| 1. |
- Ahmad, Naeem, et al.
(författare)
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Model and placement optimization of a sky surveillance visual sensor network
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings - 2011 International Conference on Broadband and Wireless Computing, Communication and Applications, BWCCA 2011. - : IEEE Computer Society. - 9781457714559 ; , s. 357-362
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Visual Sensor Networks (VSNs) are networks which generate two dimensional data. The major difference between VSN and ordinary sensor network is the large amount of data. In VSN, a large number of camera nodes form a distributed system which can be deployed in many potential applications. In this paper we present a model of the physical parameters of a visual sensor network to track large birds, such as Golden Eagle, in the sky. The developed model is used to optimize the placement of the camera nodes in the VSN. A camera node is modeled as a function of its field of view, which is derived by the combination of the lens focal length and camera sensor. From the field of view and resolution of the sensor, a model for full coverage between two altitude limits has been developed. We show that the model can be used to minimize the number of sensor nodes for any given camera sensor, by exploring the focal lengths that both give full coverage and meet the minimum object size requirement. For the case of large bird surveillance we achieve 100% coverage for relevant altitudes using 20 camera nodes per km2 for the investigated camera sensors.
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| 2. |
- Ahmad, Naeem
(författare)
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Modelling and optimization of sky surveillance visual sensor network
- 2012
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A Visual Sensor Network (VSN) is a distributed system of a largenumber of camera sensor nodes. The main components of a camera sensornode are image sensor, embedded processor, wireless transceiver and energysupply. The major difference between a VSN and an ordinary sensor networkis that a VSN generates two dimensional data in the form of an image, whichcan be exploited in many useful applications. Some of the potentialapplication examples of VSNs include environment monitoring, surveillance,structural monitoring, traffic monitoring, and industrial automation.However, the VSNs also raise new challenges. They generate large amount ofdata which require higher processing powers, large bandwidth requirementsand more energy resources but the main constraint is that the VSN nodes arelimited in these resources.This research focuses on the development of a VSN model to track thelarge birds such as Golden Eagle in the sky. The model explores a number ofcamera sensors along with optics such as lens of suitable focal length whichensures a minimum required resolution of a bird, flying at the highestaltitude. The combination of a camera sensor and a lens formulate amonitoring node. The camera node model is used to optimize the placementof the nodes for full coverage of a given area above a required lower altitude.The model also presents the solution to minimize the cost (number of sensornodes) to fully cover a given area between the two required extremes, higherand lower altitudes, in terms of camera sensor, lens focal length, camera nodeplacement and actual number of nodes for sky surveillance.The area covered by a VSN can be increased by increasing the highermonitoring altitude and/or decreasing the lower monitoring altitude.However, it also increases the cost of the VSN. The desirable objective is toincrease the covered area but decrease the cost. This objective is achieved byusing optimization techniques to design a heterogeneous VSN. The core ideais to divide a given monitoring range of altitudes into a number of sub-rangesof altitudes. The sub-ranges of monitoring altitudes are covered by individualsub VSNs, the VSN1 covers the lower sub-range of altitudes, the VSN2 coversthe next higher sub-range of altitudes and so on, such that a minimum cost isused to monitor a given area.To verify the concepts, developed to design the VSN model, and theoptimization techniques to decrease the VSN cost, the measurements areperformed with actual cameras and optics. The laptop machines are used withthe camera nodes as data storage and analysis platforms. The area coverage ismeasured at the desired lower altitude limits of homogeneous as well asheterogeneous VSNs and verified for 100% coverage. Similarly, the minimumresolution is measured at the desired higher altitude limits of homogeneous aswell as heterogeneous VSNs to ensure that the models are able to track thebird at these highest altitudes.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Ambatipudi, Radhika, 1982-
(författare)
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High Frequency (MHz) Planar Transformers for Next Generation Switch Mode Power Supplies
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Increasing the power density of power electronic converters while reducing or maintaining the same cost, offers a higher potential to meet the current trend inrelation to various power electronic applications. High power density converters can be achieved by increasing the switching frequency, due to which the bulkiest parts, such as transformer, inductors and the capacitor's size in the convertercircuit can be drastically reduced. In this regard, highly integrated planar magnetics are considered as an effective approach compared to the conventional wire wound transformers in modern switch mode power supplies (SMPS). However, as the operating frequency of the transformers increase from several hundred kHz to MHz, numerous problems arise such as skin and proximity effects due to the induced eddy currents in the windings, leakage inductance and unbalanced magnetic flux distribution. In addition to this, the core losses whichare functional dependent on frequency gets elevated as the operating frequency increases. Therefore, this thesis provides an insight towards the problems related to the high frequency magnetics and proposes a solution with regards to different aspects in relation to designing high power density, energy efficient transformers.The first part of the thesis concentrates on the investigation of high power density and highly energy efficient coreless printed circuit board (PCB) step-down transformers useful for stringent height DC-DC converter applications, where the core losses are being completely eliminated. These transformers also maintain the advantages offered by existing core based transformers such as, high coupling coefficient, sufficient input impedance, high energy efficiency and wide frequencyband width with the assistance of a resonant technique. In this regard, several coreless PCB step down transformers of different turn’s ratio for power transfer applications have been designed and evaluated. The designed multilayered coreless PCB transformers for telecom and PoE applications of 8,15 and 30W show that the volume reduction of approximately 40 - 90% is possible when compared to its existing core based counterparts while maintaining the energy efficiency of the transformers in the range of 90 - 97%. The estimation of EMI emissions from the designed transformers for the given power transfer application proves that the amount of radiated EMI from a multilayered transformer is lessthan that of the two layered transformer because of the decreased radius for thesame amount of inductance.The design guidelines for the multilayered coreless PCB step-down transformer for the given power transfer application has been proposed. The designed transformer of 10mm radius has been characterized up to the power level of 50Wand possesses a record power density of 107W/cm3 with a peak energy efficiency of 96%. In addition to this, the design guidelines of the signal transformer fordriving the high side MOSFET in double ended converter topologies have been proposed. The measured power consumption of the high side gate drive circuitvitogether with the designed signal transformer is 0.37W. Both these signal andpower transformers have been successfully implemented in a resonant converter topology in the switching frequency range of 2.4 – 2.75MHz for the maximum load power of 34.5W resulting in the peak energy efficiency of converter as 86.5%.This thesis also investigates the indirect effect of the dielectric laminate on the magnetic field intensity and current density distribution in the planar power transformers with the assistance of finite element analysis (FEA). The significanceof the high frequency dielectric laminate compared to FR-4 laminate in terms of energy efficiency of planar power transformers in MHz frequency region is also explored.The investigations were also conducted on different winding strategies such as conventional solid winding and the parallel winding strategies, which play an important role in the design and development of a high frequency transformer and suggested a better choice in the case of transformers operating in the MHz frequency region.In the second part of the thesis, a novel planar power transformer with hybrid core structure has been designed and evaluated in the MHz frequency region. The design guidelines of the energy efficient high frequency planar power transformerfor the given power transfer application have been proposed. The designed corebased planar transformer has been characterized up to the power level of 50W and possess a power density of 47W/cm3 with maximum energy efficiency of 97%. This transformer has been evaluated successfully in the resonant converter topology within the switching frequency range of 3 – 4.5MHz. The peak energy efficiency ofthe converter is reported to be 92% and the converter has been tested for the maximum power level of 45W, which is suitable for consumer applications such as laptop adapters. In addition to this, a record power density transformer has been designed with a custom made pot core and has been characterized in thefrequency range of 1 - 10MHz. The power density of this custom core transformer operating at 6.78MHz frequency is 67W/cm3 and with the peak energy efficiency of 98%.In conclusion, the research in this dissertation proposed a solution for obtaining high power density converters by designing the highly integrated, high frequency(1 - 10MHz) coreless and core based planar magnetics with energy efficiencies inthe range of 92 - 97%. This solution together with the latest semiconductor GaN/SiC switching devices provides an excellent choice to meet the requirements of the next generation ultra flat low profile switch mode power supplies (SMPS).
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| 5. |
- Ambatipudi, Radhika, 1982-
(författare)
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Multilayered Coreless Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Step-down Transformers for High Frequency Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)
- 2011
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Power Supply Unit (PSU) plays a vital role in almost all electronic equipment. The continuous efforts applied to the improvement of semiconductor devices such as MOSFETS, diodes, controllers and MOSFET drivers have led to the increased switching speeds of power supplies. By increasing the switching frequency of the converter, the size of passive elements such as inductors, transformers and capacitors can be reduced. Hence, the high frequency transformer has become the backbone in isolated AC/DC and DC/DC converters. The main features of transformers are to provide isolation for safety purpose, multiple outputs such as in telecom applications, to build step down/step up converters and so on. The core based transformers, when operated at higher frequencies, do have limitations such as core losses which are proportional to the operating frequency. Even though the core materials are available in a few MHz frequency regions, because of the copper losses in the windings of the transformers those which are commercially available were limited from a few hundred kHz to 1MHz. The skin and proximity effects because of induced eddy currents act as major drawbacks while operating these transformers at higher frequencies. Therefore, it is necessary to mitigate these core losses, skin and proximity effects while operating the transformers at very high frequencies. This can be achieved by eliminating the magnetic cores of transformers and by introducing a proper winding structure.A new multi-layered coreless printed circuit board (PCB) step down transformer for power transfer applications has been designed and this maintains the advantages offered by existing core based transformers such as, high voltage gain, high coupling coefficient, sufficient input impedance and high energy efficiency with the assistance of a resonant technique. In addition, different winding structures have been studied and analysed for higher step down ratios in order to reduce copper losses in the windings and to achieve a higher coupling coefficient. The advantage of increasing the layer for the given power transfer application in terms of the coupling coefficient, resistance and energy efficiency has been reported. The maximum energy efficiency of the designed three layered transformers was found to be within the range of 90%-97% for power transfer applications operated in a few MHz frequency regions. The designed multi-layered coreless PCB transformers for given power applications of 8, 15 and 30W show that the volume reduction of approximately 40-90% is possible when compared to its existing core based counterparts. The estimation of EMI emissions from the designed transformers proves that the amount of radiated EMI from a three layered transformer is less than that of the two layered transformer because of the decreased radius for the same amount of inductance.Multi-layered coreless PCB gate drive transformers were designed for signal transfer applications and have successfully driven the double ended topologies such as the half bridge, the two switch flyback converter and resonant converters with low gate drive power consumption of about half a watt. The performance characteristics of these transformers have also been evaluated using the high frequency magnetic material made up of NiZn and operated in the 2-4MHz frequency region.These multi-layered coreless PCB power and signal transformers together with the latest semiconductor switching devices such as SiC and GaN MOSFETs and the SiC schottky diode are an excellent choice for the next generation compact SMPS.
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| 6. |
- Bader, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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A Domain-Specific Platform for Research in Environmental Wireless Sensor Networks
- 2013
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Ingår i: SENSORCOMM 2013, The Seventh International Conference on Sensor Technologies and Applications. - 9781612082967 ; , s. 200-207
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wireless Sensor Networks have the ability to improve a multitude of existing application domains. These networks are built up from a number of sensor nodes with sensing, communication and processing capabilities and the performance of the networked system is defined by the performance of the node platform it is based on. In this paper, we present SENTIO-em, a hardware platform for research in the environmental monitoring application domain. Based on the application domain requirements, the architecture and implementation of SENTIO-em is optimized for environmental monitoring constraints, while it is sufficiently flexible to be reused for different applications within the domain. The architecture of the platform is presented and evaluated under both laboratory and different environmental conditions. The obtained results are compared to a number of existing node platforms, demonstrating that SENTIO-em provides high energy efficiency with increased processing performance, short state transition times, and low quiescent currents.
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| 7. |
- Bader, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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A Method for Dimensioning Micro-Scale Solar Energy HarvestingSystems Based on Energy Level Simulations
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings - IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing, EUC 2010. - : IEEE conference proceedings. - 9780769543222 ; , s. 372-379
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Solar energy harvesting gains more and more attention in the field of wireless sensor networks. In situations, where these sensor systems are deployed outdoors, powering sensor nodes by solar energy becomes a suitable alternative to the traditional way of battery power supplies. Since solar energy, opposed to batteries, can be considered as an inexhaustible energy source, scavenging this source allows longer system lifetimes and brings wireless sensor networks closer to be an autonomous system with perpetual lifetime. Despite the possibility of designing and constructing these harvesting system, dimensioning becomes a crucial task to fit implemented components to application and load system demands. In this paper we present a way of dimensioning solar harvesting systems based on simulation. Method and implementation of component and system models are described on the basis of an example architecture that has been used in prior work. Furthermore we evaluate the model in comparison to deployment of the same architecture and show the suitability of using the simulation as a support to optimize choices for system parameters
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| 8. |
- Bader, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges for RF two-way time-of-flight ranging in wireless sensor networks
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings - Conference on Local Computer Networks, LCN. - : IEEE conference proceedings. - 9781467321297 ; , s. 908-916
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In applications where a priori determination of location is infeasible, node localization schemes are desirable, which allow the node to estimate its location during network operation. The majority of these schemes are based on ranging between node pairs, which should ideally be performed without adding cost or size to the sensor node. Two-way time-of-flight schemes can fulfill this desire, by utilizing the measurement of the time-of-flight of electromagnetic waves to determine the distance between two sensor nodes. In this paper, we present the implementation and analysis of such a ranging scheme. Because a small error in time measurement can result in a large distance estimation error, the focus of this work lies on the determination and analysis of influencing factors, which limit the accuracy of round-trip-time measurements. We analyze two main contributing factors to the accuracy of the ranging scheme, namely the radio transceiver clock quantization and the link quality during round-trip-time measurement. These effects and their impact on the overall ranging error have been investigated by means of simulation and experimentation. Initial ranging errors as large as 24 m RMS were observed, which could be reduced to errors between 5 and 8 m RMS by utilizing compensation techniques.
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| 9. |
- Bader, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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Concealing the complexity of node programming in wireless sensor networks
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE 8th International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing: Sensing the Future, ISSNIP 2013. - : IEEE conference proceedings. - 9781467354998 - 9781467355018 ; , s. 177-182
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a significant potential for Wireless sensor networks to be used as a general distributed measurement and monitoring system. The integration of computation, communication and sensing enables smart sensors to be built that can be adapted to a plethora of application requirements and allow for automated data collection throughout the network. However, the potential end users of this systems are domain experts, who usually do not possess the technical expertise to program, and thus operate, wireless sensor nodes, which prohibits the technology from becoming off-the-shelf equipment. In this paper, we present a method which enables the complexity of programming sensor nodes to be concealed in order to allow domain experts to use wireless sensor networks in basic applications without the requirement of technical assistance. We propose to use a computer-based specification entry, which generates a configuration parameter set to adjust the sensor node's application behavior. The method has been implemented in a proof-of-concept system and evaluated with test subjects who possess limited programming skills. The results show that users without any prior programming knowledge, or experience with embedded systems, are capable of configuring a sensor node according to a given application scenario within minutes.
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| 10. |
- Bader, Sebastian, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Durable Solar Energy Harvesting from Limited Ambient Energy Income
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Journal on Advances in Networks and Services. - : IARIA. - 1942-2644. ; 4:1&2, s. 66-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Typical wireless sensor network applications inthe domain of environmental monitoring require or profitfrom extended system lifetime. However, restrictions in sensornode resources, especially due to the usage of capacity limitedbatteries, forbid these desired lifetimes to be reached. Asopposed to batteries, energy harvesting from ambient energysources enables for near-perpetual supply of sensor nodes, asthe utilized energy source is inexhaustible. Nevertheless, thesupply from ambient energy sources is rate-limited, whereinthis supply-rate is mainly defined by the system deploymentlocation. On the other hand, the attached sensor node hasa consumption-rate, which has to be supplied to guaranteecontinuous node operation. In this paper, we address thematching of supply-rate and consumption-rate in solar energyharvesting systems at locations with limited insolation. Thefocus lies on the reduction of harvester energy overhead, whichin low-duty cycled system easily reaches similar or higherconsumption levels than the load it supplies. We suggest andpresent two harvester architectures [1], that have their maindesign consideration on simplicity. The individual modulesof the architectures are tested and verified in laboratorymeasurements and we evaluate the fully implemented systemsin an outdoor deployment. Based on the laboratory results,implementation choices for the architecture modules have beenmade. Whereas both harvesting architectures continuouslysupplied the attached load during the deployment period, wewere able to compare their behavior with each other andpresent individual advantages and drawbacks
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