A new method by which images are coded with predictable and controllable subjective picture quality in the minimum cost of bit rate is developed. By using wavelet transform, the original image is decomposed into a set of subimages with different frequency channels and resolutions. By utilizing human contrast sensitivity, each decomposed subimage is treated according to its contribution to the total visual quality and to the bit rate. A relationship between physical errors (mainly quantization errors) incurred in the orthonormal wavelet image coding system and the subjective picture quality quantified as the mean opinion score (MOS) is established. Instred of using the traditional optimum bit allocation scheme which minimizes a distortion cost function under the constraint of a given bit rate, we develop an "optimum visually weighted noise power allocation" (OVNA) scheme which emphasizes the satisfying of a desired subjective picture quality in the minumum cost of bit rate. The proposed method enables us to predict and control the picture quality before the reconstruction and to compress images with desired subjective picture quality in the minimum bit rate.

In this paper, a construction of de Bruijn sequences using maximum length linear sequences is considered. The construction is based on the well-known cross-join (CJ) method: Maximum length linear sequences are used to produce de Bruijn sequences by the CJ process. Properties of the CJ paris in the maximum length linear sequences are investigated. It is conjectured that the number of CJ pairs in a maximum length linear sequence is given by (22n-3+1)/3-2n-2, where n2 is the length of the linear feedback shift register with the sequence. The CJ paris for some special cases are obtained. An algorithm for finding CJ pairs is described and a method of implementation is discussed briefly.

Recently, the small set of nonbinary Kasami sequences was presented and their correlation properties were clarified by Liu and Komo. The family of nonbinary Kasami sequences has the same periodic maximum nontrivial correlation as the family of Kumar-Moreno sequences, but smaller family size. In this paper, first it is shown that each of the nonbinary Kasami sequences is unbalanced. Secondly, a new family of nonbinary sequences obtained from modified Kasami sequences is proposed, and it is shown that the new family has the same maximum nontrivial correlation as the family of nonbinary Kasami sequences and consists of the balanced nonbinary sequences.

We discuss delay times derived from the current gain cutoff frequency of a heterostructure field effect transistor and describe three types of novel channel structures for millimeter-wave InP-based HFETs. The first structure discussed is a lattice-matched InGaAs HEMT with high state-of-the art performance. The second structure is an InAs-inserted InGaAs HEMT which harnesses the superior transport properties of InAs. Fabricated devices show high electron mobility of 12,800 cm2/Vs and high transconductance over 1.4 S/mm for a 0.6-µm-gate length. The effective saturation velocity in the device derived from the current gain cutoff frequency in 3.0107 cm/s. The third one is an InGaAs/InP double-channel HFET that utilizes the superior transport properties of InP at a high electric field. Fabricated double-channel devices show kink-free characteristics, high carrier density of 4.51012 cm-2 and high transconductance of 1.3 S/mm for a 0.6-µm-gate length. The estimated effective saturation velocity in these devices is 4.2107 cm/s. Also included is a discussion of the current gain cutoff frequency of ultra-short channel devices.

It is concluded from numerical examples for the well-known linear PN sequence families of a large range of periods that the mean-square cross-correlation value between sequences is the dominating parameter to the average signal-to-noise power ratio performance of an asynchronous direct-sequence (DS) code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system. The performance parameters derived by Pursley and Sarwate are used for numerical evaluation and the validity of conclusion is supported by reviewing the other related works. The mean-square periodic cross-correlation takes the equal value p (code period) for the known CDMA code families. The equal mean-square cross-correlation performance results from the basic results of coding theory.

An approximate equation of the odd periodic correlation distribution for the family of binary sequences is derived from the exact even periodic correlation distribution. The distribution means the probabilities of correlation values which appear among all the phase-shifted sequences in the family. It is shown that the approximate distribution is almost the same as the computational result of some family such as the Gold sequences with low even periodic correlation magnitudes, or the Kasami sequences, the bent sequences with optimal even periodic correlation properties in the sense of the Welch's lower bound. It is also shown that the odd periodic correlation distribution of the family with optimal periodic correlation properties is not the Gaussian distribution, but that of the family of the Gold sequences with short period seems to be similar to the Gaussian distribution.

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.

A simple method is given for obtaining new families of pseudonoise (PN) sequences based on chaotic non-linear maps. Such families are worse than the Gold and the Kasami families in terms of maximum correlation values. Nevertheless, such a method has several advantages: the generation is easy, and various families with an arbitrary family size and sequence period can be obtained primarily because non-linear maps have several parameters to be secret keys for communications security. Hence these sequences are good candidates of spreading sequences for CDMA.

Amorphous films of YBCO and BSCCO (2212) sputtered on MgO substrate were crystallized using zonemelt technique. For YBCO films, thin Ag intermediate layer was found to be effective in enhancing crystal growth and preferred orientation. Zone-melted BSCCO films included both (2201) phase and Cu(Sr, Ca)O2 in a form of dendritic crystallites. Tc's obtained for YBCO and BSCCO films were 70 and 75 K, respectively.

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.

The effectiveness of error-control coding in a frequency-hop radio system can be increased greatly by the use of side information that is developed in the radio receiver. The transmission of test symbols provides a simple method for the derivation of side information in a slow-frequency-hop receiver. Requirements on the reliability of the side information are presented, and their implications in determining the necessary number of test symbols are described. Other methods for developing side information are reviewed briefly, and applications of side information to routing protocols for frequency-hop packet radio networks are discussed.

Concatenated coding techniques are applied to slow frequency-hop packet radio communications for channels with partial-band interference. Binary orthogonal signaling (e.g., binary FSK) is employed with noncoherent demodulation. The outer codes are Reed-Solomon codes and the inner codes are convolutional codes. Two concatenated coding schemes are compared. The first employs an interleaver between the outer Reed-Solomon code and the inner convolutional code. The second scheme employs an additional interleaver following the convolutional code. Comparisons are made between the performance of these concatenated coding schemes and the performance of Reed-Solomon codes alone.

The spread spectrum system (abbreviated as SS system) is known to be an excellent communication system which resists jamming. Recently, its application to a simplified wireless communication system has been considered to be suited for consumer communication. In Japan, SS wireless LAN system has got the approval on 2.4GHz ISM band already. A compact SS transceiver for the SS wireless LAN is realized, whose data ratio is 230kbps. The SS transceiver is based on a direct sequence for the modulation, and the demodulation is carried out by a specially developed SAW device. In the first part of this paper, the technical conditions of the SS wireless LAN are mentioned. Then the SAW device and the principle of the demodulation are discussed. Finally, the configuration of the SS transceiver and the protocol of the SS wireless LAN are presented.

The bit error performance of a Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Communication system in actual land mobile satellite channel is evaluated with experiments. Field test results with the ETS-V satellite in urban and suburban environments at L-band frequency show that this land mobile satellite channel of 3MHz bandwidth can be seen as a non-frequency selective Rician fading channel as well as shadowing channel. The bit error performance can be estimated from signal power measurement as in the case of narrow band modulation signals.

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.

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.

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.

Recently, a family of 4-phase sequences (alphabet {1,j,-1,-j}) was discovered having the same size 2r+1 and period 2r-1 as the family of binary (i.e., {+1, -1}) Gold sequences, but whose maximum nontrivial correlation is smaller by a factor of 2. In addition, the worst-case correlation magnitude remains the same for r odd or even, unlike in the case of Gold sequences. The family is asymptotically optimal with respect to the Welch lower bound on Cmax for complex-valued sequences and the sequences within the family are easily generated using shift registers. This paper aims to provide a more accessible description of these sequences.

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.