An inversion method of bridge height over water by polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is developed. A geometric ray description to illustrate scattering mechanism of a bridge over water surface is identified by polarimetric image analysis. Using the mapping and projecting algorithm, a polarimetric SAR image of a bridge model is first simulated and shows that scattering from a bridge over water can be identified by three strip lines corresponding to single-, double-, and triple-order scattering, respectively. A set of polarimetric parameters based on the de-orientation theory is applied to analysis of three types scattering, and the thinning-clustering algorithm and Hough transform are then employed to locate the image positions of these strip lines. These lines are used to invert the bridge height. Fully polarimetric image data of airborne Pi-SAR at X-band are applied to inversion of the height and width of the Naruto Bridge in Japan. Based on the same principle, this approach is also applicable to spaceborne ALOSPALSAR single-polarization data of the Eastern Ocean Bridge in China. The results show good feasibility to realize the bridge height inversion.

CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) systems using ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) for second language learning have received increasing interest recently. However, it still remains a challenge to achieve high speech recognition performance, including accurate detection of erroneous utterances by non-native speakers. Conventionally, possible error patterns, based on linguistic knowledge, are added to the lexicon and language model, or the ASR grammar network. However, this approach easily falls in the trade-off of coverage of errors and the increase of perplexity. To solve the problem, we propose a method based on a decision tree to learn effective prediction of errors made by non-native speakers. An experimental evaluation with a number of foreign students learning Japanese shows that the proposed method can effectively generate an ASR grammar network, given a target sentence, to achieve both better coverage of errors and smaller perplexity, resulting in significant improvement in ASR accuracy.

There is a trend towards flexible radios which are able to cope with a range of wireless communication standards. For the integrated processing of widely different signals -- including single-carrier, multi-carrier, and spread-spectrum signals -- monolithic baseband receivers need universal formats for the signal representation and channel description. We consider a reconfigurable receiver architecture building on concepts from time-frequency (TF) signal analysis. The core elements are TF signal representations in form of a Gabor expansion along with a compatible parameterization of time-variant channels. While applicable to arbitrary signal types, the TF channel parameterization offers similar advantages as the frequency domain channel description employed by orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing receivers. The freedom in the choice of the underlying analysis window function and the scalability in time and frequency facilitate the handling of diverse signal types as well as the adaptation to radio channels with different delay and Doppler spreads. Optimized window shapes limit the inherent model error, as demonstrated using the example of direct-sequence spread-spectrum signaling.

This paper studies reflection and transmission of a TE plane wave from a two-dimensional random slab with statistically anisotropic fluctuation by means of the stochastic functional approach. By starting with a representation of the random wavefield presented in the previous paper [IEICE Trans. Electron., vol.E92-C, no.1, pp.77-84, Jan. 2009], a solution algorithm of the multiple renormalized mass operator is newly shown even for anisotropic fluctuation. The multiple renormalized mass operator, the first-order incoherent scattering cross section and the optical theorem are numerically calculated and illustrated in figures. The relation between statistical properties and anisotropic fluctuation is discussed.

Scalable video coding (SVC) was standardized as an extension of H.264/AVC by the JVT (Joint Video Team) in Nov. 2007. The biggest feature of SVC is multi-layered coding where two or more video sequences are compressed into a single bit-stream. This letter proposes a fast block mode decision algorithm in spatial enhancement layer of SVC. The proposed algorithm achieves early decision by limiting the number of candidate modes for block with certain characteristic called same motion vector block (SMVB). Our proposed method reduces the complexity, in terms of encoding time by up to 66.17%. Nevertheless, it shows negligible PSNR degradation by only up to 0.16 dB and increases the bit-rate by only up to 0.64%, respectively.

Currently deployed mobile networks including High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) offer only best-effort Quality of Service (QoS). In wireless best effort networks, the bandwidth variation is a critical problem, especially, for mobile devices with small buffers. This is because the bandwidth variation leads to packet losses caused by buffer overflow as well as picture freezing due to high transmission delay or buffer underflow. In this paper, in order to provide seamless video streaming over HSDPA, we propose an efficient real-time video streaming method that consists of the available bandwidth (AB) estimation for the HSDPA network and the transmission rate control to prevent buffer overflows/underflows. In the proposed method, the client estimates the AB and the estimated AB is fed back to the server through real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) packets. Then, the server adaptively adjusts the transmission rate according to the estimated AB and the buffer state obtained from the RTCP feedback information. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves seamless video streaming over the HSDPA network providing higher video quality and lower transmission delay.

The characteristics of a left-handed traveling-wave transistor, which is formulated as two composite right- and left-handed (CRLH) transmission lines with both passive and active couplings, are discussed for generating unattenuated waves having left-handedness. The design criteria for convective instability are described, together with results of numerical calculations that solve the transmission equation for the device.

Direct conversion receivers in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems suffer from direct current (DC) offset, frequency offset, and IQ imbalance. We have proposed an IQ imbalance estimation scheme in the presence of DC offset and frequency offset, which uses preamble signals in the time domain. In this scheme, the DC offset is eliminated by a differential filter. However, the accuracy of IQ imbalance estimation is deteriorated when the frequency offset is small. To overcome this problem, a new IQ imbalance estimation scheme in the frequency domain with the differential filter has been proposed in this paper. The IQ imbalance is estimated with pilot subcarriers. Numerical results obtained through computer simulation show that estimation accuracy and bit error rate (BER) performance can be improved even if the frequency offset is small.

The need for data encryption that protects sensitive data in a database has increased rapidly. However, encrypted data can no longer be efficiently queried because nearly all of the data should be decrypted. Several order-preserving encryption schemes that enable indexes to be built over encrypted data have been suggested to solve this problem. They allow any comparison operation to be directly applied to encrypted data. However, one of the main disadvantages of these schemes is that they expose sensitive data to inference attacks with order information, especially when the data are used together with unencrypted columns in the database. In this study, a new order-preserving encryption scheme that provides secure queries by hiding the order is introduced. Moreover, it provides efficient queries because any user who has the encryption key knows the order. The proposed scheme is designed to be efficient and secure in such an environment. Thus, it is possible to encrypt only sensitive data while leaving other data unencrypted. The encryption is not only robust against order exposure, but also shows high performance for any query over encrypted data. In addition, the proposed scheme provides strong updates without assumptions of the distribution of plaintext. This allows it to be integrated easily with the existing database system.

In this paper, the issue of carrier frequency offset (CFO) compensation in interleaved orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) uplink system is investigated. To mitigate the effect of multiple access interference (MAI) caused by CFOs of different users, a new parallel interference cancellation (PIC) compensation algorithm is proposed. This scheme uses minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion to obtain the estimation of interference users, then circular convolutions are employed to restore MAI and compensate CFO. To tackle the complexity problem of circular convolutions, an efficient MAI restoration and cancellation method is developed. Simulations illustrate the good performance and low computational complexity of the proposed algorithm.

While the problem of multicast routing and wavelength assignment (MC-RWA) in optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks has been investigated, relatively few researchers have considered network survivability for multicasting. This paper provides an optimization framework to solve the MC-RWA problem in a multi-fiber WDM network that can recover from a single-link failure with shared protection. Using the light-tree (LT) concept to support multicast sessions, we consider two protection strategies that try to reduce service disruptions after a link failure. The first strategy, called light-tree reconfiguration (LTR) protection, computes a new multicast LT for each session affected by the failure. The second strategy, called optical branch reconfiguration (OBR) protection, tries to restore a logical connection between two adjacent multicast members disconnected by the failure. To solve the MC-RWA problem optimally, we propose an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that minimizes the total number of fibers required for both working and backup traffic. The ILP formulation takes into account joint routing of working and backup traffic, the wavelength continuity constraint, and the limited splitting degree of multicast-capable optical cross-connects (MC-OXCs). After showing some numerical results for optimal solutions, we propose heuristic algorithms that reduce the computational complexity and make the problem solvable for large networks. Numerical results suggest that the proposed heuristic yields efficient solutions compared to optimal solutions obtained from exact optimization.

This paper proposes an architecture of an interference canceller for satellite communications with super-posed transmission, which is applicable not only to QPSK but also to 16QAM transmission to get higher satellite capacity. We implement it as an FPGA-based prototype and verify its performance. We propose here to use a new method to measure the satellite round-trip delay using an extended matched filter (EMF), which can work in low C/N conditions such as 0 dB and under. Given this performance, our canceller can work in a network in which forward and reverse links have the same power level. The results of the laboratory tests for QPSK show that interference can be suppressed by about 30 dB and that the BER degradation due to the canceller was small enough for operation.

Color constancy is the ability to measure colors of objects independent of the light source color. Various methods have been proposed to handle this problem. Most of them depend on the statistical distributions of the pixel values. Recent studies show that incorporation image derivatives are more effective than the direct use of pixel values. Based on this idea, a novel edge-based color constancy algorithm using support vector regression (SVR) is proposed. Contrary to existing SVR color constancy algorithm, which is computed from the zero-order structure of images, our method is based on the higher-order structure of images. The experimental results show that our algorithm is more effective than the zero-order SVR color constancy methods.

This study develops a form of digital baseband Intra-Body communication for wideband transmission. A simplified circuit model of signal and noise is constructed to analyze the contribution of the high pass filter function of the electrostatic coupling Intra-Body communication system to wideband digital transmission in electrostatic coupling Intra-Body communication. A unit step function is presented to determine the maximum high pass 3 dB pole that can ensure favorable signal quality in a baseband Intra-Body communication system. Body noise is measured to estimate the range of the high pass 3 dB pole with good Signal to Noise Ratio. A 3.3 Volt battery-powered FPGA is experimentally implemented to confirm the feasibility of the wideband Intra-Body communication system. The experimental results indicate that the digital baseband Intra-Body communication system supports a data rate of more than 16MPS.

This paper focuses on fusion estimation algorithms weighted by matrices and scalars, and relationship between them is considered. We present new algorithms that address the computation of matrix weights arising from multidimensional estimation problems. The first algorithm is based on the Cholesky factorization of a cross-covariance block-matrix. This algorithm is equivalent to the standard composite fusion estimation algorithm however it is low-complexity. The second fusion algorithm is based on an approximation scheme which uses special steady-state approximation for local cross-covariances. Such approximation is useful for computing matrix weights in real-time. Subsequent analysis of the proposed fusion algorithms is presented, in which examples demonstrate the low-computational complexity of the new fusion estimation algorithms.

We present an attractive approach for OFDM transmission using an adaptive pre-FFT equalizer, which can select ICI reduction mode according to channel condition, and a degenerated-inverse-matrix-based channel estimator (DIME), which uses a cyclic sinc-function matrix uniquely determined by transmitted subcarriers. In addition to simulation results, the proposed system with an adaptive pre-FFT equalizer and DIME has been laboratory tested by using a software defined radio (SDR)-based test bed. The simulation and experimental results demonstrated that the system at a rate of more than 100 Mbps can provide a bit error rate of less than 10-3 for a fast multi-path fading channel that has a moving velocity of more than 200 km/h with a delay spread of 1.9 µs (a maximum delay path of 7.3 µs) in the 5-GHz band.

Recently, several ID-based key sharing schemes have been proposed, where an initiation phase generates users' secret key associated with identities under the hardness of integer factorization. In this letter, we show that, unfortunately any key sharing scheme with this initiation phase is intrinsically insecure in the sense that the collusion of some users enables them to derive master private keys and hence, generating any user's secret key.

Decision diagrams (DDs) are data structures commonly used for representation of discrete functions with large number of variables. Binary DDs (BDDs) are used for representation and manipulation with Boolean functions. Complexity of a BDD is usually measured by its size, that is defined as the number of non-terminal nodes in the BDD. Minimization of the sizes of DDs is a problem greatly considered in literature and many related algorithms (exact and heuristic) have been proposed. However, there are many functions for which BDDs when minimized are still large and can have even an exponential size in the number of variables. An approach to derive compact decision diagram representations for such functions is transformation of BDDs into Multi-valued DDs (MDDs) and Heterogeneous MDDs (HMDDs). Complexity of MDDs and HMDDs is measured by the cost which is a generalization of the notion of the size by taking into account complexity of nodes in MDDs and HMDDs. This paper presents a method for transformation of BDD into HMDD with minimal cost. The proposed method reduces the time for determination of the type of nodes in HMDDs by introducing a matrix expressing dependency (interconnections) among nodes at different levels. Comparing to other methods for conversion of BDDs into HMDDs, the method reduces the number of traverses of a BDD necessary for collecting enough information to construct an equivalent HMDD. For an experimental verification of its efficiency, the method is applied to construction of HMDDs for some benchmark functions and their arithmetic and Walsh spectra.

Packet classification categorizes incoming packets into multiple forwarding classes based on pre-defined filters. This categorization makes information accessible for quality of service or security handling in the network. In this paper, we propose a scheme which combines the Aggregate Bit Vector algorithm and the Pruned Tuple Space Search algorithm to improve the performance of packet classification in terms of speed and storage. We also present the procedures of incremental update. Our scheme is evaluated with filter databases of varying sizes and characteristics. The experimental results demonstrate that our scheme is feasible and scalable.

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.