In the field of electromagnetism, there are materials known as metamaterials which exhibit unique properties that can be exploited. Permittivity, defined as capacitance per meter, of a metamaterial can vary over frequency , time, or even be negative. This can be useful for tuning antennas, changing their operating frequency or direction of propagation, or even designing cloaking systems. However, the theory behind metamaterials needs to be studied further. One of the biggest issues to address is in determining the constitutive parameters of metamaterials which may be varying. Previous research has shown the issue of branches, or mathematical discontinuities, occurring in the derivation of permittivity from the scattering parameters of a metamaterial. This thesis provides further understanding to the theory behind these branches and presents a new method to compensate for them. This new method, called the phase tracking method, may be considered a modern adaptation of the Nicolson-Ross-Weir method.

La thèse a pour but de développer des algorithmes robustes de poursuite de phase multifréquence en environnement dégradé. L’objectif est d’élaborer de nouvelles structures pouvant opérer à des niveaux de rapport signal à bruit inférieurs aux limites des algorithmes actuellement implémentés dans des récepteurs grand public. Les problèmes de robustesse des algorithmes d’estimation de phase étant en grande partie causés par le phénomène de sauts de cycle, les différents axes de recherche se sont focalisés sur des nouvelles approches de développement de phase au sein des structures de poursuite. Pour ce faire, deux approches ont été étudiées et testées. Dans un premier temps, deux structures de poursuite monofréquence basées sur une DPLL conventionnelle ont été développées. Ces structures disposent d’un système externe de développement de phase visant à prédire et pré-compenser la sortie du discriminateur grâce à l’analyse des sorties du discriminateur ou des sorties du filtre de boucle. La réduction de la dynamique à estimer va alors permettre de réduire l’apparition des sauts de cycle se produisant au niveau du discriminateur. Par la suite, ce système de développement de phase a été adapté à la poursuite de phase multifréquence. Grâce à l’exploitation de la diversité en fréquence offerte par les signaux de navigation (i.e., de la proportionnalité des fréquences Doppler), il a été possible de mettre en place une étape de fusion de données qui a permis d’améliorer la précision de la prédiction de la sortie du discriminateur et donc d’améliorer la robustesse de la structure. Dans un second temps, les travaux de recherche se son taxés sur une nouvelle approche de poursuite de phase et de correction du phénomène de sauts de cycle basée sur une technique de filtrage Bayésien variationnel. Toujours en exploitant la diversité en fréquence des signaux de navigation, cette méthode suppose un modèle de dynamique de phase Markovien qui va imposer une certaine continuité de l’estimation et va permettre de fournir une estimation de phase développée. / This thesis aims at introducing multifrequency phase tracking algorithms operating in low C/N0environment. The objective is to develop new structures whose tracking limits are lower than thatof current algorithms used in mass market receivers. Phase tracking suffers from a lack of robustnessdue to the cycle slip phenomenon. Works have thus been focused on elaborating new phaseunwrapping systems. To do so, two different tracking approaches were studied. First, we have developed new monofrequency tracking loops based on a conventional DPLL. These structures aimat predicting the discriminator output by analyzing, thanks to a polynomial model, the last outputsamples of either the discriminator or the loop filter. Once the discriminator output is predicted,the estimated value is pre-compensated so that the phase dynamics to be tracked is reduced aswell as the cycle slip rate. Then, the unwrapping structure analyzing the loop filter outputs hasbeen extended to multifrequency signals. Using a data fusion step, the new multifrequency structuretakes advantage of the frequency diversity of a GNSS signal (i.e., proportionality of Dopplerfrequencies) to improve the tracking performances. Secondly, studies have been focused on developing a new multifrequency tracking algorithm using variational Bayesian filtering technique.This tracking method, which also uses the GNSS frequency diversity, assumes a Markovian phasedynamics that enforces the smoothness of the phase estimation and unwraps it.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / OFDM systems have experienced increased attention in recent years and have found applications in a number of diverse areas including telephone-line based ADSL links, digital audio and video broadcasting systems, and wireless local area networks (WLAN). Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a powerful technique for high data-rate transmission over fading channels. However, to deploy OFDM in a WLAN environment, precise frequency synchronization must be maintained and tricky frequency offsets must be handled. In this thesis, various techniques to improve the data throughput of OFDM WLAN are investigated. A simulation tool was developed in Matlab to evaluate the performance of the IEEE 802.11a physical layer. We proposed a rapid time and frequency synchronization algorithm using only the short training sequence of the IEEE 802.11a standard, thus reducing the training overhead to 50%. Particular attention was paid to channel coding, block interleaving and antenna diversity. Computer simulation showed that drastic improvement in error rate performance is achievable when these techniques are deployed. / Lieutenant, Hellenic Navy