Global computing system (GCS) harnesses the idle CPU resources of clients connected to Internet for solving large problems that require high volume of computing power. Since GCS scale to millions of clients, many projects usually adopt coarse-grained scheduling in order to reduce server-side contention at the expense of sacrificing the degree of parallelism and wasting CPU resources. In this paper, we propose a new type of client, i.e., a scheduling proxy that enables adaptive-grained scheduling between the server and clients. While the server allocates coarse-grained work units to scheduling proxies alone, clients download fine-grained work units from a relatively nearby scheduling proxy not from the distant server. By computation of small work units at client side, the turnaround time of work unit can be reduced and the waste of CPU time by timeout can be minimized without increasing the performance cost of contention at the server. In addition, in order not to lose results in the failure of scheduling proxies, we suggest a technique of result caching in clients.

Yeh, Shen, and Hwang recently proposed a secure one-time password authentication scheme using smart cards. They modified the famous S/KEY scheme to achieve security against preplay attacks and off-line dictionary attacks. However, this article shows that their scheme is vulnerable to preplay attacks.

Conventional WDM systems multiplex channels with different signal bandwidths using fixed and equal channel spacing. As a result, their spectral efficiency is rather poor. If the wavelength and the bandwidth of each channel in a WDM system could be freely changed as needed, a variety of services with different signal bandwidths could be accommodated efficiently. This is expected to yield high spectral efficiency. For this purpose, this paper proposes a WDM optically amplified system that combines optical power splitting with homodyne detection; its use in three configurations, point to point, ring (center to remote nodes), and peer to peer, is described. Coherent optical systems generally need a frequency stable local light source in addition to a sending light source in each WDM channel. We improve cost effectiveness by proposing that the output of one light source be divided to yield the local light for frequency selection by homodyne detection and the sending light source whose output is externally modulated by transmission signal. In this configuration, the local light level is low to permit high levels of sending power. The key problem is how to get high SNR with limited low-level local lights. This paper derives the optimum receiving loss condition that can maximize the SNR with local light levels as low as -20 dBm for the point to point configuration. For the ring configuration, the system overcomes the optical power loss created by splitting numbers over 1,000 even if the local lights are as low as 0 dBm. The ring configuration can, therefore, flexibly accommodate many users and services. We also elucidate the relation between SNR and BER for DPSK homodyne detection in a bandwidth-flexible system.

This letter derives a new exact and general closed-form expression involving a two-dimensional joint Gaussian Q-function for the symbol error rate (SER) of M-ary Phase Shift Keying (MPSK) under an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. By using two rotations of coordinates the correlation coefficient between two Gaussian random vectors is provided, then with the derived correlation coefficient that characterizes the two-dimensional joint Gaussian Q-function, a new expression for the SER of MPSK is presented. The derived new SER expression offers a convenient method to evaluate the performances of MPSK for various cases of practical interest.

The development of information/communication technology has made it possible to access substantial amounts of data and retrieve information. However, it is often difficult to locate the desired information, and it becomes necessary to spend considerable time determining how to access specific available data. This paper describes a method to quantitatively evaluate the usability of large-scale information-oriented websites and the effects of improvements made to the site design. This is achieved by utilizing the Cognitive Walkthrough for the Web and website modeling using Markov chains. We further demonstrate that we can greatly improve usability through simple modification of the link structure by applying our approach to an actual informational database website with over 40,000 records.

In this paper, a new algorithm for MTMR adaptive array antenna (AAA) system combined with analog-type transmit power control (TPC) is proposed for DS-CDMA systems in order to employ high level modulation schemes like 64 QAM in wireless multimedia services. A conventional AAA system considering the strongest path as a target path cannot work effectively when angular dispersion between the strongest path and other delayed paths is large, that is, beam selectivity is so small due to severe frequency selective multipath fading. So, in order to solve such a beam selectivity problem, a beam directivity control scheme using a path manipulation technique is introduced for the BS and MS AAA combining in this paper, along with analog-type TPC. It utilizes virtual delay profiles which are modified from the measured complex delay profile and selects a desired path giving the maximum DUR with an optimized weight vector for BS and MS beamforming. We will show through computer simulation that the proposed scheme is very effective in enhancing the data throughput at the downlink of wideband DS-CDMA systems as compared with the conventional system.

This paper proposes a Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm using Radial Basis Function (RBF) network. The k-means clustering and Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm are used to update the RBF network to the underlying speech condition. The inputs for RBF are the three parameters a Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) coder, which works stably under various background noise levels. Adaptive hangover threshold applies in RBF-VAD for reducing error, because threshold value has trade off effect in VAD decision. The experimental results show that the proposed VAD algorithm achieves better performance than G.729 Annex B at any noise level.

This letter mathematically proves that the performance of the new protocol in Ref. [1] is better than that of the existing protocol. It was proposed that a frame from an access device is delivered over the access link and then it is multiplexed and packed into ATM cell at an access node and then the cell is carried toward a voice gateway, by using a method to split two sublayers in AAL2. That means one sublayer is implemented at the subscriber access device and the other sublayer is implemented at the access node. Access devices using the protocol achieve higher utilization of CID and waste fewer ATM resource per the access device. Mathematical analysis is performed on the proposed and existing protocol, and both upstream cell rate and padding probability are calculated. The proposed protocol shows lower upstream traffic rate and padding cell probability than the existing protocol.

We analyzed passivation film and the AlGaN surface states using open-gated structures of AlGaN/GaN HFETs by numerical simulation and experiments. From the analyses, we confirmed that insulating film conductivity plays the prominent roles in device performances of the wide bandgap semiconductor device. Device simulation confirmed that the difference in ID-VG characteristics is due to the trapping type of the surface states; electron-trap type or hole-trap type. For electron-trap type surface states, the surface potential pinned at electron quasi-Fermi level, which is the same as the channel potential in the open-gated FETs. As a result, surface potential of ungated region is equal to the channel electric potential resulting in the uncontrollability of the channel current by the edge placed gate electrode. For hole-trap type surface states, the surface potential is pinned at hole quasi-Fermi level, which must be the same as the edge placed gate electrode potential. Then, the AlGaN surface potential varies with the electrode potential variation allowing the control of channel current as if the whole channel is covered with a metal electrode. Experiments for open-gated FET with unpassivated surface show no current variation. This corresponds to electron-trap type surface states from the simulation. On the other hand, SiOX evaporated open-gated FET show current control by the gate electrode. The ID-VG characteristics resembles in simulated ID-VG characteristics with hole-trap surface states. However, the estimated time constants for the trap reactions are incredibly long due to the deep energy level for the surface states in wide bandgap semiconductors. In addition, the open-gated FET showed reverse threshold shift to the value expected from the hole-trap pinning levels. So, we concluded that the no current variation for the unpassivated open-gated FET can be attributed to electron traps in the surface states, but the control of the drain current for SiOX deposited open-gated FET is not by surface hole-traps, but by slightly conductive passivation film of SiOX.

We extend the differential space time block code (STBC) using nonconstant modulus constellations of two transmit antennas to four transmit antennas case. The proposed method obtains larger minimum Euclidean distances than those of conventional differential STBC with PSK constellations. We derive the symbol error rate (SER) performance of the proposed method and demonstrate the SER performance using computer simulations for both static and fast fading channels. For transmission rates greater than 2 bits/channel use and 3 bits/channel use, the proposed method outperforms the conventional differential STBC.

A b-bit SIMD functional unit has n k-bit sub-functional units in itself, where b = k n. It can execute n-parallel k-bit operations. However, all the b-bit functional units in a processor core do not necessarily execute n-parallel operations. Depending on an application program, some of them just execute n/2-parallel operations or even n/4-parallel operations. This means that we can modify a b-bit SIMD functional unit so that it has n/2 k-bit sub-functional units or n/4 k-bit sub-functional units. The number of k-bit sub-functional units in a SIMD functional unit is called sub-operation parallelism. We incorporate a sub-operation parallelism optimization algorithm into SIMD functional unit optimization. Our proposed algorithm gradually reduces sub-operation parallelism of a SIMD functional unit while the timing constraint of execution time satisfied. Thereby, we can finally find a processor core with small area under the given timing constraint. We expect that we can obtain processor core configurations of smaller area in the same timing constraint rather than a conventional system. The promising experimental results are also shown.

BGP might experience a lengthy path exploration process to reach the convergence after the routing changes. found that the BGP rate-limiting timer--MinRouteAdvertisementInterval (MRAI) has an optimal value Mo that achieves the best trade-off between the stability and the convergence speed. In this paper, with the aid of a timed BGP model, we investigate the effects of MRAI and its optimal value Mo for the BGP convergence process. We find that an adequately long MRAI timer can batch-remove candidate paths and ensure the routing stability in the convergence process. There exists a minimal MRAI Ms that achieves the effect, which is also the upper bound of Mo and provides an approximation of Mo. We calculate the approximations of Ms for different settings and estimate the optimal MRAI for the Internet. According to the results, the optimal MRAI for the Internet might be 5-10 times less than the current default value used in the Internet. The simulations taken with SSFNet and the experiments conducted over the Planet-Lab demonstrate the correctness of our analysis.

Spatial correlation among antenna elements both at transmitter and receiver sides in MIMO communications is known to have a crucial impact on system performances. Another factor that can severely degrade receiver performances is the timing offset relative to the channel delay profile. In this paper we derive a novel receiver for turbo MIMO equalization in space-time-trellis-coded (STTrC) system to jointly address the problems described above. The equalizer is based on low complexity MMSE filtering. A joint detection technique of the several transmit antennas is used to reduce the receiver's sensitivity to the spatial correlation at the transmitter and receiver sides. Furthermore, only the significant portion of the channel impulse response (CIR) is taken into account while detecting signals. The remaining portion of CIR is regarded as the unknown interference which is effectively suppressed by estimating its covariance matrix. By doing this the receiver's complexity can be reduced since only a portion of the CIR has to be estimated and used for signal detection. Furthermore, by suppressing the interference from the other paths outside the equalizers coverage the receiver's sensitivity to the timing offset can be reduced. The proposed receiver's performance is evaluated using field measurement data obtained through multidimensional channel sounding. It is verified through computer simulations that the performance sensitivity of the joint detection-based receiver to the spatial correlation is significantly lower than with the receiver that detects only one antenna at a time. Furthermore, the performance sensitivity to the timing offset of the proposed receiver is shown to be significantly lower than that of the receiver that ignores the existence of the remaining multipath CIR components.

This paper describes a speed-oriented ultralow-voltage and low-power SOI circuit technique based on a differential enhancement- and depletion-mode (ED)-MOS circuit. Combining an ED-MOS circuit block for critical paths and a multi-Vth CMOS circuit block for noncritical paths, that is, the so-called differential ED-CMOS/SOI circuit, makes it possible to achieve low-power and ultrahigh-speed operation of over 1 GHz at a supply voltage of less than 0.5 V. As two applications of the differential ED-CMOS/SOI circuit, a multi-stage frequency divider that uses the ED-MOS circuit in a first-stage frequency divider and a pipelined adder with a CMOS pipeline register are described in detail. To verify the effectiveness of the ED-CMOS/SOI circuit scheme, we fabricated a 1/8 frequency divider and a 32-bit binary look-ahead carry (BLC) adder using the 0.25-µm MTCMOS/SOI process. The frequency divider operates down to 0.3 V with a maximum operating frequency of 3.6 GHz while suppressing power dissipation to 0.3 mW. The 32-bit adder operates at a frequency of 1 GHz at 0.5 V.

In this paper we give a simple algorithm to generate all partitions of {1,2,,n} into k non-empty subsets. The number of such partitions is known as the Stirling number of the second kind. The algorithm generates each partition in constant time without repetition. By choosing k = 1,2,,n we can also generate all partitions of {1,2,,n} into subsets. The number of such partitions is known as the Bell number.

We propose a low-power resource-shared VLIW processor (RSVP) for future leaky nanometer process technologies. It consists of several single-way independent processor units (IPUs) that share parallel processor resources. Each IPU works as a variable-way VLIW processor sharing the parallel resources according to priorities of given tasks. RSVP allocates shared parallel resources to the IPUs cycle by cycle. It can minimize the number of NOPs that is wasting power. The performance per power (P3) of a 4-parallel 4-way RSVP that corresponds to four 4way VLIWs is 3.7% better than a conventional 4-parallel 4-way VLIW multiprocessor in the current 90 nm process. We estimate that the RSVP achieves 36% less leakage power and 28% better P3 in the future 25 nm process. We have fabricated an RSVP test chip that contains two IPU and a shared resource equivalent to two 2way VLIWs in a 180 nm process. It is functional at 100 MHz clock speed and its power is 130 mW.

Recently, major services provided by mobile communications systems are shifting from voice conversations to data communications over the Internet. There is a strong demand for increasing the data transmission rate. However, an important problem arises; larger peak transmit power is required as transmission rate becomes higher. In this paper, we propose a wireless multi-hop virtual cellular concept to avoid this power problem. The virtual cellular network consists of a central port, which is a gateway to the network, and many distributed wireless ports. Transmit power and frequency efficiencies of the virtual cellular network are evaluated by computer simulation to compare with that of the present cellular networks. In the wireless multi-hop virtual cellular network, routing among wireless ports is an important technical issue. We propose a routing algorithm based on the total uplink transmit power minimization criterion and evaluate the total transmit power by computer simulation.

Although IP Multicast offers efficient data delivery for large group communications, the most critical issue delaying widespread deployment of IP Multicast is the scalability of multicast forwarding state as the number of multicast groups increases. Sender-Initiated Multicast (SIM) was proposed as an alternative multicast forwarding scheme for small group communications with incremental deployment capability. The key feature of SIM is in its Preset mode with the automatic SIM tunneling function, which maintaining forwarding information states only on the branching routers. To demonstrate how SIM increases scalability with respect to the number of groups, in this paper we evaluate the proposed protocol both through simulations and real experiments. As from the network operator's point of view, the bandwidth consumption, memory requirements on state-and-signaling per session in routers, and the processing overhead are considered as evaluation parameters. Finally, we investigated the strategies for incremental deployment.

The role of electric field in metal-induced lateral crystallization (MILC) of amorphous Si (a-Si) under limited Ni-supply condition has been investigated. The nominal lateral-growth rate was increased from 3.6 µm/h (no-electric field) to 23 µm/h at the positive electrode side and reduced to 2.8 µm/h at the negative electrode side in presence of the electric field of 20 V/cm. However, spontaneously nucleated needle-like Si crystals were observed in the enhanced positive electrode side, which have been found to be independent of the MILC. Further investigation under the condition where Ni in the supply region was removed on the way of crystallization revealed that the electric field enhanced crystallization greatly reduced. These results indicate that the electric field does not enhance the MILC growth but enhances the diffusion of Ni in a-Si which takes place prior to the MILC growth.

One of the remaining issues of Mobile IP is a mobile host (MH) needs to update its location each time it moves from one subnet to another, even when it is in dormant mode while roaming. This practice is apparently not efficient in terms of location update cost and power consumption. Recent research works have attempted to address that problem by extending Mobile IP with a layer 3 paging mechanism so-called IP paging. Particularly, IP Individual Paging schemes, which are customized to each MH, have attracted considerable interest of researchers. The employment of adaptability in some manner to MH parameters in order to enhance the efficiency of IP paging schemes is probably a promising approach. In this paper, we present an analysis on the effects of both host-adaptability and time-adaptability to MH parameters in Individual Paging schemes by comparing the signaling cost of an adaptive Individual Paging scheme to that of a non-adaptive counterpart. From our analysis, specifying the optimal paging area (PA) is critical in saving signaling cost of IP paging. Thus, our investigation is focused on the adaptability of PA to maintain its optimality.