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Abstract:
The Radar Remote Sensing Group in University of Cape Town has developed accurate modelling method that uses 3D maps of the Western Cape to predict the signal path loss between a transmitter, aircraft and a receiver in the Passive Coherent Location (PCL) system. The core objective of this thesis is to investigate the use of this modelling method to optimise the location of receivers in order to achieve maximum coverage of aircraft moving around Cape Town International Airport.
This project report investigates to approach the theory of Electro-magnetic (EM) propagation and EM simulations by using the available modelling tools. It has shown the coverage area only depends on the length of the baseline for desired SNR in a particular passive radar system. This report has also obtained theoretical formulation of the coverage area and a method to calculate the coverage area by using Matlab from the EM simulations for an one transmitter and one receiver passive radar.This will be followed by investigating on the problem with several receivers and one transmitter passive radar system.
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Abstract:
Receivers of Passive Coherent Location radar systems comprises of separate channels. A reference channel for receiving the direct signal from the transmitter and a surveillance channel for receiving echo signals from targets. The signals received from these channels are cross-correlated to estimate the range of the target as well as the Doppler-shift. A relative frequency drift between the channels will introduce an additional Doppler shift thus introducing errors in the speed and distance calculations of the target. This artificial Doppler will degrade the coherency of the radar system.
This research project will investigate the effects of frequency drifts on the performances of passive radars. Characterization methods will be investigated and used to model and predict the frequency drifts, thus ultimately implementing corrective protocols to reduce the effects of frequency drifts.
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Abstract:
This project describes the design, implementation and testing of a Graphical User Interface for the Flexible Extensible Radar Simulator which was developed by the RRSG at UCT.
Prior to the actual design and implementation, research relevant to the GUI development needed to be examined. Research included a basic understanding of radar systems, the FERS simulator and an already existing graphical radar simulator, Sarsim2. The software tools used to complete this project included Qt, OpenGL and QWT.
The design phase involved determining the functionality of the GUI and separating the GUI into smaller manageable components. These were the main window, pulse compressions, 3D visualization and 2D graphs of results. This allowed for modular design of the GUI.
The implementation phase involved realizing the functionality set out in the design phase by using the software tools and relevant research.
Once implementation was complete the testing of the GUI was carried out. Any inconsistencies found at this stage were either corrected or included as future work.
The GUI created utilizes the FERS simulator to model both bistatic and monostatic radars and a maximum of 6 isotropic targets. The radar platforms and targets are displayed on a 3D plot created with OpenGL. The user is able to rotate, zoom and move the 3D coordinate system. When simulation is complete the user has the option of viewing basic 2D graphs of the results produced by the FERS simulator.
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Abstract:
Nintendo has recently developed the Wii products which dramatically enhances gaming experience. It allows the user to control objects on the screen by relating it to the physical motion experienced by the controller.
People found that by using the infrared camera in theWii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), they can track the location of their head. The image in the screen can then be changed by moving it relative to the head’s position. This makes the screen appear to be a window to a different dimension.
In this thesis, a 3D environment was created to test the headtracking capabilities of the wiimote. The environment is a 3D version of a normal desktop, with the shortcut icons replaced by picture billboards, rotating spheres object files. It is a Netbeans project and uses java as the base programing language. The environment is rendered by using the JOGL package in java. Through testing by follow peers, it has been concluded that headtracking is good for viewing objects up close. For objects located in the distance, normal viewing techniques is sufficient.
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Abstract:
The purpose of this project is to develop a 3D first-person computer game with integrated Wii input user interface. The Wii interface will include head-tracking, virtual world navigation and object interaction.
The head-tracking user interface will be achieved using the IR camera on a Wiimote (from a NintendoWii) by placing IR LEDs on glasses on the user’s head and tracking the movement of the user’s head using triangulation techniques. The Wii will also be tested as an input device to navigate through the virtual world in the 3D game, using the button inputs, and also for interacting with objects, using the Wiimote’s accelerometers. Once this system is completed and adequately functioning, it will be tested to justify the feasibility of using the Wiimote as an advanced user input device in future gaming development.
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Abstract:
The objective of this report is to outline the development of a noise temperature measurement application using National Instruments LabVIEW. More specifically by achieving remote control of a spectrum analyser and using an RF amplifier and mixer as the DUT’s.
The report begin by giving a brief introduction to concepts of noise temperature and noise firgure, then goes into a discussion regarding the methods used to measure noise figure with aim of conducting these experiments. The purpose of the experiments is to identify possible implementable modules for the application. This is important as the application is required to be modular for ease of interpretation and possible modification. The control interface (Prologix GPIB controller) and software are also discussed briefly.
Development of the experimentation process revealed that the application could not be properly tested due to a lack of appropriate apparatus and time constraints. However, the application was developed, but its capabilities are not known as testing was not possible.
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Abstract:
There has been regular reports, of methane gas explosions in coal mines. This methane gas remains traped in voids of coal seams. This thesis focuses in launching and propagation of Electromagnetic (EM) waves to probe ahead of the drill that drills in the coal seam to extract methane gas. A model is used to simulate seam-rock waveguide to study the behaviour of EM waves in the seam. Another program is used to investigate the loss in the path of these waves.
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Abstract:
This research report aims to investigate the viability of creating an application for the purpose of interactively viewing 3d terrain maps with the motion of a user’s head by performing headtracking using the Nintendo Wiimote.
This investigation begins by reviewing previous work done in the field of head tracking. It then details the theory of operation of the Nintendo Wiimote followed by a series of tests conducted on the Wiimote to verify its ability to reliably provide motion sensing data. A review and assessment of some of the various graphics programs and file formats used to render, view and store terrain map data is presented. Some of the available Wiimote api’s are also reviewed here.
In conclusion it was found that the Wiimote doesn’t necessarily outperform previous technologies used for head tracking, however it does incorporate functionality which can greatly simplify head tracking systems. Also the combination of GlovePIE scripts and MeshLab showed the most potential for the development of a head-tracking-terrain-map-viewing application.
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Abstract:
This project concerns the design and implementation of a control system for an Elevation over Azimuth Tracking Pedestal as well as the creation of an Application Program Interface (API).
The API provides a number of methods to control the movement and position of the pedestal on both its elevation and azimuth axes. The control algorithm used was created using the statistical analysis of key factors affecting the accurate positioning of the pedestal on its axes. The system was made to run in an Open Source environment (Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS - Hardy Heron) with a Linux kernel version of 2.6.24-21. The accuracy of the azimuth axis positioning was calculated to be within 0:2915° with a standard deviation of 0:0544° and the accuracy of the elevation axis positioning was calculated to be within 0:0193° with a standard deviation of 0:0308°.
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Abstract:
Direction finding system are used for locating, tracking and distinguishing various radio transmissions by means of radio direction finder. The purpose of this research is to study and compare the interferometer and triangulation technique for direction finding, and building a receiver with a USRP board that can be utilised with a GNU Radio software to receive signals from two antennas, separated in the horizontal plane. Modern techniques such as interferometer and triangulation using time difference of arrival is studied in detail, and compared with one another.
Simulations was done with interferometer and triangulation technique by means of the FERS software. After the simulation was done, the results were compared and the interferometer has a better accuracy in terms of angle of arrival but it cannot locate the position of the target (transmitter). However, the triangulation technique has an poorer accuracy than the interferometer technique but it can locate the position of the target.
An interferometer is built with two FM antennas, two amplifiers, two bandpass filter, two basic RX board and a USRP board. The receiver is utilised with the GNU Radio software to receive signals from two antennas and compare the phase difference between two antennas.
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Abstract:
This project designs and implements a 3D hand tracking interface for aiding molecular visualisation applications. It uses the infrared optical sensor in the Nintendo Wii remote to track infrared LED light sources attached to a user’s hands.
A review of the Wiimote’s capabilities, sensors and interfaces is presented. Several conceptual models are discussed, and the most appropriate solution is chosen and implemented. A theory is presented that allows for very fast 3D tracking at a slight expense of accuracy. A 6 degree of freedom hand tracking interface is built that is less computationally intensive compared to proprietary tracking hardware, at a fraction of the cost.
It is concluded that 3D hand tracking is a novel, yet acceptable method of interfacing with a computer. The implementation allows for easier and more intuitive visualisation of complex molecules, and can easily be extended and adapted to other Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications.
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This page was last updated in October 2008 (RL)