This thesis introduces the circuit and system design of interactive Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. IoT has the vision of connectivity for anything, at anytime and anywhere. One of the most important characteristics of IoT is the automatic and massive interaction of real physical world (things and human) with the virtual Internet world.RFID tags integrated with sensors have been considered as one suitable technology for realizing the interaction. However, while it is important to have RFID tags with sensors as the input interaction, it is also important to have RFID tags with displays as the output interaction.Display interfaces vary based on the information and application scenarios. On one side, remote and centralized display interface is more suitable for scenarios such as monitoring and localization. On the other side, tag level display interface is more suitable for scenarios such as object identification and online to offline propagation. For tag level display, though a substantial number of researches have focused on introducing sensing functionalities to low power Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) RFID tags, few works address UHF RFID tags with display interfaces. Power consumption and integration with display of rigid substrate are two main challenges.With the recent emerging of Electronic Paper Display (EPD) technologies, it becomes possible to overcome the two challenges. EPD resembles ordinary ink on paper by characteristics of substrate flexibility, pattern printability and material bi-stability. Average power consumption of display is significantly reduced due to bi-stability, the ability to hold color for certain periods without power supplies. Among different EPD types, Electrochromic (EC) display shows advantage of low driving voltage compatible to chip supply voltage.Therefore this thesis designs a low power UHF RFID tag integrated in 180 nm CMOS process with inkjet-printed EC polyimide display. For applications where refresh rate is ultra-low (such as electronic label in retailing and warehouse), the wireless display tag is passive and supplied by the energy harvested from UHF RF wave. For applications where refresh rate is not ultra-low (such as object identification label in mass customized manufacturing), the wireless display tag is semi-passive and supplied by soft battery. It works at low average power consumption and with out-of-battery alert. For remote and centralized display, the limitations of uplink (from tags to reader) capacity and massive-tag information feedback in IoT scenarios is the main challenge. Compared to conventional UHF RFID backscattering whose data rate is limited within hundreds of kb/s, Ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission have been verified with the performance of Mb/s data rate with several tens of pJ/pulse energy consumption.Therefore, a circuit prototype of UHF/UWB RFID tag replacing UHF backscattering with UWB transmitter is implemented. It also consists of Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and Electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes for healthcare applications of real-time remote monitoring of multiple patients ECG signals. The ECG electrodes are fabricated on paper substrate by inkjet printing to improve patient comfort. Key contribution of the thesis includes: 1) the power management scheme and circuit design of passive UHF/UWB RFID display tag. The tag sensitivity (the input RF power) is -10.5 dBm for EC display driving, comparable to the performance of conventional passive UHF RFID tags without display functions, and -18.5 dBm for UWB transmission, comparable to the state-of-the-art performance of passive UHF RFID tag. 2) communication flow and circuit design of UHF/UWB RFID tag with ECG sensing. The optimum system throughout is 400 tags/second with 1.5 KHz ECG sampling rate and 10 Mb/s UWB pulse rate. / <p>QC 20151012</p>

Through-the-wall Imaging (TWI) is crucial for various applications such as law enforcement, rescue missions and defense. TWI methods aim to provide detailed information of spaces that cannot be seen directly. Current state-of-the-art TWI systems utilise ultra-wideband (UWB) signals to simultaneously achieve wall penetration and high resolution. These TWI systems transmit signals and mathematically back-project the reflected signals received to image the scenario of interest. However, these systems are diffraction-limited and encounter problems due to multipath signals in the presence of multiple scatterers. Time reversal (TR) methods have become popular for remote sensing because they can take advantage of multipath signals to achieve superresolution (resolution that beats the diffraction limit). The Decomposition Of the Time-Reversal Operator (DORT in its French acronym) and MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) methods are both TR techniques which involve taking the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of the Multistatic Data Matrix (MDM) which contains the signals received from the target(s) to be located. The DORT and MUSIC imaging methods have generated a lot of interests due to their robustness and ability to locate multiple targets. However these TR-based methods encounter problems when the targets are behind an obstruction, particularly when the properties of the obstruction is unknown as is often the case in TWI applications. This dissertation introduces a novel total sub-MDM algorithm that uses the highly acclaimed MUSIC method to image targets hidden behind an obstruction and achieve superresolution. The algorithm utilises spatio-temporal windows to divide the full-MDM into sub-MDMs. The summation of all images obtained from each sub-MDM give a clearer image of a scenario than we can obtain using the full-MDM. Furthermore, we propose a total sub-differential MDM algorithm that uses the MUSIC method to obtain images of moving targets that are hiddenbehind an obstructing material.

The thesis is focused on special corrugated reflectors for ultra-wideband antennas. Corrugated reflectors are divided into a type H and a type E. Both these types are mutually combined. All those reflectors are simulated and subsequently analyzed. The thesis also deals with different types of broadband dipoles, which are completed by investigated types of reflectors. Created reflector antennas are then compared. For antennas exhibiting the best parameters, we performed simulations of the transmission between two antennas. For the simulations, we used CST Microwave Studio. Selected antennas were manufactured and measured. Consequent simulations were aimed to detect differences between the simulated and measured results.

No description available.

This thesis demonstrates the further development of an ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse generator and of an UWB antenna. Custom prototypes of these devices were initially developed for an ongoing research project. The project topic is a compact and portable concealed weapons detection (CWD) radar system to find objects such as firearms, knives, and grenades hidden on persons as they pass by. The system uses the UWB pulse generator as a transmitter, while the UWB antenna radiates the pulse and receives the corresponding backscatter from targets and other objects. Initial device prototypes do not perform adequately according to project specifications. A key specification is of adequate operation over the entire 0.5 GHz to 5 GHz frequency band, where adequate operation is defined distinctly for the antenna and pulse generator. In this work, empirical investigations of both devices are performed using techniques such as simulation, fabrication, and measurement. Through these investigations, the designs of the devices have been incrementally modified. Measured performance data suggest that the research has yielded designs with substantially improved bandwidth as a result. Bandwidth increases from 3.31 GHz to 4.36 GHz (31.7%) for the pulse generator and from 0.46 GHz to 4.98 GHz (983%) for the antenna are demonstrated. Future work is needed to establish the effects of fabrication tolerance, component tolerance, and human error on the variation of the observed device performance. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / This thesis is about the improvement of a radio antenna and a transmitter. These are ultimately intended as components in a system for detecting weapons (such as firearms, knives, etc.) concealed within the clothing or bags of nearby persons. The detection happens by transmitting specific radio signals which interact harmlessly with a person being scanned, and then are received back by the system. This is a form of radio detection and ranging (RADAR). The research on these devices has consisted of computer simulations and real-life measurements. As a result, it appears that the transmitter and radio antenna have been improved to be more suitable for the desired application than they were originally.

Gait analysis is the systematic study of human walking. Clinical gait analysis is the process by which quantitative information is collected for the assessment and decision-making of any gait disorder. Although observational gait analysis is the therapist's primary clinical tool for describing the quality of a patient's walking pattern, it can be very unreliable. Modern gait analysis is facilitated through the use of specialized equipment. Currently, accurate gait analysis requires dedicated laboratories with complex settings and highly skilled operators. Wearable locomotion tracking systems are available, but they are not sufficiently accurate for clinical gait analysis. At the same time, wireless healthcare is evolving. Particularly, ultra wideband (UWB) is a promising technology that has the potential for accurate ranging and positioning in dense multi-path environments. Moreover, impulse-radio UWB (IR-UWB) is suitable for low-power and low-cost implementation, which makes it an attractive candidate for wearable, low-cost, and battery-powered health monitoring systems. The goal of this research is to propose and investigate a full-body wireless wearable human locomotion tracking system using UWB radios. Ultimately, the proposed system should be capable of distinguishing between normal and abnormal gait, making it suitable for accurate clinical gait analysis. / Ph. D.

Near field imaging using microwave in medical applications has gain much attention recently as various researches show its high ability and accuracy in illuminating object comparing to the well-known screening tools such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), digital mammography, ultrasound etc. This has encourage and motivate scientists continue to exploit the potential of microwave imaging so that a better and more powerful sensing tools can be developed. This thesis documents the development of antenna design for microwave imaging application such as breast cancer detection. The application is similar to the concept of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) but operating at higher frequency band. In these systems a short pulse is transmitted from an antenna to the medium and the backscattered response is investigated for diagnose. In order to accommodate such a short pulse, a very wideband antenna with a minimal internal reflection is required. Printed monopole and planar metal plate antenna is implemented to achieve the necessary operating wide bandwidth. The development of new compact printed planar metal plate ultra wide bandwidth antenna is presented. A generalized parametric study is carried out using two well-known software packages to achieve optimum antenna performance. The Prototype antennas are tested and analysed experimentally, in which a reasonable agreement was achieved with the simulations. The antennas present an excellent relative wide bandwidth of 67% with acceptable range of power gain between 3.5 to 7 dBi. A new compact size air-dielectric microstrip patch-antenna designs proposed for breast cancer detection are presented. The antennas consist of a radiating patch mounted on two vertical plates, fed by coaxial cable. The antennas show a wide bandwidth that were verified by the simulations and also confirmed experimentally. The prototype antennas show excellent performance in terms the input impedance and radiation performance over the target range bandwidth from 4 GHz to 8 GHz. A mono-static model with a homogeneous dielectric box having similar properties to human tissue is used to study the interaction of the antenna with tissue. The numerical results in terms the matching required of new optimised antennas were promising. An experimental setup of sensor array for early-stage breast-cancer detection is developed. The arrangement of two elements separated by short distance that confined equivalent medium of breast tissues were modelled and implemented. The operation performances due to several orientations of the antennas locations were performed to determine the sensitivity limits with and without small size equivalent cancer cells model. In addition, a resistively loaded bow tie antenna, intended for applications in breast cancer detection, is adaptively modified through modelling and genetic optimisation is presented. The required wideband operating characteristic is achieved through manipulating the resistive loading of the antenna structure, the number of wires, and their angular separation within the equivalent wire assembly. The results show an acceptable impedance bandwidth of 100.75 %, with a VSWR &lt; 2, over the interval from 3.3 GHz to 10.0 GHz. Feasibility studies were made on the antenna sensitivity for operation in a tissue equivalent dielectric medium. The simulated and measured results are all in close agreement.

The ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has a vast unlicensed frequency spectrum, which can support precise indoor positioning in orders of centimeters. The features of UWB signals can be utilized for variety of applications. In this project first we present an empirical channel models to analyze the localization accuracy of the UWB technology for interactive electronic gaming (Ping-Pong) in Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Obstructed LOS (OLOS) scenarios. Then we introduce a new concept that we refer to as micro-gesture detection to handle the more refined motions of the hand, such as rotation, while one antenna is held by the user using features of UWB signal. We use four specific features of the UWB signals: time of arrival, power of the first peak, total power, and the Root-Mean Square (RMS) of the delay spread, for this purpose. As the hand rotates the position of the antenna in the hand and the external antenna changes from LOS to OLOS. We demonstrate that features of the UWB signals are more useful than the RSS signal of the Wi-Fi to detect this class of micro-gestures. We foresee this micro-gesture detection capabilities become helpful for the people with limited ability or visually impaired for implementation of simplified sign language to communication with electronic devices located away from a person. We compare gesture detection using multiple features of the UWB signal with traditional gesture detection using the received signal strength (RSS) of the Wi-Fi signal.

Inductors are extensively used in the design of radio-frequency circuits. In the last decade, the integration of passive components, especially inductors on silicon chips, has led to the widespread development and implementation of Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) in CMOS technologies. However, on-chip passive inductors occupy a large silicon chip area and hardly scale down with technology scaling. Therefore, on-chip passive inductors become formidable obstacles to the realization of highly dense RFICs to be integrated with other highly dense digital circuits on a single chip using a common fabrication process. In recent years, researchers have focused on replacing passive inductors with transistor-only active circuits, namely active inductors. Active inductors can be realized with only a few transistors, which scale down with technology scaling. Therefore, they occupy a fraction of the chip area of their passive counterparts, and can be implemented densely in CMOS processes. Unlike passive inductors, bias dependent operations of active inductors allow for the tuning of their inductance and quality factor Q, and in turn, tuning the performance parameters of RFICs. This thesis focuses on the design and development of passive inductorless CMOS RFICs for ultra-wideband (UWB) receiver front-ends using active inductors. A new Q-enhanced and a new bandwidth-extended tunable active inductors are designed. Using the Q-enhanced active inductor, two tunable UWB low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) (two-stage and three-stage UWB LNAs), a UWB mixer and a wideband local-oscillator (LO) driver are designed. Active inductors are utilized to develop a novel wideband active shunt-peaking technique that decreases high-frequency losses to yield a flat gain over a wide bandwidth. A tunable multiband-UWB front-end integrating a two-stage UWB LNA, and a pair of UWB mixers driven by a pair of wideband LO drivers, is fabricated in a 90nm digital CMOS process. The passive inductorless two-stage UWB LNA, three-stage UWB LNA and UWB front-end occupy chip areas of only 0.0114mm2, 0.0227mm2, and 0.1485mm2, respectively. The active CMOS UWB front-end exhibits a measured flat gain of 22.5dB over 2.5-8.8 GHz bandwidth, and its tunability allows for varying the gain and bandwidth. / Integrated Circuits and Systems

No description available.