The subject of this thesis is the development of localization algorithms for target localization in wireless sensor networks using received signal strength (RSS) measurements or Quantized RSS (QRSS) measurements. In chapter 3 of the thesis, target localization using RSS measurements is investigated. Many existing works on RSS localization assumes that the shadowing components are uncorrelated. However, here, shadowing is assumed to be spatially correlated. It can be shown that localization accuracy can be improved with the consideration of correlation between pairs of RSS measurements. By linearizing the corresponding Maximum Likelihood (ML) objective function, a weighted least squares (WLS) algorithm is formulated to obtain the target location. An iterative technique based on Newtons method is utilized to give a solution. Numerical simulations show that the proposed algorithms achieves better performance than existing algorithms with reasonable complexity. In chapter 4, target localization with an unknown path loss model parameter is investigated. Most published work estimates location and these parameters jointly using iterative methods with a good initialization of path loss exponent (PLE). To avoid finding an initialization, a global optimization algorithm, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to optimize the ML objective function. By combining PSO with a consensus algorithm, the centralized estimation problem is extended to a distributed version so that can be implemented in distributed WSN. Although suboptimal, the distributed approach is very suitable for implementation in real sensor networks, as it is scalable, robust against changing of network topology and requires only local communication. Numerical simulations show that the accuracy of centralized PSO can attain the Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB). Also, as expected, there is some degradation in performance of the distributed PSO with respect to the centralized PSO. In chapter 5, a distributed gradient algorithm for RSS based target localization using only quantized data is proposed. The ML of the Quantized RSS is derived and PSO is used to provide an initial estimate for the gradient algorithm. A practical quantization threshold designer is presented for RSS data. To derive a distributed algorithm using only the quantized signal, the local estimate at each node is also quantized. The RSS measurements and the local estimate at each sensor node are quantized in different ways. By using a quantization elimination scheme, a quantized distributed gradient method is proposed. In the distributed algorithm, the quantization noise in the local estimate is gradually eliminated with each iteration. Simulations show that the performance of the centralized algorithm can reach the CRLB. The proposed distributed algorithm using a small number of bits can achieve the performance of the distributed gradient algorithm using unquantized data.

A modelagem computacional tem se tornado uma poderosa ferramenta utilizada mundialmente em pesquisas sobre sistemas de comunicação móvel. Em tais sistemas, a modelagem do canal é fator indispensável, pois as características de mobilidade e propagação presentes nesse tipo de sistema são responsáveis por distorções ocorridas sobre o sinal transmitido. O presente trabalho reúne os principais modelos matemáticos e computacionais de canal de comunicação móvel. Realiza-se uma abordagem histórica sobre o assunto, apresentado a natureza do problema do desvanecimento e a forma como foi modelado inicialmente. Por outro lado, apresentam-se modelos recentes, considerados eficazes do ponto de vista matemático e eficientes do ponto de vista computacional. O trabalho traz como contribuição a proposta de um novo modelo de canal com desvanecimento. Os modelos apresentados foram analisados do ponto de vista matemático por meio de suas propriedades estatísticas. Do ponto de vista numérico e computacional a análise se deu por meio de simulações. A principal conclusão obtida mostra que dois modelos com filtragem no domínio da freqüência, sendo um deles o novo modelo proposto, são os mais indicados para simular formas de onda que representem um canal com desvanecimento Rayleigh. Este trabalho tem a pretensão de ser útil para pesquisadores atuantes na área de modelagem e simulação de sistemas atuais de comunicação móvel. / Computational modelling is a powerful and widely used tool for research in mobile communication systems. In such systems, the communication channel modelling is an indispensable factor, because its mobility and propagation characteristics can cause distortion over the transmitted waveform. This work contains the main mathematical and computing communication channel models. A historical cover is provided, which presents the nature of the problem and the initial modelling of the fading phenomenon. On the other hand, recent models are presented, which are mathematically effective and computationally efficient. One contribution of this work is the proposal of a new fading channel computational model, which was suitably tested and validated. The presented models were mathematically analyzed through its statistical properties. From numerical and computational point of view, the models were analyzed through several simulations. The main conclusion, from analytical and simulated results, shows that two models using frequency filtering are the best choice for the generation of multiple uncorrelated Rayleigh fading waveforms, where one of them is the new proposed model. This work can help mobile communications researchers to suitably model the communication channel in a computer simulation.

A modelagem computacional tem se tornado uma poderosa ferramenta utilizada mundialmente em pesquisas sobre sistemas de comunicação móvel. Em tais sistemas, a modelagem do canal é fator indispensável, pois as características de mobilidade e propagação presentes nesse tipo de sistema são responsáveis por distorções ocorridas sobre o sinal transmitido. O presente trabalho reúne os principais modelos matemáticos e computacionais de canal de comunicação móvel. Realiza-se uma abordagem histórica sobre o assunto, apresentado a natureza do problema do desvanecimento e a forma como foi modelado inicialmente. Por outro lado, apresentam-se modelos recentes, considerados eficazes do ponto de vista matemático e eficientes do ponto de vista computacional. O trabalho traz como contribuição a proposta de um novo modelo de canal com desvanecimento. Os modelos apresentados foram analisados do ponto de vista matemático por meio de suas propriedades estatísticas. Do ponto de vista numérico e computacional a análise se deu por meio de simulações. A principal conclusão obtida mostra que dois modelos com filtragem no domínio da freqüência, sendo um deles o novo modelo proposto, são os mais indicados para simular formas de onda que representem um canal com desvanecimento Rayleigh. Este trabalho tem a pretensão de ser útil para pesquisadores atuantes na área de modelagem e simulação de sistemas atuais de comunicação móvel. / Computational modelling is a powerful and widely used tool for research in mobile communication systems. In such systems, the communication channel modelling is an indispensable factor, because its mobility and propagation characteristics can cause distortion over the transmitted waveform. This work contains the main mathematical and computing communication channel models. A historical cover is provided, which presents the nature of the problem and the initial modelling of the fading phenomenon. On the other hand, recent models are presented, which are mathematically effective and computationally efficient. One contribution of this work is the proposal of a new fading channel computational model, which was suitably tested and validated. The presented models were mathematically analyzed through its statistical properties. From numerical and computational point of view, the models were analyzed through several simulations. The main conclusion, from analytical and simulated results, shows that two models using frequency filtering are the best choice for the generation of multiple uncorrelated Rayleigh fading waveforms, where one of them is the new proposed model. This work can help mobile communications researchers to suitably model the communication channel in a computer simulation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:31:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Alberto Tercariol Bergonso.pdf: 948199 bytes, checksum: 9baee66f05960fc08d06f925a9ea859a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-07 / The present dissertation proposes a 802.11 network evaluation sequence which can be adopted, independently of the equipment used at the network. The log-distance path loss model is used for the environment characterization (by the model ? parameter) where the network is evaluated. The specific objectives of each evaluation stage are presented and contextualized. The full proposal has initial steps related to the information determination which will be used as references of equipment location and data, and of network performance. Those reference data will be later compared to the handled data obtained from measurements related to the physical and MAC (Medium Access Control) layer performance and behavior, as well as to the transport layer. By the end, one stage to consolidate the measured data is necessary in order to determine a single final result, weigh up according to the specific objectives of the network and/or equipment evaluation. However, the work focus is at the equipment data obtaining stage and at the lower layers (physical and MAC) performance/behavior determination, so that evaluation methods are developed for those two stages. It is demonstrated that the effective transmission physical layer data rates vary much more than what is expected due to the interpretation of the data provided by equipment manufactors. And that better performance could be obtained from complex networks, which made use of multiple access points, installed at unfavorable propagation environments, depending upon the network project. / A presente disserta??o prop?e uma sequ?ncia de avalia??o para redes 802.11 que pode ser adotada, independentemente de quais s?o os equipamentos utilizados na rede. O modelo de log-distance path loss ? utilizado para caracteriza??o do ambiente (pelo par?metro ? do modelo) em que a rede ? avaliada. Os objetivos espec?ficos de cada uma das etapas de avalia??o s?o apresentadas e contextualizadas. A proposta, em sua totalidade, apresenta etapas iniciais relacionadas ? determina??o de informa??es que ser?o usadas como refer?ncias de localidade e desempenho de rede, e de dados dos equipamentos. Esses dados de refer?ncia ser?o posteriormente comparados com os dados coletados e tratados de medi??es realizadas em rela??o ao desempenho e comportamento das camadas f?sicas e MAC (Medium Access Control) e da camada de transporte. Por fim, uma etapa de consolida??o dos resultados das medi??es ? necess?ria para se obter um resultado final ?nico, composto de forma a ponderar de acordo com o(s) objetivo(s) espec?fico(s) de avalia??o da rede e/ou equipamento. O foco dessa disserta??o, contudo, est? na obten??o de dados dos equipamentos, de desempenho e comportamento das camadas inferiores (f?sica e MAC), de forma que para essas etapas, m?todos de avalia??o s?o desenvolvidos. ? demonstrado que as taxas de transmiss?o de dados efetivamente praticadas na camada f?sica variam muito mais que o esperado em fun??o da interpreta??o dos dados fornecidos pelos fabricantes de equipamentos. E que, dependendo do projeto da rede, pode-se obter melhores desempenhos em ambientes de propaga??o desfavor?vel que utilizam m?ltiplos pontos de acesso.

VHF står för "Very High Frequency" och är ett frekvensband som ligger i området 30 - 300 MHz. Maritim VHF är standard för Sjöfartsverket och fungerar över hela världen. Det är ett kommunikationssystem som bidrar till ökad säkerhet och kan rädda liv på sjön. Andra vanliga kommunikationssystem som mobiltelefoni fungerar inte tillförlitligt. Idag fungerar mobiltelefoni i stora delar av skärgården och längs kusterna men när det gäller kommunikation mellan fartyg längre ut till havs är den maritima VHF-kommunikationen överlägsen. Sjöfartsverket driver för sitt eget och kunders behov ett mobilradionätverk kallat kustradionätverket. Radiotrafiken i nätet sker både på Very High Frequency (VHF) och Medium frequency (MF). VHF-systemet är ett internationellt system som bland annat används till att kommunicera till sjöss och den trafiken befinner sig i frekvensbandet 155.5 - 162.025 MHz. Inom VHF-bandet finns det 55 kanaler. Kanalerna vid kustradiostationen kallas för duplexkanaler och innebär att kustradiostationerna sänder och tar emot signaler på två olika frekvenser. Radioutbredningen hos antennen som är installerad på basstationen har riktverkan i vissa riktningar och dämpningar i andra. Detta kan ses i strålningsdiagrammet under kapitlet "Täckningsmodell" och avsnittet antennen. Andra faktorer som kan påverka radioutbredningen är förluster i basstationenssystemet, topologin hos området mellan sändare och mottagare samt väderberoende utbredningsegenskaper. Genom att hitta de tänkbara faktorer som påverkar signalutbredningen kan en täckningsmodell förutses. Det är förluster som finns i basstationen, radiolänken samt förluster vid mottagarantennen.

Kriging is proposed as a tool for Wi-Fi signal strength estimation for complex indoor environments. This proposal is based on two studies suggesting that kriging might be suitable for this application. Both of these studies have shortcomings in supporting this proposal, but their results encourage a more in depth investigation into this. Even though kriging is a geostatistical method developed for geographical interpolation, it has been used successfully in a wide range of other applications as well. This further suggests that kriging might be a versatile method to overcome some of the difficul- ties of existing signal strength estimation methods. Two main types of signal strength estimation are deterministic methods and empirical methods. Deterministic methods are generally very complex and requires input parameters that are difficult to obtain. Empirical methods are known to have low accuracy which makes them unreliable for practical use. Three main investigations are presented in order to evaluate the use of kriging for this application. A sampling plan is proposed as part of a generic application protocol for the practical use of kriging for Wi-Fi signal strength. It is concluded that kriging can be conffidently used as an estimation technique for Wi-Fi signal strength in complex indoor environments. Kriging is recommended for practical applications, especially where in- sufficient information is available about a building or where time consuming site surveys are not feasible. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Kriging is proposed as a tool for Wi-Fi signal strength estimation for complex indoor environments. This proposal is based on two studies suggesting that kriging might be suitable for this application. Both of these studies have shortcomings in supporting this proposal, but their results encourage a more in depth investigation into this. Even though kriging is a geostatistical method developed for geographical interpolation, it has been used successfully in a wide range of other applications as well. This further suggests that kriging might be a versatile method to overcome some of the difficul- ties of existing signal strength estimation methods. Two main types of signal strength estimation are deterministic methods and empirical methods. Deterministic methods are generally very complex and requires input parameters that are difficult to obtain. Empirical methods are known to have low accuracy which makes them unreliable for practical use. Three main investigations are presented in order to evaluate the use of kriging for this application. A sampling plan is proposed as part of a generic application protocol for the practical use of kriging for Wi-Fi signal strength. It is concluded that kriging can be conffidently used as an estimation technique for Wi-Fi signal strength in complex indoor environments. Kriging is recommended for practical applications, especially where in- sufficient information is available about a building or where time consuming site surveys are not feasible. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Wireless technologies and networks are a part of our daily lives and we are surrounded by a constant stream of wireless signals. Unfortunately, there are a lot of limitations. At Toyota Material Handling Europe, future demands and expectations are raising but the technologies available today are not adapting fast enough. Indoor factory environments, moving network nodes and rapidly changing topologies are demanding situations. In this new Internet of Things day and age, transferring information in these challenging environments, the standard master and slave configuration is not enough. This report looks at the specific challenges establishing a wireless communication link between trucks in an indoor factory and warehouse environment. There are many factors to consider. Antennas, noise, frequency bands, different network technologies, propagation and path loss modeling to mention a few. Antennas and on-the-truck antenna positioning require design choices to be made. If we want to benefit from using high gain antennas, positioning is an important factor. Noise, in the highly congested 2.4 GHz band is a problem, especially considering safety critical applications. The license free ISM frequency bands have all different advantages in range, available communication protocols and amount of other technologies sharing the spectrum. The Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and V2X technologies looked at, tailored to the particular case of a warehouse environment like the Toyota factory, and the final selection relates to potential use case scenarios. Prioritizing, scalability, ad hoc network topologies, low latencies and short connection times together with long range, the new V2X technology building upon the IEEE 802.11p standard stands out. This report evaluates the IEEE 802.11p wireless standard running the ETSI ITS G5 V2X protocol in an indoor factory and warehouse environment. Thanks to Kapsch and their EVK-3300 V2X Evaluation Kit it was possible to evaluate transferring information between nodes, the PSR, and looking at how useful different path loss models are for estimating relative distances between trucks.

Several studies have characterized the path loss properties in industrial environments. However most of them have focused on one frequency, and some two or maximum three frequencies, usually cellular telephone frequencies or the unlicensed ISM bands that are commonly used in various industries. Few, if any, have characterized a larger part of the useable frequency range.This thesis is taking that challenge and investigates the path loss characteristics over a large frequency range, 300 MHz – 3 GHz, in industrial environments. First a measurement system suitable for the harsh environments found in industries is designed and verified. The measurement system is designed as two asynchronous stand-alone units that can be positioned at an arbitrary position to measure the path loss characteristics in any environment without interfering with the normal activities at the location. After that a measurement campaign involving three different types of environments is carried out. The environment types are: first, one highly absorbing – a paper warehouse at a paper mill; second, one highly reflective – a furnace building filled with metal objects and constructions and third, a mine tunnel – located 1 km below the surface of earth which is neither highly reflective nor absorbing but exhibits somewhat wave-guide like characteristics. The environments are shown to have very different behavior when it comes to propagation characteristics. Observations in the first environment reveal an environment that almost cancels out certain frequency bands and only line-of-sight communication is possible, hence no improvement will be achieved if installing systems that take multipath propagation into account, like MIMO. In the second environment reflections are legion; there are so many reflecting surfaces at different angles so any polarization of the signal is almost completely eliminated. Large fading variations were observed.The third environment is the underground mine where signals propagate inside the tunnels like in waveguides. It is shown that there are regions in the spectrum where the path loss dips and that these dips at least partly can be modeled with a simple two-beam propagation model normally used for outdoor propagation over infinite fields. The overall conclusion is that industrial environments are more heterogeneous regarding propagation characteristics than commonly assumed when selecting communication solutions. And that the only way to really know if a radio system will work at a certain location is to measure and characterize the environment.

One channel model that characterises multipath fading effect of a wireless channel is called Flat Rayleigh Fading channel model. Given the properties of Flat Rayleigh Fading channel, an equation to find the capacity of a Flat Rayleigh fading channel with hard decision decoding is derived. The difference of power requirement to achieve the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) capacity over a Flat Rayleigh Fading channel fading is found to increase exponentially with Es /N0 . Upper and lower bounds of error performance of linear block codes over a Flat Rayleigh Fading channel are also studied. With the condition that the excess delay of a channel is known earlier, it is shown that a correlator with shorter length, according to excess delay of the channel, can be constructed for use in wireless channel response measurements. Therefore, a rule of construction of a shorter length correlator is defined, involving concatenation of parts of a Constant Amplitude Zero Auto-Correlation (CAZAC) sequence. Simulation of [136,68,24] Double Circulant Code with Dorsch List Decoding is also done in order to evaluate error performance of the channel coding scheme over one of the IEEE Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WirelessMAN) channel models, the Stanford University Interim Channel Model No. 5 (SUI-5) channel. Performance of the channel cod- ing was severely degraded over the SUI-5 channel when it is compared to its performance over the AWGN channel. Indoor path losses within three multifloor office buildings were investigated at 433 MHz, 869 MHz and 1249 MHz. The work involved series of extensive received signal strength measurements within the buildings for all of the considered frequencies. Results have shown that indoor path loss is higher within a square footprint building than indoor path loss in a rectangular building. Parameters of Log-Distance Path Loss and Floor Attenuation Factor Path Loss models have been derived from the measurement data. In addition, a new indoor path loss prediction model was derived to cater for path loss pre- diction within multifloor buildings with indoor atriums. The model performs with better prediction accuracy when compared with Log-Distance Path Loss and Floor Attenuation Factor Path Loss models.