Cold sintered,temperature-stable CaSnSiO5-K2MoO4 composite microwave ceramics and its prototype microstrip patch antenna

Dense (1-x)wt%CaSnSiO₅-xwt%K₂MoO₄ (CSSO-KMO) composite ceramics were fabricated by the cold sintering process at 180 °C under 400 MPa for 60 min. X-ray diffraction, Energy dispersive X-ray and Raman spectroscopy confirmed that CSSO and KMO coexisted without intermediate phases. As KMO weight fraction increased, relative permittivity (ε_r) and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τ_f) decreased and the microwave quality factor (Q×f, where f is resonant frequency) increased. Near-zero τ_f (-0.5 ppm/°C) was obtained for 65 wt%CSSO-35 wt%KMO with ε_r ～ 9.2 and Q×f ～ 6240 GHz. No chemical reaction between ceramic composites and silver was observed, demonstrating potential for cofiring with Ag-paste. A prototype antenna was fabricated from 65 wt%CSSO-35 wt%KMO composite ceramic with a bandwidth of 144 MHz @ -10 dB, a gain of 5.7 dBi and a total efficiency of 88.4 % at 5.2 GHz, suitable for 5 G mobile communication systems.     

Transfer learning between crop types for semantic segmentation of crops versus weeds in precision agriculture

Agricultural robots rely on semantic segmentation for distinguishing between crops and weeds to perform selective treatments and increase yield and crop health while reducing the amount of chemicals used. Deep‐learning approaches have recently achieved both excellent classification performance and real‐time execution. However, these techniques also rely on a large amount of training data, requiring a substantial labeling effort, both of which are scarce in precision agriculture. Additional design efforts are required to achieve commercially viable performance levels under varying environmental conditions and crop growth stages. In this paper, we explore the role of knowledge transfer between deep‐learning‐based classifiers for different crop types, with the goal of reducing the retraining time and labeling efforts required for a new crop. We examine the classification performance on three datasets with different crop types and containing a variety of weeds and compare the performance and retraining efforts required when using data labeled at pixel level with partially labeled data obtained through a less time‐consuming procedure of annotating the segmentation output. We show that transfer learning between different crop types is possible and reduces training times for up to 80%. Furthermore, we show that even when the data used for retraining are imperfectly annotated, the classification performance is within 2% of that of networks trained with laboriously annotated pixel‐precision data.     

A high gain wideband circularly polarized antenna with asymmetric metasurface

An asymmetric‐metasurface based wideband circularly polarized (CP) microstrip antenna using a coaxial probe is proposed for L‐band applications. The antenna involves a stacked asymmetric‐metasurface, a radiating rectangular‐patch and a coaxial feed. An asymmetric‐metasurface is designed using rectangular unit cells and smaller size unit cells along one of the diagonal lines. The asymmetric‐metasurface is placed above a radiating rectangular‐patch with support of foam layer to achieve a wideband CP radiation. The measured performance of the prototype antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth (?10 dB return loss bandwidth) of 15.7% (1.58‐1.85 GHz) with CP bandwidth (3‐dB axial ratio) of 13% (1.58‐1.80 GHz) and gain of ≥9 dBic.     

Landscape dynamics of Mediterranean montane grasslands over 60 years and implications for habitats conservation. A case study in the northern Apennines (Italy)

Widespread trends of abandonment have strongly affected Mediterranean mountains after the Second World War, triggering spontaneous recolonisation of forests. A diachronic analysis of the landscape in a Natura 2000 site (Tuscany, Italy) was carried out using digital aerial photographs (1954, 2013) and a GIS-based methodology, focusing on territories above 1300 m a.s.l. The detected variations of total areas, patch shape, patch dimensions and selected metrics showed a notable shift of the vegetation towards woody types and a drastic reduction of open grasslands, some with high conservation value, accompanied by a strong increase in patch number, surface and edge. A decrease of SDI and SEI diversity indices was also observed. Considering that fragmentation is one of the main causes threatening habitats and species, our results point out a clear necessity for a monitoring programme and suitable actions aimed at improving the status of biodiversity-rich montane grasslands.     

Asymmetric CPW-fed SRR patch antenna for WLAN/WiMAX applications

In this paper, a compact asymmetric coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed with split-ring resonator (SRR) is proposed to resonate at dual-band operations for wireless local area network (WLAN) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) applications. The asymmetric CPW-fed SRR patch (ACSP) antenna consists of a meander line, square-shaped split ring, and CPW ground plane. The proposed ACSP antenna resonates at two operating frequencies, namely, 2.48 GHz (2.4–2.74 GHz) and 3.49 GHz (3.25–3.64 GHz) with reflection coefficients (S₁₁) of −16.65 dB and −32.67 dB, respectively. The measured results agree closely with the simulation results of the proposed antenna.     

四川省植被覆盖时空演变及未来变化趋势分析

四川省地处长江上游,是长江流域重要的生态屏障;解析该区域植被覆盖的时空演变特征,对长江上游的生态环境修护与治理具有重要意义。基于长时间序列的MODIS NDVI数据,解析2000~2016年间四川省植被的空间分布格局与时间变化特征;采用趋势分析法和Hurst指数,预测未来植被的变化趋势及持续性。结果表明:(1)四川省NDVI多年平均值为0.50,植被覆盖整体上呈现川东高于川西的空间分布特征;(2)2000~2016年间,四川省的NDVI值在0.48至0.53之间波动,整体呈上升趋势,增长率为0.002 5/a;(3)植被覆盖度在未来变化将呈现改善大于退化的趋势;植被持续性改善的面积大于持续性退化的面积。     

Ku波段基片集成波导带通滤波器的设计

设计了一款基于基片集成波导的ku波段卫星通信的带通滤波器。描述了位于SIW内部的金属通孔的等效电路模型,并分析通孔直径、位置等关键参数对滤波器性能的影响。针对基于中心位置的SIW带通滤波器带宽较窄的问题,提出偏置金属通孔SIW带通滤波器的设计方法,从而增大滤波器的带宽。并通过对改进后的基片集成波导带通滤波器的仿真,验证了设计的正确性和方法的有效性。     

基于地表温度和植被指数的黑龙江省旱情遥感动态监测

干旱灾害是一种影响范围广、时间跨度大的自然灾害,对社会经济发展尤其是给农业生产造成重大损失。遥感技术具有观测空间尺度大、实时性强的特点,有利于大范围、实时、动态的旱情监测。利用MODIS的LST和NDVI遥感数据,依托站点实测土壤含水率数据,分析土壤含水率与地表温度和植被指数之间的关系,考虑土壤类型,构建温度植被多项式模型,进行表层土壤水分反演,基于此开展2018年3~7月黑龙江省旱情遥感监测应用研究。监测结果显示,监测期内黑龙江省经历了两次规模较大的干旱过程,干旱的核心区域为黑龙江省西南部区域,与实际情况相吻合。研究表明,考虑土壤类型的温度植被多项式模型对旱情遥感监测具有良好的应用效果。     

临汾市近20年植被覆盖度遥感估算及动态变化分析

植被覆盖度是衡量植被生长状况的指标，对分析评价区域生态环境具有重要意义。以临汾市1998年、2007年和2018年Landsat遥感影像作为数据源，利用ENVI和ARCGIS软件，通过计算归一化植被指数（NDVI）值，利用像元二分模型，对临汾市近20年的植被覆盖度及其动态变化进行分析。分析结果显示:1998年、2007年和2018年临汾市的平均植被覆盖度分别为45.92%、58.76%和60.09%，处于递增的态势。在这20年间，极低覆盖度和低覆盖度的植被面积都有减少，而中等覆盖度、高覆盖度和极高覆盖度的植被面积增加。高覆盖度和低覆盖度的植被面积变化最大，高覆盖度的植被面积增加了3 063.14 km²，约占临汾市总面积的15.21%；低覆盖度的植被面积减少了3 192.38 km²，约占临汾市总面积的15.85%。说明临汾市的生态环境有所改善，这与该区水土保持项目的实施以及封禁治理有关。