Electronic Engineering

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3D modelling segmentation, quantification and visualisation of cardiovascular magnetic resonance images.
(2014) Brijmohan, Yarish.; Mneney, Stanley Henry.; Rae, William Ian Duncombe.
Progress in technology in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has provided medical experts with a tool to visualise the heart during the cardiac cycle. The heart contains four chambers namely the left and right ventricles and the left and right atria. Each chamber plays an important role in the circulation of blood throughout the body. Imbalances in the circulatory system can lead to several cardiovascular diseases. In routine clinical medical practice MRIs are produced in large quantities on a daily basis to assist in clinical diagnosis. In practice, the interpretation of these images is generally performed visually by medical experts due to the minimal number of automatic tools and software for extracting quantitative measures. Segmentation refers to the process of detecting regions within an image and associating these regions with known objects. For cardiac MRI, segmentation of the heart distinguishes between different ventricles and atriums. If the segmentation of the left ventricle and right ventricle exists, doctors will be interested in quantifying the thickness of the ventricle walls, the movement of each ventricle, blood volumes, blood flow-rates, etc. Several cardiac MRI segmentation algorithms have been developed over the past 20 years. However, much attention of these segmentation methods was afforded to the left ventricle and its functionality due to its approximately cylindrical shape. Analysis of the right ventricle also plays an important role in heart disease assessment and coupled with left ventricle analysis, will produce a more intuitive and robust diagnostic tool. Unfortunately, the crescent like shape of the right ventricle makes its mathematical modelling difficult. Another issue associated with segmenting cardiac MRI is that the quality of images can be severely degraded by artefactual signals and image noise emanating from equipment errors, patient errors and image processing errors. The presence of these artefacts attribute to additional difficulty for segmentation algorithms and many of the currently available segmentation methods cannot account for all of the abovementioned categories. A further downfall of current segmentation algorithms is that there is no readily available standard methodology to compare the accuracy of these approaches, as each author has provided results on different cardiac MRI datasets and segmentation done by human readers (expert segmentation) is subjective. This thesis addresses the issues of accuracy comparison by providing a framework of mathematical, statistical and clinical accuracy measures. The use of publically available cardiac MRI datasets in which expert segmentation is performed is analysed. The framework allows the author of a new segmentation algorithm to choose a subset of the measures to test their algorithm. A clinical measure is proposed in this thesis which does not require expert segmentation on the cardiac MRI dataset, where the stroke volumes of the left and right ventricle are compared to each other. This thesis proposes a new three dimensional cardiac MRI segmentation algorithm that is able to segment both the left and right ventricles. This approach provides a robust technique that improves on the use of the difference of Gaussians (DoG) image filter. The main focus was to find and extract the region of interest that contains the ventricles and remove all the unwanted information so that the DoG parameters are created from intensity profiles of this localised region. Two methods are proposed to achieve this localisation, depending on the type of cardiac MRI dataset that is present. The first method is used if the cardiac MRI dataset contains images from a single MRI view. Local and global motion maps are created per MRI slice using pixel intensities from images at all time points though the cardiac cycle. The segmentation results show a slight drop in evaluation metrics on the state of the art algorithms for the left ventricle and a significant improvement over the state of the art algorithms for the right ventricle using the publically available cardiac MRI datasets. The algorithm is also robust enough to withstand the influence of image noise and simulated patient movement. The second approach to find the region of interest is used if there are MRIs from three views present in the cardiac MRI dataset. The novel method projects ventricle segmentation in the three dimensional space from two cardiac MRI views to provide an automatic ventricle localisation in the third MRI view. This method utilises an iterative approach with convergence criteria to provide final ventricle segmentation in all three MRI views. The results show increase in segmentation accuracy per iteration and a small stroke volumetric error measurement on final segmentation. Finally, proposed in this thesis is a triangular surface mesh reconstruction algorithm to create the visualisation of both the left and right ventricles. The segmentation of the ventricles are extracted from the MRI per slice and combined to form a three dimensional point set. The use of segmentation from the three orthogonal MRI views further improves the visualisation. From the three dimensional point set, the surface mesh is constructed using Delaunay triangulation, convex hulls and alpha hulls. The volume of the ventricles are calculated by performing a high resolution voxelisation of the ventricle mesh and thereafter several quantification measures are computed. The volume methodology is compared to the commonly used Simpsons method and the results illustrate that the proposed method is superior.
A semi-empirical formulation for determination of rain attenuation on terrestrial radio links.
(2010) Odedina, Modupe Olubunmi.; Afullo, Thomas Joachim Odhiambo.
Advances in today’s fast growing communication systems have resulted in congestion in the lower frequency bands and the need for higher capacity broadband services. This has made it inevitable for service providers to migrate to higher frequency bands so as to accommodate the ever increasing demands on radio communication systems. However, the reliability of such systems at these frequency bands tend to be severely degraded due to some natural atmospheric phenomena of which rain is the dominant factor. This is not to say that other factors have become unimportant; however, if attenuation by rain is so severe that a radio link is unavailable for use, then other factors become secondary. Therefore, it is paramount to establish a model capable of predicting the behaviour of these systems in the presence of rain. This study employs a semi-empirical approach for the formulation of rain attenuation models using the knowledge of rain rate, raindrop size distribution, and a signal level measurement recorded at 19.5 GHz on a horizontally polarized terrestrial radio link. The semi-empirical approach was developed by considering the scattering effect of an electromagnetic wave propagating through a medium containing raindrops. The complex forward scattering amplitudes for the raindrops are determined for all raindrop sizes at different frequencies, utilizing the Mie scattering theory on spherical dielectric raindrops. From these scattering amplitudes, the extinction cross-sections for the spherical raindrops are calculated. Applying the power-law regression to the real part of the calculated extinction cross-section, power-law coefficients are determined at different frequencies. The power-law model generated from the extinction crosssection is integrated over different raindrop-size distribution models to formulate theoretical rain attenuation models. The developed rain attenuation models are used with 0.01 R rain rate statistics determined for four locations in different rain climatic zones in South Africa to calculate the specific rain attenuation. From a horizontally polarized 6.73 km terrestrial line-of-sight link in Durban, South Africa,experimental rain attenuation measurements were recorded at 19.5 GHz. These rain attenuation measurements are compared with the results obtained from the developed attenuation models with the same propagation parameters to establish the most appropriate attenuation models that describe the behaviour of radio link performance in the presence of rain. For the purpose of validating the results, it is compared with the ITU-R rain attenuation model. This study also considers the characteristics and variations associated with rain attenuation for terrestrial communication systems. This is achieved by utilizing the ITU-R power-law rain attenuation model on 5-year rain rate data obtained from the four different climatic rain zones in South Africa to estimate the cumulative distributions of rain attenuation. From the raindrop size and 1-minute rain rate measurement recorded in Durban with a distrometer over six months, rain events over the six months are classified into drizzle, widespread, shower and thunderstorm rain types and the mean rain rate statistics determined for each class of rain. Drop-size distribution for all the rain types is estimated. This research has shown a statistical analysis of rain fade data and proposed an empirical rain attenuation model for South Africa localities. This work has also drawn out theoretical rain attenuation prediction models based on the assumption that the shapes of raindrops are spherical. The results predicted from these theoretical attenuation models have shown that it is not the raindrop shapes that determine the attenuation due to rain, but the raindrop size distribution and the rain rate content in the drops. This thesis also provides a good interpretation of cumulative rain attenuation distribution on seasonal and monthly basis. From these distributions, appropriate figures of fade margin are derived for various percentages of link availability in South Africa.
An adaptive protocol for use over meteor scatter channels.
(1987) Spann, Michael Dwight.; Broadhurst, Anthony D.
Modem technology has revived interest in the once popular area of meteor scatter communications. Meteor scatter systems offer reliable communications in the 500 to 2000 km range all day, every day. Recent advances in microprocessor technology have made meteor scatter communications a viable and cost effective method of providing modest data rate communications. A return to the basic fundamentals has revealed characteristics of meteor scatter propagation that can be used to optimize the protocols for a meteor scatter link. The duration of an underdense trail is bounded when its initial amplitude is known. The upper bound of the duration is determined by maximizing the classical underdense model. The lower bound is determined by considering the volume of sky utilized. The duration distribution between these bounds is computed and compared to measured values. The duration distribution is then used to specify a fixed data rate, frame adaptive protocol which more efficaciously utilizes underdense trails, in the half duplex environment, than a non-adaptive protocol. The performance of these protocols is verified by modeling.
Adaptive techniques with cross-layer design for multimedia transmission.
(2013) Vieira, Ricardo.; Xu, Hongjun.
Wireless communication is a rapidly growing field with many of its aspects undergoing constant enhancement. The use of cross-layer design (CLD) in current technologies has improved system performance in terms of Quality-of-Services (QoS) guarantees. While multimedia transmission is difficult to achieve, CLD is capable of incorporating techniques to achieve multimedia transmission without high complexity. Many systems have incorporated some form of adaptive transmission when using a cross-layer design approach. Various challenges must be overcome when transmitting multimedia traffic; the main challenge being that each traffic type, namely voice; image; and data, have their own transmission QoS; delay; Symbol Error Rate (SER); throughput; and jitter requirements. Recently cross-layer design has been proposed to exchange information between different layers to optimize the overall system performance. Current literature has shown that the application layer and physical layer can be used to adequately transmit multimedia over fading channels. Using Reed-Solomon coding at the application layer and Rate Adaption at the physical layer allows each media type to achieve its QoS requirement whilst being able to transmit the different media within a single packet. The following dissertation therefore strives to improve traffic through-put by introducing an unconventional rate adaption scheme and by using power adaption to achieve Symbol Error Rate (SER) QoS in multimedia transmission. Firstly, we introduce a system which modulates two separate sets of information with different modulation schemes. These two information sets are then concatenated and transmitted across the fading channel. The receiver uses a technique called Blind Detection to detect the modulation schemes used and then demodulates the information sets accordingly. The system uses an application layer that encodes each media type such that their QoS, in terms of SER, is achieved. Simulated results show an increase in spectral efficiency and the system achieves the required Symbol Error Rate constraint at lower Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) values. The second approach involves adapting the input power to the system rather than adapting the modulation scheme. The two power adaptive schemes that are discussed are Water- Filling and Channel Inversion. Channel Inversion allows the SER requirement to be maintained for low SNR values, which is not possible with Rate Adaption. Furthermore, the system uses an application layer to encode each media type such that their QoS is achieved. Simulated results using this design show an improvement in through-put and the system achieves the SER constraint at lower SNR values.
Alternative approach to Power Line Communication (PLC) channel modelling and multipath characterization.
(2016) Awino, Steven Omondi.; Afullo, Thomas Joachim Odhiambo.
Modelling and characterization of the Power Line Communication (PLC) channel is an active research area. The research mainly focuses on ways of fully exploiting the existing and massive power line network for communications. In order to exploit the PLC channel for effective communication solutions, physical properties of the PLC channel need to be studied, especially for high bandwidth signals. In this dissertation, extensive simulations and measurement campaigns for the channel transfer characteristics are carried out at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in selected offices, laboratories and workshops within the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering. Firstly, we employ the Parallel Resonant Circuit (PRC) approach to model the power line channel in chapter 4, which is based on two-wire transmission line theory. The model is developed, simulated and measurements done for validation in the PLC laboratory for different network topologies in the frequency domain. From the results, it is found that the PRC model produces similar results to the Series Resonant Circuit (SRC) model, and hence the model is considered for PLC channel modelling and characterization. Secondly, due to the time variant nature of the power line network, this study also presents the multipath characteristics of the power line communication (PLC) channel in chapter 5. We analyse the effects of the network characteristics on the received signal and derive the multipath characteristics of the PLC channel from measured channel transfer functions by evaluating the channel impulse responses (CIR). The results obtained are compared with results from other parts of the world employing similar approach based on the Root Mean Square (RMS) delay spread and are found to be comparable. Based on the CIR and extracted multipath characteristics, further research in PLC and related topics shall be inspired.
Alternative techniques for the improvement of energy efficiency in cognitive radio networks.
(2016) Orumwense, Efe Francis.; Srivastava, Viranjay Mohan.; Afullo, Thomas Joachim Odhiambo.
Abstract available in PDF file.
Analysis and design of smart antenna arrays (SAAs) for improved directivity at GHz range for wireless communication systems.
(2018) Oluwole, Ayodele Sunday.; Srivastava, Viranjay Mohan.
Abstract available in PDF file.
Analysis of the EDF family of schedulers.
(2009) Scriba, Stefan Martin.; Takawira, Fambirai.
Modern telecommunications companies are moving away from conventional circuit-switched architectures to more versatile packet-switched infrastructures. Traditional First-In-FirstOut (FIFO) queues that are currently multiplexing IP traffic are not able to meet the strict Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements of delay sensitive real-time traffic. Two main solution families exist that separate heterogeneous traffic into appropriate classes. The first is known as Generalized Processor Sharing (GPS), which divides the available bandwidth among the contending classes, proportionally to the throughput guarantee negotiated with each class. GPS and its myriad of packetised variants are relatively easy to analyse, as the service rate of individual classes is directly related to its throughput guarantee. As GPS splits the arriving traffic into separate queues, it is useful for best-effort traffic, supplying each class of traffic with either a maximum or minimum amount of bandwidth that it deserves. The second solution is the Earliest Deadline First (EDF) scheduler, also known as Earliest Due Date (EDD). Each traffic class has a delay deadline, by which the individual packets need to be served in order to meet their heterogeneous QoS requirements. EDF selects packets that are closest to their deadline. It is therefore primarily useful for delay sensitive real-time traffic. Although this is a simple algorithm, it turns out to be surprisingly difficult to analyse. Several papers attempted to analyse EDF. Most of them found either discrete bounds, which lie far away from the mean, or stochastic bounds which tend to capture the delay behaviour of the traffic more accurately. After the introductory first chapter, this thesis simulates a realistic cellular environment, where packets of various classes of service are transmitted across an HSDPA air interface. The aim is to understand the behaviour of EDF and its channel aware Opportunistic EDF scheduler compared to other scheduling families commonly used in HSDPA environments. In particular, Round Robin is simulated as the most simplistic scheduler. Max ell chooses packets solely based on the best channel conditions. Finally, PF -T is a scheme that tries to maximise the overall transmission rate that packets experience, but this metric gets divided by the throughput that each class already achieved. This introduces a form of long-term fairness that prevents the starvation of individual classes. The third chapter contains the main analysis, which uses Large Deviation principles and the Effective Bandwidth theory to approximate the deadline violation probability and the delay density function of EDF in a wired network. A definition for the fairness of EDF is proposed. The analysis is extended to approximate the stochastic fairness distribution. In the fourth chapter of the thesis an opportunistic EDF scheduler is proposed for mobile legs of a network that takes advantage of temporary improvements in the channel conditions. An analytical model is developed that predicts the delay density function of the opportunistic EDF scheduler. The channel propagation gain is assumed to be log-normally distributed, which requires graphical curve fitting, as no closed-form solution exists
The analysis, simulation and testing of an experimental travelling- wave tube.
(1994) Reynolds, Christopher Garth.; Nattrass, Henry Lee.
As a design and analysis aid for the development of an experimental TWT, a computer program is written which allows the small-signal gain to be computed for various operating conditions, such as various conditions of tube bias (beam voltage and current) and frequency. In order to arrive at a value for the gain, a number of parameters need first to be defined or calculated. Using the method (Approach II) of Jain and Basu [17] which is applicable to a helix with a free-space gap between it and circular dielectric support rods surrounded by a metal shell, the dielectric loading factor (DLF) for the structure is found and the dispersion relation then solved to obtain the radial propagation constant y and axial propagation constant B. The method is tested for a helix with measured data and found to be acceptably accurate. Helix losses are calculated for the low-loss input and output sections of the helix, using the procedures developed by Gilmour et al [14,18], from which values are found for the helix loss parameter d. Another value for d, obviously much larger, is also found for the lossy attenuator section of the helix. Here measured data for the attenuator is used as a basis for a polynomial which models the attenuator loss as a function of frequency. The Pierce gain parameter C is found using the well-known equations of Pierce [21,22,26], and then the space-charge parameter Q. Here knowledge of the space-charge reduction factor F is required to find Q, and a simple non-iterative method is presented for its calculation, with some results. From the other parameters already calculated the velocity parameter, b, is then found. since sufficient information is now available, the electronic equations are solved. These equations are in a modified form, better accounting for the effects of space-charge than the well-known standard forms. Results are compared and slight differences found to exist in the computed gain. Now that the x's and y's (respectively the real and imaginary parts of the complex propagation constants for the slow and fast space-charge waves) are known the launching loss can be calculated. Launching losses are found for the three space-charge waves, not just for the gaining wave. The gain of the TWT is not found from the asymptotic gain equation but from a model which includes the effects of internal feedback due to reflections at the ports and attenuator. Values of reflection coefficients are modelled on the results of time-domain measurements (attenuator) and found by calculation (ports). This model permits the unstable behaviour of the tube to be predicted for various conditions of beam current and voltage and anticipates the frequencies at which instability would be likely. Results from simulations are compared with experimental observations. The need to pulse the experimental tube under controlled conditions led to the development of a high-voltage solid state pulse modulator providing regulated output pulses of up to 5000V and 200mA directly, without the use of transformers. The pulse modulator design embodies two unusual features a) its operation is bipolar, delivering positive or negative output pulses, depending only on the polarity of the rectifier input, and b) the use of multiple regulating loops and stacked pass elements to achieve high-voltage operation. Some results are presented.
An Analytic model for high electron mobility transistors.
(1986) Hill, Adrian John.; Nattrass, Henry Lee.
The last six years has seen the emergence and rapid development of a new type of field effect transistor, the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT), which offers improved performance in both digital and analogue circuits compared with circuits incorporating either MEtal Semiconductor (MES) or Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) FETs. A new physically-based analytic model for HEMTs, which predicts the DC and RF electrical performance from the material and structural parameters of the device, is presented. The efficacy of the model is demonstrated with comparisons between simulated and measured device characteristics, at DC and microwave frequencies. The good agreement with experiment obtained with the model indicates that velocity overshoot effects are considerably less important in HEMTs than has been widely assumed, and that the electron transit velocity in submicron devices is approximately 10 cm/s, rather than around 2x10 cm/s. The Inverted HEMT, one of the major HEMT structural variants, is emphasized throughout this work because of its potential advantages over other variants, and practical results from 0.5 micron gate length Inverted HEMTs are presented.
Application of cognitive radio based sensor network in smart grids for efficient, holistic monitoring and control.
(2018) Ogbodo, Emmanuel Utochukwu.; Dorrell, David George.; Abu-Mahfouz, Adnan M.
This thesis is directed towards the application of cognitive radio based sensor network (CRSN) in smart grid (SG) for efficient, holistic monitoring and control. The work involves enabling of sensor network and wireless communication devices for spectra utilization via the capability of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) of a cognitive radio (CR) as well as end to end communication access technology for unified monitoring and control in smart grids. Smart Grid (SG) is a new power grid paradigm that can provide predictive information and recommendations to utilities, including their suppliers, and their customers on how best to manage power delivery and consumption. SG can greatly reduce air pollution from our surrounding by renewable power sources such as wind energy, solar plants and huge hydro stations. SG also reduces electricity blackouts and surges. Communication network is the foundation for modern SG. Implementing an improved communication solution will help in addressing the problems of the existing SG. Hence, this study proposed and implemented improved CRSN model which will help to ultimately evade the inherent problems of communication network in the SG such as: energy inefficiency, interference, spectrum inefficiencies, poor quality of service (QoS), latency and throughput. To overcome these problems, the existing approach which is more predominant is the use of wireless sensor network (WSNs) for communication needs in SG. However, WSNs have low battery power, low computational complexity, low bandwidth support, and high latency or delay due to multihop transmission in existing WSN topology. Consequently, solving these problems by addressing energy efficiency, bandwidth or throughput, and latency have not been fully realized due to the limitations in the WSN and the existing network topology. Therefore, existing approach has not fully addressed the communication needs in SG. SG can be fully realized by integrating communication network technologies infrastructures into the power grid. Cognitive Radio-based Sensor Network (CRSN) is considered a feasible solution to enhance various aspects of the electric power grid such as communication with end and remote devices in real-time manner for efficient monitoring and to realize maximum benefits of a smart grid system. CRSN in SG is aimed at addressing the problem of spectrum inefficiency and interference which wireless sensor network (WSN) could not. However, numerous challenges for CRSNs are due to the harsh environmental wireless condition in a smart grid system. As a result, latency, throughput and reliability become critical issues. To overcome these challenges, lots of approaches can be adopted ranging from integration of CRSNs into SGs; proper implementation design model for SG; reliable communication access devices for SG; key immunity requirements for communication infrastructure in SG; up to communication network protocol optimization and so on. To this end, this study utilized the National Institute of Standard (NIST) framework for SG interoperability in the design of unified communication network architecture including implementation model for guaranteed quality of service (QoS) of smart grid applications. This involves virtualized network in form of multi-homing comprising low power wide area network (LPWAN) devices such as LTE CAT1/LTE-M, and TV white space band device (TVBD). Simulation and analysis show that the performance of the developed modules architecture outperforms the legacy wireless systems in terms of latency, blocking probability, and throughput in SG harsh environmental condition. In addition, the problem of multi correlation fading channels due to multi antenna channels of the sensor nodes in CRSN based SG has been addressed by the performance analysis of a moment generating function (MGF) based M-QAM error probability over Nakagami-q dual correlated fading channels with maximum ratio combiner (MRC) receiver technique which includes derivation and novel algorithmic approach. The results of the MATLAB simulation are provided as a guide for sensor node deployment in order to avoid the problem of multi correlation in CRSN based SGs. SGs application requires reliable and efficient communication with low latency in timely manner as well as adequate topology of sensor nodes deployment for guaranteed QoS. Another important requirement is the need for an optimized protocol/algorithms for energy efficiency and cross layer spectrum aware made possible for opportunistic spectrum access in the CRSN nodes. Consequently, an optimized cross layer interaction of the physical and MAC layer protocols using various novel algorithms and techniques was developed. This includes a novel energy efficient distributed heterogeneous clustered spectrum aware (EDHC- SA) multichannel sensing signal model with novel algorithm called Equilateral triangulation algorithm for guaranteed network connectivity in CRSN based SG. The simulation results further obtained confirm that EDHC-SA CRSN model outperforms conventional ZigBee WSN in terms of bit error rate (BER), end-to-end delay (latency) and energy consumption. This no doubt validates the suitability of the developed model in SG.
Application of CSDG Mosfet based active high pass filter in communication systems.
(2019) Naidoo, Llewellyn.; Srivastava, Viranjay Mohan.
This research work looks at the design of three active high pass filters. These filters have been designed for (i) robotic system, (ii) sensing device and (iii) satellite communication system. In this research work a high pass filter has been designed with a Cylindrical Surrounding Double Gate (CSDG) MOSFET. A CSDG MOSFET is a continuation of DG MOSFET technology. It is formed by rotation of a DG MOSFET with respect to its reference point to form a hollow cylinder. It consists of 2 gates, a drain and a source. Electronic robotic systems have a section of transmitter and receiver. For the receiver, to provide the required selectivity of frequencies, a filter is used. There is a wide variety of these filters that can be used within the Radio Frequency (RF) range. Radio frequencies range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz. This particular filter is designed and simulated at a cutoff frequency of 100 GHz (0.1 THz). It makes use both an operational amplifier and a transistor. This circuit was compared to a circuit that made use of 2 operational amplifiers and the results are discussed. In addition a CSDG MOSFET which makes use of a Silicon Dioxide dielectric is connected to the output of the transistor circuit to see what effect it has on the circuit. Using this model of filter a fine signal (command) can be given to robotic system. The second filter is designed for remote sensing devices. These devices continuously send/receive signals and these signals or radio waves are transmitted/received via a transmission line to/from a receiver/transmitter which has a filter that selectively sorts out the signals and only passes a desired range of signals. The CSDG MOSFET being a capacitive model allows for better filtering of low frequencies and passes through a frequency range of 200 GHz (0.2 THz) efficiently. By placing the capacitors in parallel, the design requires smaller capacitance values to be used. In addition the desired range of frequencies can be achieved from the inversely proportional relationship between frequency and capacitance. Finally a filter has been designed to use in satellite communication systems. These systems consist of various subsystems to allow it to function efficiently. These subsystems require a number of electronic devices. In this research work, a CSDG MOSFET is added to the output of the transistor circuit and operates within the EHF band (0.3 THz). The CSDG MOSFET makes use of Hafnium Silicate (HfSiO4) as a dielectric material due to its wide band-gap and lower dielectric constant makes it ideal for this design. The gain and other parameters of the three designed filters are analyzed. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that the third order active high pass filters performs better with the CSDG MOSFET.
Application of real-world modulation schemes to advanced spatial modulation systems.
(2022) Khalid, Ahmad Bin.; Quazi, Tahmid Al-Mumit.; Xu, Hongjun.
Abstract available in PDF.
Artificial intelligence based design optimization for improving diversity in wireless links.
(2021) Solwa, Shaheen.; Naidoo, Bashan.; Quazi, Tahmid Al-Mumit.
Abstract available in PDF.
ATM performance in rural areas of South Africa.
(2005) Mbatha, Sakhiseni J.; Afullo, Thomas Joachim Odhiambo.
Rural areas in developing countries span vast areas with a variety of climatic zones, vegetation and terrain features, which are hostile to the installation and maintenance of telecommunication infrastructures. Provision of telecommunications services to these areas using traditional wired and existing wiring telephone system with centralized network architecture becomes prohibitively expensive and not viable in many cases, because there is no infrastructure and the area is sparsely populated. Applications of wireless systems seem to provide a cost-effective solution for such a scenario. However, deployment of ATM in rural areas as a backbone technology wide area network (WAN) has not been thoroughly investigated so far. The dissertation investigates the feasibility of deployment of ATM backbone network (WAN) to be implemented in the rural. ATM is a digital transmission service for wide area networks providing speeds from 2 Megabits per second up to 155 Megabits per second. Businesses and institutions that transmit extremely high volumes of virtually error-free information at high speeds over wide area network with high quality and reliable connections currently use this service. For the purpose of saving the utilization of more bandwidth, the network should support or have a high forward bit rate, i.e. it must convey high traffic from base station to the user (i.e. upstream) than from the user to the base station (down stream). This work also investigates the features from the rural areas that degrade the performance of the networks and have a negative impact in the deployment of the telecommunications networks services. Identification of these features will lead to the suggestion of the least cost-effective telecommunication service. For the purpose of evaluating the performance and feasibility of the network, modeling of the ATM network is accomplished using Project Estimation (ProjEstim) Simulation Tool as the comprehensive tool for simulating large communication networks with detailed protocol modeling and performance analysis.
Blind iterative multiuser detection for error coded CDMA systems.
(2005) Van Niekerk, Brett.; Mneney, Stanley Henry.
Mobile communications have developed since the radio communications that were in use 50 years ago. With the advent of GSM, mobile communications was brought to the average citizen. More recently, COMA technology has provided the user with higher data rates and more reliable service, and it is apparent that it is the future of wireless communication. With the introduction of 3G technology in South Africa, it is becoming clear that it is the solution to the country's wireless communication requirements. The 3G and next-generation technologies could provide reliable communications to areas where it has proven difficult to operate and maintain communications effectively, such as rural locations. It is therefore important that the se technologies continue to be researched in order to enhance their capabilities to provide a solution to the wireless needs of the local and global community. Whilst COMA is proving to be a reliable communications technology, it is still susceptible to the effects of the near-far problem and multiple-access interference. A number of multiuser detectors have been proposed in literature that attempt to mitigate the effects of multiple-access interference. A notable detector is the blind MOE detector, which requires only the desired user 's spreading sequence , and it exhibits performance approximating that of other linear multiuser detectors. Another promising class of multiuser detector operate using an iterative principle and have a joint multiuser detection and error-correcting coding scheme. The aim of this research is to develop a blind iterative detector with FEC coding as a potential solution to the need for a detector that can mitigate the effects of interfering users operating on the channel. The proposed detector has the benefits of both the blind and iterative schemes: it only requires the knowledge of the desired user ' s signature, and it has integrated error-correcting abilities. The simulation results presented in this dissertation show that the proposed detector exhibits superior performance over the blind MOE detector for various channel conditions. An overview of spread-spectrum technologies is presented, and the operation of OS-COMA is described in more detail. A history and overview of existing COMA standards is also given . The need for multiuser detection is explained, and a description and comparison of various detection methods that have appeared in literature is given. An introduction to error coding is given , with convolutional code s, the turbo coding concept and method s of iterative detection are described in more detail and compared, as iterat ive decoding is fundamental to the operation of an iterative COMA detector. An overview of iterative multiuser detection is given , and selected iterative methods are described in more detail. A blind iterative detector is proposed and analysed. Simulation results for the propo sed detector, and a comparison to the blind MOE detector is presented, showing performance characteristics and the effects of various channel parameters on performance. From these results it can be seen that the proposed detector exhibits a superior performance compared to that of the blind MOE detector for various channel conditions. The dissertation is concluded, and possible future directions of research are given.
A CAD tool for the prediction of VLSI interconnect reliability.
(1988) Frost, David Frank.; Poole, Kelvin F.
This thesis proposes a new approach to the design of reliable VLSI interconnects, based on predictive failure models embedded in a software tool for reliability analysis. A method for predicting the failure rate of complex integrated circuit interconnects subject to electromigration, is presented. This method is based on the principle of fracturing an interconnect pattern into a number of statistically independent conductor segments. Five commonly-occurring segment types are identified: straight runs, steps resulting from a discontinuity in the wafer surface, contact windows, vias and bonding pads. The relationship between median time-to-failure (Mtf) of each segment and physical dimensions, temperature and current density are determined. This model includes the effect of time-varying current density. The standard deviation of lifetime is also determined as a function of dimensions. A· minimum order statistical method is used to compute the failure rate of the interconnect system. This method, which is applicable to current densities below 106 AI cm2 , combines mask layout and simulation data from the design data base with process data to calculate failure rates. A suite of software tools called Reliant (RELIability Analyzer for iNTerconnects) which implements the algorithms described above, is presented. Reliant fractures a conductor pattern into segments and extracts electrical equivalent circuits for each segment. The equivalent circuits are used in conjunction with a modified version of the SPICE circuit simulator to determine the currents in all segments and to compute reliability. An interface to a data base query system provides the capability to access reliability data interactively. The performance of Reliant is evaluated, based on two CMOS standard cell layouts. Test structures for the calibration of the reliability models are provided. Reliant is suitable for the analysis of leaf cells containing a few hundred transistors. For MOS VLSI circuits, an alternative approach based on the use of an event-driven switch-level simulator is presented.
Call admission control for interactive multimedia satellite networks.
(2015) Imole, Olugbenga Emmanuel.; Walingo, Tom Mmbasu.; Takawira, Fambirai.
Satellite communication has become an integral component of global access communication network due mainly to its ubiquitous coverage, large bandwidth and ability to support for large numbers of users over fixed and mobile devices. However, the multiplicity of multimedia applications with diverse requirements in terms of quality of service (QoS) poses new challenges in managing the limited and expensive resources. Furthermore, the time-varying nature of the propagation channel due to atmospheric and environmental effects also poses great challenges to effective utilization of resources and the satisfaction of users’ QoS requirements. Efficient radio resource management (RRM) techniques such as call admission control (CAC) and adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) are required in order to guarantee QoS satisfaction for user established connections and realize maximum and efficient utilization of network resources. In this work, we propose two CAC policies for interactive satellite multimedia networks. The two policies are based on efficient adaptation of transmission parameters to the dynamic link characteristics. In the first policy which we refer to as Gaussian Call Admission Control with Link Adaptation (GCAC-LA), we invoke the central limit theorem to statistically multiplex rate based dynamic capacity (RBDC) connections and obtain an aggregate bandwidth and required capacity for the multiplex. Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) is employed for transmission over the time-varying wireless channel of the return link of an interactive satellite network. By associating users’ channel states to particular transmission parameters, the amount of resources required to satisfy user connection requirements in each state is determined. Thus the admission control policy considers in its decision, the channel states of all existing and new connections. The performance of the system is investigated by simulation and the results show that AMC significantly improves the utilization and call blocking performance by more than twice that of a system without link adaptation. In the second policy, a Game Theory based CAC policy with link adaptation (GTCAC-LA) is proposed. The admission of a new user connection under the GTCAC-LA policy is based on a non-cooperative game that is played between the network (existing user connections) and the new connection. A channel prediction scheme that predicts the rain attenuation on the link in successive intervals of time is also proposed. This determines the current resource allocation for every source at any point in time. The proposed game is played each time a new connection arrives and the strategies adopted by players are based on utility function, which is estimated based on the required capacity and the actual resources allocated. The performance of the CAC policy is investigated for different prediction intervals and the results show that multiple interval prediction scheme shows better performance than the single interval scheme. Performance of the proposed CAC policies indicates their suitability for QoS provisioning for traffic of multimedia connections in future 5G networks.
Capture effects in spread-aloha packet protocols.
(2005) Mpako, Vuyolwethu Maxabiso Wessels.; Takawira, Fambirai.
Research in the field of random access protocols for narrow-band systems started as early as the 1970s with the introduction of the ALOHA protocol. From the research done in slotted narrow-band systems, it is well known that contention results in all the packets involved in the contention being unsuccessful. However, it has been shown that in the presence of unequal power levels, ore of the contending packets may be successful. Ibis is a phenomenon called capture. Packet capture has been shown to improve the performance of slotted narrow-band systems. Recently, much work has been done in the analysis of spread-spectrum ALOHA type code-division multiple access (CDMA) protocols. The issue of designing power control techniques to improve the performance of CDMA systems by reducing multiple access interference (MAl) has been a subject of much research. It has been shown that in the presence of power control schemes, the performance of spread-ALOHA CDMA systems is improved. However, it is also widely documented that the design of power control schemes capable of the ideal of compensation of radio propagation techniques is not possible for various reasons, and hence the imperfections in power control. None of the research known to the author has looked at capture in spread-ALOHA systems, and to a greater extent, looked at expressions for the performance of spreadALOHA systems in the presence of capture. In this thesis we introduce spread-ALOHA systems with capture as a manifestation of the imperfections in power control. We propose novel expressions for the computation of the perfonnance ofspread-ALOHA systems with capture.
CDMA performance for a rural telecommunication access.
(2005) Rasello, Poloko Freddy.; Afullo, Thomas Joachim Odhiambo.
Reviews of possible telecommunication services that can be deployed in the rural areas are highlighted. These services range from narrowband to broadband. The aim of these services is to target rural Kwazulu-Natal areas that are without or with limited telecommunications infrastructure. Policies that govern telecommunications in South Africa are also reviewed with emphasis on Universal Service Obligation. The importance of telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas is also reviewed to the benefit of Kwazulu-Natal. FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, VSAT, MMDS and MVDS are compared for a possible use in rural areas. Cost comparison of GSM and CDMA is conducted with emphasis on fade margin, path loss and penetration rate. CDMA system design and coverage areas are discussed for rural KwaZulu-Natal. Lastly bit error rate graphs and power control algorithms are presented for Kwazulu-Natal scenario.

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