We propose a new algorithm for minimizing the number of vertices of an approximate curve by keeping the error within a given bound (min-# problem) with the parallel-strip error criterion. The best existing algorithm which solves this problem has O (n2 log n) time complexity. Our algorithm which uses the Cone Intersection Method does not have an improved time complexity, but does have a high efficiency. In particular, for practical data such as those which represent the boundaries or the skeletons of an object, the new algorithm can solve the min-# problem in nearly O(n2) time.

An ordered binary decision diagram (OBDD) is a directed acyclic graph for representing a Boolean function. OBDDs are widely used in various areas which require Boolean function manipulation, since they can represent efficiently many practical Boolean functions and have other desirable properties. However, there is very little theoretical research on the complexity of constructing an OBDD. In this paper, we prove that the optimal variable ordering problem of a shared BDD is NP-complete, and briefly discuss the approximation hardness of this problem and related OBDD problems.

This paper clarified fundamental aspects of both triboelectric processes and electrostatic discharge (ESD) phenomena to the electronic systems. A chance for ESD can occur if a charged metal object (steel piped chair, for example) contacts or collides with another metal objects at moderate speed. At metal-metal ESD event, the metal objects act as a radiation antenna in a very short time (some 100ps, for example) which emanates impulsive electromagnetic fields with unipolarity into the surrounding space. Because of ESD at low-voltage (3kV or less) conditions, the direction of electrons movement at the spark gap is always unidirectional and fixed. The spark gap works as a momentary switch and also as a "diode." The dominant fields radiated from the metal objects are impulsive electric fields or impulsive magnetic fields which depend on the metal object's electrical and geometric conditions. This impulsive electromagnetic fields penetrate electronic systems, causing electromagnetic interference (EMI) such as malfunctions or circuit upset. The difference between EMI actions in high-voltage ESD and low-voltage ESD is experimentally analyzed in terms of energy conversion/consumption. A series of experiments revealed that EMI actions due to the metal-metal ESD are not proportional to the charge voltage nor the discharge current. In order to capture single shot impulsive electromagnetic fields very close to the ESD point (wave source), a short monopole antenna as an ultra broad-band field sensor was devised. As for signal transmissions between the short monopole antenna and the instrument (receiver), micro/millimeter wave techniques were applied. The transmission line's minimum band width DC-18.5GHz is required for time domain measurements of low-voltage ESD.

This paper discusses the design of a small sensing device for EMI measurement which has equivalent characteristics to the absorbing clamp method, and reports the results on evaluation of the device. The device can be applied to the inspection apparatus for products such as power tools to examine conformance to EMI regulations of electromagnetic radiation spectrum. For reducing the scale of the EMI inspection apparatus, new matching circuit being replaced with the absorbing clamp method is adopted in the sensing device. Length of the sensing device is smaller than one twelfth of a wavelength of the measuring frequency in order to regard the sensing device as a concentrated constant circuit. The matching circuit is a resonant circuit which consists of a coaxial coupled transformer and a variable capacitor, and the transformer is a spiral copper tube in which a pair of AC power line wires passes. Resonant frequency of the circuit is tuned to the measuring frequency by adjusting the variable capacitor so that the circuit would terminate the power line by impedance zero. Thus interference current propagating along the power line from a product is absorbed, and observed by means of a VHF current probe which is settled in the matching circuit. A simple circuit for measurement of noise amplitude distribution (NAD) of interference current was developed as well as an equation to estimate quasi-peak value from the NAD. Result of measurement by the sensing device and proposed procedure confirmed good correlation with the standard absorbing clamp method, and deviation was within 3dB. Measurement time was reduced to 25 s per product, and the in-line EMI checker with new sensing device can be employed in a mass production line.

A directed graph G = (V,E) is called the n-rotator graph if V = {a1a2an|a1a2an is a permutation of 1,2,,n} and E = {(a1a2an,b1b2bn)| for some 2 i n, b1b2bn = a2aia1ai+1an}. We show that for any pair of distinct nodes in the n-rotator graph, we can construct n - 1 disjoint paths, each length < 2n, connecting the two nodes. We propose a nonadaptive fault-tolerant file transmission algorithm which uses these disjoint paths. Then the probabilistic analysis of its reliability is given.

It has become very important to study the lightning surges that flow into telecommunications equipment because of the increased use of circuits susceptible to excess voltage. This paper reports for the first time simultaneous measurements of distributed lightning current at many positions in a mountain-top radio relay station caused by natural direct lightning strikes. More than 90% of the direct lightning current flowed from the lightning rod to the ground through building structural components such as antenna tower legs, waveguides, and so on, with the high frequency components of the lightning current tending to flow into the outside parts of those structural components. And then, 25 to 43 % of the lightning current flowed out again to outside telecommunications cables and power lines because the lightning current raised the station's ground potential. Based on these measurements, to help predict lightning current which is dangerous to telecommunications equipment, lightning current occurrence probabilities at the waveguide and cables were estimated by analyzing the distribution ratios between the current in those components.

PID-type controllers have been well-known and widely used in many industries. Their regulation property of those was more improved through the addition of Bang-Bang-action. In spite of the potentials of these PID-plus Bang-Bang controllers, their regulation property is still limited by the fixed window limit value that determines the control action, i. e., PID or Bang-Bang. Thus, this paper presents an approach for improving the regulation property by dynamically changing the window limit value according to the plant dynamics with Neural Network predictive model. The improved regulation property is illustrated through simulation studies for position control of DC servo-motor system in the sense of classical figures of merit such as overshoot and rise time.

The recurrence method is useful for numerical calculation of the Bassel function Jv(x) of complex order v. The necessary total number of the recurrences in this method has been examined for the real order v, but it is known only for limited ranges of the real order v and the variable x, and it is not known for the complex order v. This letter proposes a new algorithm which increases the total number of the recurrences gradually, and which stops the calculation automatically when the approximate Bessel function with a necessary precision is obtained.

The power distribance appeared at a typical electric power system, which can be modeled by a simplified distributed circuit, is discussed. The electric power and the point where its power is injected are then estimated to suppress the power distrbance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical tool for performing a shift operation in orthonormal compactly supported wavelet bases. This translation τ of a discrete sequence, where τ is a real number, is suitable for filter bank implementations. The shift operation in this realization is neither related to the analysis filters nor to the synthesis filters of the filter bank. Simulations were done on the Daubechis wavelets with 12 coefficients and on complex valued wavelets. For the latter ones a real input sequence was used and split up into two subsequences in order to gain computational efficiency.

This paper proposes a tool to analyze complicated phenomena from a simple hysteresis network. The simple hysteresis network is described by a piecewise liner ordinal differential equation and has only two parameters: self feedback and DC team. Then this simple system exhibits various kinds of attractors: stable equilibria, periodic orbits, tori and chaos. In order to perform the numerical analysis, we derive return map and propose a fast calculation algorithm for the return map and its Lyapunov exponents based on the exact solutions. Using this algorithm, we have clarified chaos generation and related bifurcation phenomena. Also, we give theoretical formula that give fundamental bifurcation set.

This paper presents implicit representation of binary decision diagrams (implicit BDDs) as a new effecient data structure for Boolean functions. A well-known method of representing graphs by binary decision diagrams (BDDs) is applied to BDDs themselves. Namely, it is a BDD representation of BDDs. Regularity in the structure of BDDs representing certain Boolean functions contributes to significant reduction in size of the resulting implicit BDD repersentation. Since the implicit BDDs also provide canonical forms for Boolean functions, the equivalence of the two implicit BDD forms is decided in time proportional to the representation size. We also show an algorithm to maniqulate Boolean functions on this implicit data structure.

Network functions (NFs) such as network reflection and transmission coefficients are discussed about an interconnected network consisting of a lumped distributed N-port N non-commensurate line junction network (N-port) and a M-port. The derivation of the NFs can be done quite easily regardless of the complexity of the network by considering the flow of the traveling waves and conditions of the interconnected interface of the two multi-ports. The theory of this paper has been examined with respect to interconnected networks consisting of two 3-ports in both the time and frequency domains, and has shown good results consistent with other papers. The network functions described here can be used not only for the analysis of high-speed pulse propagation in digital systems with branches but also for the analysis of microwave distributed line networks such as hybird rings. In that sense, a new analysis method is presented in this paper.

In order to reduce the ever increasing cost for ULSI manufacturing due to the complexity of integrated circuits, dramatic simplification in the logic LSI architecture as well as the very flexible circuit configuration have been achieved using a highfunctionality device neuron-MOSFET (γMOS).In γMOS logic circuits, however, computations based on the multiple-valued logic is the key for enhancing the functionality. Therefore, much higher accuracy of processing is required. After brief description of the operational principle of γMOS logic, the relationship between the number of multiple logic levels and the functionality enhancement is discussed for further enhancing the functionality of γMOS logic circuits by increasing the number of multiple logic levels, and the accuracy requirements for the manufacturing processes are studied. The order of a few percent accuracy is required for all principal device structural parameters when it is aimed to handle 50-level multiple-valued variable in the γMOS logic circuit.

A new yield prediction model has been developed, which can successfully describe the actual chip fabrication yield. It basically consists of modeling of particles deposited on wafer surface, considering the change in their size and spatial distribution due to the subsequent processing steps and a new concept of virtual line width in pattern layouts. It is confirmed that this yield prediction model serves as an effective navigator for improvement/optimization of fabrication lines such as pointing out the process step/equipments to be modified for yield improvements.

A new electron-beam wafer inspection system has been developed. The system has a resolution of 5 nm or better, and is applicable to quarter-micron devices such as 256 Mbit DRAMs. The most remarkable feature of this system is that a specimen stage is built in the objective lens and allows a working distance (WD) of 0. "WD=0"minimizes the effect of lens aberrations, and maximizes the resolving power. Innovative designs to achieve WD=0 are as follows: (1)A large objective lens of 730-mm width 730-mm depth 620-mm height that serves as a specimen chamber, has been developed. (2)A hollow specimen stage made of non-magnetic materials has been developed.It allows the lower pole piece and magnetic coile of the objective lens inside it. (3)Acoustic motors made of non-magnetic materials are em-ployed for use in vacuum.

This paper describes Kleenean coefficients that are a subset of Kleenean functions for use in representing multiple-valued logic functions. A conventional multiple-valued sum-of-products expression uses product terms that are the MIN of literals and constants. In this paper, a new sum-of-products expression is allowed to sum product terms that also include variables and complements of variables. Since the conventional sum-of-products expression is complete, so also is the augmented one. A minimization method of the new expression is described besed on the binary Quine-McCluskey algorithm. The result of computer simulation shows that a saving of the number of implicants used in minimal expressions by approximately 9% on the average can be obtained for some random functions. A result for some arithmetic functions shows that the minimal solutions of MOD radix SUM, MAX and MIN functions require much fewer implicants than those of the standard sum-of-products expressions. Thus, this paper clarifies that the new expression has an advantage to reduce the number of implicants in minimal sum-of-products expressions.

We studied effects of 50-200-keV electrons on semiconductor devices using BEASTLI (backscattered electron assisting LSI inspection) method. When irradiating semiconduc-tor devices with such high-energy electrons, we have to note two phenomena. The first is surface charging and the second is device damage. In our study of surface charging, we found that a net positive charge was formed on the device surface. The positive surface charges do not cause serious influence for observation so that we can inspect wafers without problems. The positive surface charging may be brought about because most incident electrons penetrate the device layer and reach the conducting substrate of the semiconductor device. For the device damage, we studied MOS devices which were sensitive to electron-beam irradiation. By applying a 400- annealing to electron-beam irradiated MOS devices, we could restore the initial characteris-tics of MOS devices. However, in order to recover hot-carrier degradation due to neutral traps, we had to apply a 900- annealing to the electron-beam irradiated MOS devices. Thus, BEASTLI could be successfully used by providing an apporopri-ate annealing to the electron-beam irradiated MOS devices.

A new transmit permission control scheme applicable in multi-cell communication systems is proposed. In this scheme, by prohibiting the transmissions from the users with relatively high propagation loss to their connecting hub stations, level of multiple access interference is decreased, and hence throughput characteristics are improved. Moreover, we continue our discussion to propose two adaptive forms of the transmit permission control scheme, in which the prohibition condition becomes more intelligent by considering the level of the offered traffic loads to hub stations. These methods are utilized in a slotted Aloha random transmission of the spread spectrum packets, and on the uplinks of a low earth orbit satellite communication system as an example of the multi-cell systems. It is shown that the adaptive schemes exhibits significantly improved characteristics at all offered traffic loads in these systems.

An efficient full-wave approach for the accurate characterization of a H-plane waveguide π-junction with an inductive post and a waveguide cross-junction is proposed. By employing the port reflection coefficient method (PRCM), the analysis and solution procedures of these complex waveguide junctions are greatly simplified and only the calculation of field reflections caused by the simplest waveguide step-junction discontinuities are required. The reflections are easily determined by the mode-matching technique. Scattering parameters of these junctions are provided and discussed in terms of the working frequency and the geometrical dimensions of the junctions. Calculated results are compared with those of other papers and measurements, all show good agreement.