An LCD Driver IC includes more than 300 buffer amplifiers on a single chip. The phase compensation capacitors (on-chip Miller capacitors) for the amplifiers are more than 1000 pF and occupy a large chip area. This paper describes a two-gain-stage amplifier in which an on-chip Miller capacitor is not used for phase compensation in an LCD Driver IC. In the proposed amplifier, phase compensation is achieved only by a newly introduced zero, which is formed by the load capacitance and a phase compensation resistor connected between the output of the amplifier and the capacitive load. Designs of the phase compensation resistor and the amplifier before compensation are discussed, considering a typical load capacitance range. The test chip was fabricated. The newly introduced zero successfully stabilized the amplifier. The chip area for the amplifier was reduced by 30-40%, compared with our previously reported one. The current consumption of the amplifier was only 5 µA. The experimental results of the fabricated test chip support that the proposed amplifier is suitable to an LCD driver IC with a smaller chip area.

An effective spatial resolution enhancement method for distributed strain measurement by BOTDR is proposed. An optical fiber is glued to a structure by a length less than the spatial resolution defined by the pulse width, and the Brillouin spectrum of the light scattered from the glued optical fiber is investigated theoretically. The apparent strain xp observed in the fiber is found to be proportional to the accurate strain a. The ratio r=xp/a coincides with the ratio of the glued length to the spatial resolution. Spatial resolution as small as 0.2 m is demonstrated experimentally for small strains of less than 10-3.

Future wireless communication systems will provide mobile terminals with high bit-rate transmissions for accessing broadband wired networks. In this paper, we envisage a Time Division Multiple Access - Time Division Duplexing (TDMA-TDD) air interface and we propose a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, named Dynamic Scheduling - TDD (DS-TDD), that allows guaranteeing the QoS of different traffic classes and efficiently supports uplink/downlink traffic asymmetries. The DS-TDD performance is theoretically analyzed. Moreover, the DS-TDD protocol is compared with another scheme proposed in the literature. Finally, the impact of packet errors on the DS-TDD performance is evaluated.

A noise suppression algorithm with high speech quality based on weighted noise estimation and MMSE STSA is proposed. The proposed algorithm continuously updates the estimated noise by weighted noisy speech in accordance with an estimated SNR. The spectral gain is modified with the estimated SNR so that it can better utilize the improvement in noise estimation. With a better noise estimate, a more correct SNR is obtained resulting in the enhanced speech with low distortion. Subjective evaluation results show that five-grade mean opinion scores of the new algorithm with and without a speech codec are improved by as much as 0.35 and 0.40 respectively, compared with either the original MMSE STSA or the EVRC noise suppression algorithm.

This paper proposes a multipath interference canceller (MPIC) for orthogonal code multiplexed channels in the W-CDMA forward link and evaluates by computer simulation the improvement in BER performance owing to the multipath interference (MPI) suppression effect obtained by the MPIC. The simulation results show that a one-stage MPIC, which removes the MPI from the common pilot channel (PICH), common control channel (CCH), and synchronization channel (SCH), achieves a sufficient MPI suppression effect, and that the required received Eb/N0 of the traffic channel (TCH) at the average BER of 10-3 using the MPIC for the common channels is decreased by approximately 6.5 dB compared to that with a matched filter (MF)-based Rake receiver (the transmit power ratio of each common channel to TCH: ΔPICH/TCH=0 dB, ΔCCH/TCH=5 dB, ΔSCH/TCH=3 dB, without fast transmit power control (TPC) and antenna diversity reception). We also show that by using MPIC, the required transmit Eb/N0 at the average BER of 10-3, when the ratio of the target Eb/I0 of the 9-interfering users to desired user is ΔInt/Des=6 dB with fast TPC, is increased by only approximately 0.6 dB compared to that when ΔInt/Des=0 dB. This implies that the preferential MPI suppression from high-rate TCHs that abates the increase in complexity in a mobile terminal is effective in increasing the link capacity in the forward link.

A Multiwavelength Brillouin/Erbium fibre laser which operates in long-wavelength band (L-band) is demonstrated with an approximate comb spacing of 10 GHz. The laser configuration consists of a long EDF to enable the L-band amplification and two 3-dB couplers to take a portion of the generated BEFL signal and re-inject it into the SMF to seed a cascaded BEFL line in the same direction as the first BEFL line. 20 lines including the anti-Stokes are obtained with the maximum Brillouin pump and 980 nm-pump power of 8.9 mW and 92 mW, respectively.

This paper presents an efficient scheme for access bandwidth control for VBR (Variable Bit Rate) traffic between radio mobile terminals and their base stations in a WATM (Wireless ATM) network. After introducing the wireless ATM system model, we describe a new algorithm that enables dynamic slot allocation under TDMA/TDD (Time Division Multiple Access/Time Division Duplex) Media Access Control, making use of UPC (Usage Parameter Control) parameters and traffic characteristics. We show more efficient bandwidth utilization with our proposed algorithm, compared to other conventional algorithms. Moreover, we reveal that our algorithm improves cell transmission delays.

This paper proposes an innovative Pipeline-based Maximal-sized Matching scheduling approach, called PMM, for input-buffered switches. It dramatically relaxes the limitation of a single time slot for completing a maximal matching into any number of time slots. In the PMM approach, arbitration is operated in a pipelined manner, where K subschedulers are used. Each subscheduler is allowed to take more than one time slot for its matching. Every time slot, one of the subschedulers provides the matching result. We adopt an extended version of Dual Round-Robin Matching (DRRM), called iterative DRRM (iDRRM), as a maximal matching algorithm in a subscheduler. PMM maximizes the efficiency of the adopted arbitration scheme by allowing sufficient time for the number of iterations. We show that PMM preserves 100% throughput under uniform traffic and fairness for best-effort traffic of the non-pipelined adopted algorithm, while ensuring that cells from the same virtual output queue (VOQ) are transmitted in sequence. In addition, we confirm that the delay performance of PMM is not significantly degraded by increasing the pipeline degree, or the number of subschedulers, when the number of outstanding requests for each subscheduler from a VOQ is limited to 1.

In this paper, we propose a new fair queueing algorithm to improve cell delay variation (CDV) for real-time service categories and to make efficient use of system resources for multimedia traffic in high speed ATM networks. The proposed algorithm is called the delay variation-based fair queueing (DVFQ) algorithm, which is based on per-VC queueing to improve CDV and fairness for each VC of real-time services such as CBR and rt-VBR. In DVFQ algorithm, we define two fairness indexes, which indicate the degree of the fairness of CDV at the rate of each VC, and the degree of impartially sharing the bandwidth between the scheduled cells for each VC. The simulation results for both heavily and lightly loaded conditions show that DVFQ algorithm provides better performances in terms of the CDV, the CDV fairness, and the service fairness than those of FCFS for real-time service.

This paper attempts to establish a theory for a general auto-associative memory model. We start by defining a new concept called supporting function to replace the concept of energy function. As known, the energy function relies on the assumption of symmetric interconnection weights, which is used in the conventional Hopfield auto-associative memory, but not evidenced in any biological memories. We then formulate the information retrieving process as a dynamic system by making use of the supporting function and derive the attraction or asymptotic stability condition and the condition for convergence of an arbitrary state to a desired state. The latter represents a key condition for associative memory to have a capability of learning from variant samples. Finally, we develop an algorithm to learn the asymptotic stability condition and an algorithm to train the system to recover desired states from their variant samples. The latter called sample learning algorithm is the first of its kind ever been discovered for associative memories. Both recalling and learning processes are of finite convergence, a must-have feature for associative memories by analogy to normal human memory. The effectiveness of the recalling and learning algorithms is experimentally demonstrated.

In evaluating the teletraffic of mobile communication networks, it is important to model the motion of terminals. In the previous migration model, mobility characteristics of terminals, such as cell dwell time, have been expressed by a single probability distribution. In this paper, we discuss the modeling of the cell dwell time of terminals in each cell. Using measured data we show that cell dwell time differs from cell to cell and follows log-normal distributions rather than conventional exponential distributions.

Upper bounds on the bit error rate (BER) for maximum likelihood (ML) decoding are derived in convolutional coded parallel combinatorial spread spectrum (PC/SS) systems over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. PC/SS systems can achieve higher data transmission than conventional multicode SS systems. To make the derivation tractable, we put a uniform interleaver between a convolutional encoder and a PC/SS transmitter. Since the PC/SS transmitter is employed as the "inner encoder," the bounds are obtained in a similar manner of the derivation in serially concatenated codes through a uniform interleaver. Two different error patterns in the PC/SS system are considered in the performance analysis. Numerical results show that the derived BER bounds are sufficiently accurate. It is found that the coded PC/SS systems outperform coded all-code-parallel DS/SS systems under the same data rate conditions if the number of pre-assigned PN codes increases.

Software with design flaws increases maintenance costs, decreases component reuse, and reduces software life. Even well-designed software tends to deteriorate with time as it undergoes maintenance. Work on restructuring object-oriented designs involves estimating the quality of the designs using metrics, and automating transformations that preserve the behavior of the designs. However, these factors have been treated almost independently of each other. A long-term goal is to define transformations preserving the behavior of object-oriented designs, and automate the transformations using metrics. In this paper, we describe a genetic algorithm based restructuring approach using metrics to automatically modify object-oriented designs. Cohesion and coupling metrics based on abstract models are defined to quantify designs and provide criteria for comparing alternative designs. The abstract models include a call-use graph and a class-association graph that represent methods, attributes, classes, and their relationships. The metrics include cohesion, inheritance coupling, and interaction coupling based on the behavioral similarity between methods extracted from the models. We define restructuring operations, and show that the operations preserve the behavior of object-oriented designs. We also devise a fitness function using cohesion and coupling metrics, and automatically restructure object-oriented designs by applying a genetic algorithm using the fitness function.

In order to clarify the receiver sensitivity of remote keyless entry systems operating at 314 MHz, the radiation characteristics of a cabin antennas must be studied. For this purpose, electromagnetic simulations are very useful but the multiple reflected waves present in the cabin must be accurately estimated. No prior study examined the radiation characteristics of cabin antennas. This paper introduces an accurate simulation method. A MM (Method of Moments) simulator is selected because it can simulate multiple reflected waves. Initial studies are being performed to find the calculation requirements and ensuring convergence of multiple reflected wave structures. Next, calculation requirements for car analyses such as convergence parameters and computer abilities are studied. The calculation time is 11 hours by a personal computer. 1.1 GB of RAM is also needed. Many calculated results such as three-dimensional radiation patterns and induced currents on the car's body are obtained. The radiation pattern varies with antenna position, and polarization changes are shown. In order to ensure that the results are accurate, measurements are made on a one seventh scale model of a car. The good agreement of measured and calculated results verifies the validity of the simulation method. The influence of multiple reflected waves on the radiation patterns is also experimentally studied. The conclusion is that the MM method is shown to be useful in estimating the radiation pattern of cabin antennas. Interesting calculation results are also shown.

In this paper, we propose the code orthogonalizing filter (COF) based adaptive array antenna using sample matrix inversion with common correlation matrix (CCM-SMI) of time domain signals for multicarrier DS/CDMA systems. The conventional array antenna system calculates the weight using the correlation matrix of individual subcarrier's signals. On the other hand, our proposed system calculates the weight using the correlation matrix of time domain signals before FFT operation, so it can reduce the calculation time and the complexity of weight calculation than the conventional scheme, to maintain the system performance. Moreover, we consider the code orthogonalizing filter to reduce the demerit of adaptive array antenna system using sample matrix inversion algorithm with common correlation matrix that requires heavy computational complexity while the signal environment frequently changes. Our proposed system obtains more accurate channel response vector using COF than that of the conventional CCM-SMI based on the matched filter, without increasing the matrix size. The performance is evaluated in term of bit error probability. From the analysis and simulation results, it is shown that our proposed scheme achieves better BER performance than that of the conventional system.

The radio-frequency thermal noise in fully-depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs and bulk MOSFETs is theoretically examined using a distributed-transmission-line model. It is shown that the thermal noise in a scaled-down SOI MOSFET is basically smaller than that in a scaled-down bulk MOSFET in a wide frequency range. In the radio-frequency range, parasitic resistances in source and drain don't yield a remarkable contribution to the difference in output thermal noise power between scaled-down bulk MOSFETs and scaled-down SOI MOSFETs. However, the output thermal noise of scaled-down SOI MOSFETs with a finite parasitic resistance is smaller than that of scaled-down bulk MOSFETs because of smaller channel capacitance.

A new system, in which a real-time VLBI (very-long-baseline interferometer) is utilized, for real-time monitoring of atmospheric disturbances on a very-long baseline has been developed. In this system, beacon waves from geo-stationary satellites are used for received signals and public communication lines are used for data transmission. Connecting the system to the 6-m Kagoshima and the 10-m Mizusawa radio telescopes enables atmospheric disturbances to be observed. The cross-correlation phase was calculated from the received signals, and the Allan standard deviation of the phase was obtained. It was found that the Allan standard deviation across almost the whole region of the time interval reflects atmospheric disturbances.

In this paper, we study the following problem: given two graphs G, H and an isomorphism φ between an induced subgraph of G and an induced subgraph of H, compute the number of isomorphisms between G and H that do not contradict φ. We show that this problem can be solved in O(((k+1)(k+1)!)2n3) time when the input graphs are restricted to chordal graphs with clique number at most k+1. To prove this, we first show that the tree model of a chordal graph can be uniquely constructed in O(n3) time except for the ordering of children of each node. Then, we show that the number of φ-isomorphisms between G and H can be efficiently computed by use of the tree model.

New methods for digital image watermarking based on the characteristics of vector quantization (VQ) are proposed. In contrast with conventional watermark embedding algorithms to embed only one watermark at a time into the original source, we present one algorithm to embed multiple watermarks for copyright protection. The embedding and extraction processes are efficient for implementing with conventional VQ techniques, and they can be accomplished in parallel to shorten the processing time. After embedding, embedder would output one watermarked reconstruction image and several secret keys associated with the embedded watermarks. These secret keys are then registered to the third party to preserve the ownership of the original source in order to prevent the attackers from inserting counterfeit watermarks. Simulation results show that under no attacks, the embedded watermarks could be perfectly extracted. If there are some intentional attacks in our simulation, all the watermarks could survive to protect the copyrights. Therefore, we are able to claim the robustness, usefulness, and ease of implementation of our algorithm.

Dual-Banyan is a buffered banyan asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch encompassing bifurcated queueing as its buffering strategy. This paper describes an efficient analytical model, based on iterative calculations, for performance evaluation of the Dual-Banyan switch under uniform and non-uniform traffic patterns with much less time than the simulation. The efficiency of the given model is verified through a comparison with simulation results. Another benefit of our model is the possibility to adopt it in any non-uniform incoming traffic. At last, we compare performance of Dual-Banyan switch and Input Buffer Banyan, and show that Dual-Banyan switch has significant better performance levels.