To improve path loss estimation, a ray tracing method for inhomogeneous building surfaces and its verification are presented in this paper. Considering real building surfaces with many heterogeneous materials, the effective specular reflection based on a physical optics (PO) approximation is modeled and applied to the reflection in a ray tracing method. To verify the proposed method, measurement at 2.7 GHz is performed in a complex urban environment. Comparisons between the measurements and the ray tracing results are made in LOS and NLOS environments.

In this paper we present an unsupervised color image segmentation algorithm based on statistical models. We have adopted the Gaussian mixture model to represent the distribution of color feature vectors. A novel deterministic annealing EM and mean field theory from statistical mechanics are used to compute the posterior probability distribution of each pixel and estimate the parameters of the Gaussian Mixture Model. We describe the noncontexture segmentation algorithm that uses a deterministic annealing approach and the contexture segmentation algorithm that uses the mean field theory. The experimental results show that the deterministic annealing EM and mean field theory provide a global optimal solution for the maximum likelihood estimators and that these algorithms can efficiently segment the real image.

In this paper, we propose a new motion vector smoothing algorithm using weighted vector median filtering based on edge direction for frame interpolation. The proposed WVM (Weighted Vector Median) system adjusts the weighting values based on edge direction, which is derived from spatial coherence between the edge direction continuity of a moving object and motion vector (MV) reliability. The edge based weighting scheme removes the effect of outliers and irregular MVs from the MV smoothing process. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can correct wrong motion vectors and thus improve both the subjective and objective visual quality compared with conventional methods.

In this paper, low-complexity generalized singular value decomposition (GSVD) based beamforming schemes are proposed for a cognitive radio (CR) network in which multiple secondary users (SUs) with multiple antennas coexist with multiple primary users (PUs). In general, optimal beamforming, which suppresses the interference caused at PUs to below a certain threshold and maximizes the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs) of multiple SUs simultaneously, requires a complicated iterative optimization process. To overcome the computational complexity, we introduce a signal-to-leakage-plus-noise ratio (SLNR) maximizing beamforming scheme in which the weight can be obtained by using the GSVD algorithm, and does not require any iterations or matrix squaring operations. Here, to satisfy the leakage constraints at PUs, two linear methods, zero forcing (ZF) preprocessing and power allocation, are proposed.

Several implementation methods for a MAP decoder are proposed in this paper. Using a novel pipeline structured time-shared process, the authors are able to efficiently overcome the restrictions imposed by the recursion process on state metrics, and the complexity of the MAP decoder can be reduced to a level on the order of a SOVA (Soft Output Viterbi Algorithm) decoder. In addition, the authors propose an efficient controller structure that can be used for variable frame-size systems such as cdma-2000. The MAP decoder using a block-wise algorithm designed here was implemented in only one 20,000 gate circuit. It was validated by VHDL, which was compared with the results of the initial simulation (C programs). The decoder demonstrated a 300 kbps decoding processing ability with 8 iterations on a FPGA circuit, with a deviation only about 0.1-0.2 dB greater than that for an ideal MAP decoder, even when all hardware environments are considered.

A multicast content service, including numerous devices, requires an efficient group key management scheme as one of its core components. The purpose of group key management is to provide a secure key-sharing scheme among the members of a group so that messages transmitted via broadcasting or multicasting are not exposed to non-members. The Chinese Remaindering Group Key (CRGK) is an efficient group key management scheme based on the Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT). It optimizes the number of re-key messages, the user-side key computation cost, and the number of stored keys. However, CRGK is not fit for a group with a large number of members because of the high computation complexity of the CRT. In this paper, we propose a Hierarchical CRGK (HCRGK) scheme that supports a group with a large number of members. We improved CRGK by adopting it to include an n-ary tree structure. The tree approach simplifies the group key management by distributing the group key computation to subgroups. Our scheme requires at most (log m N + 1) re-key messages for a group with N members and a short computation time even when the group is very large.

To estimate angle, velocity, and range information of multiple targets jointly in FMCW MIMO radar, two-dimensional (2D) MUSIC with matched filtering and FFT algorithm is proposed. By reformulating the received FMCW signal of the colocated MIMO radar, we exploit 2D MUSIC to estimate the angle and Doppler frequency of multiple targets. Then by using a matched filter together with the estimated angle and Doppler frequency and FFT operation, the range of the target is estimated. To effectively estimate the parameters of multiple targets with large distance differences, we also propose a successive interference cancellation method that uses the orthogonal projection. That is, rather than estimating the multiple target parameters simultaneously using 2D MUSIC, we estimate the target parameters sequentially, in which the parameters of the target having strongest reflected power are estimated first and then, their effect on the received signal is canceled out by using the orthogonal projection. Simulations verify the performance of the proposed algorithm.

The reputation-based majority-voting approach is a promising solution for detecting malicious workers in a cloud system. However, this approach has a drawback in that it can detect malicious workers only when the number of colluders make up no more than half of all workers. In this paper, we simulate the behavior of a reputation-based method and mathematically analyze its accuracy. Through the analysis, we observe that, regardless of the number of colluders and their collusion probability, if the reputation value of a group is significantly different from those of other groups, it is a completely honest group. Based on the analysis result, we propose a new method for distinguishing honest workers from colluders even when the colluders make up the majority group. The proposed method constructs groups based on their reputations. A group with the significantly highest or lowest reputation value is considered a completely honest group. Otherwise, honest workers are mixed together with colluders in a group. The proposed method accurately identifies honest workers even in a mixed group by comparing each voting result one by one. The results of a security analysis and an experiment show that our method can identify honest workers much more accurately than a traditional reputation-based approach with little additional computational overhead.

Estimating a location of mobile phones or sound source is of considerable interest in wireless communications and signal processing. In this letter, we propose squared range weighted least squares (SRWLS) using the range estimate attained from the Taylor series-based maximum likelihood. The weight can be determined more accurately when using the proposed method, compared with the existing methods using the variance of noise. The simulation results show that the proposed method is superior to the existing methods in RMSE as the measurement noise amount of sensors increases.

This letter introduces an Energy-Aware LED Light System (EA-LLS) that provides adequate illumination to users according to the analysis of the sun's position, the user's movement, and various environmental factors, without sun illumination detection sensors. This letter presents research using algorithms and scenarios. We propose an EA-LLS that offers not only On/Off and dimming control, but dimming control through daylight, space, and user behavior analysis.

This paper proposes an effective branch folding technique which combines branch instructions with predicted instructions. This technique can be implemented using an instruction queue, which buffers prefetched instructions. Most of the instructions in the instruction queue are forwarded to the execution unit in sequence. Branch instructions, however, are combined with predicted instructions in the instruction queue and these folded instructions are forwarded to the execution unit. Miss-prediction can be recovered by flushing folded instructions without processor state recovery and by restarting from the other path. Simulation and implementation results show that both performance and power consumption are significantly improved with little additional hardware cost.

A new exemplar-based inpainting method which effectively preserves global structures and textures in the restored region driven by feature vectors is presented. Exemplars that belong to the source region are segmented based on their features. To express characteristics of exemplars such as shapes of structures and smoothness of textures, the Harris corner response and the variance of pixel values are employed as a feature vector. Enhancements on restoration plausibility and processing speedup are achieved as shown in the experiments.

Asymmetrically designed polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film transistors (TFT) were fabricated and investigated to suppress kink effect and to improve electrical reliability. Asymmetric dual channel length poly-Si TFT (ADCL) shows the best reduction of kink and leakage currents. Technology computer-aided design simulation proves that ADCL can induce properly high voltage at floating node of the TFT at high drain-source voltage (VDS), which can mitigate the impact ionization and the degradation of the transconductance of the TFT showing high reliability under the hot carrier stress.

With the rising innovative antigens (such as intruders and viruses) through Internet, reliable security mechanisms are required to perceptively detect and put them down. However, defense techniques of the current host system over Internet may not properly analyze Internet antigens, because trends of attacks are unexpectedly shifted. In this paper, we introduce an Antibody Layer that mediates proper security services based on the biological mechanism to rapidly disclose and remove innovative antigens. The proposed Antibody Layer also employs a new topology called antibody cooperation protocol to support real-time security QoS for one host as well as host alliance.

This paper proposes a novel image segmentation method based on Clausius entropy and adaptive Gaussian mixture model for detecting moving objects in a complex environment. The results suggest that the proposed method performs better than existing methods in extracting the foreground in various video sequences composed of multiple objects, lighting reflections, and background clutter.

We propose LPDD (Lifetime Prediction Directed Diffusion), a novel energy-aware routing protocol for sensor networks that aims at increasing network survivability without a significant increase in latency. The key concept behind the protocol is the adaptive selection of routes by predicting the battery lifetime of the minimum energy nodes along the routes.

In this paper, we consider wireless powered sensor networks. In these networks, the energy access point (EAP) transmits the energy packets to the sensor nodes and then, the sensor nodes send their sensing data to the information access point (IAP) by exploiting the harvested energy. Because the sensor nodes have a limited information queue (data storage) and energy queue (battery), energy packet/data packet scheduling is important. Accordingly, to reduce the total energy required to support the associated sensor network and simultaneously avoid sensing data loss, the energy packet/data packet transmission periods are jointly optimized. Furthermore, analyses identify the optimal location of EAP which will yield energy-efficient wireless powered sensor networks. Through the computer simulations, the performance of the proposed packet scheduling and deployment policy is demonstrated.

This letter proposes a new adaptive filtering method that uses the last L desired signal samples as an extra input vector, besides the existing input data, to reduce mean square error. We have improved the convergence rate by adopting the squared norm of the past error samples, in addition to the modified cost function. The modified variable error-data normalized step-size least mean square algorithm provides fast convergence, ensuring a small final misadjustment. Simulation results indicate its superior mean square error performance, while its convergence rate equals that of existing methods. In addition, the proposed algorithm shows superior tracking capability when the system is subjected to an abrupt disturbance.

Side scan sonar using low frequency can quickly search a wide range, but the images acquired are of low quality. The image super resolution (SR) method can mitigate this problem. The SR method typically uses sparse coding, but accurately estimating sparse coefficients incurs substantial computational costs. To reduce processing time, we propose a region-selective sparse coding based SR system that emphasizes object regions. In particular, the region that contains interesting objects is detected for side scan sonar based underwater images so that the subsequent sparse coding based SR process can be selectively applied. Effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the reduced processing time required for image reconstruction yet preserving the same level of visual quality as conventional methods.

An element consist of a slot and a post is designed for canceling the reflection in a rectangular waveguide by the method of moments. For reducing the computation time in practical design of the element with a wide range of coupling strength for an array, only the axial uniform currents on the post surface are considered. This approximation is valid when the post for reflection-canceling is far enough from the slot. The post location is determined by this simple analysis for both transverse and longitudinal slots with typical coupling strength. Measured results using 4 GHz-band standard waveguides reveal that the assumption of uniform line currents on the post surface is acceptable. The design is further extended to demonstrate its applicability to a practical array design by considering a wide range of coupling strength.