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Description
Readout Integrated Circuits(ROICs) are important components of infrared(IR) imag

ing systems. Performance of ROICs affect the quality of images obtained from IR

imaging systems. Contemporary infrared imaging applications demand ROICs that

can support large dynamic range, high frame rate, high output data rate, at low

cost, size and power. Some of these applications are

Readout Integrated Circuits(ROICs) are important components of infrared(IR) imag

ing systems. Performance of ROICs affect the quality of images obtained from IR

imaging systems. Contemporary infrared imaging applications demand ROICs that

can support large dynamic range, high frame rate, high output data rate, at low

cost, size and power. Some of these applications are military surveillance, remote

sensing in space and earth science missions and medical diagnosis. This work focuses

on developing a ROIC unit cell prototype for National Aeronautics and Space Ad

ministration(NASA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s(JPL’s) space applications. These

space applications also demand high sensitivity, longer integration times(large well

capacity), wide operating temperature range, wide input current range and immunity

to radiation events such as Single Event Latchup(SEL).

This work proposes a digital ROIC(DROIC) unit cell prototype of 30ux30u size,

to be used mainly with NASA JPL’s High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared

Detectors(HOT BIRDs). Current state of the art DROICs achieve a dynamic range

of 16 bits using advanced 65-90nm CMOS processes which adds a lot of cost overhead.

The DROIC pixel proposed in this work uses a low cost 180nm CMOS process and

supports a dynamic range of 20 bits operating at a low frame rate of 100 frames per

second(fps), and a dynamic range of 12 bits operating at a high frame rate of 5kfps.

The total electron well capacity of this DROIC pixel is 1.27 billion electrons, enabling

integration times as long as 10ms, to achieve better dynamic range. The DROIC unit

cell uses an in-pixel 12-bit coarse ADC and an external 8-bit DAC based fine ADC.

The proposed DROIC uses layout techniques that make it immune to radiation up to

300krad(Si) of total ionizing dose(TID) and single event latch-up(SEL). It also has a

wide input current range from 10pA to 1uA and supports detectors operating from

Short-wave infrared (SWIR) to longwave infrared (LWIR) regions.
ContributorsPraveen, Subramanya Chilukuri (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Long, Yu (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
This research presents advances in time-synchronized phasor (i.e.,synchrophasor) estimation and imaging with very-low-frequency electric fields. Phasor measurement units measure and track dynamic systems, often power systems, using synchrophasor estimation algorithms. Two improvements to subspace-based synchrophasor estimation algorithms are shown. The first improvement is a dynamic thresholding method for accurately determining the signal subspace

This research presents advances in time-synchronized phasor (i.e.,synchrophasor) estimation and imaging with very-low-frequency electric fields. Phasor measurement units measure and track dynamic systems, often power systems, using synchrophasor estimation algorithms. Two improvements to subspace-based synchrophasor estimation algorithms are shown. The first improvement is a dynamic thresholding method for accurately determining the signal subspace when using the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT) algorithm. This improvement facilitates accurate ESPRIT-based frequency estimates of both the nominal system frequency and the frequencies of interfering signals such as harmonics or out-of-band interference signals. Proper frequency estimation of all signals present in measurement data allows for accurate least squares estimates of synchrophasors for the nominal system frequency. By including the effects of clutter signals in the synchrophasor estimate, interference from clutter signals can be excluded. The result is near-flat estimation error during nominal system frequency changes, the presence of harmonic distortion, and out-of-band interference. The second improvement reduces the computational burden of the ESPRIT frequency estimation step by showing that an optimized Eigenvalue decomposition of the measurement data can be used instead of a singular value decomposition. This research also explores a deep-learning-based inversion method for imaging objects with a uniform electric field and a 2D planar D-dot array. Using electric fields as an illumination source has seen multiple applications ranging from medical imaging to mineral deposit detection. It is shown that a planar D-dot array and deep neural network can reconstruct the electrical properties of randomized objects. A 16000-sample dataset of objects comprised of a three-by-three grid of randomized dielectric constants was generated to train a deep neural network for predicting these dielectric constants from measured field distortions. Increasingly complex imaging environments are simulated, ranging from objects in free space to objects placed in a physical cage designed to produce uniform electric fields. Finally, this research relaxes the uniform electric field constraint, showing that the volume of an opaque container can be imaged with a copper tube antenna and a 1x4 array of D-dot sensors. Real world experimental results show that it is possible to image buckets of water (targets) within a plastic shed These experiments explore the detectability of targets as a function of target placement within the shed.
ContributorsDrummond, Zachary (Author) / Allee, David R (Thesis advisor) / Claytor, Kevin E (Committee member) / Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia (Committee member) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Description
This work focuses on the analysis and design of large-scale millimeter-wave andterahertz (mmWave/THz) beamforming apertures (e.g., reconfigurable reflective surfaces– RRSs). As such, the small wavelengths and ample bandwidths of these frequencies enable the development of high-spatial-resolution imaging and high-throughput wireless communication systems that leverage electrically large apertures to form high-gain steerable beams. For the rigorous

This work focuses on the analysis and design of large-scale millimeter-wave andterahertz (mmWave/THz) beamforming apertures (e.g., reconfigurable reflective surfaces– RRSs). As such, the small wavelengths and ample bandwidths of these frequencies enable the development of high-spatial-resolution imaging and high-throughput wireless communication systems that leverage electrically large apertures to form high-gain steerable beams. For the rigorous evaluation of these systems’ performance in realistic application scenarios, full-wave simulations are needed to capture all the exhibited electromagnetic phenomena. However, the small wavelengths of mmWave/THz bands lead to enormous meshes in conventional full-wave simulators. Thus, a novel numerical decomposition technique is presented, which decomposes the full-wave models in smaller domains with less meshed elements, enabling their computationally efficient analysis. Thereafter, this method is leveraged to study a novel radar configuration that employs a rotating linear antenna with beam steering capabilities to form 3D images. This imaging process requires fewer elements to carry out high-spatial-resolution imaging compared to traditional 2D phased arrays, constituting a perfect candidate in low-profile, low-cost applications. Afterward, a high-yield nanofabrication technique for mmWave/THz graphene switches is presented. The measured graphene sheet impedances are incorporated into equivalent circuit models of coplanar switches to identify the optimum mmWave/THz switch topology that would enable the development of large-scale RRSs.ii Thereon, the process of integrating the optimized graphene switches into largescale mmWave/THz RRSs is detailed. The resulting RRSs enable dynamic beam steering achieving 4-bits of phase quantization –for the first time in the known literature– eliminating the parasitic lobes and increasing the aperture efficiency. Furthermore, the devised multi-bit configurations use a single switch-per-bit topology retaining low system complexity and RF losses. Finally, single-bit RRSs are modified to offer single-lobe patterns by employing a surface randomization technique. This approach allows for the use of low-complexity single-bit configurations to suppress the undesired quantization lobes without residing to the use of sophisticated multi-bit topologies. The presented concepts pave the road toward the implementation and proliferation of large-scale reconfigurable beamforming apertures that can serve both as mmWave/THz imagers and as relays or base stations in future wireless communication applications.
ContributorsTheofanopoulos, Panagiotis (Author) / Trichopoulos, Georgios (Thesis advisor) / Balanis, Constantine (Committee member) / Aberle, James (Committee member) / Bliss, Dan (Committee member) / Groppi, Christopher (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021