In this paper, we propose an RTP/UDP/IP header compression method, Multiple-Reference Compression (MRC), which is designed for mobile multimedia communications. MRC is a compression method that calculates differences from the multiple reference headers that have already been sent and inserts them into a compressed header. The receiver can decompress the compressed header as long as at least one of the reference headers is correctly received and decompressed. MRC improves robustness against packet losses compared with CRTP defined in IETF RFC2508, and imposes less overheads and computational burden than robust header compression (ROHC) defined in RFC3095. We also implemented MRC and other header compression algorithms into our mobile testbed, and conducted multimedia streaming experiments over the testbed. The results of the experiments show that MRC offers the same level of packet loss rate as Legacy RTP for both audio and video streams, and provides better media quality than Legacy RTP and CRTP on error-prone radio links. Header compression robust against packet losses is expected as a key technology for VoIP and multimedia streaming services over 3G and future mobile networks.

Detection loss due to phase error in a carrier tracking loop is analyzed and simulated for a code division multiple access system with BPSK and QPSK modulations in a Rayleigh fading channel. For a specific BER, the detection loss due to phase error is defined as an increase of required SNR to maintain the same BER without phase error. A nonlinear Fokker-Planck method is employed to analyze first-order PLL (phase locked loop) performance. From the simulation results, it is confirmed that the phase noise induces significant detection loss, which eventually leads to degradation of the BER performance.

In this letter a low-complexity and low-power realization of the 2D discrete-cosine-transform and its inverse (DCT/IDCT) is presented. A VLSI circuit based on the Chen algorithm with the distributed arithmetic approach is described. Furthermore low-power design techniques, based on clock gating and data driven switching activity reduction, are used to decrease the circuit power consumption. To this aim, input signal statistics have been extracted from H.263/MPEG verification models. Finally, circuit performance is compared to known software solutions and dedicated full-custom ones.

A noise suppression algorithm with high speech quality based on weighted noise estimation and MMSE STSA is proposed. The proposed algorithm continuously updates the estimated noise by weighted noisy speech in accordance with an estimated SNR. The spectral gain is modified with the estimated SNR so that it can better utilize the improvement in noise estimation. With a better noise estimate, a more correct SNR is obtained resulting in the enhanced speech with low distortion. Subjective evaluation results show that five-grade mean opinion scores of the new algorithm with and without a speech codec are improved by as much as 0.35 and 0.40 respectively, compared with either the original MMSE STSA or the EVRC noise suppression algorithm.

This paper investigates the cell search time performance of our previously proposed three-step cell search method in a two-cell site environment by laboratory and field experiments supporting asynchronous cell site operation, which is one of the most notable features of wideband direct sequence code division multiple access (W-CDMA) mobile communications. The cell search methods used in the paper are based on the ongoing third generation partnership project (3GPP), in which our original scheme was refined with respect to several points in order to reduce the complexity of the receiver. The experimental results demonstrate that the method achieves the fast cell search time of less than one second in real multipath-fading channels. The cell search is accomplished in less than approximately 700 msec at 90% of the detection probability when 4.7% and 0.5% of the total transmit power of a cell site is assigned to the common pilot channel (CPICH) and synchronization channels (SCHs), respectively, in a two-cell site environment. We also elucidate that the cell search time at the detection probability of 90% using time switched transmit diversity (TSTD) is decreased by approximately 100 msec compared to that without TSTD in low-mobility environments such as the average vehicular speed of 5 km/h with a transmit power assignment of the CPICH of 4.7%.

The radio-frequency thermal noise in fully-depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs and bulk MOSFETs is theoretically examined using a distributed-transmission-line model. It is shown that the thermal noise in a scaled-down SOI MOSFET is basically smaller than that in a scaled-down bulk MOSFET in a wide frequency range. In the radio-frequency range, parasitic resistances in source and drain don't yield a remarkable contribution to the difference in output thermal noise power between scaled-down bulk MOSFETs and scaled-down SOI MOSFETs. However, the output thermal noise of scaled-down SOI MOSFETs with a finite parasitic resistance is smaller than that of scaled-down bulk MOSFETs because of smaller channel capacitance.

This paper proposes a signal-to-interference power ratio (SIR) measurement method that employs the transmission gap of a data channel (TGDC) interval for precise link adaptation, in order to eliminate the influence of severe multipath interference (MPI) from a shared packet channel and to decrease further the instantaneous variations in interference components for high-speed packet transmission in the forward link using adaptive data modulation associated with the multipath interference canceller (MPIC). Computer simulation results elucidate that the required received signal energy per chip-to-background noise power spectrum density ratio (Ec/N0) based on the SIR measurement employing TGDC at the throughput of 4.2 Mbps is decreased by approximately 2.0 dB compared to the conventional method without TGDC using chip-based interference power measurement for the number of paths L = 1, and by approximately 1.5 dB compared to the conventional method using symbol-based interference power measurement for L = 2, respectively. Therefore, we show that the adaptive data modulation with the SIR measurement exploiting the TGDC interval achieves almost the maximum (i.e., almost ideal selection) throughput, without changing the SIR measurement method according to the propagation conditions such as the number of multipaths.

We design a four-reflector offset antenna satisfying the cross-polarization elimination condition and the broadband characteristics condition which consists of one primary horn, three subreflectors and one main reflector. The cross-polarization elimination condition for the four-reflector offset antennas is expressed by the equations of hyperbolas with the coordinate axes of the reciprocal of equivalent focal lengths. The configurations of the reflector system are derived simply from the graphical representation because four-reflector offset antennas satisfying these relationships exist on the hyperbolas with the coordinate axes of the reciprocal of equivalent focal lengths. Furthermore, we clarified that the derived condition for having planar phase front applying the broadband characteristics condition is independent of frequency. An actual design example for the four-reflector offset antennas satisfying the cross-polarization elimination condition and the condition for having planar phase front, both of which are independent of frequency is shown. The design method using the graphical representation is simpler than that of the tri-reflector offset antennas.

This paper discusses self-similarity in cell dwell time of a mobile terminal, the discovery of which was described in our previous paper, and its effects on teletraffic of mobile communication networks. We have evaluated various teletraffic statistics, such as cell dwell time and channel occupancy time, of a mobile terminal based on measurements of motion for various types of vehicles. Those results show that cell dwell time follows a long-tailed log-normal distribution rather than the exponential distribution that has been used for modeling. Here, we first elaborate on self-similarity in cell dwell time of various vehicles. We then evaluate self-similarity in channel occupancy time. For future mobile multimedia communication systems employing a micro-cell configuration, it is anticipated that data communication will be the main form of communication and that call holding time will be long. For such cases, we have shown that channel occupancy time will be greatly affected by the cell dwell time of the mobile terminal, and that self-similarity, a characteristic that is not seen in conventional systems, will consequently appear. We have also found that hand-off frequently fails as self-similarity in cell dwell time of a mobile terminal becomes stronger.

A novel common emitter common collector transistor pair (CECCTP) mixer is presented. A LO pumped CECCTP enables even harmonic mixing operation, and a balanced CECCTP mixer configuration enables the suppression of both 2fLO and fIM2 which are undesirable component for direct conversion mixer. A 2 GHz-band balanced CECCTP mixer is fabricated in SiGe HBT process, and the direct conversion characteristics are measured. It performs conversion gain of 8.8 dB, NF of 14.9 dB and IIP2 of 42.3 dBm when LO power is -6 dBm, supplied voltage is 3 V and current is 5 mA.

A highly efficient power MOSFET has been developed for 3.6 V RF power amplifiers for use in GSM (Global Systems for Mobile communications) cellular telephone systems (880-915 MHz). It was fabricated using a 0.45-µm CMOS LSI process with an Al-shorted metal-silicide/Si gate structure instead of a conventional 0.8-µm Mo-gate. The resulting power MOSFET has an on-state resistance of 6.9 Ωmm, a breakdown voltage of 13 V, and a cut-off frequency of 11 GHz. The RF performance of the device achieved an output power (Pout) of 1.8 W, a power gain of 10 dB, and a power-added efficiency (ηadd) of 60%. In addition, an RF power module using our proposed power MOSFET achieved an output power of 4 W and a total efficiency of 50%.

The purpose of this study is to show the chaotic features of rhythmic joint movement. Depending on the experimental conditions, one (or both) elbow angle(s) was (were) measured by one (or two) goniometer(s). Pacing was provided for six different frequencies presented in random order. When the frequency of the pace increased, the fractal dimension and first Lyapunov exponent tended to increase. Moreover, the first Lyapunov exponent obtained positive values for all of the observed data. These results indicate that there is chaos in rhythmic joint movement and that the larger the frequency, the more chaotic the joint movement becomes.

In this paper, we analyze the performance of a bulk handoff scheme for mixed traffic in integrated voice/data wireless mobile networks in which new and handoff voice/data calls are accepted based on prioritization of handoff requests. If fewer channels than handoff calls are available in the target cell, some handoff calls are terminated without queuing. A higher priority is given to voice handoff calls than to data handoff calls. A multidimensional birth-death process model is presented to analyze the bulk handoff performance of mixed traffic. A numerical analysis of system performance is presented to evaluate the blocking probabilities of new voice and data calls, handoff failure probabilities, and the forced termination probabilities of voice/data handoff calls.

In this semi-tutorial paper, the reliability-based decoding approaches using the reprocessing of the most reliable information set are investigated. This paper somehow homogenizes and compares former different studies, hopefully improving the overall transparency, and completing each one with tricks provided by the others. A couple of sensible improvements are also suggested. However, the main goal remains to integrate and compare recent works based on a similar general approach, which have unfortunately been performed in parallel without much efforts of comparison up to now. Their respective (dis)advantages, especially in terms of average or maximum complexity are elaborated. We focus on suboptimum decoding while some works to which we refer were developed for maximum likelihood decoding (MLD). No quantitative error performance analysis is provided, although we are in a position to benefit from some qualitative considerations, and to compare different strategies in terms of higher or lower expected error performances for a same complexity. With simulations, however, it turns out that all considered approaches perform very closely to each other, which was not especially obvious at first sight. The simplest strategy proves also the fastest in terms of CPU-time, but we indicate ways to implement the other ones so that they get very close to each other from this point of view also. On top of relying on the same intuitive principle, the studied algorithms are thus also unified from the point of view of their error performances and computational cost.

An L-band low quiescent current and low distortion SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) driver amplifier having a self base bias control circuit is described. Since the size of this bias circuit is small and it does not need an external control circuit, it is easy to be integrated with the driver amplifier on a single chip. According to the output power level, the self base bias control circuit, which is the combination of a constant base voltage circuit and p-metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) FET current mirror with a constant current source, automatically controls the base voltage, and allows low quiescent current at low output power level and low distortion at high output power level. The simulated results show that the driver amplifier having the self base bias control circuit achieves 1 dB power compression point (P1 dB) improvement of 2.4 dB compared with the driver amplifier having a conventional constant base voltage under the same quiescent current condition. The fabricated driver amplifier with the proposed bias circuit shows high P1 dB of 15.0 dBm with low quiescent current of 15.3 mA.

We propose a DPC-PA (Distributed Power Control with Power Assignment) algorithm to speed up the process of finding a feasible power set for multimedia CDMA wireless networks. We prove that given a feasible configuration, the power set of the DPC-PA algorithm will converge to a feasible power set which achieves equality in a set of linear equations. We also found, from numerical experiments, that the DPC-PA algorithm can find a feasible power set (if there is one) much faster than the distributed power control algorithm without power assignment.

A new blocking artifact reduction algorithm is proposed that uses block classification and feedforward neural network filters in the spatial domain. At first, the existence of blocking artifact is determined using statistical characteristics of neighborhood block, which is then used to classify the block boundaries into one of four classes. Thereafter, adaptive inter-block filtering is only performed in two classes of block boundaries that include blocking artifact. That is, in smooth regions with blocking artifact, a two-layer feedforward neural network filters trained by an error back-propagation algorithm is used, while in complex regions with blocking artifact, a linear interpolation method is used to preserve the image details. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm produces better results than the conventional algorithms.

In an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system, the bit error performance is degraded in the presence of multiple propagation paths whose excess delays are longer than the Guard Interval (GI), because the orthogonality between subcarriers cannot be maintained. Therefore, the GI has to be long enough for an expected delay spread of the channel. On the other hand, a long GI causes a decrease in transmission efficiency. In this paper, we propose a new OFDM demodulation method with a variable effective symbol duration, in order to improve the bit error performance in the presence of multipaths whose excess delays are longer than the GI. The proposed method can realize more stable radio communication systems under a multipath propagation environment even if a propagation path whose excess delay is longer than the GI exists. In other words, the proposed method can improve transmission efficiency without performance degradation by a shortened GI under the same environment. The principle of the proposed method is explained, and the bit error probability of the proposed method is analyzed theoretically in an AWGN channel and a multipath fading channel. The performance of the proposed method is then evaluated by computer simulation. The results show that the proposed method improves the system availability under more various multipath fading environments without changing the system parameters.

A novel self-alignment process using the surface tension of the liquid resin for assembly of electronic or optoelectronic devices in 3-D space has been proposed. The vertical alignment can be controlled by using of metal sphere, reducing the necessary precise process control such as solder volumes and external forces, and allowing large tolerances in liquid volume and misalignment. Lateral alignment could be also achieved by making the liquid resin constrained on the 3-dimensional pads on chip and substrate. This study focused on the principle of self-alignment and final alignment accuracy. In addition, the possibility of self-alignment process was verified by analytic numerical method and scaled-up experiment. An average alignment accuracy of less than 0.25 µm has been obtained. It is thought that this process is effective for assembly simply at low process temperature, low cost and without flux in future assembly techniques.

In this paper, we introduce a concept of minimum bandwidth guaranteed service model for mobile multimedia. In this service model, service is defined in the context of the guaranteed minimum bandwidth and the residual service share. Each flow under this service model is guaranteed with its minimum bandwidth and provided with more in proportion to the residual service share if there is leftover bandwidth. The guaranteed minimum bandwidth assures a flow to keep minimum tolerable quality regardless of the network load, while the leftover bandwidth enhances the quality of service according to the application's adaptivity and the user's interest. We show that the minimum bandwidth guaranteed service model could be implemented by a two-folded wireless packet scheduler consisting of a guaranteed scheduler and a sharing scheduler. Wireless channel condition of each flow is considered in scheduling so that wireless resource can be distributed only to the flows of good channel state, improving total wireless link utilization. We evaluate the service model and the scheduling method by simulation and implementation.