Feasibility study of modifying Gävle Folkets Hus's ventilation system to improve efficiency

As the title of the thesis indicates “Feasibility study of modifying Gävle Folkets Hus's ventilation system to improve efficiency”, the target of this project is to suggest improvements on the ventilation system of the building in question in order to enhance energy efficiency of it, focusing on reducing energy losses and optimizing energy consumption. Implicitly, the modifications are also channeled to create an adequate indoor air quality. “Gävle Folkets Hus”, is located in Södra Centralgatan 10, 80250 Gävle, Sweden. The edifice was built in 1946 and some modifications were made in 1980. Inside this 5584 m2, 5 floors and 300 rooms building many activities are performed: restaurant, theater, offices, etc. The major parts of the project are explained as follows. Firstly, the whole energy balance of the building is calculated: gains from people, appliances, lighting, sun and district heating and losses from ventilation, transmission and hot tap water. Regarding the calculations of the energy balance, many aspects have been studied such as the ventilation, tap water and heating systems, the analysis of the architectural planes, the thermal transmission coefficients of the materials used in the building, the level of occupation and activities to which the building is submitted and the climatological conditions to which the building is exposed.The total quantity of energy inputs reaches 909,64 MWh and the quantity of energy outputs is 826,41MWh. Inputs varies 10% from outputs which is a reasonable value. Subsequently, the whole ventilation system is measured so as to identify if the air distribution is adequate. The capability of the ventilation system is compared with the ventilation requirements for new Swedish buildings according to the Swedish Code BBR 2008 and Socialstyrelsen recommendations. High quality equipment from the company SWECO has been used to do these measurements. Finally, a feasibility study of improving the ventilation system is done. Economic studies of a new ventilation installation and a heating pump are done. It is also considered the possibility of installing presence detectors and electronic fan controllers. The investments for the three improvements are 1.000.000 SEK, 200.000 SEK and 20.000 SEK respectively. These studies improve the energy efficiency and therefore, produce benefits. The whole new ventilation installation has a Net Present Value (NPV) of 169.933 SEK, being the payback in 11 years. Concerning the heating pump, NPV is 15.448 SEK and its payback is 8 years. Finally, the installation of detectors has a NPV of 60.528 SEK and its payback is only 1 year.Outgoin

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

A flexible system-on-chip FPGA architecture for prototyping experimental GNSS receivers

(English) The rapid evolution in satellite navigation technology (GNSS) requires advanced prototyping tools for exploring new signals and developing innovative systems. Prototyping is essential in the design and development process, as it allows researchers to test and refine their ideas before implementing them on a large scale. Prototyping using commercial GNSS receivers poses several challenges. Currently, these receivers are primarily based on application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), which are characterized by low power consumption, compact dimensions, and low cost, but offer limited flexibility. Although some commercial devices incorporate software-defined radio (SDR) techniques, they often contain proprietary code that restricts reconfiguration through an application programming interface (API) established by the manufacturer. GNSS receivers based on free and open-source software have become very valuable resources in the field of research and development, especially in satellite navigation. These receivers are highly valued for their adaptability and flexibility, allowing researchers to tailor the software to specific experimental needs or develop new signal processing algorithms. However, software-defined receivers tend to be less energy-efficient compared to hardware-based receivers, as they operate on general-purpose processors, which are not optimized for low power consumption. This thesis focuses on the design and development of a low-cost architecture for prototyping experimental GNSS receivers, based on System-on-Chip Field Programmable Gate Arrays (SoC FPGAs). This architecture overcomes the limitations of commercial GNSS receivers in terms of adaptability, flexibility, and reprogramming capacity, and offers improved energy efficiency compared to software-based receivers that rely on general-purpose processors. The strategy consists of combining the versatility of software-defined radio with the intensive parallelism and optimized energy consumption of programmable logic devices, providing the best of both worlds. This fusion allows the development of compact, portable GNSS receivers, thus facilitating the prototyping of embedded devices suitable for field testing. In addition, the GNSS processing core is based on a free and open-source software implementation, which provides detailed access to the signal processing chain and allows unrestricted exploration and modification of the algorithms used. This thesis also presents a design methodology for the development of new prototypes and new GNSS signal processing algorithms based on the proposed SoC FPGA architecture. This methodology places special emphasis on code reuse, a key aspect for reducing development costs and time. The practical applications of this architecture have been demonstrated through three prototypes: a GNSS receiver for low Earth orbit (LEO), a GNSS signal repeater, and a high-sensitivity GNSS receiver. The innovative approach presented in this thesis facilitates the development of experimental prototypes of flexible and portable GNSS receivers and signal generators, suitable for both laboratory experiments and field testing.(Català) La ràpida evolució en la tecnologia de navegació per satèl·lit (GNSS) requereix eines de prototipatge avançades per a l'exploració de nous senyals i el desenvolupament de sistemes innovadors. El prototipatge és essencial en el procés de disseny i desenvolupament, ja que permet als investigadors provar i perfeccionar les seves idees abans de dur a terme una implementació a gran escala. El prototipatge utilitzant receptors GNSS comercials planteja diversos reptes. En l'actualitat, aquests receptors es basen majoritàriament en circuits integrats d'aplicació específica (ASICs), els quals es caracteritzen per un consum energètic reduït, dimensions compactes i un cost baix, però ofereixen una flexibilitat limitada. Tot i que alguns dispositius comercials incorporen tècniques de ràdio definida per programari (SDR), aquests freqüentment contenen codi propietari que en restringeix la reconfiguració mitjançant una interfície de programació d'aplicacions (API) establerta pel fabricant. Els receptors GNSS basats en programari lliure i codi obert han esdevingut recursos molt valuosos en el camp de la recerca i desenvolupament, especialment en el camp de la navegació per satèl·lit. Aquests receptors són molt valorats per la seva adaptabilitat i flexibilitat, permetent als investigadors adaptar el programari a necessitats experimentals específiques o desenvolupar nous algoritmes de processament de senyal. Tanmateix, els receptors definits per programari solen ser menys eficients energèticament en comparació amb els receptors basats en maquinari, ja que operen en processadors de propòsit general, que no estan optimitzats per a un baix consum energètic. Aquesta tesi se centra en el disseny i desenvolupament d'una arquitectura de baix cost per al prototipatge de receptors GNSS experimentals, basada en sistemes en un xip amb matrius de portes lògiques programables in situ (SoC FPGA). Aquesta arquitectura supera les limitacions dels receptors GNSS comercials en termes d'adaptabilitat, flexibilitat i capacitat de reprogramació, i ofereix una eficiència energètica millorada en comparació amb els receptors basats en programari que depenen de processadors de propòsit general. L'estratègia consisteix a combinar la versatilitat de la ràdio definida per programari amb el paral·lelisme intensiu i el consum energètic optimitzat dels dispositius lògics programables, proporcionant el millor de tots dos mons. Aquesta fusió permet el desenvolupament de receptors GNSS compactes, portàtils, facilitant així el prototipatge de dispositius encastats adequats per a proves de camp. A més, el nucli de processament GNSS es basa en una implementació de programari lliure i obert, que proporciona un accés detallat a la cadena de processament de senyal i permet una exploració i modificació sense restriccions dels algoritmes utilitzats. Aquesta tesi també presenta una metodologia de disseny per al desenvolupament de nous prototips i nous algoritmes de processament de senyal GNSS basats en l'arquitectura SoC FPGA que es proposa. Aquesta metodologia posa especial èmfasi en la reutilització de codi, aspecte clau per a reduir els costos i temps de desenvolupament. Les aplicacions pràctiques d'aquesta arquitectura s'han demostrat a través de tres prototips: un receptor GNSS per a òrbita baixa terrestre (LEO), un retransmissor de senyals GNSS, i un receptor GNSS d'alta sensibilitat. L'enfocament innovador presentat en aquesta tesi facilita al desenvolupament de prototips experimentals de receptors i generadors de senyals GNSS flexibles i portàtils, aptes tant per a experiments de laboratori com per a proves de camp.(Español) La rápida evolución en la tecnología de navegación por satélite (GNSS) requiere herramientas avanzadas de prototipado para explorar nuevas señales y desarrollar sistemas innovadores. El prototipado es esencial en el proceso de diseño y desarrollo, ya que permite a los investigadores probar y refinar sus ideas antes de implementarlas a gran escala. El prototipado utilizando receptores GNSS comerciales plantea varios desafíos. Actualmente, estos receptores se basan principalmente en circuitos integrados de aplicación específica (ASICs), los cuales se caracterizan por su bajo consumo de energía, dimensiones compactas y bajo coste, pero ofrecen flexibilidad limitada. Aunque algunos dispositivos comerciales incorporan técnicas de radio definida por software (SDR), a menudo contienen código propietario que restringe la reconfiguración a través de una interfaz de programación de aplicaciones (API) establecida por el fabricante. Los receptores GNSS basados en software libre y de código abierto se han convertido en recursos muy valiosos en el campo de la investigación y desarrollo, especialmente en la navegación por satélite. Estos receptores son muy valorados por su adaptabilidad y flexibilidad, lo que permite a los investigadores adaptar el software para necesidades experimentales específicas o desarrollar nuevos algoritmos de procesado de señales. Sin embargo, los receptores definidos por software tienden a ser menos eficientes en términos de energía en comparación con los receptores basados en hardware, ya que operan en procesadores de propósito general, los cuales no están optimizados para el bajo consumo de energía. Esta tesis se enfoca en el diseño y desarrollo de una arquitectura de bajo coste para el prototipado de receptores GNSS experimentales, basada en sistemas en un chip con matrices de puertas programables en campo (SoC FPGAs). Esta arquitectura supera las limitaciones de los receptores GNSS comerciales en términos de adaptabilidad, flexibilidad y capacidad de reprogramación, y ofrece una eficiencia energética mejorada en comparación con los receptores basados en software que dependen de procesadores de propósito general. La estrategia consiste en combinar la versatilidad de la radio definida por software con el paralelismo intensivo y el consumo de energía optimizado de los dispositivos lógicos programables, proporcionando lo mejor de ambos mundos. Esta fusión permite el desarrollo de receptores GNSS compactos y portátiles, facilitando así el prototipado de dispositivos embebidos adecuados para pruebas de campo. Además, el núcleo de procesado GNSS se basa en una implementación de software libre y de código abierto, lo que proporciona acceso detallado a la cadena de procesamiento de señales y permite la exploración y modificación sin restricciones de los algoritmos utilizados. Esta tesis también presenta una metodología de diseño para el desarrollo de nuevos prototipos y nuevos algoritmos de procesado de señales GNSS basados en la arquitectura SoC FPGA propuesta. Esta metodología pone especial énfasis en la reutilización de código, un aspecto clave para reducir los costes y tiempos de desarrollo. Las aplicaciones prácticas de esta arquitectura se han demostrado a través de tres prototipos: un receptor GNSS para órbita terrestre baja (LEO), un regenerador de señales GNSS y un receptor GNSS de alta sensibilidad. El enfoque innovador presentado en esta tesis facilita el desarrollo de prototipos experimentales de receptores y generadores de señales GNSS flexibles y portátiles, adecuados tanto para experimentos de laboratorio como para pruebas de campo.DOCTORAT EN TEORIA DEL SENYAL I COMUNICACIONS (Pla 2013

Implementation of the LTE Listen Mode for a Femtocell

This project focuses on the implementation of the LTE Listen Mode functionality for a femtocell. The Listen Mode functionality is part of any LTE femtocell capabilities. The Listen Mode Functionality is the functionality by which a femtocell obtains information about all the LTE base stations that lie in the neighborhood

Implementation of the LTE Listen Mode for a Femtocell

This project focuses on the implementation of the LTE Listen Mode functionality for a femtocell. The Listen Mode functionality is part of any LTE femtocell capabilities. The Listen Mode Functionality is the functionality by which a femtocell obtains information about all the LTE base stations that lie in the neighborhood

Implementation of the LTE Listen Mode for a Femtocell

This project focuses on the implementation of the LTE Listen Mode functionality for a femtocell. The Listen Mode functionality is part of any LTE femtocell capabilities. The Listen Mode Functionality is the functionality by which a femtocell obtains information about all the LTE base stations that lie in the neighborhood

Feasibility study of modifying Gävle Folkets Hus's ventilation system to improve efficiency

As the title of the thesis indicates “Feasibility study of modifying Gävle Folkets Hus's ventilation system to improve efficiency”, the target of this project is to suggest improvements on the ventilation system of the building in question in order to enhance energy efficiency of it, focusing on reducing energy losses and optimizing energy consumption. Implicitly, the modifications are also channeled to create an adequate indoor air quality. “Gävle Folkets Hus”, is located in Södra Centralgatan 10, 80250 Gävle, Sweden. The edifice was built in 1946 and some modifications were made in 1980. Inside this 5584 m2, 5 floors and 300 rooms building many activities are performed: restaurant, theater, offices, etc. The major parts of the project are explained as follows. Firstly, the whole energy balance of the building is calculated: gains from people, appliances, lighting, sun and district heating and losses from ventilation, transmission and hot tap water. Regarding the calculations of the energy balance, many aspects have been studied such as the ventilation, tap water and heating systems, the analysis of the architectural planes, the thermal transmission coefficients of the materials used in the building, the level of occupation and activities to which the building is submitted and the climatological conditions to which the building is exposed.The total quantity of energy inputs reaches 909,64 MWh and the quantity of energy outputs is 826,41MWh. Inputs varies 10% from outputs which is a reasonable value. Subsequently, the whole ventilation system is measured so as to identify if the air distribution is adequate. The capability of the ventilation system is compared with the ventilation requirements for new Swedish buildings according to the Swedish Code BBR 2008 and Socialstyrelsen recommendations. High quality equipment from the company SWECO has been used to do these measurements. Finally, a feasibility study of improving the ventilation system is done. Economic studies of a new ventilation installation and a heating pump are done. It is also considered the possibility of installing presence detectors and electronic fan controllers. The investments for the three improvements are 1.000.000 SEK, 200.000 SEK and 20.000 SEK respectively. These studies improve the energy efficiency and therefore, produce benefits. The whole new ventilation installation has a Net Present Value (NPV) of 169.933 SEK, being the payback in 11 years. Concerning the heating pump, NPV is 15.448 SEK and its payback is 8 years. Finally, the installation of detectors has a NPV of 60.528 SEK and its payback is only 1 year.Outgoin

Implementation of a High-Sensitivity Global Navigation Satellite System Receiver on a System-on-Chip Field-Programmable Gate Array Platform

This paper presents the design, proof-of-concept implementation, and preliminary performance assessment of an affordable real-time High-Sensitivity (HS) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. Specifically tailored to capture and track weak Galileo E1b/c signals, this receiver aims to support research endeavors focused on advancing GNSS signal processing algorithms, particularly in scenarios characterized by pronounced signal attenuation. Leveraging System-on-Chip Field-Programmable Gate Array (SoC-FPGA) technology, this design merges the adaptability of Software Defined Radio (SDR) concepts with the the robust hardware processing capabilities of FPGAs. This innovative approach enhances power efficiency compared to conventional designs relying on general-purpose processors, thereby facilitating the development of embedded software-defined receivers. Within this architecture, we implemented a modular GNSS baseband processing engine, offering a versatile platform for the integration of novel algorithms. The proposed receiver undergoes testing with live signals, showcasing its capability to process GNSS signals even in challenging scenarios with a carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) as low as 20 dB-Hz, while delivering navigation solutions. This work contributes to the advancement of low-cost, high-sensitivity GNSS receivers, providing a valuable tool for researchers engaged in the development, testing, and validation of experimental GNSS signal processing techniques

Feasibility study of modifying Gävle Folkets Hus's ventilation system to improve efficiency

As the title of the thesis indicates “Feasibility study of modifying Gävle Folkets Hus's ventilation system to improve efficiency”, the target of this project is to suggest improvements on the ventilation system of the building in question in order to enhance energy efficiency of it, focusing on reducing energy losses and optimizing energy consumption. Implicitly, the modifications are also channeled to create an adequate indoor air quality. “Gävle Folkets Hus”, is located in Södra Centralgatan 10, 80250 Gävle, Sweden. The edifice was built in 1946 and some modifications were made in 1980. Inside this 5584 m2, 5 floors and 300 rooms building many activities are performed: restaurant, theater, offices, etc. The major parts of the project are explained as follows. Firstly, the whole energy balance of the building is calculated: gains from people, appliances, lighting, sun and district heating and losses from ventilation, transmission and hot tap water. Regarding the calculations of the energy balance, many aspects have been studied such as the ventilation, tap water and heating systems, the analysis of the architectural planes, the thermal transmission coefficients of the materials used in the building, the level of occupation and activities to which the building is submitted and the climatological conditions to which the building is exposed.The total quantity of energy inputs reaches 909,64 MWh and the quantity of energy outputs is 826,41MWh. Inputs varies 10% from outputs which is a reasonable value. Subsequently, the whole ventilation system is measured so as to identify if the air distribution is adequate. The capability of the ventilation system is compared with the ventilation requirements for new Swedish buildings according to the Swedish Code BBR 2008 and Socialstyrelsen recommendations. High quality equipment from the company SWECO has been used to do these measurements. Finally, a feasibility study of improving the ventilation system is done. Economic studies of a new ventilation installation and a heating pump are done. It is also considered the possibility of installing presence detectors and electronic fan controllers. The investments for the three improvements are 1.000.000 SEK, 200.000 SEK and 20.000 SEK respectively. These studies improve the energy efficiency and therefore, produce benefits. The whole new ventilation installation has a Net Present Value (NPV) of 169.933 SEK, being the payback in 11 years. Concerning the heating pump, NPV is 15.448 SEK and its payback is 8 years. Finally, the installation of detectors has a NPV of 60.528 SEK and its payback is only 1 year.Outgoin

Implementation of GNSS receiver hardware accelerators in all-programmable system-on-chip platforms

This paper reports the design and proof-of-concept implementation of hardware accelerator modules for a low power consumption and small form factor software-defined GNSS receiver using an all-programmable System-On-Chip (SoC) platform. An all-programmable SoC is a device that integrates the software reprogrammability of a CPU with the hardware reprogrammability of an FPGA. The presented approach takes advantage of the flexibility of software-defined radio technology, and the power efficiency and small form factor of a SoC, to implement a portable fully customizable GNSS receiver with the capability to process GNSS signals in real-time and to deliver GNSS products in standard formats. The SoC runs a free and open source software implementation of a multi-band, multi-system GNSS receiver released under the General Public License v3.0 and available in a public source code repository. However, the most computationally demanding tasks are offloaded to the FPGA and implemented as hardware acceleration modules. The hardware acceleration modules can take advantage of the inherent parallelism in the GNSS receiver signal processing functions. A review of the GNSS receiver architecture is presented, together with an overview of the software and a design description of the hardware accelerators in the SoC. A dual-band proof of concept GNSS receiver is exposed, together with some results.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through project TEC2015-69868-C2-2-R (ADVENTURE).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft