Academic literature on the topic 'Software-de ned radio'

AbstractWe are in the process to transform a 32m antenna in Peru, used for telecommunications, into a Radio Telescope to perform Radio Astronomy in Peru. The 32m antenna of Peru constructed by NEC was used for telecommunications with communications satellites at 6 GHz for transmission, and 4 GHz for reception.In collaboration of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) Japan, and National Observatory of Japan we developed an Antenna Control System for the 32m antenna in Peru. It is based on the Field System FS9, software released by NASA for VLBI station, and an interface to link PC within FS9 software (PC-FS9) and Antenna Control Unit (ACU) of the 32 meters antenna.The PC-FS9 controls the antenna, commands are translated by interface into control signals compatibles with the ACU using: an I/O digital card with two 20bits ports to read azimuth and elevation angles, one 16bits port for reading status of ACU, one 24bits port to send pulses to start or stop operations of antenna, two channels are analogue outputs to drive the azimuth and elevation motors of the antenna, a LCD display to show the status of interface and error messages, and one serial port for communications with PC-FS9.The first experiment of the control system was made with 11m parabolic antenna of Kashima Space Research Center-NICT, where we tested the right working of the routines implemented for de FS9 software, and simulations was made with looped data between output and input of the interface, both test were done successfully.With this scientific instrument we will be able to contribute with researching of astrophysics. We expect to into a near future to work at 6.7GHz to study Methanol masers, and higher frequencies with some improvements of the surface of the dish.

With the advent of software-defined radio, many radio applications have and are currently being designed for FPGAs, due to their high performance and reconfigurability. Invariably, "legacy" waveforms, such as FM, will need to be supported in such systems. A challenge that comes with programming FPGAs is the increased design and implementation time over conventional software programming. In this thesis, three FM demodulator techniques are implemented and compared in an FPGA. Two techniques are found to have similar SNR performance while having very different FPGA implementation characteristics. Library based design is explored for demodulators to increase FPGA design productivity. A block library is created and verified by use in tested demodulator designs. Two design tools that aim to increase design productivity in FPGAs, Ogre and HMFlow, are also examined and used to implement FM demodulators in a PCM/FM receiver design. Ogre leverages the demodulator block library, along with accompanying metadata, to decrease design time significantly. Design performance is not sacrificed when using Ogre. HMFlow, which relies on finer-grained blocks, reuses block implementation data to speed up implementation of the full design. The implementation of the HMFlow demodulator design is sped up by 3x but, when compared with the standard flow, produces an implementation with a reduced maximum clock rate (about 1/2) and with slightly more resources (about 6%). When comparing Ogre with HMFlow, the coarser-grained blocks of Ogre provide a more efficient design experience than that of HMFlow.

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicações
Esta dissertação apresenta a arquitetura, o desenvolvimento e a validação de um leitor de RFID para a banda de frequências de 860 MHz a 960 MHz (UHF). Na sua conceção foi usada uma abordagem baseada em sistemas de rádio definidos por software (SDR-Software-Defined Radio). O RFID é uma tecnologia que permite a identicação de objetos através de ondas eletromagnéticas. Um leitor RFID, também designado por reader, emite um sinal eletromagnético para uma ou várias tags, e estas respondem (também na forma de um sinal eletromagnético) com um número de identicação único. Esta tecnologia é muito versátil e pode ser aplicada ás mais diversas situações, tais como, identicação de animais, acesso a edifícios e identicação de objetos num armazém. Podem ser usadas diferentes bandas de frequência do espectro eletromagnético, tais como, as low frequencies (LF), as high frequencies (HF) e as ultra high frequencies (UHF). O SDR _e um paradigma de projeto de sistemas de rádio, onde os blocos analógicos responsáveis pelo processamento de sinal, são total ou parcialmente substituídos por blocos programáveis de processamento no domínio digital. Este conceito permite aos sistemas de rádio resultantes apresentarem uma maior flexibilidade e adaptabilidade face a alterações que possam surgir na arquitetura ou requisitos do sistema. A digitalização num sistema SDR pode ser efetuada em banda base, em frequência intermédia ou em RF. O sistema de rádio presente nesta dissertação consiste num leitor RFID funcional para o protocolo de comunicação RFID ISO 18000-6C, implementado numa arquitetura SDR com digitalização em banda base, na cadeia de transmissão e digitalização em frequência intermédia, na cadeia de receção.
This MSc thesis presents the architecture, development and validation of a RFID reader for the frequency band of 860 MHz to 960 MHz (UHF). In its design, a Software-De ned Radio (SDR) approach was used. RFID is a technology that allows the identi cation of objects using electromagnetic waves. A RFID reader emits an electromagnetic signal to one or more tags, and these respond (also in the form of an electromagnetic signal) with a unique identi cation number. This technology is very versatile and can be applied to various situations, such as animal identi cation, building access and identi cation of objects in a warehouse. It can be used in di erent frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as the low frequencies (LF), the high frequencies (HF) and ultra high frequencies (UHF). The SDR is a design paradigm of radio systems, in which analog blocks responsible for signal processing, are partially or completely replaced by programmable processing blocks in the digital domain. This concept allows the resulting radio systems to o er greater exibility and adaptability to changes that occur in the architecture or system requirements. The digitalization in a SDR system can be made at baseband, intermediate frequency (IF) or at RF. The radio system, presented in this dissertation, is a functional RFID reader working on the protocol communication ISO 18000-6C and implemented with a baseband digitization SDR architecture at the transmition path, and a IF digitalization at the receiver path.

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicações
Nas últimas décadas, o caminho da evolução nas redes de telecomunicações tem vindo a ser percorrido com vista a proporcionar melhor serviço móvel ao nível de capacidade e disponibilidade aos utilizadores. Mais recentemente, com a introdução do 3G e 4G, tem-se assistido a novas formas de aceder a informação impulsionadas pela proliferação dos dispositivos m oveis ligados à rede. Este fenómeno tem levado a um aumento exponencial do consumo de dados e, consequentemente, ao aumento dos custos de operação e manutenção das infraestruturas de acesso por parte dos operadores de telecomunicações. No âmbito desta evolução, surge o paradigma C-RAN, que propõe uma reformulação das atuais arquiteturas de redes de acesso r adio. Esta reorganização passa pela simplificação das atuais base stations em aparelhos de menor complexidade, as Remote Radio Heads (RRH), com a centralização das funções da camada física em Base Band Unit (BBU). A nova arquitetura proposta requer equipamentos com elevada exibilidade e interoperabilidade, tais como soluções baseadas em Software De ned Radio (SDR). Nesta dissertação de Mestrado é apresentado um demonstrador para C-RAN com foco na componente digital da RRH, desenvolvido em plataforma reconfigurável, sob o paradigma SDR. A interface com a BBU é implementada de acordo com a especifcação da interface Comon Public Radio Interface (CPRI), que tem como objetivo padronizar as interfaces em base stations, garantindo a interoperabilidade entre equipamentos de diferentes fabricantes. O demonstrador consiste em dois kits de desenvolvimento baseados em Field Programable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), com ligação ótica entre si, sendo que um simular a BBU e o outro integra uma prova-de-conceito da RRH. Nesta última, o andar de R adio Frequência (RF) foi implementado com um front end analógico encarregue de efectuar a conversação de sinal entre os domínios analógico e digital. Deste modo foi possível, em laboratório, testar e validar a transferência de dados de utilizador pela ligação ótica, analisar a qualidade da transmissão em RF, assim como a medição de atrasos do sistema.
In the last decade, the path of evolution in telecommunications networks has to be traversed in order to provide best mobile service in terms of capacity and availability to users. More recently, with the introduction of 3G and 4G, we've seen new forms of access to information pushed by the proliferation of mobile devices connected to the network. This phenomenon has led to an exponential increase in data consumption and, consequently, the increased expense of operation and maintenance of access infrastructure by operators of telecommunications. As part of this evolution, the CRAN paradigm, proposes a redesign of the current radio access network architecture. This reorgnization involves the simpli cation of existing base stations in less complex devices as the Remote Radio Heads (RRH) as well as the centralization of the functions of the physical layer, on the Base Band Unit (BBU). The proposed architecture requires new equipment with high exibility and interoperability, such as Software De ned Radio (SDR) solutions. In this Master's thesis, a demonstrator for C-RAN, focusing on digital component of RRH and based on a recon gurable platform under the SDR paradigm is presented. The interface with the BBU is implemented according to the speci cation of Comon Public Radio Interface (CPRI) interface, which aims to standardize interfaces in base stations, guaranteed interoperability between equipment from di erent manufacturers. The demonstrator consists on two development kits based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), with optical connection between them, one of which will simulate the BBU and the other contains a proof-of-concept for a RRH. In this last one, the Radio Frequency (RF) stage was implemented with an analog front end to make the signal conversion between analog and digital domains. Thus, it was possible, in the laboratory, to test and validate the transfer of user data through the optical link as well as analyse the RF transmission quality, and measure the system's delays.

Le déploiement massif des objets connectés, formant l'Internet des Objets ou IoT, bouleverse aujourd'hui les environnements réseaux traditionnels. Ces objets, auparavant exempts de connectivité, sont désormais susceptibles d'introduire des vulnérabilités supplémentaires dans les environnements qui les intègrent. La littérature dresse aujourd'hui un portrait peu flatteur de la sécurité de ces objets, qui constituent de plus en plus des cibles de choix pour les attaquants, qui y voient de nouvelles surfaces exploitables pour s'introduire dans les environnements auparavant sécurisés. En outre, les moyens de communications non-filaires utilisés par ces objets sont nombreux, avec des caractéristiques très hétérogènes à tous les niveaux protocolaires, notamment en terme de fréquences utilisées, qui rendent complexes l'analyse et la surveillance des environnements qui s'en équipent. Ces problématiques, et notamment l'hétérogénéité forte de ces nombreux protocoles, remettent en question les solutions traditionnelles permettant d'assurer la sécurité des échanges effectués. Or, l'explosion du nombre de ces objets impose d'adapter ou de proposer des architectures de sécurité qui soient adaptées à ces nouvelles problématiques. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à la surveillance et à la détection d'anomalies pouvant survenir sur les moyens de communications sans-fil utilisés dans l'IoT, quels qu'ils soient. Nous avons relevé un manque crucial de solutions ayant la capacité d'analyser tous les échanges, et ce, qu'importe le protocole utilisé. Pour y répondre, nous proposons une architecture de sécurité basée sur le monitoring des signaux radios physiques, permettant de s'affranchir de la connaissance des protocoles et donc d'être générique. Son objectif est d'apprendre le modèle des comportements radios légitimes d'un environnement à l'aide de sondes radios, puis d'identifier les déviations vis-à-vis de ce modèle, pouvant correspondre à des anomalies ou des attaques. La description de cette architecture est la première contribution de cette thèse. Nous avons ensuite étudié l'applicabilité de notre solution dans différents contextes, chacun ayant ses caractéristiques propres. La première étude, correspondant à notre deuxième contribution, consiste à proposer une implémentation et un déploiement de notre approche dans les domiciles connectés. L'évaluation de celle-ci face à des attaques réelles injectées dans l'espace radio et ses résultats montrent la pertinence de notre approche dans ces environnements. [...]
The massive deployment of connected objects, forming the Internet of Things (IoT), is now disrupting traditional network environments. These objects, previously connectivity-free, are now likely to introduce additional vulnerabilities into the environments that integrate them. The literature today paints an unflattering picture of the security of these objects, which are increasingly becoming prime targets for attackers who see them as new exploitable surfaces to penetrate previously secure environments. In addition, the wireless means of communication used by these objects are numerous, with very heterogeneous characteristics at all protocol levels. Particularly in terms of the frequencies used, which make it difficult to analyse and monitor the environments that are equipped with them. These issues, and in particular the strong heterogeneity of these numerous protocols, call into question the traditional solutions used to ensure the security of the exchanges carried out. However, the explosion in the number of these objects requires security architectures that are adapted to these new issues. In this thesis, we are interested in monitoring and detecting anomalies that may occur in any wireless means of communication used in the IoT. We found a critical lack of solutions with the ability to analyze all exchanges, regardless of the protocol used. To answer this question, we propose a new security architecture based on the monitoring of physical radio signals, making it possible to free oneself from protocol knowledge and therefore to be generic. Its objective is to learn the model of legitimate radio behaviour in an environment using radio probes, then to identify deviations from this model, which may correspond to anomalies or attacks. The description of this architecture is the first contribution of this thesis. We then studied the applicability of our solution in different contexts, each with its own characteristics. The first study, corresponding to our second contribution, consists in proposing an implementation and deployment of our approach in connected homes. The evaluation of the latter in the face of real attacks injected into radio space and its results show the relevance of our approach in these environments. Finally, the last contribution studies the adaptation and deployment of our generic solution to professional environments where the presence of expert users promotes the integration of advanced diagnostic information to identify the origins of an anomaly. The subsequent evaluation and the results associated with each of the diagnostic mechanisms implemented demonstrate the value of our approach in heterogeneous environments

Next generation of wireless communication (5G) devices must achieve higher data rates, lower power consumption and better coverage by making a more efficient use of the RF spectrum and adopting highly exible radio architectures. To meet these requirements, the development of new radio devices will be far more complex and challenging than their predecessors. The future of radio communications have a twofold evolution, being one the low power consumption and the other the adaptability and intelligent use of the available resources. Conventional approaches for the radio physical layer are not capable to cope with the new demand for multi-band, multi-standard radio signals and present an inefficient and expensive solution for simultaneous transmission of multiple and heterogeneous radio signals. Digital radio transmitters have been presented as a solution for a newer and more exible architecture for future radios. All-digital transmitters use a completely digital implementation of the entire radio datapath from the baseband processing to the digital RF up-conversion. This concept bene ts from the use of highly integrated hardware together with a strong radio digitalization, motivated by the exibility and high performance from cognitive and software defi ned radio. However, such devices are still far from a massive deployment in most of communication scenarios due to some limiting factors that hinder their use. This PhD thesis aims to the development of novel radio architectures and ideas based on all-digital transmitters capable of improving the adaptability and use intelligently the available resources for software de ned and cognitive radio systems. The focus of this thesis is on the improvement of some of the common limitations for all-digital transmitters such as power efficiency, bandwidth, noise-shaping and exibility while using efficient and adaptable digital architectures. In the initial part of the thesis a review of the state-of-the-art is presented showing the most common digital transmitter architectures as well as their major bene ts and key limitations. A comparative analysis of such architectures is made considering their power and spectral efficiency, exibility, performance and cost. Following this initial analysis, the work developed on the course of this PhD is presented and discussed. The initial focus is on the improvement of all-digital transmitters bandwidth trough the study and use of parallel processing techniques capable of greatly improve common bandwidth values presented in the state-of-the-art. The presented work has resulted in several publications where FPGA-based architectures use parallel digital processing techniques to improve the system's bandwidth by a factor higher than 10. Other fundamental contribution of this thesis is focused on the pulsedtransmitters coding efficiency. In this section of the thesis, a method is presented showing the reduction of the quantization noise created by low amplitude resolution digital transmitters using multiple combined pulsedtransmitters to cancel the noise in speci c frequencies. This work has resulted in two main publications that showed how to increase the coding efficiency of the pulse-transmitters as well as the overall efficiency of the transmission system. Lastly, new-noise shaping methods are presented in order to develop new and more exible architectures for all-digital transmitters. The methods presented use new quantization processes that allow for the shaping of the quantization noise produced in pulsed-transmitters while using very simple and adaptable architectures. With these new techniques, it is possible to adjust the noise frequency distribution and deliberately change the noise shape in order to change some of the transmitter's characteristics such as central frequency or bandwidth. The work presented on this thesis has shown promising improvements to the all-digital transmitters' state-of-the-art, either in simulations and laboratory prototype measurements. It has contributed to advance the state-of-the-art in agile and power efficient all-digital RF transmitters with multi-mode and multi-channel capabilities and the improvement of the transceiver's bandwidth enabling the development of true software de ned and cognitive radio systems
A próxima geração de comunicações sem os (5G) exigirá taxas de transmissão mais elevadas, maior efi ciência energética e uma melhor cobertura fazendo um uso mais efi ciente do espectro de radiofrequência e adotando o uso de arquiteturas rádio mais flexíveis. Para cumprir tais requisitos, o desenvolvimento de novos dispositivos rádio será substancialmente mais complexo do que nas gerações anteriores. O futuro das comunicações rádio depende maioritariamente de dois fatores; o baixo consumo de potência e o uso inteligente dos recursos e tecnologias disponíveis. As abordagens convencionais para a camada física dos sistemas rádio não são as mais adequadas para lidar com a necessidade de dispositivos multi-banda e que usem múltiplos standards, por serem soluções inefi cientes e demasiado caras para esse efeito. Os transmissores rádio completamente digitais têm vindo a ser apresentados na literatura como uma solução inovadora e mais flexível para a implementação dos futuros sistemas de rádio. Os transmissores completamente digitais apresentam uma implementação da cadeia de processamento rádio, desde a banda-base até à conversão para RF, completamente constituída por lógica digital. Este conceito tira partido da vasta integração alcançada nas arquiteturas digitais, juntamente com a flexibilidade proveniente da digitalização das arquiteturas rádio que já se encontra em curso com a evolução dos rádios cognitivos e definidos por software. No entanto, devido a algumas limitações inerentes à tecnologia, este tipo de transmissores ainda não é amplamente utilizado na maioria dos sistemas. Esta tese de doutoramento propõe e avalia novas arquiteturas para transmissores completamente digitais, bem como novas técnicas de processamento de sinal que possam beneficiar das tecnologias de implementação existentes (e.g. FPGAs) por forma a construir novos transmissores digitais de forma eficiente e flexível. O objetivo desta tese é reduzir as limitações atuais ainda presentes neste tipo de transmissores, nomeadamente as relacionadas com a eficiência, largura de banda, cancelamento de ruído e falta de flexibilidade. Na parte inicial desta tese é realizada a revisão do estado da arte das diversas topologias de transmissores digitais bem como as suas principais vantagens e limitações técnicas. É também feita uma análise comparativa das diversas técnicas apresentadas em termos da sua eficiência energética, flexibilidade, desempenho e custo. De seguida, é apresentado o trabalho desenvolvido no contexto desta tese de doutoramento, seguindo-se uma discussão focada na resolução das atuais limitações deste tipo de transmissores. A primeira parte foca-se no uso de técnicas de processamento paralelo de sinal, por forma a suportar sinais de largura de banda mais elevada que os reportados no atual estado da arte. O trabalho desenvolvido e publicado baseia-se no uso de arquiteturas implementadas em FPGA que contribuíram para um aumento da largura de banda num fator de aproximadamente dez vezes. Outra das contribuições fundamentais desta tese consiste no aumento da eficiência do sistema através da melhoria da eficiência de codificação do sinal pulsado produzido. Com base no uso de múltiplos transmissores pulsados, e apresentado um esquema de combinação construtiva e destrutiva de sinais para a redução do ruído de quantização proveniente das técnicas de processamento de sinal pulsado usadas. Este trabalho resultou em duas importantes publicações que mostram que a melhoria da eficiência de codificação do sinal pode ser utilizada de forma a obter uma maior eficiência energética do transmissor. Por ultimo, são apresentadas diversas técnicas para a conversão dos sinais banda-base em sinais RF pulsados. As propostas apresentadas permitem o uso de uma arquitetura de hardware simplista, mas configurável por software, o que a torna bastante flexível. Com o uso desta arquitetura e possível alterar em pleno funcionamento a frequência central bem como a largura de banda e resposta do conversor pulsado. O trabalho apresentado nesta tese demonstra alguns dos melhoramentos no estado da arte para transmissores r adio completamente digitais, baseando os resultados obtidos não apenas em simulações mas também na implementação e medidas realizadas sobre protótipos laboratoriais. O trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito desta tese contribuiu com avanços na implementação de transmissores ageis, eficientes, com maior largura de banda e capazes de transmissão em múltiplas bandas com recurso a múltiplos protocolos, abrindo caminho para o desenvolvimento de novos rádios cognitivos e definidos por software
FCT, FSE
Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Eletrotécnica

Software is increasingly being used to enable new features in systems in multiple domains. These domains include automotive, avionics, telecomunication, and industrial automation. Because the user of these systems is not aware of the presence of the software, this type of software is known as embedded software. More importantly, such a software, and the whole system in general, must satisfy not only logical functional requirements but also parafunctional (a.k.a. nonfunctional) properties such as timeliness, security, and reliability. Traditional development languages and tools provide powerful abstractions such as functions, classes, and objects to build a functional structure that reduces complexity and enables software reuse. However, the software elements responsible for the parafunctional behaviors are frequently scattered across the functional structure. This scattering prevents the easy identification of these elements and their independent manipulation/reuse to achieve a specific parafunctional behavior. As a result, the complexity of parafunctional behaviors cannot be reduced and even worse, the construction of those behaviors can corrupt the functional structure of the software. In this chapter, we propose a model-based framework for designing embedded real-time systems to enable a decomposition structure that reduces the complexity of both functional and parafunctional aspects of the software. This decomposition enables the separation of the functional and parafunctional aspects of the system into semantic dimensions (e.g., event-flow, timing, deployment, fault-tolerant) that can be represented, manipulated, and modified independent of one another from an end-user point of view. The realizations of these dimensions, however, do interact on the target platform since they consume common resources and impose constraints. These interactions can be captured during model construction and resource demands mediated during platform deployment. The use of semantic dimensions results in three significant benefits. First of all, it preserves the independence of the functional structure from parafunctional behaviors. Secondly, it enables the user to manipulate different parafunctional concerns (e.g., timeliness, reliability) independent of one another. Lastly, it enables the reuse of compositions along any dimension from other systems. The second core abstraction in our modeling approach is an entity called a coupler. A coupler expresses a particular relationship between two or more components, and can also be used recursively. Couplers enable the hierarchical decomposition of functional as well as parafunctional aspects. Aided by semantic dimensions and multiple coupler types, our framework enables the auto-generation of glue code to produce a fully deployable system. Our framework can also construct a detailed timing and resource model. This model in turn is used to optimize the usage of a given hardware configuration, or synthesize a configuration to suit a given software model. Our framework is implemented in a tool (de Niz, Bhatia & Rajkumar 2006) called SysWeaver that had been used to generate glue code and analyze the timing behavior of avionics, automotive, and software-radio pilot systems.

En la docencia de sistemas de comunicacion hay una componente teoricaelevada. La percepcion de los estudiantes al estudiar estas asignaturas esnegativa.Este trabajo explica la motivacion y la estrategia seguida para reorientaresta percepcion a partir de la introduccion de elementos de Software De-ned Radio y USRPs en diferentes asignaturas del Grado y del Master deIngeniera Telecomunicacion de la Universitat de Valencia.

An adequate way of making software organizations to remain competitive is to ensure their innovative capacity and the continuous increasing of their software process productivity with quality. Indeed, the ability on increasing the software productivity relies on among other issues in the organization's measurement and prediction capacity. Productivity refers to the rate at which a company produces goods, and its observation takes into account the number of people and the amount of other necessary resources to produce such goods. However, it is not clear how productivity can be observed when the product is software. Therefore, this work presents the results of an investigation regarding software productivity measurement and prediction methods. A previous systematic literature review was evolved and re-executed, limited to the year 2013. It allowed the identification of 89 new primary studies evidencing that: (1) ratio-based and weighted factors analyses still represent most of the methods applied to measure, describe and interpret software productivity; (2) 24 factors present evidence of influencing productivity, and; (3) SLOC-based measures, despite the criticism and issues associated with these sort of measurements, are the most common measures used in the studies.

The Aero-Thermo-Mechanics (ATM) department of Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) develops a new system to simultaneously pump and separate a two-phase flow, in particular oil/air mixtures. Two-phase flows are encountered in many applications (oil extraction, flow in nuclear power plant pumps, pulp and paper processing) but the study is mainly focused on aeroengine lubrication systems. The main objective is to obtain a compact and efficient system that can both extract the gas of a two-phase flow and increase the pressure of the liquid phase. Particular care is given to the liquid flow rate lost at the gas outlet of the system. A large range of gas/liquid volume ratio has been studied, leading to different two-phase flow regimes at the inlet of the system (slug, churn or annular flow). After successful tests with water-air prototypes, which have allowed to identify the key design and working parameters, the technology has been implemented for a hot oil-air mixture. This paper presents the test results of the first oil/air prototype under real in-flight operating conditions. The tests with oil/air mixtures were performed on the aeroengine lubrication system test bench of the ATM department. The identification and implementation of appropriate two-phase flow rate measurement systems is an essential contribution to the project. Two attractive measurement systems have been considered: a Coriolis density meter for the volume fraction at the liquid outlet and radio-tracing elements for the measurement of the oil consumption at the air outlet. In parallel, the flow field in the pump and separator system has been studied with commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software packages. The choice of the two-phase flow model is highly dependent on the two-phase flow regime. But different regimes can simultaneously exist in the pump and separator system. So, the Eulerian two-phase flow model, the most complex and general model, seems to be the most appropriate. A coupling of this model with a dispersed phase model is under investigation to take all two-phase flow phenomena into account.

The rapid urban development in the Hurghada area since the 1980s has dramatically enhanced the potential impact of human activities. To inventory and monitor this urban development effectively, remote sensing provides a viable source of data from which updated land cover information can be extracted efficiently and cheaply. In this study, data from three satellite datasets, Landsat Thematic Mapper (Landsat 5 TM), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat 7 ETM+) and Terra/Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), acquired during 1987, 2000 and 2005, respectively, were used to detect and evaluate Hurghada's urban expansion. Five change detection techniques were tested to detect areas of change. The techniques considered were image differencing, image ratioing, image overlay, multidate principal component analysis (PCA) and post-classification comparison. The post-classification comparison was found to be the most accurate procedure and produced three land use/land cover (LULC) maps of the years 1987, 2000 and 2005 with overall accuracies of 87.8%, 88.9% and 92.0%, respectively. The urban expansion analysis revealed that the built-up area has expanded by 40 km2 in 18 years (1987–2005). In addition, 4.5 km2 of landfill/sedimentation was added to the sea as a result of the coastal urban development and tourist activities. The booming coastal tourism and population pressure were considered to be the main factors driving this expansion, and some natural and artificial constraints constrained the physical shape of the city. The expansion is represented by urban fringe development, linear, infill and isolated models. Topography, lithology and structures were also analysed as possible factors that influenced the expansion. The understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of Hurghada's urban expansion is the cornerstone for formulating a view about the future urban uses and for making the best use of the limited resources that are available [1]. A Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) image of 1987 and a Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image of 2000 were used to examine changes in land use/land cover (LULC) around Hurghada, Egypt, and changes in the composition of coral reefs offshore. Prior to coral reef bottom type classification, the radiance values were transformed to depth invariant bottom indices to reduce the effect of the water column. Subsequently, a multi component change detection procedure was applied to these indices to define changes. Preliminary results showed significant changes in LULC during the period 1987–2000 as well as changes in coral reef composition. Direct impacts along the coastline were clearly shown, but it was more difficult to link offshore changes in coral reef composition to indirect impacts of the changing LULC. Further research is needed to explore the effects of the different image processing steps, and to discover possible links between indirect impacts of LULC changes and changes in the coral reef composition [2]. Knowledge and detecting impacts of human activities on the coastal ecosystem is an essential management requirement and also very important for future and proper planning of coastal areas. Moreover, documentation of these impacts can help in increasing public awareness about side effects of unsustainable practices. Analysis of multidate remote sensing data can be used as an effective tool in environmental impact assessment (EIA). Being synoptic and frequent in coverage, multidate data from Landsat and other satellites provide a reference record and bird’s eye viewing to the environmental situation of the coastal ecosystem and the associated habitats. Furthermore, integration of satellite data with field observations and background information can help in decision if a certain activity has caused deterioration to a specific habitat or not. The present paper is an attempt to utilize remote sensing data for assessment impacts of some human activities on the major sensitive habitats of the north western Egyptian Red Sea coastal zone, definitely between Ras Gemsha and Safaga. Through multidate change analysis of Landsat data (TM & ETM+ sensors), it was possible to depict some of the human infringements in the area and to provide, in some cases, exclusive evidences for the damaging effect of some developmental activities [3]. The coastline of Hurghada has experienced considerable environmental stress from tourist and residential recreational activities. Uncontrolled tourist development has already caused substantial damage to inshore reefs and imbalance in the hydrodynamic pattern of the coastal sediments. The objective of this paper is to investigate environmental changes using multitemporal, multispectral satellite data to identify changes at Hurghada caused by anthropogenic influences. Major detected changes include resort beaches, protection structures and landfill areas; these changes are mainly due to human intervention. Two Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images acquired in 1984 and 1997 are used for this analysis. The landfill areas formed during this period are calculated at about 2.15 Km2 . Whilst landfill creates new inexpensive land and improves access to the sea for tourists, it is the cause of environmental problems. In addition, land-use/land-cover and beach changes are determined over the 13-year period [4]. The Red Sea coastal zone is characterized by its sensitive, fragile, unique natural resources and habitats. In the Hurghada coastal region, major changes in the tourism industry have taken place in the last few decades. The detection of environmental changes, in a selected site of the Red Sea coastal zone, will be helpful to protect and develop this coastal environment. A methodology for separating natural and man-made changes in satellite images was developed. It was based on the following assumptions: (1) slow changes, which occur within the range of the class reflectance, represent a natural change rather than an anthropogenic one; (2) natural changes tend to be in the same land-use/land-cover class in each date, i.e. slow changes in the reflectance, not leading to changes in the type of land-use/land-cover class from the master image to the destination one; and (3) rapid changes in the reflectance of the Earth's objects are usually related to anthropogenic activities. This technique is used to identify and assess changes along the coast of Hurghada and Ras Abu Soma, the Red Sea. Results indicate serious human impacts and the necessity for control measures and monitoring. Recommendations are presented [5]. The rapid urban development of the Hurghada area began in early 1980 to build villages and huge tourist resorts and this has continued urban development and subsequent land filling and dredging of the shoreline and the destruction of coral so far. These coastal developments have led to an increase in shoreline land filling and dredging. Despite all the environmental laws of the organization to reduce infringement on the shoreline, the abuses are still ongoing. Change detection analysis using remote sensing is a very good tool to monitor the changes condition in urban development and shoreline. Four sensors was used in this study, three of them are, Landsat Multispectral Scanner (Landsat 1 MSS), Landsat Thematic Mapper (Landsat 5 TM), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat 7 ETM+) and the another one is SPOT XS 4 (Originally Système Probatoire de l’Observation de la Terre), acquired during 1972, 1984, 1992, 2004 and 2011, respectively, were used to detect and evaluate Hurghada’s urban expansion and shoreline changes. After the images have been geometrically, radio-metrically and atmospherically corrected using ENVI 5.0 software, the digital number was transformed to the reflectance values and the images were ready to change detection process with the integration of geographic information system using Arc GIS 10 software. The results show that changes during the 39 years of the shoreline is 6.29 km2, (5.65 km2 accretion and 0.64 km2 erosion) and urban development is 16.47 km2 the road network is the 8.738 km2.

The rapid urban development in the Hurghada area since the 1980s has dramatically enhanced the potential impact of human activities. To inventory and monitor this urban development effectively, remote sensing provides a viable source of data from which updated land cover information can be extracted efficiently and cheaply. In this study, data from three satellite datasets, Landsat Thematic Mapper (Landsat 5 TM), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat 7 ETM+) and Terra/Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), acquired during 1987, 2000 and 2005, respectively, were used to detect and evaluate Hurghada's urban expansion. Five change detection techniques were tested to detect areas of change. The techniques considered were image differencing, image ratioing, image overlay, multidate principal component analysis (PCA) and post-classification comparison. The post-classification comparison was found to be the most accurate procedure and produced three land use/land cover (LULC) maps of the years 1987, 2000 and 2005 with overall accuracies of 87.8%, 88.9% and 92.0%, respectively. The urban expansion analysis revealed that the built-up area has expanded by 40 km2 in 18 years (1987–2005). In addition, 4.5 km2 of landfill/sedimentation was added to the sea as a result of the coastal urban development and tourist activities. The booming coastal tourism and population pressure were considered to be the main factors driving this expansion, and some natural and artificial constraints constrained the physical shape of the city. The expansion is represented by urban fringe development, linear, infill and isolated models. Topography, lithology and structures were also analysed as possible factors that influenced the expansion. The understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of Hurghada's urban expansion is the cornerstone for formulating a view about the future urban uses and for making the best use of the limited resources that are available [1]. A Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) image of 1987 and a Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image of 2000 were used to examine changes in land use/land cover (LULC) around Hurghada, Egypt, and changes in the composition of coral reefs offshore. Prior to coral reef bottom type classification, the radiance values were transformed to depth invariant bottom indices to reduce the effect of the water column. Subsequently, a multi component change detection procedure was applied to these indices to define changes. Preliminary results showed significant changes in LULC during the period 1987–2000 as well as changes in coral reef composition. Direct impacts along the coastline were clearly shown, but it was more difficult to link offshore changes in coral reef composition to indirect impacts of the changing LULC. Further research is needed to explore the effects of the different image processing steps, and to discover possible links between indirect impacts of LULC changes and changes in the coral reef composition [2]. Knowledge and detecting impacts of human activities on the coastal ecosystem is an essential management requirement and also very important for future and proper planning of coastal areas. Moreover, documentation of these impacts can help in increasing public awareness about side effects of unsustainable practices. Analysis of multidate remote sensing data can be used as an effective tool in environmental impact assessment (EIA). Being synoptic and frequent in coverage, multidate data from Landsat and other satellites provide a reference record and bird’s eye viewing to the environmental situation of the coastal ecosystem and the associated habitats. Furthermore, integration of satellite data with field observations and background information can help in decision if a certain activity has caused deterioration to a specific habitat or not. The present paper is an attempt to utilize remote sensing data for assessment impacts of some human activities on the major sensitive habitats of the north western Egyptian Red Sea coastal zone, definitely between Ras Gemsha and Safaga. Through multidate change analysis of Landsat data (TM & ETM+ sensors), it was possible to depict some of the human infringements in the area and to provide, in some cases, exclusive evidences for the damaging effect of some developmental activities [3]. The coastline of Hurghada has experienced considerable environmental stress from tourist and residential recreational activities. Uncontrolled tourist development has already caused substantial damage to inshore reefs and imbalance in the hydrodynamic pattern of the coastal sediments. The objective of this paper is to investigate environmental changes using multitemporal, multispectral satellite data to identify changes at Hurghada caused by anthropogenic influences. Major detected changes include resort beaches, protection structures and landfill areas; these changes are mainly due to human intervention. Two Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images acquired in 1984 and 1997 are used for this analysis. The landfill areas formed during this period are calculated at about 2.15 Km2 . Whilst landfill creates new inexpensive land and improves access to the sea for tourists, it is the cause of environmental problems. In addition, land-use/land-cover and beach changes are determined over the 13-year period [4]. The Red Sea coastal zone is characterized by its sensitive, fragile, unique natural resources and habitats. In the Hurghada coastal region, major changes in the tourism industry have taken place in the last few decades. The detection of environmental changes, in a selected site of the Red Sea coastal zone, will be helpful to protect and develop this coastal environment. A methodology for separating natural and man-made changes in satellite images was developed. It was based on the following assumptions: (1) slow changes, which occur within the range of the class reflectance, represent a natural change rather than an anthropogenic one; (2) natural changes tend to be in the same land-use/land-cover class in each date, i.e. slow changes in the reflectance, not leading to changes in the type of land-use/land-cover class from the master image to the destination one; and (3) rapid changes in the reflectance of the Earth's objects are usually related to anthropogenic activities. This technique is used to identify and assess changes along the coast of Hurghada and Ras Abu Soma, the Red Sea. Results indicate serious human impacts and the necessity for control measures and monitoring. Recommendations are presented [5]. The rapid urban development of the Hurghada area began in early 1980 to build villages and huge tourist resorts and this has continued urban development and subsequent land filling and dredging of the shoreline and the destruction of coral so far. These coastal developments have led to an increase in shoreline land filling and dredging. Despite all the environmental laws of the organization to reduce infringement on the shoreline, the abuses are still ongoing. Change detection analysis using remote sensing is a very good tool to monitor the changes condition in urban development and shoreline. Four sensors was used in this study, three of them are, Landsat Multispectral Scanner (Landsat 1 MSS), Landsat Thematic Mapper (Landsat 5 TM), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat 7 ETM+) and the another one is SPOT XS 4 (Originally Système Probatoire de l’Observation de la Terre), acquired during 1972, 1984, 1992, 2004 and 2011, respectively, were used to detect and evaluate Hurghada’s urban expansion and shoreline changes. After the images have been geometrically, radio-metrically and atmospherically corrected using ENVI 5.0 software, the digital number was transformed to the reflectance values and the images were ready to change detection process with the integration of geographic information system using Arc GIS 10 software. The results show that changes during the 39 years of the shoreline is 6.29 km2, (5.65 km2 accretion and 0.64 km2 erosion) and urban development is 16.47 km2 the road network is the 8.738 km2.