Switched Reluctance Machine (SRMs) are receiving significant attention for industries and homes in the last decade. Due to their rugged brushless design, high reliable and an outstanding performance over a wide speed range. The stator and rotor of an SRM have a double salient pole and the rotor has no windings and magnets, its torque generating is quite nonlinear and has high torque ripple. Therefore, sophisticated switching and control technologies are needed to improve its driving performance. The cost and performance of SRM drives are highly dependent on the converter topologies and motor structure, so that developments in the convert topologies have been made in parallel with motor design. The objective of this thesis is proposed three phase Switched Reluctance Machine using a fly back resistor C Dump Converter to replace the tradition Bridge Converter. It can reduce switching losses, to reduce converter production cost with a simpler circuit. At the end, a digital signal processor based control system is used to test the laboratory make drives .

This thesis presents a novel monolithic phased array implemented using the RF MEMS technology. The structure, which is designed at 15 GHz, consists of four linearly placed microstrip patch antennas, 3-bit distributed RF MEMS low-loss phase shifters, and a corporate feed network. The RF MEMS phase shifter employed in the system consists of three sections with a total of 28 unit cells, and it occupies an area of 22.4 mm &amp / #61620 / 2.1 mm. The performance of the phase shifters is improved using high-Q metal-air-metal capacitors in addition to MEMS switches as loading elements on a high-impedance coplanar waveguide transmission line. The phased array is fabricated monolithically using an in-house surface micromachining process, where a 1.2-&amp / #61549 / m thick gold structural layer is placed on a 500-&micro / m thick glass substrate with a capacitive gap of 2 &amp / #61549 / m. The fabrication process is simple, requires only 6 masks, and allows the implementation of various RF MEMS components on the same substrate, such as RF MEMS switches and phase shifters. The fabricated monolithic phased array occupies an area of only 6 cm &amp / #61620 / 5 cm. The measurement results show that the phase shifter can provide nearly 20&amp / #61616 / /50&amp / #61616 / /95&amp / #61616 / phase shifts and their eight combinations at the expense of 1.5 dB average insertion loss at 15 GHz. The phase shifters can be actuated with 16 V, while dissipating negligible power due to its capacitive operation. It is also shown by measurements that the main beam can be steered to 4&amp / #61616 / and 14&amp / #61616 / by suitable settings of the RF MEMS phase shifters.

This thesis presents the theory, design, fabrication, and measurement results of novel reconfigurable impedance tuner, phase shifter, and vector modulators using the RF MEMS technology. The presented circuits are based on triple stub topology, and it is shown both theoretically and experimentally in this thesis that it is possible to control the insertion phase and amplitude of the input signal simultaneously using this topology. The presented circuits are implemented using an in-house, surface micromachining fabrication process developed at METU, namely METU RF MEMS Fabrication Process, which is implemented using six masks on quartz substrates. The RF MEMS impedance tuner is designed to operate in 6-20 GHz frequency band, and it covers the Smith Chart with 1331 impedance points. The measurement results of 729 impedance points of the fabricated impedance tuner show that a wide Smith Chart coverage is obtained in the entire band. The RF MEMS phase shifter is designed to cover 0-360 degrees range 10 degree steps at 15 GHz center frequency. The measurement results of the fabricated phase shifter show that the average phase error is 1.7 degrees, the average insertion loss is -3.1 dB, and the average return loss is -19.3 dB for the measured 21 phase states. The phase shifter can also work up to 30 GHz and 40 GHz with average insertion losses of -5 dB and -8 dB, respectively. The designed RF MEMS vector modulator operates in 22.5-27.5 GHz band, and it has 3 amplitude and 8 phase states. The measurement results of the fabricated vector modulator show that the amplitude error is 0.5 dB, the phase error is 4 degrees, and the return loss is -15 dB on average among the 24 measured states at each of 22.5, 25, and 27.5 GHz frequencies.

This thesis presents fabrication of shunt, capacitive contact type RF MEMS switches which are designed according to given mm-wave performance specifications. The designed switches are modified for investigation in terms of reliability and lifetime. To observe the real-time performance of switches a time domain measurement setup is established and a CV (capacitance vs. voltage) curve measurement system is also included to measure CV curves, pull-in and hold-down voltages and the shifts of these due to actuations. By using the established setup reliability and lifetime measurements under different bias waveforms in different environments are performed. After investigation for the most suitable condition for improving lifetime long-term tests are performed and the outstanding result of more than 885 hours of operation under cycling bias waveform is obtained.

In this thesis, a switched-current sigma-delta modulator (SDM) with op-amp active integrator is proposed. The major study is focused on using the op-amp to reduce the input impedance for high speed and high solution and utilizes the dummy switch to decrease the clock feedthrough (CFT) error. We use a sample-and-hold circuit which consists of an op-amp active memory cell and a dummy switch circuit to implement the integrator. It is applied to the building blocks of SDM. The modulator is a second order sigma-delta modulator. A current comparator transforms the current signal into digital voltage signal. A single-bit digital-to-analog (D/A) feedback circuit is used to convert the one-bit digital output to the SI integrator .The modulator is designed in the current mode technique. The delta-sigma modulator simulates using the parameters of the TSMC 0.35£gm CMOS process. The simulation results show that the signal to noise plus distortion ratio (SNDR) is 72 dB, the sampling rate is 10.24MHz, the oversampling ratio is 128, the power consumption is 21mW, the dynamic range is about 70dB, and the power supply is 3.3V. Furthermore, the circuit is verified by cadence-hspice simulation.

This thesis attempts to read ¡§identity switch¡¨ in Gish Jen¡¦s Mona in the Promised Land as an exploration to the Asian American experience veiled by the multiculturalist ethnic commensurability. The research is divided into three chapters: ¡§Sleeping Racist Lover,¡¨ ¡§There is no World without Race and Class Walls¡¨ and ¡§The Figments of the Cosmopolitan America.¡¨ In Chapter One, I try to read the protagonist Mona Chang as the American born kid with no ethnic consciousness resulting in the funny and naive identity switch as a means to escape her innate cultural perplexity. In Chapter Two, the hindrances of this switch are disclosed during the interethnic interactions as to argue the possible setbacks of identity switch and the Asian American¡¦s being alienated from hegemonic black-white relation. In the final chapter, two ethnic alliances set upon the ethnic equality as to resist to the white mainstream oppression are analysed in attempt to argue that the multiculturalist embrace of differences of the minorities eventually falls into a white-black power relation, thereby alienating and silencing Asian Americans. Lastly, I argue that the seemingly funny identity switch on a cosmopolitan intent to de-ethnicise America ultimately discloses the Asian Americans¡¦ dislocation in the land.

The explosive growth of wireless communication market has led the development of low-cost, highly-integrated wireless communication systems. Even though most blocks in the front-end have successfully been integrated by using the CMOS technology, it is still a formidable challenge to integrate the entire front-end. Thus, the objective of this research is to demonstrate the feasibility of the integrated front-end by using improved circuit techniques as well as the improved process technologies. This dissertation proposes an improved control scheme to enhance the high-power handling capability of an antenna switch. As a part of this research, an antenna switch controller for a GaAs antenna switch was first developed to enhance the performances of the GaAs antenna switch by using the boosted control voltage. To enhance the efficiency of the front-end, efficiency improvement techniques for the antenna switch controller has also been studied. With the suggested efficiency improvement techniques, a fully-integrated antenna switch was implemented using the SOI technology, and exceeding performances over many commercial products for watt-level high-power applications have been successfully demonstrated. As an effort to improve the efficiency of a power amplifier, a linear envelope detector was also implemented, and the results show that the envelope detector is suitable for dynamic biasing of the power amplifier. The research presented in this dissertation, thus, provides a low-cost and high-performance solution for highly-integrated RF front-end used in various wireless communication systems.

Cells switch phenotypes or behaviors to adapt to various environmental stimuli. Often there are multiple alternative phenotypes, hence a cell chooses one phenotype among them, a process which we term a ``decision switch'. At the cellular level, decision switches are governed by gene regulation, hence they are intrinsically stochastic. Here we investigate two aspects of decision switches: how copy number of genetic components facilitates multiple phenotypes and how temporal dynamics of gene regulation with stochastic fluctuations affect switching a cell fate. First, we demonstrate that gene expression can be sensitive to changes in the copy number of genes and promoters, and alternative phenotypes may arise due to bistability within gene regulatory networks. Our analysis in phage-lambda-infected E. coli cells exhibit drastic change in gene expression by changing the copy number of viral genes, suggesting phages can determine their fates collectively via sharing gene products. Second, we examine decision switches mediated by temporal dynamics of gene regulation. We consider a case when temporal gene expression triggers a corresponding cell fate, and apply it to the lysis-lysogeny decision switch by phage lambda. Our analysis recapitulates the systematic bias between lysis and lysogeny by the viral gene copy number. We also present a quantitative measure of cell fate predictability based on temporal gene expression. Analyses using our framework suggest that the future fate of a cell can be highly correlated with temporal gene expression, and predicted if the current gene expression is known.

Our target is the engineering of a light-gate molecular switch for the artificial ion channel, which will enable artificial ion channels to operate successfully in microfluidic systems, biomimetic sensors and various technical devices. A stable but reversible switch mechanism design is crucial, because the artificial ion channels known to date are lacking any control mechanism. Our artificial molecular switch is divided in two parts: the body part (calixarene) and a gate part based on light-responsive azo groups. The key to the controlling mechanism is the conformational change between cis and trans isomers, which is translated into movement of the gate. The gate is very robust and can either block or let the ions pass the molecular switch. Patch clamp investigations indicate successful integrations of gated artificial ion channels into lipid membranes. / Unser Ziel ist die Entwicklung eines lichtinduzierten Molekularschalters für künstliche Ionenkanäle, der als Nanobauteil für die Entwicklung von Sensoren in mikrofluiden Systemen, in biomimetischen Sensoren und in verschiedenen technischen Baugruppen eingesetzt werden soll. Für ein stabiles und zugleich reversibles System ist der Schaltmechanismus entscheidend, da die künstlichen Ionenkanäle bisher – soweit bekannt – keinen Regelmechanismus besitzen. Unser künstlicher molekularer Schalter setzt sich aus einem Rumpfteil (Calix[4]resorcinaren) und einer Schalteinheit, basierend auf lichtempfindlichen Azogruppen, zusammen. Die Schalteinheit ist sehr widerstandsfähig, kann den Ionenfluss blockieren oder die Ionen durch den Ionenkanal passieren lassen. Durch Bestrahlung wird die Kanalaktivität unterdrückt und reversibel wiederbelebt. Mittels Patch-Clamp-Untersuchungen wird das Schalten der synthetischen Ionenkanäle überprüft.

<p>This thesis presents a solution enabling lower losses in hydraulic actuator systems. A mobile fluid power system often contains several different actuators supplied with a single load sensing pump. One of the main advantages is the need of only one system pump. This makes the fluid power system compact and cost-effective.</p><p>A hydraulic load often consists of two ports, e.g. motors and cylinders. Such loads have traditionally been controlled by a valve that controls these ports by one single control signal, namely the position of the spool in a control valve. In this kind of valve, the inlet (meter-in) and outlet (meter-out) orifices are mechanically connected. The mechanical connection makes the system robust and easy to control, at the same time as the system lacks flexibility. Some of the main drawbacks are</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>The fixed relation </strong>between the inlet and outlet orifices in most applications produce too much throttling at the outlet orifice under most operating conditions. This makes the system inefficient.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>The flow directions </strong>are fixed for a given spool position; therefore, no energy recuperation and/or regeneration ability is available.</p><p>In this thesis a novel system idea enabling, for example, recuperation and regeneration is presented. Recuperation is when flow is taken from a tank, pressurized by external loads, and then fed back into the pump line. Regeneration is when either cylinder chambers (or motor ports) are connected to the pump line. Only one system pump is needed. Pressure compensated (load independent), bidirectional, poppet valves are proposed and utilized.</p><p>The novel system presented in this thesis needs only a position sensor on each compensator spool. This simple sensor is also suitable for identification of mode switches, e.g. between normal, differential and regenerative modes. Patent pending.</p><p>The balance of where to put the functionality (hardware and/or software) makes it possible to manoeuvre the system with maintained speed control in the case of sensor failure. The main reason is that the novel system does not need pressure transducers for flow determination. Some features of the novel system:</p><p><strong>Mode switches </strong>The mode switches are accomplished without knowledge about the pressures in the system</p><p><strong>Throttle losses </strong>With the new system approach, choice of control and measure signals, the throttle losses at the control valves are reduced</p><p><strong>Smooth mode switches </strong>The system will switch to regenerative mode automatically in a smooth manner when possible</p><p><strong>Use energy stored in the loads </strong>The load, e.g. a cylinder, is able to be used as a motor when possible, enabling the system to recuperate overrun loads</p><p>The system and its components are described together with the control algorithms that enable energy efficient operation. Measurements from a real application are also presented in the thesis.</p>