Applications of RF aperture-array spatially-bandpass 2-D IIR filters in sub-Nyquist spectrum sensing,wideband doppler radar and radio astronomy beamforming

The application of two-dimensional (2-D) infinite impulse response (IIR) spatially-bandpass (SBP) filters as a digital beamformer for a wide spectrum of practical applications spanning wireless cognitive radio communications, doppler radar, and radio astronomy instrumentation is discussed. The paper starts with an introduction of the recently proposed 2-D SBP filter. The first application is a spectrum sensing scheme for dynamic spectrum access based cognitive radios. A 2-D IIR SBP filter is used in conjunction with a sub-Nyquist wideband signal reconstruction technique to achieve aperture-array directional spectrum sensing using sub-Nyquist sparse sampling based on the recently reported Eldar algorithm. The second application is related to wideband pulse and continuous-wave frequency modulated Doppler radar sensing. The SBP filter is integrated with a wideband radar back-end connected to an electronically-steerable aperture antenna. A a low-complexity directional localization algorithm is presented, which estimates the range and angle of a target scatterer with a signal to interference ratio improvement of 10 dB. We also present applications of 2-D IIR SBP in the fields of classification and remote sensing of unmanned aerial vehicles. Finally, a digital aperture-array wideband beamforming model using the 2-D IIR SBP filters is presented for radio telescope systems based on dense aperture arrays and time-domain beamforming. A well-known example is the study of pulsar astrophysics using a highly-directional aperture antenna system. The 2-D IIR SBP beamformer is simulated as the digital backend of the time-domain beamforming system with array signals synthesized using measured time-domain signatures from the Crab pulsar obtained from the GAVRT. The SBP filter shows a gain of 12.3 dB with an order of magnitude lower circuit complexity compared to traditional phased-array digital beamformers. To obtain comparable levels of SINR improvement, the wideband phased-array beamformers require 48-point FFTs per antenna. Assuming the optimum three real-multiplications per complex multiplication for the Gauss algorithm, it is discovered that the proposed 2-D IIR SBP beamformers are more than 97 % lower in digital multiplier complexity compared to traditional FIR phased-array FFT-beamformers.     

Analysis and Experiment of Self-Powered,Pulse-Based Energy Harvester Using 400 V FEP-Based Segmented Triboelectric Nanogenerators and 98.2% Tracking Efficient Power Management IC for Multi-Functional IoT Applications

A self-powered system for the Internet of Things (IoT) is demonstrated for efficient energy harvesting of naturally available mechanical energy. In this system, new contact-separation mode triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), based on fluorinated ethylene propylene, are investigated using the segmented multi-TENG configuration to reduce the effect of parasitic capacitance. The TENG extraction is optimized using a unit step excitation involved with the Dawson function to achieve a high voltage (400 V) and a high current (26.6 µA). To fully extract the power of the TENGs, the power management integrated circuit (PMIC) specially designed for adaptively controlled, high-voltage (HV) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is proposed. The PMIC implemented in a bipolar CMOS-DMOS 180 nm process can handle a wide input range (5–70 V) by consuming 420 nW. The MPPT control allows a wide range of impedance matching from 10 to 300 MΩ, achieving a tracking efficiency of up to 98.2%. The end-to-end efficiency of 88% demonstrates state-of-the-art performance. To supply a higher instantaneous power than that available from the TENGs, a duty-cycling technique is successfully demonstrated. The proposed energy harvesting system provides a promising approach to realizing sustainable and autonomous energy sources for various IoT applications.     

Use of geographical information system and remote sensing techniques for planning culture‐based fisheries in non‐perennial reservoirs of Sri Lanka

The presence of a wide areal extent of small‐sized village reservoirs offers a considerable potential for the development of culture‐based fisheries (CBFs) in Sri Lanka. To this end, this study uses geographical information systems (GISs) and remote sensing (RS) techniques to determine the morphometric and biological characteristics most useful for classifying non‐perennial reservoirs for CBF development and for assessing the influence of catchment land‐use patterns on potential CBF yields. The reservoir shorelines at full water supply level were mapped with a Global Positioning System to determine shoreline length and reservoir areal extent. The ratio of shoreline length to reservoir extent, which was reported to be a powerful predictor variable of CBF yields, could be reliably quantified using RS techniques. The areal extent of reservoirs, quantified with RS techniques (RS extent), was used to estimate the ratio of forest cover plus scrubland cover to RS extent and was found to be significantly related to the CBF yield (R² = 0.400; P < 0.05). The results of this study indicated that morphometric characteristics and catchment land‐use patterns, which might be viewed as indices of biological productivity, can be quantified using RS and GIS techniques.     

Stabilization of immiscible polymer blends using structure directing metal organic frameworks (MOFs)

We have developed a novel approach for compatibilizing immiscible polymer blends using metal organic frameworks (MOFs). For the first time we demonstrated that the droplet diameter of the dispersed phase in a 1:1 immiscible polymer blend composed of 6FDA-DAM:DABA [copolymer of 4,4-hexafluoroisopropylidene diphthalic anhydride (6FDA), 2,4,6-trimethyl-1,3-phenylenediamine and 3,5-diaminobenzoic acid (DABA)], and polybenzimidazole (PBI), is dramatically reduced obtaining a uniform microstructure with the incorporation of as low as 5% (w/w) of the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8). This indicates a large improvement in the compatibility of the immiscible polymers with the inclusion of ZIF-8. As the ZIF-8 loading was further increased to 10% (w/w), the droplet diameter further decreased resulting in even higher compatibility. The compatibilizing effect can be attributed to a reduction in the interfacial energy of the immiscible polymers due to the interfacial localization of ZIF-8. This MOF based compatibilization of immiscible polymer blends can open up opportunities for the combination of different properties of polymers in membrane-based separations and in more applications.     

Influence of hydrology on water quality and trophic state of irrigation reservoirs in Sri Lanka

Many reservoirs provide multiple benefits to people around the world, in addition to primary uses such as irrigation. Thus, reservoir management should address their multiple uses. The water quality of ten irrigation reservoirs in Sri Lanka was examined in the present study with the objective of better understanding the effects of hydrological regimes on reservoir water quality and trophic state. Basic limnological parameters pertinent to the nutrient loads to, and trophic state of, the reservoirs were collected from June 2013 to February 2016. The sampling period was arbitrarily divided into two periods of approximately similar duration (period 1 = June 2013–September 2014; period 2 = October 2014–February 2016) to investigate whether or not there was a seasonal variation in the water quality parameters. Although temporal and spatial variations were observed, most water quality parameters were within the levels acceptable for drinking water standards. The 10 reservoirs were also ordinated by principal component analysis (PCA) on the basis of the water quality parameters of the two sampling periods in a two‐dimensional score plot. Reservoirs in the first principal component (PC1) axis were represented by negative scores attributable to the dissolved oxygen concentration and pH and, to a lesser extent, by electrical conductivity and chlorophyll‐a concentration. Positive scores in PC1 were represented by reservoirs with a score loading attributable to alkalinity, nitrate concentration, Secchi depth, temperature and seston weight and, to a lesser extent, from the total phosphorus concentration. There was a significant negative correlation of PC1 scores with relative reservoir water‐level fluctuation (RRLF; the ratio of mean reservoir water‐level amplitude to mean reservoir depth). Furthermore, Carlson's trophic index also were influenced by RRLF, although not by hydraulic retention time (HRT), indicating allochthonous nutrient inputs into the irrigation reservoirs were mainly governed by RRLF, but not by HRT. Thus, the results of the present study provide useful insights into achieving desirable reservoir water quality through the manipulation of the hydrological regime.     

Electronically scanned RF-to-bits beam aperture arrays using 2-D IIR spatially bandpass digital filters

A beamforming system based on two-dimensional (2-D) spatially bandpass infinite impulse response (IIR) plane wave filtering is presented in a multi-dimensional signal processing perspective and the implementation details are discussed. Real-time implementation of such beamforming systems requires modeling of computational electromagnetics for the antennas, radio frequency (RF) analog design aspects for low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), mixed-signal aspects for signal quantization and sampling and finally, digital architectures for the spatially bandpass plane wave filters proposed in Joshi et al. (IEEE Trans Very Large Scale Integr Syst 20(12):2241–2254, 2012). Multi-dimensional spatio-temporal spectral properties of down-converted RF plane wave signals are reviewed and derivation of the spatially bandpass filter transfer function is presented. An example of a wideband antipodal Vivaldi antenna is simulated at 1 GHz. Potential RF receiver chains are identified including a design of a tunable combline microstrip bandpass filter with tuning range 0.8–1.1 GHz. The 1st-order sensitivity analysis of the beam filter 2-D $\mathbf z $ -domain transfer function shows that for a 12-bits of fixed-point precision, the maximum percentage error in the 2-D magnitude frequency response due to quantization is as low as $0.3\,\%$ . Monte-Carlo simulations are used to study the effect of quantization on the bit error rate (BER) performance of the beamforming system. 5-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) precision with 8-bit internal arithmetic precision provides a gain of approximately 16 dB for a BER of $10^{-3}$ with respect to the no beamforming case. ASIC Synthesis results of the beam filter in 45 nm CMOS verifies a real time operating frequency of 429 MHz.     

18F-Sodium Fluoride PET as a Diagnostic Modality for Metabolic,Autoimmune, and Osteogenic Bone Disorders: Cellular Mechanisms and Clinical Applications

In a healthy body, homeostatic actions of osteoclasts and osteoblasts maintain the integrity of the skeletal system. When cellular activities of osteoclasts and osteoblasts become abnormal, pathological bone conditions, such as osteoporosis, can occur. Traditional imaging modalities, such as radiographs, are insensitive to the early cellular changes that precede gross pathological findings, often leading to delayed disease diagnoses and suboptimal therapeutic strategies. ¹⁸F-sodium fluoride (¹⁸F-NaF)-positron emission tomography (PET) is an emerging imaging modality with the potential for early diagnosis and monitoring of bone diseases through the detection of subtle metabolic changes. Specifically, the dissociated ¹⁸F^- is incorporated into hydroxyapatite, and its uptake reflects osteoblastic activity and bone perfusion, allowing for the quantification of bone turnover. While ¹⁸F-NaF-PET has traditionally been used to detect metastatic bone disease, recent literature corroborates the use of ¹⁸F-NaF-PET in benign osseous conditions as well. In this review, we discuss the cellular mechanisms of ¹⁸F-NaF-PET and examine recent findings on its clinical application in diverse metabolic, autoimmune, and osteogenic bone disorders.