In this paper, a new formulation of equal-length three-section open stubs having two zeros located on the unit circle and one zero at z=-1 (θ=π) in the Z-plane is presented. In particular, new filter configurations consisting of equal-length two-section open stubs, cascade lines, open stubs, and three-section open stubs are employed to emulate the discrete-time filters. To examine the validity of our formulation, we realized two discrete-time Chebyshev type II low-pass filters in the form of microstrip lines. The frequency responses of these two filters are measured to validate this new formulation.

This paper proposes new switch architectures for hierarchical optical path cross-connect (HOXC) systems. The architectures allow incremental expansion of system scale in terms of the number of input/output fiber ports, wavebands, and optical paths per waveband. These features assure the cost-effective introduction of HOXCs even at the outset when traffic volume is not so large. Furthermore the effectiveness of the proposed switch architectures is demonstrated in a comparison with single-layer OXCs (conventional OXCs). The results provide useful criteria for the introduction of HOXCs in terms of hardware scale.

Crosstalk delay within an on-chip bus can induce severe transmission performance penalties. The Bus-grouping Asynchronous Transmission (BAT) scheme is proposed to mitigate the performance degradation. Furthermore, considering the distinct spatial locality of transition distribution on some types of buses, we use the locality to optimize the BAT. In terms of the implementation, we propose the Differential Counter Cluster (DCC) synchronous mechanism to synchronize the data transmission, and the Delay Active Shielding (DAS) to protect some critical signals from crosstalk and optimize the routing area overhead. The BAT is scalable with the variation of bus width with little extra implementation complexity. The effectiveness of the BAT is evaluated by focusing on the on-chip buses of a superscalar microprocessor simulator using the SPEC CPU2000 benchmarks. When applied to a 64-bit on-chip instruction bus, the BAT scheme, compared with the conservative approach, Codec and Variable Cycle Transmission (DYN) approaches, improves performance by 55+%, 10+%, 30+%, respectively, at the expense of 13% routing area overhead.

This paper presents the near-field to far-field transformation for an outdoor radar cross section (RCS) range. Direct measurement of the large actual target requires quite a long measurement range. The near-field to far-field RCS transformation method achieves the reduction of measurement range. However the non-uniformity of the incident electric field distribution on the target causes some errors in RCS prediction. We propose a novel near-field to far-field RCS transformation method that can be applied to an outdoor RCS measurement. The non-uniformity of the incident electric field distribution is successfully resolved by introducing the correction term of the ground bounce. We investigate the validity of the proposed method by the simulation and measurement.

In this paper, we propose new joint transport and MAC protocols for ad hoc wireless networks based on an optimization framework. To overcome the practical and efficiency limitations of previous research, we develop a different framework based on independent sets and propose an implementable heuristic algorithm. We address the implementation issues of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results confirm the efficiency and fairness of our protocols.

In recent years, there has been increasing demand to miniaturize wiring harness connectors in automobiles due to the increasing volume of electronic equipment and the reduction of the installation space allocated for the electronic equipment in automobiles for the comfort of the passengers. With this demand, contact failure caused by the fretting corrosion is expected to become a serious problem. In this report, we examined micro-structural observations of fretting contacts of two different tin plating thicknesses using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and so on. Based on the results, we compared the microstructure difference of fretting contact caused by the difference of the tin plating thickness.

A lot of emerging applications like advanced telemedicine and surveillance systems, demand sensors to deliver multimedia content with precise level of QoS enhancement. Minimizing energy in sensor networks has been a much explored research area but guaranteeing QoS over sensor networks still remains an open issue. In this letter we propose a cross-layer approach combining Network and MAC layers, for QoS enhancement in wireless multimedia sensor networks. In the network layer a statistical estimate of sensory QoS parameters is performed and a near-optimal genetic algorithmic solution is proposed to solve the NP-complete QoS-routing problem. On the other hand the objective of the proposed MAC algorithm is to perform the QoS-based packet classification and automatic adaptation of the contention window. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol is capable of providing lower delay and better throughput, at the cost of reasonable energy consumption, in comparison with other existing sensory QoS protocols.

This paper reports on the effect of switching action on the contact surfaces of earthquake disaster prevention relays. Large-scale earthquakes occur frequently in Japan and bring extensive damage with them, and fire caused by electrical equipments is one example of the serious damage which can occur. Earthquake sensors capable of maintaining a high level of reliability when earthquakes occur play an important role as a means of minimizing this damage. For this reason, we carried out observations by focusing on samples which had either been subjected to an electric current of 10 mA or 0.1 A. The samples of 10 mA exhibited low and constant contact resistance despite the addition of seismic motion, while the samples of 0.1 A samples exhibited varying contact resistance and damage on their contact spots resulting from the addition of seismic motion. The sample surfaces were then observed using an atomic force microscope (AFM) in tapping mode and a surface potential microscope (SPoM). As a result, we found that even the unused earthquake disaster prevention relay (standard sample) which had a surface lined with asperities on its parallel striations formed by irregular protrusions due to dust and other deposits. In addition, scanning the contact surface with the SPoM at the same potential revealed the occurrence of differences in surface potential which varied in response to the asperities on the striations.

In a D.C.42 V-10A resistive circuit, break arcs are generated between electrical contact pairs. The materials of the contact pairs are Ag, Ag/C 2wt%, Ag/SnO2 12wt%, and Ag/ZnO 12wt%. The arc spectral intensities are measured by a time-resolved spectroscopic temperature measurement system. The arc temperature is calculated from the spectral intensities by using the method of relative intensities of two spectra. The experimental results are as follows. The arc temperature gradually decreases with increase of the gap of electrical contacts. The ranges of arc temperature for Ag, Ag/C 2wt%, Ag/SnO2 12wt%, and Ag/ZnO 12wt% contacts pairs are 4500-11000 K, 4000-6000 K, 4000-7000 K, and 4000-11000 K, respectively.

This paper considers the problem of target location estimation in a wireless sensor network based on IEEE 802.15.4 radio signals and proposes a novel implementation of the maximum likelihood (ML) location estimator based on the Cross-Entropy (CE) method. In the proposed CE method, the ML criterion is translated into a stochastic approximation problem which can be solved effectively. Simulations that compare the performance of a ML target estimation scheme employing the conventional Newton method and the conjugate gradient method are presented. The simulation results show that the proposed CE method provides higher location estimation accuracy throughout the sensor field.

With the smaller layout area and parasitic capacitance under the same electrostatic discharge (ESD) robustness, silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) has been used as an effective on-chip ESD protection device in radio-frequency (RF) IC. In this paper, SCR's with the waffle layout structures are studied to minimize the parasitic capacitance and the variation of the parasitic capacitance within ultra-wide band (UWB) frequencies. With the reduced parasitic capacitance and capacitance variation, the degradation on UWB RF circuit performance can be minimized. Besides, the fast turn-on design on the low-capacitance SCR without increasing the I/O loading capacitance is investigated and applied to an UWB RF power amplifier (PA). The PA co-designed with SCR in the waffle layout structure has been fabricated. Before ESD stress, the RF performances of the ESD-protected PA are as well as that of the unprotected PA. After ESD stress, the unprotected PA is seriously degraded, whereas the ESD-protected PA still keeps the performances well.

Vertically stacked optical banyan (VSOB) is an attractive architecture for constructing banyan-based optical switches. Blocking behaviors analysis is an effective approach to studying network performance and finding a graceful compromise among hardware costs, blocking probability and crosstalk tolerance; however, little has been done on analyzing the blocking behavior of VSOB networks under crosstalk constraint which adds a new dimension to the switching performance. In this paper, we study the overall blocking behavior of a VSOB network under various degree of crosstalk, where an upper bound on the blocking probability of the network is developed. The upper bound depicts accurately the overall blocking behavior of a VSOB network as verified by extensive simulation results and it agrees with the strictly nonblocking condition of the network. The derived upper bound is significant because it reveals the inherent relationship between blocking probability and network hardware cost, by which a desirable tradeoff can be made between them under various degree of crosstalk constraint. Also, the upper bound shows how crosstalk adds a new dimension to the theory of switching systems.

This paper describes the device fabrication process and characteristics of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) aimed for millimeter-wave applications. We developed three novel techniques to suppress short-channel effects and thereby enhance high-frequency device characteristics: high-Al-composition and thin AlGaN barrier layers, SiN passivation by catalytic chemical vapor deposition, and sub-100-nm Ti-based gates. The Al0.4Ga0.6N/GaN HFETs with a gate length of 30 nm had a maximum drain current density of 1.6 A/mm and a maximum transconductance of 402 mS/mm. The use of these techniques led to a current-gain cutoff frequency of 181 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency of 186 GHz.

The center-feed in a single-layer slotted waveguide array[1]-[3] is one of the key components in polarization division duplex (PDD) wireless systems. Two center-feed arrays with orthogonal polarization and boresight beams are orthogonally arranged side-by-side for transmission and reception, simultaneously. Each antenna has extremely high XPD (almost 50 dB in measurement) and a very high isolation (over 80 dB in measurement) between two arrays is observed provided the symmetry of slot arrangement is preserved [4]. Unfortunately, the area blocked by the center feed causes high sidelobe levels. This paper proposes the ridged cross-junction multiple-way power divider for realizing blockage reduction and symmetrical slot arrangement at the same time.

Spatial filtering is a useful method to suppress undesired reflection from unwanted scatters in Radar Cross Section (RCS) measurements. Actually, it is difficult to prepare an ideal field which satisfies the far-field criterion for RCS measurements of large targets. We applied the filtering method to a bistatic RCS measurement in a near field and investigated the validity of that method by varying the scanning angular span. Electromagnetic simulations show that predicted RCS profiles from near-field data with unwanted scatters closely matched far-field reference data of the test target. In conclusion, the results show that the method is effective for bistatic RCS measurements in practical field enviroments.

Two dual-band bandpass filters (BPFs) based on the doubly parallel-coupled stepped impedance resonators (SIRs) structures have been proposed in this paper. The coupled-SIRs with/without open-stub-loads are introduced in the filter design. The dual-band filters exhibiting multiple zeros design operate at 2.45/5.2-GHz for the WLAN applications. Two three-staged filters composed of four SIRs have been proposed with the tapped-line adapted in the I/O sections. A five-staged filter is constructed based on the same design principle to achieve a better band-rejection. The proposed filters have the advantages of a much wider bandwidth in both the passbands without sacrificing the passband's insertion loss and passband flatness. The design procedure for a conventional parallel-coupled microstrip lines model is still suitable to design the proposed filters. The proposed filters have achieved almost twice the bandwidth of a conventional parallel-coupled lines configuration under the same design parameters. The experiments have been conducted to verify filter performance. Measured results are in good agreement with the full-wave simulation results.

This paper proposes an accurate modeling method of the copper interconnect cross-section in which the width and thickness dependence on layout patterns and density caused by processes (CMP, etching, sputtering, lithography, and so on) are fully incorporated and universally expressed. In addition, we have developed specific test patterns for the model parameters extraction, and an efficient extraction flow. We have extracted the model parameters for 0.15 µm CMOS using this method and confirmed that 10% τpd error normally observed with conventional LPE (Layout Parameters Extraction) was completely dissolved. Moreover, it is verified that the model can be applied to more advanced technologies (90 nm, 65 nm and 55 nm CMOS). Since the interconnect delay variations due to the processes constitute a significant part of what have conventionally been treated as random variations, use of the proposed model could enable one to greatly narrow the guardbands required to guarantee a desired yield, thereby facilitating design closure.

In this paper, we investigate the proportional fair scheduling (PFS) problem for multiuser OFDM systems, considering the impact of packet length. Packet length influences scheduling schemes in a way that each scheduled packet should be ensured to be completely transmitted within the scheduled frames. We formulate the PFS problem as an optimization problem. Based on the observations on the structure of optimal solutions, we propose a heuristic scheduling algorithm that consists of two stages. First, subcarriers are allocated among users without considering the packet length constraint. Then on the second stage, subcarrier readjustment is done in a way that surplus subcarriers from length-satisfied users are released and allocated among length-unsatisfied users. The objective is to provide proportional fairness among users while guaranteeing complete transmission of each scheduled packet. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme has quite close performance to the optimal scheme in terms of Multi-carrier Proportional Fairness Measure (MCPFM), throughput and average packet delay.

The surface amino groups of plasma-polymerized films prepared from various nitrogen-containing monomers were quantitatively characterized for bioelectronic and biomedical applications. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were conducted on two kinds of surfaces: pristine surfaces of plasma-polymerized film prepared using various nitrogen-containing monomers, and theirs surfaces whose amino groups had been derivatized by a primary-amine-selective reagent carrying an XPS label. The XPS data showed that the maximum surface density of amino groups for this film was 8.41013 cm-2. Amino groups constituted 14-64% of all surface nitrogen atoms (NH/N), depending on the monomer used.

This paper presents a new quarter-wavelength microstrip coupler compensated with a periodic sequence of floating metallic strips in the slots on the inner edges. After describing the characteristics of the coupled-line, as an example, a 15-dB coupler is designed and a high directivity of 30 dB or more in theory is obtained over a full band of a single-section coupler. Next, couplers with various coupling factors are designed, and the usefulness for very loose coupling is demonstrated. Furthermore, a three-section coupler is designed to show the effectiveness in a wide frequency range. The validity of the design concept and procedure is confirmed by electromagnetic simulations and experiments.