Graduate Student Literature Review: Considerations for nutritional grouping in dairy farms

Each cow in a group has different nutritional requirements even if the group is formed by cows of similar age, number of lactations, and lactation stage. Common dairy farm management setup does not support formulating a diet that accurately matches individual nutritional requirements for each cow; therefore, a proportion of cows in the group will be overfed and another proportion underfed. Overfeeding and underfeeding cows increases the risk of metabolic diseases, decreases milk production, and increases nutrient waste. Consequently, profitability of dairy farms and the environment are negatively affected. Nutritional grouping is a management strategy that aims to allocate lactating cows homogeneously according to their nutritional requirements. Groups of cows with more uniform nutritional requirements facilitates the formulation of more accurate diets for the group. Current availability of large data streams on dairy farms facilitates the design of algorithms to implement nutritional grouping. Our review summarizes important factors to consider when grouping cows, describes nutritional grouping approaches, and summarizes benefits of implementing nutritional grouping in dairy farms.     

Flower‐shaped ultra‐wideband fractal antenna

A flower‐shaped ultra‐wideband fractal antenna is presented. It comprises a fourth iterative flower‐shaped radiator, asymmetrical stub‐loaded feeding line, and coplanar quarter elliptical ground planes. A wide operating band of 12.12 GHz (4.58‐16.7 GHz) for S ₁₁ ≤ ? 10 dB is achieved along with an overall antenna footprint of 15.7 × 11.4 mm². In addition, other desirable characteristics, that is, omnidirectional radiation patterns, peak gain upto 5 dB, and fidelity factor more than 75% are achieved. A good agreement exists between the simulation and measured results. The obtained results illustrate that this antenna has wide operating range and compact dimensions than available structures.     

一种相位测试用曲口面天线的设计与应用

相位测试技术可满足不同外形天线罩的在线测试需求。通过数值仿真,设计最佳变换曲线完成矩形 传输波导与圆形辐射天线的拟合连接,能够有效降低天线驻波比,实现测试探头的高增益收发,提升测试有效性。 在维持驻波比参数前提下,对天线口面弧线给予二次曲率调整,可以适应不同外形天线罩的测试稳定性要求。根据 仿真结果加工的低驻波比反射相位测试天线,已应用于多个型号天线罩成型中的相位在线测试,提高了监控的有效 性,验证了设计仿真结果的正确性。     

移动物料信息分布式传输方法及应用

在流程工业生产中,移动物料计量信息的传输普遍采用电台和无线模块。接收电台周围环境严重影响计量信息的传输效果,尤其是钢结构厂房、电磁干扰区内,数据传输过程中的丢包率、误码率相当严重。本文提出一种多节点分布式传输方法,根据各个生产作业区环境条件设置相应的WIFI节点数,实现对作业区的无线信号覆盖。网络覆盖区内无线模块、PDA终端(PDA)、终端查询设备通过节点工作频段和阵列天线自适应调节,实现数据传输最佳化。铜熔炼生产现场测试表明,此种传输方法可以有效消除周围环境的电磁干扰,数据丢包率低于0.1%。     

In Silico Study on Tumor-Size-Dependent Thermal Profiles inside an Anthropomorphic Female Breast Phantom Subjected to Multi-Dipole Antenna Array

Electromagnetic hyperthermia as a potent adjuvant for conventional cancer therapies can be considered valuable in modern oncology, as its task is to thermally destroy cancer cells exposed to high-frequency electromagnetic fields. Hyperthermia treatment planning based on computer in silico simulations has the potential to improve the localized heating of breast tissues through the use of the phased-array dipole applicators. Herein, we intended to improve our understanding of temperature estimation in an anatomically accurate female breast phantom embedded with a tumor, particularly when it is exposed to an eight-element dipole antenna matrix surrounding the breast tissues. The Maxwell equations coupled with the modified Pennes’ bioheat equation was solved in the modelled breast tissues using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) engine. The microwave (MW) applicators around the object were modelled with shortened half-wavelength dipole antennas operating at the same 1 GHz frequency, but with different input power and phases for the dipole sources. The total input power of an eight-dipole antenna matrix was set at 8 W so that the temperature in the breast tumor did not exceed 42 °C. Finding the optimal setting for each dipole antenna from the matrix was our primary objective. Such a procedure should form the basis of any successful hyperthermia treatment planning. We applied the algorithm of multi for multi-objective optimization for the power and phases for the dipole sources in terms of maximizing the specific absorption rate (SAR) parameter inside the breast tumor while minimizing this parameter in the healthy tissues. Electro-thermal simulations were performed for tumors of different radii to confirm the reliable operation of the given optimization procedure. In the next step, thermal profiles for tumors of various sizes were calculated for the optimal parameters of dipole sources. The computed results showed that larger tumors heated better than smaller tumors; however, the procedure worked well regardless of the tumor size. This verifies the effectiveness of the applied optimization method, regardless of the various stages of breast tumor development.     

Synthesizing a uniformly spaced array pattern using integral operator for removing progressive phase shift

In this article, an analytical technique is introduced to obtain the excitation coefficients of uniformly spaced linear antenna arrays in order to achieve a desired array factor. By integration of the prescribed array factor, the array factor dependency to the progressive phase shift is eliminated. A new system of linear equations is consequently obtained whose solution represents the excitation coefficients of the array. Some examples are presented to verify the accuracy of the introduced method. The performance of this strategy is compared with those obtained by the other well‐known techniques such as Woodward‐Lawson and Fourier transform. It is shown that the presented method estimates the desired array pattern with a very good precision.     

Nature inspired 21 branches sneezewort/Achillea ptarmica plant growth pattern–shaped antenna for Ku‐band applications

This reported paper presents the design and analysis of wideband nature inspired planar antenna of 46 × 18 × 1.6 mm³ size, designed using FR4 (Flame Retardant) substrate. The antenna patch is delineated from the growth pattern of sneezewort plant with supplementary notion of golden ratio in branching and branch width. The total number of branches in each stage follows the Fibonacci series and the branch width is calculated from the golden ratio concept. Starting from one feed line and two branches, the maximum numbers of branches are increased to 20. There has been significant enhancement in the radiation performance of proposed geometry by increasing the number of branches to 21 and by modifying ground with T‐shaped slot. The antenna covers wide impedance bandwidth of 8.2 to 16.5 GHz by possessing stable radiation characteristics.     

浅谈短波天线的维护和保养

随着小功率短波实验台的不断建设，如何更好的利用和维护天线成了各短波实验台站关注的问题。本文以我台的垂直笼型天线为例进行介绍。垂直笼型天线在短波广播频段的中低频段具有较强的地波全向辐射能力，主要用于对城区和附近周边地区进行压制干扰。     

Cylindrical conformal single-patch microstrip antennas based on three dimensional woven glass fiber/epoxy resin composites

Three dimensional integrated microstrip antenna (3DIMA) can carry the designed load while functioning as an antenna. In this study, the cylindrical conformal single-patch 3DIMAs with various curvatures were designed, simulated, fabricated and tested experimentally using a 3D orthogonal woven glass preform/epoxy resin composite system. The electromagnetic performances of the cylindrical microstrip antennas were analyzed. The simulated and tested results matched well and the return losses of the cylindrical conformal 3DIMAs with radii of curvatures of 60, 45 and 25 mm were less than −10 dB while resonant frequencies and their gain values were significantly influenced by the radius of curvature and the feeding direction. The 3DIMAs with the curvature perpendicular to the feeding directions showed more stable resonant frequencies and larger gain values than those of 3DIMAs with the curvature along their feeding directions.