Cellular system information capacity change at higher frequencies due to propagation loss and system parameters

In this paper, mathematical analysis supported by computer simulation is used to study cellular system information capacity change due to propagation loss and system parameters (such as path loss exponent, shadowing and antenna height) at microwave carrier frequencies greater than 2 GHz and smaller cell size radius. An improved co-channel interference model, which includes the second tier co-channel interfering cells is used for the analysis. The system performance is measured in terms of the uplink information capacity of a time-division multiple access (TDMA) based cellular wireless system. The analysis and simulation results show that the second tier co-channel interfering cells become active at higher microwave carrier frequencies and smaller cell size radius. The results show that for both distance-dependent: path loss, shadowing and effective road height the uplink information capacity of the cellular wireless system decreases as carrier frequency increases and cell size radius R decreases. For example at a carrier frequency fc = 15.75 GHz, basic path loss exponent α = 2 and cell size radius R = 100, 500 and 1000m the decrease in information capacity was 20, 5.29 and 2.68%

Stability analysis and stabilisation of an amplifier with nonlinearity compensation

The rapid development of wireless communication system has led to pressing need for highly linear amplifier design and implementation as amplifier is one of the most critical devices in transmit and receive chain. In recent years, a number of new and emerging amplifier linearization techniques using special distortion correction have been receiving more and more attention due to their significant advantages. One of the techniques is the negative impedance compensation. The design results showed that high gain, good linearity and wider bandwidth can be achieved by using the novel compensation method. However, as some kind of feedback can be introduced when applying the negative impedance compensation, the stability of the whole system should be investigated carefully. In this paper, stability analysis and stabilization have been performed for the amplifier with negative impedance compensation. The simulation results showed that stable circuit behaviour can be achieved by using the capacitive compensation in the negative impedance circuit

Energy efficient CM2M communications in E-healthcare systems

In this paper, cognitive machine to machine (CM2M) gateways in e-healthcare systems are presented by accessing a number of channels via periodic sensing and spectrum handoff. An optimal energy efficient spectrum management mechanism with multiple thresholds is proposed. The developed mechanism aims to reduce energy consumption in the system by optimizing the spectrum sensing and the channel switching, while decreasing the probability of collision, with assuring the reliability thresholds, throughput, and delay. Subsequently an antenna selection sensing (ASS) scheme is used to improve sensing accuracy. The simulation results show that the energy efficiency of the CM2M gateways can be improved significantly

Reduction of electricity Costs in Medway NHS by inducing pro-environmental behaviour using persuasive technology

Hospitals represent a busy environment with the majority of the medical operations relying on electricity, for example lighting and medical equipment. Hence, it is important to conserve it to ensure high quality of services, improve patients’ wellbeing as well as to the reduction of the hospitals’ carbon footprint and the impacts on the environment. The studies carried out in hospitals considered the use of renewable energy or the use of power efficient equipment to tackle the energy problem. The challenge remains open in how to tackle the energy problem in a hospital through behavioural change. This study represents a step into reducing electricity costs of Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MNFT) in the UK. The proposed idea is to use technology to persuade MNFT staff to monitor their behaviour and with the right motive, from selected and appointed energy delegates, sustain a pro-environmental behaviour. This paper describes the methodology and system proposed to reduce electricity costs in MNFT by inducing pro-environmental behaviour with the aid of technology. This involves a smart electricity metering system to collect and communicate energy data to a centralised server that pushes the data onto a dedicated web interface. Furthermore, addressing the psychological factors by appointing energy delegates to monitor the consumption, in selected areas, as well as motivate the staff members. In addition, monitoring human dynamics and analysing it against energy data to identify a relation between occupancy and electricity consumption trends in hospital wards

Reduction of electricity usage in Medway NHS Foundation Trust using persuasive technology: A review

Controlling energy consumption and carbon emission in the United Kingdom represents an ongoing challenge. The National Health Services’ (NHS), in the UK, annual spendings on energy are massive with a proportion of them being wasted energy. An initiative came aiming at reducing energy costs in Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MNFT) by inducing pro-environmental behaviour in the hospital with the aid of technology. Numerous researchers targeted human behaviour through the provision of feedback to reduce energy costs. This research focuses on electricity consumption in MNFT while considering designing a system that could be transferred to provide savings on other energy sources as well. Moreover, deploying a technology based feedback system that, with proper motivation, can introduce positive changes in MNFT staff pro-environmental behaviour. With hospitals being a good example of a busy environment, a key contribution would be monitoring occupancy and human dynamics in different areas of the hospital and analysing it against energy data. This paper reviews the literature around various motivational techniques for individuals to conserve energy in the building sector. This includes different types of feedback and addressing human psychology through goal setting, social comparison and so on. In conclusion, a hypothesis is set to address the energy problem in MNFT. The hypothesis involves the effect of using feedback technology on human behaviour and its impact on electricity consumption in MNFT

Monitoring human dynamics in Medway NHS Foundation Trust as part of a persuasive system to induce Pro-Environmental behaviour

The large demand of energy in the building sector is strongly related to how they are used, aside from their physical exterior/interior design [1]. Along these lines, it is valid to assume that the occupant behaviour contributes and is related to the energy consumption of a building. Electricity consumption is directly related to the actions taken by human beings [1]. In a hospital, this could mean usage of equipment, heating, water and so on. This implies that energy consumption in a specific area could be a function of the physical presence of human beings, referred to as occupancy, in this same area. However, not through a linear relationship as a study carried out by [2] has shown that the electricity consumption per person decreases as the occupants in an area increase. Thereby, it is important to consider dragging occupancy as part of an energy management plan carried out in an organisation. The effect of occupancy could be due to, but is not limited to, increased temperature resulting from the number of humans in an area or could mean an increased possibility of equipment usage, whether medical in case of hospitals or general equipment. The National Health Service (NHS) is considered an intense consumer of energy in the UK, if compared to other UK organisations. The NHS spendings on energy, across the UK, exceeds £750 million each year with a significant proportion being wasted, approximately 20% [3]. With hospitals being a busy environment that operate 24 hours on daily basis. It is important to consider efficient and sustainable energy measures to conserve energy and improve the carbon footprint. This paper presents an occupancy monitoring system based on sensor and networking technologies to provide occupancy data on individual selected wards/areas of Medway NHS Foundation Trust. The paper contributes to a research carried out in MNFT of the UK that aims at achieving behavioural change to cut Medway hospital’s electricity costs [4]. This is done through provision of feedback on electricity data through a smart metering system and motivation of staff members through goal-setting and other psychological aspects. Occupancy monitoring plays a crucial role in designing a robust system to induce pro-environmental behaviour among MNFT staff. Occupancy data would be analysed against energy consumption data to draw an understanding of the relation between them. The proposed method to achieve this, as seen in Figure 1, was to use the occupancy monitoring unit to provide occupancy information about different wards/areas of the hospital. This would then be analysed against the energy data provided by the electricity feedback system. The responsibility of the occupancy monitoring unit lies in counting the number of people in a ward/area of the hospital using sensor technology. Moreover, logging the data onto a centralised webserver for analysis against the electricity data. Prior research work introduced various techniques such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) [5, 6], Wi-Fi [7] and sensor networks [1, 8] to monitor occupancy for different applications rather than energy. Figure 1 shows the whole system and how the occupancy monitoring is situated among it. Apart from contributing to the hospital’s carbon footprint, the data collected could be used to support the fire officers during evacuation or for space utilisation and relocation of wards/departments in the hospital

Microstrip Triplexer using a common triple-mode resonator

An all-resonator based triplexer is presented using a double-stub-loaded resonator (DSLR) that acts as a common resonator at the junction of the three channels. The open stub DSLR has been analysed using even and odd-mode method to reveal the relationship between the three resonant modes. The design offers flexibility of frequency selection. The DSLR resonator is coupled with three sets of hairpin resonators to form the triplexer at 1.8, 2.1, and 2.6 GHz for mobile communication applications. The measurement results are in very good agreement with the simulations

Inducing pro-environmental behaviour in National Health Service (NHS) to reduce energy costs using persuasive technology techniques

Hospitals represent a busy environment when considering energy consumption in the building sector. Electricity represents a crucial powering source in hospitals including, but not limited to, lighting, catering and medical equipment. Hence, it is important to conserve it to ensure high quality of services that would enhance the patients’ health. This would also contribute to the reduction of the hospitals’ carbon footprint as well as the harmful impacts on the environment. The studies carried out in hospitals considered the use of renewable energy or the use of more power efficient equipment to tackle the energy problem. The challenge remains open in how to tackle the energy problem in a hospital by influencing pro-environmental behaviour. This study represents a step into reducing electricity costs of Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MNFT) in the UK. The proposed idea is to use technology to persuade MNFT staff to monitor their behaviour and with the right motive, from selected and appointed energy delegates, sustain a pro-environmental behaviour. Through combining technology, in the form of feedback on energy consumption and monitoring occupancy rates, and behavioural factors, represented in motivation from energy delegates and spreading awareness; it is possible to develop and sustain a proenvironmental behaviour among MNFT staff. This paper aims at describing the methodology proposed to reduce energy costs in MNFT by inducing pro-environmental behaviour with the aid of technology. This involves a smart electricity sub-metering system to collect and communicate energy data to a centralised server that pushes the data onto a dedicated web interface. Furthermore, addressing the psychological factors by appointing energy delegates to monitor the consumption, in selected areas, as well as motivate the staff members. In addition, monitoring human dynamics and analysing it against energy data. The study will include a baseline data collection period, for reference, followed by an experimental period to test and evaluate the system

Design of an occupancy monitoring unit: a thermal imaging based people counting solution for socio-technical energy saving systems in hospitals

Aside from their physical exterior/interior design, the energy demands of industrial buildings are strongly related to how they are used. It follows that the behaviour of the occupants contributes and is related to the energy consumption of a building. In a hospital, this could mean equipment usage, heating, water and so on. This implies that energy consumption in a specific area may be measured as a function of occupancy, making occupancy monitoring an important part of an organisation’s energy management plan. This paper presents the design, implementation and testing of an Occupancy Monitoring Unit (OMU), based on thermal imaging technology, to provide occupancy data on individual selected wards/areas of Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MWNFT). The paper also presents successful tests performed to assess the functionality of the OMU in counting people and identifying the direction of motion. The results show the potential for the OMU to count individual people as well as groups

RFID localization using special antenna technique

In this paper, a RFID localization method using special antenna technique is presented. By using an active RFID system with external dipole antenna the angle and the distance from the antenna to the RFID tag can be found based on the principle of null steering. Compared with other techniques, this method has a number of advantages such as simple design, easy to implement, low cost and high reliability