Each year, thousands of cargo containers are broken into during shipping, costing billions of dollars in lost and damaged goods. In addition to removing its contents, intruders can also add unwanted and dangerous materials to a container, posing a threat to National Security. The possibilities of cargo container break-ins require that the containers go through check points at which they are physically searched. These searches often require the opening of the container, unloading and inspecting all cargo, and then loading the container and resealing it. This is a long and costly process. Because of the high costs of break-ins and inspections, many security devices have been developed to ensure the safety and detect the tampering of cargo containers. Most of these mechanisms involve more intricate door locks and electronic seals that are able to add a degree of security to the containers. Other “smart” cargo security devices exist, which employ a variety of sensors to detect intrusion, however, none of the current solutions are reliable and practical enough to eliminate the necessity for frequent inspection of cargo containers. The shipping industry is in need of a reliable, unobtrusive, low-cost, low-effort cargo security device. Over the last two decades, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been developing a micropower impulse radar capable of detecting objects and motion within a short to medium range. Due to its past uses for intrusion and motion detection, the LLNL micropower impulse radar is a top prospect for a sensor technology used in a cargo security device. This paper describes the design of a low-power, low-cost cargo security device which uses the LLNL micropower impulse radar for the detection of shipping container intrusions. With the evaluation of the impulse radar as well as various other sensors, a device was created which successfully detected intrusions over 98% of the time with the capability of lasting 5 to 6 months when powered by two AA batteries.

No / A miniaturized modified planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) is presented and experimentally studied. This antenna consists of a planar rectangular monopole top-loaded with a rectangular patch attached to two rectangular plates, one shorted to the ground and the other suspended, both placed at the optimum distance on each side of the planar monopole. The fabricated antenna prototype had a measured impedance bandwidth of 125%, covering 3 to 13GHz for reflection coefficient better than -10 dB. The radiator size was 20 x 10 x 7.5 mm(3), making it electrically small over most of the band and suitable for incorporation in mobile devices. The radiation patterns and gains of this antenna have been cross-validated numerically and experimentally and confirm that this antenna has adequate characteristics for short range ultra-wideband wireless applications.

Yes / An ultra-wideband microstrip antenna design is considered with respect to applications in breast cancer detection. The underlying design concept is based on ground penetrating radar (GPR). Simulated and measured prototype performance show excellent performance in the input impedance and radiation pattern over the target range from 4 GHz to 8 GHz. The 4 GHz to 8GHz frequency band for microwave imaging perform better in comparison with other microwave frequencies. The antenna also shows a reasonable uniform radiation performance in the broadside direction which contributes to the reduction of clutter levels, thus aiding the reconstruction quality of the final image.

Yes / In this article, a novel uniplanar ultra‐wideband (UWB) stop frequency selective surface (FSS) was miniaturized to maximize the gain of a compact UWB monopole antenna for microwave imaging applications. The single‐plane FSS unit cell size was only 0.095λ × 0.095λ for a lower‐operating frequency had been introduced, which was miniaturized by combining a square‐loop with a cross‐dipole on FR4 substrate. The proposed hexagonal antenna was printed on FR4 substrate with coplanar waveguide feed, which was further backed at 21.6 mm by 3 × 3 FSS array. The unit cell was modeled with an equivalent circuit, while the measured characteristics of fabricated FSS array and the antenna prototypes were validated with the simulation outcomes. The FSS displayed transmission magnitude below −10 dB and linear reflection phase over the bandwidth of 2.6 to 11.1 GHz. The proposed antenna prototype achieved excellent gain improvement about 3.5 dBi, unidirectional radiation, and bandwidth of 3.8 to 10.6 GHz. Exceptional agreements were observed between the simulation and the measured outcomes. Hence, a new UWB baggage scanner system was developed to assess the short distance imaging of simulated small metallic objects in handbag model. The system based on the proposed antenna displayed a higher resolution image than the antenna without FSS.

Sjöfartshögskolan i Kalmar har ett långtgående studentprojekt att bygga en modell av skolfartyget M/S Calmare Nyckel som autonomt ska köra runt i en damm på skolan för att visa upp skolans profil. Projektet är tänkt att sammanfoga kunskaper från många olika delar av utbildningen såsom elektronik, programmering, och stabilitet. Detta arbete syftar till att undersöka Ultra Wideband som teknik för positionering av modellen för att i framtiden kunna använda positionen för att navigera i dammen. Specifikt så användes tre chip av typen ESP32 UWB som implementation av Ultra Wideband då det var ett billigt alternativ som verkade lovande. Två av chippen var stillastående på kända positioner och positionen för det tredje chippet räknas ut med hjälp av triangulering. Den uppmätta noggrannheten för systemet anses inte vara tillräckligt bra för att fortsätta med ESP32 UWB i fortsättningen av projektet.En båtmodell av M/S Calmare Nyckel togs fram med hjälp av CAD programmet Autodesk Fusion 360 och tanken är att båtmodellen ska 3D printas på universitetet och sedan byggas ut med RC komponenter så båtmodellen kan göra fart genom vatten. Tanken är även att båtmodellen ska kunna manövrera helt autonomt till en laddstation för att sedan återvända ut på sin planerade rutt. Med hjälp av forum och experter online så har alternativ till vilka typer av komponenter såsom, elmotor, styrservo, propeller och annat som behövs för driften tagits fram. Alternativen är bara förslag på vilka komponenter som rekommenderas och inga exakta modeller. / The Kalmar Maritime Academy have an ongoing student project to build a model of the academy’s training ship M/S Calmare Nyckel. The model is supposed to autonomously sail around a pond located in the academy’s premises to show off the academy’s profile. The project is intended to combine knowledge from many different parts of the program such as electronics, programming, and stability. This project aims to investigate Ultra Wideband as a technology for positioning the model to be able to use the position to navigate the pond. Three ESP32 UWB chips were used as an implementation of Ultra Wideband as it was a cheap alternative that showed promise. Two of the chips were stationary at known positions and the position of the third chip is then calculated using triangulation. The measured accuracy of the system is not considered good enough to continue with the ESP32 UWB in the continuation of the project.A boat model of M/S Calmare Nyckel was produced using the CAD program Autodesk Fusion 360 and the idea is that the boat model can be 3D printed at the university and then expanded with RC components so that the boat model can make speed through water. The idea is also that the boat model should be able to maneuver completely autonomously to a charging station and then return to its planned route. With the help of online forums and experts, alternatives to the types of components such as electric motor, steering servo, propeller, and other things needed for operation have been developed. The options are only suggestions of which components are recommended and not exact models.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Recently, the advent of the integrated circuits (ICs), the monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and the multiprocessing computer technology have provided numerous opportunities to make the radar technology compact and affordable. The ultra-wideband (UWB) technology gives many advantages over the traditional narrowband radar systems due to its high spatial resolution, low susceptibility to interference, superior penetration depths, and increased peak power. However, the ability to digitize and reconstruct the full UWB signal spectrum comes at a considerable cost and size. Ultimately, high-speed sampling rates above 10 giga-samples per second (GSPS) are beyond the abilities of conventional analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The UWB technology is inaccessible to the end-user for various advanced applications in microwave imaging and detection. The purpose of this work is to provide a low-cost, dual-channel UWB pulsed-radar system that is readily available with a 1:10 system bandwidth. The advancements in low-cost alternatives for compact and portable designs empower many promising UWB applications. Here, the desired bandwidth is from 500 MHz to 5 GHz, which utilizes a fast pulse repetition frequency (PRF) in short-range applications. The preliminary results from the novel Equivalent-Time Sampling Receiver are promising with an equivalent-time sampling rate up to 20 GSPS. Nevertheless, the system design is versatile for bandwidth tuning in order to meet the needs of different applications. This versatility is enabled by: i) selection of the effective sampling rate through the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) programming environment, ii) choice of the receivers' front-end track and hold (T & H) amplifier bandwidth, iii) a collection of different PRFs from the low kilohertz up to 20 MHz, iv) tuning of the pulse generator bandwidth, and v) simultaneous multi-channel capabilities enabling antenna beam-forming, polarization diversity and spatial diversity. The result is a fully functional prototype that costs a fraction of traditional bench-top solutions. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)