A universal coding scheme for information from i.i.d., arbitrarily varying sources, or memoryless correlated sources is constructed using LDPC matrices and shown to have an exponential upper bound of decoding error probability. As a corollary, we construct a universal code for the noisy channel model, which is not necessarily BSC. Simulation results show universality of the code with sum-product decoding, and presence of a gap between the error exponent obtained by simulation and that obtained theoretically.

We propose a method to retrieve similar and duplicate images from a JPEG (Joint Photographic Image Group) image database. Similarity level is decided based on the DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) coefficients signs. The method is simple and fast because it uses the DCT coefficients signs as features, which can be obtained directly after partial decoding of JPEG bitstream. The method is robust to JPEG compression, in which similarity level of duplicate images, i.e., images that are compressed from the same original images with different compression ratios, is not disguised due to JPEG compression. Simulation results showed the superiority of the method compared to previous methods in terms of computational complexity and robustness to JPEG compression.

In this paper, we propose a statistical approach to improve the performance of spectral quantization of speech coders. The proposed techniques compensate for the distortion in a decoded line spectrum pair (LSP) vector based on a statistical mapping function between a decoded LSP vector and its corresponding original LSP vector. We first develop two codebook-based probabilistic matching (CBPM) methods by investigating the distribution of LSP vectors. In addition, we propose an iterative procedure for the two CBPMs. Next, the proposed techniques are applied to the predictive vector quantizer (PVQ) used for the IS-641 speech coder. The experimental results show that the proposed techniques reduce average spectral distortion by around 0.064 dB and the percentage of outliers compared with the PVQ without any compensation, resulting in transparent quality of spectral quantization. Finally, the comparison of speech quality using the perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) measure is performed and it is shown that the IS-641 speech coder employing the proposed techniques has better decoded speech quality than the standard IS-641 speech coder.

Application of microwave and millimeter-wave circuit technologies to InGaP-HBT ICs for 40-Gbps optical-transmission systems is demonstrated from two aspects. First, ICs for various important functions -- amplification of data signals, amplification, frequency doubling, and phase control of clock signals -- are successfully developed based on microwave and millimeter-wave circuit configurations mainly composed of distributed elements. A distributed amplifier exhibits ≥164-GHz gain-bandwidth product with low power consumption (PC) of 71.2 mW. A 20/40-GHz-band frequency doubler achieves wideband performance (40%) with low PC (26 mW) by integrating a high-pass filter and a buffer amplifier (as a low-pass filter). A compact 40-GHz analog phase shifter, 20- and 40-GHz-band clock amplifiers with low PC are also realized. Second, a familiar concept in microwave-circuit design is applied to a high-speed digital circuit. A new approach -- inserting impedance-transformer circuits -- to enable 'impedance matching' in digital ICs is successfully applied to a 40-Gbps decision circuit to prevent unwanted gain peaking and jitter increase caused by transmission lines without sacrificing chip size.

Reliability-based hybrid ARQ (RB-HARQ) is a kind of incremental-redundancy ARQ recently introduced. In the RB-HARQ, the receiver returns both NAK signal and set of unreliable bit indices if the received sequence is not accepted. Since each unreliable bit index is determined by the bitwise posterior probability, better approximation of that probability becomes crucial as the number of retransmissions increases. Assuming the systematic code for the initial transmission, the proposed RB-HARQ scheme has the following two features: (a) the sender retransmits newly encoded and interleaved parity bits corresponding to the unreliable information bits; (b) the retransmitted parity bits as well as the initial received sequence are put all together to perform the message passing decoding i.e. the suboptimal MAP decoding. Finally, simulation results are shown to evaluate the above two features.

The performance of a MIMO-OFDM system significantly depends upon the accuracy of the channel impulse response (CIR) estimates. In the presence of correlation between the CIRs of the transmit or receive antennas, it is desirable to exploit this correlation to improve the performance of CIR estimation. In this letter, we propose a low-complexity channel estimation filter composed of four concatenated one-dimensional Wiener filters which are optimized to the channel characteristics in the time and frequency domains, and the transmit and receiver antenna front ends, respectively. Finally, the performance of the proposed scheme is verified.

There is an increasing requirement for supporting complex multidimensional queries in Peer-to-Peer systems. In the centralized spatial database world, R-Trees and its variant structures are widely accepted due to their capabilities to manage complex multidimensional queries. In this paper, we propose a new multidimensional indexing structure for P2P systems, called Distributed Hilbert R-Trees (DHR-Trees), in which peers organize themselves into an overlay network, dynamically maintain routing tables with region information and collaboratively execute complex multidimensional queries, such as range query and k-nearest neighbors query, efficiently. DHR-Trees has similar topology to the P-Trees P2P system. The peers' routing tables are enhanced with spatial region information, which allow multidimensional query predicates to be adapted into P2P systems with minor modification. The structure design and two major multidimensional query algorithms are presented. Our experimental results demonstrate that it performs well on range queries and k-nearest neighbors queries with multidimensional data set.

Space-time block coding is an attractive solution for improving quality in wireless links. In general, the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel is correlated by an amount that depends on the propagation environment as well as the polarization of the antenna elements and the spacing between them. In this paper, asymptotic performance and exact symbol error probability (SEP) of orthogonal space-time block code (STBC) are considered in spatially correlated Rayleigh fading MIMO channel. We derive the moment generating function (MGF) of effective signal-to-noise ration (SNR) after combining scheme at the receiver. Using the MGF of effective SNR, we calculate the probability density function (pdf) of the effective SNR and derive exact closed-form SEP expressions of PAM/PSK/QAM with M-ary signaling. We prove that the diversity order is given by the product of the rank of the transmit and receive correlation matrix. Moreover, we quantify the loss in coding gain due to the spatial correlation. Simulation results demonstrate that our analysis provides accuracy.

Distortion characteristics caused by the thermal memory effect in power amplifiers were accurately predicted using a multi-stage thermal RC-ladder network derived by simplifying the heat diffusion equation. Assuming a steep gradient of heat diffusion near an intrinsic transistor region in a semiconductor substrate, the steady state temperature, as well as the transient thermal response at the transistor region, was estimated. The thermal resistances and thermal capacitances were adjusted to fit a temperature distribution characteristic and a step response characteristic of temperature in the substrate. These thermal characteristics were calculated by thermal FDTD simulation. For an InGaP/GaAs HBT, a step response characteristic for a square-wave voltage signal input was simulated using a large-signal model of the HBT connecting the multi-stage thermal RC-ladder network. The result was verified experimentally. Additionally, for an RF-amplifier using the HBT, the 3rd-order intermodulation distortion caused by the thermal memory effect was simulated and this result was also verified experimentally. From these verifications, a multi-stage thermal RC-ladder network can be used to accurately design super linear microwave power amplifiers and linearizers.

A cyclic prefix reconstruction scheme is proposed for precoded single-carrier systems with frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE) that employ insufficient length of cyclic prefix. For SC-FDE, cyclic prefix is employed to facilitate frequency-domain equalization at the receiver. Since inserting cyclic prefix incurs a loss in bandwidth-utilization efficiency, it is desirable to limit the length of cyclic prefix for SC-FDE. This paper designs the energy spreading transform (EST), a precoder that enables iterative reconstruction of missing cyclic prefix. The performance of the proposed scheme is shown to be close to that of SC-FDE with enough length of cyclic prefix.

This paper presents an investigation of radio-wave propagation characteristics in the 5 GHz band in a residential two-story house. We investigated the 3-D angular spectra of incident waves when a transmitter and a receiver were situated on the first and second floors, respectively. First of all, correlation in the measured "home environment" containing furniture such as beds, a sofa and tables was determined to confirm a quasi-static environment. Then, 3-D angular spectra measurements were performed by using an eight-element Yagi-Uda antenna as a receiving antenna. Furthermore, the 4-by-4 MIMO channel capacity at each elevation angle was estimated by using elevation angular spectra and the propagation characteristics between the first and second floors were evaluated. The results indicated that the channel capacity in the elevation direction was strongly influenced by the direction of the transmitting antenna.

A double square loop antenna with fractal geometry that supports for multiband operation is proposed. The antenna has multiband operation in that the generator model, which is an initial model to create a fractal loop antenna to operate at the first and second resonant frequencies, is inserted at each center side of a big square loop antenna. It also has a small square loop to operate at the third resonant frequency. The proposed antenna is implemented and shown to effectively support the global system for mobile communication (880-960 MHz), digital communication system (1710-1880 MHz), personal communication system (1850-1990 MHz), universal mobile telecommunication system (1920-2170 MHz), and wireless local area network (2400-2483 MHz) bands. The radiation patterns of the proposed antenna are still similar to a bidirectional radiation pattern. The properties of the antenna such as return losses, radiation patterns and gain are determined via numerical simulation and measurement.

In Optical Burst Switched (OBS) networks, packets are assembled into bursts at ingress edge routers and disassembled at egress edge routers. This letter presents an analytical model to quantify the burstification latency in the OBS networks. To the authors' best knowledge, this letter is the first one to address the latency issue in OBS in a comprehensive manner analytically. The results allow us to quantitatively understand how OBS network parameters such as maximum burst length and maximum timeout affect the packet latency in the OBS networks. We show that the burstification latency in the OBS network is bounded and can be tuned by setting the system parameters under latency constraints.

In this paper, small sized arrays with a few elements are investigated. The antenna diameter is assumed to be less than 3λo. The focus of this paper is to compare the gain characteristics of a triangle arrangement with these of a uniform arrangement. The method of moments is used to calculating the gain characteristics. It is shown that the triangle arrangement is not always sufficient to obtain maximum gain for a small-sized antenna with only a few elements. Also, the type of antenna element used greatly influences the required number of elements and the element configuration.

In conventional road-vehicle communication systems, user terminals in the vehicles have to directly connect to wireless access points (APs). However, vehicle speeds are so fast that the channel condition between the terminals and the APs constantly changes because of changing path loss and time-varying fading. In this paper, to compensate for such deterioration, we propose to reduce the relative speed between the terminals and the APs by an inter-vehicle packet relay technique. If a terminal can send data via other vehicles running at lower speeds, the relative speed will decrease, which suppresses the dynamic range of path loss and deterioration by fading. We, first, validate our method by a numerical analysis using a statistical path-loss model. The numerical analysis verifies that our method is able to suppress deterioration caused by path loss and time-varying fading. However, in the numerical analysis, geometric propagation of paths is not considered; instantaneous and rapid loss changes are not considered. Therefore, we evaluate our method by computer simulations using a geometric propagation model. In the simulations, phase difference between multiple paths and loss fluctuation within one frame duration affect the performance. From the results of the simulations, we validate our method. Furthermore, we investigate the combination of our method and the selection diversity technique, which can suppress channel fluctuation and may enhance the performance of our method. Moreover, we measure interference in the overlapped zone between two AP areas. From the measurement, we show that our packet relays do not cause a problem in interference between areas.

In this paper, CPW-fed slot antennas using loading metallic strips and a widened tuning stub (CPW-FSLW) which provides wideband operation on the flat, a Λ-shape reflector with horizontal plate that prevents the back radiation and provides the uni-directional radiation are investigated. We observe that the size and shape of the reflector have significant impact on the impedance matching and radiation patterns. By fabricating the CPW-FSLW on the Λ-shape reflector with horizontal plate structure, noticeable enhancements in both radiation pattern and bandwidth are achieved. The antennas are verified both through numerical simulations and also measurements of the experimental prototypes and these confirm the good performance antennas. It is found that the proposed antenna can deliver a measured impedance bandwidth of 64% from 1.6 to 3.1 GHz for VSWR ≤ 2. The antennas are designed to have wideband operation suitable for applications in GSM1800, GSM1900, PCS, IMT-2000 and WLAN bands.

We present a linear-time algorithm for treating collision response of articulated rigid bodies in physically based modeling. By utilizing the topology of articulated rigid bodies and the property of linear equations, our method can solve in linear time the system of linear equations that is crucial for treating collision response.

This paper proposes a contention-free burst scheduling scheme for optically burst-switched WDM networks. We construct contention-free wavelength planes (λ-planes) by assigning dedicated wavelengths to each ingress node. Bursts are transmitted to their egress nodes on λ-planes, along routes forming a spanning tree. As a result, contention at intermediate core nodes is completely eliminated, and contention at ingress nodes is resolved by means of electric buffers. This paper develops a spanning tree construction algorithm, aiming at balancing input loads among output ports at each ingress node. Furthermore, a wavelength assignment algorithm is proposed, which is based on the amount of traffic lost at ingress nodes. We show that the proposed scheme can decrease the burst loss probability drastically, even if traffic intensities at ingress nodes are different.

MIMO leads to dramatic improvement in channel capacity and/or link reliability of wireless systems. However, a MIMO channel has only one degree of freedom in a keyhole environment. As a result, this environment reduces achievable channel capacity and link quality. This paper proposes a MIMO repeater system, which can realize a multi-stream transmission. Although the averaged channel capacity in the MIMO repeater system is discussed in several published papers, the probability density functions of eigenvalues of correlation matrix are not analyzed. MIMO transmission performance can basically be estimated from eigenvalues of the channel correlation matrix. We derive an approximated formula for the probability density function of all eigenvalues linked to the space diversity. It is shown that the calculated values based on the proposed method agrees very well with the simulated values.

High-resolution Direction-of-Arrival (DOA) estimation techniques for antenna arrays have been widely desired in many applications such as smart antennas, RF position location, and RFID system. To realize high-resolution capability of the techniques, precise array calibration is necessary. For an array of single-mode elements, a calibration matrix derived by the open-circuit method is the simplest one. Unfortunately, calibration performance of the method is not enough for the high-reslution DOA estimation techniques. In this paper, we consider problems of the calibration matrix derived by the method, and show that errors in the matrix can be effectively removed by an optimal diagonal weight coefficient. In the proposed compensation technique, the number of newly introduced parameters, or unknowns, is only one for an array of the identical elements. Performance of the simple compensation technique is verified numerically and experimentally.