The magnetic field resolution of the tunnel magneto-resistive (TMR) sensors has been improving and it reaches below 1.0 pT/Hz0.5 at low frequency. The real-time measurement of the magnetocardiography (MCG) and the measurement of the magnetoencephalography (MEG) have been demonstrated by developed TMR sensors. Although the MCG and MEG have been applied to diagnosis of diseases, the conventional MCG/MEG system using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) cannot measure the signal by touching the body, the body must be fixed, and maintenance costs are huge. The MCG/MEG system with TMR sensors operating at room temperature have the potential to solve these problems. In addition, it has the great advantage that it does not require a special magnetic shielded room. Further developments are expected to progress to maximize these unique features of TMR sensors.

In recent years, measuring biomagnetic fields in the Earth’s field by differential measurements of scalar-mode OPMs have been actively attempted. In this study, the sensitivity of the scalar-mode OPMs under the geomagnetic environment in the laboratory was studied by numerical simulation. Although the noise level of the scalar-mode OPM in the laboratory environment was calculated to be 104 pT/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, the noise levels using the first-order and the second-order differential configurations were found to be 529 fT/cm/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and 17.2 fT/cm2/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, respectively. This result indicated that scalar-mode OPMs can measure very weak magnetic fields such as MEG without high-performance magnetic shield roomns. We also studied the operating conditions by varying repetition frequency and temperature. We found that scalar-mode OPMs have an upper limit of repetition frequency and temperature, and that the repetition frequency should be set below 4 kHz and the temperature should be set below 120°C.

A 0.13mJ/prediction with 68.6% accuracy wired-logic deep neural network (DNN) processor is developed in a single 16-nm field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip. Compared with conventional von-Neumann architecture DNN processors, the energy efficiency is greatly improved by eliminating DRAM/BRAM access. A technical challenge for conventional wired-logic processors is the large amount of hardware resources required for implementing large-scale neural networks. To implement a large-scale convolutional neural network (CNN) into a single FPGA chip, two technologies are introduced: (1) a sparse neural network known as a non-linear neural network (NNN), and (2) a newly developed raster-scan wired-logic architecture. Furthermore, a novel high-level synthesis (HLS) technique for wired-logic processor is proposed. The proposed HLS technique enables the automatic generation of two key components: (1) Verilog-hardware description language (HDL) code for a raster-scan-based wired-logic processor and (2) test bench code for conducting equivalence checking. The automated process significantly mitigates the time and effort required for implementation and debugging. Compared with the state-of-the-art FPGA-based processor, 238 times better energy efficiency is achieved with only a slight decrease in accuracy on the CIFAR-100 task. In addition, 7 times better energy efficiency is achieved compared with the state-of-the-art network-optimized application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

Despite the appealing advantages of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) aided mmWave communications, there remain practical issues that need to be addressed before the large-scale deployment of RISs in future wireless networks. In this study, we jointly consider the non-neglectable practical issues in a multi-RIS-aided mmWave system, which can significantly affect the secrecy performance, including the high computational complexity, imperfect channel state information (CSI), and finite resolution of phase shifters. To solve this non-convex challenging stochastic optimization problem, we propose a robust and low-complexity algorithm to maximize the achievable secrete rate. Specially, by combining the benefits of fractional programming and the stochastic successive convex approximation techniques, we transform the joint optimization problem into some convex ones and solve them sub-optimally. The theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms could mitigate the joint negative effects of practical issues and yielded a tradeoff between secure performance and complexity/overhead outperforming non-robust benchmarks, which increases the robustness and flexibility of multiple RIS deployments in future wireless networks.

In this study, we introduce a reservoir-based one-dimensional (1D) convolutional neural network that processes time-series data at a low computational cost, and investigate its performance and training time. Experimental results show that the proposed network consumes lower training computational costs and that it outperforms the conventional reservoir computing in a sound-classification task.

Cooperative Communication is one of the most effective techniques to improve the desired signal quality of the typical user. This paper studies an indoor cellular network system that deploys the Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) at the position of BSs to enable the cooperative features. To evaluate the network performance, the coverage probability expression of the typical user in the indoor wireless environment with presence of walls and effects of Rayleigh fading is derived. The analytical results shows that the RIS-assisted system outperforms the regular one in terms of coverage probability.

Direct-current biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) converts bipolar OFDM signals into unipolar non-negative signals by introducing a high DC bias, which satisfies the requirement that the signal transmitted by intensity modulated/direct detection (IM/DD) must be positive. However, the high DC bias results in low power efficiency of DCO-OFDM. An adaptively biased optical OFDM was proposed, which could be designed with different biases according to the signal amplitude to improve power efficiency in this letter. The adaptive bias does not need to be taken off deliberately at the receiver, and the interference caused by the adaptive bias will only be placed on the reserved subcarriers, which will not affect the effective information. Moreover, the proposed OFDM uses Hartley transform instead of Fourier transform used in conventional optical OFDM, which makes this OFDM have low computational complexity and high spectral efficiency. The simulation results show that the normalized optical bit energy to noise power ratio (Eb(opt)/N0) required by the proposed OFDM at the bit error rate (BER) of 10-3 is, on average, 7.5 dB and 3.4 dB lower than that of DCO-OFDM and superimposed asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM), respectively.

The automatic defect detection for fabric images is an essential mission in textile industry. However, there are some inherent difficulties in the detection of fabric images, such as complexity of the background and the highly uneven scales of defects. Moreover, the trade-off between accuracy and speed should be considered in real applications. To address these problems, we propose a novel model based on YOLOv4 to detect defects in fabric images, called Feature Augmentation YOLO (FA-YOLO). In terms of network structure, FA-YOLO adds an additional detection head to improve the detection ability of small defects and builds a powerful Neck structure to enhance feature fusion. First, to reduce information loss during feature fusion, we perform the residual feature augmentation (RFA) on the features after dimensionality reduction by using 1×1 convolution. Afterward, the attention module (SimAM) is embedded into the locations with rich features to improve the adaptation ability to complex backgrounds. Adaptive spatial feature fusion (ASFF) is also applied to output of the Neck to filter inconsistencies across layers. Finally, the cross-stage partial (CSP) structure is introduced for optimization. Experimental results based on three real industrial datasets, including Tianchi fabric dataset (72.5% mAP), ZJU-Leaper fabric dataset (0.714 of average F1-score) and NEU-DET steel dataset (77.2% mAP), demonstrate the proposed FA-YOLO achieves competitive results compared to other state-of-the-art (SoTA) methods.

This paper discusses the resilience of networks based on graph theory and stochastic process. The electric power network where edges may fail simultaneously and the performance of the network is measured by the ratio of connected nodes is supposed for the target network. For the restoration, under the constraint that the resources are limited, the failed edges are repaired one by one, and the order of the repair for several failed edges is determined with the priority to the edge that the amount of increasing system performance is the largest after the completion of repair. Two types of resilience are discussed, one is resilience in the recovery stage according to the conventional definition of resilience and the other is steady state operational resilience considering the long-term operation in which the network state changes stochastically. The second represents a comprehensive capacity of resilience for a system and is analytically derived by Markov analysis. We assume that the large-scale disruption occurs due to the simultaneous failure of edges caused by the common cause failures in the analysis. Marshall-Olkin type shock model and α factor method are incorporated to model the common cause failures. Then two resilience measures, “operational resilience” and “operational resilience in recovery stage” are proposed. We also propose approximation methods to obtain these two operational resilience measures for complex networks.

The segmentation performance of fresh tea sprouts is inadequate due to the uncontrollable posture. A novel method for Fresh Tea Sprouts Segmentation based on Capsule Network (FTS-SegCaps) is proposed in this paper. The spatial relationship between local parts and whole tea sprout is retained and effectively utilized by a deep encoder-decoder capsule network, which can reduce the effect of tea sprouts with uncontrollable posture. Meanwhile, a patch-based local dynamic routing algorithm is also proposed to solve the parameter explosion problem. The experimental results indicate that the segmented tea sprouts via FTS-SegCaps are almost coincident with the ground truth, and also show that the proposed method has a better performance than the state-of-the-art methods.

The concepts of programmable switches and software-defined networking (SDN) give developers flexible and deep control over the behavior of switches. We expect these concepts to dramatically improve the functionality of switches. In this paper, we focus on the concept of Deeply Programmable Networks (DPN), where data planes are programmable, and application switches based on DPN. We then propose a method to improve the performance of a key-value store (KVS) through an application switch. First, we explain the DPN and application switches. The DPN is a network that makes not only control planes but also data planes programmable. An application switch is a switch that implements some functions of network applications, such as database management system (DBMS). Second, we propose a method to improve the performance of Cassandra, one of the most popular key-value based DBMS, by implementing a caching function in a switch in a dedicated network such as a data center. The proposed method is expected to be effective even though it is a simple and traditional way because it is in the data path and the center of the network application. Third, we implement a switch with the caching function, which monitors the accessed data described in packets (Ethernet frames) and dynamically replaces the cached data in the switch, and then show that the proposed caching switch can significantly improve the KVS transaction performance with this implementation. In the case of our evaluation, our method improved the KVS transaction throughput by up to 47%.

In an open-bid auction, a bidder can know the budgets of other bidders. Thus, a sealed-bid auction that hides bidding prices is desirable. However, in previous sealed-bid auction protocols, it has been difficult to provide a “fund binding” property, which would guarantee that a bidder has funds more than or equal to the bidding price and that the funds are forcibly withdrawn when the bidder wins. Thus, such protocols are vulnerable to a false bidding. As a solution, many protocols employ a simple deposit method in which each bidder sends a deposit to a smart contract, which is greater than or equal to the bidding price, before the bidding phase. However, this deposit reveals the maximum bidding price, and it is preferable to hide this information. In this paper, we propose a sealed-bid auction protocol that provides a fund binding property. Our protocol not only hides the bidding price and a maximum bidding price, but also provides a fund binding property, simultaneously. For hiding the maximum bidding price, we pay attention to the fact that usual Ethereum transactions and transactions for sending funds to a one-time address have the same transaction structure, and it seems that they are indistinguishable. We discuss how much bidding transactions are hidden. We also employ DECO (Zhang et al., CCS 2020) that proves the validity of the data to a verifier in which the data are taken from a source without showing the data itself. Finally, we give our implementation which shows transaction fees required and compare it to a sealed-bid auction protocol employing the simple deposit method.

Previously a method was reported to determine the mathematical representation of the microwave oscillator admittance by using numerical calculation. When analyzing the load characteristics and synchronization phenomena by using this formula, the analysis results meet with the experimental results. This paper describes a method to determine the mathematical representation manually.

An optical mode multiplexer was newly designed and fabricated using LiNbO3 waveguides. The multiplexer consists of an asymmetric directional coupler capable of achieving the phase-matching condition by the voltage adjustment. The mode conversion efficiency between TM0 and TM1 modes was quantitatively measured to be 0.86 at maximum.

An efficient optical power splitter constructed by a metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide with a resonator structure has been analyzed. The method of solution is the finite difference time domain (FD-TD) method with the piecewise linear recursive convolution (PLRC) method. The resonator structure consists of input/output waveguides and a narrow waveguide with a T-junction. The power splitter with the resonator structure is expressed by an equivalent transmission-line circuit. We can find that the transmittance and reflectance calculated by the FD-TD method and the equivalent circuit are matched when the difference in width between the input/output waveguides and the narrow waveguide is small. It is also shown that the transmission wavelength can be adjusted by changing the narrow waveguide lengths that satisfy the impedance matching condition in the equivalent circuit.

To reduce the common mode voltage (CMV), suppress the CMV spikes, and improve the steady-state performance, a simplified reactive torque model predictive control (RT-MPC) for induction motors (IMs) is proposed. The proposed prediction model can effectively reduce the complexity of the control algorithm with the direct torque control (DTC) based voltage vector (VV) preselection approach. In addition, the proposed CMV suppression strategy can restrict the CMV within ±Vdc/6, and does not require the exclusion of non-adjacent non-opposite VVs, thus resulting in the system showing good steady-state performance. The effectiveness of the proposed design has been tested and verified by the practical experiment. The proposed algorithm can reduce the execution time by an average of 26.33% compared to the major competitors.

In this study, the edge diffraction of a TM-polarized electromagnetic plane wave by two-dimensional dielectric wedges has been analyzed. An asymptotic solution for the radiation field has been derived from equivalent electric and magnetic currents which can be determined by the geometrical optics (GO) rays. This method may be regarded as an extended version of physical optics (PO). The diffracted field has been represented in terms of cotangent functions whose singularity behaviors are closely related to GO shadow boundaries. Numerical calculations are performed to compare the results with those by other reference solutions, such as the hidden rays of diffraction (HRD) and a numerical finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. Comparisons of the diffraction effect among these results have been made to propose additional lateral waves in the denser media.

Cloud gaming systems allow users to play games that require high-performance computational capability on their mobile devices at any location. However, playing games through cloud gaming systems increases the Round-Trip Time (RTT) due to increased network delay. To simulate a local gaming experience for cloud users, we must minimize RTTs, which include network delays. The speculative video transmission pre-generates and encodes video frames corresponding to all possible user inputs and sends them to the user before the user’s input. The speculative video transmission mitigates the network, whereas a simple solution significantly increases the video traffic. This paper proposes tile-wise delta detection for traffic reduction of speculative video transmission. More specifically, the proposed method determines a reference video frame from the generated video frames and divides the reference video frame into multiple tiles. We calculate the similarity between each tile of the reference video frame and other video frames based on a hash function. Based on calculated similarity, we determine redundant tiles and do not transmit them to reduce traffic volume in minimal processing time without implementing a high compression ratio video compression technique. Evaluations using commercial games showed that the proposed method reduced 40-50% in traffic volume when the SSIM index was around 0.98 in certain genres, compared with the speculative video transmission method. Furthermore, to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed method, we investigated the effectiveness of network delay reduction with existing computational capability and the requirements in the future. As a result, we found that the proposed scheme may mitigate network delay by one to two frames, even with existing computational capability under limited conditions.

Information-centric networking (ICN) provides low-latency content delivery with in-network caching, but delivery latency depends on cache distance from consumers. To reduce delivery latency, a scheme to cluster domains and retain the main popular content in each cluster with a cache distribution range has been proposed, which enables consumers to retrieve content from neighboring clusters/caches. However, when the distribution of content popularity changes, all content caches may not be distributed adequately in a cluster, so consumers cannot retrieve them from nearby caches. We therefore propose a dynamic clustering scheme to adjust the cache distribution range in accordance with the change in content popularity and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme through simulation.

The very high path loss caused by molecular absorption becomes the biggest problem in Terahertz (THz) wireless communications. Recently, the multi-band ultra-massive multi-input multi-output (UM-MIMO) system has been proposed to overcome the distance problem. In UM-MIMO systems, the impact of mutual coupling among antennas on the system performance is unable to be ignored because of the dense array. In this letter, a channel model of UM-MIMO communication system is developed which considers coupling effect. The effect of mutual coupling in the subarray on the functionality of the system has been investigated through simulation studies, and reliable results have been derived.