Adaptive hybrid genetic algorithm concatenated with improved parallel interference cancellation, i.e. adaptive hybrid genetic algorithm parallel interference cancellation (AHGAPIC) was proposed. A study is conducted on the application of AHGAPIC to soft decoding high rate multi-user detection with diversity reception for dual-rate wideband DS-CDMA spread spectrum communications, aiming to mitigate the effect of multiple access interference. The relevant research has revealed that the local search capability of hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is still not good enough. Therefore, first, two evolutionary operations, i.e. inversion and insertion are merged into HGA to constitute a novel algorithm. With its moderate local search capability, this new algorithm can search for the global optimum region according to the information entropy, and then it is made adaptively vary its probabilities of crossover and mutation depending on the fitness values of the solutions to form the adaptive hybrid genetic algorithm (AHGA). Second, AHGA is utilized to effectively identify the better and better binary string to maximize the log-likelihood function of dual-rate multi-user detection. As AHGA converges to the optimum region, the control factor of the improved parallel interference cancellation (IPIC) detector is set to be the ratio of the average fitness value to the maximum fitness value of the population of AHGA. Finally, equipped with both the control factor and the binary string with the maximum fitness value as the initial data, the IPIC detector can rapidly find out the approximately optimum soft decoding vector. Then, it can obtain the approximately global optimum estimate point on the basis of the soft decoding rule, corresponding to the transmitted data bits. A lower bound of computational complexity has been achieved through simulations and qualitative analyses. The property of the proposed algorithm to converge rapidly leads to lower computational complexity. Emulation results have shown that the AHGAPIC soft decoding high rate multi-user detector is superior to other suboptimum detectors considered in this paper in terms of two points. They are the mitigation of multiple access interference and the resistance to near-far effects. Its performance is close to the sequential group optimum multi-user detector but with a shorter time delay.

A hierarchical representation formed by an octree for a volume ray casting is a well-known data structure to skip over transparent regions requiring little preprocessing and storage. However, it accompanies unnecessary comparison and level shift between octants. We propose a new data structure named half-skewed octree, which is an auxiliary octree to support the conventional octree. In preprocessing step, a half-skewed octree selects eight different child octants in each generation step compared with the conventional octree. During rendering, after comparing an octant of the conventional octree with corresponding octant of the half-skewed octree simultaneously at the same level, a ray chooses one of two octants to jump over transparent regions farther away. By this method, we can reduce unnecessary comparison and level shift between octants. Another problem of a conventional octree structure is that it is difficult to determine a distance from the boundary of a transparent octant to opposite boundary. Although we exploit the previously proposed distance template, we cannot expect the acceleration when a ray direction is almost parallel to the octant's boundary. However, our method can solve it without additional operations because a ray selects one octant to leap farther away. As a result, our approach is much faster than the method using conventional octree while preserving image quality and requiring minimal storage.

Localization of mobile terminals has received considerable attention in wireless communications. In this letter, we present a covariance shaping least squares (CSLS) estimator using time-of-arrival measurements of the signal from the mobile station received at three or more base stations. It is shown that the CSLS estimator yields better performance than the other LS estimators at low signal-to-noise ratio conditions.

In real-time speech recognition applications, there is a need to implement a fast and reliable adaptation algorithm. We propose a method to reduce adaptation time of the rapid unsupervised speaker adaptation based on HMM-Sufficient Statistics. We use only a single arbitrary utterance without transcriptions in selecting the N-best speakers' Sufficient Statistics created offline to provide data for adaptation to a target speaker. Further reduction of N-best implies a reduction in adaptation time. However, it degrades recognition performance due to insufficiency of data needed to robustly adapt the model. Linear interpolation of the global HMM-Sufficient Statistics offsets this negative effect and achieves a 50% reduction in adaptation time without compromising the recognition performance. Furthermore, we compared our method with Vocal Tract Length Normalization (VTLN), Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) and Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression (MLLR). Moreover, we tested in office, car, crowd and booth noise environments in 10 dB, 15 dB, 20 dB and 25 dB SNRs.

Pulse-shaping OFDM is well-known that it performs well in a mobile environment compared with conventional OFDM. However, in a highly mobile environment intersymbol and intercarrier interferences (ISI/ICIs) increase and can no longer be neglected. These ISI/ICIs deteriorate the performance of the systems. Proper channel equalization is needed for further improvement of the systems. In this paper, a more general case, namely Biorthogonal Frequency Division System based on Offset QAM (BFDM/OQAM) is considered. We propose a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) transversal filter to equalize the time-frequency dispersive channel. Tap weights are calculated using the zero-forcing (ZF) algorithm. We also propose maximum-likelihood channel estimator and its low-complexity version. The proposed system can significantly improve the performance of BFDM/OQAM systems in the highly mobile environment.

In this paper, we present a resource monitoring and selection method for rapid turnaround grid applications (for example, within 10 seconds). The novelty of our method is the distributed evaluation of resources for rapidly selecting the appropriate idle resources. We integrate our method with a widely used resource management system, namely the Monitoring and Discovery System 2 (MDS2), and compare our method with the original MDS2 in terms of the performance and the scalability. The performance is measured using a 64-node cluster of PCs and the scalability is analyzed using a theoretical model and the measured performance. The experimental results show that our method reduces the resource selection time by 82%, as compared with the original MDS2. The scalability analysis also indicates that our method can keep the resource selection time within 1 second, up to 500 nodes in local-area-network (LAN) environments. In addition, some simulation results are presented to estimate the impact of our method for wide-area-network (WAN) environments.

The effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on bias-stress-induced base leakage were investigated in InGaP/GaAs collector-up heterojunction bipolar transistors (C-up HBTs) fabricated with boron ion implantation. C-up HBTs annealed at 700 for 1 s had negligible leakage, while non-annealed C-up HBTs had leakage (with an activation energy, Ea, of 0.17 eV) that exponentially increased with bias time. Because this Ea is almost the same as that of the hole traps (0.25 eV) observed in the InGaP emitters of non-annealed C-up HBTs, we attribute the leakage to hole tunneling from bases to emitters. By reducing the initial trap density using RTA, we stabilized current gain even after 1,030 h of testing at a junction temperature of 210 and a collector current density of 40 kA/cm2.

In this paper, authors present new schemes of our proposed Global Open Ethernet (GOE) technology from a viewpoint of improving reliability in metro-area Ethernet environment and show the numerical evidence on their performance results. Although several standardized or vendor proprietary technologies are proposed to improve Ethernet reliability, they still have reliability problems in terms of long failure recovery time (due to forwarding database (FDB) flush and recovery from a root bridge failure on spanning tree protocol), broadcast storm, and packet loss in network reconfiguration. To solve these problems, we introduce three schemes, a Per Destination - Multiple Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (PD-MRSTP), a GOE Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (GVSRP), and an In-Service Reconfiguration (ISR) schemes. PD-MRSTP scheme reduces the failure recovery time by eliminating the need to flush the FDB and to recover from root bridge failures. GVSRP scheme ensures the reliability of connections between a GOE domain and a legacy Ethernet domain. Combined with PD-MRSTP, GVSRP prevents broadcast storm problems due to loops in the inter-domain area. ISR scheme enables in-service bridge replacement and upgrade without packet loss. Evaluating our prototype system, we obtained the following remarkable performance results. The GOE network using PD-MRSTP scheme delivered a fast failure recovery performance (4 ms) independent of the number of MAC address entries, whereas the legacy Ethernet network took 522 ms when a bridge had 6000 MAC address entries. Since we found that the failure recovery time increased in proportion to the number of MAC address entries, the one in large carrier network having one million of MAC address entries would take several tens of seconds. Thus using PD-MRSTP can reduce failure recovery time one ten-thousandth comparing with that of legacy Ethernet. In addition, evaluation of the ISR scheme demonstrated that a network can be upgraded with zero packet loss. Therefore, a GOE-based VPN is a promising alternative to other Ethernet VPNs for its reliability and stability.

In [5], the following pyramid construction problem was proposed: Given nonnegative valued functions ρ and µ in d variables, we consider the optimal pyramid maximizing the total parametric gain of ρ against µ. The pyramid can be considered as the optimal unimodal approximation of ρ relative to µ, and can be applied to hierarchical data segmentation. In this paper, we give efficient algorithms for a couple of two-dimensional pyramid construction problems.

There are several optimization techniques available for improving rendering speed of direct volume rendering. An acceleration method using the hierarchical min-max map requires little preprocessing and data storage while preserving image quality. However, this method introduces computational overhead because of unnecessary comparison and level shift between blocks. In this paper, we propose an efficient space-leaping method using optimal-sized blocks. To determine the size of blocks, our method partitions an image plane into several uniform grids and computes the minimum and the maximum depth values for each grid. We acquire optimal block sets suitable for individual rays from these values. Experimental results show that our method reduces rendering time when compared with the previous min-max octree method.

We have developed Interaction Builder (IB), a rapid prototyping tool for constructing web-based Multi-Modal Interaction (MMI) applications. The goal of IB is making it easy to develop MMI applications with speech recognition, life-like agents, speech synthesis, web browsing, etc. For this purpose, IB supports the following interface and functions: (1) GUI for implementing MMI systems without the details of MMI and MMI description language, (2) functionalities of handling synchronized multimodal inputs/outputs, (3) a test run mode for run-time testing. The results of evaluation tests showed that the application development cycle using IB was significantly shortened in comparison with the time using a text editor both for MMI description language experts and for beginners.

This paper proposes wavelet packets for use in ultra wideband communications. The pulse shapes that are generated are quasi orthogonal and have almost identical time duration. After normalization, an M-ary signaling set can be constructed allowing higher data rate. Finally, the performance of such a system when multipath propagation occurs is investigated by computer simulations. In order to combat multipath fading, a Rake receiver using coherent channel estimation is designed. This channel estimation is carried out using adaptive algorithms such as least-mean square (LMS), normalized least-mean square (NLMS), or recursive least square (RLS) algorithms which adapt the received signal given a reference signal.

In recent years, there has been an increased focus on the mechanics of information transmission in spiking neural networks. Especially the Noise Shaping properties of these networks and their similarity to Delta-Sigma Modulators has received a lot of attention. However, very little of the research done in this area has focused on the effect the weights in these networks have on the Noise Shaping properties and on post-processing of the network output signal. This paper concerns itself with the various modes of network operation and beneficial as well as detrimental effects which the systematic generation of network weights can effect. Also, a method for post-processing of the spiking output signal is introduced, bringing the output signal more in line with conventional Delta-Sigma Modulators. Relevancy of this research to industrial application of neural nets as building blocks of oversampled A/D converters is shown. Also, further points of contention are listed, which must be thoroughly researched to add to the above mentioned applicability of spiking neural nets.

In this paper, we propose an adaptive compensation algorithm to compensate cell delay variation (CDV) occurring during ATM/TDMA transition in a satellite ATM network. The proposed CDV compensation algorithm uses two types of additional information: cell position information (Cp)--indicating the number of cells (N) arriving within a control unit time (Tc) and positions of cells at a given time--and the number of cells in bursts--to take into account the characteristics of localized bursts. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, we performed a computer simulation based on an OPNET environment, using the Markov modulated Poisson process (MMPP) traffic model and assessed its effectiveness from varied standpoints. The results of the performance testing indicate that the proposed algorithm, while requiring significantly less additional information than previous CDV compensation algorithms, is able to more efficiently compensate CDV in localized burst traffic than the previous ones.

This paper presents optimum and sub-optimal designs of noise-shaping FIR filters for single- and multi-bit data converters. In the designs, only three parameters, the number of taps, oversampling ratio (OSR) and l1-norm of the filter coefficients are specified, and the in-band peak of the amplitude response is minimized under the specifications. The minimization problem is formulated with the overload-free condition, which guarantees the rigorous stability, and an overload-free converter generates no distortion in any output signals. In the optimum design, the minimization problem is directly and exactly solved, but the sub-optimal method solves this problem by iteratively utilizing the simplex method. The iterative sub-optimal method without the exact optimality is far faster and more efficient than the optimum method. In design examples, optimum and sub-optimal noise-shaping FIR filters for single- and multi-bit data converters are designed, and their optimal performance is revealed. For single-bit data converters with OSR 64, a noise-shaping FIR filter is designed and then shown to achieve a signal to noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) 107.6 [dB] in the band of interest.

This paper deals with CE-SS (Constant-Envelope Spread Spectrum) signals, focusing on a novel generation technique based upon using digital processing blocks to drive a frequency modulator with a random sequence. The system described herein allows for flexibility in achieving a variety of user defined goal spectra. The foundation upon which this work is built was laid by Callegari et al. who introduced a novel synthesis procedure for 'non-stationary' modulations. This novel synthesis technique uses an iterative algorithm to arrive at an output spectrum which is a good approximation to a user-defined goal spectrum. The architecture which this paper details uses programmable logic to tune the system parameters in striving towards user defined goal spectra. The architecture can generate CE-SS waveforms whose spectra match those which the aforementioned algorithm deems achievable.

This letter studies the impact of chip waveform shaping on the multiple access interference (MAI) in band-limited direct sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. The family of band-limited waveforms with zero interchip interference (ICI) and with an excess bandwidth β in the range 0β 1 is considered. A criterion for the performance comparison of various band-limited chip waveforms based on the elementary density function is established. The effect of varying the roll-off factor of a band-limited chip waveform on the MAI level is also investigated.

We describe a next generation service creation environment (SCE), which is designed to support efficient service application development for IP networks. Considering the IP-network environment we extract the features required for the next generation SCE and propose an architecture for the next generation SCE based on design concepts to provide these features. In our approach, we do not create large components, such as service features, or construct chains of them. Instead, we define application-programming interface (API) control flows through which we utilize existing APIs, such as open APIs. Since service providers, such as ASPs and third parties, must have some knowledge of the APIs, this capability will enable the development of services that correspond to various service provisioning patterns as well as to differentiation of services from those offered by other providers, without the addition of service components. The feasibility and productivity of the next generation SCE are evaluated by developing sample services, including a general Voice over IP (VoIP) service using a Parlay API and a presence service using a presence and availability management (PAM) API. Evaluation shows that the environment not only assists in the development of service applications but also raises the productivity of the next generation SCE itself, thus confirming its effectiveness the rapid, economical development of high-quality IP network services.

This paper presents a technique for improving the SNR and resolution of complex bandpass ΔΣADCs which are used for wireless communication systems such as cellular phone, wireless LAN and Bluetooth. Oversampling and noise-shaping are used to achieve high accuracy of a ΔΣAD modulator. However when a multi-bit internal DAC is used inside a modulator, nonlinearities of the DAC are not noise-shaped and the SNR of the ΔΣADC degrades. For the conversion of complex intermediate frequency (IF) input signals, a complex bandpass ΔΣAD modulator can provide superior performance to a pair of real bandpass ΔΣAD modulators of the same order. This paper proposes a new noise-shaping algorithm--implemented by adding simple digital circuitry--to reduce the effects of nonlinearities in multi-bit DACs of complex bandpass ΔΣAD modulators. We have performed simulation with MATLAB to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm, and the results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the SNR of a complex bandpass ΔΣADC with nonlinear internal multi-bit DACs.

The authors present a shaper for handling non-real time cell traffic which can avoid the cell loss caused by the policing function at the next hop. A state-dependent probabilistic scheduling algorithm which selects a proper queue for cell transmission is introduced. For the purpose of performance evaluation, the cell loss ratio of the proposed shaper is evaluated by simulation.