ITC/USA 2012 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Eighth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2012 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / Radio transmission channel influences greatly the quality of transmitted voice and data signal in terms of data rate and robustness. This degradation is as a result of many factors, notable amongst them are having multiple replica of the transmitted signal at the receiver (multipath), changes of frequency as a result of the movement of the aircraft (Doppler shift) and noise. This paper characterizes the scattered components of the aeronautical channel in terms of delay spread. Geometric representation is used to derive expressions for the maximum delay spread using the 2-ray model and the three dimensional model of the scattered path. Furthermore, the delay and Doppler frequencies are described as a function of the horizontal distance to the specular reflection point between a ground station and a test article. The simulated results are compared to measured data of related articles and the value of the maximum delay spread is compared with the proposed intersymbol guard band for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in the Integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program to see if this proposition can be adapted to the aeronautical channel.

[pt] É desenvolvido um modelo para sistemas rádio-digitais que inclui os tipos de modulação mais usuais como PSK-4, PSK- 8, QAM-16, com recepção coerente. Neste modelo é considerado um canal linear e um meio de propagação sujeito a desvanecimento por multipercursos, sendo analisadas algumas alternativas para sua representação, em particular os chamados modelos de dois e três raios. Neste contexto é considerado o problema do cálculo de desempenho, especialmente o cálculo da confiabilidade dos sistemas. Utilizando-se um critério de probabilidade de erro, calculada numericamente pelo método da Quadratura de Gauss, ou um critério de fechamento de olho, são implementados algoritmos para cálculo de Assinaturas dos diversos sistemas. A partir destas assinaturas os sistemas são comparados, analisando-se os efeitos da margem do enlace e da largura de faixa. Alguns métodos de cálculo de confiabilidade são analisados e aplicados ao estudo comparativo dos sistemas. / [en] It´s developed a model for digital-radio systems which includes the most usual ones as PSK-4, PSK-8, QAM-16, with coherent detection. This model considers a linear channel and a propagation medium subject to multipath fadings, being analyzed some of it´s possible representations, particularly the so called two paths and three paths models. It is specially considered the computation of the systems´ outage probability. Using an error probability criterium numerically computed by the Gauss Quadrature Rule or an eye-closure one, algorithms are implemented to calculate Systems´ Signatures. Based on these signatures systems are compared considering their bandwidths and link´s flat fading margin. Some methods for outage probability calculation are analyzed and applied to systems´ comparations.

In the last decade, Global Navigation Satellites Systems (GNSS) have gained a significant position in the development of urban navigation applications and associated services. The urban environment presents several challenges to GNSS signal reception, such as multipath and GNSS Line-of-Sight (LOS) blockage, which are translated in the positioning domain in a decreased navigation solution accuracy up to the lack of an available position. For this matter, Vector Tracking (VT) constitutes a promising approach able to cope with the urban environment-induced effects including multipath, NLOS reception and signal outages. This thesis is particularly focused on the proposal and design of a dual constellation GPS + Galileo single frequency L1/E1 Vector Delay Frequency Lock Loop (VDFLL) architecture for the automotive usage in urban environment. From the navigation point of view, VDFLL represents a concrete application of information fusion, since all the satellite tracking channels are jointly tracked and controlled by the common navigation Extended Kalman filter (EKF). The choice of the dual-constellation single frequency vector tracking architecture ensures an increased number of observations and at the same time allowing the conservation of the low-cost feasibility criteria of the mobile user’s receiver. Moreover, the use of single frequency L1 band signals implies the necessity of taking into account the ionospheric error effect. In fact, even after the application of the ionosphere error correction models, a resultant ionospheric residual error still remains in the received observations. The originality of this work relies on the implementation of a dual-constellation VDFLL architecture, capable of estimating the ionosphere residual error present in the received observations. This dissertation investigates the VDFLL superiority w.r.t the scalar tracking receiver in terms of positioning performance and tracking robustness for a real car trajectory in urban area in the presence of multipath and ionosphere residual error.

En routage next-hop, paradigme de routage utilisé dans l'Internet Global, chaque routeur choisit le next-hop de chaque paquet en fonction de son adresse destination. Le routage sensible à la source est une extension compatible du routage next-hop où le choix du next-hop dépend de l'adresse source du paquet en plus de son adresse destination. Nous montrons dans cette thèse que le routage sensible à la source est adapté au routage des réseaux multihomés avec plusieurs adresses, qu'il est possible d'étendre de manière compatible les protocoles de routage à vecteur de distance existants et que ce paradigme de routage offre avantageusement plus de flexibilité aux hôtes. Nous montrons d'abord que certains systèmes n'ordonnent pas correctement les entrées sensibles à la source dans leurs tables de routage et nous définissons un algorithme adapté aux protocoles de routage pour y remédier. Nous montrons comment étendre les protocoles à vecteur de distances au routage sensible à la source de manière compatible. Nous validons notre approche en concevant une extension d'un protocole existant (Babel), en réalisant la première implémentation complète d'un protocole sensible à la source et en utilisant ce protocole pour router un réseau multihomé. Enfin, nous montrons que le routage sensible à la source offre des possibilités de multichemin aux couches supérieures des hôtes. Nous vérifions qu'il s'intègre aux technologies existantes (MPTCP) et nous concevons des techniques d'optimisation pour les applications légères. Nous évaluons ces techniques après les avoir implémentées dans le cadre d'une application existante (mosh). / With next-hop routing, the routing paradigm used on the Global Internet, each router chooses the next-hop of each packet depending on its destination address. Source-specific routing is a compatible extension of next-hop routing in which the choice of the next-hop depends on the source address of the packet in addition to its destination address. In this thesis, we show that source-specific routing is well adapted to multihomed networks with multiple addresses, that extending a distance vector routing protocol and ensuring compatibility with the base protocol is possible and that source-specific routing gives more flexibility and thus new possibilities to hosts. First, we show that on some systems, source-specific routing tables are not correctly interpreted and we define an algorithm designed for a routing protocol to fix it. We show how to extend distance vector routing protocols to source specific routing while ensuring compatibility. We validate our approach with the conception of an extension to an existing protocol (Babel), with the realization of the first complete implementation of a source-specific routing protocol and with the use of this protocol to route a multihomed network. Lastly, we show that source-specific routing gives multipath possibilities to host's highest layers. We check that it works well with existing technology (MPTCP) and we design optimization techniques for lightweight applications. We evaluate these techniques after their implementation in an existing application (mosh).

The marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) is the region of atmosphere that interacts with the ocean surface. The atmospheric variability (i.e. temperature and relative humidity) in this region can result in rapid changes in the refractive index with increasing height from the sea surface. The complex region can result in non-standard propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves beyond the horizon under atmospheric ducting conditions. However, when ducting layers are not present, EM waves are limited to line-of-sight transmission. Atmospheric ducting research is typically conducted using radio frequencies in the X-band (around 8-12 GHz) due to its impact on performance of marine radars at those frequencies. Studies typically examine levels of received signal power or effects on radar returns in ducting conditions, but often ignore the time-domain effects of ducting which can also affect communications link performance. In collaboration with the Coastal Observing Research and Development Center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), the ducting research in this thesis uses a channel sounder that consists of a X-band transmitter which transmits a coded pseudorandom sequence and a software-defined radio (SDR) receiver. Both transmitter and receiver are GPS synchronized so that the time-domain cross-correlation between the TX and RX signals can be found. In theory, if atmospheric ducting is present, there will be multipath propagation, and the TX-RX cross-correlation indicates multiple “peaks”, indicating multiple arrival times. Conversely, if little to no ducting is present, then the cross-correlation indicates a single “peak”. The channel sounding was evaluated over several over-water communications links, involving fixed-path and variable range sea tests with a moving vessel to verify if this hypothesis is true. The expected ducting conditions were determined by in-situ refractive index measurements of the atmosphere. Results from testing showed multiple peaks when strong ducting was expected, but an extensive sea test in strong ducting conditions is needed to distinguish multipath from ducting from that of terrain reflections. Further work is also needed to determine the computational model that accurately models multipath propagation through a duct, which is beyond the scope of this thesis.

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No / Wavelets are constructed from the basis sets of their parent scaling functions of the two-scale dilation equation (1). Whereas orthogonal wavelets come from one orthogonal basis set, the biorthogonal wavelets project from different basis sets. Each basis set is correspondingly weighted to form filters, either highpass or lowpass, which form the constituents of quadrature mirror filter (QMF) banks. Consequently, these filters can be used to design wavelets, the differently weighted parameters contributing respective wavelet properties which influence the performance of the transforms in applications, for example multicarrier modulation. This study investigated applications for onward multicarrier modulation applications. The results show that the optimum choice of particular wavelet adopted in digital multicarrier communication signal processing may be quite different from choices in other areas of wavelet applications, for example image and video compression.

Smart antenna systems are employed to overcome multipath fading, extend range, and increase capacity by using diversity or beamforming techniques in wireless communication systems. Understanding of the smart base antenna performance mechanisms for various environments is important to design cost effective systems and network. This dissertation focuses on the experimental characterization and modeling of the smart base station antenna performance for various propagation environment scenarios. An eight-channel Virginia Tech smart base station antenna testbed was developed to investigate performances of three reverse link diversity methods. The experiment campaign resulted in 245 sets of collected data over 83 measurement sites, which were used to compare the performance of space, polarization, and angle diversity under identical conditions. Measured propagation path loss, envelope correlation coefficients, power imbalances, and mean effective gain (MEG) are characterized as a function of distance between the base station and the mobile terminal to illustrate the diversity performance mechanisms over different propagation environments. The performance of the three base station diversity methods with selection combining (SC), maximal ratio combining (MRC), and equal gain combining (EGC) techniques for both urban and suburban non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments are presented and summarized using the measured data. Forward-link performance of a twelve-fixed narrow-beam base station antenna system for urban NLOS environments is investigated using the same measured data. A new procedure is introduced to experimentally model the forward-link performance of muitlple-fixed narrow-beam (MFNB) antennas using the measured reverse-link vector channel response. The experimentally calculated lower bound performance result shows that it achieves 2.5 to 2.8 times higher average RF SIR compared to the conventional three-sector base station system for typical urban NLOS multipath fading environment conditions. Also, a new mobile user angle estimation algorithm using the muitlple-fixed narrow-beam antennas for NLOS multipath fading environment conditions is developed and the experiment results are presented. / Ph. D.