Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / Q‐enhanced filtering technologies have been heavily researched, but have not yet been adopted into commercial designs due to tuning complexity, and performance issues such as noise figure and dynamic range. A multi‐pole Q‐enhanced band‐pass filter operating at 450 MHz with tunable bandwidth is developed in this thesis. A noise figure of 14 dB and dynamic range of 140 dB/Hz have been measured, making the filter suitable for operating in the IF subsystem of a radio receiver. The design utilizes off‐chip resonators, created using surface mount components or embedded passives in LTCC processes, to have a reasonably high base‐Q. The equivalent parallel loss resistance of the finite‐Q inductor and connected circuitry at resonance is partially offset by negative resistances, implemented with tunable on‐chip transconductors, as required to reach the needed Q for the targeted bandwidth. Each pole of the filter has binary weighted negative resistance cells for Q‐enhancement and binary weighted capacitances for frequency tuning. Binary weighted capacitive coupling cells allow the filter to achieve the level of coupling appropriate to the targeted bandwidth. To maintain the filter bandwidth, center frequency, and gain over environmental changes a realtime tuning algorithm is needed. A low complexity tuning algorithm has been implemented and found to accurately maintain the bandwidth, center frequency, and gain when operating at bandwidths of 10 or 20 MHz. Flatness of the pass‐band is also maintained, to within 0.5 dB across a temperature range of 25‐55 degrees C. In addition to the implementation of the tuning algorithm, the thesis provides a solution for pass‐band asymmetries spawned from the use of finite‐Q resonators and associated control circuitry.

Submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the Master’s Degree of Technology: Electrical Engineering – Light Current, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / The development of a transit radio telescope at the hydrogen line frequency of 1420 MHz is described. The telescope antenna uses a 5 m diameter parabolic reflector with an estimated efficiency of 50 % and an F/D ratio of 0.5. The gain of the antenna at 1420 MHz (wavelength of 21.1 cm) is approximately 35 dB with a beamwidth of approximately 3°. The antenna is mounted on a concrete beam at the first floor level, running between two 5 floor tower blocks on the Steve Biko campus of the Durban University of Technology. The majority of the components of the radio telescope antenna and receiver were designed and manufactured at the Durban University of Technology by students of the Departments of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering. The measured sensitivity of the receiver is approximately -94 dBm with a bandwidth of approximately 80 MHz. Radio sources successfully detected by the radio telescope include the Sun, the Moon, Sagittarius A, Centaurus A and Vela X.

<p>Den här högskoleavhandlingen beskriver designen av ett IF-filter samt hårdvarukonstruktion av en ny 77 GHz FMCW-radar demonstrator. Syftet med demonstratorn är att illustrera hur kisel germanium-, SiGe, teknologi kan användas istället för den mer vedertagna men dyrare gallium arsenik-, GaAs, teknologin. Den gamla radar-prototypen vilken Acreo AB utvecklat är funktionell men behöver konstrueras om för att bättre kunna utvärdera radarprestandan. I avhandlingen presenteras grundläggande radarteori och ekvationer för att underlätta förståelsen av de olika systemblocken. Rapporten beskriver också systemarkitekturen och hur dess funktionalitet kommer att testas. Det omdesignade IF-filtret har simulerats i en PSpice-simulator och ett prototypkort av detta har tillverkats för mätningar. Ett 4-lagers kretskort av hela systemet har tagits fram i Orcad Layout. Slutligen innehåller rapporten förslag på förbättringar till nästa demonstratorversion.</p> / <p>This bachelor thesis describes the design of an IF-filter and the hardware construction of a new version of a 77 GHz FMCW-radar demonstrator. The purpose of the demonstrator is to illustrate how the silicon germanium-, SiGe, technology could be used instead of the more conventional but also much more expensive gallium arsenide-, GaAs, technology. The old radar prototype that Acreo AB has developed is fully functional but needs to be redesigned to be able to evaluate the radar performance in a better way. The thesis presents the basic radar theory and equations to help understanding the construction of the system blocks. The report also describes the system architecture and how its functionality should be tested. The redesigned IF-filter has been simulated in a PSpice simulator and a prototype has been manufactured and measured. A 4-layer PCB-board of the whole system was done in Orcad Layout. Finally the report is concluded with suggestions on improvements for the next demonstrator version.</p>

Den här högskoleavhandlingen beskriver designen av ett IF-filter samt hårdvarukonstruktion av en ny 77 GHz FMCW-radar demonstrator. Syftet med demonstratorn är att illustrera hur kisel germanium-, SiGe, teknologi kan användas istället för den mer vedertagna men dyrare gallium arsenik-, GaAs, teknologin. Den gamla radar-prototypen vilken Acreo AB utvecklat är funktionell men behöver konstrueras om för att bättre kunna utvärdera radarprestandan. I avhandlingen presenteras grundläggande radarteori och ekvationer för att underlätta förståelsen av de olika systemblocken. Rapporten beskriver också systemarkitekturen och hur dess funktionalitet kommer att testas. Det omdesignade IF-filtret har simulerats i en PSpice-simulator och ett prototypkort av detta har tillverkats för mätningar. Ett 4-lagers kretskort av hela systemet har tagits fram i Orcad Layout. Slutligen innehåller rapporten förslag på förbättringar till nästa demonstratorversion. / This bachelor thesis describes the design of an IF-filter and the hardware construction of a new version of a 77 GHz FMCW-radar demonstrator. The purpose of the demonstrator is to illustrate how the silicon germanium-, SiGe, technology could be used instead of the more conventional but also much more expensive gallium arsenide-, GaAs, technology. The old radar prototype that Acreo AB has developed is fully functional but needs to be redesigned to be able to evaluate the radar performance in a better way. The thesis presents the basic radar theory and equations to help understanding the construction of the system blocks. The report also describes the system architecture and how its functionality should be tested. The redesigned IF-filter has been simulated in a PSpice simulator and a prototype has been manufactured and measured. A 4-layer PCB-board of the whole system was done in Orcad Layout. Finally the report is concluded with suggestions on improvements for the next demonstrator version.

This work is dealing with the design of intermediate part of transmitter and reciever that use digital BPSK and QPSK modulations for microwave link that works in 24 – 26 GHz bands. Besides choosing the suitable modulator and demodulator there was need to provide proper connection of this part with transceiver Nortel CTR26-01M. Input and output of this intermediate part was take out to baseband, where was need to ensure the transfer of diferential inputs of modulator and demodulator to symetric leading for reason of data communication with PC, for which was created the algorithms to provide transmitting and receiving data. Complete structure controlled by the microcontroller has been enliven and furthemore there was created the measurement of chosen parameteres.

Large-scale atmospheric disturbances play important roles in determining the general circulation of the atmosphere during the North Pacific boreal winter. A number of scientific questions have been raised due to these disturbances’ spatial and temporal complexity as well as the hydrological implication associated with them. In this dissertation, the principal goal is to further improve our understanding of the atmospheric high frequency (HF) and intermediate frequency (IF) disturbances active over the North Pacific. The study focuses on their energetics, intraseasonal and interannual variability, and the resulting hydrological impact over the eastern North Pacific and Western U.S. including extreme events. To delineate the characteristics of HF and IF disturbances in the troposphere, we first derive a new set of equations governing the local eddy kinetic energy (EKE), and assess the critical processes maintaining local budgets of the HF and IF EKE. The diagnosis assesses the 3-D patterns of energy flux convergence (EFC), barotropic conversion (BT), baroclinic conversion (BC), and cross-frequency eddy-eddy interaction (CFEI). The local EKE budget analysis is followed by an investigation of the modulation of HF and IF eddy activity by different modes of low frequency climate variability. On interannual timescales, the response of various local energetic processes to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) determines the HF and IF EKE anomalies and the role of CFEI process is important in producing these anomalies. Also on interannual timescales, winter precipitation deficits associated with suppressed cyclonic activity, i.e., negative HF EKE anomalies, are linked to severe droughts over the U.S. Southern Great Plain (SGP) region. The suppressed cyclonic activity is, in turn, tied to phase changes in the West Pacific (WP) teleconnection pattern. On intraseasonal timescales, variations in HF disturbances (a.k.a. storm tracks) over the North Pacific are closely coupled with tropical convection anomalies induced by the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), and partly drive larger scale intraseasonal flow anomalies in this region through eddy-eddy interactions. Anomalous HF eddy activity induces subseasonal transitions between “wet” and “dry” regimes over the west coast of North America. Also on intraseasonal timescales, the East Asian cold surge (EACS) is found to provide a remote forcing of the winter precipitation anomalies in the western U.S. This modulation is achieved through “atmospheric rivers” (ARs), which are narrow channels of concentrated moisture transport in the atmosphere and are responsible for over 70% of the extreme precipitation events in the western U.S.. EACS effectively modulates the IF disturbance activity over the North Pacific, and the anomalous IF disturbances lead to the formation of an AR over the eastern North Pacific that ultimately induces precipitation anomalies in the western U.S. Analyses of the simulations from the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) demonstrate that the connections among the EACS, AR and western U.S. precipitation are better captured by a model with higher spatial resolutions. The improved simulation of these connections is achieved mainly through a better representation of the IF disturbances, and the associated scale-interaction processes in the higher resolution model.

The purpose of this work was to make a proposal for input parts of receiver for band 430 to 440 MHz. A model of chosen semiconductor triode BFP540 was created in simulation software. Possibilities how to decrease consumption of this semiconductor triode, keeping the profit, were investigated through the simulation.In compromise consumption, keeping the profit of the amplifier - an optimal operating point for this semiconductor triode UCE = 1,2 V and IC = 2 mA was found. It was tested through the testing wiring with noise microstrips conformity. Ascertained knowledge was used for construction of tuner for UHF receiver. An operating point of input amplifier of UHF receiver was owing to power supply amplifier forced for bigger effectiveness to UCE = 2,65 V and IC = 2,0 mA. Suppression of mirror frequency is provided with Helix filter of the third order, because of intermediate frequency 10,7 MHz. Mixing on intermediate frequency is made again by semiconductor triode BFP540. Selectivity of receiver is provided with intermediate frequency crystal filter 10,7 MHz with bandwidth 15 kHz. Designed input part enables reception of SSB, FM and digital types of modulation.Bandwidth intermediate frequency exit is adapted to this request To receive particular modulation , it is necessary to complete intermediate frequency signal way with appropriate intermediate frequency filter.

The thesis is focused on the development of a radioamateur short-wave transceiver. The basic functions, features and parameters are described in the introduction. The bandplan and appropriate types of emission are also included in the introductory part. The frequency synthesis module is discussed in the second part of the document. Emphasis is placed on the direct digital synthesis method (DDS) using modern Analog Devices circuits. The proposed DDS module includes a high-speed clock source. The description of an intermediate frequency module with a demodulator is also placed there. The final part in devoted to the design of a transceiver control panel with a graphical display, a keyboard and a rotary encoder. The firmware for an ATmega128 microcontroller is described in detail at the end of the thesis.