The prosperous Internet communication technologies have led to e-commerce in mobile computing and made Web of Things become popular. Electronic payment is the most important part of e-commerce, so many electronic payment schemes have been proposed. However, most of proposed schemes cannot give change. Based on proxy blind signatures, an e-cash payment system is proposed in this paper to solve this problem. This system can not only provide change divisibility through Web of Things, but also provide anonymity, verifiability, unforgeability and double-spending owner track.

The issue of copying values or references has historically been studied for managing memory objects, especially in distributed systems. In this paper, we explore a new topic on copying values v.s. references, for memory page compaction on virtualized systems. Memory page compaction moves target physical pages to a contiguous memory region at the operating system kernel level to create huge pages. Memory virtualization provides an opportunity to perform memory page compaction by copying the references of the physical pages. That is, instead of copying pages' values, we can move guest physical pages by changing the mappings of guest-physical to machine-physical pages. The goal of this paper is a quantitative comparison between value- and reference-based memory page compaction. To do so, we developed a software mechanism that achieves memory page compaction by appropriately updating the references of guest-physical pages. We prototyped the mechanism on Linux 4.19.29 and the experimental results show that the prototype's page compaction is up to 78% faster and achieves up to 17% higher performance on the memory-intensive real-world applications as compared to the default value-copy compaction scheme.

This letter provides a direct construction of binary even-length Z-complementary pairs. To date, the maximum zero correlation zone ratio of Type-I Z-complementary pairs has reached 6/7, but no direct construction of Z-complementary pairs can achieve the zero correlation zone ratio of 6/7. In this letter, based on Boolean function, we give a direct construction of binary even-length Z-complementary pairs with zero correlation zone ratio 6/7. The length of constructed Z-complementary pairs is 2m+3 + 2m + 2+2m+1 and the width of zero correlation zone is 2m+3 + 2m+2.

This paper considers tracking of a non-cooperative emitter based on a single sensor. To this end, the direct target motion analysis (DTMA) approach, where the target state is straightforwardly achieved from the received signal, is exploited. In order to achieve observability, the sensor has to perform a maneuver relative to the emitter. By suitably building an approximated likelihood function, the unscented Kalman filter (UKF), which is able to work under high nonlinearity of the measurement model, is adopted to recursively estimate the target state. Besides, the posterior Cramér-Rao bound (PCRB) of DTMA, which can be used as performance benchmark, is also achieved. The effectiveness of proposed method is verified via simulation experiments.

A searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) scheme is a method that searches encrypted data without decrypting it. In this paper, we address the substring search problem such that for a set D of documents and a pattern p, we find all occurrences of p in D. Here, a document and a pattern are defined as a string. A directed acyclic word graph (DAWG), which is a deterministic finite automaton, is known for solving a substring search problem on a plaintext. We improve a DAWG so that all transitions of a DAWG have distinct symbols. Besides, we present a space-efficient and secure substring SSE scheme using an improved DAWG. The proposed substring SSE scheme consists of an index with a simple structure, and the size is O(n) for the total size n of documents.

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), wireless power transfer (WPT) has been studied as an energy-harvesting technique for prolonging their network lifetime. The WPT can supply power resources to sensor nodes (SNs) wirelessly, however, the reception (harvesting) power at SNs depends on their distance from a WPT equipment (WPTE), leading to the location-dependent non-uniformity in the reception power among SNs. For the fixed-located WPTE, SNs distant from the WPTE suffer from insufficient reception power. To handle this problem, this paper proposes a novel network structure introducing multiple hybrid access points (HAPs), which equip two functions of conventional cluster head function, including data collection and relay transmission, and WPT function. Then, these HAPs take terms providing both functions. By periodically rotating the HAP providing the WPT function, the location of the WPTE can be changed, which reduces the non-uniformity in the SN reception power. Also, this paper proposes a clustering scheme based on the residual power at SNs to reduce their power depletion under the proposed network structure. The evaluation results through computer simulation show that the proposed system reduces the non-uniformity in the SN reception power and the power depletion at the SNs and then improves the data collection rate, compared with the conventional systems.

This brief paper proposes a dual-wideband filter consisting of a parallel-coupled stepped-impedance-resonator (SIR) and open-circuited stubs. Firstly, a notched UWB (ultra-wideband) bandpass filter (BPF) with steep skirt characteristics is theoretically designed. Then a bandstop filter(BSF) is implemented using an SIR and open stubs. By replacing the transmission line part of UWB filter with the BSF, a novel dual-wideband filter (DWBPF) is realized. As a design example, a DWBPF with two passbands, i.e. 3.4-4.8GHz and 7.25-10.25GHz, is designed to validate the design procedure. The designed filter exhibits steep skirt characteristics.

In this letter, a path dynamics assessment asynchronous advantage actor-critic scheduling algorithm (PDAA3C) is proposed to solve the MPTCP scheduling problem by using deep reinforcement learning Actor-Critic framework. The algorithm picks out the optimal transmitting path faster by multi-core asynchronous updating and also guarantee the network fairness. Compared with the existing algorithms, the proposed algorithm achieves 8.6% throughput gain over RLDS algorithm, and approaches the theoretic upper bound in the NS3 simulation.

Wireless sensor networks provide long-term monitoring of the environment, but sensors are powered by small batteries. Using a mobile charger (MC) to replenish energy of sensors is one promising solution to prolong their usage time. Many approaches have been developed to find the MC's moving path, and they assume that sensors have a fixed sensing rate (SR) and prefer to fully charge sensors. In practice, sensors can adaptively adjust their SRs to meet application demands or save energy. Besides, due to the fully charging policy, some sensors with low energy may take long to wait for the MC's service. Thus, the paper formulates a path and charge (P&C) problem, which asks how to dispatch the MC to visit sensors with adaptive SRs and decide their charging time, such that both survivability and throughput of sensors can be maximized. Then, we propose an efficient P&C scheduling (EPCS) algorithm, which builds the shortest path to visit each sensor. To make the MC fast move to charge the sensors near death, some sensors with enough energy are excluded from the path. Moreover, EPCS adopts a floating charging mechanism based on the ratio of workable sensors and their energy depletion. Simulation results verify that EPCS can significantly improve the survivability and throughput of sensors.

This paper shows structural optimal design of optical waveguide components utilizing an efficient 3D frequency-domain and 2D time-domain beam propagation method (BPM) with an alternating direction implicit (ADI) scheme. Usual optimal design procedure is based on iteration of numerical simulation, and total computational cost of the optimal design mainly depends on the efficiency of numerical analysis method. Since the system matrices are tridiagonal in the ADI-based BPM, efficient analysis and optimal design are available. Shape and topology optimal design shown in this paper is based on optimization of density distribution and sensitivity analysis to the density parameters. Computational methods of the sensitivity are shown in the case of using the 3D semi-vectorial and 2D time-domain BPM based on ADI scheme. The validity of this design approach is shown by design of optical waveguide components: mode converters, and a polarization beam splitter.

Towards realization of a noise-induced synchronization in a natural environment, an experimental study is carried out using the Van der Pol oscillator circuit. We focus on acoustic sounds as a potential source of noise that may exist in nature. To mimic such a natural environment, white noise sounds were generated from a loud speaker and recorded into microphone signals. These signals were then injected into the oscillator circuits. We show that the oscillator circuits spontaneously give rise to synchronized dynamics when the microphone signals are highly correlated with each other. As the correlation among the input microphone signals is decreased, the level of synchrony is lowered monotonously, implying that the input correlation is the key determinant for the noise-induced synchronization. Our study provides an experimental basis for synchronizing clocks in distributed sensor networks as well as other engineering devices in natural environment.

The Euclidean projection operation is the most complex and time-consuming of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) decoding algorithms, resulting in a large number of resources when deployed on hardware platforms. We propose a simplified line segment projection algorithm (SLSA) and present the hardware design and the quantization scheme of the SLSA. In simulation results, the proposed SLSA module has a better performance than the original algorithm with the same fixed bitwidths due to the centrosymmetric structure of SLSA. Furthermore, the proposed SLSA module with a simpler structure without hypercube projection can reduce time consuming by up to 72.2% and reduce hardware resource usage by more than 87% compared to other Euclidean projection modules in the experiments.

Service chaining is attracting attention as a promising technology for providing a variety of network services by applying virtual network functions (VNFs) that can be instantiated on commercial off-the-shelf servers. The data transmission for each service chain has to satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements in terms of the loss probability and transmission delay, and hence the amount of resources for each VNF is expected to be sufficient for satisfying the QoS. However, the increase in the amount of VNF resources results in a high cost for improving the QoS. To reduce the cost of utilizing a VNF, sharing VNF instances through multiple service chains is an effective approach. However, the number of packets arriving at the VNF instance is increased, resulting in a degradation of the QoS. It is therefore important to select VNF instances shared by multiple service chains and to determine the amount of resources for the selected VNFs. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective service chain construction with a VNF sharing model. In the proposed method, each VNF is modeled as an M/M/1/K queueing model to evaluate the relationship between the amount of resources and the loss probability. The proposed method determines the VNF sharing, the VNF placement, the amount of resources for each VNF, and the transmission route of each service chain. For the optimization problem, these are applied according to our proposed heuristic algorithm. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method through a simulation. From the numerical examples, we show the effectiveness of the proposed method under certain network topologies.

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) are an emerging and promising option for medium voltage direct current (MVDC) of all- electric ships. In order to improve the stability of the MVDC transmission system for ships, this paper presents a new control inputs-based Lyapunov strategy based on feedback linearization. Firstly, a set of dynamics equations is proposed based on separating the dynamics of AC-part currents and MMCs circulating currents. The new control inputs can be obtained by the use of feedback linearization theory applied to the dynamic equations. To complete the dynamic parts of the new control inputs from the viewpoint of MVDC system stability, the Lyapunov theory is designed some compensators to demonstrate the effects of the new control inputs on the MMCs state variable errors and its dynamic. In addition, the carrier phase shifted modulation strategy is used because of applying the few number of converter modules to the MVDC system for ships. Moreover, relying on the proposed control strategy, a simulation model is built in MATLAB/SIMULINK software, where simulation results are utilized to verify the validity of proposed control strategy in the MMC-based MVDC system for ships.

In this paper, the author performed an electromagnetic field simulation of a typical bonding wire structure that connects a chip and a package, and evaluated the signal transmission characteristics (S-parameters). In addition, the inductance per unit length was extracted by comparing with the equivalent circuit of the distributed constant line. It turns out that the distributed constant line model is not sufficient because there are frequencies where chip-package resonance occurs. Below the resonance frequency, the conventional low-frequency approximation model was effective, and it was found that the inductance was about 1nH/mm.

In this study, a contextual multi-armed bandit (CMAB)-based decentralized channel exploration framework disentangling a channel utility function (i.e., reward) with respect to contending neighboring access points (APs) is proposed. The proposed framework enables APs to evaluate observed rewards compositionally for contending APs, allowing both robustness against reward fluctuation due to neighboring APs' varying channels and assessment of even unexplored channels. To realize this framework, we propose contention-driven feature extraction (CDFE), which extracts the adjacency relation among APs under contention and forms the basis for expressing reward functions in disentangled form, that is, a linear combination of parameters associated with neighboring APs under contention). This allows the CMAB to be leveraged with a joint linear upper confidence bound (JLinUCB) exploration and to delve into the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Moreover, we address the problem of non-convergence — the channel exploration cycle — by proposing a penalized JLinUCB (P-JLinUCB) based on the key idea of introducing a discount parameter to the reward for exploiting a different channel before and after the learning round. Numerical evaluations confirm that the proposed method allows APs to assess the channel quality robustly against reward fluctuations by CDFE and achieves better convergence properties by P-JLinUCB.

In this paper, a high-efficiency high-power rectenna with a bridge diode and the diode on antenna (DoA) topology is discussed. First, the topologies of rectifiers and rectennas are discussed to indicate the direction for obtaining highly efficient rectification. Rectifiers with well-matched diode pairs, as double voltage and bridge rectifiers, can reactively terminate even order harmonics, and is suitable for highly efficient operation. A rectenna with the DoA topology is suitable for a direct connection between the highly functional antenna and the rectifier diodes to remove lossy circuit portions. Next, the formulas for the rectification efficiency of the bridge rectifier are demonstrated with the behavioral model. The indicated formulas clarify the fundamental limitation on the rectification efficiency, which is the design goal in case of the DoA topology. Finally, we demonstrate a 5.8 GHz band 1 W rectenna with the bridge diode and the DoA topology. The bridge rectifier that is directly connected to the inductive high-impedance antenna achieved a rectification efficiency of 92.8% at an input power of 1 W. This is close to the fundamental limitation due to the diode performance.

Privacy violations via spy cameras are becoming increasingly serious. With the recent advent of various smart home IoT devices, such as smart TVs and robot vacuum cleaners, spycam attacks that steal users' information are being carried out in more unpredictable ways. In this paper, we introduce a new spycam attack on a mobile WebVR environment. It is performed by a web attacker who maliciously accesses the back-facing cameras of victims' mobile devices while they are browsing the attacker's WebVR site. This has the power to allow the attacker to capture victims' surroundings even at the desired field of view through sophisticated content placement in VR scenes, resulting in serious privacy breaches for mobile VR users. In this letter, we introduce a new threat facing mobile VR and show that it practically works with major browsers in a stealthy manner.

The characteristics of antenna array, like sensor location, gain and phase response are rarely perfectly known in realistic situations. Location errors usually have a serious impact on the DOA (direction of arrival) estimation. In this paper, a novel array location calibration method of MUSIC (multiple signal classification) algorithm based on the virtual interpolated array is proposed. First, the paper introduces the antenna array positioning scheme. Then, the self-calibration algorithm of FIR-Winner filter based on virtual interpolation array is derived, and its application restriction are also analyzed. Finally, by simulating the different location errors of antenna array, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated.

Graphene has been expected as an alternative material for copper interconnects in which resistance increases and reliability deteriorates in nanoscale. While the principle advantages are verified by simulations and experiments, they have not been put into practical use due to the immaturity of the manufacturing process leading to mass production. On the other hand, recent steady progress in the fabrication process has increased the possibility of practical application. In this paper, I will review the recent advances and the latest prospects for conductor applications of graphene centered on interconnects. The possibility of further application utilizing the unique characteristics of graphene is discussed.