M.Ing. (Electrical And Electronic Engineering) / In this dissertation, an investigation into reducing Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) through design is presented. Root generation mechanisms of Electromagnetic Interference are often neglected during the design process and later treated symptomatically. Mitigation of Electromagnetic Interference at source often reduces cost and physical size of electronics. This dissertation demonstrates the process and results by which schematic balance mitigates EMI. In addition, the introduction of Geometric Balance and physically designing circuits to be Geometrically Symmetrical are presented and tested to determine whether the design produces mitigating EMI results. Multiple Printed Circuit Boards (PCB’s) were developed and tested against each other to demonstrate schematic balance and other EMI generation mechanisms. The final PCB was designed to be Geometrically Symmetrical and the test results compared. The results illustrate the varying performance of each PCB due to their differing design. The Geometrically Symmetrical PCB presented the best results due to various improvements which include physical layout size and semiconductor placement. An additional important phenomenon discovered was the amount of EMI generated during MOSFET Driver operation. This contributed to a significant amount of EMI during the no-load phase of testing.

Abstract Multiuser demodulation algorithms for centralized receivers of asynchronous direct-sequence (DS) spread-spectrum code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems in frequency-selective fading channels are studied. Both DS-CDMA systems with short (one symbol interval) and long (several symbol intervals) spreading sequences are considered. Linear multiuser receivers process ideally the complete received data block. The approximation of ideal infinite memory-length (IIR) linear multiuser detectors by finite memory-length (FIR) detectors is studied. It is shown that the FIR detectors can be made near-far resistant under a given ratio between maximum and minimum received power of users by selecting an appropriate memory-length. Numerical examples demonstrate the fact that moderate memory-lengths of the FIR detectors are sufficient to achieve the performance of the ideal IIR detectors even under severe near-far conditions. Multiuser demodulation in relatively fast fading channels is analyzed. The optimal maximum likelihood sequence detection receiver and suboptimal receivers are considered. The parallel interference cancellation (PIC) receiver is demonstrated to achieve better performance in known channels than the decorrelating receiver, but it is observed to be more sensitive to channel coefficient estimation errors than the decorrelator. At high channel loads the PIC receiver suffers from bit error rate (BER) saturation, whereas the decorrelating receiver does not. Choice of channel estimation filters is shown to be crucial if low BER is required. Data-aided channel estimation is shown to be more robust than decision-directed channel estimation, which may suffer from BER saturation caused by hang-ups at high signal-to-noise ratios. Multiuser receivers for dynamic CDMA systems are studied. Algorithms for ideal linear detector computation are derived and their complexity is analyzed. The complexity of the linear detector computation is a cubic function of KL, where K and L are the number of users and multipath components, respectively. Iterative steepest descent, conjugate gradient, and preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithms are proposed to reduce the complexity. The computational requirements for one iteration are a quadratic function of KL. The iterative detectors are also shown to be applicable for parallel implementation. Simulation results demonstrate that a moderate number of iterations yields the performance of the corresponding ideal linear detectors. A quantitative analysis shows that the PIC receivers are significantly simpler to implement than the linear receivers and only moderately more complex than the conventional matched filter bank receiver.

Abstract Spread spectrum communication systems may be affected by other types of signals called outliers. These coexisting signals are typically narrow (or concentrated) in the considered domain. This thesis considers two areas of outlier detection, namely the concentrated interference suppression (IS) and concentrated signal detection. The focus is on concentrated signal extraction using blind, iterative and low-complex consecutive mean excision (CME) -based algorithms that can be applied to both IS and detection. A summary of results obtained from studying the performance of the existing IS methods, namely the CME, the forward CME (FCME) and the transform selective IS algorithms (TSISA), is presented. Accurate threshold parameter values for the FCME algorithm are defined. These accurate values are able to control the false alarm rate. The signal detection capability of the CME algorithms is studied and analyzed. It is noticed that the CME algorithms are able to detect signals, but they are not able to estimate signal parameters such as the bandwidth. The presented generic shape-based analysis leads to the limits of detection in which the concentrated signals can be detected. These limits enable checking fast whether the signal is detectable or not without time consuming computer simulations. The performance of the TSISA method is evaluated. Simulation results demonstrate that the TSISA method is able to suppress several types of concentrated interfering signals with a reasonable computational complexity. Finally, new CME-based methods are proposed and evaluated. The proposed methods are the extended TSISA method for IS and the localization algorithm based on double-thresholding (LAD), LAD with normalized thresholds (LAD NT), LAD with adjacent cluster combining (LAD ACC) and two-dimensional (2-D) LAD methods for detection. The simulations indicate that the extended TSISA method has a good performance against several types of concentrated interfering signals. The narrowband signal detection capability of the LAD methods is studied. Numerical results show that the proposed LAD methods are able to detect and localize signals in their domain, and they are able to estimate the number of narrowband signals and their parameters, including, for example, bandwidths and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values. The simulations show that the LAD methods outperform the CME algorithms, and ACC and 2-D LAD methods outperform the original LAD method. The LAD methods are also proposed to be used for spectrum sensing purposes in cognitive radios.

Abstract The performance of conventional receivers for wireless communications may severely deteriorate in the presence of unaccounted interference. The effectiveness of methods for mitigating these effects greatly depends on the knowledge that is available about the interference and signal-of-interest (SOI), therefore making the design of robust receivers a great challenge. This thesis focuses on receiver structures for channel coded systems that exploit different levels of knowledge about the SOI and interference in an iterative fashion. This achieves both robustness and overall performance improvement compared to non-iterative receivers. Code division multiple access (CDMA) and spatial division multiple access (SDMA) systems are considered. The overlay of a turbo coded direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DS-SS) system and strong digitally modulated tone interference is studied. An iterative receiver, which is capable of blind cancellation of both wideband and narrowband interference is proposed based on the adaptive self-reconfigurable -filter scheme. Asymptotic performance analysis of the iterative receiver shows that significant iteration gains are possible if the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) is relatively large and the processing gain (PG) of the SOI is relatively small. Robust diversity detection in turbo-coded DS-SS system with statistically modeled interference is studied. A non-parametric type-based iterative receiver that estimates the probability density function (PDF) of interference-plus-noise is proposed. Its performance is shown to be rather robust to the number of interferers and their distances from the victim receiver and very similar to the performance of a clairvoyant receiver. Amazingly, this is achievable with no prior knowledge about the interference parameters. Furthermore, iteration gain is shown to significantly reduce the length of the pilot sequence needed for the PDF estimation. A family of iterative minimum-mean-squared-error (MMSE) and maximum-likelihood (ML) receivers for convolutionally and space-time coded SDMA systems is proposed. Joint iterative multiuser-detection (MUD), equalization and interference suppression are proposed to jointly combat co-channel interference (CCI), inter-symbol-interference (ISI) and unknown CCI (UCCI) in broadband single-carrier systems. It is shown that both in convolutional and space-time coded systems the ISI and CCI interference can be completely eliminated if UCCI is absent. This is achievable with a number of receive antennas equal to the number of users of interest and not to the total number of transmit antennas. In case UCCI is present, the effectiveness of CCI and ISI cancellation and UCCI suppression depends on the effective degrees of freedom of the receiver. Receiver robustness can be significantly preserved by using hybrid MMSE/ML detection for the signals of interest, or by using estimation of the PDF of the UCCI-plus-noise. A low complexity hybrid MMSE/ML iterative receiver for SDMA is proposed. It is shown that its performance is not significantly degraded compared to the optimal ML receiver. Its sensitivity to spatial correlation and a timing offset is assessed by using field measurement data. It was shown that the hybrid MMSE/ML receiver is robust against spatial correlation. The sensitivity to the timing offset is significantly reduced if the receiver performs UCCI suppression.

Teladorsagia circumcincta is a parasitic nematode which is a major cause of ovine parasitic gastroenteritis in temperate climatic regions. The parasite has developed resistance to the major anthelmintic drug classes and this challenges its future control. Vaccination is a potential alternative control method since sheep are able to develop protective immunity against this parasite. Although potential vaccine candidates have been revealed, the increasing gene datasets suggest that vaccinetarget selection may be aided by screening methods such as RNAi. This is a reverse genetic mechanism that causes highly specific gene silencing which was initially described and applied to defining gene function in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nevertheless, its application was more difficult than anticipated in parasitic nematodes because of the inconsistency of the silencing effect. In the unsuccessful cases, did the dsRNA penetrate the parasite and activate the RNAi pathway? Thus far, there are no internal controls that indicate the activation of the pathway. Are the RNAi pathway genes constantly transcribed or are they ‘switched on’ in response to the dsRNA exposure? The initial aim of the study was to determine potential marker genes in the RNAi pathway that could indicate the activation of the pathway in C. elegans. After the exposure to dsRNA from two target genes, the transcript levels of three candidate marker genes (Ce-dcr-1, Ce-ego-1 and Ce-rsd-3) were examined and showed that exposure to dsRNA has no effect on the transcript levels of these genes making them inappropriate markers for the activation of the RNAi pathway. The two target-genes were Ce-cpr-4 and Ce-sod-4 which had been proven to be consistently susceptible and refractory to RNAi, respectively. Another aim of the project was to develop an RNAi platform in T. circumcincta for use as a screening method for potential vaccine candidates. The targets selected for the in vitro RNAi included: five members of the Activation-associated Secreted Proteins (ASPs); a Macrophage migration Inhibitory Factor-like (Tci-mif-1) and a Surface Associated Antigen gene (Tci-saa-1), all of which have been associated with vaccine-induced protective immunity. The selection of the ASPs was based on a bioinformatic and transcriptomic analysis of the ASPs in T. circumcincta. The results showed successful knock-down only for three out of five ASP targets after 1 hour of soaking in gene-specific double stranded RNA (dsRNA) which illustrates the inconsistency and the target specificity of RNAi in T. circumcincta which has been observed in the past with other parasitic nematodes. Inconsistencies were also observed within the successful ASP targets with the results not being reproducible after several successful experiments. Potential reasons for the inconsistencies were examined with the duration of larval storage being a critical factor. Larvae stored for a short or long period of time were susceptible and refractory to RNAi, respectively. Experiments were also conducted to investigate how the ASPs relate to extracellular microvesicles (EMVs). These vesicles are considered to play an important role in the intercellular communication between parasites and their hosts, and thus represent potentially useful vaccine and/or drug targets. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed that EMVs are excreted / secreted by the parasite and the proteomic analysis revealed several types of proteins within the vesicles such as: ASPs, Actins, Metallopeptidases, and RAB proteins. A comparative analysis of EMVs, EMV-free ES (Excretory / Secretory) and total ES products showed that approximately 35% of the proteins found in the vesicles could also be identified in EMV-free ES and in total ES products, whilst the remaining 65% were present only in EMVs.

M.Ing. / In power electronics most applications are custom designed. Even though similar topologies are used, each application is designed to fit specific requirements. Presently there is a move towards standard modules that can be connected together to perform the desired power conversion, in much the same way as IC’s have been used for a few decades now. It is important to ensure that the modules can work together without performance degradation. The close proximity of active, passive and logic devices in high power applications dramatically increases the risk of EMI between the various components. This document describes the design and characterisation of a planar conducted RF-EMI power line filter to be used between modules and between modules and power supplies. The filter consists of two sets of transmission lines in parallel. The first is a high permittivity material with nickel conductors, referred to as the attenuator. The second is a set of copper conductors that are placed on the outside of the attenuator. The filter must be able to remove conducted differential mode noise from power line to the module and from the module tot the power line. The filter dimensions are comparable to the wavelengths that have to be attenuated. This allows for a possible combination of RF filtering techniques and power line filtering techniques. The design of the filter and the electromagnetic effects that govern its behaviour is explained. The transfer characteristic of the filter is made possible by the choice of materials and their relation to each other. Each material is discussed and evaluated. Characterisation methods are described and results presented. The influence the materials have on the performance of the filter and the methods and problems of construction of the filter are discussed. The construction of the filter and the commercial processes available are discussed. A prototype filter was built to demonstrate the feasibility of the construction processes. The performance of the prototype filter was then measured. The various test set-ups for different applications are explained. Small signal tests in 50 W systems were used to allow for comparisons with other filter types. The prototype has minimal insertion loss in the pass band and an average slope of attenuation of 40 dB/decade beyond the corner frequency. The corner frequency is at 1 MHz. Transmission line theory is used to develop a distributed element model for the filter using the ABCD-matrix representation of transmission lines. From this matrix an equivalent P-model can be calculated. Applicable assumptions are made to simplify the equations and values for a lumped element P-model is calculated. Both models indicate the importance that the material parameters have on the performance of the simulation results. Good correlation between the measured performance and simulated performance is established. The material parameters are sensitive to temperature. A one-dimensional thermal model is presented to estimate the operating temperature of the filter. It is determined that the attenuation of the filter is primarily determined by the attenuator. Based on the findings, new attenuator designs are made in an attempt to improve the performance of the filter. The small signal measurements of the various designs and the test results under load conditions are compared. A power test is performed. The filter performance varies as the voltage rating is increased. Finally, a temperature characterisation is done. The filter is absorptive and heat is dissipated in both the conductors and the dielectric material. The filter performance is sensitive to the operating temperature. A summary of the technology and the evaluation of this type of filter are presented in the conclusion.

M.Ing. (Electrical & Electronic Engineering Science) / This study investigates the mitigation of conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) in a flyback DC-DC converter. Without the use of filters, the maximum mitigation of EMI possible without significantly decreasing converter operating efficiency is investigated. The following parameters are found to influence EMI: · Switching speed: Decreasing switching speed (increasing rise and fall times of the MOSFET) effectively reduces both common mode (CM) and differential mode (DM) EMI above a certain frequency. Series gate resistors up to a certain value were found to not increase power dissipated in the MOSFET. Series gate resistors greater than this value, further reduce CM and DM EMI at the cost of larger amounts of power being dissipated in the MOSFET. · Leakage inductance and inter-winding capacitance: The dominant component of the flyback coupled inductor in terms of EMI generation is the inter-winding capacitance. Increasing inter-winding capacitance increases both CM and DM EMI. Reducing inter-winding capacitance increases leakage inductance. Increasing leakage inductance however, results in reduced converter efficiency. Coupled inductor design is therefore a compromise between leakage inductance and inter-winding capacitance. · Layout inductance: Reducing layout inductance in certain parts of the circuit is an effective method for reducing DM EMI. This is shown to also decrease CM EMI but not to the same extent as DM EMI. · Snubbing: Snubbing is shown to effectively reduce both CM and DM EMI by reducing the magnitude of the voltage overshoot and ringing on the drain of the MOSFET. Snubbing however reduces converter efficiency. This study gives important guidelines to the engineering trade-offs in reducing EMI versus efficiency in a flyback converter.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Natalie Pennington / Interpersonal conflict is common before; during and after romantic relationships develop. A structured framework is needed to understand the causes, implications, and contexts of interpersonal conflict within interpersonal relationships. This in-depth literature review of current scholarly work is compiled to provide a roadmap for understanding the Relational Turbulence Model (Solomon & Knobloch, 2004) and the contexts that have been studied using this framework. Also provided is a discussion of future directions for scholars to pursue and advance the application of the model, with the hope that future scholars will pick up where others have left off, expanding on what is known about interpersonal conflict generally, communication processes, and relational turbulence specifically.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document. / Dissertation (MSc (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Chemistry / unrestricted

Intersymbol interference (ISI) and co-channel interference (CCI) are two major obstacles to high speed data transmission in wireless cellular communications systems. Unlike thermal noise, their effects cannot be removed by increasing the signal power and are time-varying due to the relative motion between the transmitters and receivers. Space-time processing offers a signal processing framework to optimally integrate the spatial and temporal properties of the signal for maximal signal reception and at the same time, mitigate the ISI and CCI impairments. In this thesis, we focus on the development of this emerging technology to combat the undesirable effects of ISI and CCL We first develop a convenient mathematical model to parameterize the space-time multipath channel based on signal path power, directions and times of arrival. Starting from the continuous time-domain, we derive compact expressions of the vector space-time channel model that lead to the notion of block space-time manifold, Under certain identifiability conditions, the noiseless vector-channel outputs will lie on a subspace constructed from a set. of basis belonging to the block space-time manifold. This is an important observation as many high resolution array processing algorithms Can be applied directly to estimate the multi path channel parameters. Next we focus on the development of semi-blind channel identification and equalization algorithms for fast time-varying multi path channels. Specifically. we develop space-time processing algorithms for wireless TDMA networks that use short burst data formats with extremely short training data. sequences. Due to the latter, the estimated channel parameters are extremely unreliable for equalization with conventional adaptive methods. We approach the channel acquisition, tracking and equalization problems jointly, and exploit the richness of the inherent structural relationship between the channel parameters and the data sequence by repeated use of available data through a forward- backward optimization procedure. This enables the fuller exploitation of the available data. Our simulation studies show that significant performance gains are achieved over conventional methods. In the final part of this thesis, we address the problem identifying and equalizing multi path communication channels in the presence of strong CCl. By considering CCI as stochasic processes, we find that temporal diversity can be gained by observing the channel outputs from a tapped delay line. Together with the assertion that the finite alphabet property of the information sequences can offer additional information about the channel parameters and the noise-plus-covariance matrix, we develop a spatial temporal algorithm, iterative reweighting alternating minimization, to estimate the channel parameters and information sequence in a weighted least squares framework. The proposed algorithm is robust as it does not require knowledge of the number of CCI nor their structural information. Simulation studies demonstrate its efficacy over many reported methods.