This paper describes a new speech enhancement system that employs a microphone array with post-processing based on minimum mean-square error short-time spectral amplitude (MMSE-STSA) estimator. To get more accurate MMSE-STSA estimator in a microphone array, modification and refinement procedure are carried out from each microphone output. Performance of the proposed system is compared with that of other methods using a microphone array. Noise removal experiments for white and pink noises demonstrate the superiority of the proposed speech enhancement system to others with a microphone array in average output SNRs and cepstral distance measures.

This paper presents an efficient LSP quantizer implementation for low bit-rate coders. The major feature of the quantizer is that it uses a truncated cepstral distance criterion for the code selection procedure. This approach has generally been considered too computationally costly. We utilized the quantizer with a moving-average predictor, two-stage-split vector quantizer and delayed decision. We have investigated the optimal parameter settings in this case and incorporated the quantizer thus obtained into an ITU-T 4-kbit/s speech coding candidate algorithm with a bit budget of 21 bits. The objective performance is better than that with a conventional weighted mean-square criterion, while the complexity is still kept to a reasonable level. The paper also describes the codebook design and techniques that were employed to achieve robustness in noisy channel conditions.

A new inter-client synchronization framework employing a server-client coordinated adaptive playout and error control toward one-to-many (i.e., multicast) media streaming is discussed in this paper. The proposed adaptive playout mechanism controls the playout speed of audio and video by adopting the time-scale modification of audio. Based on the overall synchronization status as well as the buffer occupancy level, the playout speed of each client is manipulated within a perceptually tolerable range. By coordinating the playout speed of each client, the inter-client synchronization with respect to the target presentation time is smoothly achieved. Furthermore, RTCP-compatible signaling between the server and group-clients is performed to achieve the inter-client synchronization and error recovery, where the exchange of controlling message is restricted. Simulation results show the performance of the proposed multicast media streaming framework.

We propose a new method to recover scene points from a single calibrated view using a subset of distances among the points. This paper first introduces the problem and its relationship with the perspective n point problem. Then the number of distances required to uniquely recover scene points are explored. The result is then developed into a practical vision algorithm to calculate the initial points' coordinates using distance constraints. Finally SQP (Sequential Quadratic Programming) is used to optimize the initial estimations. It can minimize a cost function defined as the sum of squared reprojection errors while keeping the specified distance constraints strictly satisfied. Both simulation data and real scene images have been used to test the proposed method, and good results have been obtained.

This paper offers an initial analysis of economic and market issues in the development and deployment of mobile remote physiological monitoring services for medical patients through wireless wearable sensors and actuators. Examining the characteristics of the service technologies and related industries, this study focuses on the structure, participants and roles of standardisation of the layers within the emerging mobile remote physiological monitoring industry. The study concludes that the structure of the emerging mobile remote physiological monitoring industry will be oriented about service provision, be integrated with other personal / patient data storage services and be heavily influenced by the interplay of technological developments, the health market structure, existing players and regulation. Additionally, the keys players are likely to be the system integrators and service providers concentrating on large institutional customers. A focus of the paper is analysing both the causes and implications of a modular, horizontally layered industry structure likely to result from the mix of technologies, suppliers and customers as this market develops. The paper discusses why, although horizontal specialisation is the most likely outcome, there is little risk of key layers becoming commoditised. The paper also discusses the appropriate types and levels of standardisation and equipment certification activities that should be encouraged, along with from which groups and industries the pressure for these will come.

This letter discusses the performance of online SNR estimation including fading parameter estimation for parallel combinatorial SS (PC/SS) systems. The PC/SS systems are partial-code-parallel multicode SS systems, which have high-rate data transmission capability. Nakagami-m distribution is assumed as fading channel model to cover a wide range of fading conditions. The SNR and fading parameter estimation considered in this letter is based on only a statistical ratio of correlator outputs at the receiver. Numerical results show that SNR estimation performance with fading parameter estimation is close to the one in the case of perfect fading parameter information, if the number of transmitting PN codes is less than a half of assigned PN codes.

A post-wall waveguide-fed parallel plate slotted array is an attractive candidate for high efficiency and mass producible planar array antennas for millimeter wave applications. For the slot design of this large sized array, a periodic boundary wall model based on the assumption of infinite array size and a parallel waveguide is used. In fact, the aperture is large but still finite (10-40 wavelength) and the TEM-like wave is perturbed due to the narrow walls at the periphery of the aperture as well as the slot coupling; antenna efficiency is affected by the size and the aspect ratio of the aperture. All these observations imply the unique defects of oversized waveguide arrays. In this paper, the aperture efficiency of post-wall waveguide arrays is assessed as a function of size and aspect ratio of the aperture for the first time, both in theory and measurement. An effective field analysis for an electrically large oversized waveguide array, developed by the author, is utilized for determining the slot excitation coefficients and aperture illumination. It is predicted that the oversized waveguide array has a potential efficiency of 80-90% if the aperture is larger than 18 wavelength on a side and the gain is more than 30 dBi. A transversely wide aperture generally provides higher efficiency than a longitudinally long aperture, provided a perfectly uniform TEM wave would be launched from the feed waveguide.

A new state reduction method of incompletely specified sequential machines is proposed in this paper. The method is based on a genetic algorithm implementing a dormant mechanism. MCNC benchmark machines are simplified by using this method to evaluate the method. The experimental results show that machines of almost the same number of states as the minimum ones can be derived by this method.

Classical models of speech recognition assume that a detailed, short-term analysis of the acoustic signal is essential for accurately decoding the speech signal and that this decoding process is rooted in the phonetic segment. This paper presents an alternative view, one in which the time scales required to accurately describe and model spoken language are both shorter and longer than the phonetic segment, and are inherently wedded to the syllable. The syllable reflects a singular property of the acoustic signal -- the modulation spectrum -- which provides a principled, quantitative framework to describe the process by which the listener proceeds from sound to meaning. The ability to understand spoken language (i.e., intelligibility) vitally depends on the integrity of the modulation spectrum within the core range of the syllable (3-10 Hz) and reflects the variation in syllable emphasis associated with the concept of prosodic prominence ("accent"). A model of spoken language is described in which the prosodic properties of the speech signal are embedded in the temporal dynamics associated with the syllable, a unit serving as the organizational interface among the various tiers of linguistic representation.

In this paper we consider the VLSI layout (i.e., Manhattan layout) of graphs into grids with minimum width (i.e., the length of the shorter side of a grid) as well as with minimum area. The layouts into minimum area and minimum width are equivalent to those with the largest possible aspect ratio of a minimum area layout. Thus such a layout has a merit that, by "folding" the layout, a layout of all possible aspect ratio can be obtained with increase of area within a small constant factor. We show that an N-vertex tree with layout-width k (i.e., the minimum width of a grid into which the tree can be laid out is k) can be laid out into a grid of area O(N) and width O(k). For binary tree layouts, we give a detailed trade-off between area and width: an N-vertex binary tree with layout-width k can be laid out into area and width k + α, where α is an arbitrary integer with 0 α , and the area is existentially optimal for any k 1 and α 0. This implies that α = Ω(k) is essential for a layout of a graph into optimal area. The layouts proposed here can be constructed in polynomial time. We also show that the problem of laying out a given graph G into given area and width, or equivalently, into given length and width is NP-hard even if G is restricted to a binary tree.

In the urban area, buildings are the main scatterer which dominate the mobile propagation characteristics. However, reflection, diffraction, and scattering on the building surfaces in the radio environment induce undesirable multipath propagation. Multipath prediction with respect to a building surface has been conventionally based on an assumption that reflection from the surface has a substantial specular direction. However non-specular scattering from the building surface can affect the channel characteristics as well as specular scattering. This paper presents multipath characteristics of non-specular wave scattering from building surface roughness based on the experimental results. Superresolution method was applied as an approach to handle the signal parameters (DoA, ToA) of the individual incoming waves reflected from building surface roughness. The results show that the multipaths can be detected at many scatterers, such as ground, window's glass, window's frames and bricks surface, as well as directly from the transmitter. Most of the scattered waves are arriving closely from specular directions. The measured reflection coefficients were well bounded by reflection coefficients of the theoretically smooth and random rough surface. The Fresnel reflection coefficient formula, considering the finite thickness of the building surface and Gaussian scattering correction, give better prediction for glass and bricks reflection coefficient measurement.

A method for estimating the bit-error rate (BER) of turbo codes called the Monte Carlo distance spectrum method is proposed. Testing this method shows that the estimated BER curves closely approximate the results of a Monte Carlo simulation.

This paper formulates functions generating four kinds of binary sequence sets of length 2n with zero correlation zone, which have been discussed for approximately synchronized CDMA systems without co-channel interference nor influence of multipath. They are logic functions of a binary vector of order n, expressed by EXOR and AND operations.

For more than twenty-five years software inspections have been considered an effective method for defect detection. Inspections have been investigated through controlled experiments in university environment and industry case studies. However, in most cases software inspections have been used for defect detection in documents of conventional structured development process. Therefore, there is a significant lack of information about how inspections should be applied to Object-Oriented artifacts, such as Object-Oriented code and design diagrams. In addition, extensive work is needed to determine whether some inspection techniques can be more beneficial than others. Most inspection experiments include inspection meetings after individual inspection is completed. However, several researchers suggested that inspection meetings may not be necessary since an insignificant number of new defects are found as a result of inspection meeting. Moreover, inspection meetings have been found to suffer from process loss. This paper presents the findings of a controlled experiment that was conducted to investigate the performance of individual inspectors as well as 3-person teams in Object-Oriented design document inspection. Documents were written using the notation of Unified Modelling Language. Two reading techniques, namely Checklist-based reading (CBR) and Perspective-based reading (PBR), were used during experiment. We found that both techniques are similar with respect to defect detection effectiveness during individual inspection as well as during inspection meetings. Investigating the usefulness of inspection meetings, we found out that the teams that used CBR technique exhibited significantly smaller meeting gains (number of new defect first found during team meeting) than meeting losses (number of defects first identified by an individual but never included into defect list by a team); meanwhile the meeting gains were similar to meeting losses of the teams that used PBR technique. Consequently, CBR 3-person team meetings turned out to be less beneficial than PBR 3-person team meetings.

We describe a framework for deriving specifications of wizard-like tools by detecting coherent patterns of behaviour among user actions observed in a portal environment. Implementation in the portal of tools compliant with these specifications can then provide useful support for the kind of work patterns observed. The derivation process employs a customizable knowledge base which defines coherent patterns and seeks concrete instances of them among series of actions that occur with sufficient frequency among those observed.

In this paper, we show a method to locate a single stuck-at fault of a random access memory (RAM). From the fail-bitmaps of the RAM, we obtain their Walsh spectrum. For a single stuck-at fault, we show that the fault can be identified and located by using only the 0-th and 1-st coefficients of the spectrum. We also show a circuit to compute these coefficients. The computation time is O(2n), where n is the number of bits in the address of the RAM. The computation time is much shorter than one that uses a logic minimization method.

This paper deals with the statistical modeling of a Time-Frequency Series of Speech (TFSS), obtained by Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) analysis of the speech signal picked up by a linear microphone array with two elements. We have attempted to find closer match between the distribution of the TFSS and theoretical distributions like Laplacian Distribution (LD), Gaussian Distribution (GD) and Generalized Gaussian Distribution (GGD) with parameters estimated from the TFSS data. It has been found that GGD provides the best models for real part, imaginary part and polar magnitudes of the time-series of the spectral components. The distribution of the polar magnitude is closer to LD than that of the real and imaginary parts. The distributions of the real and imaginary parts of TFSS correspond to strongly LD. The phase of the TFSS has been found uniformly distributed. The use of GGD based model as PDF in the fixed-point Frequency Domain Independent Component Analysis (FDICA) provides better separation performance and improves convergence speed significantly.

We propose Optimal Temporal Decomposition (OTD) of speech for voice morphing preserving Δ cepstrum. OTD is an optimal modification of the original Temporal Decomposition (TD) by B. Atal. It is theoretically shown that OTD can achieve minimal spectral distortion for the TD-based approximation of time-varying LPC parameters. Moreover, by applying OTD to preserving Δ cepstrum, it is also theoretically shown that Δ cepstrum of a target speaker can be reflected to that of a source speaker. In frequency domain interpolation, the Laplacian Spectral Distortion (LSD) measure is introduced to improve the Inverse Function of Integrated Spectrum (IFIS) based non-uniform frequency warping. Experimental results indicate that Δ cepstrum of the OTD-based morphing spectra of a source speaker is mostly equal to that of a target speaker except for a piecewise constant factor and subjective listening tests show that the speech intelligibility of the proposed morphing method is superior to the conventional method.

In this letter, we present an adaptive hopping technique for a wireless personal area network (WPAN) system employing a frequency hop spread spectrum (FH/SS). Analytical results based on the closed-form solutions for the aggregate throughput show that the proposed hopping algorithm using two defined hopping criteria is more friendly towards all kinds of interferers and gives an enhanced throughput with a moderate computational complexity.

Software inspection is one of the most effective methods to detect defects. However, inspections are not always worthwhile. This letter proposes an inspection cost model to describe inspections-related costs and extended metrics to evaluate the cost effectiveness of software inspections.