Development of new array signal processing techniques using swarm intelligence

Ankara : The Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the Institute of Engineering and Sciences of Bilkent University, 2010.Thesis (Ph. D.) -- Bilkent University, 2010.Includes bibliographical references leaves 144-158.In this thesis, novel array signal processing techniques are proposed for identifi- cation of multipath communication channels based on cross ambiguity function (CAF) calculation, swarm intelligence and compressed sensing (CS) theory. First technique detects the presence of multipath components by integrating CAFs of each antenna output in the array and iteratively estimates direction-of-arrivals (DOAs), time delays and Doppler shifts of a known waveform. Second technique called particle swarm optimization-cross ambiguity function (PSO-CAF) makes use of the CAF calculation to transform the received antenna array outputs to delay-Doppler domain for efficient exploitation of the delay-Doppler diversity of the multipath components. Clusters of multipath components are identified by using a simple amplitude thresholding in the delay-Doppler domain. PSO is used to estimate parameters of the multipath components in each cluster. Third proposed technique combines CS theory, swarm intelligence and CAF computation. Performance of standard CS formulations based on discretization of the multipath channel parameter space degrade significantly when the actual channel parameters deviate from the assumed discrete set of values. To alleviate this “off-grid”problem, a novel technique by making use of the PSO, that can also be used in applications other than the multipath channel identification is proposed. Performances of the proposed techniques are verified both on sythetic and real data.Güldoğan, Mehmet BurakPh.D

Ionospheric disturbances during magnetic storms at SANAE

The coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares associated with extreme solar activity may strike the Earth's magnetosphere and give rise to geomagnetic storms. During geomagnetic storms, the polar plasma dynamics may influence the middle and low-latitude ionosphere via travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). These are wave-like electron density disturbances caused by atmospheric gravity waves propagating in the ionosphere. TIDs focus and defocus SuperDARN signals producing a characteristic pattern of ground backscattered power (Samson et al., 1989). Geomagnetic storms may cause a decrease of total electron content (TEC), i.e. a negative storm effect, or/and an increase of TEC, i.e. a positive storm effect. The aim of this project was to investigate the ionospheric response to strong storms (Dst < -100 nT) between 2011 and 2015, using TEC and scintillation measurements derived from GPS receivers as well as SuperDARN power, Doppler velocity and convection maps. In this study the ionosphere's response to geomagnetic storms is determined by the magnitude and time of occurrence of the geomagnetic storm. The ionospheric TEC results of this study show that most of the storm effects observed were a combination of both negative and positive per storm per station (77.8%), and only 8.9% and 13.3% of effects on TEC were negative and positive respectively. The highest number of storm effects occurred in autumn (36.4%), while 31.6%, 28.4% and 3.6% occurred in winter, spring and summer respectively. During the storms studied, 71.4% had phase scintillation in the range of 0.7 - 1 radians, and only 14.3% of the storms had amplitude scintillations near 0.4. The storms studied at SANAE station generated TIDs with periods of less than an hour and amplitudes in the range 0.2 - 5 TECU. These TIDs were found to originate from the high-velocity plasma flows, some of which are visible in SuperDARN convection maps. Early studies concluded that likely sources of these disturbances correspond to ionospheric current surges (Bristow et al., 1994) in the dayside auroral zone (Huang et al., 1998)

Behind-wall target detection using micro-doppler effects

Abstract: During the last decade technology for seeing through walls and through dense vegetation has interested many researchers. This technology offers excellent opportunities for military and police applications, though applications are not limited to the military and police; they go beyond those applications to where detecting a target behind an obstacle is needed. To be able to disclose the location and velocity of obscured targets, scientists’ resort to electromagnetic wave propagation. Thus, through-the-wall radar (TWR) is technology used to propagate electromagnetic waves towards a target through a wall. Though TWR is a promising technology, it has been reported that TWR imaging (TWRI) poses a range of ambiguities in target characterisation and detection. These ambiguities are related to the thickness and electric properties of walls. It has been reported that the mechanical and electric properties of the wall defocus the target image rendered by the radar. The defocusing problem is the phenomenon of displacing the target away from its true location when the image is rendered. Thus, the operator of the TWR will have a wrong position, not the real position of the target. Defocusing is not the only problem observed while the signal is travelling through the wall. Target classification, wall modelling and others are areas that need investigation...D.Ing. (Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Intelligent joint channel parameter estimation techniques for mobile wireless positioning applications

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Mobile wireless positioning has recently received great attention. For mobile wireless communication networks, an inherently suitable approach is to obtain the parameters that are used for positioning estimates from the radio signal measurements between a mobile device and one or more xed base stations. However, obtaining accurate estimates of these location-dependent channel parameters is a challenging task. The focus of this thesis is on the estimation of these channel parameters for mobile wireless positioning applications. In particular, we investigate novel estimators that jointly estimate more than one type of channel parameters. We rst perform a comprehensive critical review on the most recent and popular joint channel parameter estimation techniques. Secondly, we improve a state-of-the-art technique, namely the Space Alternating Generalised Expectation maximisation (SAGE) algorithm by employing adaptive interference cancellation to improve the estimation accuracy of weaker paths. Thirdly, a novel intelligent channel parameter estimation technique using Evolution Strategy (ES) is proposed to overcome the drawbacks of the existing iterative maximum likelihood methods. Furthermore, given that in reality it is di cult to obtain the number of multipath in advance, we propose a two tier Hierarchically Organised ES to jointly estimate the number of multipath as well as the channel parameters. Finally, we extend the proposed ES method to further estimate the Doppler shift in mobile environments. Our proposed intelligent joint channel estimation techniques are shown to exhibit excellent performance even with low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) channel conditions as well as robust against uncertainties in initialisations.EPSRC and Cambridge Silicon Radi

AI for time-resolved imaging: from fluorescence lifetime to single-pixel time of flight

Time-resolved imaging is a field of optics which measures the arrival time of light on the camera. This thesis looks at two time-resolved imaging modalities: fluorescence lifetime imaging and time-of-flight measurement for depth imaging and ranging. Both of these applications require temporal accuracy on the order of pico- or nanosecond (10−12 − 10−9s) scales. This demands special camera technology and optics that can sample light-intensity extremely quickly, much faster than an ordinary video camera. However, such detectors can be very expensive compared to regular cameras while offering lower image quality. Further, information of interest is often hidden (encoded) in the raw temporal data. Therefore, computational imaging algorithms are used to enhance, analyse and extract information from time-resolved images. "A picture is worth a thousand words". This describes a fundamental blessing and curse of image analysis: images contain extreme amounts of data. Consequently, it is very difficult to design algorithms that encompass all the possible pixel permutations and combinations that can encode this information. Fortunately, the rise of AI and machine learning (ML) allow us to instead create algorithms in a data-driven way. This thesis demonstrates the application of ML to time-resolved imaging tasks, ranging from parameter estimation in noisy data and decoding of overlapping information, through super-resolution, to inferring 3D information from 1D (temporal) data

Sonar systems for object recognition

The deep sea exploration and exploitation is one of the biggest challenges of the next century. Military, oil & gas, o shore wind farming, underwater mining, oceanography are some of the actors interested in this eld. The engineering and technical challenges to perform any tasks underwater are great but the most crucial element in any underwater systems has to be the sensors. In air numerous sensor systems have been developed: optic cameras, laser scanner or radar systems. Unfortunately electro magnetic waves propagate poorly in water, therefore acoustic sensors are a much preferred tool then optical ones. This thesis is dedicated to the study of the present and the future of acoustic sensors for detection, identi cation or survey. We will explore several sonar con gurations and designs and their corresponding models for target scattering. We will show that object echoes can contain essential information concerning its structure and/or composition

Wide-Angle Multistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar: Focused Image Formation and Aliasing Artifact Mitigation

Traditional monostatic Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) platforms force the user to choose between two image types: larger, low resolution images or smaller, high resolution images. Switching to a Wide-Angle Multistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar (WAM-SAR) approach allows formation of large high-resolution images. Unfortunately, WAM-SAR suffers from two significant implementation problems. First, wavefront curvature effects, non-linear flight paths, and warped ground planes lead to image defocusing with traditional SAR processing methods. A new 3-D monostatic/bistatic image formation routine solves the defocusing problem, correcting for all relevant wide-angle effects. Inverse SAR (ISAR) imagery from a Radar Cross Section (RCS) chamber validates this approach. The second implementation problem stems from the large Doppler spread in the wide-angle scene, leading to severe aliasing problems. This research effort develops a new anti-aliasing technique using randomized Stepped-Frequency (SF) waveforms to form Doppler filter nulls coinciding with aliasing artifact locations. Both simulation and laboratory results demonstrate effective performance, eliminating more than 99% of the aliased energy

Interferometric synthetic aperture sonar system supported by satellite

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Towards localisation with Doppler radar

In this thesis the author introduces a novel method for Geo Localisation via Doppler Radar. The area of research is in the three dimensional space using amplitude and magnitude measurements. Geo Localisation in mobile applications is a useful technology that enables monitoring and gathering information about objects of interest

Modeling of fading dynamics for the indoor microwave channel

This report outlines the multipath fading phenomenon and its relationship to wireless system design. The work was conducted for the academic year of 1996. This report provides the reader with an insight into the phenomenon called fading and its relevance when designing wireless systems. Fading is an important consideration when wireless systems are to be designed. Because fading is very unpredictable and it cannot to totally eliminated in a wireless system, systems engineers have a hard time trying to design and commission efficient communication systems for a particular environment. Over the years, there has been a existing need worldwide to design wireless systems which perform efficiently under fading conditions which is introduced into the propagation channel. As Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and Wireless Private Branch Exchanges (WPBX) have become increasingly popular, along with a whole other range of wireless systems such as Personal Communication Systems and cellular systems, the need to provide effective and efficient systems which perform well under fading conditions and also other conditions which degrade a system, has been the utmost challenge faced by systems and communications engineers. With all this research going into designing efficient systems for communication being conducted worldwide, when the opportunity was presented by my supervisor to conduct similar research into indoor wireless systems within the microwave region. I was very excited as to the prospect of conducting research in these field of interest. This report outlines the background theory, which the reader will find most helpful and then presents the measurements conducted, and finally the results and analysis of the conducted measurements and its important relationship to wireless systems design within the ISM band of 2.4 to 2.5 GHz. This study investigates the various aspects of fading which affect a wireless channel under the introduction of controlled motion for a set measurement period. The empirical data base consists of twenty five 20 second recordings of the continuos wave envelope fading waveforms with both antennas in a stationary position. Measurements were conducted in a cluttered laboratory setting at 2.4 GHz with two quarter wave monopole antennas with transmitter and receiver separation ranging from 2 to 5 meters. Effects of controlled degrees of motion with 2 individuals walking briskly around the antennas was investigated. The report results are presented with statistical properties such a the number of crossings at a particular level, the level crossings rates and the average duration of fades being investigated on the fading envelopes of the measurements. These results and statistical analysis can be used in designing wireless computer communication applications, such as WLAN\u27s and also the results can be used to simulate wireless channels which use intelligent antenna systems to reduce fading