Microelectromechanical Systems are ubiquitous in modern technology, with applications ranging from accelerometers in smartphones to ultra-high precision motion stages used for atomically-precise positioning. With the appropriate selection of materials and device design, MEMS resonators with ultra-high quality factors can be fabricated at minimal cost. As the sizes of such resonators decrease, however, their mechanical, electrical, and material properties can no longer be treated as linear, as can be done for larger-scale devices. Unfortunately, adding nonlinear effects to a system changes its dynamics from exactly-solvable to only solvable in specific cases, if at all. Despite (and because of) these added complications, nonlinear effects open up an entirely new world of behaviors that can be measured or taken advantage of to create even more advanced technologies. In our resonators, oscillations are induced and measured using aluminum nitride transducers. I used this mechanism for several separate highly-sensitive experiments. In the first, I demonstrate the incredible sensitivity of these resonators by actuating a mechanical resonant mode using only the force generated by the radiation pressure of a laser at room temperature. In the following three experiments, which use similar mechanisms, I demonstrate information transfer and force measurements by taking advantage of the nonlinear behavior of the resonators. When nonlinear resonators are strongly driven, they exhibit sum and difference frequency generation, in which a large carrier signal can be mixed with a much smaller modulation to produce signals at sum and difference frequencies of the two signals. These sum and difference signals are used to detect information encoded in the modulation signal using optical radiation pressure and acoustic pressure waves. Finally, in my experiments, I probe the nonlinear nature of the piezoelectric material rather than take advantage of the nonlinear resonator behavior. The relative sizes of the linear and nonlinear portions of the piezoelectric constant can be determined because the force applied to the resonator by a transducer is independent of the dielectric constant. This method allowed me to quantify the nonlinear constants.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis deals with the distributed and stochastic algorithms including testing their convergence in networks. The theoretical part briefly describes above mentioned algorithms, including their division, problems, advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, two distributed algorithms and two stochastic algorithms are chosen. The practical part is done by comparing the speed of convergence on various network topologies in Matlab.

Cette thèse porte sur l'optimisation et la commande prédictive des centrales de production d'énergie en utilisant des modèles physiques des installations. Les modèles sont réalisés à l'aide du langage Modelica, un langage équationnel adapté à la modélisation de systèmes multi-physiques. La modélisation de systèmes physiques dans ce langage est présentée dans une première partie, ainsi que les traitements symboliques réalisés par les compilateurs Modelica pour mettre les modèles sous une forme adaptée à l'optimisation. On présente dans une seconde partie le développement d'une méthode d'optimisation dynamique hybride pour les centrales de production d'énergie, qui fournit une trajectoire optimisée de l'installation sur un horizon long. Les trajectoires calculées incluent les trajectoires des commandes continues ainsi que les décisions d'engagement des différents équipements. L'algorithme d'optimisation combine la méthode de collocation et une méthode nommée Sum Up Rounding (SUR) pour la prise en compte des décisions d'engagement. Un algorithme de commande prédictive (MPC) est enfin introduit afin de garantir le suivi des trajectoires optimales et de prendre en compte en temps réel la présence de perturbations et les erreurs du modèle d'optimisation. L'algorithme MPC utilise des modèles linéarisés tangents générés automatiquement à partir du modèle non linéaire. / This thesis deals with hybrid optimal control and Model Predictive Control (MPC) of power plants by use of physical models. Models of the facilities are developped with Modelica, an equation based language tailored for modelling multi-physics systems. Modeling of physical systems with Modelica is introduced in a first part, as well as some of the symbolic processing done by Modelica compilers that transform the original model to a form suited for optimization. Then, a method to solve optimal control problems on hybrid systems (such as power plants) is presented. This methods provides an optimal trajectory for the power plant on a long horizon. The optimal trajectory computed by the method includes the trajectories of continuous inputs as well as switching decisions for components in the plant. The optimization algorithm combines the collocation method and a method named Sum Up Rounding (SUR) for dealing with switches. Finally, a Model Predictive Controller is developped in order to follow this optimal trajectory in real time, and to cope with disturbances on the actual system and modelling errors. The proposed MPC uses tangent linear models of the plant that are derived automatically from the nonlinear model.

Wireless communication systems have exploded in popularity over the past few decades. Due to their popularity, the demand for higher data rates by the users, and the high cost of wireless spectrum, wireless providers are actively seeking ways to improve the spectral efficiency of their networks. One promising technique to improve spectral efficiency is to equip the wireless devices with multiple antennas. If both the transmitter and receiver of a link are equipped with multiple antennas, they form a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) link. The multiple antennas at the nodes provide degrees-of-freedom that can be used for either sending multiple streams of data simultaneously (a technique known as spatial multiplexing), or for suppressing interference through linear combining, but not both. Due to this trade-off, careful allocation of how many streams each link should carry is important to ensure that each node has enough degrees-of-freedom available to suppress the interference and support its desired streams. How the streams are sent and received and how interference is suppressed is ultimately determined by the beamforming weights at the transmitters and the combining weights at the receivers. Determining these weights is, however, made difficult by their inherent interdependency. Our focus is on unplanned and/or dense single-hop networks, such as WLANs and femtocells, where each single-hop network is composed of an access point serving several associated clients. The objective of this research is to design algorithms for maximizing the performance of dense single-hop wireless networks of MIMO links. We address the problems of determining which links to schedule together at each time slot, how many streams to allocate to each link (if any), and the beamforming and combining weights that support those streams. This dissertation describes four key contributions as follows: - We classify any interference suppression technique as either unilateral interference suppression or bilateral interference suppression. We show that a simple bilateral interference suppression approach outperforms all known unilateral interference suppression approaches, even after searching for the best unilateral solution. - We propose an algorithm based on bilateral interference suppression whose goal is to maximize the sum rate of a set of interfering MIMO links by jointly optimizing which subset of transmitters should transmit, the number of streams for each transmitter (if any), and the beamforming and combining weights that support those streams. - We propose a framework for optimizing dense single-hop wireless networks. The framework implements techniques to address several practical issues that arise when implementing interference suppression, such as the overhead of performing channel measurements and communicating channel state information, the overhead of computing the beamforming and combining weights, and the overhead of cooperation between the access points. - We derive the optimal scheduler that maximizes the sum rate subject to proportional fairness. Simulations in ns-3 show that the framework, using the optimal scheduler, increases the proportionally fair aggregate goodput by up to 165% as compared to the aggregate goodput of 802.11n for the case of four interfering single-hop wireless networks with two clients each.

Cette thèse porte sur l'optimisation et la commande prédictive des centrales de production d'énergie en utilisant des modèles physiques des installations. Les modèles sont réalisés à l'aide du langage Modelica, un langage équationnel adapté à la modélisation de systèmes multi-physiques. La modélisation de systèmes physiques dans ce langage est présentée dans une première partie, ainsi que les traitements symboliques réalisés par les compilateurs Modelica pour mettre les modèles sous une forme adaptée à l'optimisation. On présente dans une seconde partie le développement d'une méthode d'optimisation dynamique hybride pour les centrales de production d'énergie, qui fournit une trajectoire optimisée de l'installation sur un horizon long. Les trajectoires calculées incluent les trajectoires des commandes continues ainsi que les décisions d'engagement des différents équipements. L'algorithme d'optimisation combine la méthode de collocation et une méthode nommée Sum Up Rounding (SUR) pour la prise en compte des décisions d'engagement. Un algorithme de commande prédictive (MPC) est enfin introduit afin de garantir le suivi des trajectoires optimales et de prendre en compte en temps réel la présence de perturbations et les erreurs du modèle d'optimisation. L'algorithme MPC utilise des modèles linéarisés tangents générés automatiquement à partir du modèle non linéaire. / This thesis deals with hybrid optimal control and Model Predictive Control (MPC) of power plants by use of physical models. Models of the facilities are developped with Modelica, an equation based language tailored for modelling multi-physics systems. Modeling of physical systems with Modelica is introduced in a first part, as well as some of the symbolic processing done by Modelica compilers that transform the original model to a form suited for optimization. Then, a method to solve optimal control problems on hybrid systems (such as power plants) is presented. This methods provides an optimal trajectory for the power plant on a long horizon. The optimal trajectory computed by the method includes the trajectories of continuous inputs as well as switching decisions for components in the plant. The optimization algorithm combines the collocation method and a method named Sum Up Rounding (SUR) for dealing with switches. Finally, a Model Predictive Controller is developped in order to follow this optimal trajectory in real time, and to cope with disturbances on the actual system and modelling errors. The proposed MPC uses tangent linear models of the plant that are derived automatically from the nonlinear model.

This thesis deals with the distributed and stochastic algorithms including testing their convergence in networks. The theoretical part briefly describes above mentioned algorithms, including their division, problems, advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, two distributed algorithms and two stochastic algorithms are chosen. The practical part is done by comparing the speed of convergence on various network topologies in Matlab.

This thesis deals with the distributed and stochastic algorithms, including testing their convergence in networks. The theoretical part briefly describes above mentioned algorithms, including their division, problems, advantages and disadvantages. Futhermore, two distributed algorithms and two stochastic algorithms are chosen. The practical part is done by comparing the speed of convergence on various network topologies in MATLAB.

During the last decades, the power grid is getting rapidly digitalised in order to contribute to theestablishment of Smart Grids and evaluate efficiently the extracted bidirectional data from the powersystem infrastructure. This thesis focuses on the MV grid, since its design and operation have changedmainly because of distributed generation installations and the increased demand of information fromstakeholders. Thus, asset management constitutes a significant tool that can increase the reliability ofthe MV network’s operation and its level of control. Studies have shown that a maintenance planbased on condition monitoring of power system apparatuses would be more effective compared to theimplemented time-based scheduled maintenance.This project focuses on MV remotely controlled disconnectors since studies have shown that theirnumber of failures is double compared to manually operated ones. Since maneuverability andsecondary function are the causes of a major failure with the highest occurrence rate, motor currentmonitoring is studied in this thesis. Some devices that have the capability to monitor disconnectors’motor current, are presented. Additionally, the obtained max motor current measurements areevaluated through a parametric and a non-parametric statistical test. The main challenge of this thesisis to show whether the behaviour of motor current can be an indicator regarding to the disconnector’scondition status.Hence, the impact of different factors on the behaviour of motor current is investigated. It is concludedthat disconnectors without a failure during the studied period are more likely to have max motorcurrent measurements higher than 8A and especially in the interval [10-12]A. The difference in motorcurrent of disconnectors with a work order and without failure is more significant in 2015/2016. Itseems that under the aforementioned values of max motor current, a disconnector is more probable tohave the capability to operate properly. It is also concluded that in case of malfunction “Mellanläge”,the value of max motor current is lower than 8A with higher probability and it maybe indicates aproblem of the studied disconnector.Through the comparison in pairs, it could be concluded that the effect of the external environmentalconditions is not so high on the behaviour of disconnectors’ max motor current measurements. Incontrast, it seems that the implementation of a work order, the number of operations and if adisconnector is installed more northerly in Zone 3 play a more significant role on the behaviour of thisdisconnector’s max motor current measurements. Consequently, based on the aforementioned results itis shown that some of the investigated factors could constitute an indicator whether a disconnector ismore or less probable to have the capability to operate properly.Finally, it is calculated the reduction in the interruption cost that could be achieved in case ofimplementation of motor current monitoring on Vattenfall’s remotely controlled distributeddisconnectors. / Under de senaste årtiondena har kraftnät blivit snabbt digitaliserad För att bidra till upprättandet hosSmart Grids och effektivt utvärdera de extraherade dubbelriktade data från kraftsystemetsinfrastruktur. Denna exjobbsrapport fokuserar på MV-nätet, eftersom dess design och drift harförändrats främst på grund av distribuerade produktionsanläggningar och ökad efterfrågan påinformation från intressenter. Därför utgör ”asset management’’ ett viktigt verktyg som kan öka elnätstillförlitligheten och styrning. Studier har visat att elnäts underhåll baserad på tillståndsövervakningpå kraftsystemkomponenter skulle kunna vara effektivare jämfört med tidsbaserade schemalagdaunderhåll.Detta exjobb fokuserar på MV-fjärrstyrda frånskiljare eftersom studier har visat att deras felfrekvensär dubbelt högre jämfört med manuella. Eftersom problem i manövrerbarhet och sekundär funktionkan orsaka allvarliga fel med hög frekvens, har studien fokuserats på motorströmövervakningen idetta exjobb. Vissa produkter som har förmåga att övervaka frånskiljares motorström, presenteras.Dessutom utvärderas de maximala motorströmsmätningarna genom både parametriskt och ickeparametrisktstatistiskt test. Huvudutmaningen i denna avhandling är att utreda om motors strömmarkan vara en indikator för frånskiljares tillstånd.Olika faktorer hos motorströmmar har också undersökts. Det dras slutsatsen att frånskiljare utanmisslyckande manövern under den studerade perioden är mer benägna att ha maximalamotorströmmar högre än 8A och speciellt i intervallet [10-12] A. Skillnaden i motors strömmar hosfrånskiljare med arbetsorder och utan fel är mer signifikant under åren 2015/2016. Det verkar som attenligt ovan nämnda värden på max motorström, är en frånskiljare mer sannolikt att fungera korrekt.Det kommer också fram till att i händelse av "Mellanläge" är värdet av max motorströmmar lägre än8A med högre sannolikhet, detta kan kanske indikera ett problem hos frånskiljaren.Genom jämförelsen kan man dra slutsatsen att effekten av de yttre miljöförhållandena inte är så högpå maximala motorströmmar hos frånskiljare. Däremot verkar det som om genomförandet av enarbetsorder, antalet operationer och om en frånskiljare är installerad i zon 3 spelar en viktig roll föruppförandet av denna frånskiljares maximala motors strömmen. På grundval av det ovan nämndaresultatet framgår det att några av de undersökta faktorerna kan utgöra en indikator på att om enfrånskiljare är mer eller mindre sannolikt att ha förmågan att fungera korrekt.Slutligen visar beräkningar att minskningen av avbrottskostnaden kan uppnås vid genomförande avmotorströmövervakning på Vattenfalls fjärrstyrda distribuerade frånskiljare.

<p>In the research presented in this licentiate thesis the surface specific technique Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy, VSFS, combined with the Langmuir trough has been utilized to investigate Langmuir monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposited mono- and bilayers of phospholipids. Their molecular structure, stability, and hydration were probed to gain additional understanding of important properties aiming at facilitating the use of such layers as model systems for biological membranes.</p><p>VSFS was applied to <em>in situ</em> studies of the degradation of Langmuir monolayers of 1,2-diacyl-phosphocholines with identical C-18 chains having various degrees of unsaturation. The time-dependent change of the monolayer area at constant surface pressure as well as the sum frequency intensity of the vinyl-CH stretch at the C=C double bonds were measured to monitor the degradation. It was shown that a rapid degradation of the monolayers of unsaturated phospholipids occurred when exposed to the laboratory air compared to the fully saturated lipid, and that the degradation could be inhibited by purging the ambient air with nitrogen. The degradation was attributed to oxidation mediated by reactive species in the air.</p><p>The molecular structure and order of Langmuir monolayers of 1,2-distearoyl-phosphocholine (18:0 PC) and their hydrating water were investigated at different surface pressures using VSFS. The spectroscopic data indicated a well ordered monolayer at all surface pressures with a more intense signal at higher pressures attributed to the subsequent increase of the number density and more ordered lipid molecules due to the tighter packing. Water molecules hydrating the headgroups or being in contact with the hydrophobic parts were observed and distinguished by their vibrational frequencies, and found to have different average orientations.</p><p>Additionally, monolayers of 18:0 PC, its fully deuterated analogue, and 1,2-distearoyl-phosphoserine (18:0 PS) were Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposited on CaF₂ substrates and VSFS was used to investigate the structure and order of the films as well as the hydrating water. The CH-region, water region, and lower wavenumber region containing phosphate, ester, carboxylic acid, and amine signals were probed to obtain a complete picture of the molecule. The data indicates that all deposited monolayers formed a well ordered and stable film and the average orientation of the aliphatic chains was determined using the antisymmetric methyl stretch.</p> / <p>I forskningen som presenteras i denna licentiatavhandling har den ytspecifika vibrationssumfrekvensspektroskopin, VSFS, använts tillsammans med Langmuirtråget för att studera Langmuir-monolager och Langmuir-Blod-gett (LB) deponerade monolager och bilager av fosfolipider. För att utvidga förståelsen av egenskaper som är viktiga för att underlätta användandet av dem som modellsystem för biologiska membran undersöktes såväl deras molekylära struktur som stabilitet och hydratisering.</p><p>VSFS användes för att genomföra <em>in situ</em>-studier av nedbrytningen av Langmuir-monolager av 1,2-diacyl-fosfokoliner med identiska 18 kolatomer långa sidokedjor med varierande antal omättade kol-kol-bindningar. För att övervaka nedbrytningen mättes såväl den tidsberoende förändringen av monolagernas area vid konstant yttryck som sumfrekevensintensiteten från dubbelbindningarnas CH-vibration. När monolagerna bestående av omättade fosfolipider utsattes för laboratorieluften bröts de ner hastigt jämfört med det helt mättade monolagret. Denna nedbrytning som sannolikt orsakades av reaktiva ämnen i luften kunde inhiberas fullständigt genom att ersätta den omgivande luften med kvävgas.</p><p>Den molekylära strukturen och ordningen hos Langmuir-monolager av 1,2-distearoyl-fosfokolin (18:0 PC) och deras hydratiseringsvatten undersöktes vid olika yttryck med VSFS. Den spektroskopiska datan visar att monolagerna är välordnade vid alla yttryck samt att sumfrekvenssignalens styrka ökar med ökande yttryck på grund av såväl det större antalet molekyler per ytenhet som den högre ordningen då molekylerna packas tätare. Vattenmolekyler som hydratiserar huvudgrupperna eller är i kontakt med hydrofoba delar och har olika medelorientering observerades och kunde identifieras genom sina vibrationsfrekvenser.</p><p>Vidare deponerades monolager av 18:0 PC, dess fullt deuterade analog och 1,2-distearoyl-fofsfoserin (18:0 PS) på substrat av CaF₂ och VSFS användes för att undersöka filmernas struktur och ordning såväl som hydratiseringsvattnet. CH- och vattenregionerna samt lågvågtalsområdet som innehåller fosfat-, ester-, karboxylsyra- och aminsignaler undersöktes för att få en fullständig bild av den molekylära strukturen. Data visar att alla deponerade monolager bildade en välordnad och stabil film och kolvätekedjornas medelorientering bestämdes med hjälp av signalen från den antisymmetriska metylvibrationen.</p> / QC 20100924