High gain substrate integrated waveguide beam scanning antenna with sub‐array elements

A method to enhance the gain of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) beam scanning antenna is proposed in this article. 2 × 2 SIW cavity‐backed sub‐arrays are employed in array design. The antenna is constructed on two layers. The top layer places four SIW cavity‐backed sub‐arrays as radiating elements and the bottom layer is an SIW transmission line to feed the sub‐arrays. Beam scanning feature can be obtained due to the frequency dispersion. Moreover, through separating radiators to the other layer and using 2 × 2 SIW cavity‐backed sub‐arrays as radiating parts, the antenna gain is improved significantly. For a linear array, 4.1 to 6.8 dB gain enhancement is achieved compared to a conventional SIW beam scanning antenna with the same length. Then, the linear array is expanded to form a planar array for further gain improvement. A 64‐element planar beam scanning array is designed, fabricated, and tested. Experimental results show that the proposed planar array has a bandwidth from 18.5 GHz to 21. 5 GHz with beam scanning angle from ?5° to 11.5° and gain in the range of 20.5 to 21.8 dBi. The proposed high gain beam scanning antennas have potential applications in radar detection and imaging.     

Compact‐size linearly tapered slot antenna for portable ultra‐wideband imaging systems

A compact‐size asymmetrical linearly tapered slot antenna required for portable ultra‐wideband (UWB) imaging systems is presented. The total antenna size is reduced compared with the conventional linearly tapered slot antenna by using a triangular slot on the left‐hand side of the tapered‐shaped radiator, whereas introducing a corrugated pattern of cuts on the right side. The antenna operates over a wide bandwidth extending from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz with a maximum gain of 8.5 dBi. Stable radiation patterns are observed across the operational bandwidth, with cross‐polarization levels below ?20 dB. The realized antenna structure occupies a volume of 35 × 36 × 0.8 mm³, and possesses the essential time domain fidelity needed for UWB imaging applications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

Design of a broadband dielectric resonator antenna and its application in low sensitivity frequency beam‐scanning array with wide scanning angle and suppressed sidelobes

In this paper, a broadband dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with a simple H‐slot feeding structure is proposed. The broad bandwidth (~45%) and uni‐directional radiation enable this DRA suitable to work as a radiation element in the construction of a beam‐scanning array with not only low frequency sensitivity which is important for accurate angle estimation of in‐coming targets, but also a wide scanning range. Moreover, stable coupling coefficients are established around all the above three resonances with respect to its corresponding feeding line, ensuring a low sidelobe level (SLL) across the whole operating frequency range. In order to realize such a DRA, a latticed rectangular structure is utilized to generate the lower two resonances, while the upper resonance is generated by its H‐shaped feeding slot. The shape of the latticed dielectric resonator is also modified according to a 3‐D printed fixing structure for an accurate installation. A 20‐element beam‐scanning prototype is demonstrated and manufactured. The range of scanning angle is from ?36° to +13° within the bandwidth of 10 to 16 GHz, corresponding to a frequency sensitivity of only 122.5 MHz/^o. The achieved SLL are smaller than 19 dB for all scanning beams. The above performance indicates that, this array is very suitable for near‐range radar systems requiring an accurate angle estimation.     

基于Kinect的机器人辅助超声扫描系统研究

提出一种采用Kinect传感器作为视觉伺服的机器人辅助超声扫描系统,来规划引导机器人的扫描路线,以实现机器人辅助的超声扫描操作。系统由Kinect传感器、机器人和超声探头组成。采用Kinect实时获取超声探头的RGB图像和深度图像,并计算探头当前位姿,结合坐标系配准结果,得到机器人的位姿信息,再根据术前的机器人轨迹规划,引导机器人的超声扫描路径。开展腿部模型实验验证本系统的可行性,通过对Kinect传感器的相机标定实验,计算得到了RGB相机和深度相机的内外参数,通过对探头上标识物的定位,进而计算出探头当前位姿,结合Kinect与机器人坐标系的配准结果,得到了两者的转换矩阵,并对机器人的位置给出指令,引导机械臂夹持探头到达指定扫描位置。在机器人夹持超声探头扫描过程中,实时计算探头与腿部之间的距离,以保证所采集超声图像的质量及扫描操作的安全性。实验结果表明,在Kinect视觉系统的导航引导下,机器人可以夹持超声探头实现自主超声扫描,以减少超声医师的扫描时间,降低医师的劳动强度。     

A temperature-dithering closed-loop interface circuit for a scanning thermal microscopy system

This work presents an interface circuit for low-frequency dithering measurements of resistor-based transducers. It is demonstrated in the context of a polyimide-shank scanning thermal microscopy probe which provides high thermal sensitivity and spatial resolution, but has a low bandwidth from both mechanical and thermal perspectives. These pose challenges in temperature dithering and control, as well as noise immunity. The circuit includes a proportional-integral controller and a demodulator, along with appropriate amplifier and filter blocks. It keeps the average temperature of the probe tip constant while synchronously detecting variations in the second harmonic of the modulated signal as the tip is scanned across the sample surface. Strategic choices in the circuit architecture and topology are evaluated, and the overall system including the sensor and the circuit is simulated. Measurements of the implemented system show that a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 15.7 is achieved while scanning a photoresist sample of 218 nm thickness on a silicon substrate, and that the detection limit for variations in thermal conductance is <3 pW/K.     

An image-based algorithm for generating smooth and interference-free five-axis sweep scanning path

Five-axis continuous scanning inspection is an emerging technology in measuring free-form surfaces. Compared to the traditional three-axis scanning inspection, the five-axis continuous surface scanning tremendously boosts the inspection efficiency and suffers from less dynamic error due to adopting a special sweep scanning working mode, which lets the super-light and high-speed rotary two-axis probe head take over the majority of the inspection work. However, there has not been any efficient method to generate sweep scanning path for a free-form surface with external obstacle. The major problem is how to guarantee the non-interference condition during the scanning process. In this paper, a two-step algorithm for generating smooth and interference-free sweep scanning path is proposed. First, an image-based algorithm is proposed to incrementally calculate the admissible area of the stylus along the scanning path. Then an optimized B-spline fitting algorithm is proposed to find the optimal probe head trajectory within the admissible area, which simultaneously guarantees the smoothness and non-interference of the trajectory. In the real experiment, the average tangential velocity and acceleration of the machine's translational axes with the proposed five-axis sweep scanning path are only 16.45% and 17.19% of those with three-axis zigzag scanning path respectively. When inspecting a high-accuracy cylindrical surface with high scanning velocity, the root mean square of the surface profile error is 0.002 mm and 0.004 mm in five-axis scanning and three-axis scanning respectively. The experimental result manifests that the sweep scanning path tremendously helps to reduce the kinematic loads and the dynamic errors of the inspection machine.     

Surface micromachined polyimide scanning thermocouple probes

This paper describes micromachined scanning thermocouple probes that exploit the low thermal conductivity and the high mechanical flexibility of polyimide as a structural material. They are surface micromachined using a low-temperature six-mask process suitable for appending to a CMOS fabrication sequence. The probes are 200-1000-μm long, 40-120-μm wide, and of varying thickness. They are assembled by a flip-over approach that eliminates the need for dissolving the substrate wafer or removing the probe from it. Temperature sensing is provided by thin-film Ni/W or chromel/alumel thermopiles embedded in the polyimide, which provide Seebeck coefficients of 22.5 and 37.5 μV/K per junction, respectively. Modeling results indicate that the low thermal conductivity of polyimide causes the temperature drop along the probe length to be much higher than with other candidate materials such as Si or SiO₂, which contributes to improved thermal isolation of the sample and higher temperature sensitivity of the probe. However, the response time of the probe is compromised, and the measured -3 dB bandwidth of the probes is ≈500 Hz. A sample scan is presented     

扫描探针显微镜的控制技术综述

扫描探针显微镜(SPM)具有高精度成像、纳米操纵等功能,是纳米科技、生命科学、材料科学和微电子等科学研究的重要工具.随着科学技术的发展,科学家和工程师们对科研工具SPM的性能也提出越来越高的要求.SPM控制技术作为提高SPM性能的关键技术之一,已经得到广泛的关注和研究.本文首先介绍SPM系统以及两种常用的SPM,讨论SPM扫描器(即压电驱动器)的特性及其数学模型;然后详细总结了SPM水平方向和竖直方向的控制技术,并且对扫描探针显微镜多输入多输出(SPM MIMO)控制技术进行了探讨;最后总结了SPM控制技术研究现状及其所面临的问题.     

工业机器人加工轨迹双目3D激光扫描成像修正方法

为了提高工业机器人作业柔性,本文提出了一种基于双目CCD激光扫描3D成像的"眼在外"(Eye-to-hand:ETH)工业机器人末端(tool center point,TCP)运动轨迹在线修正方法.以激光切割机器人视觉引导为研究背景,降低加工过程机器人对物理工装定位精度的依赖.首先,为提高机器人视觉控制精度,研究了目...     

Adaptive tilting angles to achieve high‐precision scanning of a dual probes AFM

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful measurement tool, widely used in microfabricated structure inspection. However, since it is typical that the fixed tilting angle of a probe is employed in traditional AFM, the corner and sidewall image of the scanned sample would be distorted. To overcome the problem, a so‐called adaptive tilting angle algorithm (ATAA) applied to a self‐designed dual‐probe AFM system is presented to achieve on‐line sidewall estimation during scanning of general samples. Through the use of the proposed ATAA, the tilting angles of dual probes for each scan line can be self‐adjusted to the optimal ones. Overall, a probe tilt mechanism is designed, which allows the AFM system to change the tilting angles of the probes during the scanning process such that the dual‐probe structure AFM can acquire a complete high precision image with just a single scan. The experimental results show the performance of sidewall measurement and the high‐precision image obtained by the proposed method.     

Driver glance behaviors and scanning patterns: Applying static and dynamic glance measures to the analysis of curve driving with secondary tasks

Performing secondary tasks (or non‐driving‐related tasks) while driving on curved roads may be risky and unsafe. The purpose of this study was to explore whether driving safety in situations involving curved roads and secondary tasks can be evaluated using multiple measures of eye movement. We adopted Markov‐based transition algorithms (i.e., transition/stationary probabilities, entropy) to quantify drivers’ dynamic eye movement patterns, in addition to typical static visual measures, such as frequency and duration of glances. The algorithms were evaluated with data from an experiment (Jeong & Liu, 2019) involving multiple road curvatures and stimulus‐response secondary task types. Drivers were more likely to scan only a few areas of interest with a long duration in sharper curves. Total head‐down glance time was longer in less sharp curves in the experiment, but the probability of head‐down glances was higher in sharper curves over the long run. The number of reliable transitions between areas of interest varied with the secondary task type. The visual scanning patterns for visually undemanding tasks were as random as those for visually demanding tasks. Markov‐based measures of dynamic eye movements provided insights to better understand drivers’ underlying mental processes and scanning strategies, compared with typical static measures. The presented methods and results can be useful for in‐vehicle systems design and for further analysis of visual scanning patterns in the transportation domain.     

LED backlight driving system with local dimming and scanning driver IC

Abstract— Novel LED backlight driving technology with a fully embedded LED driver IC is presented. This driving system and IC feature a high speed reduced swing differential signaling (RSDS) interface, an independent PWM controller with high‐resolution programming, and embedded scan logic. To attain high efficiency from the boost converter, highly advanced dynamic headroom control technology has been implemented onto the IC. The embedded current boosting function showed almost no brightness reduction when operated in scanning mode. The scanning function of the system improved motion blur values 26–44% compared to that of a non‐scanning LCD panel.     

A compact wideband dual‐polarized linear array with hybrid structure and resistive loadings

A wideband, wide‐scan dual‐polarized linear tightly coupled dipole array is presented. The array is based on a prior work, but it employs a hybrid design of planar cross‐finger dipoles and vertical tapered dipoles to form a non‐oversampled aperture with reduced array width and robust structure. Moreover, wider bandwidth and lower profile height are also achieved in the array as compared to the prior work by introducing resistive loadings between dipoles and ground plane, at the expense of acceptable gain loss. Consequently, the array with width of 99.8 mm and profile height of 86.3 mm provides a performance of 5.7:1 bandwidth (0.35‐2 GHz) for active Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) < 3.0 while scanning up to 50°, with orthogonal port isolation below ?15 dB. A 1 × 18 prototype array was fabricated and measured, showing good agreement with simulations.     

Universal Practical Tracking Control of a Planar Underactuated Vehicle

In this article, a universal controller is proposed for a planar underactuated vehicle to track arbitrary trajectories including feasible/non‐feasible ones and fixed points. The controller design relies on several coordinate/input transformations, auxiliary trajectory design and the back‐stepping technique. The stability analysis shows that the position and orientation tracking errors are uniformly globally practically asymptotically convergent (UGPAC), and the velocity tracking errors are uniformly globally asymptotically convergent (UGAC) to a ball of origin. Moreover, if the tracked target is in uniform rectilinear motion or motionless, the whole closed‐loop tracking error system is uniformly globally practically asymptotically stable (UGPAS). The effectiveness of proposed control law is verified by simulation examples.     

Passive classification of wireless NICs during active scanning

Computer networks have become increasingly ubiquitous. However, with the increase in networked applications, there has also been an increase in difficulty to manage and secure these networks. The proliferation of 802.11 wireless networks has heightened this problem by extending networks beyond physical boundaries. We present a statistical analysis and propose the use of spectral analysis to identify the type of wireless network interface card (NIC). This mechanism can be applied to support the detection of unauthorized systems that use NICs that are different from that of a legitimate system. We focus on active scanning, a vaguely specified mechanism required by the 802.11 standard that is implemented in the hardware and software of the wireless NIC. We show that the implementation of this function influences the transmission patterns of a wireless stream that are observable through traffic analysis. Our mechanism for NIC identification uses signal processing to analyze the periodicity embedded in the wireless traffic caused by active scanning. A stable spectral profile is created from the periodic components of the traffic and used for the identity of the wireless NIC. We show that we can distinguish between NICs manufactured by different vendors, with zero false positives, using the spectral profile. Finally, we infer where, in the NIC, the active scanning algorithm is implemented.     

Bidirectional raster scanning to increase time for vector writing in avionics see‐through displays

See‐through displays (STD) like head‐up displays (HUD) play major role in providing aircraft data to pilot through a visual interface. The data is displayed in form of symbology in pilot's line of sight using vector scanning technique and is deciphered to get flight and mission information. Contrast ratio required to see against bright sunlight at high altitudes is given only by luminance of cathode ray tube (CRT). Therefore, CRT is still used as display source in avionic HUDs, although other devices are also being explored for these applications. Aircraft's night mode operation requires raster display of external scene information along with vector data display due to low visibility during night. It reduces time available for writing vector data during night mode resulting in reduced symbology. Conventionally used raster scanning methods are unidirectional scanning methods. Bidirectional raster scanning (BRS) is an unconventional approach which scans display screen from both directions. In present work, an algorithm for BRS has been developed in VHDL providing more time for vector writing by increasing vertical retrace period (VRP) of raster scanning. Functional verification of design has been performed by simulations carried out through test‐bench and VRP is increased to 5.8304 ms from conventional 1.2800 ms per field.     

A wideband circularly polarized antenna using mutual coupling method

A novel wideband circularly polarized (CP) antenna is presented in this article. The proposed antenna consists of a four‐leaf clover patch, four L‐probes, and wideband networks. Based on the tightly coupled mechanism, the four L‐probes are formed as a ring with the adjacent ones kept close for strong mutual coupling. Consequently, the proposed antenna realizes a wideband impedance matching. Meanwhile, the four‐leaf clover patch is put closely inside of the ring for further improving the impedance bandwidth, which is proximity‐coupled fed by the four sequential‐rotation L‐probes with phase of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four L‐probes are connected to the respective ports of a wideband feeding network by a two‐stage impedance transforming network. The measured results indicate that the proposed design has an impedance bandwidth of 66.7% from 1.0 to 2.0 GHz for VSWR ≤ 2 and a 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth of 56.5% from 1.08 to 1.93 GHz. Furthermore, in the operating bandwidth, stable and symmetry radiation patterns and high gain are obtained. The design has a 3‐dB gain bandwidth of 38% from 1.3 to 1.9 GHz with a peak gain of 8.5 dBic.     

Automated inspection planning of free-form shape parts by laser scanning

The inspection operation accounts for a large portion of manufacturing lead time, and its importance in quality control cannot be overemphasized. In recent years, due to the development of laser technology, the accuracy of laser scanners has been improved significantly so that they can be used in a production environment. They are noncontact-type-measuring devices and usually have the scanning speed that is 50–100 times faster than that of coordinate measuring machines. This laser-scanning technology provides us a platform that enables us to perform a 100% inspection of complicated shape parts. This research proposes algorithms that lead to the automation of laser scanner-based inspection operations. The proposed algorithms consist of three steps: firstly, all possible accessible directions at each sampled point on a part surface are generated considering constraints existing in a laser scanning operation. The constraints include satisfying the view angle, the depth of view, checking interference with a part, and avoiding collision with the probe. Secondly, the number of scans and the most desired direction for each scan are calculated. Finally, the scan path that gives the minimum scan time is generated. The proposed algorithms are applied to sample parts and the results are discussed.     

A metallic 3D printed K‐band quasi‐pyramidal‐horn antenna array

A K‐band (18‐27 GHz) antenna array is presented in this article. By deposing the quasi‐pyramidal‐horn upon a print circuit board (PCB), a traveling‐wave quasi‐pyramidal‐horn antenna is formed. Parasitic rings are introduced to decrease the quality factor for an extended bandwidth. The antenna element demonstrates impedance bandwidth 18.6 to 23.3 GHz. The gain is 10.3 dBi at 20.4 GHz with a stable radiation pattern. The impedance bandwidth of a 2 × 2 array is 18.3 to 22.7 GHz, with a maximum gain of 15.2 dBi at 20.4 GHz. The simulated and measured radiation patterns on E‐ and H‐planes at 20.4 GHz agree well. Taking advantage of the 3D printing technology, the quasi‐pyramidal horn is fabricated by selective laser melting using aluminum alloy for time‐saving and process simplicity. The proposed design highlights the hybrid usage of PCB and metallic 3D printing technology in fabricating microwave devices. It is a capable candidate for wireless communication.     

Wide‐angle scanning circular polarization phased array based on polarization rotation technology

A wide‐beam circular polarization (CP) antenna and a wide‐angle scanning phased array based on novel polarization rotation reflective surface (PRRS) are proposed. The CP wide‐beam pattern is obtained by the combination of the radiation wave from the patch antenna and the orthogonal reflected wave from the PRRS with a 90° phase difference. The proposed CP wide‐beam antenna obtains the patterns with the 3‐dB beamwidth more than 136° and the axial ratio (AR) beamwidth more than 132° in the xoz‐plane. Furthermore, an eight‐element phased array based on the wide‐beam CP antenna element is also developed. The measured results show that the main beam of the array can scan from ?65° to 65° with a gain fluctuation less than 3 dB and the ARs at every scanning angle less than 3 dB.