Digital Commons Network^™

Processing Of Wide-Angle Synthetic Aperture Radar Signals For Detection Of Obscured Ground Targets, Richard J. Sumner

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates advanced processing techniques for the detection of radar targets in the presence of clutter. It is assumed that the radar data available consist of multi-aspect angle, fully polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. Various techniques are introduced and tested on available SAR data. These techniques attempt to exploit the multi-aspect angles in order to extract target characteristics not available in any single image. SAR images are manipulated in such a way to decrease the probability of false alarms in the target detection process. Target detection performance of the techniques is presented and compared. The techniques are shown …

Polarization Sensitivity Of Monopulse Radar Boresight Error Induced By Large, Ogive Radomes, Kelce S. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The dependence of Boresight Error (BSE) on incident Electric Field (E-Field) polarization tilt angle is investigated. BSE, defined as the angular difference between a target's actual and radar-indicated position, is influenced by the radome used to protect the antenna. A - reliable computer model for predicting the BSE of electrically large radar-radome systems has been demonstrated and used to investigate the dependence of radome-induced BSE for various combinations of scan angle, element polarization, and incident E-Field polarization. The analysis includes a development of a transmission-depolarization model to justify the results of the computer model. Results compare very well with empirical, …

Perceptual Based Image Fusion With Applications To Hyperspectral Image Data, Terry A. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Development of new imaging sensors has created a need for image processing techniques that can fuse images from different sensors or multiple images produced by the same sensor. The methods presented here focus on combining image data from the Airborne Visual and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral sensor into a single or smaller subset of images while maintaining the visual information necessary for human analysis. Three hierarchical multi-resolution image fusion techniques are implemented and tested using the AVIRIS image data and test images that contain various levels of correlated or uncorrelated noise. Two of the algorithms are published fusion methods …

Design, Fabrication, Modeling, And Optical Characterization Of Organic Polymer Nonlinear Directional Couplers, John N. Berry

Theses and Dissertations

This research was an investigation into the suitability of a recently developed polymer, polyphenylene, as a material for integrated optical circuits (IOCs). Polymers show great promise in the area of IOCs because of material processing advantages, compatibility with most existing integrated circuit technology, and relatively strong nonlinear optical characteristics. This thesis contains an overview of: dielectric waveguides, linear and nonlinear directional coupler theory; various models useful in the design and analysis of optical waveguides; the fabrication of three different waveguide designs; the experimental apparatus and procedure used to optically characterize the waveguides; and the experimental results of the characterization. Waveguiding …

Frame Selection Performance Limits For Statistical Image Reconstruction Of Adaptive Optics Compensated Images, Stephen D. Ford

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force uses adaptive optics systems to collect images of extended objects beyond the atmosphere. These systems use wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors to compensate for atmospheric turbulence induced aberrations. Adaptive optics greatly enhance image quality; however, wavefront aberrations are not completely eliminated. Therefore, post-detection processing techniques are employed to further improve the compensated images. Typically, many short exposure images are collected, recentered to compensate for tilt, and then averaged to overcome randomness in the images and improve signal-to-noise ratio. Experience shows that some short exposure images in a data set are better than others. Frame selection exploits …

Flow Visualization Of A Turbulent Shear Flow Using An Optical Wavefront Sensor, Daniel W. Jewell

Theses and Dissertations

The research reported here investigated the use of a shearing interferometer (SI) wavefront sensor to determine the effects of shear-layer turbulence on an optical wavefront. A collimated helium-neon laser beam was propagated through a plane shear-layer produced by mixing helium and nitrogen at different velocities. Since the gases have different indices of refraction, the optical wavefront was distorted by different amounts by each gas. The SI measured the wavefront slope across the sampled area of the wavefront. The shear-layer was viewed from two orthogonal directions. This document contains shadow graphs, interference patterns imaged by each of the SI's six cameras, …

Image Perception Wavelet Simulation And Enhancement For The Visually Impaired, Lemuel Ray Myers Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This research delves into the area of image enhancement for the visually impaired. Binocular macular degeneration a visual impairment, affects many Americans; since this condition could not be corrected with conventional glasses the literature suggested using an enhancement system which used a pre-emphasis algorithm to enhance the input image for output to the observer. The work of Dr. Eli Peli, a pioneer in the field of image enhancement, is examine and reproduced. Since his work concentrated mainly on frequency analysis of images, the bulk of this research involves using discrete wavelet analysis to augment that work. A biorthogonal wavelet set …

Multispectral Detection Of Ground Targets In Highly Correlated Backgrounds, Jason E. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Multispectral detection methods attempt to discriminate targets in a dominant clutter background using multiple images of the same real-world scene taken in different narrow spectral bands in the infrared. Detection is possible due to the empirically observed phenomenon that the radiance of man-made objects, such as a tank or truck, often lies off the main spectral correlation axis of that of natural backgrounds. Radiometric measurements of several vehicles and a tree canopy background taken over three days in June. 1994 were used to examine the factors affecting multispectral detection. Results clearly showed that the processes which provide for higher spectral …

Next Generation Real-Time Systems: Investigating The Potential Of Partial-Solution Tasks, Robert E. J. Caley

Theses and Dissertations

While the cyclic executive and fixed-priority scheduling strategies have been sufficient to handle traditional real- time requirements. they are insufficient for dealing with the complexities of next-generation real-time systems. New methods of intelligent control must be developed for guaranteeing on-time task completion for real-time systems that are faced with unpredictable and dynamically changing requirements. Implementing real-time processes as partial-solution tasks is one technique that may be beneficial. This type of task. when combined with intelligent control, has the potential for increasing pre-runtime schedulability, system maintainability. and runtime robustness. This research investigates the benefits of partial-solution tasks by experimentally measuring the …

Erp Analysis Using Matched Filtering And Wavelet Transform, Xueming Lin

Dissertations and Theses

Event related potentials (ERP's) carry very important information that relates to the performance of the brain functions of the human being. Further studies have identified that one component, in particular, P₃₀₀, is affected by the memory process. Matched filter is used to improved the SNR of signal ERP's. We use the output of the matched filter to distinguish the difference of the waveforms between normal subjects and memory-impaired subjects. In our study, we found that the peak values of the matched filtering output were different between normal subjects and memoryimpaired subjects. Also, as an application, wavelet transform is …

Correlative Tracking Of Pseudo-Noise Codes Using A Phase Shifted Reference, Kurt Louis Kosbar, Hettiachchi Upul Gunawardana

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This work investigates a first-order correlation loop for tracking pseudo-noise (PN) codes. The local reference is produced by a PN sequence generator in series with a Hilbert transform filter. The tracking performance of this non-linear loop is compared with conventional early-late delay-lock loops (ELDLL). Using a conservative definition of bandwidth, the new loop was found to be superior at moderate to low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Another advantage of the new structure is that it has a very large (arguably infinite) lock range.

Beam Propagation In Parabolically Tapered Graded-Index Waveguides, Anthony A. Tovar, Lee W. Casperson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

To a good approximation, the electromagnetic-propagation characteristics of graded-index waveguides can be written in terms of polynomial-Gaussian modes. For uniform quadratic-index waveguides the behavior of these modes is well known. However, there are sometimes practical reasons for using tapered waveguides, but detailed propagation solutions are known for only a few specific taper functions. The parabolic taper is perhaps the most important special case, and the solution-generating techniques that we generalize are used to obtain analytic solutions for this case.

Influences Of Cardiac And Respiratory Parameters On Heart Rate Variability, Melissa Leifer

Theses

Heart rate variability is a result of variation in the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Methods have been developed to determine the level of parasympathetic activity by observing the heart rate variability spectrum. Most of the previously published research uses only level of parasympathetic activity and respiratory rate to draw conclusions about the interactions of the autonomic nervous system with physiological parameters. In order to gain a complete understanding of the autonomic nervous system and the mechanisms responsible for heart rate variability, respiratory volume, cardiac variables and pulmonary variables need to be considered. In addition, amount of …

Passive Radiosonde Transducer Design For Remote Pressure Sensing Applications, Yang Gao

Theses

Intracranial pressure can be measured to accuracies within 1 milliTorr using passive microtransponders that are micromachined using silicon as a base technology. These microtransponders can operate with either a dual-oscillator or a phase-locked loop frequency scanned control system.

The current work describes the design of a totally implantable microsensor for biomedical applications with the aim to monitor and measure the epidural intracranial pressure . The implanting microsensor is basically an RLC device in which capacitance varies with fluid pressure. The resonant frequency of RLC Series connected device varies with chemically etched diaphragm electrode spacing and thereby measures the variations with …

Processor Allocation For Partitionable Multiprocessor Systems, Nicholaos C. Antoniou

Theses

The processor allocation problem in an n-dimensional hypercube multipro-cessor is similar to the conventional memory allocation problem. The main objective is to maximize the utilization of available resources as well as minimize the inherent system fragmentation. In this thesis, a new processor allocation strategy is proposed, and compared with the existing strategies, such as, the Buddy strategy, the Single Gray Code strategy (SGC), the Multiple Gray Code (MGC), and the Maximal Set of Subcubes (MSS). We will show that our proposed processor allocation strategy outperforms the existing strategies, by having the advantage of being able to allocate unused processors to …

Control Of Smart Structure Using Adaptive Dither, Tian Hong

Theses

In this thesis, a mathematical model of a piezoelectric stack actuator is presented to describe its voltage versus displacement hysteresis characteristices. This model can accommodate a wide range of piezoelectric materials, including the PZT (lead zirconate-lead titanate) type which is most popular in industrial applications.

Besides describing the conventional "single-loop" hysteresis, this model also accounts for the off-axis minor loops by augmenting the algorithm with loop indexing.

It is shown that the PZT hysteresis possesses certain "weak scalability" that enables the use of spectral analysis to measure the level of nonlinearity.

After a suitable mathematical model has been obtained, a …

Cad Study Of Linear Tapered Slot Antenna, Anthony W. Kwan

Theses

Linear Tapered Slot Antenna (LTSA) is an attractive candidate as a radiating element in frequency scanning arrays. LTSA element backed by a rectangular cavity had been investigated and is proven to posses various physical design parameters suitable to optimize its performance. This study is focused on the feed position variation to optimize the performance while maximum of the current density variation is maintained in the slot region. It was observed that if the stub base of the microstrip feed structure is located in the middle of the slot region, current maximum can be obtained within the slot region at the …

Reflection And Refraction Of Light From Nonlinear Boundaries, Mohammad Azadeh

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis deals with the topic of reflection and refraction of light from the boundary of nonlinear materials in general, and saturating amplifiers in particular. We first study some of the basic properties of the light waves in nonlinear materials. We then develop a general formalism to model the reflection and refraction of light with an arbitrary angle of incidence from the boundary of a nonlinear medium. This general formalism is then applied to the case of reflection and refraction from the boundary of linear dielectrics. It will be shown that in this limit, it reduces to the well known …

Generalized Reverse Theorems For Multipass Applications In Matrix Optics, Lee W. Casperson, Anthony A. Tovar

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The reverse theorem that governs backward propagation through optical systems represented by transfer matrices is examined for various matrix theories. We extend several reverse theorems to allow for optical systems represented by matrices that may or may not be unimodular and that may be 2 × 2 or take on an augmented 3 × 3 form. As an example, we use the 3 × 3 form of the reverse theorem to study a laser with intracavity misaligned optics. It is shown that, by tilting one of the laser's mirrors, we can align the laser output arbitrarily, and the mirror tilt …

Biofeedback Gait Training Auditory Vs. Visual Techniques, Timothy D. Hiemenz

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Training lower extremity amputees to walk normally is quite a difficult task. Amputees must wear a prosthesis so they can walk at all. This allows them some mobility, but their walking pattern may be unnatural. If their gait is temporally asymmetric, they need to exert more energy to move about. This research was initiated to help lower extremity amputees to walk more efficiently using biofeedback gait training. Two types of feedback were developed and tested to determine which method gave the most understandable feedback, validating its use in a clinical setting.

A normal gait cycle uses the lower limbs to …

The Current Voltage Characteristics Of Electron Beam Controlled Thin Film Diamond Switches, Christopher Anthony Molina

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The dark current of natural diamond thin films and the induced current due to electron-beam irradiation was measured up to a range of 7000Ncm'. The contact material was aluminum, annealed and unannealed. Switching experiments were performed with electron energies ranging from 70keV to 172keV. The switching results obtained are strongly dependent on the biasing polarity, incident electron energy, and whether the contact is blocking or Ohmic in nature. A simple model which takes traps into consideration allows us to explain the various switching responses. The range of electrons which define, in part, the switch mode was measured for one sample …

Circuit Modeling Of Switched Linear Networks, Fardin Ansari

Dissertations and Theses

The use of switched linear networks is prevalent in power processing systems such as dc-to-dc power converters. These converters provide regulated dc output power and are widely used in the power supplies for computers and peripherals. As with most systems where high performance is a criterion, the power converter is usually enclosed in a feedback loop. Feedback design usually entails the use of small signal (linear) models with linear feedback design techniques. There exists a large number of small signal models, but most of them are ad hoc. A describing function approach has previously been presented which determines the exact …

Modeling Power Bus Decoupling On Multilayer Printed Circuit Boards, James L. Drewniak, Todd H. Hubing, Thomas Van Doren, P. Baudendistal

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Power bus decoupling designs on multilayer printed circuit boards must adequately account for the power bus interplane capacitance and its consequences for the design. Lumped element models for a power bus on a multilayer printed circuit board where an appreciable or entire portion of a layer is devoted to power and ground have been developed. The models are applicable below the distributed resonances of the board. Analytical, circuit simulation, and experimental studies have been conducted to test the models, investigate the effects of the distributed interplane capacitance of the power bus, and the effect of interconnect inductance associated with surface-mount …

Investigation Of Fundamental Mechanisms Of Common-Mode Radiation From Printed Circuit Boards With Attached Cables, James L. Drewniak, Todd H. Hubing, Thomas Van Doren

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fundamental mechanisms leading to common-mode radiation from printed circuit boards with attached cables have been studied. Two primary mechanisms have been identified, one associated with a differential-mode voltage that results in a common-mode current on an attached cable, and another associated with a differential-mode current that results in a common-mode current on the cable. The two mechanisms are demonstrated through numerical and experimental results.

The Multirate Method For Simulation Of Power System Dynamics, J. G. Chen, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, the multirate method is introduced to analyse power system behavior for systems with widely varying time constants. Estimates for computational speed-up are derived based on a linear system approach. The method is applied to a small power system example and the results, both in terms of accuracy and computation time, are compared to traditional simulation methods

Direct Relation Between Fresnel's Interface Reflection Coefficients For The Parallel And Perpendicular Polarizations: Erratum 2, R. M.A. Azzam

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

The record is set straight concerning two equations that determine the reflection phase shifts at a single interface from the intensity reflectances forp- and s-polarized light at one angle of incidence. These equations appeared previously in this journal [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 69, 1007 (1979); erratum, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 70, 261 (1980)].

Transfer Function Matrix Identification From Input-Output Frequency Response Data, Zhiqiang Gao, Bruce Tabachnik, Razvan V. Savescu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A new formulation of transfer function matrix identification in frequency domain is introduced. It reduces the problem to a simple linear least square problem. It is shown that such a system identification problem is a special case of a matrix interpolation problem and much insight can be obtained by examining its algebraic characteristics. A new approach is proposed to determine the transfer function matrix of a multi-input and multi-output system from the input-output data. It eliminates the common assumption in the literature that the frequency response of the system is given. Its efficiency and practicality …

Analysis Of Radiation From An Open-Ended Coaxial Line Into Stratified Dielectrics, Sasan Bakhtiari, Stoyan I. Ganchev, R. Zoughi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Radiation from an open-ended coaxial transmission line into an N-layer dielectric medium is studied in application to nondestructive evaluation of materials. Explicit formulations for two cases of layered media, one terminated into an infinite half-space and the other into a conducting sheet are addressed in general form. In the theoretical derivations it is assumed that only the fundamental TEM mode propagates inside the coaxial line. The terminating admittance of the line is then formulated using the continuity of the power flow across the aperture. The admittance expressions for specific cases of two-layer dielectric composite with generally lossy dielectric properties, and …

Simulation Of Communication Systems, William H. Tranter, Kurt Louis Kosbar

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

When both a complex system and a complex channel model are encountered, the result is typically a design or analysis problem that cannot be solved using traditional (pencil and paper) mathematical analysis. Computer-aided techniques, which usually involve some level of numerical simulation, can be a very valuable tool in these situations. The purpose of this article is to provide a tutorial review of some of the basic techniques of communication system simulation. The authors consider the basic techniques used to represent signals, generate signals, and model linear systems, nonlinear systems, and time-varying systems within a simulation. They consider the important …

Transient Simulations And Modelling Of Semi-Insulating Gaas Photoconductive Switches, Prasun Kumar Raha

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The primary objective of this thesis is to develop a one-dimensional transient simulator for Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches (PCSS) taking into consideration the material characteristics, the internal physical effects, and the external circuit. Simulations have been performed to study the device behavior at different voltage levels for copper-doped silicon-compensated GaAs material, though other materials could easily be simulated by changing the parameters. The model includes hole transport, and the results demonstrate the effect of hole injection, with and without recombination centers. In addition to developing a one-dimensional transient simulator, the role of various physical effects, such as the field-dependence of trapping …