The paper reports a compact and high performance dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) using two types of dual-mode resonators. The dual mode cross shaped resonator and the three dual mode ring resonators in the designed dual-band BPF are excited to control the first and second passband, respectively. It is shown that the designed and fabricated dual-band BPF has narrow bandwidths and very sharp attenuation rate due to the existence of the transmission zeros. The frequency response of the designed dual-band BPF shows good agreement between the simulations and experiments.

This paper focuses on the characteristics of tunable half-wavelength resonators and their applications to bandpass filters (BPFs). First, the resonance characteristics of various tunable half-wavelength resonators are examined for the tunabilities of transmission zeros and the center frequency of the proposed BPFs. We examine four types of tunable half-wavelength resonators, namely, an end-coupling resonator and three types of tap-coupling resonators. Secondly, the proposition and design of two types of BPFs using acquired resonators are carried out. The fabrication and experimental application of the resonators and designed BPFs are also performed based on coplanar waveguide (CPW) technologies. Their calculated and measured results are compared with each other. The results show that tunabilities of the transmission zero and the center frequency of the proposed BPF are obtained as expected.

This paper presents a novel self-excited ZVS half-bridge converter. This converter including a self-oscillating control circuit is very simply constructed. The converter achieves excellent efficiency, low voltage stress across the switches and low EMI noise by using zero-voltage-switching technique. This converter stores not only magnetic energy in the primary winding of the transformer but also electrostatic energy on the resonant capacitor during the on-periods, so that the converter realizes the miniaturization of the transformer, the reduced conduction losses and the low current stress in the switch. This paper analyzes the behavior of static characteristics by using an extending state-space-averaging method and presents design equations. Based on the analysis, two prototype converters are designed for a 120 W output and a 350 W output. Experimental results are given for two converters and they confirm the validity of the theory. The proposed converters have displayed excellent performance.

In recent years the size of transformer in a DC-DC converter becomes smaller and thinner for power module type application. It results in the increase of the leakage inductances because the number of turns of the secondary winding becomes smaller. This paper presents the analysis of static and dynamic characteristics of the novel flyback converter proposed before, and clarifies that the transformer's leakage inductances deteriorate the static load regulation, but improve the dynamic stability by increasing the dumping factor.

This paper presents a performance comparison between carrier interferometry coded OFDM (CI/COFDM) and typical coded OFDM (COFDM) using multiple receive antennas. The feature of CI/COFDM with diversity reception is to combine the time diversity benefit introduced by channel coding with the frequency and space diversity benefits created by frequency-domain equalization (FDE). Simulation results for QPSK showed that, at the perfect channel estimation, CI/COFDM outperforms COFDM under frequency and time selective fading channels because of the powerful time diversity benefit introduced by channel coding with time interleaving. However, at the imperfect channel estimation, this advantage of CI/COFDM over COFDM becomes very limited.

This paper presents a novel ZVS bidirectional 1 kW class DC-DC converter used for a photovoltaic (PV) system. The proposed circuit is based on a boost&buckboost converter, which consists of a boost converter and a buckboost converter. Bidirectional soft switching is realized by using of coupled inductors and auxiliary switches in the circuit. From the analysis of the circuit operation, ZVS conditions of the switches are derived. In the experiment, the maximum efficiency of the proposed converter during forward power flow was 97.1% on output power of 320 W.

The control problem of hybrid systems have received considerable attention. However, because of the existence of constraints and the combinatorial nature of continuous time and discrete event dynamics, the understanding of hybrid systems is rather limited at present. Only optimal control approaches were proposed based on heuristic rules. Few theoretical properties of system can be predicted until now. In this paper, we consider the tracking control problem of hybrid plants represented by MLD model to follow a family of reference signals produced by an external generator. Some new results are presented. The internal model principle of continuous system is extended to hybrid systems so as to solve the problem.

In mobile cellular networks it is crucial to be able to use the available radio spectrum as efficiently as possible while providing a certain level of Quality of Service (QoS) for the users. Emergence of miscellaneous services has dramatically increased the complexity of this problem by creating a heterogeneous traffic environment. In this paper an efficient resource allocation scheme between two real-time services with different bandwidth requirements has been proposed for cellular networks with multimedia offered traffic and highly mobile users, which combines classical intera-cell resource borrowing concept with a novel inter-cell resource-sharing scheme between diverse classes of traffic. By assuming the heterogeneous offered traffic to be a combination of audio and video traffic types, through extensive simulations it will be shown that HCBA-UCB is capable of significantly improving audio teletraffic performance of the system while preserving fairness in service provision, i.e. without imposing additional expenses upon video QoS performance.

In this paper, Pre-Rake scheme for pulse based Ultra Wideband impulse radio (UWB-IR) communications system is proposed considering a standardized UWB channel model from IEEE 802.15 SG3a, which is based on an extensive set of short-range indoor channel measurements. Two kinds of pulse waveforms are taken in account here, namely, Gaussian mono-pulse and newly designed Prolate Spheroidal Wave Functions (PSWF) pulses corresponding to FCC Spectrum Mask. The Pre-Rake scheme is shown to contribute to the low-power, cost-efficient UWB system designing as well as Rake combining gain. Instead of building a Rake receiver at the receiving side (e.g. portable unit), the transmitter (e.g. access point) can pre-combine the UWB signal before transmission in the forward link by estimating the channel impulse response from the reverse link. While the Pre-Raked signal is convolved with the estimated channel impulse response, the function of Rake combination at the receiver is automatically performed. Meanwhile, in order to defeat inter-pulse-interferences (IPI) caused by severe multipath fading conditions, adaptive guard-time scheme for consecutive pulses is proposed as well. Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out to compare the Pre-Rake with Rake results and show that Pre-Rake scheme is as good as Rake combining for both types of pulse waveforms. Then the mobile or portable unit with a conventional receiver can still achieve the diversity gain of Rake combination. Moreover, the effects of placing guard-time between pulses are also verified.

Scattering of the two dimensional electromagnetic waves is studied by the infinite sequences of zeros arising on the complex plane, which just correspond to the null points of the far field pattern given as a function of the azimuthal angle θ. The convergent sequences of zeros around the point of infinity are evaluated when the scattering objects are assumed to be N-polygonal cylinders. Every edge condition can be satisfied if the locations of zeros are determined appropriately. The parameters, which allow us to calculate the exact positions of zeros, are given by the asymptotic analysis. It is also shown that there are N-directions of convergence, which tend to infinity. An illustrative example is presented.

Integrated implementation of RF front-end components has been shown to posses many benefits. Furthermore, it presents a new way of approaching RF design. This paper will discuss the recent developments by the author's group in the field of RF front-end technology. This will include stand-alone RF front-end components such as a self-heterodyne mixer as well as more functional front-end circuitry such as digital beamformer arrays, retrodirective arrays and an array error calibration scheme.

Intensity-noise characteristics of stable multi-mode Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers are analyzed experimentally and theoretically. Mode-partition noise caused by optical filtering and propagation through optical fibers is investigated by evaluating the relative intensity noise and signal-to-noise ratio. The experimental results indicate that the simplified two-mode analysis provides a good approximation. Suppression of the mode-partition noise by nonlinear gain is experimentally confirmed.

We attempt to achieve corporative behavior of autonomous decentralized agents constructed via Q-Learning, which is a type of reinforcement learning. As such, in the present paper, we examine the piano mover's problem including a find-path problem. We propose a multi-agent architecture that has an external agent and internal agents. Internal agents are homogenous and can communicate with each other. The movement of the external agent depends on the composition of the actions of the internal agents. By learning how to move through the internal agents, avoidance of obstacles by the object is expected. We simulate the proposed method in a two-dimensional continuous world. Results obtained in the present investigation reveal the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The paper reviews methods for the measurement and analysis of high precision surfaces. A number of measurement techniques are discussed with the emphasis on the application of con-focal methods. The various techniques are compared in terms of measurement times, data density, and the ability to detect near vertical surfaces, and steps. The two sensing methods discussed are the auto-focus laser method and the white light methods. Particular applications considered are in the measurement of eroded electrical contact surfaces, spherical and near spherical surfaces, and MEMS. The particular emphasis here is on the metrology of such surfaces and devices and methods for the assessment of complex micro-machined surfaces. The paper points to a number of directions for improved metrology and discusses these in the context of the application given.

The DAPDNA®-2 is the world's first general purpose dynamically reconfigurable processor for commercial usage. It is a dual-core processor consisting of a custom RISC core called the Digital Application Processor (DAP), and a two dimensional array of dynamically reconfigurable processing elements referred to as the Distributed Network Architecture (DNA). The DAP has a 32 bit instruction set architecture with an 8 KB instruction cache and 8 KB data cache that can be accessed in one clock cycle. It has an interrupt control function to detect data processing completion in the DNA-Matrix. The DNA-Matrix has different types of data processing elements such as ALU, delay, and memory elements to process fully parallel computations. The DNA-Matrix includes 32 independent 16 KB high speed SRAM elements (in total 512 KB). The DNA-Matrix, even with its parallel computational capability, can be synchronized and co-work at the same clock frequency as the DAP. The processor operates at a 166 MHz working frequency and fabricated with a 0.11 µm CMOS process. The DAPDNA-2 device can be connected directly with up to 16 units with linear scalability in processing performance, provided the bandwidth requirement is within the maximum communication speed between DNAs, which is 32 Gbps. The DAPDNA-2 performs at a level that is two orders of magnitude higher than conventional high performance processors.

A simple millimeter-wave quasi-maximal-ratio-combin-ing antenna diversity system based on the millimeter-wave self-heterodyne transmission technique is described. The millimeter-wave self-heterodyne transmission technique is useful for developing millimeter-wave systems with enhanced characteristics in regard to system miniaturization, development and fabrication cost, and the frequency stability of the signal transmission. We also show that applying this technique with an antenna diversity receiver configuration can easily solve a problem peculiar to millimeter-wave systems--the fact that the transmission link always requires a line-of-sight path--without requiring hardware designed with millimeter-scale precision. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the operating principle of a combining antenna diversity system based on the millimeter-wave self-heterodyne transmission technique. We further prove that we can obtain a diversity gain in accordance with that of a maximal-ratio combining diversity system without resorting to any complicated control of the received signal envelope and phase. Our experiments using the simplest two-branch diversity structure have validated the operating principle derived in our theoretical analysis. Our results show that a received CNR improvement of 3 dB is obtained as a diversity gain. We also demonstrate that circuit precision corresponding to the wavelength of the intermediate frequency, rather than to the millimeter wavelength, is sufficient to obtain the diversity effect when we control the signal phase or delay in combining the received signals.

The three major failures of electrical contacts for automotive relay applications are: contact welding (or contact sticking), high contact resistance and severe contact erosion due to switching arcing. With the demand of high power and multiple functions of automotive vehicles, the switching current has be dramatically increased, it results in higher failing rate, in particular for contact welding. On the other hand, the miniaturization of electromechanical relays has lead to the reduction of mechanical spring force. This not only results in the earlier contact welding but also makes the relay more susceptible to the contact resistance and arc erosion failures. This paper is a review of most recent studies on these three failure aspects. It describes the progress in the understanding of contact welding caused by short arcing and high contact resistance due to contamination of particles and films in relay manufacturing process and also it review the material transfer due to switching arcing. At the end, the brief considerations of electromechanical relays used in 42 volts have also been given.

A new scheme for evaluation of shapes of pips and craters formed by arc discharges on electrical contact surfaces is proposed. Measuring a height of a pip or a depth of a crater as well as an average diameter thereof with a scanning laser microscope and then putting a plot having the measured values as its vertical and horizontal coordinates enable us to numerically and briefly evaluate shapes of those pips and craters on arc-damaged contact surfaces. Some exemplary results obtained by this evaluation scheme are presented here.

Recently with the advent of the IT and the wide spread use of the Internet, new user oriented production and logistic systems, such as the Supply Chain Management System, have been required in order to cope with the drastic and continuous changes on the markets and users' preferences. Therefore, heterogeneous database systems need to be integrated in a common environment which can cope with the heterogeneous requirements of each company under an ever-evolving changing environment. That is assurance. Autonomous Decentralized Database System (ADDS) is proposed as a system architecture in order to realize assurance in distributed database systems. In this system architecture, a loosely-consistency management technology is proposed in order to maintain the consistency of the system, each database can update autonomously, and confer the real time property. A background coordination technology, performed by an autonomous mobile agent, is devised to adapt the system to evolving situations. The system can achieve real time by allocating the information in advance among the sites that has different time constraints for updating. Moreover, an assurance information allocation technology is proposed when considering that a failure in the background coordination mechanism may lead to loss of data and unavailability of the system. This mechanism, in which the mobile agent autonomously regulate its own capacity for allocating the information, is proposed based on the real-time property and system's availability considerations. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture and technologies are evaluated by simulation.

This paper proposes an efficient query evaluation scheme for a mediator system intended to integrate heterogeneous computing environment in terms of operating systems, database management systems, and other software. Most of mediator systems transform a global query into a set of sub-queries based on their target remote servers. Each sub-query is evaluated by the query modification method to evaluate a global query. However, it is possible to reduce the evaluation cost of a global query when the results of frequently requested sub-queries are materialized in a mediator. In a mediator, its integrating schema can be incrementally modified and the evaluation frequency of a global query can also be continuously varied. In order to select the optimized set of materialized sub-queries with respect to their current evaluation frequencies, the proposed method applies a decay factor for modeling the recent access behavior of each sub-query. In other words, the latest access of a sub-query gets the highest attention in the selection process of materialized sub-queries. As a result, it is possible to adjust the optimized set of materialized sub-queries adaptively according to the recent changes in the evaluation frequencies of sub-queries. Since finding the optimum solution of this problem is NP-hard, it takes too long to be used in practice when the number of sub-queries is large. Consequently, given the size of mediator storage, the rank-based selection algorithm proposed in this paper finds the set of materialized sub-queries which minimizes the total evaluation cost of global queries in linear search complexity.