To improve the outage performance of a wireless body area network (BAN), exploitation of the diversity in the channel obtained by letting different nodes cooperate and relay signals for each other is an attractive solution. We carry out multi-link channel measurements and modeling for all realistic locations of the on-body sensor nodes and for three different motion scenarios in a typical office environment to develop equivalent channel model for simple and practical cooperative transmission schemes. Using the developed model the performance of the transmission schemes are evaluated and compared. Incremental decode and forward relaying is found to be consistently better than the other schemes with gains of up to 16dB at 10% outage probability, and an average gain of more than 5.9dB for any location of the coordinator node. The best location of the coordinator node based on the performance is also determined. Such insights will be very useful in designing BANs.

This letter investigates the consensus problem for an undirected network of high-order integrators with an arbitrarily large communication delay. A consensus protocol with the low gain parameter that can eliminate an effect of time delay on the consensus problem is proposed newly. Moreover, it is proved that under some sufficient conditions, it can solve the consensus problem in the presence of an arbitrarily large communication delay. A simulation example is presented to verify the validness of the proposed design.

Recently network bandwidth becomes a performance concern particularly for collective communication since bisection bandwidths of supercomputers become far less than their full bisection bandwidths. In this context we propose the use of a network coding technique to reduce the number of unicasts and the size of data transferred in latency-sensitive collective communications in supercomputers. Our proposed network coding scheme has a hierarchical multicasting structure with intra-group and inter-group unicasts. Quantitative analysis show that the aggregate path hop counts by our hierarchical network coding decrease as much as 94% when compared to conventional unicast-based multicasts. We validate these results by cycle-accurate network simulations. In 1,024-switch networks, the network reduces the execution time of collective communications as much as 70%. We also show that our hierarchical network coding is beneficial for any packet size.

Since the birth of astrophysics, astronomers have been using free-space optics to analyze light falling on Earth. In the future however, thanks to the advances in photonics and nanoscience/nanotechnology, much of the manipulation of light might be carried out using not optics but confined waveguides, or circuits, on a chip. This new generation of instruments will be not only extremely compact, but also powerful in performance because the integration enables a greater degree of multiplexing. The benefit is especially profound for space- or air-borne observatories, where size, weight, and mechanical reliability are of top priority. Recently, several groups around the world are trying to integrate ultra-wideband (UWB), low-resolution spectrometers for millimeter-submillimeter waves onto microchips, using superconducting microelectronics. The scope of this Paper is to provide a general introduction and a review of the state-of-the-art of this rapidly advancing field.

To immobilize cytochrome $c$ (cyt.,$c$) on ITO electrode with keeping its direct electron transfer (DET) activity, 10-carboxydecylphosphonic acid (10-CDPA) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) film was formed on ITO electrode. After 100 times washing process with exchanging phosphate buffer saline solution in the cell to fresh one, extit{in situ} slab optical waveguide (SOWG) absorption spectral measurement proved that about 80% of cyt.,$c$ immobilized on 10-CDPA modified ITO electrode was adsorbed on ITO electrode. Additionally SOWG spectral change of cyt.,$c$ between oxidized and reduced forms was observed with setting the ITO electrode potential at 0.3 and $-$0.3,V vs. Ag/AgCl, respectively showing DET reaction between cyt.,$c$ and ITO electrode occurred. About 30% of a monolayer coverage was estimated from the coulomb amount in the surface area of oxidation and reduction peaks on cyclic voltammetry (CV) data. CV peak current maintained 84% for ITO electrode modified with 10-CDPA SAM film after 60,min continuous scan with 0.1,V/sec from 0.3 and $-$0.3,V vs. Ag/AgCl.

We deposited thin films of thiophene/phenylene co-oligomers (TPCOs) onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) layers that were friction-transferred on substrates. These films were composed of aligned molecules in such a way that their polarizations of emissions and absorbances were larger along the drawing direction than those perpendicular to that direction. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) fabricated with these films indicated large mobilities, when the drawing direction of PTFE was parallel to the channel length direction. The friction-transfer technique forms the TPCO films that indicate the anisotropic optical and electronic properties.

We have investigated both the film thickness and surface potential of organic semiconductors deposited on two kinds of electrodes by the simultaneous observation with the dynamic force microscopy (DFM)/Kelvin-probe force microscope (KFM). To clarify the interfacial properties of organic semiconductor, we fabricated samples that imitated the organic light emitting diode (OLED) structure by depositing bis [$N,N '$-(1-naphthyl)-$N,N '$-phenyl] benzidine ($alpha$-NPD) and tris (8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq$_{3}$), respectively, on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) as anode and aluminum (Al) as cathode by the vacuum evaporation deposition using intersecting metal shadow masks. This deposition technique enables us to fabricate four different areas in the same substrate. The crossover area of the deposited thin films were measured by the DFM/KFM, the energy band diagrams were depicted and we considered that the charge behavior of the organic semiconductor depended on the material and the structure.

The novel ladder-shaped polydiacetylene with a terephthalamide linker in the molecular center, namely poly(TPh-bisDA) was synthesized by photo-polymerization. The characteristics of thin films of polymer were dependent upon a casting solvent, but no significant change of backbone conformation of the PDA was observed. Obtained film is expected to be applied to the semi-conducting materials for organic field effect transistors (OFET).

In recent years, wireless power transfer has been attracting a great deal of attention. In order to realize efficient power transfer, it is necessary to communicate data such as a frequency, required power, or error tolerance. In the proposed system, because of the use of the same antennas for power transmission and data transmission, the frequency response of a channel for the data transmission changes owing to load fluctuation and the distance between antennas. This paper investigates data transmission performance in the wireless power transfer system with frequency response estimation at the transmitter side. The numerical results obtained through computer simulation show that the proposed scheme can estimate the frequency response of the channel and the difference between the expected bit error rate (BER) and the BER with the estimation error is less than 0.5dB at the BER of 10-3.

The authors have focused on wideband, including ultra-wideband (UWB, 3.1 to 10.6GHz) radio propagation in various environments, such as a small space-craft and a passenger car, moreover on-body radio propagation measurements have been conducted. Many studies have been reported about indoor propagation for narrowband and wideband. However previous study has not been examined characteristics between 10-MHz and 1-GHz frequencies. In our previous study, UWB and narrowband propagation were measured in a UWB frequency band within closed/semi-closed spaces (e.g. a spacecraft, a passenger car, and a metal desk equipped with a metal partition). While narrowband propagation resulted in considerable spatial variations in propagation gain due to interferences caused by multipath environments, UWB yielded none. This implies that the UWB systems have an advantage over narrowband from a viewpoint of reducing fading margins. Thus, a use of UWB technology within spacecrafts has been proposed with a view to partially replacing wired interface buses with wireless connections. Adoption of wireless technologies within the spacecrafts could contribute to reduction in cable weight (and launching cost as a result), reduction in the cost of manufacture, more flexibility in layout of spacecraft subsystems, and reliable connections at rotary, moving, and sliding joints. Path gains and throughputs were also measured for various antenna settings and polarizations in the small spacecraft. Polarization configurations were found to produce almost no effect on average power delay profiles and substantially small effects on the throughputs. Furthermore, statistical channel models were proposed. Also UWB technologies have been considered for use in wireless body area networks (WBAN) because of their possible low power consumption and anti-multipath capabilities. A series of propagation measurements were carried out between on-body antennas in five different rooms. A new path loss and statistical models considering room volume had been proposed. In this paper, we evaluated propagation characteristics in heavy multipath environments, especially examined the channels at 10-MHz to 1-GHz frequencies.

As one of optical wireless Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems, there is Flip-OFDM, which separates an OFDM signal into positive and negative parts and transmits them. It has good power efficiency and low hardware complexity. However, the system halves transmission efficiency compared with Direct Current-biased Optical OFDM. In this paper, Circular Polarized Optical OFDM (CPO-OFDM) is presented. This system separates OFDM signals into positive and negative parts, and it converts these signals into left-handed and right-handed polarization, and it multiplexes these signals. CPO-OFDM is analyzed with an intensity modulation/direct detection channel model which considers the change of the state of polarization owing to free space propagation. As a result of the analysis, it is shown that CPO-OFDM is a flexible system like the conventional systems by using circular polarization and it has the equivalent bit error rate (BER) and the double transmission efficiency compared with Flip-OFDM. The IM/DD channel model which considers the degree of polarization (DOP) is also shown. As for the DOP, it improves by the increase of the propagation distance. Thus, we can achieve the equivalent BER obtained with a high DOP laser even if we use a low DOP laser.

Step-edge vertical channel organic field-effect transistors (SVC-OFETs) with a very short channel have been fabricated by a novel selective electrospray deposition (SESD) method. We propose the SESD method for the fabrication of SVC-OFETs based on a 6,13-bis(triisopropyl-silylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) semiconductor layer formed by SESD. In the SESD method, an electric field is applied between the nozzle and selective patterned electrodes on a substrate. We demonstrated that the solution accumulates on the selected electrode pattern by controlling the voltage applied to the electrode.

We present an algorithm for efficient rendering of animated hair under a dynamic, low-frequency lighting environment. We use spherical harmonics (SH) to represent the environmental light. The transmittances between a point on a hair strand and the light sources are also represented by SH functions. Then, a convolution of SH functions and the scattering function of a hair strand is precomputed. This allows us to efficiently compute the intensity at a point on the hair. However, the computation of the transmittance is very time-consuming. We address this problem by using a voxel-based approach: the transmittance is computed by using a voxelized hair model. We further accelerate the computation by sampling the voxels. By using our method, we can render a hair model consisting of tens of thousands of hair strands at interactive frame rates.

A 10-gigabit Ethernet passive optical network (10G-EPON) is promising for the next generation of access networks. A protocol processor for 10G-EPON needs to not only achieve 10-Gbps throughput but also to have protocol extendibility for various potential services. However, the conventional protocol processor does not have the ability to install additional protocols after chip fabrication, due to its hardware-based architecture. This paper presents a software-hardware cooperative protocol processor for 10G-EPON that provides the protocol extendibility. To achieve the software-hardware cooperation, the protocol processor newly employs a software-hardware partitioning technique driven by the timing requirements of 10G-EPON and a software-hardware interface circuit with event FIFO to absorb performance difference between software and hardware. The fabricated chip with this protocol processor properly works cooperatively and is able to accept newly standardized protocols. This protocol processor enables network operators to install additional service protocols adaptively for their own services.

Energy conservation is one of the hot topics within the domain of traffic problems. It is well known that shortening the distance between vehicles reduces the aerodynamic drag of the lagging (or following) vehicle and leads to energy savings, which benefits the drivers. Recently, systems have been developed in which trucks or vehicles travel in a platoon with reduced headway from the preceding vehicle by using automated driving or driver assistance systems. The objective of the present study is to investigate how human factors, such as driving style, a driver's condition, or a driver's personal characteristics, influence the decision of a driver to close the gap with a preceding vehicle and obtain the benefit of aerodynamic drag reduction. We developed a realistic experimental paradigm for investigating the relationship between distance and several factors including the driver's personal characteristics and the size of preceding vehicle. Our experimental setup made use of real vehicles on a test track, as opposed to a vehicle simulator. We examined behavior of subjects that drove the following vehicle as well as subjects that sat in the passenger seat in the following vehicle. The experimental results demonstrate that all subjects attempted to reduce the distance to the preceding vehicle in order to gain the benefit. Based on the experimental and questionnaire results, we conclude that there are relationships between the category of subjects and subject's following distances.

In this work we propose a two-party anonymous authenticated key exchange protocol that provides a communication binding property. The proposed protocol makes use of a compact structure to ensure key exchange and anonymity by adopting an anonymous implicit proof on the possession of a credential. We formally prove that the proposed protocol achieves anonymity, AKE-security, and a communication binding property. The protocol yields short communication messages and runs in two rounds. We show that our protocol is efficient via a comparison analysis with best-known anonymous authenticated key exchange protocols.

Device-to-device (D2D) multicast communication is a useful way to improve the communication efficiency of local services. This study considers a scenario of D2D multicast communication in a single frequency network (SFN) system and investigates the frequency resource allocation problem. Firstly, we propose that D2D user equipments (DUEs) do not share frequency with cellular user equipments (CUEs) in the same SFN, but reuse frequency with CUEs in other SFNs, by which the interference between D2D and cellular communications can be avoided. Then, under the principle that two nearest D2D multicast groups cannot reuse the same frequency, the study develops a distance-based fair frequency resource allocation (DFRA) algorithm. The DFRA algorithm ensures control of the interference within a reasonable range and fairly allocate the available frequency resources to the D2D multicast groups. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed resource allocation algorithm is effective in improving the data rate and reducing the outage probability for D2D communications.

In this letter, a cooperative scheme based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in vehicular communication system is proposed. In the conventional scheme, a destination exploits only one base station to communicate information. The proposed scheme can use an extra source from another base station through a relay, since the restriction of power in vehicle are less than cellular device. If a destination is distant from a base station, the performance is degraded. When a destination is distant from a base station, the proposed scheme employing space time block code (STBC) and cyclic delay diversity (CDD) has a higher bit error rate (BER) performance and throughput than the conventional scheme.

The development of high data rate wireless communications systems using Multiple Input — Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna techniques requires detectors with reduced complexity and good Bit Error Rate (BER) performance. In this paper, we present the Semi-fixed Complexity Sphere Decoder (SCSD), which executes the process of detection in MIMO systems with a significantly lower computation cost than the high-performance/reduced-complexity detectors: Sphere Decoder (SD), K-best, Fixed Complexity Sphere Decoder (FSD) and Adaptive Set Partitioning (ASP). Simulation results show that when the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) is less than 15dB, the SCSD reduces the complexity by up to 90% with respect to SD, up to 60% with respect to K-best or ASP and by up to 90% with respect to FSD. In the proposed algorithm, the BER performance does not show significant degradation and therefore, can be considered as a complexity reduction scheme suitable for implementing in MIMO detectors.

A code shift keying (CSK) using pseudo-noise (PN) codes for optical wireless communications with intensity/modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) is considered. Since CSK has several PN codes, the data transmission rate and the bit error rate (BER) performance can be improved by increasing the number of PN codes. However, the conventional optical PN codes are not suitable for optical CSK with IM/DD because the ratio of the number of PN codes and the code length of PN code, M/L is smaller than 1/√L. In this paper, an optical CSK with a new PN code, which combines the generalized modified prime sequence code (GMPSC) and Hadamard code is analyzed. The new PN code can achieve M/L=1. Moreover, the BER performance and the data transmission rate of the CSK system with the new PN code are evaluated through theoretical analysis by taking the scintillation, background-noise, avalanche photodiode (APD) noise, thermal noise, and signal dependent noise into account. It is found that the CSK system with the new PN code outperforms the conventional optical CSK system.