Application of image processing and radial basis neural network techniques for ore sorting and ore classification

Ore sorting is a useful tool to remove gangue material from the ore of bigger size ranges. The radical development in the area of artificial intelligence allows speedy processing the full color digital images for the preferred investigations. In this paper a novel approach to classify the ores for ferromanganese metallurgical plant feed has been proposed based on the visual texture of the ore particles (Mn, Fe, and Al₂O₃ rich) and radial basis neural network. The visual texture of ore particles vary with the mineral contents. This information can be quantified by using image processing technique in RGB color space and, first and second-order statistical analysis. Commonly used Hartlic’s textural features was calculated and presented as neural network inputs along with red, green and blue color values for 5 × 5 pixel size windowpanes extracted from three separate images. Results obtained show encouraging accuracy to apply the approach to develop an expert system for on line ore quality monitoring to control the ore blending in the feed ore circuits as well as separating gangue minerals present in the feed ores. Matlab^® 7.0 was used for visual textural analysis and neural network classification.     

Wide bandwidth, high-repetition-rate optoelectronic modulation of millimetre waves in GaAs waveguide

The generation of ultrashort, chirped and coherent millimetre-wave pulses by an optical method is reported. Using this technique, the modulation of millimetre-wave signals at 94 GHz with a modulation bandwidth in excess of 1 GHz is readily achievable.     

Smart Antenna System for DOA Estimation using Single Snapshot

Wireless Personal Communications - In the antenna array signal processing, a lot of interest has been given towards large number of samples which is asymptotic case. In certain cases like...     

Adaptive Beamformers for High-Speed Mobile Communication

In this work, we propose a fast conjugate gradient method (CGM) for beamforming, after thoroughly analyzing the performances of the least mean square (LMS), the recursive least square (RLS), and the sample matrix inversion (SMI) adaptive beamforming algorithms. Various experiments are carried out to analyze the performances of each beamformer in detail. The proposed conjugate gradient method does not use the Eigen spread of the signal correlation matrix as in the case of the LMS and the RLS methods. It computes antenna array weights orthogonally for each iteration. Hence the convergence rate and the null depths of the proposed method are much better than the LMS, the SMI the RLS and the classical CGM. Also, the simulation results confirm that this method has a speed improvement of about 60% over the classical conjugate gradient method. This aspect significantly reduces the processor burden and saves a lot of power during the beamforming process. Hence the proposed method is superior compared to the LMS, the RLS, the SMI, and classical CGM and most suitable for high-speed mobile communication.

     

Design and Analysis of a Fractal Antenna Using Jeans Material for WiMax/WSN Applications

This paper presents a novel approach in designing fractal antennas operating at 2.45 GHz. Mainly focuses on design and simulation of a combination of Koch and Sierpinski fractal antenna with jeans as substrate material with dielectric constant 1.6 up to 2nd iteration. The design of antenna presented here can radiate at 2.45 GHZ, 3.64 GHZ, and 4.06 GHz frequencies with a reflection coefficient less than  ? 10 dB, VSWR between 1 and 2 and enhancement in bandwidth up to 200 MHz. This antenna has been simulated using CADFEKO software, fabricated and tested on VNA and has been observed that there is good conformity between simulation and experimental results. Besides that, Fractal antenna using jeans material as substrate for WiMAX/WSN Application at S and C frequency bands is small in size, flexible, less costly and low profile multiband antenna.

     

Selective Classification of Mineral Sand Slimes in an Air Fluidized Bed

Studies were carried out for selective classification of mineral sands to remove unwanted slimes (particles of <0.63 µm in size). Vertical and arched fluidized bed setups were tested to retain the coarser heavy mineral particles from fluidized mineral sand beds. Theoretically calculated process parameters were used to develop the experimental setups. The mathematical model given by Nguyentranlam and Galvin (“Particle classification in the reflux classifier.” Minerals Engineering, 14(9), 2001 Nguyentranlam , G. and Galvin , K. P. , 2001 , “Particle classification in the reflux classifier.” Minerals Engineering , 14 ( 9 ), pp. 1081 – 1091 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], pp. 1081–1091) was used to develop an arched fluidized bed setup. Experiments were carried out at six different superficial air velocities (0.21, 0.25, 0.34, 0.41, 0.64, and 0.82 m/s) in the vertical and arched fluidized bed setups. An acceptable agreement was found in the experimental and theoretical results. The overall process capability of the vertical fluidized bed to selectively remove the slimes was 44.8% with the loss of 3.93% of heavy minerals. The overall process capability was improved up to 52% with the loss of 4.08% of heavy minerals by the proposed arched fluidized bed setup. The developed arched fluidized bed setup showed improved performance for selective elutriation of mineral sand slime particles with compromising heavy mineral losses.     

Bulk production of porous TiO2 nanowires by unique solvo-plasma oxidation approach for combating biotic and abiotic water contaminants

Pure, porous titania nanowires (TiO₂-pNW) are produced in bulk amount (~?250 kg/day, reaction time scale?<?1 min) using a unique solvo-plasma oxidation method utilizing microwave plasma with the potential of easy scale up. The prepared nanowire is found to be efficient towards both biotic disinfection and destruction of various abiotic contaminants in wastewaters. In terms of organic contaminants, the TiO₂-pNW is tested for destruction of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye, tetracycline (TC) antibiotic, and diclofenac (DFC) and caffeine (CAF) drugs. In the case of biotic contaminants, the disinfection of E. coli bacteria is demonstrated. In all of the studies, the photocatalytic performance of anatase TiO₂-pNW is compared to that of commercially available P25 nanoparticles (TiO₂-P25), both in the presence and absence of ozone. The excellent photoactivity exhibited by TiO₂-pNW is a result of low recombination rate of electron–hole pair owing to the spatial separation of electrons and holes within the photoexcited nanowires. Moreover, the scavenger experiments and experiments involving ozone reveal that electron transfer and/or presence of dissolved oxygen are the major limiting factors for both porous titania nanowires and P25 spherical powder under UV exposure with photocatalytic activity towards pollutant degradation.

     

Assessment of water absorption and chloride ion penetration of pavement quality concrete admixed with wollastonite and microsilica

Wollastonite with or without microsilica was evaluated as a new material for partial replacement of cement in M40 grade pavement quality concrete. Wollastonite is abundantly available in the Udaipur belt of Rajasthan state in the Indian union as a low cost material. Its physical and chemical properties were analyzed. This particular wollastonite consists of 45.6% of CaO and 48% of SiO₂, mainly in amorphous form and has an average specific surface area of 842.7 m²/kg. Five finalized concrete mix proportions including the control mix were investigated for saturated water absorption, rate of water absorption, coefficient of water absorption and chloride ion penetration. Test results indicate that up to 15% of wollastonite and 7.5% microsilica can be advantageously admixed with cement to significantly improve the water tightness of concrete due to reduction in pore space and refinement of microstructure. Mathematical relationships existing between these parameters were studied and predictive graphs were developed.     

Advances in Smart Antenna Systems for Wireless Communication

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless communication is one of the fastest growing fields of communication industry. Cellular phones have shown the drastic exponential growth from the last...