Engineering Commons^™

Synthesis Of High-Temperature Stable Anatase Tio2 Photocatalyst, Suresh Pillai, Declan Mccormack, Michael Seery, Pradeepan Periyat, Steven Hinder, John Colreavy, Reenamol George, Hugh Hayden

Articles

In the absence of a dopant or precursor odification, anatase to rutile transformation in synthetic TiO2 sually ccurs at a temperature of 600 700 °C. Conventionally, metal oxide dopants (e.g., Al2O3 nd SiO2 are used o tune the anatase to rutile transformation. A simple methodology is reported here to extend the anatase utile transformation by employing various concentrations of urea. XRD and Raman spectroscopy were used uring thermal treatment. A significantly higher anatase phase (97%) as been obtained at 800 C with use of a 1:1 Ti(OPr)4 urea composition and 11% anatase composition is etained even after calcining …

A Comparative Test Of Brillouin Amplification And Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplification For The Generation Of Millimeter Waves With Low Phase Noise Properties, Markus Junker, Max Ammann, Andreas Schwarzbacher, Jens Klinger, Kai-Utwe Lauterback, Thomas Schneider

Articles

Measurements of phase noise of a 40-GHz carrier signal are presented. The carrier is generated by the amplification of harmonics due to stimulated Brillouin scattering. An analogy to a generation of millimeter waves by an erbium-doped fiber instead of the Brillouin amplifier is investigated and discussed. In our setup, both show a comparable behavior in respect to their noise characteristics.

Compact Annular-Ring Embedded Circular Patch Antenna With Cross-Slot Ground Plane For Circular Polarisation, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann

Articles

A dual-frequency dual-circularly polarised patch antenna with wide beamwidth is proposed. The two-layer structure comprises circular patches with offset circular slots connected to rectangular slots. They provide orthogonal perturbations realising RHCP and LHCP for the lower and upper bands, respectively. The wide beamwidth is realised by extending the substrate beyond the groundplane. Measurements show a maximum beamwidth of 180deg and gains of 3.9 and 0.5 dBic for zenith and 10deg elevation, respectively, for the upper band. The measured beamwidth for the low band is 130deg with a maximum gain of 3.9 and -0.7 dBic for zenith and 10deg elevation, respectively. …

Quarter-Wave Metal Plate Solar Antenna, S. Shynu, Max Ammann, Brian Norton

Articles

A novel design of a quarter-wave shorted trapezoidal metal plate solar antenna using high efficiency polycrystalline silicon solar cells is presented. Using the DC conductive parts of the cell as RF antenna elements as well as choosing the radiating element to be a small base trapezoid, better coupling between the the feed and shorting plates is ensured and 40.3% size reduction compared to a conventional shorted quarter-wave patch is obtained. The trapezoidal radiating element covers merely 2.7% of the total available illumination area of the solar cell, leaving its efficiency essentially unaffected. The proposed design strategy has been verified by …

Compact Concentric Annular-Ring Patch Antenna For Triple Frequency Operation, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann

Articles

A novel single-layer, single-feed concentric annular-ring microstrip patch antenna providing triple-frequency operation is proposed and experimentally studied. This is achieved by embedding a small circular patch into a dual stub-loaded concentric annular-ring structure and by employing a cross-slot in the ground plane. The proposed technique can provide triple-band operation and reduce the antenna size by over 50% compared to the conventional annular-ring patch antenna for a given frequency. Experimental results show the proposed antenna to have impedance bandwidths of 6.38, 6.30 and 35% for the three bands, at 1.17, 1.428 and 1.9 GHz, respectively. The proposed structure is capable of …

From L-Shaped Planar Monopoles To A Novel Folded Antenna With Wide Bandwidth, Giuseppe Ruvio, Max Ammann

Articles

A novel folded monopole antenna is investigated numerically and experimentally. The proposed antenna comprises a short folded monopole suitably shaped at the base with two vertical grounding probes. This small antenna is shown to have a fractional impedance bandwidth up to 125% (1.6 GHz to 7.5 GHz) for a 10 dB return loss. An interesting compromise between impedance bandwidth and pattern control is found by tuning a double side bevel at the base of the monopole, the position of the feeding point and its distance from the ground plane. Measurements and simulations are in good agreement and show a dramatic …

All-Fiber Multimode-Interference-Based-Refractometer Sensor:Proposal And Design, Qian Wang, Gerald Farrell

Articles

A novel all-fiber refractometer sensor is proposed, which is based on multimode interference in the multimode fiber core section sandwiched between two single-mode fibers. A wide-angle beam propagation method in the cylindrical coordinate is employed as the modeling tool for simulation and design of the proposed refractometer sensor. The design for a refractometer is presented that shows that the refractometer would have an estimated resolution of 5.4×10−5 for refractive indices from 1.33 to 1.45 and of 3.3×10−5 for refractive indices from 1.38 to 1.45 through the choice of an appropriate length of the multimode fiber core section.

Analysis Of Strain And Intermixing In Single-Layer Ge/Si Quantum Dots Using Polarized Raman Spectroscopy, Anna Baranov, A. V. Federov, Tatiana Perova, R. A. Moore, V. Yam, D. Bouchier, V. Le Thanh, Kevin Berwick

Articles

The built-in strain and composition of as-grown and Si-capped single layers of Ge∕Si dots grown at various temperatures (460–800 °C) are studied by a comparative analysis of the Ge-Ge and Si-Ge modes in the polarized Raman spectra of the dots. A pronounced reduction of the strain and Ge content in the dots after deposition of the cap layer at low temperatures is observed, indicating that strain-induced Si diffusion from the cap layer is occurring. For large dots grown at 700–800 °C the observations are in agreement with a model of the Ge∕Si dot consisting of a Si-rich boundary region and …

Design Of One-Dimensional Composite Photonic Crystals With An Extended Photonic Band Gap, Vladimir Tolmachev, Kevin Berwick

Articles

A technique for photonic band gap (PBG) extension based on mixing photonic crystals with different lattice constants or filling factors is suggested. For the design of photonic crystals with maximal PBG extension the gap map imposition method is utilized. Gap maps for composite photonic crystals based on Si-air structures are calculated and used to predict optimal structures for fabrication.

Including Embodied Energy Considerations At The Conceptual Stage Of Building Design, Y. Yohanis, Brian Norton

Articles

Elevated operating temperatures reduce the solar to electrical conversion efficiency of building integrated photovoltaic devices (BIPV). Phase change materials (PCM) can be used to passively limit this temperature rise although their effectiveness is limited by their low thermal conductivities and by crystallization segregation during solidification. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the effects of convection and crystalline segregation in a PCM as a function of efficiency of heat transfer within the finned PV/PCM system. The thermal performances of bulk PCM with crystallization segregation for different internal fin arrangements are presented. It is noted that the addition of internal fins …

Attention Driven Reference Resolution In Multimodal Contexts, John D. Kelleher

Articles

In recent years a a number of psycholinguistic experiments have pointed to the interaction between language and vision. In particular, the interaction between visual attention and linguistic reference. In parallel with this, several theories of discourse have attempted to provide an account of the relationship between types of referential expressions on the one hand and the degree of mental activation on the other. Building on both of these traditions, this paper describes an attention based approach to visually situated reference resolution. The framework uses the relationship between referential form and preferred mode of interpretation as a basis for a weighted …

Photopolymer Diffractive Optical Elements In Electronic Speckle Pattern Shearing Interferometry, Emilia Mihaylova, Izabela Naydenova, Barry Duignan, Suzanne Martin, Vincent Toal

Articles

In this paper we present an electronic speckle pattern shearing interferometer using a photopolymer diffractive optical element in the form of a holographic grating, in combination with a ground glass to shear the images. The sheared images on the ground glass are further imaged onto a CCD camera. The distance between the grating and the ground glass can be used to control the shear and to vary the sensitivity of the system. The direction of sensitivity is easily controlled by rotation of the diffraction grating around its normal. Introducing photopolymer holographic gratings in ESPSI gives the advantage of using high …

Effect Of Step Sintering On Breakdown Voltage Of Varistors Prepared From Nanomaterials, Suresh Pillai, Declan Mccormack, John Kelly, Ramesh Raghavendra

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Human Eye Position Control System In A Rehabilitation Setting, Yvonne Nolan, Ted Burke, C. Boylan, Annraoi De Paor

Articles

Our work at Ireland’s National Rehabilitation Hospital involves designing communication systems for people suffering from profound physical disabilities. One such system uses the electro-oculogram, which is an (x,y) system of voltages picked up by pairs of electrodes placed, respectively, above and below and on either side of the eyes. The eyeball has a dc polarisation between cornea and back, arising from the photoreceptor rods and cones in the retina. As the eye rotates, the varying voltages projected onto the electrodes drive a cursor over a mimic keyboard on a computer screen. Symbols are selected with a switching action derived, for …

A Case-Based Technique For Tracking Concept Drift In Spam Filtering, Sarah Jane Delany, Padraig Cunningham, Alexey Tsymbal, Lorcan Coyle

Articles

Spam filtering is a particularly challenging machine learning task as the data distribution and concept being learned changes over time. It exhibits a particularly awkward form of concept drift as the change is driven by spammers wishing to circumvent spam filters. In this paper we show that lazy learning techniques are appropriate for such dynamically changing contexts. We present a case-based system for spam filtering that can learn dynamically. We evaluate its performance as the case-base is updated with new cases. We also explore the benefit of periodically redoing the feature selection process to bring new features into play. Our …

Friction And Adhesion In Rigid Surface Indentation Of Nitrile Rubber, Stephen Jerrams

Articles

When a rigid body in the form of a plane strain indentor is forced into an elastomer, the asperities on the surface of the indentor are filled by the softer material. As depth of ingress increases, the rubber displaced into the indentor asperities exhibits stick-slip behaviour. The rubber adheres to the rigid body and if the depth of ingress is held at a maximum, the level of adhesion remains constant despite short-term load relaxation occurring in the rubber.

This text describes the influence of a range of factors on indentation forces and adhesion in rigid indentation of hydrogenated nitrile rubbers. …

Water Conservation And Resuse Strategy For Ireland, Liam Mccarton, Sean O'Hogain

Articles

The traditional approach to meeting increased demand is to augment supply. However, mobilising new resources involves ever higher costs. Increasing water efficiency by reducing the amount of water required to accomplish a given task can significantly contribute towards balancing supply and demand. The water saved as a result of PCC reduction can be used to augment existing supplies. This can be the least cost option, particularly when the environmental and social costs of developing new resources are included in the analysis. Allied to this is the concept of sustainability, which can be defined as ‘development that meets the needs of …

Study Of Transmission Response Of Edge Filters Employed In Wavelength Measurements, Qian Wang, Gerald Farrell, Thomas Freir

Articles

The ratiometric wavelength-measurement system is modeled and an optimal design of transmission response of the employed edge filter is demonstrated in the context of a limited signal-to-noise ratio of the signal source. The corresponding experimental investigation is presented. The impact of the limited signal-to-noise ratio of the signal source on determining the optimal transmission response of edge filters for a wavelength-measurement application is shown theoretically and experimentally.

Printed Triband Terminal Antenna, Matthias John, Max Ammann, R. Farrell

Articles

This paper presents a printed triple-band multibranch monopole for use in modern wireless systems. The antenna is designed to operate in three bands which cover virtually all wireless channels. Parameters of the antenna geometry are varied and the effects of these variations on the impedance bandwidth are shown.

Theoretical And Experimental Investigations Of Macro-Bend Losses For Standard Single Mode Fibers, Qian Wang, Gerald Farrell, Thomas Feir

Articles

Modeling of macro-bend losses for single mode fibers with multiple cladding or coating layers is presented. Macro-bend losses for standard single mode fibers (SMF28) are investigated theoretically and experimentally, showing that the inner primary coating layer of SMF28 has a significant impact on the bend losses and most of the radiation field is absorbed in the inner primary coating layer of SMF28. The agreement between theoretical calculations and experimental measurements suggests that the so-called elastooptical correction in modeling is not required for SMF28.

Use Of Advanced Synthesis Tools In Teaching Vlsi Design, Kevin Berwick, Dominic Nardone

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of The Internal Field On The Ir Absorption Spectra Of Small Particles In Case Of 3d, 2d And 1d Size Confinement, Igor I. Shaganov, Tatiana S. Perova, R. Alan Moore, Kevin Berwick

Articles

The spectral properties of composite materials based on small particles under 1D, 2D, and 3D size confinement are described using a combination of dispersive internal field and effective media theory approaches. Calculations performed for a number of crystalline materials have shown that the peak position and intensity of the vibrational band of the material under conditions of 1D, 2D, and 3D size confinement are changed, whereas the bandwidth of the band remains the same. In the case of 3D confinement, the peak position of the spectrum of isolated “mesoparticles” ( ) appears to be very close to the intrinsic frequency …

Current And Future Applications Of Surface Engineering, David Kennedy, Yueqiang Xue, Emilia Mihaylova

Articles

No abstract provided.

Holographic Patterning Of Acrylamide-Based Photopolymer Surface, Izabela Naydenova, Emilia Mihaylova, Suzanne Martin, Vincent Toal

Articles

The patterning of an acrylamide-based photopolymer surface by holographic recording is studied. The patterns are induced by light alone and no post-processing is required. Periodic surface modulation is observed in addition to a volume phase grating. An investigation has been carried out using white light interferometry into the dependence of the amplitude of the photo induced surface relief modulation on the spatial frequency, intensity of recording and sample thickness. The observed dependencies indicate that the diffusion of material during the holographic recording plays a major role in surface relief formation. The possibility for inscription of surface relief patterns opens the …

Optimum Design Of The Printed Strip Monopole, Max Ammann, Matthias John

Articles

A monopole antenna, printed on low-cost laminate and fed by a microstrip line, is examined. These types of antennas are becoming popular in view of their broad bandwidth and low-profile structure, enabling easy integration as a terminal antenna. The move away from a classical ground plane (with normal radiator) is one of the attractive features of these antennas, but the full effects of the radiator and ground plane being on opposite sides of the same laminate are often not investigated. The effect of these ground planes on the impedance bandwidth and radiation pattern is investigated experimentally and numerically.

Adaptive Voip Playout Scheduling: Assessing User Satisfaction, Miroslaw Narbutt, Andrew Kelly, Liam Murphy, Philip Perry

Articles

Delay and packet loss dramatically affect the quality of a voice-over-IP (VoIP) call and depend on the playout buffer scheme implemented at the receiver. The choice of playout algorithm can’t be based on statistical metrics without considering the perceived end-to-end conversational speech quality. The authors present a method for evaluating various playout algorithms that extends the Emodel concept by estimating user satisfaction from time-varying transmission impairments. This article evaluates several playout algorithms and shows a correspondence between their results and those obtained via statistical loss and delay metrics.

Optimization Of Impedance Bandwidth For The Printed Rectangular Monopole Antenna, Matthias John, Max Ammann

Articles

This paper describes a printed rectangular-plate monopole fed by microstrip line. The effect of varying the plate width, feed-gap height, and feedline width on the impedance bandwidth is examined. It is shown that for a fixed ground-plane size, that optimization of these parameters can yield an impedance bandwidth ratio of 4.3:1, without using any broadbanding techniques.

Micro Shot Blasting Of Machine Tools For Improving Surface Finish And Reducing Cutting Forces In Manufacturing, James Vahey, David Kennedy

Articles

Micro blasting of cutting tips and tools is a very effective and reliable method of advancing the life of tools under the action of turning, milling, drilling, punching and cutting. This paper outlines the ways in which micro blasted tools, both coated and un coated have benefited from shot blasting and resulted in greater productivity, lower cutting forces, improved surface finish of the work pieces and less machine downtime. The process of micro blasting is discussed in the paper. Its effectiveness depends on many parameters including the shot media ad size, the mechanics of impact and the application of the …

An Explicit Mapping Between The Frequency Domain And The Time Domain Representations Of Nonlinear Systems, Marissa Condon, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

Explicit expressions are presented that describe the input-output behaviour of a nonlinear system in both the frequency and the time domain. The expressions are based on a set of coefficients that do not depend on the input to the system and are universal for a given system. The anharmonic oscillator is chosen as an example and is discussed for different choices of its physical parameters. It is shown that the typical approach for the determination of the Volterra Series representation is not valid for the important case when the nonlinear system exhibits oscillatory behaviour and the input has a pole …

A New High Power Parallel Converter Scheme For Active Power Filters, Malabika Basu, S. P. Das, Gopal Dubey

Articles

A new topology for efficient utilisation of parallel converters as VAR compensators and active power filters (APF) for high power loads is proposed. Because of limited power handling capacity of individual devices, paralleling is the choice to increase rating of equipment, while keeping the THD of the current at the PCC within the agency specified standards. It has been reported in the literature that paralleling several converters, rather than switches, is more reliable in sharing of load. From this perspective, multilevel converters carry lot of weight, as their typical power circuit configuration limits the stress on individual devices to an …