<p>Nisko-šumni pojačavač (NŠP) nalazi se u prijemnom delu bežičnog<br />primopredajnika neposredno nakon antene. NJegova uloga je da ulazni<br />signal određene frekvencije i male snage izdvoji i pojača iznad nivoa<br />šuma prijemnika. U okviru doktorske disertacije prikazane su i<br />opisane metode za projektovanje širokopojasnih (UWB) NŠP u CMOS<br />tehnologiji. Ukupno je predloženo devet novih konfiguracija NŠP. Na<br />osnovu dobijenih rezultata, u 0,18 &mu;m UMC CMOS tehnologiji<br />realizovan je i fabrikovan NŠP jednostavne topologije, koja<br />predstavlja zbir dva pristupa, pojačavačkog stepena kaskodne<br />strukture sa povratnom spregom i stepena sa višestrukim<br />iskorišćenjem struje. NŠP je projektovan za frekvencijski opseg od<br />3,1 do 5 GHz. Takođe, opisana je metoda za merenje parametara NŠP, a<br />zatim je i izvršena njegova karakterizacija.</p> / <p>In the transceiver chain the low noise amplifier (LNA) is placed in the frontend<br />of the receiver after the antenna. The LNA needs to isolate and amplify<br />received weak signal at a specific frequency above the noise level of the<br />receiver. In the scope of this doctoral dissertation methods for designing<br />ultra-wideband (UWB) LNA in CMOS technology are presented and<br />described. Nine new LNA configurations were proposed. Based on the<br />obtained results, simple LNA configuration, obtained by merging casode<br />feedback topology and current-reuse technique, was realized and fabricated<br />in 0.18 &mu;m UMC CMOS technology. The LNA is designed for the frequency<br />band from 3.1 to 5 GHz. In addition, the method for measurement LNA<br />parameters is described and the proposed LNA was characterized.</p>

Wireless Sensor Networks are the main representative of pervasive computing in large-scale physical environments. These networks consist of a large number of small, wireless devices embedded in the physical world to be used for surveillance, environmental monitoring or other data capture, processing and transfer applications. Ultra wideband has emerged as one of the newest and most promising concepts for wireless technology. Considering all its advantages it seems a likely communication technology candidate for future wireless sensor networks. This paper considers the viability of ultra wideband technology in wireless sensor networks by employing an IEEE 802.15.4a low-rate ultra wideband physical layer model in the OMNET++ simulation environment. An elaborate investigation into the inner workings of the IEEE 802.15.4a UWB physical layer is performed. Simulation experiments are used to provide a detailed analysis of the performance of the IEEE 802.15.4a UWB physical layer over several communication distances. A proposal for a cognitive, adaptive communication approach to optimize for speed and distance is also presented. AFRIKAANS : Draadlose Sensor Netwerke is die hoof verteenwoordiger vir deurdringende rekenarisering in groot skaal fisiese omgewings. Hierdie tipe netwerke bestaan uit ’n groot aantal klein, draadlose apparate wat in die fisiese wêreld ingesluit word vir die doel van bewaking, omgewings monitering en vele ander data opvang, verwerk en oordrag applikasies. Ultra wyeband het opgestaan as een van die nuutste en mees belowend konsepte vir draadlose kommunikasie tegnologie. As al die voordele van dié kommunikasie tegnologie in ag geneem word, blyk dit om ’n baie goeie kandidaat te wees vir gebruik in toekomstige draadlose sensor netwerke. Hierdie verhandeling oorweeg die vatbaarheid van die gebruik van die ultra wyeband tegnologie in draadlose sensor netwerke deur ’n IEEE 802.15.4a lae-tempo ultra wyeband fisiese laag model in die OMNET++ simulasie omgewing toe te pas. ’n Breedvoerige ondersoek word geloots om die fyn binneste werking van die IEEE 802.15.4a UWB fisiese laag te verstaan. Simulasie eksperimente word gebruik om ’n meer gedetaileerde analiese omtrent die werkverrigting van die IEEE 802.15.4a UWB fisiese laag te verkry oor verskillende kommunikasie afstande. ’n Voorstel vir ’n omgewings bewuste, aanpasbare kommunikasie tegniek word bespreek met die doel om die spoed en afstand van kommunikasie te optimiseer. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Au cours des dernières décennies, le monde a subi une révolution majeure qui a profondément affecté comment on utilise les réseaux de communication. De nouveaux services et applications ont été apparus, tels que les réseaux sociaux, les jeux en ligne ou le streaming en direct, qui exigent une augmentation constante de la capacité des systèmes optiques. La motivation de ce travail est donc d'étudier la mise en œuvre d'un nouvel amplificateur SOA à très large bande avec une bande passante de plus de 100 nm afin d’étendre la capacité du système. L'utilisation de l'amplification SOA change complètement le paradigme dans la conception d'un système optique puisque toutes les dégradations ajoutées par la SOA doivent être considérées. Ainsi, la recherche d'un modèle analytique ou numérique capable de caractériser la nature non linéaire de ce dispositif est d'abord étudiée. Ensuite, on montre comment un SOA bien conçu peut non seulement amplifier un signal à large bande, mais également surmonter certains des principaux inconvénients du SOA devant EDFA. Finalement, on évalue la capacité de ce nouveau UWB SOA pour les applications d'interconnexion de centres de données avec deux expériences en transmettant jusqu'à 115 Tbps de données dans une liaison à bande passante continue de 100 nm sur 100 km de fibre et en testant la stabilité du système avec cartes de ligne en temps réelle entre deux points de présence (POP) de Facebook déployés dans la région parisienne / Over the last few decades the world has undergone a major revolution that has deeply affected the way we use communication networks. New services and applications have appeared demanding a constant increase of the channel capacity. In this period, optical systems have been upgraded at pair with advanced signal processing techniques which have permitted the increase of the spectral efficiency approaching the system capacity to the fundamental limit. It is because is becoming extremely challenging to keep growing the system capacity by this means. In this work, an orthogonal direction is studied to further increase the fibre capacity: extending the optical bandwidth. With this purpose, the use of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) is investigated to be implemented in future ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. The use of SOA amplification changes completely the paradigm in the design of an optical system since all the impairments added by the SOA must be considered. In this work, we assess the reservoir model, a simple yet powerful model, to analyze numerically the nonlinear regime of the SOA for WDM systems. We also show for the first that the linewidth enhancement factor of an SOA can be estimated with a coherent receiver. Finally, it is also studied how the correlation between channels degrades significantly the performance of the SOA and the inclusion of a decorrelation fibre is investigated. The conception of a UWB system is then studied. We characterize a novel ultra-wideband SOA developed by the French project CALIPSO which presents high gain in a 100-nm optical bandwidth with high output saturation power and 6-8 dB of noise figure. We analyze its nonlinear regime for WDM systems and we show for QPSK and 16 QAM modulation formats that the input saturation power can be overtaken by serveral dBs without important nonlinear penalty. On the other hand, a novel technique is studied to compensate fibre nonlinearities in UWB systems: the multicarrier multiplexing, which tries to exploit the concept of symbol rate optimization. Finally, we assess the capabilities of this novel UWB SOA for data-centre interconnection applications with two experiments transmitting up to 113 Tbps data troughput in a 100-nm continuous bandwidth link over 100 km of fibre and then testings is stability with real-time line cards between two points of presence (POP)of Facebook deployed in the Paris area

Due to recent improvements, robots are more applicable in factories and various production lines where smoke, fog, dust, and steam are inevitable. Despite their advantages, robots introduce new safety requirements when combined with humans. Radars can play a crucial role in this context by providing safe zones where robots are operating in the absence of humans. The goal of this Master’s thesis is to investigate different clutter suppression methods for single radar sensor reflection data via digital signal processing. This was done in collaboration with ABB Jokab AB, Sweden. The calculations and implementation of the digital signal processing algorithms are made with Octave. A critical problem is false detection that could possibly cause irreparable damage. Therefore, a safety system with an extremely low false alarm rate is desired to reduce costs and damages. In this project, we have studied four different digital low pass filters: moving average, multiple-pass moving average, Butterworth, and window-based filters. The results are compared, and it is ascertained that all the results are logically compatible, broadly comparable, and usable in this context.

Passive sensors that vary its impedance per measured parameter may be used with surface acoustic wave (SAW) reflective transducers (SRT) for wireless acquisition of the measurand. The device is composed of two transducers, where one, which may be attached to an antenna, is used to launch the wave within the device substrate, and the other is where the sensor load is attached to. The latter is able to reflect the incident wave. How much power is reflected is determined by the attached sensor load. Amplitude variations as well as peak frequency variations of the SRT reflectivity response are explored in this thesis. SAW passive temperature sensors with an orthogonal frequency coded (OFC) time response were previously investigated and prove to be ideal for use in harsh environments. Each sensor is distinguishable from the other due to the OFC code embedded within its time response. However, this coding technique poses a difficulty in designing antennas for the sensor due to its inherently wide bandwidth, and capacitive, non-uniform input impedance. This work covers antenna design and testing for the 250MHz wireless temperature acquisition prototype with a 28% fractional bandwidth, and for the 912MHz system which has 10% fractional bandwidth. Apart from the tag, antennas for the transmitter and receiver were designed for 50 Ohm matching with the required bandwidth maintained. Wireless temperature acquisition runs for the 250MHz prototype were successfully performed and show good agreement with measurements made by a thermocouple. Since a transceiver for the 912MHz system is not complete, the performance of the antennas was gauged by observing the signal transmitted wirelessly by the SAW tag and by comparing this with the sensor time response measured directly by a vector network analyzer.

Diese Diplomarbeit stellt den Entwurf eines frequenzmodulierten Dauerstrichradars (FMCW) mit ultrabreitbandigem Frequenzbereich von 50 MHz bis 3 GHz unter Verwendung kommerziell verfügbarer Komponenten (COTS) für die Anwendung als Bodenradar in einer Mondlandeeinheit dar. Dazu werden dem Stand der Technik entsprechende Topologien zur Erzeugung ultrabreitbandiger Signale aufgezeigt und analysiert. Die theoretischen Hintergründe einer Aufteilung des Frequenzsweeps und der späteren Zusammensetzung des Beatsignals werden behandelt. Die Entwürfe der Schaltung, des Layouts und der Software werden erläutert. Bei der Charakterisierung des Radarsystems stellt sich heraus, dass die geforderten Eigenschaften unter dem Einfluss eines Temperaturbereichs von −40 °C bis 75 °C bzw. bei Bestrahlung mit einer Gesamtdosis bis 168 Gy erreicht werden können und die Verwendung von modernen COTS Komponenten die Performance nicht einschränkt. Abschließend werden Verbesserungsvorschläge für Hard- und Software gegeben, welche sich während der Arbeit mit dem System ergeben haben. / This thesis presents the design of a miniature frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar with a frequency range of 50 MHz to 3 GHz using only commercial off the shelf (COTS) components. The system is intended for use as ground penetrating radar (GPR) as part of a lunar lander. State of the art topologies for ultra wideband signal synthesis are presented and compared. The theoretical background of split frequency ramps and the thus required stitching of baseband signals is discussed. The schematic design, layout and software development is described. The characterization of the radar system shows that the specification is met within a temperature range of −40 °C to 75 °C and while exposition to radiation with an accumulated dose of up to 168 Gy. The use of COTS components does not impair the performance. Finally suggestions for hard- and software improvements are given, that resulted from working with the radar system.

Metamaterials are humanly engineered artificial electromagnetic materials which produce electromagnetic properties that are unusual, yet can be observed readily in nature. These unconventional properties are not a result of the material composition but rather of the structure formed. The objective of this thesis is to investigate and design smaller and wideband metamaterial-inspired antennas for personal communication applications, especially for WiMAX, lower band and higher band WLAN applications. These antennas have been simulated using HFSS Structure Simulator and CST Microwave Studio software. The first design to be analysed is a low-profile metamaterial-inspired CPW-Fed monopole antenna for WLAN applications. The antenna is based on a simple strip loaded with a rectangular patch incorporating a zigzag E-shape metamaterial-inspired unit cell to enable miniaturization effect. Secondly, a physically compact, CSRR loaded monopole antenna with DGS has been proposed for WiMAX/WLAN operations. The introduction of CSRR induces frequency at lower WLAN 2.45 GHz band while the DGS has provided bandwidth enhancement in WiMAX and upper WLAN frequency bands, keeping the radiation pattern stable. The next class of antenna is a compact cloud-shaped monopole antenna consisting of a staircase-shaped DGS has been proposed for UWB operation ranges from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The novel shaped antenna along with carefully designed DGS has resulted in a positive gain throughout the operational bandwidth. Finally, a quad-band, CPW-Fed metamaterial-inspired antenna with CRLH-TL and EBG is designed for multi-band: Satellite, LTE, WiMAX and WLAN.

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 < 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.

Near field imaging using microwaves in medical applications is of great current interest for its capability and accuracy in identifying features of interest, in comparison with other known screening tools. Many imaging methods have been developed over the past two decades showing the potential of microwave imaging in medical applications such as early breast cancer detection, analysis of cardiac tissues, soft tissues and bones. Microwave imaging uses non-ionizing ultra wideband (UWB) electromagnetic signals and utilises tissue-dependent dielectric contrast to reconstruct signals and images using radar-based or tomographic imaging techniques. Microwave imaging offers low health risk, low operational cost, ease of use and user-friendliness. This study documents microwave imaging experiments for early breast cancer detection and bone fracture detection using radar approach. An actively tuned UWB patch antenna and a UWB Vivaldi antenna are designed and utilised as sensing elements in the aforementioned applications. Both UWB antennas were developed over a range of frequency spectrum, and then characteristics were tested against their ability for microwave imaging applications by reconstructing the 3D Inversion Algorithm. An experiment was conducted using patch antenna to test the detection of variable sizes of cancer tissues based on a simple phantom consisting of a plastic container with a low dielectric material emulating fatty tissue and high dielectric constant object emulating a tumour, is scanned between 4 to 8 GHz with the patch antenna. A 2-D image of the tumour is constructed using the reflected signal response to visualize the location and size of the tumour. A Vivaldi antenna is designed covering 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. The antenna is tested via simulation for detecting bone fractures of various sizes and 2-D images are generated using reflected pulses to show the size of fracture. The Vivaldi antenna is optimised for early breast cancer detection and detailed simulated study is carried out using different breast phantoms and tumour sizes. Simulations are backed with the experimental investigation with the test setup used for patch antenna. Generated images for simulations and experimental investigation show good agreement, and show the presence of tumour with good location accuracy. Measurements indicate that both prototype microwave sensors are good candidates for tested imaging applications.

No description available.