Modeling and simulation of surface profile forming process of microlenses and their application in optical interconnection devices

Free space micro-optical systems require to integrate microlens array, micromirrors, optical waveguides, beam splitter, etc. on a single substrate. Out-of-plane microlens array fabricated by direct lithography provides pre-alignment during mask fabrication stage and has the advantage of mass manufacturing at low cost. However, this technology requires precise control of the surface profile of microlenses, which is a major technical challenge. The quality control of the surface profile of microlenses limits their applications. In this dissertation, the surface forming process of the out-of-plane microlenses in UV-lithography fabrication was modeled and simulated using a simplified cellular automata model. The microlens array was integrated with micromirrors on a single silicon substrate to form a free space interconnect system. The main contributions of this dissertation include: (1) The influences of different processing parameters on the final surface profiles of microlenses were thoroughly analyzed and discussed. A photoresist etching model based on a simplified cellular automata algorithm was established and tested. The forming process and mechanism of the microlens surface profile were explained based on the established model. (2) Microlens arrays with different parameters were designed, fabricated, and tested. The experiment results were compared with the simulation results. The possible causes for the deviation were discussed. (3) A microlens array based beam relay for optical interconnection application was proposed. A sequence of identical microlens array was fabricated on a single silicon substrate simultaneously and its optical performance was tested. A fast replication method for the microlens optical interconnects using PDMS and UV curable polymer was developed. A selective deposition method of micro-optical elements using PDMS ‘lift-off’ technique was realized. No shadow mask was needed during deposition process. With the continuous advances in the integration of micro-optical systems, direct lithography of micro-optical elements will be a potential technology to provide both precision alignment and low cost in manufacturing process. Microlenses and microlens array with precisely controlled surface profiles will be an important part in the micro-optical system

Cellular Automata

Modelling and simulation are disciplines of major importance for science and engineering. There is no science without models, and simulation has nowadays become a very useful tool, sometimes unavoidable, for development of both science and engineering. The main attractive feature of cellular automata is that, in spite of their conceptual simplicity which allows an easiness of implementation for computer simulation, as a detailed and complete mathematical analysis in principle, they are able to exhibit a wide variety of amazingly complex behaviour. This feature of cellular automata has attracted the researchers' attention from a wide variety of divergent fields of the exact disciplines of science and engineering, but also of the social sciences, and sometimes beyond. The collective complex behaviour of numerous systems, which emerge from the interaction of a multitude of simple individuals, is being conveniently modelled and simulated with cellular automata for very different purposes. In this book, a number of innovative applications of cellular automata models in the fields of Quantum Computing, Materials Science, Cryptography and Coding, and Robotics and Image Processing are presented

Control and Coordination in a Networked Robotic Platform

Control and Coordination of the robots has been widely researched area among the swarm robotics. Usually these swarms are involved in accomplishing tasks assigned to them either one after another or concurrently. Most of the times, the tasks assigned may not need the entire population of the swarm but a subset of them. In this project, emphasis has been given to determination of such subsets of robots termed as ”flock” whose size actually depends on the complexity of the task. Once the flock is determined from the swarm, leader and follower robots are determined which accomplish the task in a controlled and cooperative fashion. Although the entire control system,which is determined for collision free and coordinated environment, is stable, the results show that both wireless (bluetooth) and internet (UDP) communication system can introduce some lag which can lead robot trajectories to an unexpected set. The reason for this is each robot and a corresponding computer is considered as a complete robot and communication between the robot and the computer and between the computers was inevitable. These problems could easily be solved by integrating a computer on the robot or just add a wifi transmitter/receiver on the robot. On going down the lane, by introducing smarter robots with different kinds of sensors this project could be extended on a large scale for varied heterogenous and homogenous applications

EFFECTS OF INTERNAL FIELDS IN QUANTUM DOTS

In this work we study the effect of built in electrostatic fields in Quantum Dots. Built-in electrostatic fields in Zincblende quantum dots originate mainly from--(1) the fundamental crystal atomicity and the interfaces between two dissimilar materials, (2) the strain relaxation, and (3) the piezoelectric polarization. We also study the geometric dependence of built in fields on 3 shapes namely Box, Dome and Pyramid. The main objectives are 3 fold they are (1) Explore the nature and the role of crystal atomicity at the interfaces and built-in fields (strain-field, and piezoelectric polarization) in determining the energy spectrum and the wave functions. (2) To identify the shift in the one-particle energy states, symmetry-lowering and non-degeneracy in the first excited state and strong band-mixing in the overall conduction band electronic states. (3) Finally geometric dependence of the above-mentioned phenomena. We discuss the importance atomistic effects and the need for 3 dimensional atomistic simulator NEMO 3D. We also discuss the effect of built in fields in HEMT (High Electron Mobility Transistor)

SIRENA: A CAD environment for behavioural modelling and simulation of VLSI cellular neural network chips

This paper presents SIRENA, a CAD environment for the simulation and modelling of mixed-signal VLSI parallel processing chips based on cellular neural networks. SIRENA includes capabilities for: (a) the description of nominal and non-ideal operation of CNN analogue circuitry at the behavioural level; (b) performing realistic simulations of the transient evolution of physical CNNs including deviations due to second-order effects of the hardware; and, (c) evaluating sensitivity figures, and realize noise and Monte Carlo simulations in the time domain. These capabilities portray SIRENA as better suited for CNN chip development than algorithmic simulation packages (such as OpenSimulator, Sesame) or conventional neural networks simulators (RCS, GENESIS, SFINX), which are not oriented to the evaluation of hardware non-idealities. As compared to conventional electrical simulators (such as HSPICE or ELDO-FAS), SIRENA provides easier modelling of the hardware parasitics, a significant reduction in computation time, and similar accuracy levels. Consequently, iteration during the design procedure becomes possible, supporting decision making regarding design strategies and dimensioning. SIRENA has been developed using object-oriented programming techniques in C, and currently runs under the UNIX operating system and X-Windows framework. It employs a dedicated high-level hardware description language: DECEL, fitted to the description of non-idealities arising in CNN hardware. This language has been developed aiming generality, in the sense of making no restrictions on the network models that can be implemented. SIRENA is highly modular and composed of independent tools. This simplifies future expansions and improvements.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC96-1392-C02-0

A Cellular automaton model for crowd movement and egress simulation

Ein Zellularautomatenmodell zur Simulation von Fußgängerbewegung und Evakuierungen The movement of crowds is a field of research that attracts increasing interest. This is due to three major reasons: pattern formation and selforganization processes that occur in crowd dynamics, the advancement of simulation techniques, and its applications (planning of pedestrian facilities, crowd management, or evacuation analysis). In this thesis, a model for simulating crowd movement is developed and its characteristics investigated and compared to alternative approaches. Additionally, simulations of the evacuation of aircraft, buildings, and ships is presented

Implementation of multi-CLB designs using quantum-dot cellular automata

CMOS scaling is currently facing a technological barrier. Novel technologies are being proposed to keep up with the need for computation power and speed. One of the proposed ideas is the quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) technology. QCA uses quantum mechanical effects in the device at the molecular scale. QCA systems have the potential for low power, high density, and regularity. This thesis studies QCA devices and uses those devices to build a simple field programmable gate array (FPGA). The FPGA is a combination of multiple configure logical blocks (CLBs) tiled together. Most previous work on this area has focused on fixed logic and programmable interconnect. In contrast, the work at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has designed and simulated a configurable logic block (CLB) based on look-up tables (LUTs). This thesis presents a simple FPGA that consists of multiple copies of the CLB created by the RIT group. The FPGA is configured to emulate a ripple-carry adder and a bit-serial multiplier. The latency and throughput of both functions are analyzed. We employ a multilevel approach to design specification and simulation. QCADesigner software is used for layout and simulation of an individual CLB. For the FPGA, the high-level HDLQ Verilog library is used. This hybrid approach provides a high degree of confidence in reasonable simulation time

Heterogeneous Self-Reconfiguring Robotics

Self-reconfiguring (SR) robots are modular systems that can autonomously change shape, or reconfigure, for increased versatility and adaptability in unknown environments. In this thesis, we investigate planning and control for systems of non-identical modules, known as heterogeneous SR robots. Although previous approaches rely on module homogeneity as a critical property, we show that the planning complexity of fundamental algorithmic problems in the heterogeneous case is equivalent to that of systems with identical modules. Primarily, we study the problem of how to plan shape changes while considering the placement of specific modules within the structure. We characterize this key challenge in terms of the amount of free space available to the robot and develop a series of decentralized reconfiguration planning algorithms that assume progressively more severe free space constraints and support reconfiguration among obstacles. In addition, we compose our basic planning techniques in different ways to address problems in the related task domains of positioning modules according to function, locomotion among obstacles, self-repair, and recognizing the achievement of distributed goal-states. We also describe the design of a novel simulation environment, implementation results using this simulator, and experimental results in hardware using a planar SR system called the Crystal Robot. These results encourage development of heterogeneous systems. Our algorithms enhance the versatility and adaptability of SR robots by enabling them to use functionally specialized components to match capability, in addition to shape, to the task at hand

Modeling and simulation of sintering process across scales

Sintering, as a thermal process at elevated temperature below the melting point, is widely used to bond contacting particles into engineering products such as ceramics, metals, polymers, and cemented carbides. Modelling and simulation as important complement to experiments are essential for understanding the sintering mechanisms and for the optimization and design of sintering process. We share in this article a state-to-the-art review on the major methods and models for the simulation of sintering process at various length scales. It starts with molecular dynamics simulations deciphering atomistic diffusion process, and then moves to microstructure-level approaches such as discrete element method, Monte--Carlo method, and phase-field models, which can reveal subtle mechanisms like grain coalescence, grain rotation, densification, grain coarsening, etc. Phenomenological/empirical models on the macroscopic scales for estimating densification, porosity and average grain size are also summarized. The features, merits, drawbacks, and applicability of these models and simulation technologies are expounded. In particular, the latest progress on the modelling and simulation of selective and direct-metal laser sintering based additive manufacturing is also reviewed. Finally, a summary and concluding remarks on the challenges and opportunities are given for the modelling and simulations of sintering process.Comment: 45 pages, 38 figure

Development of ABAQUS-MATLAB Interface for Design Optimization using Hybrid Cellular Automata and Comparison with Bidirectional Evolutionary Structural Optimization

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Topology Optimization is an optimization technique used to synthesize models without any preconceived shape. These structures are synthesized keeping in mind the minimum compliance problems. With the rapid improvement in advanced manufacturing technology and increased need for lightweight high strength designs topology optimization is being used more than ever. There exist a number of commercially available software's that can be used for optimizing a product. These software have a robust Finite Element Solver and can produce good results. However, these software offers little to no choice to the user when it comes to selecting the type of optimization method used. It is possible to use a programming language like MATLAB to develop algorithms that use a specific type of optimization method but the user himself will be responsible for writing the FEA algorithms too. This leads to a situation where the flexibility over the optimization method is achieved but the robust FEA of the commercial FEA tool is lost. There have been works done in the past that links ABAQUS with MATLAB but they are primarily used as a tool for finite element post-processing. Through this thesis, the aim is to develop an interface that can be used for solving optimization problems using different methods like hard-kill as well as the material penalization (SIMP) method. By doing so it's possible to harness the potential of a commercial FEA software and gives the user the requires flexibility to write or modify the codes to have an optimization method of his or her choice. Also, by implementing this interface, it can also be potentially used to unlock the capabilities of other Dassault Systèmes software's as the firm is implementing a tighter integration between all its products using the 3DExperience platform. This thesis as described uses this interface to implement BESO and HCA based topology optimization. Since hybrid cellular atomata is the only other method other than equivalent static load method that can be used for crashworthiness optimization this work suits well for the role when extended into a non-linear region