High speed multiplication of two n-bit numbers plays an important role in many digital signal processing applications. Traditional array and Wallace multipliers are the most widely used multipliers implemented in VLSI. The area and time (=latency) of these two multipliers depend on operand bit-size, n. For a particular bit-size, they occupy fixed positions in some graph which has area and time along the x and y-axes respectively. However, many applications require a multiplier which has an 'intermediate' area-time characteristics with the above two traditional multipliers occupying two extreme ends of above mentioned area-time curve. In this paper, we propose such an intermediate multiplier which trades off area for time. It has higher speed (i.e., less latendy) but more area than a traditional array multiplier. Whereas when compared with a traditional Wallace multiplier, it has lower speed and area. The attractive point of our multiplier is that, it resembles an array multiplier in terms of regularity in placement and inter-connection of unit computation cells. And its interesting feature is that, in contrast to a traditional array multiplier, it computes by introducing multiple computation wave fronts among its computation cells. In this paper, we investigate on the area-time complexity of our proposed multiplier and discuss on its characteristics while comparing with some contemporary multiplers in terms of latency, area and wiring complexity.

This paper presents a technique by which any linear CCD camera, be it one with lens distortions, or even one with misaligned lens and CCD, may be calibrated to obtain optimum performance characteristics. The camera-image formation model is described as a polynomial expression, which provides the line-of-sight flat-beam, including the target light-spot. The coefficients of the expression, which are referred to as camera parameters, can be estimated using the linear least-squares technique, in order to minimize the discrepancy between the reference points and the model-driven flat-beam. This technique requires, however, that a rough estimate of camera orientation, as well as a number of reference points, are provided. Experiments employing both computer simulations and actual CCD equipment certified that the model proposed can accurately describe the system, and that the parameter estimation is robust against noise.

Power transmission properties are investigated for a butt-joint which contains an air gap between an isotropic planar waveguide and an anisotropic one whose optical axis is lying in the plane defined by the propagation axis and the normal of the waveguide surface. New transmission coefficients are introduced for estimating the optical-power which is launched out into the gap from the incoming waveguide. Wave propagation through the gap is analyzed on the basis of the BPM concept. And the power transmitted across the interface between the gap and the outgoing waveguide is evaluated by means of the overlap integral of the field profiles. The effects of the air gap and the refractive index of filling liquid as well as axial displacement and angular misalignment are discussed on the basis of numerical results.

In this paper we present a new tracking scheme using two tracking modes which are based on the concept of Delay Lock Loop (DLL). Under the multipath fading channels, a conventional DLL has problems of jitter performance degradation, lock-off and delay offset. It is necessary to solve these problems, because mobile communications have increased drastically. We propose the combination of a coarse tracking mode and a fine tracking mode. The former mode is employed for reducing the possibility of losing lock, the latter mode is used for suppressing the jitter of delay error and the delay offset in the presence of multipath fading. The both modes utilize the power of delay paths shown in the auto-correlation function of the received signal at the DLL. Computer simulation results show that our proposed scheme is extremely useful comparing with a conventional scheme over the multipath fading channels.

Properties of a strongly-coupled nonlinear directional coupler (NLDC) with a lossy MQW coupling layer is analyzed using the Galerkin finite element method accompanied by a predictor-corrector algorithm. It is shown that the propagation attenuation along the NLDC is considerably smaller than that in the bulk MQW and tends to reduce with the input power. By the presence of losses, the powers guided in two waveguides do not become a maximum and a minimum at the same propagation length, unlike the lossless coupler. The losses make the nonlinear effect weak due to the decrease in guided power, and hence the coupling length decreases and the switching power increases. The extinction ratio of the switching becomes the largest value not in the cases of nonloss and high losses but in the case of moderately high losses, although the switching power is somewhat larger than that of the lossless case.

This paper investigates a multihopping scheme for MFSK (Multilevel Frequency Shift Keying) /FH-SSMA (Frequency Hopping-Spread Spectrum Multiple Access) system. Moreover, we propose and investigate a modified decoding scheme for the coded MFSK/FH-SSMA system. In this multi-hopped MFSK/FH-SSMA system, several hopping frequencies per chip are assigned and transmitted in parallel in order to improve its frequency diversity capability for a fading channel. We theoretically analyze the performance of the multihopped MFSK/FH-SSMA system in a Rayleigh fading channel. Moreover, in the coded MFSK/FH-SSMA system, we propose a modified scheme of the error and erasure decoding of an error-correcting code. The modified decoding scheme utilizes the information of rows having the largest number of entries in the decoded time-frequency matrix. Their BER (Bit Error Rate) performance is evaluated by theoretical analysis in order to show the improvement in user capacity.

This paper discusses the performance of asynchronous direct-sequence spread-spectrum multiple-access systems using binary or quaternary phase-shift keyed signals with the strict bandwidth-limitation by Nyquist filtering. The signal-to-noise plus interference ratio (SNIR) at the output from the correlation receiver is derived analytically taking the cross-correlation characteristics of spreading sequences into account, and also an approximated SNIR of a simple form is presented for the systems employing Gold sequences. Based on the analyzed result of SNIR, bit error rate performance and spectral efficiency are also estimated.

A time division duplex (TDD) direct sequence spread spectrum communication (DS-SS) system is proposed for operation in channels with Rayleigh fading characteristics. It is shown that using the TDD method is advantageous because the devices can be designed more simply, the method is more frequency efficient and as a result the systems will be less costly and less power consuming. It is also shown that an efficient power control method can be implemented for the TDD systems. In contrast to the traditional access techniques such as frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA) that are mainly frequency limited, the code division multiple access (CDMA) method which uses the DS-SS technique is interference limited. This means that an efficient power control method can increase the capacity of the DS-SS communications system. Computer simulations are used to evaluate the performance of the TDD power control method. Performance improvement of order of 12 to 17dB at bit error rate (BER) of 10-3 can be obtained for different methods of power control. The advantages of the TDD technique for the future DS-SS systems operating in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band are explained in an appendix to this paper.

This paper proposes a technique for estimating speech parameters in noisy environment. The technique uses a spectral model represented by generalized cepstrum and estimates the generalized cepstral coefficients from the speech which has been degraded by additive background noise. Parameter estimation is based on maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation procedure. An iterative approach which has been formulated for all-pole modeling is applied to the generalized cepstral modeling. Generalized cepstral coefficients are obtained by an iterative procedure that consists of the unbiased estimation of log spectrum and noncausal Wiener filtering. Since the generalized cepstral model includes the all-pole model as a special case, the technique can be viewed as a generalization of the all-pole modeling based on MAP estimation. The proposed technique is applied to the enhancement of speech and several experimental results are also shown.

This paper proposes M-ary/SSMA using co-channel interference cancellation techniques and presents comparisons with conventional DS/SSMA and other systems. First, ideal models of DS/SSMA and M-ary/SSMA using co-channel interference cancellation techniques are analyzed. In the cancellation circuit of DS/SSMA, when an error bit of other user's data arises, the received signal is degraded by "voltage addition" of the error sequence. While, in M-ary/SSMA, it is degraded by only "power addition" of the error code. Therefore, though the circuits are complicated, bit error rate of the proposed system can be improved considerably. Further, improvement of spectral efficiency in these systems are shown for several bit error rate and chip waveforms.

Assuming application to the mobile multiple-access communication, chip-asynchronous mobile-to-base performances of FH/FTH (Frequency-Time-Hopped)-MFTSK (Multi-level Frequency-Time Shift Keying) systems are investigated. Analytical expressions are obtained for the probabilities of false detection and missed detection of signal elements, assuming independent and asynchronous arrival of each of the signal elements with Rayleigh fading and optional AWG noise. Using the result or by simulation and employing dual-k coding, parameter optimization was carried out to obtain the maximum spectrum efficiency. The results of the noisy case analysis and simulation show high noise-robustness of the FTH systems. For a given value of information transmission rate the optimized FTH-MFTSK gives an effectively constant spectrum efficiency for a wide range of the number Kf of frequency chips. As a result, FTH-MFTSK well outperforms FTH-MFSK at any, especially small value of Kf. Relative to the overall optimum FH-MFSK, FTH-MFSK systems show typically around 20% of degradation in spectrum efficiency even with one-eighth of Kf. Compared with FH-MFSK, accordingly, FTH-MFTSK systems allow the designer to reduce, without any degradation in multiple-access performances, the number of frequency chips to the minimum value tolerated by the frequency selective fading characteristics and the time chip duration requirement imposed by the signal-to-noise ratio margin and the transmitter peak power rating.

In order to investigate the characteristics of the superconducting gap structures of BSCCO oxide superconductor, tunneling spectrum measurements were carried out with several junctions on the bulk single crystal surfaces. Point contact tunneling studies by means of the M/I/S and S/(I)/S junctions have shown the reproducible gap values, 2Δ (//c-axis) of 402 meV, at the cleaved crystal surfaces, and the ratio of 2Δ(//)/kBTc5.50.3 indicates the strong coupling superconductor of this material. Somewhat larger gap values, 2Δmax(c-axis)701 meV, have been also observed at the lateral surface, and these various gap values observed on each surface of the same crystal indicate the characteristic of the large gap anisotropy, Δ()/Δ(//)1.8, of this material.

The beam propagation method (BPM) is a powerful and manageable method for the analysis of wave propagation along weakly guiding optical waveguides. However, the effects of reflected waves are not considered in the original BPM. In this paper, we propose two simple modifications of the BPM to make it relevant in characterizing waveguide discontinuities at which a significant amount of reflection is expected to be observed. Validity of the present modifications is confirmed by the numerical results for the slab waveguide discontinuities and the butt-joints between different slab waveguides which either support the dominant mode or higher order modes.

This paper describes a neural network scheduler for scheduling independent and nonpreemptable tasks with deadlines and resource requirements in critical real-time applications, in which a schedule is to be obtained within a short time span. The proposed neural network scheduler is an integrate model of two Hopfield-Tank neural network medels. To cope with deadlines, a heuristic policy which is modified from the earliest deadling policy is embodied into the proposed model. Computer simulations show that the proposed neural network scheduler has a promising performance, with regard to the probability of generating a feasible schedule, compared with a scheduler that executes a conventional algorithm performing the earliest deadline policy.

We applied an artificial neural network approach identify possible tumors into benign and malignant ones in mammograms. A sequential-dependence technique, which calculates the degree of redundancy or patterning in a sequence, was employed to extract image features from mammographic images. The extracted vectors were then used as input to the network. Our preliminary results show that the neural network can correctly classify benign and malignant tumors at an average rate of 85%. This accuracy rate indicates that the neural network approach with the proposed feature-extraction technique has potential utility in the computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer.

The well known optimum approach to detect spread spectrum signals transmitted in bursts over frequency selective radio channels is matched filtering, which performs despreading, and subsequent Viterbi equalization (VE) to cope with intersymbol interference (ISI). With respect to complexity, VE is feasible only if data modulation schemes with a few symbol levels as e.g. 2PSK are used and if the delay spread of the channel is not too large. The paper gives a survey of suboptimum data detectors based on linear block estimation. Such data detectors are less expensive than VE especially in the case of multilevel data modulation schemes as 4PSK or 16QAM. Special emphasis is laid on data detectors based on Gauss-Markoff estimation because these detectors combine the advantages of unbiasedness and minimum variance of the estimate. In computer simulations, the Gauss-Markoff estimation algorithm is applied to spread spectrum burst transmission over radio channels specified by COST 207. It is shown that the SNR degradation which is a measure of the suboptimality of the detector does not exceed a few dB, and that even moderate spectrum spreading considerably reduces the detrimental effect of channel frequency selectivity.

We have fabricated bi-epitaxial grain boundary junctions in YBa2Cu3O7δ (YBCO) thin films by using SrTiO3 (STO) seed layers on MgO(100) substrate. YBCO film growing over the STO seed layer has a different in-plane orientation from YBCO film without the seed layer, so artificial grain boundaries were created at the edge of the seed layer. The fabricated junctions have high Tc (up to 80 K), and constant-voltage current steps are observed in response to 12.1 GHz microwave radiation. Moreover, some of the junctions show characteristic current-voltage curves comprising not only an usual Josephson-like characteristic but also a low critical current due to the flux creep. This suggests that the two characteristic parts are likely to be connected in series at the junction region.

A network-topology-independent static task allocation strategy has been designed and implemented for massively parallel computers. For mapping a task graph to a processor graph, this strategy evaluates several functions that represent some intuitively feasible properties or the graphs. They include the connectivity with the allocated nodes, distance from the median of a graph, connectivity with candidate nodes, and the number of candidate nodes within a distance. Several greedy strategies are defined to guide the mapping process, utilizing the indicated function values. An allocation system has been designed and implemented based on the allocation strategy. In experiments we have defined about 1000 nodes in task graphs with regular and irregular topologies, and the same order of processors with mesh, tree, and hypercube topologies. The results are summarized as follows. 1) The system can yield 4.0 times better total communication costs than an arbitrary allocation. 2) It is difficult to select a single strategy capable of providing the best solutions for a wide range of task-processor combinations. 3) Comparison with hypercube-topology-dependent research indicates that our topology-independent allocator produces better results than the dependent ones. 4) The order of computaion time of the allocator is experimentally proved to be O (n2) where n represents the number of tasks.

Indoor radio communications is an important component of the emerging personal communication systems service. It is also the basis for wireless local area networks. The indoor radio channel is characterized by fading multipaths as well as noise. Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), with its inherent resistance to multipath interference is an attractive technique for this environment. To allow multiple users within the limited bandwidths available, code division multiple access is needed. This paper analyzes the performance of a DSSS scheme employing random orthogonal codes over fading multipath indoor radio channels using actual channel measurements from five different locations. A RAKE receiver is used to study the effects of power control, code length and receiver structure. The average probability of error as a function of signal-to-noise ratio or as a function of the number of simultaneous transmitters is used as the performance criteria.

A new method of multipath diversity combination is proposed for Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS) mobile communications. In this method, the transmitted signal from the base staion is the sum of a number of the same spread signal, each one delayed and scaled according to the delay and the strength of the multipaths of the transmission channel. As a result the received signal at the mobile unit will already be a Rake combination of the multipath signals. This new method is called Pre-Rake diversity combination because the Rake diversity combination process is performed before transmission By this method the size and complexity of the mobile unit can be minimized, and the unit is made as simple as a non-combining single path receiver. A theoretical examination of the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and the Bit Error Rate (BER) results for the traditional Rake and the Pre-Rake combiners as well as computer simulations show that the performance of the Pre-Rake combiner is equivalent to that of the Rake combiner.