In many parts of Africa, large herbivores find their way into private lands, competing for forage with livestock and destroying crops. In Kenya, elephants (Loxodonta africana) pose a real threat to subsistence farmers at the interface between the elephants’ range and agricultural land. Conservation and land use strategies and policies in Kenya do not take into account the needs of the rural poor and tend to prioritise wildlife protection at the expense of the people. At the same time, rapid population growth has put protected areas under intense pressure through encroachment. Human-elephant conflict is only a microcosm of the wider ecological struggle for survival between humans and wildlife. In this study, data is analysed on the human-elephant conflict in the subsistence smallholder farming areas in south-western Laikipia. The study investigated the human-elephant conflict patterns and the various measures deployed by smallholder farmers to protect their crops from elephant incursions. The results show that: 1) Crop raiding is the most common form of HEC in Laikipia, 2) Farmers in Laikipia extensively deployed traditional techniques, 3) Contrary to the widely held inefficacy of these techniques, they were effective in the short term, 4) Most HEC incidents were not detected while in progress and 5) The Kenya Wildlife Service was unable to attend to many complaints despite nearly all the incidents being reported. Based on the interpretation of the results, two models for coping with human-elephant conflict are identified: 1) To strengthen the capacities (traditional conflict mitigation techniques) and the knowledge of the local people sharing their landscape with elephants to cope with human-elephant conflict and 2) The promotion of alternative livelihoods that consider wildlife compatible practices through a comprehensive land use and conservation policy review to integrate both human and wildlife needs.

Vehicle modeling and simulation have fast become the easiest and cheapest method for vehicle testing. No longer do multiple, intensive, physical tests need be performed to analyze the performance parameters that one wishes to validate. One component of the vehicle simulation that is crucial to the correctness of the result is the tire. Simulations that are run by a computer can be run many times faster than a real test could be performed, so the cost and complexity of the testing is reduced. A computer simulation is also less likely to have human errors introduced with the caveat that the data input into the model and simulation is accurate, or as accurate as one would like their results to be. Simulation can lead to real tests, or back up tests already performed. The repeatability of testing is a non-issue as well. Tire models are the groundwork for vehicle simulations and accurate results cannot be conceived without an accurate model. The reason is that all of the forces transmitted to and from the vehicle to the ground must occur at the tire contact patches. This presents the problem of obtaining a tire model. Tire companies do not readily give out tire data since the tire industry is still as much "black art" as it is science. For tire data one must begin with a testing apparatus. The test rig must be accurate and must have been validated before results can be used. This thesis presents the process of the design and construction of a portable tire test rig. It then will discuss tire testing procedures and validation techniques. The resulting data shows good correlation between test data and known tire test data from flat track testing provided by a tire manufacturer. Then, a simple rollover study of a military truck will be compiled in TruckSim. Lastly, a control method for the rollover case will be designed and implemented. The results of the roll control simulation are positive. The study shows an increase in dynamic roll stability due to the implementation of the control algorithm. / Master of Science

Internet worm attacks have become increasingly more frequent and have had a major impact on the economy, making the detection and prevention of these attacks a top security concern. Several countermeasures have been proposed and evaluated in recent literature. However, the eect of these proposed defensive mechanisms on legitimate competing traffic has not been analyzed. The first contribution of this thesis is a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of several of these proposed mechanisms, including a measure of their effect on normal web browsing activities. In addition, we introduce a new defensive approach that can easily be implemented on existing hosts, and which significantly reduces the rate of spread of worms using TCP connections to perform the infiltration. Our approach has no measurable effect on legitimate traffic. The second contribution is presenting a variant of the flash worm that we term Compact Flash or CFlash that is capable of spreading even faster than its predecessor. We perform a comparative study between the flash worm and the CFlash worm using a full-detail packet-level simulator, and the results show the increase in propagation rate of the new worm given the same set of parameters. The third contribution is the study of the behavior of TCP based worms in MANETs. We develop an analytical model for the worm spread of TCP worms in the MANETs environment that accounts for payloadsize, bandwidthsharing, radio range, nodal density and several other parameters specific for MANET topologies. We also present numerical solutions for the model and verify the results using packetlevel simulations. The results show that the analytical model developed here matches the results of the packetlevel simulation in most cases.

The main objective for physics based modeling of the power converter components is to design the whole converter with respect to physical and operational constraints. Therefore, all the elements and components of the energy conversion system are modeled numerically and combined together to achieve the whole system behavioral model. Previously proposed high frequency (HF) models of power converters are based on circuit models that are only related to the parasitic inner parameters of the power devices and the connections between the components. This dissertation aims to obtain appropriate physics-based models for power conversion systems, which not only can represent the steady state behavior of the components, but also can predict their high frequency characteristics. The developed physics-based model would represent the physical device with a high level of accuracy in predicting its operating condition. The proposed physics-based model enables us to accurately develop components such as; effective EMI filters, switching algorithms and circuit topologies [7]. One of the applications of the developed modeling technique is design of new sets of topologies for high-frequency, high efficiency converters for variable speed drives. The main advantage of the modeling method, presented in this dissertation, is the practical design of an inverter for high power applications with the ability to overcome the blocking voltage limitations of available power semiconductor devices. Another advantage is selection of the best matching topology with inherent reduction of switching losses which can be utilized to improve the overall efficiency. The physics-based modeling approach, in this dissertation, makes it possible to design any power electronic conversion system to meet electromagnetic standards and design constraints. This includes physical characteristics such as; decreasing the size and weight of the package, optimized interactions with the neighboring components and higher power density. In addition, the electromagnetic behaviors and signatures can be evaluated including the study of conducted and radiated EMI interactions in addition to the design of attenuation measures and enclosures.

Cette thèse est une contribution à l’amélioration des observations pour les radiotélescopes à réseaux phasés en présence d’interférences. L’originalité de cette thèse repose sur l’utilisation de la séparation spatiale entre les sources cosmiques et les brouilleurs issus des télécommunications en se basant sur la cyclostationnarité de ces derniers. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet européen SKADS pour l’amélioration des techniques de suppression d’interférences en radioastronomie pour les futurs instruments d’observations.Nous avons proposé trois techniques de traitement d’interférences : la détection,l’estimation et la soustraction, et le filtrage spatial. Les performances des techniques proposées ont été évaluées à travers des simulations sur des données synthétiqueset/ou réelles, et comparées aux techniques existantes. / This thesis is a contribution to observation improvements for phased array radiotelescopes, in the presence of radio frequency interferers (RFIs). The originality ofthe study is the use of the cyclostationarity property, in order to improve the spatial separation between cosmic sources and telecommunication signals. This thesis is part of the European SKADS project, which aims to improve RFI mitigation techniques for future instruments in radio astronomy.We have proposed three spatial processing techniques: detection, estimation and subtraction and spatial filtering. The performance of the techniques presented have been evaluated through simulations on synthetic and/or real data, and compared to existing approaches.

Conversores A/D do tipo aproximações sucessivas (SAR) baseados em redistribuição de carga são frequentemente utilizados em aplicações envolvendo a aquisição de sinais, principalmente as que exigem um baixo consumo de área e energia e boa velocidade de conversão. Esta topologia está presente em diversos dispositivos programáveis comerciais, como também em circuitos integrados de propósito geral. Tais dispositivos, quando expostos a ambientes suscetíveis a radiação, como é o caso de aplicações espaciais, estão sujeitos à colisão com partículas capazes de ionizar o silício. Estes podem causar falhas temporárias, como um efeito transiente, uma inversão de bit em um elemento de memória, ou até mesmo danos permanentes no circuito. Este trabalho visa descrever o comportamento do conversor SAR baseado em redistribuição de carga após a ocorrência de efeitos transientes causados por radiação, por meio de simulação SPICE. Tais efeitos podem causar falhas nos componentes da topologia: chaves, lógica de controle e comparador. Estes são propagados por todo o estágio de conversão, devido à sua característica sequencial de conversão. Por fim, uma discussão sobre as possíveis técnicas de mitigação de falhas para esta topologia é apresentada. / Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) based on charge redistribution are frequently used in data acquisition systems, especially those requiring low power and low area, and good conversion speed. This topology is present on several mixed-signal programmable devices. These devices, when exposed to harsh environments, such as radiation, which is the case for space applications, are prone to Single Event Effects (SEEs). These effects may cause temporary failures, such as transient effects or memory upsets or even permanent failures on the circuit. This work presents the behavior of this type of converter after the occurrence of a transient fault on the circuit, by means of SPICE simulations. These transient faults may cause an inversion on the conversion due to a transient on the control logic of the switches, or a charge or discharge of the capacitors when a transient occur on the switches, as well as a failure on the comparator, which may propagate to the remainder stages of conversion, due to the sequential nature of the converter. A discussion about the possible fault mitigation techniques is also presented.

Conversores A/D do tipo aproximações sucessivas (SAR) baseados em redistribuição de carga são frequentemente utilizados em aplicações envolvendo a aquisição de sinais, principalmente as que exigem um baixo consumo de área e energia e boa velocidade de conversão. Esta topologia está presente em diversos dispositivos programáveis comerciais, como também em circuitos integrados de propósito geral. Tais dispositivos, quando expostos a ambientes suscetíveis a radiação, como é o caso de aplicações espaciais, estão sujeitos à colisão com partículas capazes de ionizar o silício. Estes podem causar falhas temporárias, como um efeito transiente, uma inversão de bit em um elemento de memória, ou até mesmo danos permanentes no circuito. Este trabalho visa descrever o comportamento do conversor SAR baseado em redistribuição de carga após a ocorrência de efeitos transientes causados por radiação, por meio de simulação SPICE. Tais efeitos podem causar falhas nos componentes da topologia: chaves, lógica de controle e comparador. Estes são propagados por todo o estágio de conversão, devido à sua característica sequencial de conversão. Por fim, uma discussão sobre as possíveis técnicas de mitigação de falhas para esta topologia é apresentada. / Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) based on charge redistribution are frequently used in data acquisition systems, especially those requiring low power and low area, and good conversion speed. This topology is present on several mixed-signal programmable devices. These devices, when exposed to harsh environments, such as radiation, which is the case for space applications, are prone to Single Event Effects (SEEs). These effects may cause temporary failures, such as transient effects or memory upsets or even permanent failures on the circuit. This work presents the behavior of this type of converter after the occurrence of a transient fault on the circuit, by means of SPICE simulations. These transient faults may cause an inversion on the conversion due to a transient on the control logic of the switches, or a charge or discharge of the capacitors when a transient occur on the switches, as well as a failure on the comparator, which may propagate to the remainder stages of conversion, due to the sequential nature of the converter. A discussion about the possible fault mitigation techniques is also presented.

Conversores A/D do tipo aproximações sucessivas (SAR) baseados em redistribuição de carga são frequentemente utilizados em aplicações envolvendo a aquisição de sinais, principalmente as que exigem um baixo consumo de área e energia e boa velocidade de conversão. Esta topologia está presente em diversos dispositivos programáveis comerciais, como também em circuitos integrados de propósito geral. Tais dispositivos, quando expostos a ambientes suscetíveis a radiação, como é o caso de aplicações espaciais, estão sujeitos à colisão com partículas capazes de ionizar o silício. Estes podem causar falhas temporárias, como um efeito transiente, uma inversão de bit em um elemento de memória, ou até mesmo danos permanentes no circuito. Este trabalho visa descrever o comportamento do conversor SAR baseado em redistribuição de carga após a ocorrência de efeitos transientes causados por radiação, por meio de simulação SPICE. Tais efeitos podem causar falhas nos componentes da topologia: chaves, lógica de controle e comparador. Estes são propagados por todo o estágio de conversão, devido à sua característica sequencial de conversão. Por fim, uma discussão sobre as possíveis técnicas de mitigação de falhas para esta topologia é apresentada. / Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) based on charge redistribution are frequently used in data acquisition systems, especially those requiring low power and low area, and good conversion speed. This topology is present on several mixed-signal programmable devices. These devices, when exposed to harsh environments, such as radiation, which is the case for space applications, are prone to Single Event Effects (SEEs). These effects may cause temporary failures, such as transient effects or memory upsets or even permanent failures on the circuit. This work presents the behavior of this type of converter after the occurrence of a transient fault on the circuit, by means of SPICE simulations. These transient faults may cause an inversion on the conversion due to a transient on the control logic of the switches, or a charge or discharge of the capacitors when a transient occur on the switches, as well as a failure on the comparator, which may propagate to the remainder stages of conversion, due to the sequential nature of the converter. A discussion about the possible fault mitigation techniques is also presented.

<p> Orbital Debris is a growing challenge for the Space Industry. The increasing density of derelict objects in high-value orbital regimes is resulting in more conjunction warnings and break-up events with cascading repercussions on active satellites and spacecraft. The recent rapid growth of the commercial space industry, in particular proliferated satellite constellations, has placed orbital debris remediation at the forefront of Space Industry efforts. The need to remove existing debris, combined with a growing demand for active satellite life extension services, has created an emerging market for space logistics, in particular spacecraft capable of rendezvous and docking, orbital refueling, debris deorbiting, or object relocation. This market has seen numerous companies emerge with multi-purpose on-orbit servicing platforms. This ecosystem poses technological, economical, and policy questions to decision-makers looking to acquire platforms or invest in technologies and requires a System-of-Systems approach to determine mission and system concepts of merit. An open-source modeling, analysis, and simulation software toolbox has been developed which enables rapid early-stage analysis and design of diverse fleets of on-orbit servicing platforms, with a specific emphasis on active debris removal applications. The toolbox provides fetching and processing of real-time orbital catalog data, clustering and scoring of high-value debris targets, flexible and efficient multi-vehicle multi-objective time-varying routing optimization, and fleet-level lifecycle cost estimation. The toolbox is applied to a diverse sample of promising commercial platforms to enable government decision-makers to make sound investment and acquisition decisions to support the development of ADR technologies, missions, and companies. </p>

Os veículos aéreos não tripulados (VANTs) vêm apresentando destaque crescente no setor aeronáutico mundial, tanto no desenvolvimento dos mesmos quanto nas diferentes aplicações desses veículos, devido ao seu grande potencial de utilização. Em muitas aplicações, a utilização de múltiplos VANTs apresenta várias vantagens sobre um VANT sozinho. No entanto, o agrupamento pode experimentar problemas inerentes à comunicação sem fio, podendo originar novos problemas como inviabilizar a coordenação e a execução cooperativa de uma missão, por exemplo. Em um cenário não colaborativo, VANTs com algum nível de autonomia e que partilhem do mesmo espaço aéreo também deverão ser capazes de trocar informações entre si, principalmente informações sobre posicionamento e rota de voo, e também estarão suscetíveis aos distúrbios da comunicação sem fio. Para balancear as vantagens e as desvantagens, esses robôs precisarão se comunicar cientes das restrições e utilizando a rede de modo otimizado, por meio da aplicação de algoritmos que equilibrem adequadamente técnicas de difusão de informações e técnicas de mitigação de retransmissões. Neste projeto de doutorado foi feita a investigação sobre o método de disseminação de dados, por meio de broadcasting, em uma rede móvel ad hoc entre VANTs, denominada Flying Ad hoc Networks (FANETs). FANETs são um novo paradigma que pode superar as restrições de missões de um único VANT. As FANETs são compostas por vários VANTs que cooperam para realizar alguma missão crítica (por exemplo, uma missão de busca e resgate). Para manter a coordenação, todos os VANTs devem continuamente enviar ou retransmitir mensagens através do canal sem fio para garantir que todos os membros da rede saibam o estado da rede. Geralmente, a troca de dados necessários para manter a sincronização da missão exige o uso de broadcast para que todos os membros da rede possam recebê-los. No entanto, quando essa troca de mensagens é feita arbitrariamente, isso pode causar o problema da tempestade de broadcast (BSP), levando o meio sem fio a um estado inoperante. Apesar de alguns esforços relatados na literatura para o provimento de técnicas gerais de mitigação do problema BSP, o desafio de agregar novas informações ou conhecimento a receptores que estejam voando, ao invés de apenas espalhar os dados na rede, tem recebido menos atenção. Nesta tese, além de demonstrar que o problema BSP intensifica a contenção de rede à medida que o número de VANTs aumenta, também foi criado um método que se prova mais eficiente que os existentes até então. Tal técnica, denominada de Algoritmo Baseado em Vizinhança Dinâmica para o Problema da Tempestade de Broadcast (DNA-BSP), foi desenvolvida e validada com base em experimentos de mundo real e em simulações computacionais. Ele pode mitigar o problema BSP, que é um desafio real nas FANETs, reduzindo a redundância de mensagens em mais de 98% e tornando a entrega de mensagens 99,5% mais rápida do que no cenário de flooding, superando as técnicas gerais de mitigação do BSP quando aplicado em FANETs. Os resultados detalhados neste texto também poderão orientar trabalhos futuros ao fornecer informações úteis para o planejamento e otimização de redes ad hoc móveis para VANTs. / Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been showing increasing notoriety in the global aviation scene, both on their development and on the different applications for these vehicles, due to their high potential of use. In many applications, using multiple UAVs has several advantages over a single UAV. However, a cluster of UAVs may experience issues inherent to wireless communication, which may lead to new complications such as making mission coordination and cooperative execution impractible. In a non-collaborative scenario, UAVs with some level of autonomy which share the same airspace should also be able to exchange information among themselves, especially positioning and flight path information, and may also be susceptible to wireless communication disturbances. These robots have to use the network fairly and should communicate under restrictions, appropriately adjusting techniques that disseminate information and that mitigate broadcasts, in order to balance the advantages and disadvantages of being a group. This Ph.D. research investigates how broadcasting is used to disseminate data throughout ad hoc mobile networks between UAVs called Flying Ad hoc Networks (FANETs). FANETs are a new paradigm that can overcome the mission constraints of single UAVs. FANETs are composed of several UAVs that cooperate to accomplish a critical mission (e.g., hazardous area monitoring). Aiming to maintain UAVs coordination, all aircraft must continuously retransmit or relay messages through the wireless channel to assure that every member knows the FANET status. However, when this message exchange is done blindly, it may cause the broadcast storm problem (BSP), leading the wireless medium to a dysfunctional state. Despite some efforts reported in the literature for providing general techniques to mitigate the broadcast storm problem, the challenge of aggregating new information or knowledge to receivers, instead of just spreading the information in the network, has received less attention. In this research, it has been proved that the broadcast storm problem causes network contention as the number of UAVs increases, and the innovative Dynamic Neighborhood-based Algorithm for the Broadcast Storm Problem (DNA-BSP) has been provided as a countermeasure, which was developed and validated based on computer simulations and outdoor experiments. It can mitigate the broadcast storm problem, which is a real challenge in FANETs, reducing message redundancy in more than 98%, and making message delivery 99,5% faster than in flooding scenario, outperforming classical broadcast storm mitigation techniques when applied in FANETs. Our detailed results can also guide future researches and provide useful insights for engineers planning and optimizing mission-critical mobile ad hoc network with support of UAVs.