It is well known that interpath interference (IPI) is a major factor that limits the performance of high data rate transmissions over a variable spreading factor wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) link since the spreading factor is in general small. An optimum combining scheme suppressing IPI was recently proposed for RAKE reception in [1]. The main contribution of this letter is to present a theoretical model for the outage probability and bit error probability of a RAKE receiver utilizing the optimum combining scheme. Analytical and simulation results are closely matched and show that the optimum scheme provides significant performance improvement compared to the conventional maximum ratio combining (MRC) scheme.

This paper investigates the optimum transmit-antenna-weight generation method for adaptive antenna array transmit diversity (AAA-TD) in the W-CDMA forward link: AAA-TD with beam and null steering (BNST), AAA-TD with beam steering (BST), or switched beam transmit diversity with fixed weights (SBTD-FW). The achievable BER performance after carrier frequency calibration in the transmit beam pattern is compared among the three methods assuming a different carrier frequency in a 2-GHz band with the carrier separation of 184.5 MHz based on computer simulations. The simulation results show that the achievable BER performance in the forward link using AAA-TD with BNST is almost identical to that using AAA-TD with BST when there are many more interfering users than there are array antennas, except for the special case when a small number of higher rate users exists in the reverse link. This is because by performing carrier frequency calibration, the directions of the beam nulls are shifted from the real directions of arrival (DOAs) of the interfering users. However, we also show that the required transmit Eb/N0 at the average BER of 10-3 using AAA-TD with BST is decreased by approximately 1.0 to 1.2 dB compared to that using SBTD-FW with 12 beams.

We analyzed the performance of adaptive array antennas with a RAKE receiver by employing a common correlation matrix of the sample matrix inversion (CCM-SMI) algorithm in a multipath Rayleigh fading environment for W-CDMA reverse link. A common correlation matrix is usually used to provide adaptive weights for multiple users and multiple delay paths and can be used in packet communications transmitted using frame units. The proposed CCM-SMI algorithm had a better BER and SINR for lower computational complexity compared with the conventional SMI algorithm, even when using a RAKE receiver in multipath Rayleigh fading environment.

In this paper, we examine the polarimetric characteristics and the potential of the coherent decomposition in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry. Coherent scattering decomposition based on the coherence optimization can separate effective phase center of different scattering mechanisms and can be used to generate canopy digital elevation model (DEM). This decomposition is applied to a simplified stochastic scattering model such as forest canopy. However, since the polarimetric characteristics are not well understood when the decomposition is carried out, we investigate its characteristics and potential using polarimetric entropy-alpha and three-component scattering matrix decomposition. The results show that the first and third components correspond to the lower and upper layer, respectively, in ideal case. In this investigation, SIR-C/X-SAR data of the Tien Shan flight-pass are used.

The paper proposes a vision-based system for adaptively inferring the interactional intention of a person coming close to a robot, which plays an important role in the succeeding stage of human/robot cooperative handling of works/tools in production lines. Here, interactional intention is ranged in the meaning of the intention to interact/operate with the robot, which is proposed to be estimated by the human head moving path during an incipient period of time. To implement this intention inference capability, first, human entrance is detected and is modeled by an ellipse to supply information about the head position. Second, B-spline technique is used to approximate the trajectory with reduced control points in order that the system acquires information about the human motion direction and the curvature of the motion trajectory. Finally, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are applied as the adaptive inference engines at the stage of inferring the human interactional intention. The HMM algorithm with a stochastic pattern matching capability is extended to supply whether or not a person has an intention toward the robot at the incipient time. The reestimation process here models the motion behavior of an human worker when he has or doesn't have the intention to operate the robot. Experimental results demonstrate the adaptability of the inference system using the extended HMM algorithm for filtering out motion deviation over the trajectory.

Transmission and distribution systems are investigated for application in future fiber optic super-broadband and super-multi-channel subscriber loops. Gradual upgrading is considered so that future systems can keep compatibility with existing systems. First, time frame and strategies for subscriber loop upgrade are overviewed and assumptions for evolution of broadband multimedia distribution systems are discussed. It is suggested that upgrading to super-high definition (SHD) quality multimedia is desirable. Next, some examples of extra-auxiliary picture (EAP) formats are discussed to show the possibility of improving upgradability and compatibility by using extra-channels. Then multiplexing and channel selecting systems are investigated for economical realization of super-multi-channel distribution and flexible channel selection, and hybrid multiplexing (HMUX) and a trans-selector (T-SEL) are proposed. Finally, the efficiencies of HMUX and T-SEL are discussed by using numerical examples. Although broadband down streams are mainly considered, other streams such as IP traffics can be accommodated in the distribution systems investigated in this paper.

This paper gives an overview of recent progress in radar polarimetry and radar polarimetric interferometry. Both techniques are of special importance for the inversion of physical scatterer parameters from radar remote sensing data. A unified treatment of polarisation effects in radar polarimetry and polarimetric interferometry based on eigenvalue processing is addressed providing a link between signal processing techniques and coherent electromagnetic models for random media scattering. In this context, the main applications of polarimetry in radar remote sensing such as single and multi-frequency polarimetric classification, the estimation of surface roughness and moisture content and vegetation structure estimation are reviewed.

An adaptive rate communication system based on the N-MSK modulation technique is described. Two examples of the system using a 2-MSK adaptive modulation scheme and a 4-MSK adaptive modulation scheme are presented and analysed in slow fading channel. The channel attenuation obeys either Rayleigh or lognormal distribution. The proposed adaptive rate communication system is able to track slow variations of channel attenuation and the average system throughput is therefore increased at a given BER.

The boundary integral equation (BIE) on interior walls with surface impedance conditions is implemented to the iterative physical optics method and how to treat the singularities involved in the BIE of an impedance cavity is described. Singular integrals over a rectangular region can be represented by simple elementary functions.

Tree-based approach has been proven to be most scalable for one-to-many reliable multicast. It efficiently combines distributed recovery with local recovery over a logical tree of the sender and receivers. It has also been known that the performance of the tree-based protocols heavily depends upon the quality of the logical tree. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end scheme to further enhance the scalability of the tree-based approach. By exchanging packet loss information observed at the end hosts, the scheme constructs and maintains a logical tree congruent with the underlying multicast routing tree even in the presence of session membership and multicast route changes. The scheme also groups the tree nodes and assigns separate multicast addresses to them in order to enable efficient multicast retransmission for reducing both delay and exposure. We compare the proposed scheme with Tree-based Multicast Transport Protocol (TMTP), a static tree-based protocol. Extensive simulations up to 300 node sessions reveal that the proposed scheme reduces implosion and exposure more than 20% and 50%, respectively. The results also indicate that the scheme is highly scalable such that the improvement gets more significant as the size of the session increases.

In this paper, we propose a new type of hybrid ARQ protocol, in which a channel-adaptive variable rate channel coding scheme is combined with a multi-copy retransmission strategy so as to enhance the system performance under the delay constraint of real-time ATM services in broadband radio access networks. The main feature of a multi-copy retransmission strategy in this scheme is to improve the average throughput for a given Forward Error Correction (FEC) rate, subject to the prescribed cell loss requirement of the real-time wireless ATM services, while augmenting the reliability of channel state information required for a channel-adaptive FEC scheme. Our analysis shows that under a harsh fading channel, the proposed approach is useful for achieving the prescribed cell loss performance without significantly degrading the average throughput performance.

A novel millimeter-wave slotted waveguide array antenna is developed for automotive radar systems. An antenna structure suitable for mass-production is proposed in this paper. The waveguide is composed of two parts; an upper plate and a bottom plate. It is not necessary to contact each other closely because they are divided at the center of the broad wall of the waveguide where the electric current is small. In addition, grating lobes are suppressed by using a cylindrical cavity around each slot and by controlling the slot arrangement without using dielectric material in the waveguide. We have fabricated the proposed antenna by metal injection molding. The measured antenna efficiency results in 55%, which is quite high in comparison with any other conventional low cost millimeter-wave antenna. This efficiency is almost the same as that of the antenna fabricated by precision metal machining. In this paper, it is confirmed that the proposed antenna could be manufactured with low cost.

Several subband array methods have been proposed as useful means to perform joint spatio-temporal equalization in digital mobile communications. These methods can be applied to mitigate problems caused by the inter-symbol interference (ISI) and co-channel interference (CCI). The subband array methods proposed so far can be classified into two major schemes: (1) a centralized feedback scheme and (2) a localized feedback scheme. In this paper, we propose subband arrays with partial feedback scheme, which generalize the above two feedback schemes. The main contribution of this paper is to derive the steady-state mean square error (MSE) performance of subband arrays implementing these three different feedback schemes. Unlike the centralized feedback scheme which can be designed to provide the optimum equalization performance, the subband arrays with localized and partial feedback schemes are in general suboptimal. The performance of these two suboptimal feedback schemes depends on the channel characteristics, the filter banks employed, and the number of subbands.

This paper proposes a hardware configuration using only single pole dual throw (SPDT) switches to realize the previously proposed automatic calibration method using transmitting signals (ACT) for the adaptive array in TDD communication systems. The proposed configuration obtains the same calibration values as the conventional ACT does while reducing the number of switch branches. The transmission pattern using the proposed calibration method is also presented based on an experimental adaptive array testbed in an actual microcell environment. The experimental results show that the ideal radiation pattern formation is achieved by employing the proposed calibration method in an environment with a moving terminal station and where arriving co-channel interference exists.

A signal suffers from nonlinear, linear, and additive distortion when transmitted through a channel. Linear equalizers are commonly used in receivers to compensate for linear channel distortion. As an alternative, novel equalizer structures utilizing neural computation have been developed for compensating for nonlinear channel distortion. In this paper, we propose a neural detector based on self-organizing map (SOM) in a 16 QAM system. The proposed scheme uses the SOM algorithm and symbol-by-symbol detector to form a neural detector, and it adapts well to the changing channel conditions, including nonlinear distortions because of the topology-preserving property of the SOM algorithm. According to the theoretical analysis and computer simulation results, the proposed scheme is shown to have better performance than traditional linear equalizer when facing with nonlinear distortion.

Broadband fixed wireless access (FWA) systems offer significantly higher bit rates than current cellular systems to which adaptive arrays are partly applied. Digital beam forming is being eagerly explored on account of its flexibility, but it will be difficult to apply to the high-speed systems, because its digital signal processing requires huge resources and power consumption. Conventional phased arrays, on the other hand, utilize phase shifters through RF or IF signal lines, but the phase shifters are usually both bulky and expensive. The authors propose an adaptive array steered by IF local signal phase shifters in this paper. The phase shift and the frequency shift of the signal from each antenna element can be simultaneously accomplished at the down conversion stage by the phase-controlled local signal. A prototype receiver operated in the K-band with the proposed configuration and its beam pattern measurement results are also described.

The European Commission, through RACE, ACTS and now the IST programmes, has funded numerous consortium based research projects addressing capacity enhancement by means of Smart or Adaptive Antenna Technology. In addition to capacity enhancement, these projects have also considered the additional operational benefits, such as multipath mitigation and range extension, that this technology can offer to wireless network deployments. This paper provides an overview of the results obtained from the test-bed and field trial evaluations conducted under the ACTS TSUNAMI project. Here, a test-bed facility was developed by the project partners in order to appraise the potential merits of a Smart antenna facet deployment at the base-station cell site of a DCS1800 network. Details of the test-bed hardware and adaptive control algorithms are given, as well as results from the user tracking, traffic bearer quality assessments and range extension experiments. These results help substantiate many of the claims put forward by the proponents of Smart antenna technology, as well as ranking the relative performance of the family of adaptive control algorithms evaluated here. Further, new research activities, which embody Smart Antenna Technology, now supported under IST funding are also introduced.

In two- or more-dimensional systems where the components of the sample data are strongly correlated, it is not proper to divide the input space into several subspaces without considering the correlation. In this paper, we propose the usage of the method of principal component in order to uncorrelate and remove any redundancy from the input space of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). This leads to an effective partition of the input space to the fuzzy model and significantly reduces the modeling error. A computer simulation for two frequently used benchmark problems shows that ANFIS with the uncorrelation process performs better than the original ANFIS under the same conditions.

For the microwave level meter based on the FM-CW radar, we analyze the spectrum correlation of beat signals and propose a measurement algorithm using the fact that there exists a peak in the spectrum correlation of beat signals when range difference is sufficiently small. This algorithm can compensate the nonlinear effect of VCO frequency sweep, making it possible to determine the range difference in a precise manner even using a practical VCO. We present some experimental results to show the validity of this algorithm.

This letter introduces an alternative adaptive beamforming with the total computational load of about O(3N) where N denotes the number of antenna elements. The proposed technique finds a weight vector that maximizes the received signal power at the array output by searching for the suboptimal phase of each weight in a multipath fading CDMA mobile communication environment.