Engineering Commons^™

A 10-Bit 100msample/S Pipeline Analog- To-Digital Converter In Cmos, Pieter Berkelaar

Theses

High speed, medium resolution ADC’s, are required for many applications, including wireless receivers, ultrasound systems, wireline interfaces, cameras and camcorders. Low power dissipation is important, particularly for portable equipment where battery life must be maximised. The pipeline ADC architecture is particularly suited to such applications. Its strength comes from the manner in which it performs a conversion, distributing the work in time and amongst successive stages. These stages operate concurrently, maintaining high throughput. Each stage is made up of a fully differential switched capacitor sample-and- hold amplifier and some other circuitry. Designing these circuits to operate at l00MHz is extremely …

Real-Time Multi-Spectral Image Processing On The Adsp-Bf533 Dsp, Stephen Niall Coffey

Theses

As the need to process multi-spectral images in real-time is becoming more prevalent, the pressure on Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturers to produce cheap and reliable devices capable of handling the demands of such operations is growing. This project investigates the ADSP-BF533 Blackfin® Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and its ability to support a real-time multi-spectral imaging system. The Blackfin® DSP, incorporating the Analog Devices/Intel Micro Signal Architecture (MSA), are a broad family of 16-bit fixed-point product with a dual Multiply Accumulate (MAC) core.

Using the MicroC/OS-II Real-time Operating System (RTOS), which is a completely portable and scaleable pre-emptive real-time kernel, the …

Automated Control Of Led-Based Illumination Using Image Analysis Metrics, Stephen Mills

Theses

This project discusses a microprocessor controlled illumination system that covers the visible spectrum. It uses multiple discrete wavelength LEDs. Spatial and spectral illumination profiles are achieved by controlling LED currents with an array of voltage controlled current sources. A highly efficient polycarbonate holographic diffuser is used to improve the uniformity of the distribution. System design is underpinned by accurate characterisation and modelling of the LEDs used.

Image analysis techniques are then used to parameterise the recorded scene and to provide a figure of merit for the quality of the illumination. Several functions such as contrast, low/high saturation, average brightness and …

An Evaluation Of Model-Based Predictive Control, Daniel Czarkowski

Theses

This thesis attempts to determine whether advanced control algorithms offer any real benefits to the process industry in terms of optimising single-input single output process units. To establish this, an ideal PID controller, Two Degree of Freedom (2 DOF) PID Controller and the Generalised Predictive Controller (GPC) are compared. A common design philosophy is applied based on optimising performance subject to constraints on robustness. Specifically, three different designs are examined; minimum subject to constraints on the gain and phase margin, minimum lAE subject to constraints on the modulus margin and minimum lAE subject to constraints on the input sensitivity function. …

Characterisation, Modelling And Performance Evaluation Of Cmos Integrated Rf-Mems Multielectrode Tunable Capacitor, Zbigniew Olszewski

Theses

The circuits used in telecommunications are made of two types of components; active integrated circuits that have continuously been improved together with the evolution of the Si technology and off-chip and on-chip passive components. The latter did not profit from much development and now constitute the bottleneck for further integration of RF (Radio Frequency) integrated circuits. MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) is rapidly emerging as an enabling technology to yield a new generation of high performance components to replace off-chip (not integrated) and on-chip (poor performance) counterparts. The RF components (RF-MEMS) that can be fabricated with MEMS technology are mainly the resonator, …

Multispectral Camera Control And High Speed Image Transfer Using Lossless Hardware Compression, Padraig Ryan

Theses

This work provides extensions of a standard D-Cam/Firewire digital camera platform for use within a multispectral imaging setting and includes real-time lossless image compression targeted at the re-configurable environment of an FPGA. The control and image acquisition structures specific to multispectral systems are detailed with respect to an embedded firmware solution, complementary host PC software driver routines, and camera hardware control infrastructures. The augmentation of the standards based implementation is discussed without compromising compliance with underlying specifications. The mandate for image data acquisition includes glue logic to efficiently transmit data via a high-speed communications pipe, IEEE - 1394 in this …

Controller Design And Web-Based Simulation For A Pasteurisation Process, Luis Torres

Theses

The basic PID controller remains the most commonly used automatic feedback control technique in industry. Many tuning techniques exist for this controller and the use of tuning rules remains very popular, both in industry and academia. This thesis is concerned with the practical evaluation of a selected number of PID tuning rules. The rules were to be evaluated on an industrial pilot-scale milk pasteurisation process. However, most of these rules could not be tested on the real plant as the industrial distributed control system was quite inflexible and did not permit many of the more advanced PID structures e.g. two-degree …

Robust Colour Segmentation Under Dynamic Lighting Conditions, Noreen Mary Looney

Theses

Traditionally, the issue of colour constancy has limited the success of colour image segmentation algorithms. Numerous methods exist to achieve colour constancy for different applications. The principal contribution of this thesis is the investigation of a suitable technique for the problem of robust colour based object detection.

Appropriate colour models are investigated and analysed in order to assess their ability to enhance the isolation process. Models that possess suitable colour constancy characteristics are chosen for use with image segmentation algorithms. Reviews of existing sur\'eys of image segmentation algorithms are appraised for the emergence of a suitable colour image segmentation technique. …