In circuit simulation, dc operating points of nonlinear circuits are obtained by solving circuit equations. In this paper, we consider "hybrid equations" as the circuit equations and discuss the stability of dc operating points obtained by solving hybrid equations. We give a simple criterion for identifying unstable operating points from the information of the hybrid equations. We also give a useful criterion for identifying initial points from which homotopy methods coverge to stable operating points with high possibility. These results are derived from the theory of dc operating point stability developed by M. M. Green and A. N. Willson, Jr.

Recently, progress has been made in the area of electrical modeling of conductors embedded in arbitrary dielectrics using circuit oriented techniques. These models usually occur in conjunction with VLSI type circuits. Many different applications exist today for such models in the EMI, EIP (Electrical Interconnect and Package) analysis as well as for the microwave circuit area. Practical problems involve a multitude of hardware components and they demand a wide spectrum of both time as well as frequency domain solution techniques. In this paper we consider circuit oriented techniques for the solution of these problems. Specifically, we give an outline of the three dimensional Partial Element Equivalent Circuit (PEEC) full wave modeling approach and review the recent progress in this area.

The numerical property of the recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm has been extensively, studied. However, very few investigations are reported concerning the numerical behavior of the predictor-based least squares (PLS) algorithms which provide the same least squares solutions as the RLS algorithm. In Ref. [9], we gave a comparative study on the numerical performances of the RLS and the backward PLS (BPLS) algorithms. It was shown that the numerical property of the BPLS algorithm is much superior to that of the RLS algorithm under a finite-precision arithmetic because several main instability sources encountered in the RLS algorithm do not appear in the BPLS algorithm. This paper theoretically shows the stability of the BPLS algorithm by error propagation analysis. Since the time-variant nature of the BPLS algorithm, we prove the stability of the BPLS algorithm by using the method as shown in Ref. [6]. The expectation of the transition matrix in the BPLS algorithm is analyzed and its eigenvalues are shown to have values within the unit circle. Therefore we can say that the BPLS algorithm is numerically stable.

Service interaction resolution is an important study subject to realize a network supporting various advanced communication services. This paper proposes service interaction resolution by service node connected with the communication network via the user-network interface. By executing various advanced services on the service node, service interactions can be efficiently resolved without adding new functions to the existing network. In other words, the service node enables a unified execution control of all the services including those for the originating side and those for the terminating side. This prevents the signalling system and the signalling procedure from being expanded to resolve service interactions. Moreover, the interactions between the services initiated at the conversation active state can be resolved by the service node equipped with function of receiving plural types of in-band signals. This avoids functional expansion of the switching systems in the network. In this paper, feasibility of the proposed resolution scheme is proved by showing a structure of the service node and a detailed procedure to resolve interactions on that service node. In the proposed service node, the application part is divided into basic call processing part and service processing part, and the basic call processing part is represented by three kinds of basic call processing state models. The proposed method for resolving service interactions can control services execution with high flexibility by using feature interaction table.

In this paper, we first prove that the Randomly Addressed Polling (RAP) protocol is unstable under the random access channel with heavy traffic. We also show that network stability can be ensured by controlling the arrival rate λ or by expanding the available addresses p on the assumption that there are M finite stations within the coverage of the controller (the base station). From analyses and results, we see the equilibrium of arrival rate is inversely proportional to the product of users (stations) and the exponent of stations. We also see that the maximum throughput can be derived at the point of λ1/M. This maximum performance can be easily obtained under the consideration of RAP protocol's stability. It also implies that the maximum throughput is independent of the available addresses of RAP protocol when pM.

This paper considers a probabilistic model for a database recovery action with checkpoint generations when system failures occur according to a renewal process whose renewal density depends on the cumulative operation period since the last checkpoint. Necessary and sufficient conditions on the existence of the optimal checkpoint interval which maximizes the ergodic availability are analytically derived, and solvable examples are given for the well-known failure time distributions. Further, several methods to be needed for numerical calculations are proposed when the information on system failures is not sufficient. We use four analytical/tractable approximation methods to calculate the optimal checkpoint schedule. Finally, it is shown through numerical comparisons that the gamma approximation method is the best to seek the approximate solution precisely.

We have previously proposed a scannable memory configuration which is useful in testing logic blocks around memory arrays. Although the configuration is supposed to be effective in testing the memory array itself by its frequent read/write access during the scan operation, it has not been theoretically shown what types of faults can be detected. In this paper, from a viewpoint of memory testing, we investigate the testability of the scannable memory configuration and propose a memory array test using the scan path. It is shown that we can detect (1) all stuck-at faults in memory cells, (2) all stuck-at faults in address decoders, (3) all stuck-at faults in read/write logic, (4) static, dynamic and 2-coupling faults between memory cells of adjacent words, and (5) static coupling faults between memory cells in the same word. The test can be accomplished simply by comparing scan-in data and scan-out data. The test vector is 20ms bit long, where m is the number of words of the memory array under test and s is the total scan path length.

As the global telecommunications industry moves into the next millennium, the difficulty, the frequency and the importance of interworking will increase due to three factors. First, as the last decade has shown, new technology is being created and deployed at an ever increasing rate and with higher complexity. This will result in greater difficulty to successfully interwork between technologies. Secondly, because competition has led to an increase in the number of carriers providing services, there will be more and more instances of interworking among carriers. Lastly, because all the carriers are hoping to be profitable, the interworking needs to be fast and easy to implement, have low costs and be seamless for users. Otherwise, increased costs and low customer satisfaction will reduce profits and possibly drive the carrier out of business. This paper will examine these assertions and discuss trends which support this proposition.

In VLSI and printed wiring board design, routing process usually consists of two stages: the global routing and the detailed routing. The routability checking is to decide whether the global wires can be transformed into the detailed ones or not. In this paper, we propose two graphs, the capacity checking graph and the initial flow graph, for efficient routability checking in planar layouts.

This paper presents a logic synthesis method for look-up table (LUT) based field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). We determine functions to be mapped to LUTs by functional decomposition for each of single-output functions. To share LUTs among several functions, we use a new Boolean resubstitution technique. Resubstitution is used to determine whether an existing function is useful to realize another function; thus, we can share common functions among two or more functions. The Boolean resubstitution proposed in this paper is customized for an LUT network synthesis because it is based on support minimization for an incompletely specified function. Experimental results show that our synthesis method produces a small size circuit in a practical amount of time.

This paper proposes the signaling network deployment for mobile networks with a goal of reducing the signaling cost and time to set up calls. In this deployment, we solve the heavy concentration of signaling traffic resulting from the centralized database used in current mobile networks. The solution exploits the features of the distributed databases, data partition, locality of mobile users, and Common Channel Signaling System No.7 (CCSS No.7) network architectures. We assume the area served by the mobile network is partitioned into a few zones. There is a database associated with each zone. A numbering database strategy is proposed in this paper for the mobiles to register at some specific nearby databases according to their mobile identification numbers. Thus, a calling party can directly locate the called party by the mobile identification number he/she dialed. This method can reduce over 95% of the location-updating cost and 70% of the location-tracking cost under a general sumulation model. We also present the implementation considerations of this strategy. This implementation is an enhancement of the routing function of the Signaling Connection Control Part in CCSS No.7 protocol stacks. With few modifications on current mobile networks, the proposed strategy can obtain very excellent results.

In this paper, we will show some significant results of the routability analysis of bit-serial pipeline datapath designs based on Rent's rule and Donath's observation. Our results show that all of the tested bit-serial benchmarks have Rent exponent of below 0.4, indicating that the average wiring length of the circuit is expected to be independent of the circuit size. This study provides some important implications on the silicon utilization and time-area efficiency of bit-serial pipeline circuits on FPGAs and ASICs.

This paper reports the thermal stability of particulate media, which include Co-Fe oxide, CrO2, and thick and thin MP tapes. By measuring the time decay of magnetization at room temperature, fluctuation fields were obtained as a function of reverse applied field. It was clarified that the fluctuation field has a constant and minimum value when the reverse applied field is equal to coercivity. Minimum fluctuation fields for the four particulate tapes were measured at several environmental temperatures ranging from -75 to +100. It was also clarified that the fluctuation field normalized by remanence coercivity increases as the environmental temperature increases for all tapes, indicating that it is a good measure of thermal stability. Activation volumes were also deduced as a function of temperature.

In this paper we study on the stability of an operating points of a nonlinear resistive circuits including transistors. A set of sufficient conditions for the operating point to be unstable are proposed. These conditions are a generalization of the well-known negative difference resistance (NDR) criteria.

This paper proposes the reserved idle signal multiple access with collision resolution (R-ISMA/CR) protocol, which can maintain stability without being influenced by the retransmission probability. The R-ISMA/CR makes use of the multi-idle signals at the base station and the manipulating counter at the terminals. The performance of this protocol is evaluated by using the maximum throughput analysis and simulations.

In this letter, the absolute exponential stability result of neural networks with asymmetric connection matrices is obtained, which generalizes the existing one about absolute stability of neural networks, by a new proof approach. It is demonstrated that the network time constant is inversely proportional to the global exponential convergence rate of the network trajectories to the unique equilibrium. A numerical simulation example is also given to illustrate the obtained analysis results.

In this paper, we prove that for a class of nonsymmetric neural networks with connection matrices T having nonnegative off-diagonal entries, -T is an M-matrix is a necessary and sufficient condition for absolute exponential stability of the network belonging to this class. While this result extends the existing one of absolute stability in Forti, et al., its proof given in this paper is simpler, which is completed by an approach different from one used in Forti, et al. The most significant consequence is that the class of nonsymmetric neural networks with connection matrices T satisfying -T is an M-matrix is the largest class of nonsymmetric neural networks that can be employed for embedding and solving optimization problem with global exponential rate of convergence to the optimal solution and without the risk of spurious responses. An illustrating numerical example is also given.

UNcorrectable Bit Errors (UNBEs) are important in considering the reliability of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID). They, however, have been ignored or have not been studied in detail in existing reliability analysis of RAID. In this paper, we present an analytic model to study the reliability of declustered-parity RAID by considering UNBEs. By using the analytic model, the optimistic and the pessimistic estimates of the probability that data loss occurs due to an UNBE during the data reconstruction after a disk failed (we call this DB data loss) are obtained. Then, the optimistic and the pessimistic estimates of the Mean Time To Data Loss (MTTDL) that take into account both DB data loss and the data loss caused by double independent disk failures (we call this DD data loss) are obtained. Furthermore, how the MTTDL depends on the number of units in a parity stripe, rebuild time of a failed disk and write fraction of data access are studied by numerical analysis.

A suggestion for creating an excitable/oscillatory field with solid-state material is proposed. In essence, the idea is to make a spatial array of "mesoscopic particles" with the characteristics of a first-order phase transition. A theoretical computation shows that an auto-wave, or excitable wave, is generated in such an excitable field. A simple example of using this system as a diode in information flow is given.

This paper describes a guiding principle for designing functional single-electron tunneling (SET) circuitsthat is a way to elicit the potential functions of a given SET circuit by using as a guiding tool the SET circuit stability diagram. A stability diagram is a map that depicts the stable regions of a SET circuit based on the circuit's variable coordinates. By scrutinizing the diagram, we can infer all the potential functions that can be obtained from a circuit configuration. As an example, we take up a well-known SET-inverter circuit and uncover its latent functions by studying the circuit configuration, based on its stability diagram. We can produce various functions, e.g., step-inverter, Schmidt-trigger, memory cell, literal, and stochastic-neuron functions. The last function makes good use of the inherent stochastic nature of single-electron tunneling, and can be applied to Boltzmann-machine neural network systems.