Design and Implementation of a Re-Configurable Arbitrary Signal Generator and Radio Frequency Spectrum Analyser

This research is focused on the design, simulation and implementation of a reconfigurable arbitrary signal generator and the design, simulation and implementation of a radio frequency spectrum analyser based on digital signal processing. Until recently, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) were used to produce high performance re-configurable function and arbitrary waveform generators with comprehensive modulation capabilities. However, that situation is now changing with the availability of advanced but low cost Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which could be used as an alternative to ASICs in these applications. The availability of high performance FPGA families opens up the opportunity to compete with ASIC solutions at a fraction of the development cost of an ASIC solution. A fast digital signal processing algorithm for digital waveform generation, using primarily but not limited to Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) technologies, developed and implemented in a field-configurable logic, with control provided by an embedded microprocessor replacing a high cost ASIC design appeared to be a very attractive concept. This research demonstrates that such a concept is feasible in its entirety. A fully functional, low-complexity, low cost, pulse, Gaussian white noise and DDS based function and arbitrary waveform generator, capable of being amplitude, frequency and phase modulated by an internally generated or external modulating signal was implemented in a low-cost FPGA. The FPGA also included the capabilities to perform pulse width modulation and pulse delay modulation on pulse waveforms. Algorithms to up-convert the sampling rate of the external modulating signal using Cascaded Integrator Comb (CIC) filters and using interpolation method were analysed. Both solutions were implemented to compare their hardware complexities. Analysis of generating noise with user-defined distribution is presented. The ability of triggering the generator by an internally generated or an external event to generate a burst of waveforms where the time between the trigger signal and waveform output is fixed was also implemented in the FPGA. Finally, design of interface to a microprocessor to provide control of the versatile waveform generator was also included in the FPGA. This thesis summarises the literature, design considerations, simulation and implementation of the generator design. The second part of the research is focused on radio frequency spectrum analysis based on digital signal processing. Most existing spectrum analysers are analogue in nature and their complexity increases with frequency. Therefore, the possibility of using digital techniques for spectrum analysis was considered. The aim was to come up with digital system architecture for spectrum analysis and to develop and implement the new approach on a suitable digital platform. This thesis analyses the current literature on shifting algorithms to remove spurious responses and highlights its drawbacks. This thesis also analyses existing literature on quadrature receivers and presents novel adaptation of the existing architectures for application in spectrum analysis. A wide band spectrum analyser receiver with compensation for gain and phase imbalances in the Radio Frequency (RF) input range, as well as compensation for gain and phase imbalances within the Intermediate Frequency (IF) pass band complete with Resolution Band Width (RBW) filtering, Video Band Width (VBW) filtering and amplitude detection was implemented in a low cost FPGA. The ability to extract the modulating signal from a frequency or amplitude modulated RF signal was also implemented. The same family of FPGA used in the generator design was chosen to be the digital platform for this design. This research makes arguments for the new architecture and then summarises the literature, design considerations, simulation and implementation of the new digital algorithm for the radio frequency spectrum analyser

Development of a Full-Field Time-of-Flight Range Imaging System

A full-field, time-of-flight, image ranging system or 3D camera has been developed from a proof-of-principle to a working prototype stage, capable of determining the intensity and range for every pixel in a scene. The system can be adapted to the requirements of various applications, producing high precision range measurements with sub-millimetre resolution, or high speed measurements at video frame rates. Parallel data acquisition at each pixel provides high spatial resolution independent of the operating speed. The range imaging system uses a heterodyne technique to indirectly measure time of flight. Laser diodes with highly diverging beams are intensity modulated at radio frequencies and used to illuminate the scene. Reflected light is focused on to an image intensifier used as a high speed optical shutter, which is modulated at a slightly different frequency to that of the laser source. The output from the shutter is a low frequency beat signal, which is sampled by a digital video camera. Optical propagation delay is encoded into the phase of the beat signal, hence from a captured time variant intensity sequence, the beat signal phase can be measured to determine range for every pixel in the scene. A direct digital synthesiser (DDS) is designed and constructed, capable of generating up to three outputs at frequencies beyond 100 MHz with the relative frequency stability in excess of nine orders of magnitude required to control the laser and shutter modulation. Driver circuits were also designed to modulate the image intensifier photocathode at 50 Vpp, and four laser diodes with a combined power output of 320 mW, both over a frequency range of 10-100 MHz. The DDS, laser, and image intensifier response are characterised. A unique method of measuring the image intensifier optical modulation response is developed, requiring the construction of a pico-second pulsed laser source. This characterisation revealed deficiencies in the measured responses, which were mitigated through hardware modifications where possible. The effects of remaining imperfections, such as modulation waveform harmonics and image intensifier irising, can be calibrated and removed from the range measurements during software processing using the characterisation data. Finally, a digital method of generating the high frequency modulation signals using a FPGA to replace the analogue DDS is developed, providing a highly integrated solution, reducing the complexity, and enhancing flexibility. In addition, a novel modulation coding technique is developed to remove the undesirable influence of waveform harmonics from the range measurement without extending the acquisition time. When combined with a proposed modification to the laser illumination source, the digital system can enhance range measurement precision and linearity. From this work, a flexible full-field image ranging system is successfully realised. The system is demonstrated operating in a high precision mode with sub-millimetre depth resolution, and also in a high speed mode operating at video update rates (25 fps), in both cases providing high (512 512) spatial resolution over distances of several metres

Recent Trends in Communication Networks

In recent years there has been many developments in communication technology. This has greatly enhanced the computing power of small handheld resource-constrained mobile devices. Different generations of communication technology have evolved. This had led to new research for communication of large volumes of data in different transmission media and the design of different communication protocols. Another direction of research concerns the secure and error-free communication between the sender and receiver despite the risk of the presence of an eavesdropper. For the communication requirement of a huge amount of multimedia streaming data, a lot of research has been carried out in the design of proper overlay networks. The book addresses new research techniques that have evolved to handle these challenges

Timing Signals and Radio Frequency Distribution Using Ethernet Networks for High Energy Physics Applications

Timing networks are used around the world in various applications from telecommunications systems to industrial processes, and from radio astronomy to high energy physics. Most timing networks are implemented using proprietary technologies at high operation and maintenance costs. This thesis presents a novel timing network capable of distributed timing with subnanosecond accuracy. The network, developed at CERN and codenamed “White- Rabbit”, uses a non-dedicated Ethernet link to distribute timing and data packets without infringing the sub-nanosecond timing accuracy required for high energy physics applications. The first part of this thesis proposes a new digital circuit capable of measuring time differences between two digital clock signals with sub-picosecond time resolution. The proposed digital circuit measures and compensates for the phase variations between the transmitted and received network clocks required to achieve the sub-nanosecond timing accuracy. Circuit design, implementation and performance verification are reported. The second part of this thesis investigates and proposes a new method to distribute radio frequency (RF) signals over Ethernet networks. The main goal of existing distributed RF schemes, such as Radio-Over-Fibre or Digitised Radio-Over-Fibre, is to increase the bandwidth capacity taking advantage of the higher performance of digital optical links. These schemes tend to employ dedicated and costly technologies, deemed unnecessary for applications with lower bandwidth requirements. This work proposes the distribution of RF signals over the “White-Rabbit” network, to convey phase and frequency information from a reference base node to a large numbers of remote nodes, thus achieving high performance and cost reduction of the timing network. Hence, this thesis reports the design and implementation of a new distributed RF system architecture; analysed and tested using a purpose-built simulation environment, with results used to optimise a new bespoke FPGA implementation. The performance is evaluated through phase-noise spectra, the Allan-Variance, and signalto- noise ratio measurements of the distributed signals

Time and Frequency Transfer in a Coherent Multistatic Radar using a White Rabbit Network

Networks of coherent multistatic radars require accurate and stable time and frequency transfer (TFT) for range and Doppler estimation. TFT techniques based on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), have been favoured for several reasons, such as enabling node mobility through wireless operation, geospatial referencing, and atomic clock level time and frequency stability. However, such systems are liable to GNSS-denial, where the GNSS carrier is temporarily or permanently removed. A denial-resilient system should consider alternative TFT techniques, such as the White Rabbit (WR) project. WR is an Ethernet based protocol, that is able to synchronise thousands of nodes on a fibre-optic based network with sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds of jitter. This thesis evaluates WR as the TFT network for a coherent multistatic pulse-Doppler radar – NeXtRAD. To test the hypothesis that WR is suitable for TFT in a coherent multistatic radar, the time and frequency performance of a WR network was evaluated under laboratory conditions, comparing the results against a network of multi-channel GPS-disciplined oscillators (GPSDO). A WR-disciplined oscillator (WRDO) is introduced, which has the short-term stability of an ovenised crystal (OCXO), and long-term stability of the WR network. The radar references were measured using a dual mixer time difference technique (DMTD), which allows the phase to be measured with femtosecond level resolution. All references achieved the stringent time and frequency requirements for short-term coherent bistatic operation, however the GPSDOs and WRDOs had the best short-term frequency stability. The GPSDOs had the highest amount of long-term phase drift, with a peak-peak time error of 9.6 ns, whilst the WRDOs were typically stable to within 0.4 ns, but encountered transient phase excursions to 1.5 ns. The TFT networks were then used on the NeXtRAD radar, where a lighthouse, Roman Rock, was used as a static target to evaluate the time and frequency performance of the references on a real system. The results conform well to the laboratory measurements, and therefore, WR can be used for TFT in coherent radar

Optical sampling and metrology using a soliton-effect compression pulse source

A low jitter optical pulse source for applications including optical sampling and optical metrology was modelled and then experimentally implemented using photonic components. Dispersion and non-linear fibre effects were utilised to compress a periodic optical waveform to generate pulses of the order of 10 picoseconds duration, via soliton-effect compression. Attractive features of this pulse source include electronically tuneable repetition rates greater than 1.5 GHz, ultra-short pulse duration (10-15 ps), and low timing jitter as measured by both harmonic analysis and single-sideband (SSB) phase noise measurements. The experimental implementation of the modelled compression scheme is discussed, including the successful removal of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) through linewidth broadening by injection dithering or phase modulation. Timing jitter analysis identifies many unwanted artefacts generated by the SBS suppression methods, hence an experimental arrangement is devised (and was subsequently patented) which ensures that there are no phase modulation spikes present on the SSB phase noise spectrum over the offset range of interest for optical sampling applications, 10Hz-Nyquist. It is believed that this is the first detailed timing jitter study of a soliton-effect compression scheme. The soliton-effect compression pulses are then used to perform what is believed to be the first demonstration of optical sampling using this type of pulse source. The pulse source was also optimised for use in a novel optical metrology (range finding) system, which is being developed and patented under European Space Agency funding as an enabling technology for formation flying satellite missions. This new approach to optical metrology, known as Scanning Interferometric Pulse Overlap Detection (SIPOD), is based on scanning the optical pulse repetition rate to find the specific frequencies which allow the return pulses from the outlying satellite, i.e. the measurement arm, to overlap exactly with a reference pulse set on the hub satellite. By superimposing a low frequency phase modulation onto the optical pulse train, it is possible to detect the pulse overlap condition using conventional heterodyne detection. By rapidly scanning the pulse repetition rate to find two frequencies which provide the overlapping pulse condition, high precision optical pulses can be used to provide high resolution unambiguous range information, using only relatively simple electronic detection circuitry. SIPOD’s maximum longitudinal range measurement is limited only by the coherence length of the laser, which can be many tens of kilometres. Range measurements have been made to better than 10 microns resolution over extended duration trial periods, at measurement update rates of up to 470 Hz. This system is currently scheduled to fly on ESA’s PROBA-3 mission in 2012 to measure the intersatellite spacing for a two satellite coronagraph instrument. In summary, this thesis is believed to present three novel areas of research: the first detailed jitter characterisation of a soliton-effect compression source, the first optical sampling using such a compression source, and a novel optical metrology range finding system, known as SIPOD, which utilises the tuneable repetition rate and highly stable nature of the compression source pulses

The design and implementation of a wideband digital radio receiver

Historically radio has been implemented using largely analogue circuitry. Improvements in mixed signal and digital signal processing technology are rapidly leading towards a largely digital approach, with down-conversion and filtering moving to the digital signal processing domain. Advantages of this technology include increased performance and functionality, as well as reduced cost. Wideband receivers place the heaviest demands on both mixed signal and digital signal processing technology, requiring high spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) and signal processing bandwidths. This dissertation investigates the extent to which current digital technology is able to meet these demands and compete with the proven architectures of analogue receivers. A scalable generalised digital radio receiver capable of operating in the HF and VHF bands was designed, implemented and tested, yielding instantaneous bandwidths in excess of 10 MHz with a spurious-free dynamic range exceeding 80 decibels below carrier (dBc). The results achieved reflect favourably on the digital receiver architecture. While the necessity for minimal analogue circuitry will possibly always exist, digital radio architectures are currently able to compete with analogue counterparts. The digital receiver is simple to manufacture, based on the use of largely commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and exhibits extreme flexibility and high performance when compared with comparably priced analogue receivers