Circuit Design Techniques For Wideband Phased Arrays

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation.June 2015. Major: Electrical Engineering. Advisor: Ramesh Harjani. 1 computer file (PDF); xii, 143 pages.This dissertation focuses on beam steering in wideband phased arrays and phase noise modeling in injection locked oscillators. Two different solutions, one in frequency and one in time, have been proposed to minimize beam squinting in phased arrays. Additionally, a differential current reuse frequency doubler for area and power savings has been proposed. Silicon measurement results are provided for the frequency domain solution (IBM 65nm RF CMOS), injection locked oscillator model verification (IBM 130nm RF-CMOS) and frequency doubler (IBM 65nm RF CMOS), while post extraction simulation results are provided for the time domain phased array solution (the chip is currently under fabrication, TSMC 65nm RF CMOS). In the frequency domain solution, a 4-point passive analog FFT based frequency tunable filter is used to channelize an incoming wideband signal into multiple narrowband signals, which are then processed through independent phase shifters. A two channel prototype has been developed at 8GHz RF frequency. Three discrete phase shifts (0 & +/- 90 degrees) are implemented through differential I-Q swapping with appropriate polarity. A minimum null-depth of 19dB while a maximum null-depth of 27dB is measured. In the time domain solution, a discrete time approach is undertaken with signals getting sampled in order of their arrival times. A two-channel prototype for a 2GHz instantaneous RF bandwidth (7GHz-9GHz) has been designed. A QVCO generates quadrature LO signals at 8GHz which are phase shifted through a 5-bit (2 extra bits from differential I-Q swapping with appropriate polarity) cartesian combiner. Baseband sampling clocks are generated from phase shifted LOs through a CMOS divide by 4 with independent resets. The design achieves an average time delay of 4.53ps with 31.5mW of power consumption (per channel, buffers excluded). An injection locked oscillator has been analyzed in s-domain using Paciorek's time domain transient equations. The simplified analysis leads to a phase noise model identical to that of a type-I PLL. The model is equally applicable to injection locked dividers and multipliers and has been extended to cover all injection locking scenarios. The model has been verified against a discrete 57MHz Colpitt's ILO, a 6.5GHz ILFD and a 24GHz ILFM with excellent matching between the model and measurements. Additionally, a differential current reuse frequency doubler, for frequency outputs between 7GHz to 14GHz, design has been developed to reduce passive area and dc power dissipation. A 3-bit capacitive tuning along with a tail current source is used to better conversion efficiency. The doubler shows FOM$_{T}$ values between 191dBc/Hz to 209dBc/Hz when driven by a 0.7GHz to 5.8GHz wide tuning VCO with a phase noise that ranges from -114dBc/Hz to -112dBc/Hz over the same bandwidth

Non-invasive iontophoretic delivery of enzymatically active ribonuclease A (13.6 kDa) across intact porcine and human skins

The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using transdermal iontophoresis to deliver a functional protein, ribonuclease A (RNAse; 13.6 kDa), non-invasively across the skin. Iontophoretic transport experiments were conducted using porcine skin in vitro and established the effect of current density and protein concentration on delivery kinetics. A methylene blue-based assay was used to quantify RNAse transport and to simultaneously demonstrate that protein functionality was retained post-iontophoresis. The results confirmed that intact functional RNAse was indeed delivered across the skin; cumulative permeation and steady state flux after 8h iontophoresis at 0.3 mA/cm(2) were 224.37+/-72.34 microg/cm(2) and 68.28+/-23.87 microg/cm(2)h, respectively. Significant amounts of protein were also deposited within the membrane (e.g., 1425.13+/-312.09 microg/cm(2) at 0.3 mA/cm(2)). In addition to the evidence provided by the enzymatic assay with regards to RNAse integrity and functionality, SDS-PAGE gels and MALDI-TOF spectra were also used to characterize RNAse present in the receiver phase (MALDI-TOF spectra: RNAse control, 13.690 kDa cf. RNAse from permeation samples, 13.692 kDa). Co-iontophoresis of acetaminophen showed that, despite its molecular weight, electromigration was the predominant electrotransport mechanism, accounting for >80% of RNAse total flux. Increasing RNAse concentration from 0.35 to 0.7 mM in the formulation did not result in a statistically significant increase in delivery. Iontophoretic transport of RNAse across human skin was statistically equivalent to that seen with porcine skin under the same conditions; cumulative permeation across human and porcine skin was 241.48+/-60.01 and 170.71+/-92.13 microg/cm(2), respectively. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to visualize the distribution of rhodamine B-labelled RNAse in the epidermis and dermis as a function of depth following 8h iontophoresis (results were compared to control experiments involving passive administration of the same formulation for 8h). Although fluorescence was localized at the skin surface following passive administration, it was visible throughout the membrane after current application. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that non-invasive transdermal iontophoresis can be used to deliver significant amounts of a structurally intact, functional protein across skin

Electrically-assisted delivery of an anionic protein across intact skin: Cathodal iontophoresis of biologically active ribonuclease T1

Cathodal iontophoresis of anionic macromolecules has been considered a major challenge owing to (i) the presence of a negative charge on the skin under physiological conditions and (ii) the electroosmotic solvent flow in the (opposite) anode-to-cathode direction. Moreover, electroosmosis, and not electromigration, was considered as the likely electrotransport mechanism for high molecular weight cations. However, it was recently shown that electromigration governed anodal iontophoretic transport of Cytochrome c (12.4 kDa) and Ribonuclease A (RNAse A; 13.6 kDa). Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of iontophoresing a negatively charged protein, the enzyme Ribonuclease T1 (RNAse T1, 11.1 kDa), from the cathode across intact skin. Cumulative permeation and skin deposition of RNAse T1 were investigated as a function of current density (0.15, 0.3 and 0.5 mA/cm(2) applied for 8h) using porcine ear skin and quantified by an enzymatic activity assay. Although RNAse T1 permeation was dependent upon current density (22.41 ± 8.10, 76.41 ± 56.98 and 142.19 ± 62.23μg/cm(2), respectively), no such relationship was observed with respect to skin deposition (9.78 ± 2.39, 7.76 ± 4.34 and 8.70 ± 2.94 μg/cm(2), respectively). MALDI-TOF spectra and the activity assay confirmed that RNAse T1 retained structural integrity and enzymatic function post-iontophoresis. Acetaminophen iontophoresis demonstrated the anode-to-cathode directionality of electroosmotic solvent flow confirming that RNAse T1 electrotransport was due entirely to electromigration. Interestingly, despite its lower net charge and higher molecular weight, electromigration of cationic Ribonuclease A was superior to that of RNAse T1 after iontophoresis at 0.5 mA/cm(2) for 8h. These results provide further evidence that charge to mass ratio and hence electric mobility might not alone be sufficient to predict protein electrotransport across the skin; three dimensional structures and the spatial distribution of physicochemical properties must also be considered. The skin extraction data suggest that negatively charged molecules may have fewer potential binding sites in the skin than their cationic counterparts. This was supported by confocal laser scanning microscopy images which showed that whereas fluorescence from RNAse A was distributed throughout the epidermis and dermis, RNAse T1 appeared to be bound to the epidermis alone. In conclusion, this is the first report demonstrating successful non-invasive cathodal iontophoresis of a negatively charged functional protein (RNAse T1) across intact skin

Vehicle Usage Modelling Under Different Contexts

Modern vehicles nowadays are equipped with highly sensitive sensors which continuously log in the information when the vehicle is in motion. These vehicles also deal with some performance issues like more fuel consumption, breakdown, or failure, etc. The information logged in by the sensors can be useful to analyze and evaluate these performance issues.  As vehicles are there in the market and are used in multiple places. These vehicles can perform differently based on the way they are operated and driven and the usage of a vehicle varies from time to time. Moreover, the European Accident Research and Safety Report from Volvo Organization describes the factors responsible for road fatalities and accidents. It explains that 90\% of road fatalities are caused by the style of the vehicle being driven and 30\% is caused by the external weather and environmental factor. Therefore, in this work, vehicle usage modeling is done based on time to determine the different usage styles of a vehicle and how they can affect a vehicle's performance. The proposed framework is divided into four separate modules namely: Data pre\textendash processing, Data segmentation, Unsupervised machine learning, and Pattern Analysis. Mainly, ensemble clustering methods are used to extract the pattern of the vehicle usage style and vehicle performance in different seasons using truck logged vehicle data (LVD). From the results, we could build a strong correlation between the vehicle usage style and the vehicle performance that would require further investigation

Noninvasive transdermal iontophoretic delivery of biologically active human basic fibroblast growth factor

Human basic fibroblast growth factor (hbFGF; 17.4 kDa) has shown promise in the treatment of several dermatological conditions; symptomatic improvement was also observed in patients with peripheral arterial disease after arterial infusion. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using transdermal iontophoresis to deliver biologically active hbFGF noninvasively into and across the skin. The protein was cloned, expressed and purified in-house. Porcine skin was used to investigate transdermal iontophoretic transport of hbFGF as a function of current density (0.15, 0.3, and 0.5 mA/cm(2)); results were subsequently confirmed using human skin. Cumulative hbFGF permeation and skin deposition were quantified by ELISA. The absence of proteolytic degradation during skin transit was confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Biological activity postdelivery was determined using cell proliferation assays in human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) and NIH 3T3 cell lines. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to visualize the distribution of rhodamine-tagged hbFGF in the skin. Cumulative iontophoretic permeation at 0.3 mA/cm(2) was statistically superior to that at 0.15 mA/cm(2); however, there was no further improvement at 0.5 mA/cm(2). Significant skin deposition of hbFGF was observed, and this dominated transport; for example, after iontophoresis for 8 h at 0.5 mA/cm(2), skin deposition (77.74 ± 37.36 μg/cm(2)) was 4.4-fold higher than cumulative permeation (17.64 ± 5.18 μg/cm(2)). The superior skin deposition may be advantageous for dermatological applications. The HFF and NIH 3T3 cell proliferation assays confirmed that biological activity of hbFGF was retained postdelivery. Coiontophoresis of acetaminophen showed that the dominant transport mechanism switched from electroosmosis to electromigration upon increasing current density from 0.15 to 0.3 mA/cm(2). Experiments using human skin confirmed that iontophoretic permeation of hbFGF across porcine and human membranes was statistically equivalent. CLSM images of rhodamine-tagged hbFGF postiontophoresis indicated that the protein was evenly distributed throughout the epidermis and dermis. In conclusion, the results confirmed that transdermal iontophoresis was indeed able to deliver structurally intact, functional hbFGF noninvasively into and across the skin. The amounts of protein delivered were similar to those in reports from preclinical and clinical studies

Green Synthesis of Silver-Decorated Magnetic Particles for Efficient and Reusable Antimicrobial Activity

Metal and metal hybrid nanostructures have shown tremendous application in the biomedical and catalytic fields because of their plasmonic and catalytic properties. Here, a green and clean method was employed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticle (Ag NP)-SiO2-Fe2O3 hybrid microstructures, and biomolecules from green tea extracts were used for constructing the hybrid structures. The SiO2-Fe2O3 structures were synthesized using an ethanolic green tea leaf extract to form Bio-SiO2-Fe2O3 (BSiO2-Fe2O3) structures. Biochemical studies demonstrated the presence of green tea biomolecules in the BSiO2 layer. Reduction of the silver ions was performed by a BSiO2 layer to form Ag NPs of 5–10 nm in diameter in and on the BSiO2-Fe2O3 microstructure. The reduction process was observed within 600 s, which is faster than that reported elsewhere. The antimicrobial activity of the Ag-BSiO2-Fe2O3 hybrid structure was demonstrated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and the nanostructures were further visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The magnetic properties of the Ag-BSiO2-Fe2O3 hybrid structure were used for studying reusable antimicrobial activity. Thus, in this study, we provide a novel green route for the construction of a biomolecule-entrapped SiO2-Fe2O3 structure and their use for the ultra-fast formation of Ag NPs to form antimicrobial active multifunctional hybrid structures