Francesco Spadafora

Multiband software defined radar for soil discontinuities detection

A multiband Software Defined Radar based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing technique is proposed in this work for an accurate soil discontinuities detection, taking into account also the dispersive behavior of media. A multilayer soil structure is assumed as a validation test to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, by accurately retrieving the unknown thicknesses and permittivities of the soil layers.

POTENTIALITIES OF USRP-BASED SOFTWARE DEFINED RADAR SYSTEMS

Software Deflned Radar is the latest trend in radar development. To handle enhanced radar signal processing techniques, advanced radars need to be able of generating various types of waveforms, such as frequency modulated or phase coded, and to perform multiple functions. The adoption of a Software Deflned Radio system makes easier all these abilities. In this work, the implementation of a Software Deflned Radar system for target tracking using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral platform is discussed. For the flrst time, an experimental characterization in terms of radar application is performed on the latest Universal Software Radio Peripheral NI2920, demonstrating a strongly improved target resolution with respect to the flrst generation platform.

Software defined radar: synchronization issues and practical implementation

The present work is focused on Software Defined Radar - (SDR) paradigm, which gives a more versatile solution when compared to classical radar systems. Thanks to this new system model, most of the fundamental operations, such as signal generation, filtering, up and down conversion, are easily implemented via software. The objective of this paper is to show the main issues related to the design of an effective Software Defined Radar device. Specifically, we will discuss and face the synchronization issues existing between a received and a transmitted signal when an open source hardware, namely the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), is considered.

MoveIt!: Autonomous Underwater Free-Floating Manipulation

Today, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are mostly used for survey missions, but many existing applications require manipulation capabilities, such as the maintenance of permanent observatories, submerged oil wells, cabled sensor networks, and pipes; the deployment and recovery of benthic stations; or the search and recovery of black boxes. Currently, these tasks require the use of work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) deployed from vessels equipped with dynamic positioning, leaving such solutions expensive to adopt. To face these challenges during the last 25 years, scientists have researched the idea of increasing the autonomy of underwater intervention systems.

Low-Cost Radars Integrated into a Landslide Early Warning System

Radar activities performed at University of Calabria in the framework of a national project on “Landslides Early Warning” are described in this contribution. After a brief outline of the whole Landslides Early Warning Integrated System, two compact and low-cost radar configurations, the first one based on the adoption of a software radio platform, the second one using a compact Vector Network Analyzer as SFCW scatterometer module, are deeply described. Experimental results are discussed as validation tests to demonstrate the radars range detection capabilities.

DISEÑO Y CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN CINCEL ELÉCTRICO PARA APLICACIONES SUBMARINAS

La arqueologia subacuatica se esta convirtiendo en un campo determinado de estudio e investigacion en patrimonio cultural, gracias a la mejora de materiales, tecnologias y metodologias de exploracion. El objetivo de la arqueologia subacuatica es mejorar y preservar los artefactos sumergidos sin extraerlos de los fondos marinos. Este documento describe las etapas de diseno y fabricacion de un cincel submarino electrico