A new error correction block based Hybrid ARQ protocol, in which PHY layer packets are composed of multiple error correction blocks, is devised together with a retransmission control scheme constructed on the basis of these error correction blocks. This protocol is designed dedicatedly for mobile AV stations to provide the high quality digital video transmission through a radio channel. To analyze the performance of this protocol, the frame loss rate vs. the uncorrectable error probability is simulated, in comparison with the ordinary packet based retransmission control. A wireless video transmission system using IEEE802.11b PHY is also described, which has been developed with the use of a Medium Access Control (MAC) LSI to perform the proposed protocol.

The starting point of this paper is the definition of a nonlinear model of the read out process in high density optical discs. Under high density condition, the signal read out is not a linear process, and suffers also from cross talk. To cope with these problems, the identification of a suitable nonlinear model is required. A physical model based on the optical scalar theory is used to identify the kernels of a nonlinear model based on the Volterra series. Both analysis and simulations show that a second order bidimensional model accurately describes the read out process. Once equipped with the Volterra channel model, we evaluate the performance of various nonlinear receivers. First we consider Nonlinear Adaptive Volterra Equalization (NAVE). Simulations show that the performance of classical structures for linear channels is significantly affected by the nonlinear response. The nonlinear NAVE receiver can achieve better performance than Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimator (MLSE), with lower complexity. An innovative Nonlinear Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimator (NMLSE), based on the combination of MLSE and nonlinear Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) cancellation, is presented. NMLSE offers significant advantages with respect to traditional MLSE, and performs better than traditional equalization for nonlinear channels (like NAVE). Finally, the paper deals with cancellation of cross talk from adjacent tracks. We propose and analyze an adaptive nonlinear cross talk canceller based on a three spot detection system. For the sake of simplicity, all the performance comparisons presented in this paper are based on the assumption that noise is Additive, White, and Gaussian (AWGN model).

A number of schemes have been proposed for communication using chaos over the past years. Regardless of the exact modulation method used, the transmitted signal must go through a physical channel which undesirably introduces distortion to the signal and adds noise to it. The problem is particularly serious when coherent-based demodulation is used because the necessary process of chaos synchronization is difficult to implement in practice. This paper addresses the channel distortion problem and proposes a technique for channel equalization in chaos-based communication systems. The proposed equalization is realized by a modified recurrent neural network (RNN) incorporating a specific training (equalizing) algorithm. Computer simulations are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed equalizer in chaos-based communication systems. The Henon map and Chua's circuit are used to generate chaotic signals. It is shown that the proposed RNN-based equalizer outperforms conventional equalizers.

Vector quantization (VQ) is an attractive image compression technique. VQ utilizes the high correlation between neighboring pixels in a block, but disregards the high correlation between the adjacent blocks. Unlike VQ, side-match VQ (SMVQ) exploits codeword information of two encoded adjacent blocks, the upper and left blocks, to encode the current input vector. However, SMVQ is a fixed bit rate compression technique and doesn't make full use of the edge characteristics to predict the input vector. Classified side-match vector quantization (CSMVQ) is an effective image compression technique with low bit rate and relatively high reconstruction quality. It exploits a block classifier to decide which class the input vector belongs to using the variances of neighboring blocks' codewords. As an alternative, this paper proposes three algorithms using gradient values of neighboring blocks' codewords to predict the input block. The first one employs a basic gradient-based classifier that is similar to CSMVQ. To achieve lower bit rates, the second one exploits a refined two-level classifier structure. To reduce the encoding time further, the last one employs a more efficient classifier, in which adaptive class codebooks are defined within a gradient-ordered master codebook according to various prediction results. Experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

We propose and analyze a new efficient handoff scheme called Splitted-Rating Channel Scheme in UMTS networks, and we analyze the call level performance of splitted-rating channel scheme and then packet level performance of downlink traffic at UMTS circuit-switched networks. In order to reduce the blocking probability of originating calls and the forced termination probability of handoff calls, a splitted-rating channel scheme is applied to the multimedia UMTS networks. This multimedia network supports two classes of calls; narrowband call requiring one channel and wideband call requiring multiple channels. The channels in service for wideband call are splitted its channels for lending to originating call and handoff call according to threshold control policy. By assuming that arrivals of narrowband calls and arrivals of wideband calls are Poisson, we model the number of narrowband calls and the number of wideband calls in the one cell by Level Dependent Quasi-Birth-Death (QBD) process and obtain their joint stationary distribution. For packet level analysis, we first describe the downlink traffic from the base station to a mobile terminal in UMTS networks, and calculate the mean packet delay of a connected wideband call by using QBD analysis. Numerical examples show that our splitted-rating channel scheme reduces the blocking probability of originating call and the forced termination probability of handoff call with a little degradation of packet delay.

Carrying IP traffic over connection-oriented networks requires the use of bandwidth on demand schemes at gateways or network interfaces. A new virtual queue occupancy, which is more accurate than the classical one, is being proposed for IP/SONET bandwidth on demand. Based on the virtual queue occupancy, two enhanced periodic approaches for lossless services, LAVQ and LAVQL, are simulated and evaluated. Simulations show that LAVQ outperforms its counterpart LAQ in terms of bandwidth utilization. By curbing the queue occupancy fluctuation, LAVQL further promotes bandwidth utilization and conceals the influence of the system latency on delay jitter as well.

We have experimentally observed the dynamics of laser outputs in a microchip laser with frequency-modulated feedback light. We have observed rich dynamics that can be interpreted as three types of dynamics at different frequencies: (1) periodic bursts at twice of the frequency of the modulation of the external mirror, (2) chaotic pulsations at the relaxation oscillation frequency, and (3) clusters at the instantaneous Doppler-shifted frequency. We have confirmed these rich dynamics by using numerical simulations.

This letter presents a new approach for obtaining the expected waiting time for packets under the drop-head (also called a drop-from-front) scheme for buffer management. The results show that the drop-head scheme is more effective in reducing queueing delays than the drop-tail scheme.

There are several attempts to generate chaotic binary sequences by using one-dimensional maps. From the standpoint of engineering applications, it is necessary to evaluate statistical properties of sample sequences of finite length. In this paper we attempt to evaluate the statistics of chaotic binary sequences of finite length. The large deviation theory for dynamical systems is useful for investigating this problem.

The input queued (IQ) switching architecture is becoming an attractive alternative for high-speed switches owing to its scalability. In this paper, three new algorithms, referred to as the maximum credit first (MCF), enhanced MCF (EMCF), and iterative MCF (IMCF) algorithms, are introduced. Simulations show that both MCF and IMCF have similar performance as the Birkhoff-von Neumann decomposition (BVND) algorithm, which can provide cell delay bound and 100% throughput, with lower off-line computational and on-line memory complexity. Simulations also show the fairness of MCF is much better than that of BVND. Theoretic analysis shows that the EMCF algorithm has a better performance than MCF in terms of throughput and cell delay with the same complexity level as MCF. Simulation results indicate the EMCF algorithm has much lower average cell delay and delay variance as compared to the BVND algorithm.

The paper deals with the estimation method of system equations of dynamic behavior of an input-pricing mechanism by using the Genetic Programming (GP) and its applications. The scheme is similar to recent noise reduction method in noisy speech which is based on the adaptive digital signal processing for system identification and subtraction estimated noise. We consider the dynamic behavior of an input-pricing mechanism for a service facility in which heterogeneous self-optimizing customers base their future join/balk decisions on their previous experiences of congestion. In the GP, the system equations are represented by parse trees and the performance (fitness) of each individual is defined as the inversion of the root mean square error between the observed data and the output of the system equation. By selecting a pair of individuals having higher fitness, the crossover operation is applied to generate new individuals. The string used for the GP is extended to treat the rational form of system functions. The condition for the Li-Yorke chaos is exploited to ensure the chaoticity of the approximated functions. In our control, since the system equations are estimated, we only need to change the input incrementally so that the system moves to the stable region. By assuming the targeted dynamic system f(x(t)) with input u(t)=0 is estimated by using the GP (denoted (x(t))), then we impose the input u(t) so that xf= (t+1)=(x(t))+u(t) where xf is the fixed point. Then, the next state x(t+1) of targeted dynamic system f(x(t)) is replaced by x(t+1)+u(t). We extend ordinary control method based on the GP by imposing the input u(t) so that the deviation from the targeted level xL becomes small enough after the control. The approximation and control method are applied to the chaotic dynamics generating various time series based on several queuing models and real world data. Using the GP, the control of chaos is straightforward, and we show some example of stabilizing the price expectation in the service queue.

Microstrip antennas with meshed ground planes are suitable for radiation elements of large satellite phased array antennas. Although they have some mechanical advantages such as the possibility of antenna weight reduction, they also cause electrical problems such as the resonant frequency shift and F/B ratio degradation. The first purpose of this paper is the analytical understanding of the resonant frequency shift, for which two perturbational methods are proposed. One has a closed form expression that provides some useful design data. The other is to solve the integral equations by using the periodicity of the meshed ground plane, which gives more accurate results. The second purpose of this paper is to investigate the backward radiation from the meshed ground plane analytically, for which we derive an analysis method from the calculated results of the resonant frequency shift. The proposed methods are verified with the measured ones.

A quasi-synchronous (QS) Multi-Carrier time division duplex DS-CDMA is studied for reverse link on multipath indoor environment. Quasi-synchronous DS-CDMA drastically reduces the effect of multiple access interference with several interesting features of time division duplex (TDD) mode for mobile communications. In this paper, we use the time division duplex transmission mode and each user appropriately adjusts its transmission time, through feed back control from the base station, so its signal can arrive at the base station synchronously with the other mobile stations. This paper evaluates the performance of a quasi-synchronous multi-carrier TDD DS-CDMA for reverse link on multipath indoor environment. The performance results are shown with different quasi-synchronous accuracy and power control error values. Orthogonal codes are used for spreading the signals in QS transmission. On the other hand, random codes are used for an asynchronous transmission. From the results, when the performance of asynchronous system is assumed to be a reference, we can see that the constraint of quasi-synchronous accuracy equals 2.3 chips of multi-carrier system at spreading factor 32.

In this paper, we present the following schemes for a content-based image search: (1) A fast image search algorithm that can significantly reduce similarity calculation compared to a full comparison of every database image. (2) A compact image representation scheme that can describe the global/local information of the images and provide successful retrieval performance. For fast searches, a tree is constructed by successfully dividing nodes into the desired depth level by working from the root to the leaf nodes using the k-means algorithm. When the query is completed, we traverse the tree top-down by minimizing the route taken between the query image and node centroid until we meet the undivided nodes. Within undivided nodes, the algorithm of triangle inequality is used to find the images most similar to the query. For compact image representation, RGB color histogram features which are quantized into 16 bins each of the R, G, and B channels are used for global information. Dominant hue, saturation, and value which are extracted from the HSV joint histogram in the localized regions within the image are used for local information. These features are sufficiently compact to index image features in large database systems. For experiments on the retrieval efficiency, the use of the proposed method provided substantial performance benefits by reducing the image similarity calculation up to an average of a 96% and for experiments on the retrieval effectiveness, in the best case, it provide a 36.8% recall rate for a whale query image and a 100% precision rate for an eagle query image. The overall performance was a 20.0% recall rate and a 72.5% precision rate.

This paper presents a new Reinforcement Learning (RL) method, called "Labeling Q-learning (LQ-learning)," to solve the partially obervable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) problems. Recently, hierarchical RL methods are widely studied. However, they have the drawback that the learning time and memory are exhausted only for keeping the hierarchical structure, though they wouldn't be necessary. On the other hand, our LQ-learning has no hierarchical structure, but adopts a new type of internal memory mechanism. Namely, in the LQ-learning, the agent percepts the current state by pair of observation and its label, and then, the agent can distinguish states, which look as same, but obviously different, more exactly. So to speak, at each step t, we define a new type of perception of its environment õt=(ot,θt), where ot is conventional observation, and θt is the label attached to the observation ot. Then the classical RL-algorithm is used as if the pair (ot,θt) serves as a Markov state. This labeling is carried out by a Boolean variable, called "CHANGE," and a hash-like or mod function, called Labeling Function (LF). In order to demonstrate the efficiency of LQ-learning, we will apply it to "maze problems" in Grid-Worlds, used in many literatures as POMDP simulated environments. By using the LQ-learning, we can solve the maze problems without initial knowledge of environments.

In previous work we have proposed a steganographic technique for gray scale images called BPCS-Steganography. We also apply this technique to full color images by decomposing the image into its three color component images and treating each as a gray scale image. This paper proposes a method to apply BPCS-Steganography to palette-based images. In palette-based images, the image data can be decomposed into color component images similar to those of full color images. We can then embed into one or more of the color component images. However, even if only one of the color component images is used for embedding, the number of colors in the palette after embedding can be over the maximum number allowed. In order to represent the image data in palette-based format, color quantization is therefore needed. We cannot change the pixel values of the color component image that contains the embedded information, but can only change the pixel values of the other color component images. We assume that the degrading of the color component2 image with information embedded is smaller than that of the color component images that are used for color reduction. We therefore embed secret information into the G component image, because the human visual system is more sensitive to changes the luminance of a color, and G has the largest contribution to luminance of the three color components. In order to reduce the number of colors, the R and B component images are then changed in a way that minimizes the square error.

For a baseband pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) signal limited to Nyquist frequency, mathematical derivation of the timing recovery for a fourth-law circuit followed by a band-pass filter is carried out. The results show that the derived timing wave is expressed as a function of the pulse shape entering the timing path and the bandpass filter tuned to the pulse repetition frequency.

Let us introduce n ( 2) mappings fi (i=1,2,,n) defined on complete linear metric spaces (Xi-1, ρ) (i=1,2,,n), respectively, and let fi:Xi-1 Xi be completely continuous on bounded convex closed subsets Xi-1(0) Xi-1, (i=1,2,,n 0), such that fi(Xi-1(0)) Xi(0). Moreover, let us introduce n set-valued mappings Fi : Xi-1 Xi (Xi)(the family of all non-empty closed compact subsets of Xi), (i=1,2,,n 0). Here, we have a fixed point theorem on the successively recurrent system of set-valued mapping equations: xi Fi(xi-1, fi(xi-1)), (i=1,2,,n 0). This theorem can be applied immediately to analysis of the availability of system of circular networks of channels undergone by uncertain fluctuations and to evaluation of the tolerability of behaviors of those systems. In this paper, mathematical situation and detailed proof are discussed, about this theorem.

This paper describes a QoS evaluation method for VoIP communications using a self-organizing neural network. Based on measurements in real environments, evaluation results confirmed that our method can effectively display total QoS level composed of several QoS-related factors such as PSQM+ and end-to-end delay.

Scattering of a plane wave obliquely incident on a meteor trail is studied using the full wave treatment by treating the trail as a stratified column which has Gaussian radial electron distribution. Due to the coupling of the fields, the coupled equations have to be solved simultaneously. They are treated in matrix form, so the uncoupled and the coupled components can be distinguished. Based on the oblique scattering geometry, the effects of the variation of the communication range and the trail orientation are investigated. In the case of the variation of the communication range, results are in accordance with the approximate models but they are in contrast in the case of the variation of the trail orientation. Calculated waveforms are compared with the experimental echo shapes. It is found that they are in good agreement with each other. Furthermore, a duration comparison indicates that the electron line densities of most of the received signals are in the transition region.