This letter considers multiuser time delay estimation in a sparse channel environment for radiolocation. The generalized successive interference cancellation (GSIC) algorithm is used to eliminate the multiple access interference (MAI). To adapt GSIC to sparse channels the alternating maximization (AM) algorithm is considered, and the continuous time delay of each path is estimated without requiring a priori known data sequences.

A method is presented that can substantially reduce the memory requirements of non-binary turbo decoders by efficient representation of the extrinsic information. In the case of the duo-binary turbo decoder employed by the IEEE 802.16e standard, the extrinsic information memory can be reduced by about 43%, which decreases the total decoder complexity by 18%. We also show that the proposed algorithm can be implemented by simple hardware architecture.

This paper proposed a region-based curve control function to detect the brain ventricle area by utilizing a geodesic active contour model. This is based on the average brightness of the brain ventricle area which is brighter in MRI images. Compared numerically by using various types of measurements, the proposed method can detect the brain ventricle area better than the existing methods.

In this paper, we propose the stream multiplexing scheme to achieve the high spectral efficiency on OFDM-MIMO system considering (a) the effects of the inter-stream interference suppression techniques, (b) the influence of the quality measurement in the receiver to select the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and (c) the influence of the signaling overheads to the spectral efficiency. Two kinds of schemes for stream multiplexing, namely Multiple CodeWord (MCW) and Single CodeWord (SCW) are investigated and compared. In the simulations, we assume real channel estimation for SINR measurement for MCS selection and we compare the schemes with the spectral efficiency taking into account overheads. In consequence, it is presented that MCW can achieve the higher efficiency than SCW in the middle to high SINR region. Moreover, in 44 antenna configuration, a 2CW-MCW scheme where 2 codewords mapped onto 4 streams according to SINR of each streams is proposed. The scheme gives higher throughput by improving the MCS selection in the low SINR region due to increase of data length per a codeword and by reducing the signaling overhead due to the decrease of the number of codewords. As a result, the proposed scheme achieves spectral efficiency improvement in whole SINR region.

A novel low-complexity iterative receiver for coded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is proposed in this letter. The iterative receiver uses the parallel interference cancellation (PIC)-maximum ratio combining (MRC) detector for MIMO-OFDM detection, which is a popular alternative to the minimum mean square error (MMSE) detector due to its lower computational complexity. However, we have found that the conventional PIC-MRC detector tends to underestimate the magnitude of its output log likelihood ratios (LLRs). Based on this discovery, we propose to multiply these LLRs by a constant factor, which is optimized according to the extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart of the soft-in soft-out (SISO) detector. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme significantly improves the performance of the PIC-MRC-based receiver with little additional cost in computational complexity, allowing it to closely approach the performance of receiver using the much more complex MMSE detector.

We present a linear-time algorithm for treating collision response of articulated rigid bodies in physically based modeling. By utilizing the topology of articulated rigid bodies and the property of linear equations, our method can solve in linear time the system of linear equations that is crucial for treating collision response.

Several structured peer-to-peer networks have been created to solve the scalability problem of previous peer-to-peer systems such as Gnutella and Napster. These peer-to-peer networks which support distributed hash table functionality construct a sort of structured overlay network, which can cause a topology mismatch between the overlay and the underlying physical network. To solve this mismatch problem, we propose a topology-aware hierarchical overlay framework for DHTs. The hierarchical approach for the overlay is based on the concept that the underlying global Internet is also a hierarchical architecture, that is, a network of networks. This hierarchical approach for the overlay puts forth two benefits: finding data in a physically near place with a high probability, and smaller lookup time. Our hierarchical overlay framework is different from other hierarchical architecture systems in a sense that it provides a specific self-organizing grouping algorithm. Our additional optimization schemes complete the basic algorithm which constructs a hierarchical structure without any central control.

In this letter, a low complexity ML detection technique for V-BLAST systems is proposed. In this proposed scheme, V probable streams are detected according to the first detected sub-stream of DFE detector and most probable stream is selected by likelihood test, since the performance of V-BLAST system depends on the first sub-stream detection capability. It has been shown that the proposed technique can detect the transmitted data more accurately than conventional DFE decoding scheme, and has very lower complexity than ML detector.

A measurement system is developed to observe the switching current distribution in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJ's). We have designed the frequency responses of filters and cables to achieve the compatibility of sufficient isolation at high frequency region and accurate detection of the distribution at low frequency region. The temperature dependence of the switching current distributions measured on a IJJ by the present system agrees well with the theoretical calculation in the temperature range from 70 mK to 5 K. The consistency of the crossover temperature between experimental result and calculation suggests that the designed measurement system succeeded in observing the macroscopic quantum tunneling process.

This paper presents a simple but high resolution DOA estimation method using second-order differential of MUSIC spectrum. MUSIC method is paid attention as one of "Superresolution" DOA estimation methods because of their brilliant characteristics, however MUSIC also has the problem of estimation accuracy in severe environments like low SNR, small number of snapshots, or incident waves from closely-spaced angles. Especially the case of two or more incident waves from closely-spaced angles, MUSIC often fails in making spectrum peaks that leads inaccurate DOA estimation. We pay attention to the fact that the second-order differential of MUSIC spectrum makes negative peaks around the original DOAs even when MUSIC spectrum does not make peaks there. We try to estimate DOAs not by MUSIC spectrum but by the second-order differential of the MUSIC spectrum, and to find its peaks for being estimated DOAs. The performance of the present method is evaluated in compared with MUSIC and Root-MUSIC methods through computer simulations and experiments.

This paper presents the Physical Optics field calculation in terms of only line integrations by using the Modified Edge Representation technique (MER), the alternative way of the surface integration. Not only the diffracted fields as in the conventional method of equivalent edge currents (EEC) but also the scattering geometrical optics fields are expressed in terms of the MER line integrals. The far field patterns of parabolic reflector antennas with the defocused dipole feed are discussed and the satisfactory agreement with those obtained by the Physical Optics surface integration is demonstrated.

A novel procedure for an efficient and rigorous solution of electromagnetic scattering problems is presented. It is based on the use of universal bases that are obtained by applying the SVD procedure to PO-derived basis functions. These bases, constructed by totally bypassing any matrix-type approach, can be used for all angles of incidence and their use leads to a matrix with relatively small dimensions. The method enables us to solve 2D scattering problems in a computationally efficient and numerically rigorous manner.

This paper presents a low cost and portable DOA (Direction Of Arrival) estimation system for surveillance using a modifed beamspace MUSIC (MUltiple Signal Classification) by a quasi-orthogonal multi-beam. This is instead of DFT processing and hardware system consisting of chip-sized phase shifters, a single ADC (Analogue to Digital Converter) and a single TR (TRanceiver) module for an antenna array. In the beamspace MUSIC, generated beampatterns have orthogonal properties. This proposed system cannot make such a beampattern due to the variable range limitation of phase shifter, then we use the quasi-orthogonal beam obtained by the calculation of correlation coefficient for beampattern. We demonstrate the proposed system using 4-element microstrip array antenna and chip-sized phase shifters. The DOA experiment in anechoic chamber confirms the proposed system performance.

Traffic sign detection is a valuable part of future driver support system. In this paper, we present a novel framework to accurately detect traffic signs from a single color image by analyzing geometrical, physical and text/symbol features of traffic signs. First, we utilize an elaborate edge detection algorithm to extract edge map and accurate edge pixel gradient information. Then, we extract 2-D geometric primitives (circles, ellipses, rectangles and triangles) efficiently from image edge map. Third, the candidate traffic sign regions are selected by analyzing the intrinsic color features, which are invariant to different illumination conditions, of each region circumvented by geometric primitives. Finally, a text and symbol detection algorithm is introduced to classify true traffic signs. Experimental results demonstrated the capabilities of our algorithm to detect traffic signs with respect to different size, shape, color and illumination conditions.

A one dimensional (1-D) based tree structure algorithm is proposed for estimating the 2D-DOAs of the signals impinging on a uniform rectangular array. The key idea of the proposed algorithm is to successively utilize the 1-D MUSIC algorithm several times, in tree structure, to estimate the azimuth and the elevation angles independently. Subspace projectors are exploited in conjunction with the 1-D MUSIC algorithms to decompose the received signal into several signals each coordinated by its own 2D-DOA. The pairing of the azimuth estimates and the associated elevation estimates is naturally determined due to the tree structure of the algorithm.

The performance of a force feedback system is disturbed by delay that arises from the time required for transmission and processing of data. We used a psychophysical method to measure how much a user's subjective impression of elasticity associated with delays of feedback force deviated from the original physical elasticity. The results show that users' point of subjective equality (PSE) for their subjective impression of elasticity decreased as the delay of feedback force increased. We proposed a model that estimates the PSE of elasticity from the variables that can be physically measured. Another experiment was conducted to examine the model's prediction, which the results supported.

This paper presents a scheme for accurately detecting the number of incident waves arriving at array antennas. The array antenna and MIMO techniques are developing as 4th generation mobile communication systems and wireless LAN technologies, and the accurate estimation of the propagation environment is becoming more important. This paper emphasizes the accurate detection of the number of incident waves; one of the important characteristics in multidirectional communication. There are some recent papers on accurate detection but they have problems of estimation accuracy or computational cost in severe environment like low SNR, small number of snapshots or waves with close angles. Hence, AIC and MDL methods based on statistics and information theory are still often used. In this paper, we propose an accurate estimation method of the number of arrival signals using the orthogonality of subspaces derived from preliminary estimation of signal subspace. The proposed method accurately estimates the number of signals also in severe environments where AIC and MDL methods can hardly estimate. We evaluate the performance of these methods through some computer simulation and experiments in anechoic chamber.

Modern processors have large instruction windows to improve performance. They usually adopt register renaming, where every active instruction with a valid destination needs a physical register. As the instruction windows get larger, however, bigger physical register files are required. To solve this problem, we proposed a physical register sharing technique. It shares a physical register among multiple instructions based on a value similarity. As a result, we achieved performance improvement without increasing the size of the physical register file. In addition, the proposed technique can also be used to reduce the timing, complexity and area overhead of the physical register file.

A highly integrated monolithic Multi-Service Transport Platform (MSTP) ASIC MSEOSX8-6 incorporating more than 26M transistors has been fabricated with 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The chip is a powerful monolithic MSTP ASIC that supports RPR applications and serves as a generic building block for MSTP network. To accelerate the chip design, we devise a novel methodology called Embedded Reduced Self-Tester (ERST), which integrates the reduced self-tester structure into the chip to shorten the duration of dynamic simulation. Moreover, we divide the design into 12 smaller Hierarchical Layout Blocks (HLB) to enable parallel layout. Resultantly, the whole design has been completed in 5 months, which saves at least 80% of the design cycle in all.

The noise robustness of an audio fingerprinting system is one of the most important issues in music information retrieval by the content-based audio identification technique. In a real environment, sound recordings are commonly distorted by channel and background noise. Recently, Philips published a robust and efficient audio fingerprinting system for audio identification. To extract a robust and efficient audio fingerprint, Philips applied the first derivative (differential) to the frequency-time sequence of the perceptual filter-bank energies. In practice, however, the noise robustness of Philips' audio fingerprinting scheme is still insufficient. In this paper, we introduce an extension method of the audio fingerprinting scheme for the enhancement of noise robustness. As an alternative to frequency filtering, a type of band-pass filter, instead of a high-pass filter, is used to achieve robustness to background noise in a real situation. Our experimental results show that the proposed filter improves the noise robustness in audio identification.