Scuola Universitaria Professionale Dipartimento

della Svizzera Italiana Tecnologie Innovative

Master Thesis Proposal at SUPSI – DTI, with the Telecom, Telematics and High Frequency LAB

Prototype of a low power microwave CAT (Computer Axial Tomography) system Design, simulation, realization and test of a HF mixer module

Preamble: Taking into consideration the growing industrial matter of wireless and RF/HF systems, SUPSI intends to deepen its own competences in the HF field. The acquired knowledge will be transferred from the research area to the teaching area thanks to specialized courses.

TTHF develops at SUPSI many activities in the high frequency field. An TTHF successful project is the “WaveTester”: a measuring system for the characterization of inhomogeneous materials, based on the dielectric constant measurement exploiting the variation of the propagation velocity of a wave in a material. Many technologies were evaluated and many tests were conducted on different materials to define the best frequency range and observe attenuation-related problems. Others stages are carried out focusing on antenna simulations, development of a solid setup and algorithms for 3D tomography imaging representation.

Therefore TTHF proposes a consecutive master thesis with the objectives described below.

Project goals: The CAT project will be focused on the developing of a microwave system for detecting inhomogeneities into organic materials with physical dimensions thicker than some (10) cm. The system will be implemented using a WaveTester developed at SUPSI with upgrade module for higher frequencies. The device shall be in future interfaced with a graphical application able to build a 3D image of the scanned objects. The graphical interface will represent the object characteristics such material properties and structural inhomogeneities.

Tasks description: 1. state-of-art study; 2. study and analysis of the WaveTester technology in transmission and reflection (two antennas) 3. WaveTester system set up, laboratory measurements (on wood, other); 4. development of an upgrade module for the WaveTester for operating frequencies up to 15 GHz, considering the necessary signal amplification; 5. system test with horn antennas, results verification and comparison with simulations.

Optional activities: 6. realization of a graphical interface which can three-dimensionally represent the analyzed object, the description with colors should also indicate its composition (ε).

Application fields and future developments: 1. This system, properly optimized and engineerized through an industrial project, provided with graphical interface could be used for the analysis of small dimension objects (min 10-15 cm). The system, at which with future development it could be aimed to, would not only allow to have an approximate 3D vision of the examined object but also a graphical colors description of its composition (ε); 2. Applications in materials analysis, medicine - biomedicine.

Software: • Ansoft Designer (HF circuits development and simulations tool) • Ansoft HFSS (2D and 3D electromagnetic waves simulator) • SEMCAD X

Technical skills: Basic knowledge in wave propagation theory, and above all, interest in deepening the study of high frequency systems.

The school and the laboratory: The “Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana” is the University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland and is mainly located in the surroundings of Lugano, the main town of the Italian- speaking canton Ticino. The overriding goal of SUPSI is the promotion of technological development and technological transfer. SUPSI consists of five departments and three institutes. Besides basic education, SUPSI offers postgraduate courses and contributions in applied research to local, national and international companies. SUPSI consists to date of about 2000 students and 300 staff members (professors and lecturers, assistants, technical and administrative officers). SUPSI institutes and laboratories successfully participated in a number of EU projects and within the special research actions EUREKA, IMS, MEDEA, DGVII. Moreover, SUPSI is funded trough regular national programs (CTI, FNSRS, MICROSWISS) and trough direct applied-research grants from industry.

Among the applied research facilities, the High Frequency and Wireless Communication Systems Group of SUPSI offers a broad range of services in both applied research and technological transfer in all fields related to high-frequency systems and to metrology. The TTHF’s staff consists today in 15 experienced engineers developing concrete industrial projects. In past and present projects, the activities covered high-frequency discrete components based implementation of electronics circuits (e.g. for Satellite Receivers), the development of microwave systems (e.g. telecom and for material characterization) and the design of high performance antenna. Other research activities are in the metrology area of telecommunication systems with particular interest for the NIR (Non Ionizing Radiation): wireless signal measurement protocols have been defined verified and applied. More broadly, the TTHF group can count on competence in: ¾ Wireless sensors and wireless communication system design ¾ RFID tags, readers and systems design ¾ GNSS (GPS and Galileo) systems design ¾ Metrology and simulation of Non Ionizing Radiations (NIR) ¾ Low power RF telecommunication systems design

Contacts: Prof. Andrea Salvadè, SUPSI-DTI, TTHF, Stabile Galleria 2, Via Cantonale, CH-6928 Manno http://www.dti.supsi.ch/tthf Tel: +41 91 6108537 Email: [email protected]