Real time flight simulation methodology

An example sensitivity study is presented to demonstrate how a digital autopilot designer could make a decision on minimum sampling rate for computer specification. It consists of comparing the simulated step response of an existing analog autopilot and its associated aircraft dynamics to the digital version operating at various sampling frequencies and specifying a sampling frequency that results in an acceptable change in relative stability. In general, the zero order hold introduces phase lag which will increase overshoot and settling time. It should be noted that this solution is for substituting a digital autopilot for a continuous autopilot. A complete redesign could result in results which more closely resemble the continuous results or which conform better to original design goals

DESIGN OF FIRST ORDER DIFFERENTIATOR WITH PARALLEL ALL-PASS STRUCTURE

In this paper a new method for design of the first order differentiator is presented. The proposed differentiator consists of two parallel branches, i.e. direct path and IIR all-pass filter. The described design method allows one to obtain solution with minimum mean relative error at the desired region by controlling the ratio of phase response extremes. A small relative magnitude error, as well as a low phase error, at low frequencies is condition for good time domain behaviour. The obtained differentiator can be realized by means of only two multipliers, hence being a good choice for real time applications. The proposed solution provides a lower magnitude error than several known differentiators with similar phase error

NATURAL ALGORITHMS IN DIGITAL FILTER DESIGN

Digital filters are an important part of Digital Signal Processing (DSP), which plays vital roles within the modern world, but their design is a complex task requiring a great deal of specialised knowledge. An analysis of this design process is presented, which identifies opportunities for the application of optimisation. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing are problem-independent and increasingly popular optimisation techniques. They do not require detailed prior knowledge of the nature of a problem, and are unaffected by a discontinuous search space, unlike traditional methods such as calculus and hill-climbing. Potential applications of these techniques to the filter design process are discussed, and presented with practical results. Investigations into the design of Frequency Sampling (FS) Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters using a hybrid GA/hill-climber proved especially successful, improving on published results. An analysis of the search space for FS filters provided useful information on the performance of the optimisation technique. The ability of the GA to trade off a filter's performance with respect to several design criteria simultaneously, without intervention by the designer, is also investigated. Methods of simplifying the design process by using this technique are presented, together with an analysis of the difficulty of the non-linear FIR filter design problem from a GA perspective. This gave an insight into the fundamental nature of the optimisation problem, and also suggested future improvements. The results gained from these investigations allowed the framework for a potential 'intelligent' filter design system to be proposed, in which embedded expert knowledge, Artificial Intelligence techniques and traditional design methods work together. This could deliver a single tool capable of designing a wide range of filters with minimal human intervention, and of proposing solutions to incomplete problems. It could also provide the basis for the development of tools for other areas of DSP system design

Digital processing of signals in the presence of inter-symbol interference and additive noise

Imperial Users onl

Applications of swarm, evolutionary and quantum algorithms in system identification and digital filter design

The thesis focuses on the application of computational intelligence (CI) techniques for two problems - system identification and digital filter design. In system identification, different case studies have been carried out with equal or reduced number of orders as the original system and also in identifying a blackbox model. Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass and Bandstop FIR and Lowpass IIR filters have been designed using three algorithms using two different fitness functions. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Differential Evolution based PSO (DEPSO) and PSO with Quantum Infusion (PSO-QI) algorithms have been applied in this work --Abstract, page iii

DSP compensation for distortion in RF filters

There is a growing demand for the high quality TV programs such as High Definition TV (HDTV). The CATV network is often a suitable solution to address this demand using a CATV modem delivering high data rate digital signals in a cost effective manner, thereby, utilizing a complex digital modulation scheme is inevitable. Exploiting complex modulation schemes, entails a more sophisticated modulator and distribution system with much tighter tolerances. However, there are always distortions introduced to the modulated signal in the modulator degrading signal quality. In this research, the effect of distortions introduced by the RF band pass filter in the modulator will be considered which cause degradations on the quality of the output Quadrature Amplitude Modulated (QAM) signal. Since the RF filter's amplitude/group delay distortions are not symmetrical in the frequency domain, once translated into the base band they have a complex effect on the QAM signal. Using Matlab, the degradation effects of these distortions on the QAM signal such as Bit Error Rate (BER) is investigated. In order to compensate for the effects of the RF filter distortions, two different methods are proposed. In the first method, a complex base band compensation filter is placed after the pulse shaping filter (SRRC). The coefficients of this complex filter are determined using an optimization algorithm developed during this research. The second approach, uses a pre-equalizer in the form of a Feed Forward FIR structure placed before the pulse shaping filter (SRRC). The coefficients of this pre-equalizer are determined using the equalization algorithm employed in a test receiver, with its tap weights generating the inverse response of the RF filter. The compensation of RF filter distortions in base band, in turn, improves the QAM signal parameters such as Modulation Error Ratio (MER). Finally, the MER of the modulated QAM signal before and after the base band compensation is compared between the two methods, showing a significant enhancement in the RF modulator performance

Study of numeric Saturation Effects in Linear Digital Compensators

Saturation arithmetic is often used in finite precision digital compensators to circumvent instability due to radix overflow. The saturation limits in the digital structure lead to nonlinear behavior during large state transients. It is shown that if all recursive loops in a compensator are interrupted by at least one saturation limit, then there exists a bounded external scaling rule which assures against overflow at all nodes in the structure. Design methods are proposed based on the generalized second method of Lyapunov, which take the internal saturation limits into account to implement a robust dual-mode suboptimal control for bounded input plants. The saturating digital compensator provides linear regulation for small disturbances, and near-time-optimal control for large disturbances or changes in the operating point. Computer aided design tools are developed to facilitate the analysis and design of this class of digital compensators

Optimal digital filter design for dispersed signal equalization

Any signal a satellite receives from Earth has traveled through the ionosphere. Transmission through the ionosphere results in a frequency dependent time-delay of the signal frequency components. This effect of the medium on the signal is termed dispersion, and it increases the difficulty of pulse detection. A system capable of compensating for the dispersion would be desirable, as pulsed signals would be more readily detected after compression. In this thesis, we investigate the derivation of a digital filter to compensate for the dispersion caused by the ionosphere. A transfer function model for the analysis of the ionosphere as a system is introduced. Based on the signal model, a matched filter response is derived. The problem is formulated as a group delay compensation effort. The Abel-Smith algorithm is employed for the synthesis of a cascaded allpass filter bank with desired group delay characteristics. Extending this work, an optimized allpass filter is then derived using a pole location approach. A mean-square error metric shows that the optimized filter can reproduce, and even improve upon, the results of the Abel-Smith design with a significantly lower order filter. When compared against digital filters produced with the least p-th minimax algorithm, we find that the new method exhibits significantly lower error in the band of interest, as well as lower mean squared error overall. The result is a simple optimized equalization filter that is stable, robust against cascading difficulties, and applicable to arbitrary waveforms. This filter is the cornerstone to a new all-digital electromagnetic pulse detection system

Synthesis of nonseparable 3-D spatiotemporal bandpass filters on analog networks

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