In this paper, a joint blind synchronization and demodulation scheme is developed for ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radio systems. Based on the prior knowledge of the direct-sequence (DS) spread codes, the proposed approach can achieve frame-level synchronization with the help of frame-rate samples. Taking advantage of the periodicity of the DS spread codes, the frame-level synchronization can be carried out even in one symbol interval. On the other hand, after timing acquisition, these frame-rate samples can be re-utilized also for demodulation. Thus the acquisition time and the implementation complexity are reduced considerably. The performance improvement can be justified by both theoretical analysis and simulation results, in terms of acquisition probability and bit error rate (BER).

This paper studies the performance of a coded convolutional spreading CDMA system with cyclic prefix (CS-CDMA/CP) combined with the zero correlation zone code generated from the M-sequence (M-ZCZ code) for downlink transmission over a multipath fast fading channel. In particular, we propose a new pilot-aided channel estimation scheme based on the shift property of the M-ZCZ code and show the robustness of the scheme against fast fading through comparison with the W-CDMA system empolying time-multiplexed pilot signals.

Adjustability is an important function of the magnetic release for modern molded case circuit breakers. Based on virtual prototype technology, an automatic prediction method is proposed to design reasonable reactive spring parameters for this kind of magnetic release. 3-D finite element method is adopted to calculate the static characteristics of the magnetic release. Then the dynamic characteristics of the magnetic release can be simulated taking into account the variation of the spring parameters with multi-dynamics method. The calculation results have been verified by the relevant experiments. It demonstrates that the proposed method is feasible to perform the design task.

A new estimation algorithm of clock drift in symbol duration for high precision ranging, based on multiple symbols of chirp spread spectrum (CSS) is proposed. Since the permissible error of a crystal oscillator in CSS is relatively high given the need to lower device costs, ranging results are perturbed by clock drift. We establish the phenomenon of clock drift in multiple symbols of CSS, and estimate the clock drift in symbol duration based on phase difference between adjacent symbols. The proposed algorithm is analyzed, and verified by Monte Carlo simulations.

We investigated collector current spreading in InGaAs single heterojunction bipolar transistors (SHBTs) having a collector thickness of 75 nm. SHBTs were fabricated with three different emitter widths -- 200, 400, and 600 nm -- and the highest cutoff frequency that was obtained was 468 GHz. The relationship between the current density at the highest cutoff frequency and the emitter width could not be used to estimate the current spreading because it was independent of the collector-base voltage. However, the relationship between the current density with the increase in the total collector-base capacitance and the emitter width indicates current spreading in the collector. The current spreading was estimated to be approximately 90 nm.

Major challenges of the conventional spread-transform dither modulation (STDM) watermarking approach are two-fold: (i) it exploits a fixed watermarking strength (more particularly, the quantization index step size) to the whole cover image; and (ii) it is fairly vulnerable to the amplitude changes. To tackle the above challenges, an adaptive spread-transform dither modulation (ASTDM) approach is proposed in this paper for conducting robust color image watermarking by incorporating a new perceptual model into the conventional STDM framework. The proposed approach exploits a new perceptual model to adjust the quantization index step sizes according to the local perceptual characteristics of a cover image. Furthermore, in contrast to the conventional Watson's model is vulnerable to the amplitude changes, our proposed new perceptual model makes the luminance masking thresholds be consistent with any amplitude change, while keeping the consistence to the properties of the human visual system. In addition, certain color artifacts could be incurred during the watermark embedding procedure, since some intensity values are perceptibly changed to label the watermark. For that, a color artifact suppression algorithm is proposed by mathematically deriving an upper bound for the intensity values according to the inherent relationship between the saturation and the intensity components. Extensive experiments are conducted using 500 images selected from Corel database to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed ASTDM approach.

We provide an efficient transmission scheme which embeds a pilot signal in the data signal for channel state information (CSI) based on the configuration of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system using space-time block coding (STBC) with an adaptive array (AA). A computer simulation and analysis show that the proposed scheme, which combines the advantage of an Alamouti-like STBC scheme and the pilot-based AA, can suppress the irreducible error due to random FM noise. The proposed scheme using a pilot minimizes the decoding delay, and is highly robust against fast fading. We show that the proposed scheme can significantly increase the data transmission rate by using the transmitter diversity based on STBC, and the accuracy of the proposed technique is exemplified by a computer simulation.

The bit error rate (BER) performance of multicode multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) severely degrades due to the inter-code interference (ICI) in a strong frequency-selective channel. Recently a spreading code group construction method was proposed for MC-CDMA. The Walsh-Hadmard (WH) codes are divided into a number of code groups such that the code orthogonality can be maintained within each group even in a strong frequency-selective channel; any code pair taken from different groups is not orthogonal. The number of spreading codes in each group is determined by the maximum time delay difference of the channel. In this paper, we point out that the number of codes in each group is determined by the distribution of time delay differences among the propagation paths of the channel, not the maximum time delay difference. Based on that observation, we show that more orthogonal spreading codes can exist in each code group. The conditional BER is derived taking into account the interference from other code groups and the achievable downlink BER performance using the proposed spreading code group construction is numerically evaluated in a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel.

Performance of band-limited baseband synchronous CDMA using orthogonal Independent Component Analysis (ICA) spreading sequences is investigated. The orthogonal ICA sequences have an orthogonality condition in a synchronous CDMA like the Walsh-Hadamard sequences. Furthermore, these have useful correlation properties like the Gold sequences. These sequences are obtained easily by using the ICA which is one of the brain-style signal processing algorithms. In this study, the ICA is used not as a separator for received signal but as a generator of spreading sequences. The performance of the band-limited synchronous CDMA using the orthogonal ICA sequences is compared with the one using the Walsh-Hadamard sequences. For limiting bandwidth, a Root Raised Cosine filter (RRC) is used. We investigate means and variances of correlation outputs after passing the RRC filter and the Bit Error Rates (BERs) of the system in additive white Gaussian noise channel by numerical simulations. It is found that the BER in the band-limited system using the orthogonal ICA sequences is much lower than the one using the Walsh-Hadamard sequences statistically.

We report the growth of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) from carbon particles by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with ultrasonic neblizer using ethanol as carbon source. Dense CNFs having diameters of several tens of nanometers have been successfully synthesized by the CVD without using any metal catalysts. The carbon particles formed from decompostion of fullerene were found to be suitable for the synthesis of CNFs. Details of the optimum conditions for producing CNFs and the expected growth mechanism are also described.

A performance of the complex chaotic spreading sequences with constant power is investigated in a chip-synchronous complex CDMA with a complex scrambling. We estimate a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) and a bit error rate (BER). An exact invariant measure of the complex chaotic spreading sequence can be obtained. Therefore, the SIR can be calculated analytically. The result can be used as one of the criteria for evaluating the performance of the complex CDMA using the chaotic spreading sequences.

In this letter, Doppler spread estimation in different Doppler spectra is investigated and some efficient methods are proposed to calculate the maximum Doppler frequency from autocorrelation function easily.

In this letter, a low complexity transmitter is proposed for the downlinks of orthogonal frequency code division multiplexing (OFCDM) systems. The principle is based on a joint time-frequency spreading and inverse fast Fourier transform (TFS-IFFT), which combines the frequency spreading with partial stages of IFFT, so as to simplify the real-time processing. Compared with the conventional one, the proposed OFCDM transmitter is of lower real-time computational complexity, especially for those with large spreading factor or low modulation level. Furthermore, the proposed TFS-IFFT can also be applied to other frequency spreading systems, such as MC-CDMA, for complexity reduction.

In a Direct-Sequence/Spread-Spectrum (DS/SS) system, a RAKE receiver is used to improve a bit error rate (BER) performance. The RAKE receiver can collect more signal energy through independent paths and achieve path diversity. The RAKE receiver obtains further diversity gain through fractional sampling. However, the power consumption of the RAKE receiver increases in proportion to a sampling rate and does not always maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, sampling rate selection schemes have been proposed to reduce the average sampling rate without degrading the BER. These schemes select the tap positions and the sampling rate depending on channel conditions and the power consumption can be reduced. In this paper, sampling rate selection schemes for the DS/SS system are investigated through an experiment since there have been no numerical results through an experiment. Numerical results show that the power consumption can be reduced even through the experiment without the degradation of the BER.

It is well known that the performance of CDMA systems may degrade in the presence of spreading code mismatch. The diagonal loading multiple constrained minimum variance (DL-MCMV) approaches have been proposed to deal with the mismatch problem. However, they still cannot improve the robust capability efficiently due to the spreading code mismatch. In this letter, a detector based on the variable DL technique is presented that offers more robust capabilities than the MCMV and DL-MCMV detectors. Computer simulation results are provided that illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed detector.

In this paper, we present a low complexity, yet accurate adaptive algorithm for the tracking of two-dimensional (2-D) direction of arrival (DOAs) based on a uniform rectangular array (URA). The new algorithm is a novel hybrid of tracking and beamforming processes by making use of three stages of one-dimensional (1-D) DOA tracking algorithms -- in a hierarchical tree structure -- to determine the two DOA components iteratively in a coarse-fine manner. In between every other 1-D DOA tracking algorithm, a complementary orthogonal beamforming process is invoked to partition the incoming signals into appropriate groups to enhance the tracking accuracy. Since the new algorithm only involves the 1-D subspace-based DOA tracking algorithm, the overall complexity is substantially less than the direct two-dimensional (2-D) extension of the existing 1-D DOA tracking algorithms, which requires an update of higher-dimensional vectors followed by a higher-dimensional eigendecomposition or a 2-D search. Furthermore, with the tree-structured DOA tracking scheme, the tracked 2-D DOA components are automatically paired without extra computational overhead. Furnished simulations show that the new algorithm can provide satisfactory tracking performance in various scenarios.

In recent years, the space-time block coding (STBC) method has attracted attention to provide transmission diversity in mobile communication systems. Although the STBC method is very effective in slow fading environments, its performance in fast fading environments has yet to be clearly verified. In this paper we propose a railway radio communication system using space-time coding in cooperation with two base stations. Here, we considered the differential STBC (D-STBC) method in railway communication system to overcome difficulties caused by the fast fading environment. We have compared the performance of STBC and D-STBC method where there is frequency offset between two base stations. Moreover, we have presented the simulation result of overall performance of the system including frequency offset and transmission time delay when operating D-STBC method. The overall evaluation on this paper shows that the D-STBC method is suitable for realizing highly reliable railway communication systems.

In order to reduce the amount of interference to neighboring cells in cellular systems, we generally use base station (BS) antennas that have sharp beam patterns in the vertical plane; however, the distribution of incoming waves at the BS affects the effective gain of the BS antennas which have directional pattern. Therefore, we have to clarify the characteristics of the distribution of the incoming waves. A recent trend is decreasing the cell radius; therefore, clarifying the distribution of the incoming waves at the BS when mobile stations (MSs) are located within 1 km from the BS is important. In this report, we evaluate the effective gains of the BS antennas, which are calculated using the measured vertical power angle profile (PAP). Moreover, we examine the application of a simple incoming wave model to the evaluation of the antenna effective gains. In the model, the average power of the incoming waves is set to the Laplacian function and each wave is changed to a lognormal distribution. The antenna effective gain calculated using the model agrees well with that calculated using the measured PAP.

Multiple access based on energy spreading transform (EST) in [1] has been shown to effectively separate multiuser signals in an iterative manner. In this paper, an optimum hard-decision detector for the EST-based multiple access is proposed. The proposed scheme employs minimum mean square error (MMSE) processing at each iteration to enhance the performance of the original scheme. Analysis and simulation results show the significant performance improvement of the proposed scheme over the original method.

The 3GPP LTE-Advanced has been attracting much attention recently, where the channel bandwidth would be beyond the maximum bandwidth of LTE, 20 MHz. In LTE, single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) was accepted as the uplink access scheme due to its advantage of very low cubic metric (CM). For LTE-A wideband transmission, multicarrier access would be more effective than single carrier access to make use of multi-user diversity and can maintain the physical channel structure of LTE, where the control information is transmitted on the edges of each 20 MHz. In this paper, we discuss the access schemes in bandwidth under 20 MHz as well as over 20 MHz. In the case of bandwidth under 20 MHz, we propose the access schemes allowing discontinuous resource allocation to enhance average throughput while maintaining cell-edge user throughput, that is, DFT-spread-OFDM with spectrum division control (SDC) and adaptive selection of SC-FDMA and OFDM (SC+OFDM). The number of discontinuous spectrums is denoted as spectrum division (SD). For DFT-S-OFDM, we define a parameter max SD as the upper limit of SD. We evaluate our proposed schemes in bandwidth under 20 MHz and find that SC+OFDM as well as SDC with common max SD or UE-specific max SD can improve average throughput while their cell-edge user throughput can approach that of SC-FDMA. In the case of bandwidth over 20 MHz, we consider key factors to decide a feasible access scheme for aggregating several 20 MHz-wide bands.