Les travaux de recherche s'inscrivent dans le cadre du projet intitulé « PAC-ID Grande Distribution » du Pôle de compétitivité « Solutions Communicantes Sécurisées ». Ce projet, d'une durée de trente mois, vise à promouvoir le déploiement en volume de la technologie RFID en bande UHF dans le secteur de la grande distribution. Il rassemble plusieurs entreprises ayant un rôle clé dans le domaine de la RFID. En effet, comme utilisateur potentiels finaux de la technologie RFID, on retrouve aussi bien un acteur important du monde de la grande distribution, en l'occurrence l'entreprise Carrefour, qu'un représentant des PME, Malongo. Les entreprises IBM et Orange se focalisent sur la gestion de données RFID et l'implémentation du système informatique. A côté de cela, une nouvelle génération de puces RFID est développée par la société ST Microelectronics. L'expertise des sociétés IER et TAGSYS dans le domaine de la fabrication aussi bien d'étiquettes que de lecteurs RFID permet de faire le lien entre l'ensemble de ces acteurs et d'apporter des réponses techniques aux différents besoins métiers exprimés. A l'intérieur de ce projet d'envergure, l'intervention du Laboratoire de Conception et d'Intégration des Systèmes (LCIS) sur un plan d'avantage exploratoire, a consisté à développer un procédé original de conception automatisé de tags RFID adaptés aux contraintes de la grande distribution. Ce travail nous a permis de monter les performances de la méthodologie de conception d'antennes pour les tags RFID en bande UHF introduite. Une application permettant d'automatiser la conception d'antennes basées sur l'utilisation d'un logiciel de simulation RF a été introduite. Cette application pourrait parfaitement être implémentée sur le logiciel lui-même afin de venir compléter les outils de CAO déjà présent. / The research is part of the project entitled "PAC-ID Grande Distribution" under the competitiveness cluster "Secured Communicating Solutions". This project, for a period of thirty months, aims to promote the UHF RFID mass volume deployment for retail application. It brings together several companies with an important work in the RFID field. Indeed, as a potential end user of the RFID technology, there is a major player in the world of retail, in this case the company Carrefour, a representative of Malongo. IBM and Orange companies focus on data management and RFID system implementation. Besides, a new RFID chip generation is developed by ST Microelectronics. The expertise of companies IER and TAGSYS in the field of manufacturing labels and readers can make the connection between all of these actors and technical answers to different business needs expressed. Within this major project, the contribution of the Laboratory LCIS is to develop a novel method of automated design of RFID tags suitable for constraints supermarkets. This work has allowed us to raise the performance of the introduced antenna design methodology for RFID tags at UHF band. An application to automate the antenna design based on the use of RF simulation software was introduced, tested and validated. This could well be implemented on the software itself to complete the CAD tools already present.

Los sistemas de comunicación audiovisual han experimentado, desde los inicios de la televisión en blanco y negro, una constante evolución tecnológica encaminada a mejorar tanto la calidad como la cantidad de los servicios. Sin embargo, debe tenerse en cuenta que el elevado número de usuarios y el costo de los equipos terminales, ocasiona que la evolución tecnológica casi siempre se realice de forma progresiva, manteniendo cierto grado de compatibilidad con los sistemas precedentes e introduciendo de forma paulatina mejoras y servicios adicionales.

This paper describes the design of an inexpensive UHF transceiver which leverages some of the recently developed commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. The initial goal is to implement digital voice transmit and receive function, although the design can accommodate a wide range of digital communication and telemetry applications. The handheld transceiver transmits 5 watts of power in the 430-435 MHz UHF band. A 1.2 kHz wide GFSK modulation format is used, generated by a Silicon Labs radio chip. The recently released Raspberry Pi Zero processor implements a low bit rate audio coding which conforms to the Codec2 standard. The transceiver fits in a 3 cm x 8 cm x 14 cm volume. It is powered by two 18650 lithium ion cells, and draws approximately 1 watt of power during receive, and 6 watts during transmission.

Virginia Tech, Utah State University, and the University of Washington were teamed to form the Ionospheric Observation Nanosat Formation to investigate formation-flying requirements for multiple spacecraft missions. A communication subsystem for the mission will comprise an uplink, downlink and a satellite-to-satellite crosslink. A linearly polarized resonant loop antenna mounted above the bottom surface of the spacecraft was selected for a possible satellite uplink receive antenna. The resonant loop was chosen to satisfy the physical requirements of the spacecraft whild still achieving efficient operation for a UHF signal. A full-scale prototype was fabricated to measure frequency dependent characteristics of the antenna. A gamma match and a quarter-wave sleeve balun transformer were integrated to the system to minimize the power reflected at the antenna input and to isolate the antenna from the feed line. The uplink antenna demonstrated sufficient performance; however, the final bandwidth of less than one percent will require additional tuning as other subsystems are integrated into the final flight-ready prototype. / Master of Science

There are significant uncertainties in the calculation of photometric and ionization masses of meteors, particularly those derived from meteor head echoes observed by high power, large aperture radars. Simultaneous observations of meteors with the EISCAT UHF tristatic system and narrow field two-station intensified video were conducted in October 2007; 11 hours of data produced four useful meteors observed on all three radar receivers and both cameras. The positions and speeds calculated on the two systems generally agree to within the observational uncertainty. The photometric and ionization masses for each meteor were calculated using several values of luminous efficiency and ionization probability from literature, and all of these masses were found to agree to within the estimated error in the methods. More observations are required to select among the various values of ionization coefficient and luminous efficiency. / <p>Ytterligare finansiär NASA för den kanadensiska delen</p> / meteor

ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA / Traditional approaches to constructing 3D structural electronics with conductive and dielectric materials include ink-jet printed, silver-bearing ink and fine copper wire meshes. One approach combines stereo-lithographic 3D-printed photo-polymers with direct-printed silver-bearing conductive inks. Results have shown 3D conductive structures with conductivities in the range 2x10⁶ to 1x10⁷ S/m using annealing temperatures ranging from 110°C to 150°C for 10 to 15 minutes. However, the stereo-lithographic approach suffers from the high cost of the printer and structural deformation during annealing. This paper presents a new method for 3d printing high conductivity metal alloys using consumer-grade 3D printer. The design and construction of the necessary modification will be presented in addition to the new 3D design process. The method yields metal structures with expected conductivities exceeding 2.6x10⁶ S/m. The process is performed without an annealing step, so the polymeric structural material is not exposed to high temperatures for any prolonged time. A UHF ISM band antenna is constructed for an RFID application using this method, the antenna performance is measured, and the results are compared simulations in Ansys HFSS. This new method can reduce total cost, and several low melting-point alloys could raise the conductivity.

La radiogoniométrie consiste à mesurer l’angle d’incidence de signaux électromagnétiques. Elle a pour applications principales le contrôle du spectre et la guerre électronique. Dans le domaine des réseaux d’antennes pour la radiogoniométrie, de nouvelles problématiques sont apparues alors que les algorithmes de traitement d’antenne se perfectionnent. Ces dernières concernent la largeur de bande, la compacité et la diversité de polarisation. De précédents travaux ont initié la démarche de conception de telles antennes et réseaux pour la radiogoniométrie. L’objectif de ce travail de recherche a consiste en premier lieu a proposer une antenne de dimensions réduites opérant dans les bandes V/UHF et présentant une diversité de polarisation. Par la suite, il s’est agi de concevoir un réseau fonctionnel de radiogoniométrie intégrant l’antenne développe. Une antenne planaire de dimensions 150mm x 150mm (λ/4 x λ/4) a alors été conçue et réalisée entre 500 MHz et 3000 MHz. Sa mise en réseau permet des performances angulaires de l’ordre de 2° et moins sur la même bande pour des dimensions de 260mm (diamètre) x 150mm (hauteur) soit λ/2,3 x λ/4. Par la même occasion, un absorbant de faible épaisseur (25mm soit λ/24) a été développé et mesuré. Il permet une augmentation du rapport avant/arrière d’au moins 10dB de l’antenne développe sur sa bande de fonctionnement. / Radio direction finding (DF) allows for the measurement of the direction of arrival of incoming electromagnetic signals. Its main applications include spectrum monitoring and electronic warfare. DF antennas and arrays are subject to new problematics (bandwidth, compactness and polarization diversity) while DF algorithms have kept on improving. Previous works have initiated the design of such antennas and arrays. This work aims at designing an antenna with reduced dimensions for the VHF and UHF frequency bands and with a polarization diversity. This antenna shall then be integrated in a functional DF array. For this purpose, a planar antenna has been designed and measured in the 500-3000 MHz frequency band. Its final dimensions are 150mm x 150mm (λ/4 x λ/4). This antenna has then been integrated in the final DF array whose accuracy on the same frequency band is of the order of 2° for a final size of 260mm (diameter) x 150mm (height), that is λ/2,3 x λ/4. This study has also allowed for the design of a low-profile absorber (with a height of 25mm, that is λ/24 at its lowest frequency of operation). An increase of 10dB in the front to back ratio of the proposed antenna has been enabled by this absorber on its whole frequency band.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1988 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper describes the design, test and the analysis of the test results of a new type S-band FM telemetry transmitter. Compared with the modulator adopting conventional fundamental crystal direct modulation, the transmitter which adopts UHF fundamental crystal direct modulation has a comparatively better modulation characteristics and a higher center frequency stability. The test results show that the deviation sensitivity of the transmitter is up to 400KHz/Vrms, frequency response is DC~200 KHz, total harmonic distortion is 3% and the center frequency stability is ten to the minus fifth power within the range of - 30~+70°c. Because of the high operating frequency of the modulator, the complicacy of the frequency multiplier has been requced, design of circuitry simplified and harmonic and spurious outputs has been improved to a great extent.

The UHF band between 470-790 MHz, currently occupied by digital ter- restrial TV (DTT) distribution in Europe, is widely regarded as a premium spectrum band for providing mobile coverage. With the exponential increase in wireless data traffic in recent years, there has been growing interests in gaining access to this spectrum band for wireless broadband services. The secondary access in TV White Space is considered as one cost-effective way to reuse the spectrum unoccupied by the primary DTT network. On the other hand, the declining influence of DTT and the converging trends of video con- sumption on TV and mobile platforms are new incentives for the regulator to reconsider the optimal utilization of the UHF broadcast band. The proposal to re-farm the UHF band for a converged content distribution network was born under theses circumstances. This thesis intends to develop a methodology for evaluating the technical performance of these options for utilizing UHF broadcast band and quantify- ing their gains in terms of achievable extra capacity and spectrum savings. For the secondary access in TV white space, our study indicates a considerable po- tential for low power secondary, which is mostly limited by the adjacent chan- nel interference generated from the densely deployed secondary devices due to the cumulative effect of multichannel interference. On the other hand, this potential does not translate directly into capacity for a WiFi-like secondary system based on CSMA/CA protocol, as the network congestion and self- interference within the secondary system has a greater impact on the network throughput than the primary interference constraint. Our study on the cellular content distribution network reveals more po- tential benefits for re-farming the UHF broadcast band and reallocating it for a converged platform. This platform is based on cellular infrastructure and can provide TV service with the same level of quality requirement as DTT by delivering the video content via either broadcast or unicast as the situa- tion dictates. We have developed a resource manage framework to minimize its spectrum requirement for providing TV service and identified a significant amount of spectrum that can be reused by the converged platform to provide extra mobile broadband capacity in urban and sparsely populated rural areas. Overall, we have arrived at the conclusion that the concept of cellular con- tent distribution in a re-farmed UHF band shows a more promising prospect than the secondary access in TV white space in the long run. Nevertheless, low power secondary is still considered as a flexible and low-cost way to exploit the underutilized spectrum in the short term, despite its uncertainty in future availability. On the other hand, the re-farming of UHF broadcast band is a long and difficult regulation process with substantial opposition from the in- cumbent.The results from this study could serve as input for future regulatory decisions on the UHF band allocation and cost-benefit analysis for deploying new systems to access this spectrum band. / <p>QC 20140609</p> / EU FP7 QUASAR / EU FP7 METIS

Aujourd’hui, le besoin grandissant d’une électronique autonome et discrète accentue l’intérêt et le développement des technologies passives d’identification automatique sans contact.Dans ce contexte, les technologies de type RFID UHF se heurtent à la nécessité d’adapter cette technologie à des environnements complexes et hétérogènes. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, des solutions RFID innovantes ont été investiguées pour le développement de dispositifs RFID UHF insensibles à la variation de l’environnement. La démarche scientifique suivie aborde plusieurs aspects tels que la caractérisation des matériaux, à l’aide d’une technique flexible de mesure permettant des mesures in-situ des caractéristiques radioélectriques. Suite à cette phase, nous présentons la conception d’antennes compactes large bande fonctionnelles en environnement hétérogène et peu sensibles à la variation de l’environnement. Une phase de tests vient ensuite valider expérimentalement notre approche. Cette démarche a été appliquée à une problématique industrielle à laquelle sont confrontés les acteurs du domaine verrier. Des antennes adaptées sur verre sont modélisées et validées expérimentalement. Les solutions RFID ainsi développées présentent un fonctionnement indépendant de la constitution du support de verre et tolérant la présence de liquide, permettant de lever la contrainte de dysfonctionnement des dispositifs RFID à proximité des liquides. Nous présentons également des travaux menés dans le cadre d’intégration d’antennes biocompatibles et biodégradables à base de polymères conducteurs, contribuant ainsi à la généralisation des solutions proposées pour la traçabilité à base d’électronique ubiquitaire. / Nowadays, the growing need of an autonomous and discrete electronic for traceability requirement, accentuate the interest for the development of contactless and automatic passives items identification (AUTO ID). In this context of growing interest for the development of these technologies, the expansion of the RFID UHF technologies encounters limitations to have a standard solution adapted to heterogeneous environments. Within the framework of this PHD, we propose an innovative RFID UHF solutions with broadband operation, compactness and capable to operate in heterogeneous surrounding. We also investigate the integration of these solutions with nonconventional materials supporting manufacturing constraints. The scientific approach takes into account different aspects such as the characterization and implementation of specific materials; we first developed a new radio electric characterization process with a flexible capability which permits in-situ measurements of geometrically complex substrates. Therefore, we present a new analysis approach for the optimization of broadband and compact RFID UHF tags that can operate insensibly in heterogeneous environment. In perspective, we propose a new antenna based on biocompatible and biodegradable polymers contributing to the development of the proposed solutions to the ubiquitous and green electronics.