Development of Ultra-Wideband (UWB)Horn Antenna Using Approximation Method

This paper presents a design of an ultra wide-band (UWB) horn antenna for microwave imaging radar system. The key purpose of the study is to design a horn antenna which is used in medical imaging system. The proposed antenna operates within 3.1-10.6 GHz as it is the band allocated for medical industry usage. The antenna known as a directional antenna which is supported by rectangular waveguide. The horn antenna is purposely chosen to design in order to increase the directivity of the antenna within 15-20 dB and achieve higher gain and wider bandwidth as possible. This horn antenna is capable to produce return loss as minimum as possible. The antenna is designed and simulated using CST Microwave Studio. The simulation results show that the pyramidal horn antenna structure exhibits low VSWR as well as good radiation pattern over 3.1-10.6 GHz frequency ban

The Role of Library and Media Teachers in Malaysian School Resource Centre

Library and media teachers should be clear with the role of school resource centre has a direct relationship with the implementation of the curriculum and co-curricular programmes at the school level. Thus, many tasks that needs to be focused to ensure that school resource centre facilities can be leveraged by students and teachers.This study explores the role of library and media teachers in Malaysia. The findings are intended to help library and media teachers to improve their image. Consequently, corrective necessary measures should emerge, capable of improving the overall educational environment in Malaysia schools system. An anonymous survey was sent to the 50 library and media teachers in the Terengganu, Malaysia. 100% respondents completed the questionnaire. The study revealed that all schools in Malaysia not employ full-time and adequately trained professional school librarians and often teachers without proper professional library or information science training manage their school resource centre. As these teachers are also expected to take full teaching load and other tasks assigned by their school management, they have limited of time to the school resource centre.Evidence from the results of studies shows the impact of school library programmes on academic performance provide support on the need for professionally trained and credentialed school library media specialists. Keywords: Library and Media Teacher, School Resource Centre, Teacher Librarian, School Librarie

Independent component analysis for fetal heart rate detection using photosplethysmography

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is an optoelectronic technique for measuring and recording changes in the volume of body parts. These changes are associated with each heart beat and acquired by pulse oximetry. Fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring using PPG is a challenging task since the acquired signals present the pattern of both fetal and maternal hearts. The effect of maternal component, noise and artifacts on fetal component makes the separation of FHR very difficult. In this paper, we study the applicability of independent component analysis (lCA) to FHR detection using PPG. The study was conducted using emulated signals to mimic the pulsation nature of both maternal and fetal hearts. The outcome of this experiment shows encouraging results in terms of the extraction ability oflCA, which can perform well even when fetal-to-maternal signal-to-noise ratio (SIY~) drops to -276 dB

Experimental Analysis on Double Layer Kapton Material using Peltier Thermoelectric Device

Kapton is one of the flexible materials used in the development of microwave components for the telecommunications system. The electrical properties of Kapton are dependent on the material's temperature. In this study, this material will be heated, and the electrical properties of dielectric permittivity and loss tangent will be analyzed. This material heating process is done by using Peltier thermoelectric which is installed with Aluminium alloy. The 0 V up to 7 V DC voltage was supplied to the Peltier during the heating process. Then, the electrical properties of Kapton were measured by using a dielectric probe and vector network analyzer (VNA) at frequencies of 1 GHz to 9 GHz. The results obtained show the Kapton temperature was increased from 27oC to 41oC. Meanwhile, the dielectric permittivity also varied from 1.72 to 1.64 at the frequency of 5 GHz when 4 V was used. The maximum loss tangent value of 0.5 was observed when the maximum DC voltage of 7 V was applied. The knowledge of this experimental work can be used to design reconfigurable microwave components for smart system application

Microstructural refinement and corrosion resistance improvement of heat-treated A356 alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing

The microstructure refinement, hardness and corrosion resistance of heat-treated A356 aluminium alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) were investigated. ECAP was carried out at room temperature using a mold, with a channel angle of 120° via route A. Results of the investigation confirm that the flaky coarse silicon particles were effectively fragmented from 4.22 to 0.761 μm and the grain size reduced from 171 to 40 μm after four passes of heat-treated as-cast using ECAP process. ECAP processing increases the hardness of heat-treated as-cast alloy from 61 Hv to 125 HV after four passes. Heat-treated A356 alloy shows enhanced corrosion resistance from 0.0424 to 0.00149 mmy-1, after four passes. In this research, ECAP processing has been shown to improve the hardness and corrosion resistance of as-cast A356 alloy

Kapton Based Antenna Simulation Analysis for Smart System

This paper describes the analysis of Kapton material in antenna design for telecommunication systems. Kapton is usually used in the design of radio and microwave frequency antenna. It is a flexible material and with different dielectric value. The antenna is made of a Kapton substrate, a patch and copper (FR4). The dielectric characteristics of Kapton substrate changes according to temperature. The simulation result shows that the bandwidth of the antenna increased up to 10 MHz with a second layer of Kapton substrate. While the antenna gain decreased 1.19 dB when the dielectric value is increased. Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software was used to analyse the antenna’s  performance

Development of a Quadruped Crawling Robot Prototype

Although wheeled robots are commonly used, it has limited ability to move to any terrains at ease. They suffer from difficulties when travelling over uneven and rough terrains. Legged robots have an advantage over the wheeled robots in that they are suited for such situations. The implementation of legged robots normally requires many motors to move every joint in a robot leg. Additional motor will increase the construction cost, robot weight, and the demand for power supply. Moreover, robot simulation becomes more complex. This research is related to the design and development of a cost effective quadruped autonomous robot. The robot can moves according to a unique pattern using three servo motors as its actuator in each of its leg. The design of the robot is firstly made with CAD program and then the structure of the body and the leg is analyzed in order to find a correct balance and to make sure the servo motors are capable to move the robot. A prototype of the quadruped robot is fabricated and tested thoroughly. Experimental studies are carried out to test its stability issues when the robot moves. The robot is capable of moving forward, backward, turn left and turn right by crawling its way. A microcontroller is used as the brain of the robot assisted by two analog distance sensor for better obstacle sensing. It uses a rechargeable battery as the power supply for the microcontroller. The servo motors on the other hand are powered by another rechargeable battery. At the end of this research, a working prototype has been developed