The major advantages of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology over barcodes are that the RFID-tagged objects do not require to be in line-of-sight with the reader for their identification and multiple objects can be read simultaneously. But when multiple objects are read simultaneously there is always a problem of collision which reduces the efficiency of the system. This thesis presents a comprehensive study of the dynamic framed slotted ALOHA (DFSA)-based anti-collision multi-tag identification algorithms for passive RFID system. Performance of various DFSA algorithms is compared through extensive simulation results. In addition, a number of simple performance improvement techniques have also been investigated in this thesis, including improved estimation techniques for the number of tags in each read cycle and a low-complexity heuristic stopping criterion that can be easily implemented in the practical system.

This thesis investigates the design and implementation of turbo codes over the GNU radio. The turbo codes is a class of iterative channel codes which demonstrates strong capability for error correction. A software defined radio (SDR) is a communication system which can implement different modulation schemes and tune to any frequency band by means of software that can control the programmable hardware. SDR utilizes the general purpose computer to perform certain signal processing techniques. We implement a turbo coding system using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), a widely used SDR platform from Ettus. Detail configuration and performance comparison are also provided in this research.

This thesis deals with the decentralized autonomous system, in which individual nodes acting like peers, communicate and participate in collaborative tasks and decision making processes. An experimental test-bed is created using four Garcia robots. The robots act like peers and interact with each other using user datagram protocol (UDP) messages. Each robot continuously monitors for messages coming from other robots and respond accordingly. Each robot broadcasts its location to all the other robots within its vicinity. Robots do not have built-in global positioning system (GPS). So, an indoor localization method based on signal strength is developed to estimate robot's position. The signal strength that the robot gets from the nearby wireless access points is used to calculate the robot's position. Trilateration and fingerprint are some of the indoor localization methods used for this purpose. The communication functionality of the decentralized system has been tested and verified in the autonomous systems laboratory.

In this thesis, I present my study on the impact of multi-group network structure on the performance of consensus building strategies, and the preliminary mathematical formulation of the problem on improving the performance of the National Airspace system (NAS) through long-term investment. The first part of the thesis is concerned with a structural approach to the consensus building problem in multi-group distributed sensor networks (DSNs) that can be represented by bipartite graph. Direct inference of the convergence behavior of consensus strategies from multi-group DSN structure is one of the contributions of this thesis. The insights gained from the analysis facilitate the design and development of DSNs that meet specific performance criteria. The other part of the thesis is concerned with long-term planning and development of the NAS at a network level, by formulating the planning problem as a resource allocation problem for a flow network. The network-level model viewpoint on NAS planning and development will give insight to the structure of future NAS and will allow evaluation of various paradigms for the planning problem.

In this thesis, I introduce a promising framework for representing an air traffic flow (stream) and flow-management action operating under weather uncertainty. I propose to use a meshed queuing and Markov-chain model---specifically, a queuing model whose service-rates are modulated by an underlying Markov chain describing weather-impact evolution---to capture traffic management in an uncertain environment. Two techniques for characterizing flow-management performance using the model are developed, namely 1) a master-Markov-chain representation technique that yields accurate results but at relatively high computational cost, and 2) a jump-linear system-based approximation that has promising scalability. The model formulation and two analysis techniques are illustrated with numerous examples. Based on this initial study, I believe that the interfaced weather-impact and traffic-flow model analyzed here holds promise to inform strategic flow contingency management in NextGen.

Noise-induced hearing loss is a serious problem common to musical environments. Current dosimetry technology is primarily designed for industrial environments and not suited for musical settings. At present, there are no government regulations that apply to the educational music environment as it relates to monitoring and prevention of hearing loss. Also, no system exists than can serve as a proactive tool in observation and reporting of sound exposure levels with the goal of hearing conservation. Newly proposed system takes a software based approach in designing a proactive dosimetry system that can assess the risk of sound noise exposure. It provides real-time feedback trough a graphical user interface that is capable of database storage for further study.

The thesis deals with the design and implementation of broadband and narrowband antennas and their applications in practical environment. In this thesis, a new concept for designing the UWB antenna is proposed based on the CRLH metamaterials and this UWB antenna covers a frequency range from 2.45 GHz to 11.6 GHz. Based on the design of the UWB antenna, another antenna is developed that can cover a very wide bandwidth i.e from 0.66 GHz to 120 GHz. This antenna can not only be used for UWB applications but also for other communication systems working below the UWB spectrum such as GSM, GPS, PCS and Bluetooth. The proposed antenna covering the bandwidth from 0.66 GHz to 120 GHz is by far the largest bandwidth antenna developed based on metamaterials. Wide band antennas are not preferred for sensing purpose as it is difficult to differentiate the received signals. A multiband antenna which can be used as a strain sensor for structural health monitoring is proposed. The idea is to correlate the strain applied along the length or width with the multiple resonant frequencies. This gives the advantage of detecting the strain applied along any direction (either length or width), thus increasing the …

This research discusses how the design of a tornado forward error correcting channel code (FEC) sends digital data stream profiles to the receiver. The complete design was based on the Tornado channel code, binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation on a Gaussian channel (AWGN). The communication link was simulated by using Matlab, which shows the theoretical systems efficiency. Then the data stream was input as data to be simulated communication systems using Matlab. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the audience to a simulation technique that has been successfully used to determine how well a FEC expected to work when transferring digital data streams. The goal is to use this data to show how FEC optimizes a digital data stream to gain a better digital communications systems. The results conclude by making comparisons of different possible styles for the Tornado FEC code.

A bidirectional two-hop relay network with decode-and-forward strategy is implemented using GNU Radio (software) and several USRPs (hardware) on Ubuntu (operating system). The relay communication system is comprised of three nodes; Base Station A, Base Station B, and Relay Station (the intermediate node). During the first time slot, Base Station A and Base Station B will each transmit data, e.g., a JPEG file, to Relay Station using DBPSK modulation and FDMA. For the final time slot, Relay Station will perform a bitwise XOR of the data, and transmit the XORed data to Base Station A and Base Station B, where the received data is decoded by performing another XOR operation with the original data.

This study is based on applying a non-linear mapping method, here the unscented Kalman filter; to estimate and optimize data rate resulting from the arrival rate having a Poisson distribution in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission system. OFDM is an emerging multi-carrier modulation scheme. With the growing need for quality of service in wireless communications, it is highly necessary to optimize resources in such a way that the overall performance of the system models should rise while keeping in mind the objective to achieve high data rate and efficient spectral methods in the near future. In this study, the results from the OFDM-TDMA transmission system have been used to apply cross-layer optimization between layers so as to treat different resources between layers simultaneously. The main controller manages the transmission of data between layers using the multicarrier modulation techniques. The unscented Kalman filter is used here to perform nonlinear mapping by estimating and optimizing the data rate, which result from the arrival rate having a Poisson distribution.

Coarse-grained fabrics are comprised of multi-bit configurable logic blocks and configurable interconnect. This work is focused on area and energy optimization techniques for coarse-grained reconfigurable fabric architectures. In this work, a variety of design techniques have been explored to improve the utilization of computational resources and increase energy savings. This includes splitting, folding, multi-level vertical interconnect. In addition to this, I have also studied fully connected homogeneous and heterogeneous architectures, and 3D architecture. I have also examined some of the hybrid strategies of computation unit’s arrangements. In order to perform energy and area analysis, I selected a set of signal and image processing benchmarks from MediaBench suite. I implemented various fabric architectures on 90nm ASIC process from Synopsys. Results show area improvement with energy savings as compared to baseline architecture.

An economically reliable technique for the synthesis of silicon nanowire was developed using silicon chloride as source material. The 30-40 micron long nanowires were found to have diameters ranging from 40 – 100 nm. An amorphous oxide shell covered the nanowires, post-growth. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the composition of the shell to be silicon-dioxide. Photoluminescence measurements of the as-grown nanowires showed green emission, attributed to the presence of the oxide shell. Etching of the oxide shell was found to decrease the intensity of green emission. n-type doping of the silicon nanowires was achieved using antimony as the dopant. The maximum dopant concentration was achieved by post-growth diffusion. Intrinsic nanowire parameters were determined by implementation of the as-grown and antimony doped silicon nanowires in field effect transistor configuration.

In today’s fast paced world, as the number of stations of television programming offered is increasing rapidly, time accessible to watch them remains same or decreasing. Sports videos are typically lengthy and they appeal to a massive crowd. Though sports video is lengthy, most of the viewer’s desire to watch specific segments of the video which are fascinating, like a home-run in a baseball or goal in soccer i.e., users prefer to watch highlights to save time. When associated to the entire span of the video, these segments form only a minor share. Hence these videos need to be summarized for effective presentation and data management. This thesis explores the ability to extract highlights automatically using MPEG-7 features and hidden Markov model (HMM), so that viewing time can be reduced. Video is first segmented into scene shots, in which the detection of the shot is the fundamental task. After the video is segmented into shots, extraction of key frames allows a suitable representation of the whole shot. Feature extraction is crucial processing step in the classification, video indexing and retrieval system. Frame features such as color, motion, texture, edges are extracted from the key frames. A baseball highlight contains certain …

In general, Dual-Band technology enables microwave components to work at two different frequencies. This thesis introduces novel dual-band microwave components and their applications. Chapter 2 presents a novel compact dual-band balun (converting unbalanced signals to balanced ones). The ratio between two working frequencies is analyzed. A novel compact microstrip crossover (letting two lines to cross each other with very high isolation) and its dual-band application is the subject of chapter 3. A dual-frequency cloak based on lumped LC-circuits is introduced in chapter 4. In chapter 5, a dual-band RF device to detect dielectric constant changes of liquids in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channels has been presented. Such a device is very sensitive, and it has significantly improved the stability. Finally, conclusion of this thesis and future works are given in chapter 6.

This thesis presents the rate distortion analysis of conditional motion estimation, a process in which motion computation is restricted to only active pixels in the video. We model active pixels as independent and identically distributed Gaussian process and inactive pixels as Gaussian-Markov process and derive the rate distortion function based on conditional motion estimation. Rate-Distortion curves for the conditional motion estimation scheme are also presented. In addition this thesis also presents the hardware implementation of a block based motion estimation algorithm. Block matching algorithms are difficult to implement on FPGA chip due to its complexity. We implement 2D-Logarithmic search algorithm to estimate the motion vectors for the image. The matching criterion used in the algorithm is Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD). VHDL code for the motion estimation algorithm is verified using ISim and is implemented using Xilinx ISE Design tool. Synthesis results for the algorithm are also presented.

GNU Radio and OSSIE (Open-Source SCA (Software communication architecture) Implementation-Embedded) are two open source software toolkits for SDR (Software Defined Radio) developments, both of them can be supported by USRP (Universal Software Radio Peripheral). In order to compare the performance of these two toolkits, an FM receiver over GNU Radio and OSSIE are tested in my thesis, test results are showed in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Results showed that the FM receiver over GNU Radio has better performance, due to the OSSIE is lack of synchronization between USRP interface and the modulation /demodulation components. Based on this, the SISO (Single Input Single Output) communication system over GNU Radio is designed to transmit and receive sound or image files between two USRP equipped with RFX2400 transceiver at 2.45G frequency. Now, GNU Radio and OSSIE are widely used for academic research, but the future work based on GNU Radio and OSSIE can be designed to support MIMO, sensor network, and real time users etc.

Multimedia environmental monitoring involves capturing valuable visual and audio information from the field station. This will permit the environmentalists and researchers to analyze the habitat and vegetation of a region with respect to other environmental specifics like temperature, soil moisture, etc. This thesis deals with the development of a test bed for multimedia monitoring by capturing image information and making it available for the public. A USB camera and a Single board computer are used to capture images at a specified frequency. A web-client is designed to display the image data and establish a secured remote access to reconfigure the field station. The development includes two modes of image acquisition including a basic activity recognition algorithm. Good quality images are captured with the cost for development of the system being less than 2 hundred dollars.

Currently, standards from government agencies such as the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health exist to aid in safeguarding individuals’ capacity for hearing, but only in factory settings in which large machines often produce loud levels of sound. Neglecting the fact that these preventative measures are only in place in the most limited of settings, no system currently exists to observe and report sound exposure levels in a manner timely or easily recognizable enough to adequately serve its purpose of hearing conservation. Musicians may also incur significant levels of risk for hearing loss in their day-to-day rehearsals and concerts, from high school marching bands to university wind bands. As a result, music school accrediting organizations such as the National Association of Schools of Music and even the European Union have begun taking steps meant to determine the risks associated with music. To meet these goals and improve upon current technologies, a system has been developed that electronically records sound levels utilizing modern hardware, increases the speed of reporting by transmitting data over computer networks and the Internet, and displays measures calculated from these data in a web browser for a highly viewable, user-friendly interface.

Crystalline indium oxide nanowires were synthesized following optimization of growth parameters. Oxygen vacancies were found to impact the optical and electronic properties of the as-grown nanowires. Photoluminescence measurements showed a strong U.V emission peak at 3.18 eV and defect peaks in the visible region at 2.85 eV, 2.66 eV and 2.5 eV. The defect peaks are attributed to neutral and charged states of oxygen vacancies. Post-growth annealing in oxygen environment and passivation with sulphur are shown to be effective in reducing the intensity of the defect induced emission. The as-grown nanowires connected in an FET type of configuration shows n-type conductivity. A single indium oxide nanowire with ohmic contacts was found to be sensitive to gas molecules adsorbed on its surface.

As the technology is advances the reduced size of hardware gives rise to an additive 1/f baseband noise. This additive 1/f noise is a system noise generated due to miniaturization of hardware and affects the lower frequencies. Though 1/f noise does not show much effect in wide band channels because of its nature to affect only certain frequencies, 1/f noise becomes a prominent in OFDM communication systems where narrow band channels are used. in this thesis, I study the effects of 1/f noise on the OFDM systems and implement algorithms for estimation and suppression of the noise using Kalman filter. Suppression of the noise is achieved by subtracting the estimated noise from the received noise. I show that the performance of the system is considerably improved by applying the 1/f noise suppression.

This thesis investigates the design and implementation of wireless communication system over the GNU Radio. Wireless applications are on the rise with advent of new devices, therefore there is a need to transfer the hardware complexity to software. This development enables software radio function with minimum hardware dependency. the purpose of this thesis is to design a system that will transmit compressed data via Software Defined Radio (SDR). Some parameters such as modulation scheme, bit rate can be changed to achieve the desired quality of service. in this thesis GNU (GNU’s not unix) radio is used while the hardware structure is Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP). in order to accomplish the goal, a compression technique called H264 (MPEG_4) encoding is applied for converting data into compressed format. the encoder was implemented in C++ to get compressed data. After encoding, the transmitter reads the compressed data and starts modulation. After modulation, the transmitter put the packets into USRP and sends it to the receiver. Once packets are received they are demodulated and then decoded to recover the original data.

This work presents a novel technique for data compression based on multi-residue number systems. The basic theorem is that an under-determined system of congruences could be solved to accomplish data compression for a signal satisfying continuity of its information content and bounded in peak-to -peak amplitude by the product of relatively prime moduli,. This thesis investigates this property and presents quantitative results along with MATLAB codes. Chapter 1 is introductory in nature and Chapter 2 deals in more detail with the basic theorem. Chapter 3 explicitly mentions the assumptions made and chapter 4 shows alternative solutions to the Chinese remainder theorem. Chapter 5 explains the experiments in detail whose results are mentioned in chapter 6. Chapter 7 concludes with a summary and suggestions for future work.

Network structure plays a significant role in determining the performance of network inference tasks. An interactive tool to study the dependence of network topology on estimation performance was developed. The tool allows end-users to easily create and modify network structures and observe the performance of pole estimation measured by Cramer-Rao bounds. The tool also automatically suggests the best measurement locations to maximize estimation performance, and thus finds its broad applications on the optimal design of data collection experiments. Finally, a series of theoretical results that explicitly connect subsets of network structures with inference performance are obtained.

This thesis describes development of low cost indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring system for research. It describes data collection of various parameters concentration present in indoor air and sends data back to host PC for further processing. Thesis gives detailed information about hardware and software implementation of IAQ monitoring system. Also discussed are building wireless ZigBee network, creating user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) and analysis of obtained results in comparison with professional benchmark system to check system reliability. Throughputs obtained are efficient enough to use system as a reliable IAQ monitor.