Design of a wideband microstrip antenna and the use of artificial neural networks in parameter calculation

This paper deals with the design of a multi-slot hole-coupled microstrip antenna on a substrate of 2 mm thickness that gives multi-frequency (wideband) characteristics. The Method of Moments (MoM)-based IE3D software was used to simulate the results for return loss, VSWR, the Smith chart, and the radiation patterns. A tunnel-based artificial neural network (ANN) was also developed to calculate the radiation patterns of the antenna. The radiation patterns were measured experimentally at 10.5 GHz and 12 GHz. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulated results from IE3D and those of the artificial neural network. A new method of using a genetic algorithm (GA) in an artificial neural network is also discussed. This new method was used to calculate the resonant frequency of a single-shorting-post microstrip antenna. The resonant frequency calculated using the genetic-algorithm-coupled artificial neural network was compared with the analytical and experimental results. The results obtained were in very good agreement with the experimental results.     

Detection efficiency vs. cathode and anode separation in cylindrical vacuum photodiodes used for measuring x-rays from plasma focus device

A qualitative study on the performance of cylindrical vacuum photodiodes (VPDs) for x-ray detection in plasma focus device has been carried out. Various parameters of VPD such as electrode's diameter, electrode's separation, and its sensitivity are experimentally tested in plasma focus environment. For the first time it is found experimentally that the electrode-separation in the lateral direction of the two coaxial electrodes of cylindrical VPD also plays an important role to increase the efficiency of the detector. The efficiency is found to be highest for the detector with smaller cathode-anode lateral gap (1.5 mm) with smaller photo cathode diameter (10 mm). A comparison between our VPD with PIN (BPX-65) diode as an x-ray detector has also been made.     

Studies on Ion Emission from the Plasma Focus Device by Using Ion Collector and Track Detector

Ion beam emission from a neon gas filled plasma focus device has been studied by using ion collector and solid state nuclear track detector. The neon ion beam emission is found to be highly pressure dependant and it is maximum at a pressure of 0.3 Torr. The maximum ion energy at 0.3 Torr is estimated to be 1 MeV. Preliminary results on solid state nuclear track detector indicate the formation of tracks in CR-39 due to exposure of neon ions. The average rim diameter of tracks is measured to be 4.35 μm and the number of track is of the order of 10¹⁰ track/m².     

Quantification of Shear Strain Development in the Through-Thickness Direction During Sliding Wear

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Quantifying strain in a deformation mechanism like wear can be critical to enhancing knowledge on structure–property correlation, especially for...