This paper describes a method of evaluating operations effort for fiber optic subscriber loops, such as the Central Terminal/Remote Terminal (CT/RT) system, which can economically provide a variety of telecommunication services. Four system configurations with different operation procedures are evaluated by simulation. By evaluating the operating costs associated with service provisioning, it is shown that automatic distributing frames are cost effective in subscriber loops with CT/RT systems. Moreover, the most economical operation strategies for installing and extending subscriber boards are discussed in terms of facility and operations cost.

Design consideration, fabrication process, and performance of a fully monolithic 22 GHz-band oscillator implemented using a self-aligned AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) are described. For optimization of the oscillator circuit parameters, large-signal circuit model parameters extracted from bias dependent small-signal S-parameters have been used to maximumize an output power. The developed oscillator employs a 1.510 µm2 emitter AlGaAs/GaAs HBT fabricated by using a dual sidewall self-aligned process. The fabricated oscillator has exhibited an output power of 6.2 dBm at 22.16 GHz with a collector efficiency of 9.5%, and phase noise of 78 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz off-carrier under free-running condition. These results were in good agreement with the large-signal designed results obtained using harmonic balance simulator.

We propose the coherent subcarrier multiplexed (SCM) system with distributing local oscillator (LO) in local loop. The proposed system can realize multichannel transmission with one optical carrier by using the SCM technique and has no need to have LO at each station. Therefore the proposed system becomes cost-effective. The proposed SCM system uses bandpass filter to select a specific channel. We analyze CNR of the system with frequency-shift keying (FSK) in a multioctave configuration. First, the general expression of CNR is derived and is shown for the following parameters such as the number of channels, the position of station on the loop, and the number of stations on the loop. Second, optimal phase modulation (PM) index is derived, and the optimal CNR, minimum required power of lasers, and maximum number of stations that the proposed system can serve are shown by using it. Moreover CNR of the proposed system is compared with that of the system having LO at each station in local loop. It is shown that the proposed system can obtain good performance at the expense of slight increase of the output power of only two lasers at the central station. Therefore the proposed system is cost-effective and practical.

A dual transformation incorporating the frequency-dependent scaling factor with the impedance dimension is proposed to synthesize the current-mode counterpart of a voltage-mode original. A general class of current-mode active-RC biquadratic filters and a switched-capacitor low-pass biquad are derived to demonstrate the synthesis procedure. Their simulation and test results show that the current transfer functions are the same as the voltage transfer functions of the originals, and thus confirm the validity of the procedure. The dual trasformation described herein is general in that with the scaling factor chosen appropriately it can meet a wide variety of circuit transformation, and thus useful also for circuit classification and identification.

In this paper we study the problem of scheduling parallel program modules onto an MPS (message passing multiprocessor system) so as to minimize the total execution time. Each node in the interconnection network of the MPS has buffers at its input ports to store messages waiting for the transmission. An algorithm for finding a route which minimizes the communication delay of a message to be sent between a processor-pair is first given. Next, we present heuristic algorithms for scheduling program modules onto the MPS. These algorithms use the above routing algorithm. The performances of the proposed algorithms are estimated by using simulation experiments.

An investigation into the spatial properties of the motion compensation prediction error signal has been carried out to provide a better understanding of it and to model the spatial power spectrum of the error signal. To construct a theoretical model, the motion compensation prediction process is analyzed, including the interpolation process used for motion compensation with decimal place precision, in the horizontal and vertical directions separately, thereby deriving its statistical power gain function. Properties of the input processing system are also examined. Based on these analyses, this paper proposes a theoretical model of the error signal, clarifies its spatial properties that are distinctive of the interlace scanned picture signal, and collates the obtained data with the real picture, thereby verifying the validity of the model. This model is especially useful for the evaluation, selection and detailed designing of the coding techniques of the error signal.

To describe the state of visual communications in the U.S., two words come to mind: digital and anticipation. Although compressed, digital video has been used in teleconferencing systems for at least ten years, it is only recently that a broad consensus has developed among diverse industries anticipating business opportunities, value, or both in digital video. The drivers for this turning point are: advances in digital signal processing, continued improvement in the cost, complexity, and speed of VLSI, maturing international standards and their adoption by vendors and end users, and a seemingly insatiable consumer demand for greater diversity, accessibility, and control of communication systems.

A closure test MCT (meet-in-the-middle closure test) has been introduced to analyze the algebraic properties of cryptosystems. Since MCT needs a large amount of memory, it is hard to implement with an ordinary meet-in-the-middle method. As a feasible version of MCT, this paper presents a switching closure test SCT based on a new memoryless meet-in-the-middle method. To achieve the memoryless method, appropriate techniques, such as expansion of cycling detection methods for one function into a method for two functions and an efficient intersection search method that uses only a small amount of memory, are effectively used.

According to the development of optical communication technologies, it is getting easier to handle new devices, such as optical fibers, semiconductor light sources, guided wave devices, and optical integrated circuits. These devices have recently given considerable impact on the optical sensing field. The optical sensing shares the optical devices and the concepts of signal processing or system configuration with the optical communication. In this paper, the advanced lightwave sensing technology is discussed, considering the relation to the advanced optical communication technology. Distributed fiber sensors and the application of coherence characteristics of semiconductor light sources are the topics to be mainly discussed. In the distributed fiber sensors, the fiber plays both a role of low-loss transmission line and a role of lengthwise deployed sensing element. According to the change of characteristics of light propagating in the fiber, distribution of various physical parameters can be measured, such as the fiber loss, temperature, and strain. Optical Time Domain Reflectometry is employed to determine the location. Another tendency in the lightwave sensing field is the use of coherence characteristics of various semiconductor light sources. Low coherent source provide a highly sensitive inertial rotation sensor, that is, interferometric fiber optic gyroscope. Another type of optical gyroscope, optical passive ring-resonator gyro, has been studied as an application of a high coherence source. Frequency tunability of the semiconductor laser, especially that of tunable DFB or DBR lasers, can provide new ways in signal processing in the sensors. Optical coherence function can be synthesized also by utilizing the tunability. In conjunction with the progress in optical communication, lightwave sensing fields are steadily increasing.

By close analogy of annealing for solids, we devise a new algorithm, called APS, for the time evolution of both the state and the synapses of the Hopfield's neural network. Through constrainedly random perturbation of the synapses of the network, the evolution of the state will ignore the tremendous number of small minima and reach a good minimum. The synapses resemble the microstructure of a network. This new algorithm anneals the microstructure of the network through a thermal controlled process. And the algorithm allows us to obtain a good minimum of the Hopfield's model efficiently. We show the potential of this approach for optimization problems by applying it to the will-known traveling salesman problem. The performance of this new algorithm has been supported by many computer simulations.

It has been recognized that there exist some disparities between properties of continuous control systems and those of discrete ones which are obtained from their continuous counterparts by use of a sampler and zero order hold. This still remains true even if the sampling rate becomes fast enough and sometimes causes unfavorable effects in control systems design. To reconcile with this conflict, use of delta operator has been proposed in place of z-operator recently. This note formulates a delta domain Lyapunov matrix equation and shows that the equation actually mediates the discrete Lyapunov equation and its continuous counterpart.

This article proposes a four dimensional autonomous hyperchaos generator whose nonlinear element is only one diode. The circuit is analyzed by regarding the diode as an ideal switch. Hence we can derive the two dimensional return map rigorously and its Lyapunov exponents confirm the hyperchaos generation. Also, a novel mathematical basis for the simplification to the ideal switch is given.

New methods are needed for accessing very large information services. This paper proposes the use of a user model neural network to allow better access to a news service. The network is constructed on the basis of articles read, and articles marked as rejected. It adapts over time to better represent the user's interests and rank the articles supplied by the news service. Using an augmented keyword search we can also search for articles using keywords in conjunction with the user model neural network. Trials of the system in a USENET news environment show promising results for the use of this approach in information retrieval.

A fully integrated digital PLL (Phase Locked Loop) with on-chip CMOS oscillator is described. Nominal division number of the variable divider is automatically tuned in this digital PLL and this feature makes it possible to widen the pull-in range. In general, output jitter may increase if the pull-in range is widened. To overcome this problem, output jitter is reduced by utilizing the dual loop architecture. Wide pull-in range enables us on-chip oscillator, which is not so precise as the expensive crystal oscillator. This CMOS oscillator must be carefully designed to be stable against the temperature and the supply voltage variations. Using these digital PLL techniques, together with the on-chip CMOS oscillator, a fully integrated PLL can be achieved. Circuits are designed for 1.544 Mbit/s ISDN primary rate interface, and 6.25% pull-in range is obtained.

LOTOS is a language developed within ISO for the formal description of communication protocols and distributed systems. In LOTOS, requirements for a distributed system are called a "service specification". Each node exchanges synchronization messages to ensure the temporal ordering for the execution of events in a service specification. The actions of each node are described as a "protocol specification". This paper gives a survey for a method to derive protocol specifications from a service specification written in a LOTOS based language. In order to derive the protocol specifications, we make the syntax tree of a given service specification and give some attributes for each node in the tree. The protocol specifications are derived automatically by evaluating these attributes. The derived protocol specifications satisfy the given service specification. We also explain a LOTOS simulator for the execution of derived protocol specifications. The related works are also summarized.

A Discrete Event System (DES) is a system that is modeled by a finite automaton. A Cooperating Discrete Event System (CDES) is a distributed system which consists of several local DESs which are synchronized with each other to accomplish its own goal. This paper describes the automatic synthesis of a CDES from a modular temporal logic specification. First, MPTS (Modular Practical Temporal Specification language) is proposed in which the new features (modular structure and domain specification) are appended to temporal logic. To overcome the "state explosion problem", which occurs in generating a global automaton in former synthesis methods using temporal logic, a compositional synthesis is proposed where automata are reduced at every composition step.

Dynamic behavior of a distributed parameter system described by the one-dimensional wave equation with a nonlinear boundary condition is examined in detail using a graphical method proposed by Witt on a digital computer. The bifurcation diagram, homoclinic orbit and one-dimensional map are obtained and examined. Results using an analog simulator are introduced and compared with that of the graphical method. The discrepancy between these results is considered, and from the comparison among the bifurcation diagrams obtained by the graphical method, it is denoted that the energy dissipation in the system considerably restrains the chaotic state in the bifurcation process.

This paper deals with communication model in a software development project when there happens some trouble on it. First, we analyze a communication process in the real projects, and investigate what type of communication exists and which aspect is thought to be important by the members of the projects. Then we propose a communication model based on the analysis. We focus on the communication in case of troubles, and the process is modeled using charge, competence and knowledge of each member in the project. The features of the model lies in the ability to simulate communication route dynamically. The results of the simulation is compared with the real data, and also the use of the model for communication support system is discussed.

The new notion of "multiuser interface", an interface for groups working together in a shared workspace, originated from the expansion of CSCW research and the spread of the groupware concept. This paper introduces a new multiuser interface design approach based on the translucent video overlay technique. This approach was realized in the multimedia desktop conference system Team WorkStation. Team WorkStation demonstrates that this translucent video overlay technique can achieve two different goals: (1) fused overlay for realizing the open shared workspace, and (2) selective overlay for effectively using limited screen space. This paper first describes the concept of open shared workspace and its implementation based on the fused overlay technique. The shared work window of Team-WorkStation is created by overlaying translucent individual workspace images. Each video layer is originally physically separated. However, because of the spatial relationships among marks on each layer, the set of overlaid layers provides users with sufficient semantics to fuse them into one image. The usefulness of this cognitive fusion was demonstrated through actual usage in design sessions. Second, the problem of screen space limitation is described. To solve this problem, the idea of ClearFace based on selective overlay is introduced. The ClearFace idea is to lay translucent live face video windows over a shared work window. Through the informal observations of experimental use in design sessions, little difficulty was experienced in switching the focus of attention between the face images and the drawing objects. The theory of selective looking accounts for this flexible perception mechanism. Although users can see drawn objects behind a face without difficulty, we found that users hesitate to draw figures or write text over face images. Because of this behavior, we devised the "movable" face window strategy.

In the coming information society, people will have to be engaged in the information environment for their everyday activities. We propose a new design concept of Contextual Metaphors for constructing a human interface. It introduces multiple metaphors and makes it easy for people to directly participate into the environment. The major part of the concept is to provide good contextual support for their everyday activities with a layered design of three cognitively distinct concepts. They are the use of everyday based object metaphors, the task oriented assignment of each of metaphors to system functions and the scenario based sequencings of scenes of those metaphors. A prototyping of the concept showed effectiveness of the concept together with some remarks on the actual design.