Engineering Commons^™

Cmos-Compatible 2-Bit Optical Spectral Quantization Scheme Using A Silicon-Nanocrystal-Based Horizontal Slot Waveguide, Zhe Khang, Jinhui Yuan, Gerald Farrell, Chongxiu Yu, Feng Li, Hwa Yaw Tam, P. K.A. Wai

Articles

All-optical analog-to-digital converters based on the third-order nonlinear effects in silicon waveguide are a promising candidate to overcome the limitation of electronic devices and are suitable for photonic integration. In this paper, a 2-bit optical spectral quantization scheme for on-chip all-optical analog-to-digital conversion is proposed. The proposed scheme is realized by filtering the broadened and split spectrum induced by the self-phase modulation effect in a silicon horizontal slot waveguide filled with silicon-nanocrystal. Nonlinear coefficient as high as 8708 W21 /m is obtained because of the tight mode confinement of the horizontal slot waveguide and the high nonlinear refractive index of …

Enhanced Broadband Parametric Wavelength Conversion In Silicon Waveguide With The Multi-Period Grating, Xianting Zhang, Jinhui Yuan, Jiaziu Zou, Boyuan Jin, Xinzhu Sang, Qiang Wu, Chongxiu Yu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

No abstract provided.

Educational Programmes For Spatial Information Sciences In The Technological University Of Dublin, William Prendergast, Eamonn Murphy, Audrey Martin, Avril Behan

Conference papers

The ever increasing spatial information needs of society, the rapid development of new surveying technologies, and the global demand for appropriately qualified surveyors, have triggered a radical re-evaluation of geomatics education worldwide. Significant enhancements have been made to the educational programmes in the spatial information science discipline in the Technological University of Dublin’s (DIT) during the last decade including the provision of a BSc in Geomatics and various masters’ programmes to cater for the increasingly specialised needs of the Geographic Information sector in Ireland.

Perception Based Misunderstandings In Human-Computer Dialogues, Niels Schütte, John D. Kelleher, Brian Mac Namee

Articles

In a situated dialogue, misunderstandings may arise if the participants perceive or interpret the environment in different ways. In human-computer dialogue this may be due the sensor errors. We present an experiment system and a series of experiments in which we investigate this problem.

Robustness And Prediction Accuracy Of Machine Learning For Objective Visual Quality Assessment, Andrew Hines, Paul Kendrick, Adriaan Barri, Manish Narwaria, Judith A. Redi

Conference papers

Machine Learning (ML) is a powerful tool to support the development of objective visual quality assessment metrics, serving as a substitute model for the perceptual mechanisms acting in visual quality appreciation. Nevertheless, the reliability of ML-based techniques within objective quality assessment metrics is often questioned. In this study, the robustness of ML in supporting objective quality assessment is investigated, specifically when the feature set adopted for prediction is suboptimal. A Principal Component Regression based algorithm and a Feed Forward Neural Network are compared when pooling the Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) features perturbed with noise. The neural network adapts better with …

Building A Database Of Political Speech Does Culture Matter In Charisma Annotations?, Andrew Hines, Ailbhe Cullen, Naomi Harte

Conference papers

For both individual politicians and political parties the in- ternet has become a vital tool for self-promotion and the distribution of ideas. The rise of streaming has enabled po- litical debates and speeches to reach global audiences. In this paper, we explore the nature of charisma in political speech, with a view to automatic detection. To this end, we have collected a new database of political speech from YouTube and other on-line resources. Annotation is per- formed both by native listeners, and Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) workers. Detailed analysis shows that both la- bel sets are equally reliable. The results …

Perceived Audio Quality For Streaming Stereo Music, Andrew Hines, Eoin Gillen, Naomi Harte, Damien Kelly, Jan Skoglund, Anil Kokaram

Conference papers

Users of audio-visual streaming services expect an ever increasing quality of experience. Channel bandwidth remains a bottleneck commonly addressed with lossy compression schemes for both the video and audio streams. Anecdotal evidence suggests a strongly perceived link between bit rate and quality. This paper presents three audio quality listening experiments using the ITU MUSHRA methodology to assess a number of audio codecs typically used by streaming services. They were assessed for a range of bit rates using three presentation modes: consumer and studio qual- ity headphones and loudspeakers. Our results indicate that with consumer quality headphones, listeners were not differentiating …

Clarification Dialogues For Perception-Based Errors In Situated Human-Computer Dialogues, Niels Schütte, John D. Kelleher, Brian Mac Namee

Conference papers

We present an experiment about situated human-computer interaction. Participants interacted with a simulated robot system to complete a series of tasks in a situated environment. Errors were introduced into the robot's perception to produce misunderstandings. We recorded the interactions and attempt to identify strategies the participants used to solve the arising problems.

Modelling Of Biomass Gasification Integrated With A Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System, Wayne Doherty

Doctoral

Biomass is of major interest as a renewable energy source in the context of climate change and energy security. Traditional biomass conversion technologies achieve low electrical efficiencies. Biomass gasification (BG) coupled with fuel cells offer higher efficiencies. Gasification is a process in which a carbonaceous fuel is converted to a combustible gas. It occurs when a controlled amount of oxidant is reacted at high temperatures with available carbon in a fuel within a gasifier. Two technologies (circulating fluidised bed air gasification and dual fluidised bed steam gasification) were modelled. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are well suited to integration with …

Omnidirectional Microstrip Patch Antenna With Reconfigurable Pattern And Polarisation, Max Ammann, Xiulong Bao, Adam Narbudowicz

Articles

An omnidirectional microstrip patch antenna, capable of reconfiguring both polarisation and radiation pattern is proposed. It operates with two orthogonal ±45° slanted linear polarisations and can produce two dipole-like radiation patterns, providing 360° coverage in either the horizontal or elevation plane. With appropriate steering, this enables a single antenna to provide full spherical coverage for any polarisation. The reconfiguration is realised by phase shifting, thus does not require switching elements, such as MEMS or pin diodes embedded into antenna. The basic principles of operation are discussed and validated by numerical and measured data.

Zein Film: Effects Of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Atmospheric Cold Plasma, Shashi Pankaj, Carmen Bueno-Ferrer, N. Misra, Paula Bourke, Patrick J. Cullen

Articles

Dielectric barrier discharge atmospheric plasma is a novel non-thermal technology for the food and packaging industry. The effects of dielectric barrier discharge plasma on the surface, structural, thermal and moisture sorption properties of edible zein films have been examined. Plasma treatment increased the surface roughness and equillibrium moisture content of the zein film in a direct relationship with the applied voltage level. No significant difference in the thermal stability of the zein film is also observed after plasma treatment. Dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatments of zein film lead to a change in the protein conformation which is confirmed by X-ray …

Cfx Analysis Of The Heat And Mass Transfer During The Chilling Of A Lamb Carcass Using A 3d Model, Joseph Hannon, Garrett Keane, Micheal O'Flaherty

Presentations

Lamb meat is a popular red meat which must go through a complex refrigeration process before being served at the dinner table to reduce bacterial growth and retain meat quality. A major disadvantage of chilling is the drip losses which are losses in weight by evaporation of water contained within the meat. The aim of this work is to simulate the conventional chilling process of a lamb carcass using a three dimensional model.

Comparison Of Finite Difference And Finite Element (Telemac) Models Of Dublin Bay, Garrett Keane, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan

Presentations

A number of hydrodynamic and solute mathematical models of Dublin Bay have been developed in the Centre for Water Resources Research in University College Dublin. One of these was an Eulerian-Langrangian finite difference Extended Dublin Bay model named SW2D which was developed by Hussey (1996). It was used in various studies such as the Dublin Bay Water Quality Management Plan and the Howth Outfall Study to predict the effect of the proposed upgrades at the sewage treatment plants on the water quality in these areas. The finite element TELEMAC modelling system developed by the French EDF group was used in …

Establishing Key Performance Indicators To Measure The Benefit Of Introducing The Facilities Manager At An Early Stage In The Building Information Modelling Process, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

The Facilities Manager occupies a unique position within the lifecycle of a building asset, as he/she is one of the only AEC / FM professionals who is in a position to view the product of the entire design and build process and, is responsible for the operational phase which incurs approximately five times the initial capital cost. Despite the potential benefits that the Facilities Manager offers, this profession still does not command the recognition it deserves within the AEC/FM sector. This is beginning to change through the introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM). In order for the BIM process to …

Settlement Selection: A Critical Consideration For A New National Spatial Strategy Plan: Applying Population And Daytime Working Population Data To A Centrality Spreadsheet Model To Inform And Evidence Base For Gateway And Hub Selection., Brian Hughes

Other Resources

This Dissertation examines both Central Statistics Office (CSO) published and unpublished demographic evidence from the 2011 and previous censuses, so as to evaluate the 2002 National Spatial Strategy’s (NSS) selection of Gateways and Hub settlements. On its own, population is an incomplete measure of size. However, when used with emerging employment data, a robust methodological time-dynamic centrality model may be constructed based on population and Daytime Working Population (DWP) behaviour and other related and relevant investigations. The Model compares unpublished 2002 data of the NSS Plan with similar 2011 census for all large and medium-sized Irish settlements of 5,000 and …

Improving Safety In Medical Devices From Concept To Retirements, Martin Mchugh, Fergal Mccaffery, Silvana Macmahon, Anita Finnega

Books/Book Chapters

As with many domains the use of software within the healthcare industry is on the rise [1, 2] within the last 20 years.

Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of An Aid For The Development Of The Kinetic Skills Required For T.I.G. Welding, Maurice Collins, Robert Morris

Conference papers

This action research project was carried out in the Technological University Dublin, Ireland. The authors are both Lecturers of Engineering in this college and have a keen interest in providing the best possible aids to their students learning. Three groups of engineering apprentices and one group of part time students took part in this project. At the time these students were taking a third level Tungsten Inert Gas welding (T.I.G.) training module. Qualified T.I.G. welders are in very high demand worldwide and as such can demand a very high rate of pay for their services. The kinetic skills applicable to …

How Are The Educational Institutes Of Ireland Embracing The Paradigm Shift Towards Bim?, Michael Mcdonald, Stephen Donohoe

Conference papers

Abstract ̶ The main objective of this paper is to evaluate how Building Information Modelling (BIM) is being implemented and embraced within Higher Education. The authors intend to examine the current delivery and aspirations of the sector.

As the Irish economy faces several more years of austerity, every opportunity must be seized to make design more efficient in Architecture, Engineering and Construction. Higher Educational Institutes must respond to ensure that graduates have the skill set to support this. This paper will examine how these institutions need to migrate away from the traditional iterative design approach/process to a more collaborative holistic …

Creating Interactive Facilities Management Capabilities Through Building Information Modelling As A Tool For Managing The Irish Public Sector Estates, Barry Mcauley, Alan V. Hore, Roger West, Deborah Rowland

Conference papers

The Irish Government manages estates that are faced with increased pressure on their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as, poorly managed assets that leave it increasingly difficult for an effective Facilities Management (FM) process to be operated. The FM processes represents the most costly stage in the life-cycle of a building and must now take priority in the design process, as the operating and maintenance costs can be up to five times the capital costs, with the business operating costs reaching up to two hundred times the capital costs over the life of the building. In order for Ireland to …

Establishing Key Performance Indicators To Measure The Benefit Of Introducing The Facilities Manager At An Early Stage In The Building Information Modelling Process, Barry Mcauley, Alan V. Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

The Facilities Manager occupies a unique position within the lifecycle of a building asset, as he/she is one of the only Architectural, Engineering, and Construction/Facilities Management (AEC / FM) professionals who is in a position to view the product of the entire design and build process. Despite the potential benefits that the Facilities Manager offers, this profession still remains largely undeveloped and still does not command the recognition it deserves within the AEC/FM sector. This is beginning to change through the introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM) which can offer a new level of functionality for the management of buildings …

Public / Private Bim: An Irish Perspective, Barry Mcauley, Alan V. Hore, John Deeney

Conference papers

The current economic difficulties have affected most practitioners within the industry and, as a result, many firms and contractors are bidding for fewer projects, resulting in below-cost tenders. It is clear that, many firms and contractors are now operating on thin margins; which makes it increasingly difficult for them to commit to the introduction of new software applications and system upgrades. The transition to Building Information Modelling (BIM) from traditional 2D CAD by Irish firms and contractors has been a relatively slow process compared with our international colleagues. There are many reasons for this, including lack of resources, lack of …

Establishing Key Performance Indicators To Measure The Benefit Of Introducing The Facilities Manager At An Early Stage In The Building Information Modelling Process - Presentation, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Characterisation And Optimisation Of Magnetorheological Elastomers, Jennifer Mcintyre

Doctoral

The primary aim of this research was to optimise the design of magnetorheological elastomers (MREs), composite materials consisting of magnetic particles in an elastomer matrix. In doing so, the understanding of their dynamic behaviour when subjected to stress would be furthered. Plenty of uses have been suggested for these materials which adapt to their environments and can be tuned to suit operating conditions, but very few of these have actually been realised. Characterising their dynamic behaviour is crucial if they are to gain wider use in commercial applications. The first objective of the research was to investigate the factors affecting …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Creating Interactive Facilities Management Capabilities Through Building Information Modelling As A Tool For Managing The Irish Public Sector Estates - Presentation, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

An Autonomous Channel Selection Algorithm For Wlans, Fuhu Deng

Doctoral

IEEE 802.11 wireless devices need to select a channel in order to transmit their packets. However, as a result of the contention-based nature of the IEEE 802.11 CSMA/CA MAC mechanism, the capacity experienced by a station is not fixed. When a station cannot win a sufficient number of transmission opportunities to satisfy its traffic load, it will become saturated. If the saturation condition persists, more and more packets are stored in the transmit queue and congestion occurs. Congestion leads to high packet delay and may ultimately result in catastrophic packet loss when the transmit queue’s capacity is exceeded. In this …

An Adaptive Packet Aggregation Algorithm (Aam) For Wireless Networks, Jianhua Deng

Doctoral

Packet aggregation algorithms are used to improve the throughput performance by combining a number of packets into a single transmission unit in order to reduce the overhead associated with each transmission within a packet-based communications network. However, the throughput improvement is also accompanied by a delay increase. The biggest drawback of a significant number of the proposed packet aggregation algorithms is that they tend to only optimize a single metric, i.e. either to maximize throughput or to minimize delay. They do not permit an optimal trade-off between maximizing throughput and minimizing delay. Therefore, these algorithms cannot achieve the optimal network …

Leveraging Depolarization To Increase The Link Reliability For Wireless Sensors Operating In Hyper-Rayleigh Environments, Jeff Frolik, Vit Sipal, David J. Edwards

Articles

Wireless communications within enclosed environments such as aircraft and vehicles have been shown to experience fading with statistics that are worse than Rayleigh. Motivated by low-cost, low-complexity systems (e.g., wireless sensors) that may be deployed in such environments, this work explores the benefits of polarization diversity using very large data sets collected over a small area and over the 5-6 GHz band. The results also demonstrate that antennas capable of capturing depolarized signal components can significantly mitigate the harshest of fading environments.

Sweet (Small Wind Energy Estimation Tool), Thomas Woolmington, Keith Sunderland

Other resources

Description:

Generic Wind Energy Estimation Model incorporating Turbulence Intensity.

Requirements:

Manufacturer specific wind turbine characteristic

Mean wind speed at a specific height

Site conditions in terms of TI and Surface Roughness

Disclaimer:

This model has been designed as an estimation tool for estimating the wind power yield of a custom turbine for an idealised set of site conditions for a given year.

While the assumptions that are made in this estimation tool are mathematically plausible they should not in any way be interpreted as an alternative to a real world site assessment.

A list of assumptions to which the model …

Calculation Of Colouration Voltage For A Multifunctional Glazing Powered By Photovoltaic, Aritra Ghosh, Brian Norton, Aidan Duffy

Conference papers

Multifunctional glazing is a combination of various glazing systems and can comprise permutations of vacuum glazing, aerogel glazing, PV double glazing and Electrochromic (EC) glazing. It controls solar heat gain, improves thermal conductivity and can generate small scale electricity, in a variety of climates. The objective of this research is to investigate the switching voltage of multifunctional glazing, with respect to orientation, time of day and temperature of the system. We report a relation between temperature and voltage required for the switching condition.