A decision support tool for evaluating the air quality and wind comfort induced by different opening configurations for buildings in canyons

This study formulated a new index for evaluating both the air quality and wind comfort induced by building openings at the pedestrian level of street canyons. The air pollutant concentrations and wind velocities induced by building openings were predicted by a series of CFD simulations using ANSYS Fluent software based on standard k-ɛ model. The types of opening configurations investigated inside isolated and non-isolated canyons included separations, voids and permeable elements. It was found that openings with permeability values of 10% were adequate for improving the air quality and wind comfort conditions for pedestrians after considering the reduction in development floor areas. Openings were effective in improving the air quality in isolated canyons and different types of opening configurations were suggested for different street aspect ratios. On the contrary, openings were not always found effective for non-isolated canyons if there were pollutant sources in adjacent street canyons. As such, it would also be recommended introducing openings to adjacent canyons along with openings to the target canyons. The formulated index can help city planners and building designers to strike an optimal balance between air quality and wind comfort for pedestrians when designing and planning buildings inside urban streets and thus promoting urban environmental sustainability.

Broadband photonic microwave phase shifter based on controlling two RF modulation sidebands via a Fourier-domain optical processor

An all-optical photonic microwave phase shifter that can realize a continuous 360° phase shift over a wide frequency range is presented. It is based on the new concept of controlling the amplitude and phase of the two RF modulation sidebands via a Fourier-domain optical processor. The operating frequency range of the phase shifter is largely increased compared to the previously reported Fourier-domain optical processor based phase shifter that uses only one RF modulation sideband. This is due to the extension of the lower RF operating frequency by designing the amplitude and phase of one of the RF modulation sidebands while the other sideband is designed to realize the required RF signal phase shift. The two-sideband amplitude-and-phase-control based photonic microwave phase shifter has a simple structure as it only requires a single laser source, a phase modulator, a Fourier-domain optical processor and a single photodetector. Investigation on the bandwidth limitation problem in the conventional Fourier-domain optical processor based phase shifter is presented. Comparisons between the measured phase shifter output RF amplitude and phase responses with theory, which show excellent agreement, are also presented for the first time. Experimental results demonstrate the full -180° to + 180° phase shift with little RF signal amplitude variation of less than 3 dB and with a phase deviation of less than 4° over a 7.5 GHz to 26.5 GHz frequency range, and the phase shifter exhibits a long term stable performance.

Microwave photonic signal processing

Photonic signal processing offers the advantages of large time-bandwidth capabilities to overcome inherent electronic limitations. In-fibre signal processors are inherently compatible with fibre optic microwave systems that can integrate with wireless antennas, and can provide connectivity with in-built signal conditioning and electromagnetic interference immunity. Recent methods in wideband and adaptive signal processing, which address the challenge of realising programmable microwave photonic phase shifters and true-time delay elements for phased array beamforming; ultra-wideband Hilbert transformers; single passband, widely tunable, and switchable microwave photonic filters; and ultra-wideband microwave photonic mixers, are described. In addition, a new microwave photonic mixer structure is presented, which is based on using the inherent frequency selectivity of the stimulated Brillouin scattering loss spectrum to suppress the carrier of a dual-phase modulated optical signal. Results for the new microwave photonic mixer demonstrate an extremely wide bandwidth operation of 0.2 to 20 GHz and a large conversion efficiency improvement compared to the conventional microwave photonic mixer.