This thesis is concerned with the study of transient scattering of acoustic waves by an obstacle in an infinite domain, where the scattered wave is represented in terms of time domain boundary layer potentials. The problem of finding the unknown solution of the scattering problem is thus reduced to the problem of finding the unknown density of the time domain boundary layer operators on the obstacle’s boundary, subject to the boundary data of the known incident wave. Using a Galerkin approach, the unknown density is replaced by a piecewise polynomial approximation, the coefficients of which can be found by solving a linear system. The entries of the system matrix of this linear system involve, for the case of a two dimensional scattering problem, integrals over four dimensional space-time manifolds. An accurate computation of these integrals is crucial for the stability of this method. Using piecewise polynomials of low order, the two temporal integrals can be evaluated analytically, leading to kernel functions for the spatial integrals with complicated domains of piecewise support. These spatial kernel functions are generalised into a class of admissible kernel functions. A quadrature scheme for the approximation of the two dimensional spatial integrals with admissible kernel functions is presented and proven to converge exponentially by using the theory of countably normed spaces. A priori error estimates for the Galerkin approximation scheme are recalled, enhanced and discussed. In particular, the scattered wave’s energy is studied as an alternative error measure. The numerical schemes are presented in such a way that allows the use of non-uniform meshes in space and time, in order to be used with adaptive methods that are based on a posteriori error indicators and which modify the computational domain according to the values of these error indicators. The theoretical analysis of these schemes demands the study of generalised mapping properties of time domain boundary layer potentials and integral operators, analogously to the well known results for elliptic problems. These mapping properties are shown for both two and three space dimensions. Using the generalised mapping properties, three types of a posteriori error estimators are adopted from the literature on elliptic problems and studied within the context of the two dimensional transient problem. Some comments on the three dimensional case are also given. Advantages and disadvantages of each of these a posteriori error estimates are discussed and compared to the a priori error estimates. The thesis concludes with the presentation of two adaptive schemes for the two dimensional scattering problem and some corresponding numerical experiments.

Project PANOPTES (http://www.projectranoptes.org) is aimed at establishing a collaboration between professional astronomers, citizen scientists and schools to discover a large number of exoplanets with the transit technique. We have developed digital camera based imaging units to cover large parts of the sky and look for exoplanet transits. Each unit costs approximately $5000 USD and runs automatically every night. By using low-cost, commercial digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, we have developed a uniquely cost-efficient system for wide field astronomical imaging, offering approximately two orders of magnitude better etendue per unit of cost than professional wide-field surveys. Both science and outreach, our vision is to have thousands of these units built by schools and citizen scientists gathering data, making this project the most productive exoplanet discovery machine in the world.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo comparativo entre análises no domínio do tempo e análises espectrais, como forma de sugerir uma abordagem alternativa para o projeto de pontes de seção celular submetidas à ação de terremotos. Com esse propósito, desenvolveu-se um programa em linguagem JAVA para a geração de sismos artificiais, usando como base o Eurocode 8. A saída do programa foi utilizada para o desenvolvimento de um estudo de caso, que consiste em uma modelagem simplificada no software ADINA, de um vão de 21 m da Ponte Alverca, em Portugal. Após a extração e comparação de resultados dos dois métodos, é possível perceber que o método alternativo proposto - no domínio do tempo, que consiste na aplicação de acelerogramas artificiais ao modelo - possui resultados bastante coerentes com a análise espectral, além de ser mais recomendado se efeitos geométricos ou fisicamente não lineares forem considerados na modelagem. / This work presents a comparative study between time-domain analysis and spectral analysis, as a way of suggesting an alternative approach for treating cell section bridges subjected to earthquakes. To reach this goal, it was developed a program in JAVA language for the artificial earthquakes generation, using the Eurocode 8 as a basis. The program output was used for a case study that consists in a simplified modeling using ADINA software, of a twenty-one-meter-long span of Alverca Bridge, in Portugal. After the results extraction of both methods, it is possible to notice that the alternative method - in the time-domain, which consists of the application of artificial accelerograms to the model - has fairly consistent results with spectral analysis, not to mention that it is the most suitable one, in case geometrical or physical non-linearities are considered in the modelling.

Dans un contexte de réduction des tailles de transistors dans les technologies CMOS très avancées entraînant la réduction des tensions d’alimentation et par conséquent des dynamiques disponibles pour la représentation des signaux analogiques, ce travail de thèse vise à proposer une alternative à la représentation des données dans le domaine de l’amplitude. La solution qui a été retenue est une représentation de la donnée dans le domaine temporel.Dans ce manuscrit nous étudions à la fois la conversion d’une donnée analogique dans le domaine temporel via, notamment, un convertisseur analogique numérique basé sur un oscillateur contrôlé en tension mais aussi les possibilités de calculs sur des signaux supports d’une information déjàcodée dans le domaine temporel.Nous proposons à l’issu de ce travail à la fois une méthode pour numériser une information temporel afin de pouvoir effectuer des calculs complexes avec, une méthode « d’extraction du résidu » pour améliorer les performances d’un VCO-based ADC en termes de résolution par rapport à la bande passante et une architecture de « convertisseur hybride » permettant d’adapter sonfonctionnement entre un mode dégradé asynchrone et peu consommant et un mode performant synchrone et plus gourmand en énergie tout en mettant en avant le potentiel de ces solutions au travers de simulations dont les modèles se basent sur la technologie CMOS FDSOI en 28 nm. / Advanced CMOS nodes trend to reduce the size of transistors hence reducing the power supply voltages and consequently available dynamics for the representation of analog signals. This work aims at proposing a data representation alternative which is usually done by an amplitude value. The chosen solution is to use a time-domain representation.In this thesis, we study both the use of a VCO-based ADC to convert an analog data into a time-domain one and a calculating method using data already encoded into the time domain.The three pillars of this thesis are a method to digitize a time-domain data so as to do more complex calculations, a method with a « residue extraction » allowing us to improve VCO-based ADCs performance in terms of resolution for a given bandwidth and an innovative architecture of a hybrid ADC which can adjust its operation switching between an asynchronous low-performance mode (which is a low power mode) and a synchronous high-performance mode (which is more energy consuming). The potential of these methods is pointed out by means of simulations that mimic the behavior of the 28 nm FDSOI CMOS technology.

New Quasi-optical sensor technology, based on the millimetre and submillimetre band of the electromagnetic spectrum, is actually being implemented for many commercial and scientific applications such as remote sensing, astronomy, collision avoidance radar, etc. These novel devices make use of integrated active and passive structures usually as planar arrays. The electromagnetic design and computer simulation of these new structures requires novel numerical techniques. The Finite Difference Time Domain method (FDTD) is well suited for the electromagnetic analysis of integrated devices using active non-linear elements, but is difficult to use for large and/or periodic structures. A rigorous revision of this popular numerical technique is performed in order to permit FDTD to model practical quasi-optical devices. The system impulse response or discrete Green's function (DGF) for FDTD is determined as a polynomial then the FDTD technique is reformulated as a convolution sum. This new alternative algorithm avoids Absorbing Boundary Conditions (ABC's) and can save large amounts of memory to model wire or slot structures. Many applications for the DGF can be foreseen, going beyond quasi-optical components. As an example, the exact ABC based on the DGF for FDTD is implemented for a single grid wall is presented. The problem of time domain analysis of planar periodic structures modelling only one periodic cell is also investigated. Simple Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBC) can be implemented for FDTD, but they can not handle periodic devices (such as phased shift arrays or dichroic screens) which produce fields periodic in a 4D basis (three spatial dimensions plus time). An extended FDTD scheme is presented which uses Lorentz type coordinate transformations to reduce the problem to 3D. The analysis of non-linear devices using FDTD is also considered in the thesis. In this case, the non linear devices are always model using an equivalent lumped element circuit. These circuits are introduced into the FDTD grid by means of the current density following an iterative implicit algorithm. As a demonstration of the technique a quasi-optically feed slot ring mixer with integral lens is designed for operation at 650 GHz.

The thesis which is hereby presented describes a study of the numerical modelling of the coupled interaction of nanostructures with electromagnetic fields in the range of microwaves. This is a very ambitious task and requires a thorough and rigorous implementation of new algorithms designed to this purpose. The first issue to be encountered is the characterisation and the physical understanding of the behaviour of a nanostructure. The term itself, nanostructure, defines any device which has a nanometric size in at least one dimension, regardless of its material and geometry, hence it is a very wide definition. Carbon Nanotubes (CNT), quantum dots and quantum wells fall into this category, for example, and in electronics these structures are generally composed of semiconductor materials, like Silicon or Gallium Arsenide. The first step to take, in order to model such objects from an electronics point of view, is to solve the Schrodinger equation. The Schrodinger equation is a very general formula, widely used in quantum physics, which, when provided with a certain electrical potential in a material, determines the behaviour of the electrons in this material. Needless to say, the electrical potential is the DNA of a material or, in other words, it is the physical property which affects the propagation of electrons and therefore makes a material conducting or non-conducting. Nanostructures are often composed of several materials, hence the potential is not constant and, with opportune geometries, it is possible, in principle, to guide the electron currents through the device, as, for example, a channel in a MOSFET. This principle holds for very small structures where the electron transport can be considered ballistic, i.e. when the structures are smaller than the free mean path of the particle. The behaviour of the electrons is affected both by external factors, such as temperature or applied electric and magnetic fields, and internal factors, such as the electron mobility or the doping concentration, which are dependent on the used materials. This parameters play a very important role whilst modelling the behaviour of particles such as electrons and in this work the main focus is the study of the impact of external electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic fields (EM fields) are composed of an electric field component and of a magnetic field component, which can be analysed separately in order to better understand the response of nanostructures to their application. A rigorous analysis is presented by showing numerical results, obtained with the modelling of the Schrodinger equation, compared with the expected theoretical results, exploiting simple structures, where it is possible to calculate the solutions analytically. The second part of thesis focuses on the impact of the EM fields on the nanostructure, hence the combined effect of both electric and magnetic fields affecting the electrons' propagation, and the mutual coupling of the fields with the quantum effects. Indeed the study of nanodevices for microwave applications requires to consider the contribution of a parameter called quantum current density, which accounts for the quantum effects generated by the structure. This is normally ignored in conventional devices because the quantum contributions are negligible but, by using opportune materials and opportune geometries, these currents become relevant and they may have an impact on the propagation of the EM fields. For this reason a consistent part of the thesis is dedicated to investigate the mutual coupling between EM fields and quantum effects, by implementing the Maxwell-Schrodinger coupled model. A chapter is dedicated to the novel approaches taken in order to tackle the issues and the limits of the numerical implementation; in particular two solutions are presented, nonuniform domains and the parallelisation of the algorithm. These approaches are vital whilst modelling numerically such physical problems since the required computational capacity increases with the accuracy requirements. Solving the presented algorithms conventionally would limit the potential of the method and thus a thorough study has been made in order to improve the efficiency of the simulations. In the last chapter, three different scenarios are presented, each one of them showing different features of the coupled model. The results are illustrated and discussed, including the limits due to the chosen approximations. References to the analytical solutions are provided in order to validate the obtained numerical results.

by Ng Chi-Keung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-134). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.2 / 摘要 --- p.3 / Acknowledgements --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.7 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Packaging Effects of Integrated Circuits --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Structure of the IC Package --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- Microstrip Discontinuities --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1 --- Basic Theory --- p.19 / Chapter 3.2 --- Stability Criterion --- p.25 / Chapter 3.3 --- Formulation of Source --- p.30 / Chapter A. --- Source Function --- p.30 / Chapter (i) --- Sinusoidal --- p.30 / Chapter (ii) --- Gaussian Pulse --- p.31 / Chapter B. --- Source Realization --- p.36 / Chapter (i) --- Electric Field Source --- p.36 / Chapter (ii) --- Lumped Source --- p.38 / Chapter (iii) --- Current Source --- p.40 / Chapter C. --- Source Placement --- p.41 / Chapter 3.4 --- Parameter Extraction --- p.42 / Chapter A. --- Voltage and Current --- p.42 / Chapter B. --- Characteristic Impedance --- p.44 / Chapter C. --- Effective Dielectric Constant --- p.45 / Chapter D. --- Scattering Parameters --- p.46 / Chapter 3.5 --- Termination and Boundary Treatment --- p.48 / Chapter A. --- Perfect Electric Conductor (PEC) --- p.48 / Chapter B. --- Perfect Magnetic Conductor (PMC) --- p.49 / Chapter C. --- Interface between Two Materials --- p.50 / Chapter 3.6 --- Perfectly Matched Layer (PML) --- p.54 / Chapter A. --- Theory of PML in Three Dimensions --- p.56 / Chapter B. --- Incorporation of PML as Absorbing Boundary Condition (ABC) --- p.65 / Chapter C. --- Discretization of Maxwell's Equations in PML --- p.73 / Chapter 3.7 --- Flowcharts --- p.75 / Chapter A. --- Free Space Radiation by a Dipole Antenna --- p.77 / Chapter B. --- Parameters of a Microstrip Line --- p.79 / Chapter C. --- Scattering Parameters of Planar Network --- p.85 / Chapter 3.8 --- Summary --- p.87 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Effects of Ground Via Allocation --- p.88 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.88 / Chapter 4.2 --- Simulation and Experimental Results --- p.91 / Chapter 4.3 --- Equivalent Circuit Modelling --- p.108 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.124 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Conclusions --- p.125 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Recommendation for Future Work --- p.126 / References --- p.127 / Publication --- p.134

This thesis presents studies of novel terahertz photonic devices, including photoconductive optoelectronic devices and guided-wave components, aimed at the development of next-generation terahertz systems. In chapter 2, a scalable interdigitated THz transmitter is designed to increase the output power and compared with a conventional 50 μm coplanar transmitter. In chapter 3, we compare four different receivers with different antenna geometries in terms of bandwidth and sensitivity. Then we describe a photoconductive near-field detector with a subwavelength aperture and its system integration and characterization. In chapter 4, a parallel metal plate waveguide is designed with an integrated step inside the waveguide that can couple to higher order TM modes efficiently from the TEM mode. In this chapter, we also experimentally and numerically study a 2-dimensionally tapered parallel plate waveguide, by which a free-space THz beam can be focused into a deep subwavelength-scale volume. In chapter 5, a parallel thin dielectric film waveguide is used to explore the guiding mechanism of an antiresonant optical reflection waveguide. Cylindrical silica single capillaries and a microstructured capillary, which guide in a similar way, are characterized in terms of mode profiles and attenuation. In chapter 6, we study oblique transmission through freestanding thin nickel films, which are perforated with periodic conical hole arrays. Surface modes can be supported by both metallic surfaces with different nonlinear dispersion curves, which results in spectral interferences in a near-field region when the surface modes couple out of the waveguide into free space.

"Localization inside the human body using Radio Frequency (RF) transmission is gaining importance in a number of applications such as Wireless Capsule Endoscopy. The accuracy of RF localization depends on the technology adopted for this purpose. The two most common RF localization technologies use Received Signal Strength (RSS) and Time-Of-Arrival (TOA). This research first provides bounds for accuracy of localization of a Endoscopy capsule inside the human body as it moves through the gastro-Intestinal track with and without randomness in transmit power using RSS based localization with a triangulation algorithm. It is observed that in spite of presence of a large number of anchor nodes; the localization error is still in range of few cm, which is quite high; hence we resort to TOA based localization. Due to lack of a widely accepted model for TOA based localization inside human body we use a computational technique for simulation inside and around the human body, named Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD). We first show that our proprietary FDTD simulation software shows acceptable results when compared with real empirical measurements using a vector network analyzer. We then show that, the FDTD method, which has been used extensively in all kinds of electromagnetic modeling due to its versatility and simplicity, suffers seriously because of its demanding requirement on memory storage and computation time, which is due to its inherently recursive nature and the need for absorbing boundary conditions. In this research we suggest a novel computationally efficient technique for simulation using FDTD by considering FDTD as a Linear Time Invariant (LTI) system. Then we use the software to simulate the TOA of the narrowband and wideband signals propagated inside the human body for RF localization to compare the accuracies of the two using this method. "

In the 21st century, the proliferation of steer-by-wire systems has become a central issue in the automobile industry. With such systems there is often an objective to minimise vibrations on the steering wheel to increase driver comfort. Nevertheless, steering wheel vibration is also recognised as an important medium that assists drivers in judging the vehicle's subsystems dynamics as well as to indicate important information such as the presence of danger. This has led to studies of the possible role of vibrational stimuli towards informing drivers of environment conditions such as road surface types. Numerous prior studies were done to identify how characteristics of steering wheel vibrational stimuli might influence driver road surface detection which suggested that there is no single, optimal, acceleration gain that could improve the detection of all road surface types. There is currently a lack of studies on the characteristics of transient vibrations of steering wheel as appear to be an important source of information to the driver road surface detection. Therefore, this study is design to identify the similarity characteristics of transient vibrations for answering the main research question: "What are the time-domain features of transient vibrations that can optimise driver road surface detection?" This study starts by critically reviewing the existing principles of transient vibrations detection to ensure that the identified transient vibrations from original steering wheel vibrations satisfy with the definition of transient vibrations. The study continues by performing the experimental activities to identify the optimal measurement signal for both identification process of transient vibrations and driver road surface detection without taking for granted the basic measurement of signal processing. The studies then identify the similarity of transient vibrations according to their time-domain features. The studies done by performing the high-dimensional reduction techniques associated with clustering methods. Result suggests that the time-domain features of transient vibrations that can optimise driver road surface detection were found to consist of duration (Δt), amplitude (m/s2), energy (r.m.s) and Kurtosis.