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Background: The VItal siGns monItoring with continuous puLse oximetry And wireless cliNiCian notification aftEr surgery (VIGILANCE) study was a randomized controlled trial designed to assess the impact of continuous vital sign monitoring with alerts to nursing staff on the incidence of postoperative complications in surgical ward patients. Multiple factors interfered with the eHealth intervention implementation and conduct of the VIGILANCE study. Through examination of these challenges, the overall aim of this thesis was to help foster an understanding of the difficulties related to eHealth intervention implementation. The specific objectives were to identify issues related to implementation of intervention system of the VIGILANCE study, and to evaluate the influence of these issues on intervention adoption. Methods: During the VIGILANCE study, issues affecting the implementation of the intervention were documented on case report forms, alarm event forms, and a nursing feedback questionnaire. In this thesis, the issues were identified and evaluated using the Clinical Adoption Framework. Results: The key issues identified include nursing workflow changes, patient withdrawal, wireless network connectivity, false alarms, monitor malfunction, probe issues, and wireless network standards. These issues affected the service, system and information quality. As a result, these issues impacted ‘access’ through decreased ability of nurses to make complete use of the monitors; ‘care quality’ of the trial intervention through decreased effectiveness; and ‘productivity’ through interference in the coordination of care, and thus decreased clinical adoption of the monitoring system. Conclusion: Patient monitoring with eHealth technology in surgical wards has the potential to improve patient outcomes. However, proper planning that includes engagement of front-line nurses, installation of appropriate wireless network infrastructure, and use of comfortable cableless devices are required to maximize the potential of continuous monitoring. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The VIGILANCE study was a randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of continuous vital signs monitoring with alerts to nurses on the incidence of postoperative complications in surgical ward patients. This thesis identified and evaluated issues with implementation of wireless monitoring systems in the hospital. During VIGILANCE study issues affecting the intervention implementation were documented on case report forms, alarm event forms, and nursing questionnaires. Data related to these issues were explored using the Clinical Adoption Framework. Identified issues included nursing workflow changes, patient withdrawal, wireless network connectivity, false alarms, monitor malfunction, probe issues, and wireless network standards. The issues affected ‘access’ through decreased ability of nurses to make complete use of the monitors; ‘care quality’ of the intervention through decreased effectiveness; and ‘productivity’ by interfering in the care coordination. Future studies should aim to include front-line nurses, appropriate wireless network, and comfortable cableless devices in their planning.

In-phase and quadrature (I/Q) signal generation is often required in modern transceiver architectures, such as direct conversion or low-IF, either for vector modulation and demodulation, negative frequency recovery in direct conversion receivers, or image rejection. If imbalance between the I and Q channels exists, the bit-error-rate (BER) of the transceiver and/or the image rejection ratio (IRR) will quickly deteriorate. Methods for correcting I/Q imbalance are desirable and necessary to improve the performance of quadrature transceiver architectures and modulation schemes. This thesis presents the design and characterization of a monolithic 5-6 GHz Silicon Germanium (SiGe) inductor-capacitor (LC) tank voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with tunable polyphase outputs. Circuits were designed and fabricated using the Motorola 0.4 ìm CDR1 SiGe BiCMOS process, which has four interconnect metal layers and a thick copper uppermost bump layer for high-quality radio frequency (RF) passives. The VCO design includes full-wave electromagnetic characterization of an electrically symmetric differential inductor and a traditional dual inductor. Differential effective inductance and Q factor are extracted and compared for simulated and measured inductors. At 5.25 GHz, the measured Q factors of the electrically symmetric and dual inductors are 15.4 and 10.4, respectively. The electrically symmetric inductor provides a measured 48% percent improvement in Q factor over the traditional dual inductor. Two VCOs were designed and fabricated; one uses the electrically symmetric inductor in the LC tank circuit while the other uses the dual inductor. Both VCOs are based on an identical cross-coupled, differential pair negative transconductance -GM oscillator topology. Analysis and design considerations of this topology are presented with a particular emphasis on designing for low phase noise and low-power consumption. The fabricated VCO with an electrically symmetric inductor in the tank circuit tunes from 4.19 to 5.45 GHz (26% tuning range) for control voltages from 1.7 to 4.0 V. This circuit consumes 3.81 mA from a 3.3 V supply for the VCO core and 14.1 mA from a 2.5 V supply for the output buffer. The measured phase noise is -115.5 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset and a tank varactor control voltage of 1.0 V. The VCO figure-of-merit (FOM) for the symmetric inductor VCO is -179.2 dBc/Hz, which is within 4 dBc/Hz of the best reported VCO in the 5 GHz frequency regime. The die area including pads for the symmetric inductor VCO is 1 mm x 0.76 mm. In comparison, the dual inductor VCO tunes from 3.50 to 4.58 GHz (27% tuning range) for control voltages from 1.7 to 4.0 V. DC power consumption of this circuit consists of 3.75 mA from a 3.3 V supply for the VCO and 13.3 mA from a 2.5 V supply for the buffer. At 1 MHz from the carrier and a control voltage of 0 V, the dual inductor VCO has a phase noise of -104 dBc/Hz. The advantage of the higher Q symmetric inductor is apparent by comparing the FOM of the two VCO designs at the same varactor control voltage of 0 V. At this tuning voltage, the dual inductor VCO FOM is -166.3 dBc/Hz compared to -175.7 dBc/Hz for the symmetric inductor VCO -- an improvement of about 10 dBc/Hz. The die area including pads for the dual inductor VCO is 1.2 mm x 0.76 mm. In addition to these VCOs, a tunable polyphase filter with integrated input and output buffers was designed and fabricated for a bandwidth of 5.15 to 5.825 GHz. Series tunable capacitors (varactors) provide phase tunability for the quadrature outputs of the polyphase filter. The die area of the tunable polyphase with pads is 920 ìm x 755 ìm. The stand-alone polyphase filter consumes 13.74 mA in the input buffer and 6.29 mA in the two output buffers from a 2.5 V supply. Based on measurements, approximately 15° of I/Q phase imbalance can be tuned out using the fabricated polyphase filter, proving the concept of tunable phase. The output varactor control voltages can be used to achieve a potential ±5° phase flatness bandwidth of 700 MHz. To the author's knowledge, this is the first reported I/Q balance tunable polyphase network. The tunable polyphase filter can be integrated with the VCO designs described above to yield a quadrature VCO with phase tunable outputs. Based on the above designs I/Q tunability can be added to VCO at the expense of about 6 mA. Future work includes testing of a fabricated version of this combined polyphase VCO circuit. / Master of Science

The recent growth in the ambit of modern wireless communication and in particular WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) systems has created a niche for novel designs that have the capacity to send and/or receive arbitrary orthogonal polarizations. The designs should also be able to support dual-band functionality, while maintaining a compact structure. The first aim of this dissertation was thus to develop a dual-band single radiating element that can cover the 2.4 GHz (2.4 – 2.484 GHz) band and the 5.2 GHz (5.15 – 5.85 GHz) band for the IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11a WLAN standards respectively. Dual-frequency elements such as stacked-, notched- and dichroic patches have been considered, but due to the size and the high cross-polarization levels associated with these designs, the design process was propelled towards various dipole and monopole configurations. The attributes of various designs were compared, where the double Rhombus antenna pregnant with dual-band and dual-polarization potential was used as basis in the development of the DBDP (Dual-Band Dual-Polarized) antenna design. The single-element design exhibited wide bandwidths, good end-fire radiation patterns and relatively high gain over the 2.4/5.2 GHz bands. A two-element configuration was also designed and tested, to firstly increase the gain of the configuration and secondly to facilitate the transformation of the dipole design into a dual-polarized configuration. The second aim of this dissertation was to develop a dual-polarized array, while making use of only two ports, each pertaining to a specific polarization and to implement the design on a single-dielectric-layer substrate. Most dual-polarized structures such as circular, square and annular microstrip antenna designs only support one band, where multi-dielectric-layer structures are the norm. The disadvantages associated with multi-layered designs, such as fabrication difficulties, high costs, high back lobes and the size of the arrays, further supported the notion of developing an alternative configuration. The second contribution was thus the orthogonal interleaving of the two-element array configurations, to address the paucity of single-dielectric-layer dual-band dual-polarized designs that can be implemented with only two ports. This design was first developed and simulated with the aid of the commercial software package CST Microwave Studio® and the results were later corroborated with the measured data obtained from the Compact Antenna Range at the University of Pretoria. AFRIKAANS : Die onlangse groei in die area van moderne draadlose kommunikasie en met spesifieke verwysing na DLAN (Draadlose Lokale Area Netwerk) stelsels, het ‘n nis vir nuwe ontwerpe geskep. Daar word van hierdie nuwe ontwerpe die kapasiteit verlang om verskeie ortogonale polarisasies te stuur en/of te ontvang in samewerking met dubbel-band eienskappe, terwyl ‘n kompakte struktuur nogsteeds aandag moet geniet. Die eerste doel met hierdie verhandeling was dus die ontwikkeling van ‘n dubbel-band enkel stralingselement wat instaat is om die 2.4 GHz (2.4 – 2.484 GHz) band en die 5.2 GHz (5.15 – 5.85 GHz) band wat as die IEEE 802.11b en die IEEE 802.11a DLAN standaarde respektiewelik bekend staan, te bedek. Dubbel-frekwensie elemente soos onder andere die gepakte-, merkkepie- en dichromatiese strook antenne was as moontlike oplossings ondersoek, maar die grootte en hoë kruispolarisasie wat gewoonlik met hierdie ontwerpe gepaard gaan, het die ontwerpsproses in die rigting van verskeie dipool en monopool konfigurasies gestoot. Die aantreklike eienskappe van die verskeie ontwerpe was met mekaar vergelyk, waar die dubbel Rhombus antenna, verwagtend met dubbel-band dubbel-polarisasie potensiaal, as basis vir die ontwikkeling van die DBDP (Dubbel-Band Dubbel-Polarisasie) antenna ontwerp gebruik is. Die enkelelementontwerp het wye bandwydtes, goeie direktiewe stralingspatrone en relatiewe hoë wins oor die 2.4/5.2 GHz bande geopenbaar. Die twee-element konfigurasies was ook ontwerp en getoets om eerstens die wins van die konfigurasie te verhoog en tweedens om die transformasie na ‘n dubbel-gepolariseerde konfigurasie te fassiliteer. Die tweede doel van hierdie verhandeling was om ‘n dubbel-gepolariseerde elementopstelling met net twee poorte te ontwikkel, waar elkeen verantwoordelik is vir ‘n spesifieke polarisasie, en te implementeer op ‘n enkel-diëlektriese-laag substraat. Die meeste dubble-polarisasiestrukture, soos onder andere die sirkulêre-, vierkantige- en ringvormige antenne ontwerpe, kan net een frekwensieband onderhou en word gewoonlik met behulp van meervoudige-diëlektriese-laagstrukture geimplementeer. Die negatiewe eienskappe soos onder andere die vervaardigingsmoeilikhede, hoë kostes, hoë teruglobbe en die grootte van die meervoudige-elementopstellings wat aan hierdie meervoudige-diëlektriese-laagontwerpe behoort, het verder die denkbeeld van ‘n alternatiewe konfigurasie bekragtig. Die tweede hoofbydrae was dus die ortogonale insleuteling van die twee-element meervoudige-elementopstelling konfigurasies om die geringheid van enkel-diëlektriese-laag dubbel-band dubbel-polarisasie ontwerpe, wat net met twee poorte geïmplementeer kan word, te adresseer. Hierdie ontwerp was eers met behulp van die kommersiële sagtewarepakket CST Microwave Studio® ontwikkel en gesimuleer, waarna die resultate bevestig was deur meetings by die Kompakte Antenna Meetbaan van die Universiteit van Pretoria. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

隨著無線網路的興起，許多相關的研究議題也應運而生，利用無線網路(WLAN)對於使用者位置的判斷與追蹤就是其中相當熱門的一塊。經過近幾年的發展，室內WLAN定位誤差的進步空間已達到極限，其原因主要出在無線訊號傳播的物理性質所產生的侷限。然而，大部分擁有良好精準度的定位系統是建立在不切實際的人力成本上，故我們將著眼點放在如何減少收集大量訊號所耗費的人力，同時保持不錯的精準度。取得AP位置所消耗的人力資源也是我們考慮的一環。 因此，我們提出一套新的定位系統：首先建立少數的資料點，再透過推測基地台位置和插入機制來完成訊號資料庫的初步建置。然後在定位的同時收集使用者接收到連續的訊號強度，透過隱馬可夫鏈建立的模型，再配合其他演算法來更新訊號資料庫。實驗結果顯示，相較於其他兩個定位系統，我們的系統能夠減少最多的人力建置資源，並且達到有競爭力的定位精準度。除此之外，我們也分析了系統在使用舊的資料庫或是不同的實驗環境下，能夠展現怎樣的定位結果。 / Following the raise of Wireless LAN networks, there are a lot of relative research issues in today’s life. Tracking and locating mobile users in RF-based WLAN (IEEE 802.11) is a very important issue in location-based applications area. The error distances of indoor WLAN locating was decreased to approximately 1.5 meter in recent years. However, the improvement in accuracy was limited due to the nature of radio propagation. Many researches which contain precise accuracy were based on an impractical effort of collecting too much signal data which we usually called “calibration” in this area. So this thesis focuses on how to reduce the calibration efforts without losing too much accuracy. Confirming the allocation of access points is another kind of calibration effort we concerned. As a consequence, we proposed a new locating system: first we calibrated few points and utilized inferring AP’s position and interpolation to complete radio map. During location estimation phase, radio map could be updated dynamically using learning mechanism modeled by HMM and other algorithms. In the experimental results, we proved our system maintained a comparable accuracy under reducing much calibration effort than other two locating systems. Besides, we analyzed the performance of our system with elder radio map and in two different experimental environments.

The aim of this thesis project to design and implement a campus network based on IPv6, as IPv6 is the protocol of the future communication.There are many papers available which discuss upgrade from IPv4 to IPv6 and their side by side implementations and functionalities. Contrary to this we are working on running a network entirely based on IPv6. So we built this network infrastructure, monitored it and tested it.A network working on IPv6 is not just about a different addressing plan. Rather there are some serious questions. Network administrators are quite happy and comfortable with the current setup of IPv4. Would this IPv6 be able to provide them same facilities on one-to-one basis? If not, would it be upgrade or degrade on some functionality? Is there solution to every problem available or they would have to discover it themselves? All these and many more questions were faced and tackled in the course of this thesis.

Ultra wide band (UWB) is an extremely promising wireless technology for researchers and industrials. One of the most interesting is its high data rate and fading robustness due to selective frequency fading. However, beside such advantages, UWB system performance is highly affected by existing narrowband interference (NBI), undesired UWB signals and tone/multi-tone noises. For this reason, research about NBI cancellation is still a challenge to improve the system performance vs. receiver complexity, power consumption, linearity, etc. In this work, the two major receiver sections, i.e., analog (radiofrequency or RF) and digital (digital signal processing or DSP), were considered and new techniques proposed to reduce circuit complexity and power consumption, while improving signal parameters. In the RF section, different multiband UWB low-noise amplifier key design parameters were investigated like circuit configuration, input matching and desired/undesired frequency band filtering, highlighting the most suitable filtering package for efficient UWB NBI cancellation. In the DSP section, due to pulse transmitter signals, different issues like modulation type and level, pulse variety, shape and color noise/tone noise assumptions, were addressed for efficient NBI cancelation. A comparison was performed in terms of bit-error rate, signal-to-interference ratio, signal-to-noise ratio, and channel capacity to highlight the most suitable parameters for efficient DSP design. The optimum number of filters that allows the filter bandwidth to be reduced by following the required low sampling rate and thus improving the system bit error rate was also investigated.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Presently, the required data file to be loaded onto the Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) onboard the F-16 aircraft is done manually by the aircraft technicians, two to three hours prior to the actual flight time. This process should be automated. As such there is a need to look into the use of wireless transmission technology to complement or replace the manual method of loading the critical data file from the command station onto every F-16 aircraft. The present wireless technology is relatively mature and stable. In this thesis, the feasibility of incorporating and adapting this technology for use in the flight line environment is examined. The propagation effect in wireless transmission is also studied and recommendations proposed with regards to the installation of wireless facilities in the flight line. In addition, the EDNA, a portable maintenance aid that comes with the F-16 aircraft for loading the data file, has to be upgraded. Hence, a system feasibility study is carried out to adapt or upgrade the present equipment to wireless transmission capability. / Major, Republic of Singapore Air Force

La télécommunication radio mobile connait actuellement une évolution importante en termes de diversité de technologies et de services fournis à l'utilisateur final. Il apparait que cette diversité complexifie les réseaux cellulaires et les opérations d'optimisation manuelle du paramétrage deviennent de plus en plus compliquées et couteuses. Par conséquent, les couts d'exploitation du réseau augmentent corrélativement pour les operateurs. Il est donc essentiel de simplifier et d'automatiser ces taches, ce qui permettra de réduire les moyens consacrés à l'optimisation manuelle des réseaux. De plus, en optimisant ainsi de manière automatique les réseaux mobiles déployés, il sera possible de retarder les opérations de densification du réseau et l'acquisition de nouveaux sites. Le paramétrage automatique et optimal permettra donc aussi d'étaler voire même de réduire les investissements et les couts de maintenance du réseau. Cette thèse introduit de nouvelles méthodes de paramétrage automatique (auto-tuning) des algorithmes RRM (Radio Resource Management) dans les réseaux mobiles 3G et au delà du 3G. L'auto-tuning est un processus utilisant des outils de contrôle comme les contrôleurs de logique floue et d'apprentissage par renforcement. Il ajuste les paramètres des algorithmes RRM afin d'adapter le réseau aux fluctuations du trafic. Le fonctionnement de l'auto-tuning est basé sur une boucle de régulation optimale pilotée par un contrôleur qui est alimenté par les indicateurs de qualité du réseau. Afin de trouver le paramétrage optimal du réseau, le contrôleur maximise une fonction d'utilité, appelée aussi fonction de renforcement. Quatre cas d'études sont décrits dans cette thèse. Dans un premier temps, l'auto-tuning de l'algorithme d'allocation des ressources radio est présenté. Afin de privilégier les utilisateurs du service temps réel (voix), une bande de garde est réservée pour eux. Cependant dans le cas ou le trafic temps réel est faible, il est important d'exploiter cette ressource pour d'autres services. L'auto-tuning permet donc de faire un compromis optimal de la qualité perçue dans chaque service en adaptant les ressources réservées en fonction du trafic de chaque classe du service. Le second cas est l'optimisation automatique et dynamique des paramètres de l'algorithme du soft handover en UMTS. Pour l'auto-tuning du soft handover, un contrôleur est implémenté logiquement au niveau du RNC et règle automatiquement les seuils de handover en fonction de la charge radio de chaque cellule ainsi que de ses voisines. Cette approche permet d'équilibrer la charge radio entre les cellules et ainsi augmenter implicitement la capacité du réseau. Les simulations montrent que l'adaptation des seuils du soft handover en UMTS augmente la capacité de 30% par rapport au paramétrage fixe. L'approche de l'auto-tuning de la mobilité en UMTS est étendue pour les systèmes LTE (3GPP Long Term Evolution) mais dans ce cas l'auto-tuning est fondé sur une fonction d'auto-tuning préconstruite. L'adaptation des marges de handover en LTE permet de lisser les interférences intercellulaires et ainsi augmenter le débit perçu pour chaque utilisateur du réseau. Finalement, un algorithme de mobilité adaptative entre les deux technologies UMTS et WLAN est proposé. L'algorithme est orchestré par deux seuils, le premier est responsable du handover de l'UMTS vers le WLAN et l'autre du handover dans le sens inverse. L'adaptation de ces deux seuils permet une exploitation optimale et conjointe des ressources disponibles dans les deux technologies. Les résultats de simulation d'un réseau multi-systèmes exposent également un gain important en capacité.

<p>This report is a result of a thesis work done for Linköping University at Contraves Space AG in Zürich, Switzerland. The aim was to perform an analysis of 12 interface standards and construct a simple breadboard, which should function as a testsystem for the data communication interface MIL-STD-1553. </p><p>The conclusion of the extensive analysis is that SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553 and CAN are the most interesting interfaces for future data communication in spacecrafts. In the breadboard part of the work, a test system was built and data gathered with help from a demonstration program that came with one of the components.</p>