules. Isolating the torque-tube-reflected irradiance incident on the modules is crucial for this work. This is achieved by implementing arbitrary two-dimensional (2D) irradiance sampling on a module under test in bifacial_radiance, a ray tracing bifacial PV model, and taking the difference in rear irradiance profiles for simulations with a reflective and an absorptive torque tube at each timestamp. We calculate the TT reflection for the central one-in-portrait (1P) and two-in-portrait (2P) modules on horizontal single-axis trackers over hourly timestamps in a typical meteorological year in Livermore, California, USA. We introduce the TT reflection 2D irradiance profiles as additional light sources in DUET to quantify the TT reflection's impact on irradiance, electrical mismatch, and energy yield, as well as an incidence angle modifier's impact on TT reflection. We analyze the TT reflection based on sun zenith and diffuse fraction to group consistent illumination conditions across the year. We identify that TT reflection reduces electrical mismatch by partially offsetting TT shading, and increases annual energy yield by 0.11% and 0.18% in our particular 1P and 2P systems. While the overall impact of TT reflection is greater in the 2P system due to direct beam light incident on the TT, the TT reflection's greatest instantaneous relative contribution to total energy yield is larger for the 1P system, at high diffuse fractions and sun zeniths. For future work, we recommend validating simulation results with and without TT reflection against experimental data. The simulation method used for isolating the TT reflection may also be repurposed to help inform new TT designs that minimize electrical mismatch. Finally, instead of relying on bifacial_radiance to isolate the TT reflection, we recommend incorporating the TT as a Lambertian reflective surface in 3D view factor models with detailed shading for further TT reflection simulations.

Three-dimensional linear ray theory is used to investigate internal waves interacting with a Lamb-Chaplygin pancake vortex dipole. These interactions involve waves propagating in the same (co-propagating) and opposite (counter-propagating) horizontal directions as the dipole translation. Co-propagating internal waves in the vertical symmetry plane between the vortices of the dipole can approach critical levels where the wave energy is absorbed by the dipole or where the waves are overturned and possibly break. As wave breaking cannot be simulated with this linear model, changes in wave steepness are calculated to aid in estimating the onset of breaking. Counter-propagating internal waves in the vertical symmetry plane can experience horizontal and vertical reflections, including turning points similar to waves in two-dimensional steady shear. Wave capture is also a possible effect of either type of interaction, depending on initial wave properties and positioning relative to the vortex dipole. Away from the vertical symmetry plane, a spanwise converging (focusing) and diverging (defocusing) of wave energy is observed in co- and counter-propagating interactions as symmetric off-center rays interact with the dipole's individual vortices. Some off-center rays experience multiple horizontal refractions similar to wave trapping.

[pt] A futura saturação do espectro eletromagnético atualmente alocado para as comunicações móveis tem levado a comunidade científica a considerar o uso das vastas faixas de frequência disponíveis em ondas milimétricas. Esta contribuição se insere no esforço de pesquisa para caracterização dos canais urbanos em ambientes exteriores. O modelo desenvolvido utiliza o traçado de raios 2.5D, com base nos conceitos da ótica geométrica e teoria uniforme da difração. Foram implementadas diversas técnicas consideradas em um futuro padrão de comunicações móveis 5G para a transmissão de sinais de banda ultra larga em canais com e sem visada e consideradas várias classes de espalhadores, como árvores, postes e paredes rugosas com espalhamento difuso. Adicionalmente, foram feitas simulações e comparações em ambientes onde foram realizadas campanhas de medições, nas métricas de: potência recebida, retardo médio, desvio RMS e XPD. Os resultados comparativos mostraram boa concordância geral e foram investigadas possíveis causas de erro em previsões nas métricas adotadas. / [en] The future saturation of the electromagnetic spectrum currently allocated for mobile communications has led the scientific community to consider the use of the vast frequency bands available in millimeter waves. There are some technical obstacles limiting the immediate use of this band. In the radio propagation area, there is a research effort to characterize the outdoor urban channels. The developed model uses a 2.5D ray tracing algorithm based on geometrical optics and UTD concepts in outdoor environments. The model implements several techniques considered in a future standard of 5G mobile communications for the transmission of ultra wide band signals in LOS and NLOS channels with a high density of scatterers: trees, poles and diffuse scattering by rough building walls. In addition, simulations and comparisons were performed in environments where measurement campaigns were carried out, considering the following metrics: received power, mean delay, RMS deviation and XPD. The comparative results showed a good agreement. Possible model impairments were investigated.

[pt] Um modelo de traçado de raios baseado no método das imagens será aplicado para estudar a propagação de ondas de rádio nas regiões de Copacabana e Ipanema no Rio de Janeiro. Nesses ambientes altamente urbanizados, pode-se assumir que a propagação é restrita à seção horizontal dos vales nas ruas que são formados pelos blocos de edificações. Várias classes de raios, caracterizados pelo número, tipo (reflexão ou difração), e ordem de ocorrência de interação com as faces laterais dos blocos são considerados no modelo. As direções de partida e chegada, assim como a amplitude e o atraso no tempo, caracterizam cada raio, considerando seu comprimento total, além dos produtos dos coeficientes associados com cada interação com o ambiente. Neste trabalho, demonstra-se o aumento na capacidade do canal com múltiplas entradas e múltiplas saídas (MIMO), usando conjunto de antenas na transmissão e na recepção para um sistema faixa estreita, operando a 1.9 GHZ, estudando situações com linha de visada (LOS) e sem linha de visada (NLOS). Sistemas de comunicações wireless com múltiplas entradas e múltiplas saídas (MIMO), utilizando conjunto de antenas na transmissão e na recepção apresentam grande interesse atualmente, devido a grande eficiência espectral apresentada e ao aumento na capacidade do canal. O efeito dos sistemas MIMO na capacidade do canal é estudado para situações LOS e NLOS, visando compreender sua relação em função do ambiente de propagação. Apresenta-se a relação da capacidade do canal em função do crescimento da relação sinal-ruído (SNR), da potência de transmissão, da distância, do atraso e do espalhamento angular para pontos de recepção em LOS e NLOS. Além disso, resultados simulando um canal Rayleigh também são comparados com os resultados obtidos. / [en] A ray tracing model based on the method of images has been applied to study the propagation of radio waves in the regions of Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. In such highly urbanized environments, it can be realistically assumed that propagation is restricted to a horizontal section of the street canyons characterized by the blocks of buildings. Several classes of rays, characterized by the number, type (reflection and diffraction), and order of occurrence of interaction with the lateral faces of the blocks are considered by the model. The directions of departure and arrival, as well as the amplitude and the time delay characterize each ray, considering its total length, as well as product of the coefficients associated with each interaction with the environment. In addition to analyzing the behaviors of the ray parameters considering both line-of-sight (LOS) and non line-of-sight (NLOS) situations, the capacity growth of multipleelement antenna arrays (MEAs) will be demonstrated for a narrowband system operating at 1.9 GHz. Indeed, multiple-input, multiple- output (MIMO) wireless communications systems, making use of smart antenna arrays at both ends of the communications link, has been receiving increased interest due to their high spectral efficiency and channel capacity. The effect of MIMO systems in the channel capacity will be studied for representative LOS and NLOS situations to understand how the results change as a function of the environment. It will be seen how the capacity scales with increasing signal-to- noise ratio (SNR) for a large but practical number of antenna elements at both transmitter and receiver. The increase in capacity with transmitter power, distance, delay and angular spreads for LOS and NLOS cases will also be presented, as well as a comparison of the results with those corresponding to a Rayleigh channel.

Ray tracing is used in computer graphics to generate images. The process of rendering images using ray tracing includes testing large counts of rays for intersection against geometry. Testing for ray-geometry intersection is more formally known as the Ray Shooting Problem (RSP) and has broad applications across multiple communities. Hierarchical acceleration structures are frequently employed to index geometry and increase processing speed. Such hierarchical structures make it almost impossible for central processing units to predict memory access and branching patterns. This project focuses on the Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) structure and improving its performance when querying large batches of first hit ray-geometry intersections. The core contribution is an Interleaved Prefetching Ray Traversal (IPRT) algorithm that addresses memory and branching issues. Five standardized test scenarios with varying geometric complexity provide evaluation data. The experimental evaluation suggests that for incoherent rays, IPRT achieves 6:1 - 41:8% faster performance compared to Stackless Traversal. However, for fully coherent rays, performance is 68:8 - 149:1% slower. These results suggest that for select ray tracing workloads that elicit low coherence, the IPRT algorithm is likely to outperform Stackless Traversal. A microarchitectural analysis affirms previous research; memory accesses and branching behavior are critical for performance. Surprisingly, addressing each component in isolation yields no significant performance improvement. It is paramount to address the two simultaneously, as the IPRT algorithm does successfully. / Ray tracing används inom datorgrafik för att generera bilder. Att rendera bilder med ray tracing kräver att datorer simulerar stora mängder ljusstrålar i en virtuell miljö. Problemet att beräkna om en stråle träffar geometri är mer formellt känt som Ray Shooting Problem (RSP) och har breda applikationer inom flera områden. Hierarkiska accelerationsstrukturer används ofta för att indexera geometri och öka beräkningshastighet. Sådana hierarkiska strukturer gör det nästan omöjligt för centrala processorenheter att förutsäga minnesåtkomst och förgreningsmönster. Detta projekt fokuserar på Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) strukturen och dess prestanda. En ny algoritm tas fram för att behandla dessa identifierade problem: Interleaved Prefetching Ray Traversal (IPRT). Fem standardiserade testscener med varierande geometrisk komplexitet används för experimentell utvärdering. Den experimentella utvärderingen antyder i jämförelse med Stackless Traversal så uppnår IPRT-algoritmen 6:1 - 41:8% bättre prestanda för osammanhängande strålar. När det gäller helt sammanhängande strålar är prestandan dock 68:8 - 149:1% långsammare. En mikroarkitektisk analys bekräftar tidigare forskning; minnesåtkomst och förgreningsbeteende är mycket viktigt för prestanda. Isolerad optimering av faktorerna ger dessvärre ingen signifikant prestandaförbättring. Det är därför ytterst viktigt att optimera båda komponenter samtidigt, vilket IPRT-algoritmen lyckas med.

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Increasingly, wireless subscribers are demanding reliable data capabilities from wireless networks. The ability of wireless network engineers and Information Technology (IT) professionals to rapidly design, deploy, and maintain wireless communication systems that can provide strong, reliable data service is severely hampered by a lack of adequate systems and methods for simulating the performance of such networks a priori. Unlike older generation wireless systems that could be readily deployed on the basis of strong received signal strength and simple circuit-switched channel allocation protocols, modern and emerging wireless data networks are more noise and interference limited and rely on packet-based protocols. A heavier emphasis is needed on predicting and simulating throughput, bit error rate, frame error rate, user priority classes, and overall network capacity. This research provides wireless network engineers and IT professionals with a comprehensive system and method for the simulation and design of wireless communication systems that combines site-specific databases, equipment-specific distribution system modeling, and advanced ray tracing propagation analysis to directly predict throughput, frame error rate (FER), and other critical performance parameters for emerging wireless data networks. / Ph. D.

Le contexte de cette thèse est celui des communications optiques sans fil pour des applications en environnements indoor. Pour discuter des performances d'une liaison optique sans fil, il est nécessaire d'établir une étude caractéristique du comportement du canal de propagation. Cette étude passe par l'étape de la mesure ou de l'estimation par la simulation de la réponse impulsionnelle. Après avoir décrit la composition d'une liaison et passé en revue les méthodes de simulation existantes, nous présentons nos algorithmes de simulation dans des environnements réalistes, en nous intéressant à leurs performances en termes de précision et de temps de calcul. Ces méthodes sont basées sur la résolution des équations de transport de la lumière par du lancer de rayons associées aux méthodes d'intégration stochastique de Monte Carlo. La version classique de ces méthodes est à la base de trois algorithmes de simulations proposés. En utilisant une optimisation par des chaînes de Markov, nous présentons ensuite deux autres algorithmes. Un bilan des performances de ces algorithmes est établi dans des scénarios mono et multi-antennes. Finalement, nous appliquons nos algorithmes pour caractériser l'impact de l'environnement de simulation sur les performances d'une liaison de communication par lumière visible, à savoir les modèles d'émetteurs, les matériaux des surfaces, l'obstruction du corps de l'utilisateur et sa mobilité, et la géométrie de la scène de simulation. / The context of this PhD thesis falls within the scope of optical wireless communications for applications in indoor environments. To discuss the performance of an optical wireless link, it is necessary to establish a characteristic study of the behavior of the optical wave propagation channel. This study can be realized by measurement or by the simulation of the channel impulse response. After describing the composition of an optical wireless link and reviewing existing simulation methods, we present our new simulation algorithms channel in realistic environments by focusing on their performances in terms of accuracy and their complexity in terms of computation time. These methods are based on solving the light transport equations by ray-tracing techniques associated with stochastic Monte Carlo integration methods. The classical version of these methods is the basis of three proposed simulation algorithms. By applying an optimization using Markov Chain, we present two new algorithms. A performance assessment of our simulation algorithms is established in mono and multi-antenna scenarios of our simulation algorithms. Finally, we present the application of these algorithms for characterizing the impact of the simulation environment on the performances of a visible light communication link. We particularly focus on the transmitter models, surface coating materials, obstruction of the user's body and its mobility, and the geometry of the simulation scene.