In December 2001, the authors started two kinds of experiments on the meteor burst communication (MBC) in Antarctica to study the ability of MBC as a communication medium for data collection systems in that region. In the first experiment, a continuous tone signal is transmitted from Zhongshan Station. The signal received at Syowa Station (about 1,400 km apart) is recorded and analyzed. This experiment is aimed to study basic properties of the meteor burst channel in that high latitude region. On the other hand, the second experiment is designed to estimate data throughput of a commercial MBC system in that region. A remote station at Zhongshan Station tries to transfer data packets each consisting of 10 data words to the master station at Syowa Station. Data packets are generated with five minutes interval. In this paper, we explain the experiments, briefly examine the results of the first year (from April 2002 to March 2003), and put forward the plan for the experiments in the second and third year. From the data available thus far, we can see that 1) the sinusoidal daily variation in the meteor activity typical in middle and low latitude regions can not be clearly seen, 2) non-meteoric propagations frequently dominate the channel especially during night hours, 3) about 60% of the generated data packets are successfully transferred to the master station within two hours delay even though we are now operating the data transfer system only for five minutes in each ten minutes interval, etc.

In this paper, we propose a handoff scheme with two-level priority for the reservation of handoff request calls in mobile cellular radio systems. We assume two types of mobile subscribers with different distributions of moving speed, that is, users with low average moving speed (e.g., pedestrians) and high average moving speed (e.g., people in moving cars). A fixed number of channels in each cell are reserved exclusively for handoff request calls. Out of these number of channels, some are reserved exclusively for the high speed handoff request calls. The remaining channels are shared by both the originating and handoff request calls. In the proposed scheme, both kinds of handoff request calls make their own queues. The system is modeled by a three-dimensional Markov chain. We apply the Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR) method to obtain the equilibrium state probabilities. Blocking probabilities of calls, forced termination probabilities and average queue length of handoff calls of each type are evaluated. We can make the forced termination probabilities of handoff request calls smaller than the blocking probability of originating calls. Moreover, we can make the forced termination probability of high speed handoff request calls smaller than that of the low speed ones. Necessary queue size for the two kinds of handoff request calls are also estimated.

Multi-server queueing systems with traffic intensity which vary according to an irreducible Markov chain are considered. We will show that the probability distribution for the number of customers in these systems can be expressed by an algebraic sum of geometric series with appropriate coefficients satisfying some interesting properties. To study these properties a detailed analysis of the denominator of the partial generating functions of the number of customers in the system is presented. These coefficients allow us to explain the behavior of the system under different traffic conditions. First, we derive a general expression for the probability distribution and then compare this result with that of the Zukerman and Rubin's model. One special section is devoted to the case of an arbitrary number of phases. Some numerical results are also provided and discussed to support the theoretical results.

We study behavior of multi-zone MCA (Multi-Channel Access) mobile communication systems with a finite number of channels in each zone. Three queueing schemes for channel requests named holding scheme, ready-nonready scheme, and optimum scheme are investigated. The delay performance of channel requests is studied through computer simulations.

A microwave mammography setup for clinical testing was developed and used to successfully carry out an initial clinical test. The equipment is based on multistatic ultra wideband (UWB) radar, which features a multistatic microwave imaging via space time (MS-MIST) algorithm for high resolution and a conformal array with an aspirator for fixing the breast in place. In this paper, an outline of the equipment, a numerical simulation, and clinical test results are presented.

In this paper, we propose a preemptive priority handoff scheme for integrated voice/data cellular mobile systems. In our scheme, calls are divided into three different classes: handoff voice calls, originating voice calls, and data calls. In each cell of the system there is a queue only for data calls. Priority is given to handoff voice calls over the other two kinds of calls. That is, the right to preempt the service of data is given to a handoff voice call if on arrival it finds no idle channels. The interrupted data call returns to the queue. The system is modeled by a two-dimensional Markov chain. We apply the Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR) method to obtain the equilibrium state probabilities. Blocking and forced termination probabilities for voice calls are obtained. Moreover, average queue length and average transmission delay of data calls are evaluated. The results are compared with another handoff scheme for integrated voice/data cellular mobile systems where some numbers of channels are reserved for voice handoff calls. It is shown that, when the data traffic is not very light, the new scheme can provide lower blocking probability for originating voice calls, lower forced termination probability for ongoing voice calls, and shorter average queue length and less average transmission delay for data calls.

In this paper, we propose DSVMA (Data Steal into Voice Multiple Access) scheme for integration of voice and data in wireless information networks. By using speech activity detectors and effective downstream control signals, DSVMA enables data terminals to transmit multi-packet messages when voice terminals are in silent periods. The S-G (throughput versus offered load) performance of the DSVMA system and the blocking probabilities of both the second generation systems and the DSVMA systems are evaluated by the static analysis. A dynamic analysis of a system with finite number of terminals is also presented using an approximate Markov analysis method. Some numerical examples are given in the paper. As a result, it is shown that DSVMA can improve the channel utility efficiency of a circuit-switched TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) wireless communication system and is directly applicable for second generation wireless information systems.

A new type of Meteor Burst Communication (MBC) network is developed. Each unit of the network is based on a DSP board running a modem software. All the fundamental blocks and functions of a modem are implemented in software. Unlike hardware modems, this software modem has flexibility of system configuration and operation. The system implements adaptability in terms of modulation type (number of phases in MPSK) using a unique dynamic channel estimation scheme appropriate for MBC channel. An MBC network protocol is implemented within the modem software. Some preliminary experiments were carried out for differential BPSK and differential QPSK modulations over a practical meteor burst link, and the results are presented.

Based on the channel properties of of the meteor burst communication, a kind of semi-irregular LDPC codes suitable for MBC is presented. Simulation results show that the application of this kind of semi-irregular LDPC codes in MBC yields better performance than the regular ones. Some theoretical analyses are given.

This paper presents a variable rate transmission scheme suitable for bandlimited meteor burst channel. Meteor Burst Communication (MBC) is a unique type of radio communication, which is primarily used for non-realtime remote data collection. In the paper, along with conventional BPSK and QPSK modulations, QAM and M-ary Bi-orthogonal modulations are analyzed for software modem implementation in an MBC system. Performance of the modulation methods is presented for both static AWGN channel and meteor burst channel. The proposed scheme for variable rate transmission dynamically estimates the MBC channel and varies the modulation type of a software modem, to control the transmission rate between bursts. The scheme dynamically selects a modulation type and packet length that will maximize the average throughput of the system. Performance of the scheme is analyzed and compared with conventional fixed rate modems. A practical implementation for software modem is suggested that uses a common core modulator/demodulator structure.

In our preceding paper, I-ISMA (Idle Signal Multiple Access for Integrated services), a combination of ISMA and time reservation technique, was proposed to transmit an integrated voice and data traffic in third generation wireless communication networks. There, the channel capacity of I-ISMA was evaluated by the static analysis. To fully estimate performance of contention-based channel access protocols, however, we also need dynamic analysis to evaluate stability, delay, etc. Particularly, in systems concerning real-time voice transmission, delay is one of the most important performance measures. A six-mode model to describe an I-ISMA system is set up. With some assumptions for simplification, the dynamic behavior of the system is approximated by a Markov process so that the EPA (Equilibrium Point Analysis), a fluid approximation method, can be applied to the analysis. Then, numerical and simulation results are obtained for some examples. By means of the same analysis method and under the same conditions, the performance of PRMA is evaluated and compared briefly with that of I-ISMA.

This paper deals with the method of integration of voice and data in wireless communication systems. By applying the DSV (Data Steal into Voice) technique to D-TDMA (Dynamic Time Division Multiple Access) systems, this paper presents an MAC (Media Access Control) method of integration of voice and data for the systems such as cellular radios and cordless phones. After a brief review of the D-TDMA scheme and the DSV technique, the protocol called D-TDMA/DSV is described. Then, a static analysis to derive the channel capacity and a dynamic analysis to evaluate the throughput and delay performance are presented. An extension of TFA (Transient Fluid Approximation) analysis is employed in the dynamic analysis. With the same system parameters, the capacity of D-TDMA/DSV is compared with that of the traditional D-TDMA. Under the limitation of the blocking probability required for cellular radios, some numerical examples of dynamic analysis are given to show the throughput and delay performance of the system.

Corresponding to the development of B-ISDN, integrated services for data, voice, etc. are imperatively required for the so called third generation wireless communication networks. In this paper, I-ISMA (Idle Signal Multiple Access for Integrated services) is proposed to transmit integrated voice and data traffic from dispersed terminals to a base station. In the system, data packets and the first packets of talkspurts of conversational speeches are transmitted using ISMA protocol over a shared channel while subsequent packets of talkspurts are sent with time reservation technique. The channel capacity of I-ISMA is evaluated and compared with that of PRMA. The region in which I-ISMA has larger capacity than PRMA is figured out. Generally speaking, I-ISMA has larger capacity than PRMA when the duration for transmitting and detecting an idle signal is not too long and the channel is not too congested by the reserved voice transmissions. When we concern real time voice transmission, delay is one of the most important performance measures. Only is a qualitative discussion on delay performance given here. The quantitative evaluation is obtained by the dynamic analysis in our succeeding paper.

The M(m)/M/K and M(m)/M/ models with synchronous fluctuation of traffic intensity are considered. The phase process is assumed to make changes according to an irreducible m-phase Markov chain. In contrast to the model with asynchronous fluctuation of parameters, phase changes may occur in synchronization with an arrival or beginning of a customer's service. We study mainly the steady-state regime of our models, and observe that, in general, closed form solutions for the limiting probabilities are difficult to obtain but their numerical computation is rather straightforward. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the steady-state to be attained. For the model M(m)/M/K, it is shown that, for the case where the traffic intensity of one phase is greater than one (even if the average traffic intensity is less than one) the average queue length approaches infinity as the fluctuations among phases gets more sluggish. However, for the case where the traffic intensity for all phases is less than one, the queue length is moderate and not dependent as much on the rate of fluctuation among phases. Numerical examples are given and discussed. Finally, we point out that, our models may be more tractable than the asynchronous ones, when we try to generalize them to the case of general inter-arrival, service, or sojourn time distribution.