Inkjet printing is a mature technique for colourful graphic arts. It excels at customized, large area, high resolution, and small volume production. With the developments in conductive, and dielectric inks, there is potential for large area inkjet electronics fabrication. Passive radio frequency devices can benefit greatly from a printing process, since the size of these devices is defined by the frequency of operation. The large size of radio frequency passives means that they either take up expensive space “on chip” or that they are fabricated on a separate lower cost substrate and somehow bonded to the chips. This has hindered cost-sensitive high volume applications such as radio frequency identification tags. Substantial work has been undertaken on inkjet-printed conductors for passive antennas on microwave substrates and even paper, yet there has been little work on the printing of the dielectric materials aimed at radio frequency passives. Both the conductor and dielectric need to be integrated to create a multilayer inkjet printing process that is capable of making quality passives such as capacitors and inductors. Three inkjet printed dielectrics are investigated in this thesis: a ceramic (alumina), a thermal-cured polymer (poly 4 vinyl phenol), and a UV-cured polymer (acrylic based). For the conductor, both a silver nanoparticle ink as well as a custom in-house formulated particle-free silver ink are explored. The focus is on passives, mainly capacitors and inductors. Compared to low frequency electronics, radio frequency components have additional sensitivity regarding skin depth of the conductor and surface roughness, as well as dielectric constant and loss tangent of the dielectric. These concerns are investigated with the aim of making the highest quality components possible and to understand the current limitations of inkjet-fabricated radio frequency devices. An inkjet-printed alumina dielectric that provides quality factors of 200 and high density capacitors of 400 pF/mm2 with self-resonant frequencies into the GHz regime is developed in this thesis. A multilayer fully printed process is demonstrated using PVP dielectric and dissolving type vias, giving better than 0.1 ohm resistance. In the multilayer process, capacitors and inductors have self-resonant frequencies around 1GHz. These fully printed devices have quality factors less than 10. Finally, 3D inkjet-printed UV-cured material is utilized with a novel silver organo-complex ink at 80oC providing conductivity of 1x107 S/m. A lumped element filter is demonstrated with an insertion loss of only 0.8 dB at 1GHz. The combination of inkjet printing 3D polymer and conductive metal together allows for complex shapes. A fully printed antenna with 81% radiation efficiency is shown. With these promising results and future advances in conductive inks and low-loss dielectrics, the performance of inkjet passives could one day overcome conventional fabrication methods.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis was to investigate the use of behavioral level models in receiver simulations using the capabilities of Agilent's Advanced Design System. Behavioral level modeling has become increasingly attractive because it offers faster and easier results for system level simulations. The work in this thesis focused strongly on nonlinear measurements to characterize the various nonlinear phenomena that are present in amplifiers and mixers. Measurement automation software was developed to automate the process. An error correction technique was also developed to increase the accuracy of spectrum analyzer measurements. The measured data was used to implement the behavioral level amplifier and mixer models in ADS. The accuracy of the models was compared to measured data and the different available models were compared. Finally the models were combined to realize different receivers and were used to do typical receiver tests. These test include gain and gain compression, two-tone intermodulation and spurious responses. The results are compared to measured data to test the accuracy and usefulness of the models and simulation techniques. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis was om stelsel-vlak gedrags-modelle te ondersoek soos hulle in Agilent se Advanced Design System (ADS) aangebied word. Die modellering van die stelselvlak-gedrag van komponente en stelsels is aantreklik aangesien dit 'n hoë vlak beskrywing van komplekse kommunikasie stelsels moontlik maak. Akkurate stelsel-vlak simulasies sal lei tot vinnige ontwikkeling en evaluasie van nuwe sisteme. Die resultate wat verkry word is egter afhanklik van die beskikbaarheid van akkurate stelsel-vlak gedragsmodelle Die tesis het baie sterk op metings staat gemaak om die nie-liniêre gedrag van versterkers en mengers te karakteriseer. Meet sagteware is ontwikkel om die verskillende metings te automatiseer. Fout korreksie vir spetrum-analiseerder-metings is ook ontwikkel. Die gemete data is gebruik om die nie-liniêre gedrags-modelle in ADS te implementer. Die modelle is in simulasies gebruik en die akuraatheid van die simulasies is teen gemete data getoets. Die finale deel van die tesis gebruik die modelle om tipiese ontvanger karakteristieke te voorspel. Die volgende toetse is gedoen: aanwins en kompressie, twee-toon intermodulasie en hoer orde meng produkte. Die resultate van die toetse is met gemete data vergelyk om die akuraatehied en bruikbaarheid van die verskillende modelle te vergelyk.

The study sought to investigate the use of RFID technology as inventory control in academic libraries in South Africa, with a focus on the University of South Africa and the University of Fort Hare libraries. The objectives of the study were to describe the current inventory control practices at the libraries of the University of South Africa and the University of Fort Hare in order to determine the infrastructure required for the use of RFID for inventory control for the University of Fort Hare’s libraries; to evaluate the benefits of RFID technologies, in order to gain a competitive advantage for the University of South Africa’s and the University of Fort Hare’s libraries; to identify the challenges associated with adopting RFID technology, as experienced by the libraries of the University of South Africa and the University of Fort Hare. The study adopted both the quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The researcher followed a rigorous methodological path that began with a thorough literature review coupled with the careful and thoughtful posing of research questions and objectives. A purposive sample of forty (40) respondents was selected from the library staff from both the University of South Africa and University of Fort Harelibraries. The collected data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 23 (SPSS 23) and Microsoft Excel 2010. The findings of the study revealed reasons for both academic libraries to invest in RFID technology; these reasons include RFID’s ability to deliver self-service options, inventory control, improved reader access and improved security. The challenges related to the implementation of RFID technology are also related to staff not being rewarded by library management for being innovative; the difficulty of staff learning new technology; the staff’s inability to generate new ideas for the library; and the staff not being able to share knowledge with each other. Further research needs to be conducted by library RFID vendors in order to meet the need, of academic libraries, for RFID inventory control. RFID hardware and software (API software) should be subjected to further investigation for the purposes of research and development. Libraries should work closer with RFID vendors so as to trial and test hardware and software.

This dissertation presents a case study which attempts to implement a passive Ultra High Frequency Radio Frequency Identification (UHF RFID) system on aircraft landing gear (LG) to permit component configuration management. It is shown that a monostatic RFID system with two reader antennas, one on the LG main fitting and one in the wing bay allows up to 64 kbits of data to be associated with each LG component. A 7 dB system margin allows data on each LG component to be updated wirelessly and will also enable a passive UHF RFID-based LG health and usage monitoring system when tags with required sensors become available. Results from an electromagnetic simulation show that when a metal is illuminated by a nearby antenna the E-field distribution close to its surface is stronger than in free space. To explore if the stronger E-field can be used to enhance the performance of a conventional passive tag, a 5 cm × 6 mm × 3.02 m aluminium bar has been selected as the tagging object and connected to the reader via an RF feed. It is shown that a conventional metal tag which has a maximum free space range of 1.3 m when mounted on a metal plate can be detected up to 30 m along the aluminium bar from the RF feed. When orientated with the long axis normal to the metal surface a conventional passive tag with a dipole antenna can efficiently harvest the E- field and can be read at least 50 m away from the antenna feed. The proposed use of metal objects as a nearfield antenna is well suited to some applications, but in others a significant wireless path is still required. In such a case, a semi-passive tag can be used. It is demonstrated that a semi-passive tag only requires 14.4 ̧œ‡̧‘Š to be read over 42 m in a bistatic RFID system. Such a power consumption can be easily achieved by most energy harvesting techniques. It is demonstrated that a solar-powered semi-passive tag can be read at a range of 22 m, but its performance is still limited by multipath effects. A distributed antenna system (DAS) can be used to overcome these effects by using frequency and phase hopping techniques. It is demonstrated that 50 solar-powered semi-passive tags can be read with no missed detections over a 10 m × 20 m office area with 4 dB system margin.

Thesis (MTech(Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2006. / Electronic communication systems have become an integral part of our everyday lives. RF (Radio Frequency) power amplifiers form part of the fundamental building blocks of an electronic communication system. RF power amplifiers can also be one of the major causes of distortion in an electronic communication system. This thesis describes the linearity requirement for a RF power amplifier that is used in a transmitter section of an electronic communication system. Furthermore, five different linearisation techniques are presented and their characteristics compared. Since a power amplifier employing the Feedforward linearisation technique was designed, built and tested, this thesis focuses on the Feedforward technique. The design methods for the various Feedforward components are presented. The measured parameters of the Feedforward linearised amplifier are compared with the measured parameters of a non-linearised amplifier.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Neste trabalho, foram investigadas as propriedades estruturais e dielÃtricas da fase monoclÃnica da cerÃmica ferroelÃtrica Na2Nb4O11 com adiÃÃo de Ãxido de bismuto (Bi2O3) nas proporÃÃes de 2, 5 e 10% em massa. Os pÃs Na2Nb4O11 foram produzidos pelo mÃtodo convencional de reaÃÃo em estado sÃlido. ApÃs a calcinaÃÃo, as amostras foram prensadas na forma de pastilhas cilÃndricas e, em seguida, sinterizadas. O estudo da estrutura e da composiÃÃo das amostras foi feito atravÃs de difraÃÃo de raios-X e Refinamento Rieteveld e um estudo da morfologia foi realizado atravÃs de Microscopia EletrÃnica de Varredura onde visualmente, as amostras lembram as medidas de densidade obtidas atravÃs da picnometria. A caracterizaÃÃo dielÃtrica foi realizada na faixa de radiofrequÃncias e de microondas. Em ambos os casos, foi realizado um estudo das propriedades em relaÃÃo à variaÃÃo da temperatura para possÃvel aplicaÃÃo em dispositivos de RF e MW. Nosso interesse foi obter dielÃtricos cerÃmicos com permissividade dielÃtrica alta, baixas perdas dielÃtricas e estabilidade tÃrmica. Nas medidas realizadas em temperatura ambiente de 25ÂC obtivemos um alto valor da permissividade dielÃtrica (εâr = 250,9) com o NN10Bi (10% de Bi2O3) em 10 kHz e um valor da tangente de perda, relativamente baixo (tanδ = 1,80.10-2) com o NN2Bi (2% de Bi2O3) em 1 MHz. Em temperatura variÃvel e numa frequÃncia fixa de 100 kHz, obtivemos um alto valor da permissividade dielÃtrica com εâr = 440,78 a 440ÂC com o NN2Bi e um valor de perda dielÃtrica em torno de 1,81.10-1 a 280ÂC com o NN10Bi. A medida do coeficiente de temperatura da frequÃncia de ressonÃncia mostrou a possibilidade de atingir a estabilidade tÃrmica = 0 com o aumento do nÃvel de adiÃÃo de Bi2O3. Para o NN00 obtivemos um tauf = -3378,42 ppm/ÂC. Com a adiÃÃo do Bi2O3, este valor vai se aproximando do zero e atinge tauf = -250,04 ppm/ÂC para o NN10Bi. As medidas na faixa de microondas foram obtidas utilizando-se o mÃtodo Hakki-Coleman. Uma simulaÃÃo numÃrica foi realizada com cada amostra verificando-se a reciprocidade com os dados experimentais. Neste estudo obtivemos uma cerÃmica NN10Bi, Ãtil para a aplicaÃÃo em dispositivos de antenas omnidirecionais de baixo ganho, em sistemas de comunicaÃÃes via satÃlite, internet sem fio, radar, forno de microondas, recepÃÃo de rÃdio e em projetos de espaÃonaves. / In this present work, Na2Nb4O11, ferroelectric ceramics have been investigated by their monoclinic phase structural and dielectric properties have been enhanced by the addition of 2, 5 and 10 wt% Bismuth. Na2Nb4O11 powders have been produced by conventional solid-state reaction method. Milling process was carried out by using a high energy planetary mill. The calcined powders were thoroughly weighted and pressed using an axial press to make cylinder pellets for sintering. The single-phase Na2Nb4O11 was determined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) technique and Rietveld refinement method, while morphology, crystal structure and phase composition were determined via Scattering Electron Microscopy (SEM) where the samplesâ crystal structure micrographs show nearly the density measures obtained by Pycnometry technique. Dielectric characterization was carried out over a radiofrequency (RF) and microwave (MW) range. Both cases, we have studied the properties related to temperature variation for likely applications to RF and MW devices. We have focused on obtaining dielectric ceramics with high dielectric permittivity, low dielectric loss and near-zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency. Room temperature measures at 25ÂC have had a high permittivity value = 250.9) for NN10Bi (10% of Bi2O3) at 10 kHz and a dielectric loss, relatively low value 1.80 10-2 for NN2Bi (2% of Bi2O3) at 1MHz. Varying temperature and fixed frequency at 100 kHz, we have obtained a high dielectric permittivity value 440.78 at 440ÂC) for NN2Bi and a dielectric loss about 1,81.10-1 at 280ÂC for NN10Bi. Near-zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency has shown possibility of reaching thermal stability = 0 as increasing Bi2O3 addition level. For NN00 we have obtained = - 3378.42 ppm/oC. More Bi2O3 addition provides = - 250.04 ppm/oC for NN10Bi. Microwave measures were carried out using Hakki Coleman technique. A numerical simulation was also achieved for each sample for verifying the similarity to experimental data. In this study we have obtained NN10Bi ceramics, applicable for low-gain antenna devices, for satellite communication systems, wireless internet, radar, microwave oven, radio frequency receptor and spacecraft designing.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / Neste trabalho, foram investigadas as propriedades estruturais e dielÃtricas da fase monoclÃnica da cerÃmica ferroelÃtrica Na2Nb4O11 com adiÃÃo de diÃxido de titÃnio (TiO2) e PentÃxido de vanÃdio (V2O5) nas proporÃÃes de 2, 5 e 10% em massa. Os pÃs Na2Nb4O11 foram produzidos pelo mÃtodo convencional de reaÃÃo em estado sÃlido. ApÃs a calcinaÃÃo, as amostras foram prensadas na forma de pastilhas cilÃndricas e, em seguida, sinterizadas. O estudo da estrutura e da composiÃÃo das amostras foi feito atravÃs de difraÃÃo de raios-X e Refinamento Rieteveld e um estudo da morfologia foi realizado atravÃs de Microscopia EletrÃnica de Varredura. As medidas de densidade foram obtidas atravÃs da picnometria. A caracterizaÃÃo dielÃtrica foi realizada na faixa de radiofrequÃncias e de micro-ondas. Em ambos os casos, foram realizados um estudo das propriedades em relaÃÃo à variaÃÃo da temperatura para possÃvel aplicaÃÃo em dispositivos que atuam em RadiofrequÃncia e Microondas. O objetivo principal desse trabalho foi obter ressoadores dielÃtricos cerÃmicos com permissividade dielÃtrica alta, baixas perdas dielÃtricas e estabilidade tÃrmica, pois essas propriedades sÃo necessÃrias para as aplicaÃÃes em filtros e antenas dielÃtricas. Nas medidas realizadas em temperatura ambiente de 25ÂC obtivemos um alto valor da permissividade dielÃtrica (εâr = 129.29 ) com o NN2V ( 2% de V2O5) e um valor da tangente de perda, relativamente baixo ( tanδ = 3.25x10-2 ) em 1 MHz. Na temperatura de 400ÂC e numa frequÃncia fixa de 1 MHz, foi obtido um alto valor da permissividade dielÃtrica com εâr= 358.23 e um valor de perda dielÃtrica em torno de 3,49 x10-1 para amostra NN2Ti. A medida do coeficiente de temperatura da frequÃncia de ressonÃncia (τf) mostrou a possibilidade de atingir a estabilidade tÃrmica (τf = 0) com o aumento do nÃvel de adiÃÃo de V2O5. Para a amostra NN00, obtivemos um τf= -3378,42 ppm/ÂC. Com a adiÃÃo do V2O5, este valor vai se aproximando do zero e atinge τf = -1348,618ppm/ÂC para o NN10V. As medidas na faixa de micro-ondas foram obtidas utilizando-se o mÃtodo Hakki-Coleman. Uma simulaÃÃo numÃrica foi realizada com cada amostra, verificando-se a reciprocidade com os dados experimentais. Neste estudo obtivemos uma cerÃmica NN10V, Ãtil para a aplicaÃÃo em dispositivos de antenas omnidirecionais de baixo ganho.

During the past few years, a worldwide interest and unanimous consensus has arisen on personal communication services (PCS), where satellites can play a crucial role in a global scenario for the provision of PCS's all over the world. While for maritime and aeronautical communication services, the mature technologies of geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems seem the most suitable for present and future enhanced systems, other orbital configuration such as low earth orbit (LEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) are being considered for the provision of satellite personal communication services to hand-held mobile terminals. One of the main objectives of personal communication services is the capability to provide personal (or continuous) mobility, communication anytime, anywhere. In general, satellite systems can provide a limited capacity with respect to terrestrial networks, nevertheless they are particularly suited in order to cover large terrestrial areas offering a scarce amount of traffic. The problem of radio frequency management for mobile applications has been addressed by World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-92). One of the most relevant decisions taken at WARC-92 was to allocate the radio determination satellite system (RDSS) 1610-1626.5 MHz (L-Band) and 2483.5-2500 MHz (S-Band) slots to LEO satellite services on a worldwide, primary basis. This enables "big LEO's" to have a reasonable amount of spectram (i.e. capacity) to serve a substantial number of subscribers. However, the available amount of spectrum at L-band and S-band out of WARC-92 appears hardly sufficient to permit several systems to operate. Hence, to enable all the systems to operate and fulfil the capacity demand, S-PCNs need to share the limited available frequency spectrum. In this thesis we have proposed and evaluated a new fully overlapped band sharing scheme for mobile satellite systems operating in a land mobile satellite channel environment. The results show that the mobile satellite systems can share the limited available bandwidth. However, the overall system capacity of the MSS has been reduced due to excess intersystem interference. In order to reduce the excess inter-system interference a new enhanced overlapped band sharing protocol is proposed. The performance of this optimised band sharing scheme outperforms the conventional band segmentation scheme. Thus, achieving superior overall system capacity.

Cognitive radio improves radio spectrum utilization either by spectrum sharing or by opportunistically utilizing the spectrum of the licensed users. Cognitive beam- forming is a prominent technique that can further enhance the overall performance of the wireless communication systems through beamforming vector design and/or power allocation. Harvesting radio frequency (RF) energy from existing wireless communication systems is a promising potential solution for providing convenient, perpetual and green energy supply to wireless sensor networks (WSN). The amount of energy that can be harvested from existing RF energy sources over a short period of time can only support low data rate applications with simply transmission strategies. The main challenge for satisfying the energy requirement of WSN is the time-varying wireless fading channels. Low complexity cooperation between WSN and RF energy source can effectively enhance the stability of energy supply for the sensor node. While multiple transmission antennas are deployed at the existing RF energy source, judicious transmit beam selection can further improve the harvested energy at the sensor node, while simultaneously serving multiple users. In this doctoral research, we present random unitary beamforming (RUB) cooperative beam selection schemes to ensure the QoS of primary system and reduce the hardware and software complexities of secondary system. We analyze the exact out- age performance of the primary system, and investigate the tradeoff between primary system outage probability versus secondary system sum-rate performance. We also study the performance of overlaid wireless sensor transmission powered by RF energy harvested from existing wireless system. We derive the exact distribution function of harvested energy over a certain number channel coherence time over Rayleigh fading channels with the consideration of hardware limitation, such as energy harvesting sensitivity and harvesting efficiency. We also analyze the average packet delay and packet loss probability of sensor transmission subject to interference from existing system, for both delay insensitive traffics and delay sensitive traffics. The optimal design of energy storage capacity of the sensor nodes is proposed to minimize the average packet transmission delay for delay insensitive traffics with two candidate transmission strategies. We further investigate the energy harvesting performance of a wireless sensor node powered by RF energy from an existing multiuser MIMO system. Specifically, we propose based cooperative beam selection schemes to enhance the energy harvesting performance at the sensor. We derive the exact distribution function of harvested energy in a coherence time and further investigate the performance tradeoff of the average harvested energy at the sensor versus the sum-rate of the multiuser MIMO system. / Graduate

M.Sc. (Information Technology) / A new particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm that produces solutions to the xed spectrum frequency assignment problem (FS-FAP) is presented. Solutions to the FS-FAP are used to allocate frequencies in a mobile telecommunications network and must have low interference. The standard PSO algorithm's velocity method and global selection is ill suited for the frequency assignment problem (FAP). Therefore using the standard PSO algorithm as base, new techniques are developed to allow it to operate on the FAP. The new techniques include two velocity methods and three global selection schemes. This study presents the results of the algorithm operating on the Siemens set of COST 259 problems and shows that it is viable applying the PSO to the FAP.