Passive wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are quickly becoming popular for many applications such as article tracking, position location, temperature sensing, and passive data storage. Passive tags and sensors are unique in that they collect their electrical energy by harvesting it from the ambient environment. Tags with charge pumps collect their energy from the signal they receive from the transmitting source. The efficiency of converting the received signal to DC power is greatly enhanced using a power-optimized waveform (POW). Measurements in the first part of this dissertation show that a POW can provide efficiency gains of up to 12 dB compared to a sine-wave input. Tracking the real-time location of these passive tags is a specialized feature used in some applications such as animal tracking. A passive WSN that uses POWs for the improvement of energy-harvesting may also estimate the range to a tag by measuring the time delay of propagation from the transmitter to the tag and back to the transmitter. The maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator is used for estimating this time delay, which simplifies to taking the cross-correlation of the received signal with the transmitted signal. This research characterizes key aspects of performing range estimations in passive WSNs using POWs. The shape of the POW has a directly-measurable effect on ranging performance. Measurements and simulations show that the RMS bandwidth of the waveform has an inversely proportional relationship to the uncertainty of a range measurement. The clutter of an environment greatly affects the uncertainty and bias exhibited by a range estimator. Random frequency-selective environments with heavy clutter are shown to produce estimation uncertainties more than 20 dB higher than the theoretical lower bound. Estimation in random frequency-flat environments is well-behaved and fits the theory quite nicely. Nonlinear circuits such as the charge pump distort the POW during reflection, which biases the range estimations. This research derives an empirical model for predicting the estimation bias for Dickson charge pumps and verifies it with simulations and measurements.

We demonstrate four experimentally simple methods for measuring very complex ultrashort light pulses. Although each method is comprised of only a few optical elements, they permit the measurement of extremely complex pulses with time-bandwidth products greater than 65,000. First, we demonstrate an extremely simple frequency-resolved-optical gating (GRENOUILLE) device for measuring the intensity and phase of pulses up to ~20ps in length. In order to achieve the required high spectral resolution and large temporal range, it uses a few-cm-thick second harmonic-generation crystal in the shape of a pentagon. This has the additional advantage of reducing the device's total number of components to three. Secondly, we introduce a variation of spectral interferometry (SI) using a virtually imaged phased array and grating spectrometer for measuring long complex ultrashort pulses up to 80 ps in length. Next, we introduce a SI technique for measuring the complete intensity and phase of relatively long and very complex ultrashort pulses. It involves making multiple measurements using SI (in its SEA TADPOLE variation) at numerous delays, measuring many temporal pulselets within the pulse, and concatenating the resulting pulselets. Its spectral resolution is the inverse delay range--many times higher than that of the spectrometer used. The waveforms were measured with ~ fs temporal resolution over a temporal range of ~ns and had time-bandwidth products exceeding 65,000, which to our knowledge is the largest time-bandwidth product ever measured with ~fs temporal resolution. Finally, we demonstrate a single-shot measurement technique that temporally interleaves hundreds of measurements with ~fs temporal resolution. It is another variation of SI for measuring the complete intensity and phase of relatively long and complex ultrashort pulses in a single shot. It uses a grating to introduce a transverse time delay into a reference pulse which gates the unknown pulse by interfering it at the image plane of an imaging spectrometer. It provided ~125 fs temporal resolution and a temporal range of 70 ps using a low-resolution spectrometer.

Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is the main workhorse in a digital waveform recorder. Strictly speaking, an ADC is supposed to perform uniformly, irrespective of the characteristics of the signal to be acquired. However, because of certain hardware related inconsistencies, its performance declines, particularly, when acquiring non-repetitive, fast-rising, high frequency signals. The error and distortion contributed due to its declining performance, for the entire range of signals, can be comprehensively characterized by the static and dynamic nonlinearities. Actual testing of ADCs is the only way of estimating these indices. These characteristics reveal information at the microscopic level, such as bit-level aberrations, code transitions, response and settling trends, etc. These tests attain greater significance, when the digitizer is part of a reference measuring or a calibration system, because, the levels of accuracies to be achieved in such a setup may become comparable to the error introduced by the ADC. Hence, testing ADCs is a priority. International and national standards exist for testing digital waveform recorders and ADCs. For several years, the matter related to reducing static test time of high-resolution ADCs was highlighted through many publications. A critical examination of the literature indicates the major schools-of-thought pursued so far, are, (i) refinements to ramp/triangular signal based static testing, (ii) proposals for use of alternative methods and/or test signals for static test, (iii) innovative ways of achieving a relaxation in signal source requirements and, (iv) efforts to combine static and dynamic test into a single test with an appropriate test signal. As a consequence of the literature review, objectives of the thesis were formulated. They attempt to resolve- (i) Conceive a suitable test signal for simultaneous estimation of static and dynamic nonlinearity through a single test (ii) Explore possibility of employing a low-linearity ramp signal to estimate static nonlinearity (iii) Estimating static nonlinearity by exploiting linearity property of a sine signal • In the first part of the thesis, a method is proposed for the concurrent estimation of static and dynamic nonlinearity characteristics of an ADC, with the application of a single test signal. The novelty arises from the fact that the test signal proposed is new, and so is the concept of extracting the static and dynamic nonlinearity from the ADC output. This was achieved by conceiving a test signal, comprising of a high frequency sinusoid (which addresses the dynamic requirement), modulated by a low frequency ramp (which addresses the static requirement). • Static characteristics of an ADC can be determined directly from the histogram-based quasi-static approach by measuring the ADC output, when excited by an ideal ramp/triangular signal of sufficiently low frequency. This approach requires only a fraction of time compared to the conventional DC test, is straightforward, easy to implement, and, in principle is an accepted method as per the revised IEEE-1057. However, the only drawback is that ramp signal sources are not ideal. Thus, nonlinearity present in the ramp signal gets superimposed on the measured ADC characteristics, which renders them, as such, unusable. The second part of the work describes a proposal to get rid of the ramp signal nonlinearity, before it is applied to the ADC. A simple method is presented which employs a low-linearity ramp signal, but yet causes only a fraction of influence on the measured ADC static characteristics. • The third part of the thesis describes a novel method to estimate the actual static characteristics of an ADC using a low frequency sine signal, say, less than 10 Hz, by employing the histogram-based approach. It is based on the well known fact that variation of sine signal is ‘reasonably linear,’ when the angle is small. In the proposed method, the ADC under test has to be ‘fed’ with this ‘linear’ portion of the sine wave. Due to harmonics and offset in input excitation, this ‘linear’ part of the sine signal is marginally different, compared to an ideal ramp signal of equal amplitude. However, since it is a sinusoid, this difference can be accurately determined and later compensated from the measured ADC output. Thus, the corrected ADC output will correspond to the true ADC static nonlinearity. The proposed approach successfully addresses all the three concerns while estimating static linearity, i.e. it is time-efficient, excites all the ADC code-bins reasonably uniformly and tackles the source linearity issue quite nicely. These proposals are novel, simple, easy to implement, time-efficient and importantly static nonlinearity characteristics determined from them are in good agreement with that estimated by the original DC-based technique. Implementation of each method is discussed along with experimental results, for two 8-bit digital oscilloscopes and a 10-bit real time digitizer. Further details are presented in the thesis.

Aujourd’hui, les systèmes MSPSR (Multi-Static Primary Surveillance Radar) passifs se sont installés de manière durable dans le paysage de la surveillance aérienne [1]. L’intérêt que suscitent ces nouveaux systèmes provient du fait qu’en comparaison aux radars mono-statiques utilisés actuellement, les systèmes MSPSR reposent sur une distribution spatiale d’émetteurs et de récepteurs offrant des avantages en termes de fiabilité (redondance), de coûts (absence de joints tournants et émetteurs moins puissants) et de performances (diversité spatiale). Toutefois, le défaut majeur du MSPSR passif réside en l’absence de formes d’ondes dédiées due à l’exploitation d’émetteurs d’opportunités tels que les émetteurs de radio FM (Frequency Modulation) et/ou de DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial) [2]. Afin de pallier à ce défaut, il est envisagé d’utiliser des émetteurs dédiés permettant l’emploi de formes d’ondes optimisées pour une application radar, on parle alors de MSPSR actif. Cette thèse se place dans ce cadre et a pour objectif d’étudier et de définir la ou les formes d’ondes ainsi que les traitements associés permettant d’atteindre de meilleurs performances : une meilleure flexibilité sur la disposition du système (positionnement des émetteurs libres), une continuité de service (non dépendance d’un système tiers) et de meilleurs performances radars (e.g. en terme de précision des mesures, détections, …). Dans ce but, cette thèse étudie : - Les critères de sélection des codes : comportement des fonctions d’ambiguïtés, PAPR (Peak to Average Power Ratio), efficacité spectrale, etc... ; - Les formes d’ondes utilisées en télécommunication (scrambling code, OFDM) afin d’identifier leur possible réemploi pour une application radar ; - L’utilisation d’algorithmes cycliques pour générer des familles de séquences adaptées à notre problème ; - Une approche basée sur une descente de gradient afin de générer des familles de codes de manière plus efficiente ; - Et l’évaluation des performances de ces différents algorithmes à travers l’établissement d’une borne supérieure sur le niveau maximum des lobes secondaires et à travers le dépouillement des données enregistrées suite à des campagnes d’essais / Nowadays, MSPSR (Multi-Static Primary Surveillance Radar) systems are sustainably settled in air surveillance program [1]. Compared to mono-static radar currently in use, an MSPSR system is based on a sparse network of transmitters (Tx) and receivers (Rx) interconnected to a Central Unit and offers advantages in terms of reliability, cost and performance.Two kinds of MSPSR systems exist: the Passive form and the Active one. While the Passive MSPSR uses transmitters of opportunity such as radio Frequency Modulation (FM) transmitters and/or Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) transmitters [2], the Active MSPSR uses dedicated transmitters, which emit a waveform that is controlled and designed for a radar application. Each receiver processes the signal coming from all transmitters and reflected on the targets; and the Central Unit restores the target location by intersecting “ellipsoids” from all (transmitter, receiver) pairs. Compared to passive MSPSR, the main advantages of the active MSPSR are the use of dedicated waveforms that allow reaching better performances (like a better association of the transmitters’ contributions at the receiver level); more flexibility in the deployment of transmitters and receivers station (in order to meet the requirements in localisation accuracy and in horizontal and altitude coverages); and the guarantee of having a service continuity. On this purpose, this thesis analyses the differents codes criteria such as the ambiguity function behaviour, the PAPR (Peak to Average Power Ratio), the spectrum efficiency, etc... . Then, in order to find dedicated waveforms for MSPSR systems, one solution is to find easily-constructed families of sequences. Thus building on the works carried out by the Telecommunication field for solving multi-user issues, this document investigates the application of spreading codes and OFDM signals in MSPSR concept. Besides, another solution is to directly generate a set of sequences. Based on cyclic algorithms in [3] we derive a new algorithm that allows to optimize sets of sequences. Similarly, using a gradient descent approach, we develop a more efficient algorithm than the cyclic one. Finally, in order to evaluate the performances of the different algorithms, this thesis generalizes the Levenshtein Bound, establishes new lower bounds on the PSLR (Peak Sidelobe Level Ratio) in mismatched filter case, and studies real data recorded during some trials

There are several reasons for using non-Cartesian k-space sampling methods in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Such a method is radial sampling, which includes the advantage of continuous coverage of the k-space center which results in higher robustness to motion. On the other hand, radial imaging does have some limitations that must be considered. The method is more sensitive to gradient imperfections, such as eddy currents and gradient delays, resulting in inconsistencies between the nominal and actual gradient waveforms. This leads to distortions in the sampling trajectory, also called trajectory errors, yielding reconstructed images with artifacts caused by the gradient imperfections. The aim of this project was therefore to implement a method that takes these errors into account and perform a correction of the trajectory errors to yield images with reduced artifacts. Various methods have been proposed for correction of the gradient errors, some more effective than others. The method implemented in this project was based on the gradient impulse response function (GIRF) which characterizes the gradient system responses. When GIRF was acquired, the actual gradient waveforms played-out during the imaging measurement could be predicted by first modeling the nominal gradient waveforms and then performing a convolution with the corresponding GIRF for each gradient axis. The imaging experiments involved measurements on two different resolution phantoms and in-vivo measurements to note possible differences in correction performance. The used pulse sequences for imaging were FLASH and bSSFP. The results showed that the applied method using GIRF did reduce the artifacts caused by gradient imperfections in the reconstructed images taken with the FLASH sequence. On the other hand, the results for the bSSFP sequence were not as successful due to incomplete modeling of the gradient waveforms. The conclusion to be drawn is that the GIRF-correction does adequately compensate for the trajectory errors when using a radial sampling trajectory for the FLASH sequence and hence yield images with almost eliminated artifacts. A suggestion for future work would be to further investigate the bSSFP sequence modeling to obtain better bSSFP-images. / Det finns flera anledningar till att använda icke-Kartesiska k-space samplingsmetoder i magnetisk resonanstomografi. En sådan metod är radiell sampling, som har fördelen att kontinuerligt samla in mätdata från mittpunkten av k-space, vilket resulterar i lägre rörelsekänslighet under bildtagningstillfället. Radiell sampling har dock begränsningar som måste tas i beaktande, som gradient imperfektioner och gradientfördröjningar. Dessa leder till förvrängningar i samplingspositioneringen i k-space, även känt som trajektoriefel, vilket ger upphov till artefakter vid bildrekonstruktion. Syftet med projektet är att korrigera för dessa trajektoriefel så att den rekonstruerade bilden innehåller färre artefakter. Olika metoder har föreslagits för korrektion av gradientfel. Metoden som användes i detta projekt baseras på gradient impulsresponsfunktionen (GIRF), som karaktäriserar gradient systemet. För att estimera de verkliga samplingspositionerna i k-space beräknades de förvrängda gradientvågformerna efter varje mätning. Detta gjordes genom att först modellera de nominella gradientvågformerna och därefter utföra en faltning med GIRF. De utförda experimenten under projektets gång bestod av bildtagning av två fantomer och ett antal in-vivo mätningar för att identifiera eventuella skillnader i de rekonstruerade bilderna. Pulssekvenserna som användes under projektet var FLASH och bSSFP. Resultaten visade att GIRF-korrektionen reducerade artefakter orsakade av gradient imperfektioner i de rekonstruerade bilderna tagna med FLASH-sekvensen. Erhållna resultat med bSSFP-sekvensen var å andra sidan inte lika lyckade på grund av inkomplett modellering av gradientvågformerna. Slutsatsen som kan dras är att GIRF-korrektionen kompenserar för trajektoriefel i radiell sampling för FLASH-sekvensen och ger rekonstruerade bilder där artefakterna nästan eliminerats. Ett förslag för framtida arbeten är att vidare undersöka modelleringen av bSSFP-sekvensen för att erhålla bättre bilder.

Divers radars sont développés pour des besoins d’aide à la conduite automobile de sécurité mais aussi de confort. Ils ont pour but de détecter la présence d’obstacles routiers afin d’éviter d’éventuelles collisions. La demande actuelle en termes de capteurs radars pour l’automobile connaît une croissance importante et les technologies employées doivent garantir de bonnes performances dans un environnement dégradé par les signaux interférents des autres utilisateurs. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au développement d’un système radar performant en tout lieu et en particulier dans un contexte multi-utilisateurs. A ce propos, nous proposons de nouvelles formes d’ondes qui se basent sur la combinaison des codes fréquentiels de Costas et d’autres techniques de compression d’impulsion en exploitant les signaux de Costas modifiés. La conception adoptée permet, grâce à la diversité introduite, de synthétiser un nombre important de formes d’ondes. Nous avons, ensuite, exploité deux approches d’estimation des paramètres des cibles. La première, plutôt classique, se base sur le traitement Doppler dans un train d’impulsions cohérent. La deuxième, récente dans le domaine automobile, se base sur la technique dite de « Compressed Sensing ». Une adaptation de ces algorithmes pour les signaux proposés a été discutée dans des environnements bruités et multi-cibles. L’ensemble de ces travaux contribue à explorer de nouvelles formes d’ondes, autres que celles utilisées dans les radars actuels et à proposer un traitement innovant en réception, adapté aux radars en général et à l’automobile en particulier. / Several driver assistance radars are developed for security and comfort requirements. Their goal is among others to detect the presence of obstacles for collision avoidance. The current demand in terms of automotive radar sensors experience a significant growth and the technologies being employed must ensure good performances especially in an environment degraded by interfering signals of other users. In this thesis, we are interested in developing a radar system which is effective in all situations especially in a multi-user context. For this purpose, we propose novel radar waveforms based on the combination of frequency hopping Costas codes and other pulse compression techniques, using modified Costas signals. The design approach allows to synthesize a significant number of waveforms, thanks to the high diversity introduced. Afterwards, we have exploited two estimation of target parameters approaches. The first one, quite classic, is based on Doppler processing in a coherent pulse train. The second one, recent in the automotive field , is based on the Compressed sensing techniques. An adaptation of these algorithms to proposed signals is discussed in noisy and multi-target environments. All these works contribute in one hand to explore novel radar waveforms, complement to those currently used in automotive radars and in another hand to propose an innovative processing at the receiver level, suited to radar applications in general and automotive ones in particular.

Photonics and Optical techniques have advanced recently by a great extend to play an important role in Microwave and Radar applications. Antenna array of modern active phased array radars consist of multiple low power transmit and receive mod- ules. This demands distribution of the various Local Oscillator(LO) signals for up conversion of transmit signals and down conversion of receive signals during various modes of operation of a radar system. Additionally, these receivers require control and clock signals which are digital and low frequency analog, for the synchronization between receive modules. This is normally achieved through RF cables with complex distribution networks which add significantly higher additional weight to the arrays. During radar operations, radio frequency (RF) transmit signal needs to be distributed through the same modules which will in turn get distributed to all antenna elements of the array using RF cables. This makes the system bulky and these large number of cables are prone to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and need additional shielding. Therefore it is very desirable to distribute a combination of these RF, analog and digital signals using a distribution network that is less complex, light in weight and immune to EMI. Advancements in Optical and Microwave photonics area have enabled carrying of higher datarate signals on a single fiber due to its higher bandwidth capability including RF signals. This is achieved by employing Wavelength Division Multi- plexing (WDM) that combine high speed channels at different wavelengths. This work proposes, characterizes and evaluates an optical Wavelength Division Multiplexed(WDM) distribution network that will overcome the above mentioned problems in a phased array radar application. The work carries out a feasibility analysis supported with experimental measurements of various physical parameters like am- plitude, delay, frequency and phase variation for various radar waveforms over WDM links. Different configurations of optical distribution network are analyzed for multipoint distribution of both digital and RF signals. These network configurations are modeled and evaluated against various parameters that include power level, loss, cost and component count. A configuration which optimizes these parameters based on the application requirements is investigated. Considerable attention is paid to choose a configuration which does not provide excess loss, which is economically viable, compact and can be realized with minimum component count. After analysing the link configuration, multiplexing density of the WDM link is considered. In this work, since the number of signals to be distributed in radar systems are small, a coarse WDM(CWDM) scheme is considered for evaluation. A comparative study is also performed between coarse and dense WDM (DWDM) links for selection of a suitable multiplexing scheme. These configurations are modeled and evaluated with power budgeting. Even though CWDM scheme does not permit the utilisation of the available bandwidth to the fullest extent, these links have the advantage of having less hardware complexity and easiness of implementation. As the application requires signal distribution to thousands of transmit-receive modules, amplifiers are necessary to compensate for the reduction of signal level due to the high splitting ratio. Introduction of commonly available optical amplifiers like Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA), affect the CWDM channel output powers adversely due to their non-flat gain spectrum. Unlike DWDM systems, the channel separation of CWDM systems are much larger causing significantly high channel gain differences at the EDFA output. So an analysis is carried out for the selection of a suitable wavelength for CWDM channels to minimize the EDFA output power variation. If the gain difference is still significant, separate techniques needs to be implemented to flatten the output power at the antenna end. A CWDM configuration using C-band and L-band EDFAs is proposed and is supported with a feasibility analysis. As a part of evaluation of these links for radar applications, a mathematical model of the WDM link is developed by considering both the RF and digital sig- nals. A generic CWDM system consisting of transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, multiplexers/ demultiplexers and detectors are considered for the modeling. For RF signal transmission, the transmitters with external modulators are considered. Mod- eling is done based on a bottom-top approach where individual component models are initially modeled as a function of input current/power and later cascaded to obtain the link model. These models are then extended to obtain the wavelength dependent model ( spectral response) of the hybrid signal distribution link Further mathematical analysis of the developed link model revealed its variable separable nature in terms of the input power and wavelength. This led to significant reduction in the link equation complexity and development of some approximation techniques to easily represent the link behavior. The reduced form of the link spectral model was very essential as the initially developed wavelength model had a lot of parametric dependency on the component models. This mathematical reduction process led to simplification of the spectral model into a product of two independent functions, the input current and wavelength. It is also noticed that the total link power within specific wavelength range can be obtained by the integrating these functions over a specific link input power. After the mathematical modelling, an experimental prototype physical link is set up and characterized using various radar signals like continuous wave (CW) RF, pulsed RF, non linear frequency modulated signal (NLFM) etc. Additionally a proof of concept Radio-Over-Fiber (RoF) link is established to prove the superior transmission of microwave signal through an optical link. The analysis is supported with measurements on amplitude, delay, frequency and phase variations. The NLFM waveforms transmissions are further analysed using a matched _ltering process to confirm the side lobe requirement. Further a prototype WDM link is built to study the performance when digitally modulated channels are also multiplexed into the link. The link is again validated for signal levels, delay, frequency and phase parameters. Since amplitude and delay are deterministic, it is proposed that these parameter variations can be compensated by using suitable components either in the electrical or the optical domain. Radar systems use low frequency digital signals of different duty-cycles for synchronization and control across various transmit-receive modules. In the proposed link, these digital signals also modulate a WDM channel and hence the link is called a hybrid system. As the proposed link has EDFA to compensate for the splitting losses, there are chances of transient effects at the EDFA output for these low bitrate channels. Owing to the long carrier lifetime, low bitrate digital channels are prone to EDFA transient effects under specific signal and pump power conditions. Additionally, the synchronization signals used in radar application vary the duty-cycle over time, which is found to introduce variations in transient output. This practical challenge is further studied and the thesis for the first time, includes an analysis of EDFA transient e_ects for variable duty-cycle pulsed signals. The analysis is carried out for various parameters like bitrate, input power, pump power and duty-cycle. Investigations on EDFA transients on variable duty-cycle signals help in proposing a viable method to predict the lower duty-cycle transients from higher duty-cycle transients. The predicted transients were again validated against simulated transients and experimental results. As these transient effects are not desirable for radar signals, we propose a novel transient suppression techniques in optical and electrical domain which are validated with simulation and experimental measures. One suppression technique tries to avoid transient effect by keeping the optical input to EDFA always constant by feeding an inverted version of the original pulse into the EDFA along with the actual pulse. It is observed that as the wavelength of the inverted pulse is closer to the original input pulse, the transient effect settles faster. These EDFA transients are evaluated with WDM link configurations, where both high and low bitrate signals are co-propagated. Another challenging aspect of the link operation is the non-at gain spectrum of EDFA. i.e., EDFA provides unequal power level for various signals at WDM link output. This is especially true in the case of local oscillator signals, where it is preferable to have the same amplitude signals before feeding it to the mixer stages. But in the radar applications, this will require additional hardware circuits to equalize the signal level within a phased array antenna. This work also proposes some of the power equalization methods that can be used along with the WDM links. This part of the work is also supported with simulation model and experimental results. The analytical and experimental study of this thesis aids the evaluation process of a suitable optical Wavelength Division Multiplexed(WDM) distribution network that can be used for the distribution of both RF and digital signals. The optical WDM links being superior with its light weight, less loss and EMI/ EMC immunity provides a better solution to future class of radars.