This paper proposes a new SSB-QPSK modulation/demodulation method. The present method multiplexes the USB (Upper Side Band) and LSB (Lower Side Band) of a QPSK-modulated SSB (Single Side Band) on the same SSB complex frequency band. The present method thus achieves 2 bit/s/Hz. This method is an orthogonal SSB-QPSK method, because the multiplex signals are orthogonal to each other. The demodulator consists of two SSB demodulators. A simulation result in AWGN conditions, shows that the proposed method has better BER (Bit Error Rate) performance than 16 QAM. The degradation of BER in comparison with QPSK is less than 0.2 dB on Eb/No (bit-energy-to-noise-power ratio). In a fading/Doppler environment, the BER performance of the orthogonal SSB-QPSK is the same as that of QPSK.

Visual defects, called mura in the field, sometimes occur during the manufacturing of the flat panel liquid crystal displays. In this paper we propose an automatic inspection method that reliably detects and quantifies TFT-LCD region-mura defects. The method consists of two phases. In the first phase we segment candidate region-muras from TFT-LCD panel images using the modified regression diagnostics and Niblack's thresholding. In the second phase, based on the human eye's sensitivity to mura, we quantify mura level for each candidate, which is used to identify real muras by grading them as pass or fail. Performance of the proposed method is evaluated on real TFT-LCD panel samples.

This paper reviews process, device and circuit technologies of high-density flash memories, whose market has grown explosively as bridge media. In this memory, programming throughput as well as low bit costs is critical issue. To meet the requirements, we have developed multi-level AG (Assist Gate)-AND type flash memory with small effective cell size and 10 MB/s programming throughput. We clarify three challenges to the multilevel flash memory in terms of operation method, high reliability for data retention, and high-speed multilevel programming. Future trends of high-density flash memories are also discussed.

A bandpass filter (BPF) with shielded inverted microstrip lines (SIMSL), previously demonstrated by the author, has shown the nontrivial asymmetry of filter responses in spite of adopting a conventional filter synthesis procedure. This paper will reveal the mechanism of the asymmetry and propose prescriptions for recovering the defect, in addition to observing the wave propagation property of SIMSL. Firstly, the behavior of phase constants or effective dielectric constants for various modes propagating on single SIMSL are indicated in terms of the line configuration, and the dispersion characteristics of the quasi-TEM mode are interpreted from the point of mode coupling between the pure TEM mode and dielectric slab modes. Then it is shown that the asymmetry is dependent only on the transmission characteristics of SIMSL parallel-coupled lines involved in the filter circuits. Theoretical considerations reveal that the asymmetry is due to the fact that SIMSL has quite different phase constants for the even- and odd-mode. On the basis of these results, the optimized BPF is designed and it is experimentally demonstrated that the symmetry of its responses is notably recovered. Furthermore, this optimization is still quite efficient for achieving high attenuation properties at its harmonics.

Europe has initiated research activity to analyse and prepare the floor for mobile communication beyond 3G. Very recently, around the beginning of 2004, the European commission started together with the main partners in the relevant industry special projects to realize this plan. The key objective of the WINNER (Wireless World Initiative New Radio) project is to develop an innovative concept in radio access in order to address high flexibility and scalability with respect to data rates and radio environments. The future converged wireless world requires in the long-term perspective a ubiquitous radio system instead of disparate systems for different purposes (cellular, WLAN, short-range access etc.). This concept will be derived by a systematic investigation of advanced radio technologies with respect to predicted user requirements and challenging scenarios. The project will contribute to the global research, regulatory and standardisation communities and processes.

In this paper, a novel carrier-sense multiple-access (CSMA) scheme for UWB ad-hoc network is proposed and evaluated. UWB is a kind of spread spectrum communication and it is possible to detect the distance between the nodes. With this positioning capability of the UWB systems, DS-CDMA (DS-UWB) scheme with variable spreading factor is used. In this paper, a novel CSMA scheme that employs the correlation of the spreading code is proposed.

A Power on Reset signal generation circuit referencing threshold voltage without standby current consumption has been proposed. The POR signal is generated when supply voltage is larger than the sum of threshold voltages of N- and P-MOSFET.

A cryogenic Whispering Gallery sapphire resonator oscillator has been investigated using a 4 K pulse-tube cryocooler. The turnover temperature of the chosen mode in the sapphire crystal was 9.17 K with an unloaded Q-factor of 7108. The prototype sapphire-loaded cavity oscillator was designed to oscillate at 9.195 GHz. A fractional frequency stability of 210-13 was measured at integration times of 10 s.

This paper deals with CE-SS (Constant-Envelope Spread Spectrum) signals, focusing on a novel generation technique based upon using digital processing blocks to drive a frequency modulator with a random sequence. The system described herein allows for flexibility in achieving a variety of user defined goal spectra. The foundation upon which this work is built was laid by Callegari et al. who introduced a novel synthesis procedure for 'non-stationary' modulations. This novel synthesis technique uses an iterative algorithm to arrive at an output spectrum which is a good approximation to a user-defined goal spectrum. The architecture which this paper details uses programmable logic to tune the system parameters in striving towards user defined goal spectra. The architecture can generate CE-SS waveforms whose spectra match those which the aforementioned algorithm deems achievable.

Superluminal group velocity in dispersive media has long been controversial. A partial source of confusion seems to be the absence of high precision numerical results concerning the waveform of the transmitted signal. This paper gives the precise waveforms of a causal half-sine-modulated pulse and a triangle-modulated pulse propagating in the Lorentz medium. Thus, the effects of analyticity of signal are clarified, which the analysis using Gaussian pulse cannot. Further, to deepen understanding of the mechanism of superluminal group velocity, we give a network theoretic consideration.

The scattering problem by metallic gratings has become one of fundamental problems in electromagnetics. In this paper, a thin metallic grating placed in conical mounting is treated as a lossy dielectric grating expressed by complex permittivity and thickness. The solution of the metallic grating by using the matrix eigenvalue calculations is compared with that of the plane grating by using the resistive boundary condition and the spectral Galerkin procedure, and the availability of the resistive boundary condition for thin metallic gratings in conical mounting is investigated. In order to improve the convergence of the solutions of thin metallic gratings, the spatial harmonics of flux densities which are continuous function instead of electromagnetic fields are used.

Intensity-noise characteristics of stable multi-mode Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers are analyzed experimentally and theoretically. Mode-partition noise caused by optical filtering and propagation through optical fibers is investigated by evaluating the relative intensity noise and signal-to-noise ratio. The experimental results indicate that the simplified two-mode analysis provides a good approximation. Suppression of the mode-partition noise by nonlinear gain is experimentally confirmed.

A principal attraction of ATM networks, in both wired and wireless realizations, is that the key quality of service (QoS) parameters of every call, including end-to-end delay, jitter, and loss are guaranteed by the network when appropriate cell-level traffic controls are imposed at the user network interface (UNI) on a per call basis, utilizing the peak cell rate (PCR) and the sustainable cell rate (SCR) values for the multimedia--voice, video, and data, traffic sources. There are three practical difficulties with these guarantees. First, while PCR and SCR values are, in general, difficult to obtain for traffic sources, the typical user-provided parameter is a combination of the PCR, SCR, and the maximum burstiness over the entire duration of the traffic. Second, the difficulty in accurately defining PCR arises from the requirement that the smallest time interval must be specified over which the PCR is computed which, in the limit, will approach zero or the network's resolution of time. Third, the literature does not contain any reference to a scientific principle underlying these guarantees. Under these circumstances, the issue of providing QoS guarantees in the real world, through traffic controls applied on a per call basis, is rendered uncertain. This paper adopts a radically different, high level approach to the issue of QoS guarantees. It aims at uncovering through systematic experimentation a relationship, if any exists, between the key high level user traffic characteristics and the resulting QoS measures in a realistic operational environment. It may be observed that while each user is solely interested in the QoS of his/her own traffic, the network provider cares for two factors: (1) Maximize the link utilization in the network since links constitute a significant investment, and (2) ensure the QoS guarantees for every user traffic, thereby maintaining customer satisfaction. Based on the observations, this paper proposes a two-phase strategy. Under the first phase, the average "link utilization" computed over all the links in a network is maintained within a range, specified by the underlying network provider, through high level call admission control, i.e. by limiting the volume of the incident traffic on the network, at any time. The second phase is based on the hypothesis that the number of traffic sources, their nature--audio, video, or data, and the bandwidth distribution of the source traffic, admitted subject to a specific chosen value of "link utilization" in the network, will exert a unique influence on the cumulative delay distribution at the buffers of the representative nodes and, hence, on the QoS guarantees of each call. The underlying thinking is as follows. The cumulative buffer delay distribution, at any given node and at any time instant, will clearly reflect the cumulative effect of the traffic distributions of the multiple connections that are currently active on the input links. Any bounds imposed on the cumulative buffer delay distribution at the nodes of the network will also dominate the QoS bounds of each of the constituent user traffic. Thus, for each individual traffic source, the buffer delay distributions at the nodes of the network, obtained for different traffic distributions, may serve as its QoS measure. If the hypothesis is proven true, in essence, the number of traffic sources and their bandwidth distribution will serve asa practically realizable high level traffic control in providing realistic QoS guarantees for every call. To verify the correctness of the hypothesis, an experiment is designed that consists of a representative ATM network, traffic sources that are characterized through representative and realistic user-provided parameters, and a given set of input traffic volumes appropriate for a network provider approved link utilization measure. The key source traffic parameters include the number of sources that are incident on the network and the constituent links at any given time, the bandwidth requirement of the sources, and their nature. For each call, the constituent cells are generated stochastically, utilizing the typical user-provided parameter as an estimate of the bandwidth requirement. Extensive simulations reveal that, for a given link utilization level held uniform throughout the network, while the QoS metrics--end-to-end cell delay, jitter, and loss, are superior in the presence of many calls each with low bandwidth requirement, they are significantly worse when the network carries fewer calls of very high bandwidths. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of guaranteeing QoS for each and every call through high level traffic controls. As for practicality, call durations are relatively long, ranging from ms to even minutes, thereby enabling network management to exercise realistic controls over them, even in a geographically widely dispersed ATM network. In contrast, current traffic controls that act on ATM cells at the UNI face formidable challenge from high bandwidth traffic where cell lifetimes may be extremely short, in the range of µs. The findings also underscore two additional important contributions of this paper. First, the network provider may collect data on the high level user traffic characteristics, compute the corresponding average link utilization in the network, and measure the cumulative buffer delay distributions at the nodes, in an operational network. The provider may then determine, based on all relevant criteria, a range of input and system parameters over which the network may be permitted to operate, the intersection of all of which may yield a realistic network operating point (NOP). During subsequent operation of the network, the network provider may guide and maintain the network at a desired NOP by exercising control over the input and system parameters including link utilization, call admittance based on the requested bandwidth, etc. Second, the finding constitutes a vulnerability of ATM networks which a perpetrator may exploit to launch a performance attack.

This paper describes a real-time blind source separation (BSS) method for moving speech signals in a room. Our method employs frequency domain independent component analysis (ICA) using a blockwise batch algorithm in the first stage, and the separated signals are refined by postprocessing using crosstalk component estimation and non-stationary spectral subtraction in the second stage. The blockwise batch algorithm achieves better performance than an online algorithm when sources are fixed, and the postprocessing compensates for performance degradation caused by source movement. Experimental results using speech signals recorded in a real room show that the proposed method realizes robust real-time separation for moving sources. Our method is implemented on a standard PC and works in realtime.

Breaking arcs occurring between Ag or Cu electrical contact pairs in DC 56 V/7 A resistive circuit are observed with a high-speed camera (1000 frames/s). As a result, the increase of brightness of the arc-emitted light synchronizes with the increase of arc current in the latter half of arc duration. For the case of Ag contacts, the brightness increases in entire region of the breaking arc with sudden increase of the arc current. On the other hand, the increase of the intensity for Cu contacts occurs in not only entire discharge region but also anode spot region significantly.

All power electronic circuits with state feedback controlled switching can be described as nonlinear time-varying dynamical systems. The occurrence of chaos--where the ripple waveforms become aperiodic--is common in such systems. It is shown here that this natural phenomenon may be effectively used in minimizing electromagnetic interference problems in power electronic circuits. This is because converters operating chaotically tend to spread the spectrum, thereby reducing the interference power at any target frequency. We also present the ways of calculating the average values of state variables and the power spectrum under chaotic operation.

This letter describes consecutive zero and one bits detection circuits designed for a 1.25 Gbit/s burst mode laser driver realized in a SiGe 0.35 µm BiCMOS technology with 3.3 V power supply. The architecture is based on a frequency divider and a delay line counting per four consecutive zero or one bits. The detector was designed with high-speed split-output stage flip-flops modified to have a reset input. Experimental results validate the design of the detector.

In this paper the correlation spectrum of antenna array is introduced. Based on the relationship between the correlation spectrum and space spectrum of MUSIC, we proposed a novel approach to improve the DOA estimation by arranging the linear antenna array elements using genetic algorithm (GA) in optimizing the correlation spectrum. The DOA estimation performance of the optimized array is validated by Monte Carlo simulation and Cramer-Rao bound (CRB), which are improved compared with that of the traditional uniform linear array and the Minimum-Redundancy array (MRA).

This paper proposes a new implementation of an adaptive noise canceller based upon a parallel block structure, which aims to raise the processing and convergence rates and to improve the steady-state performance. The procedure is as follows: First, an IIR bandpass filter with a variable center angular frequency using adaptive Q-factor control and two adaptive control signal generators are realized by the parallel block structure. Secondly, a new algorithm for adaptive Q-factor control with parallel block structure is proposed to improve the convergence characteristic. In addition, the steady-state performance of the filter is stabilized by using the variable step size parameter in adaptive control of the center frequency and the speed up of the convergence rate is achieved by adopting a normalized gradient algorithm for adaptive control. Finally, simulation results are given to demonstrate the convergence performance.

This paper describes a noise robustness technique that normalizes the cepstral amplitude range in order to remove the influence of additive noise. Additive noise causes speech feature mismatches between testing and training environments and it degrades recognition accuracy in noisy environments. We presume an approximate model that expresses the influence by changing the amplitude range and the DC component in the log-spectra. According to this model, we propose a cepstral amplitude range normalization (CARN) that normalizes the cepstral distance between maximum and minimum values. It can estimate noise robust features without prior knowledge or adaptation. We evaluated its performance in an isolated word recognition task by using the Noisex92 database. Compared with the combinations of conventional methods, the CARN could improve recognition accuracy under various SNR conditions.