A systematic method for locating and computing branches of connecting orbits developed by the authors is outlined. The method is applied to the sine–Gordon and Hodgkin–Huxley equations.

In this letter we propose an interpolation technique for low-quality fingerprint images for highly reliable feature extraction. To improve the feature extraction rate, we extract fingerprint features by referring to both the interpolated image obtained by using a directional Laplacian filter and the high-contrast image obtained by using histogram equalization. Experimental results show the applicability of our method.

Precise measurements of temperature dependence of the Andreev reflection current for the N–I–S junctions were carried out. Au and Pb were used as N (normal metal) and S (superconducting material), respectively. The experimental results agreed with the analyses based on the Arnold theory.

With advances in the speed, bandwidth and reliability of telecommunications networks and in the performance of workstations, distributed processing has become widespread. Information sharing among distributed nodes and its mutual exclusion are of great importance for efficient distributed processing. This paper systematizes and quantitizes a shared memory called Data-Cyclic Shared Memory (DCSM) from the viewpoints of memory organization and access mode. In DCSM, the propagation delay of transmission lines and the data relaying delay in each node are used for information storage, and memory information encapsuled in the form of "memory cells" circulates infinitely in a logical ring type network. The distinctive feature of DCSM, in addition to the way data is stored, is that data and the access control are completely distributed, which contrasts with existing memory where both are centralized. Therefore, there are no performance bottlenecks caused by concentrating memory access. Distributed Shared Memory (DSM), which has a scheme similar to DCSM's, has also been proposed for distributed environments. In DSM, the data is also distributed but the control for accessing each data is centralized. From the viewpoints of memory organization and the access method, DCSM is very flexible. For instance, word length can be spatially varied by defining data size at each address, and each node can be equipped with mechanisms for special functions such as the content address specification and asynchronous report of change in contents. Because of this flexibility, it can be called a "software-defined memory." The analysis also reveals that DCSM has the disadvantages of large access delay and small memory capacity. The capacity can be enlarged by inserting FIFO type queues into the circulation network, and the delay can be shortened by circulating replicas of original memory cells. However, there is a trade off between the maximal capacity and the mean access time. DCSM has many potential applications, such as in the mutual exclusion control of distributed resources.

In this paper, we propose the architecture of BALANCE (Better Adaptive Load-balancing through Acquiring kNowledge of Characteristic of an Environment) in which users can submit their jobs without acquiring either a status of an environment or characteristics of jobs and servers even in a widely connected heterogeneous network. The architecture of BALANCE includes three types of information bases and two types of daemons. Information bases, namely job, resource, and environment information base, manage the knowledge of job characteristics, available resources for CPUs, and status of the environment, respectively, as a proxy for users. The dispatching daemon selects an adequate server for each job using knowledge stored in the information bases. A service daemon executes each job. On completing each job, a service daemon gets a statistic of the job and returns it to the dispatching daemon where the job came from so that the statistic will be available at the next dispatching time. BALANCE enables an environment (1) to balance the load, (2) to share software functions as well as hardware facilities, and (3) to learn a user's job characteristics. We have implemented a prototype with more than 50 heterogeneous UNIX workstations connected by different networks. Two simple experiments on this prototype are presented. These experiments show a load balancing scheme that takes the characteristics of each job into account.

In this paper, a novel coupler-type wavelength demultiplexer composed of the K+-ion diffused waveguides, which has an adjustment function for optimizing the diffusion depth, is proposed to achieve reliably the high extinction ratio. The optimization in the diffusion depth is made by repeating the K+-ion diffusion and extinction-ratio measurement alternatively, and the high extinction ratios more than 20 dB are measured reliably at both operation wavelengths of 0.6328 and 0.83 µm. Experimental results on the polarization dependence in the extinction-ratio adjustment are also reported.

This letter presents the results of an analysis concerning the global, dynamical structure of a second order phase–locked loop (PLL) in the presence of the continuous wave (CW) interference. The invariant manifolds of the PLL equation are focused and analyzed as to how they are extended from the hyperbolic periodic orbits. Using the Melnikov integral which evaluates the distance between the stable manifolds and the unstable manifolds, the transversal intersection of these manifolds is proven to occur under some conditions on the power of the interference and the angular frequency difference between the signal and the interference. Numerical computations were performed to confirm the transversal intersection of the system–generated invariant manifolds for a practical set of parameters.

Along with the improvement of micro processors and local area networks, a distributed system becomes useful to realize a telecommunication system. It has potential advantage to achieve both high performance and high reliability. However, the design of a distributed system tends to be more complicated compared to a conventional centralized system. For the purpose of the standardization of distributed processing, ISO and ITU-T study the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) and are currently standardizing the Basic Reference Model of ODP (RM-ODP). To avoid dealing with the complexity of distributed systems, RM-ODP defines five viewpoints. The viewpoint approach of RM-ODP is proposed as a framework for the design of a distributed system. Although some previous works give the design methods of distributed systems based on the ODP viewpoint approach, the detailed design method has not been fully specified or all of the five viewpoints are not taken into account. In this paper, we describe a detailed design method for a distributed telecommunication system based on the ODP viewpoint approach. The method applies the five viewpoints to the three phases of design of a distributed system, that is, requirement analysis, functional design and detailed design phase. It clarifies what specifications for the target system should be made from the individual viewpoints and how the specifications are related each other. It also takes account of the platform which provides the distribution support, and gives the design method for both the platform and the application specific functions on the platform. The design method is examined by applying it to the design of a distributed MHS system supporting X.400 series protocols. In this example, the remote procedure call based on the client-server model is selected as the base of the platform. The result shows that our method is useful to simplify the complexity of the design for a distributed telecommunication system.

In this paper, the influences of the cross-sectional deformation on the coplanar waveguide (CPW) characteristics for the use of Ti: LiNbO3optical modulator are presented based on quasi-static analysis. In particular, the influences of the changes in the thickness of Ti: LiNbO3 substrate and the cross-sectional shape of electrodes are studied in detail by using the finite element method proposed previously. As a result, it is found that the propagation characteristics of the dominant mode change significantly with the thickness of LiNbO3 substrate when it is less than 100 µm. It is also shown that an inverted trapezoidal deformation of the electrode cross section is promising because a wider electrode gap and thinner electrodes are available in the design of optical modulators.

By addressing design requirements for multicast ATM switching, this paper attempts to provide an integrated view of modular and expandable switch architectures suitable for both unicast and multicast switching for future B-ISDNs. Several large and modular multicast ATM switching architectures are discussed, each of which handles different traffic situations. These architectures consist of multiple shared-buffer copy network modules of adequate size suitable for fabrication on a single chip, and small output memory switch modules. A new modular link-grouped multistage interconnection network is proposed for interconnecting copy network modules and memory switch modules, so that future large multicast ATM switching networks can be built in a modular fashion. The described modular architectures can significantly facilitate signal synchronization in large-scale switching networks.

We describe the characteristics of scattering and diffraction of plane E-waves by a lossy dielectric elliptic cylinder. The computational programs for calculating the analytic solutions for the diffraction of a lossy dielectric elliptic cylinder can be achieved. From the calculated results of the backscattering cross section (BSCS) (usually the radar cross section: RCS) and the forward-scattering cross section (FSCS) due to the cross-sectional shape and complex dielectric constant of the elliptic cylinder, the features of the BSCS and FSCS can be clarified as follows. (1) There is a cross-sectional shape of the cylinder which results in a minimum BSCS with a complex dielectric constant of the cylinder. (2) The BSCS and FSCS of the lossy dielectric scatterer approach zero as the scatterer approaches a strip. This result means that no material composing such a strip exists, and the features are very different from those in a perfectly conducting strip. (3) The influence of conductivity, σ, of the cylinder on a scattered wave is small for the relative dielectric constant of εr6. (4) The total scattering cross section of the lossy dielectric elliptic cylinder which causes the minimum BSCS is not small. Hence, it may be considered that the minimum BSCS is determined mainly by interference based on the cross-sectional shape and complex dielectric constant of cylinder, and is not caused by incident wave absorption due to the lossy dielectric.

A stepwise refinement method of communications service specifications is proposed to generate communications software that can conform to any network architecture. This method uses a two-layered language; one layer is a service specification description language (STR), and the other layer is a supplementary specification description language for implementing STR description on a communications system (STR/D). STR specifies terminal behaviors that can be recognized from a perspective outside of the communications systems. With STR, a communications service is defined by a set of rules that can be described without detailed knowledge of communications systems or communications network architectures. Each STR rule describes a global state transition of terminals. Supplementary specifications, such as terminal control and network control, are needed to implement communications services specified by STR rules. These supplementary specifications are described by STR/D rules. Communications services, such as UPT (Universal Personal Telecommunication), are standardized so that they can be provided on a given functional model consisting of functional entities. Specifications for each functional entity in a network are obtained from the two kinds of initially described specifications mentioned above. The obtained specifications are described by STR(L) and STR/D(L) rules, which specify local specifications of a functional entity. These specifications for functional entities are then transformed into software specifications, and finally communications software is generated from these software specifications. This stepwise refinement method makes it possible to generate communications software that can conform to any functional model from service specifications.

A new simple formulation of absorbing boundary conditions with higher order approximation is proposed for the solution of Maxwell's equations with the finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) method. Although this higher order approximation is based on the third order approximation of the one-way wave equations, we have succeeded in reducing it to an equation in a form quite similar to the second order appoximation. Numerical tests exhibit smaller reflection errors than the prevalent second order approximation.

The concept of flexible system is long being used by many researchers, aiming to solve some particular problem of adaptation. The problem is viewed differently in different situations. In this paper, we first give a set of definitions and specifications to generalize this concept applicable to any system and in particular to communication networks. Through these definitions we will formalize, what are the conditions a system should satisfy to be called as a Flexible Communication System. The rest of the paper we formalize the concepts of flexible information network, and propose an agent oriented architecture that can realize it.

Some qualitative properties of an inductively coupled circuit containing two Josephson junction elements with a dc source are investigated. The system is described by a four–dimensional autonomous differential equation. However, the phase space can be regarded as S1×R3 because the system has a periodicity for the invariant transformation. In this paper, we study the properties of periodic solutions winding around S1 as a bifurcation problem. Firstly, we analyze equilibria in this system. The bifurcation diagram of equilibria and its topological classification are given. Secondly, the bifurcation diagram of the periodic solutions winding around S1 are calculated by using a suitable Poincar mapping, and some properties of periodic solutions are discussed. From these analyses, we clarify that a periodic solution so–called "caterpillar solution" is observed when the two Josephson junction circuits are weakly coupled.

Telecommunication services are becoming more and more personalized, integrated, and refined. Advanced personal and mobile telecommunication services, intelligent networks, and network management operations require cooperative network-wide distributed processing on a very large scale. Telecommunication programs must support these services with great flexibility, efficiency, and reliability. This paper proposes a new call processing model that improves the availability and flexibility of telecommunication programs. It first points out requirements, outlines the distributed processing platform PLATINA, and discusses several approaches to the enhanced call processing model. Then it explains the call processing program structure, and gives illustrations of mobile and multi- party service control as typical examples. The Caller-Callee decomposition reduces the complexity of the call processing program and enhances the call model; the separation of call and bearer enhances service flexibility and integration; distributed object-oriented techniques meet software evolution requirements. A prototype program has been implemented and has proved the effectiveness of this approach.

Fractal image coding using iterated transformations compresses image data by exploiting the self–similarity of an image. Its compression performance has already been discussed in [2] and several other papers. However the relation between the performance and the self–similarity remains unclear. In this paper, we evaluate fractal coding from the perspective of this relationship.

This paper describes that a neural network, which consists of neurons with piecewise–linear sigmoid characteristics, is able to approximate any piecewise–linear map with origin symmetry. The neural network can generate "deterministic diffusion" originating from its diffusive trajectory.

The problem of electromagnetic scattering by inductive discontinuities located in rectangular waveguides, in particular when dealing with discontinuous conductors of finite thickness, is analyzed using the modified residue-calculus method, and form of the equation suitable for a numerical calculation is derived. The incident wave is taken to be the dominant mode, and reflection and transmission properties of an asymmetric inductive iris are discussed. After the modal representation of the filed, the modal matching is apply to satisfy the boundary conditions at the discontinuity. And using the modified residue-calculus method, simultaneous infinite equations, which are concerned with the scattered mode coefficients, are derived. Then they are approximated at the thick diaphragm. The solutions obtained take on the form of an infinite product, and a numerical solution based on the method of successive approximations is presented as a technique for concretely determining the reflection coefficients. As confirmation, experiments are also carried out in the X-band and close agreement is shown between the calculated and experimental values.

A new algorithm, which is incorporated into the waveform relaxation analysis, for efficiently simulating the transient response of single lossy transmission lines or lossy coupled multiconductor transmission lines, terminated with arbitrary networks will be presented. This method exploits the inherent delay present in a transmission line for achieving simulation efficiency equivalent to obtaining converged waveforms with a single iteration by the conventional iterative waveform relaxation approach. To this end we propose 'line delay window partitioning' algorithm in which the simulation interval is divided into sequential windows of duration equal to the transmission line delay. This window scheme enables the computation of the reflected voltage waveforms accurately, ahead of simulation, in each window. It should be noted that the present window partitioning scheme is different from the existing window techniques which are aimed at exploiting the non–uniform convergence in different windows. In contrast, the present window technique is equivalent to achieving uniform convergence in all the windows with a single iteration. In addition our method eliminates the need to simulate the transmission line delay by the application of Branin's classical method of characteristics. Further, we describe a simple and efficient method to compute the attenuated waveforms using a particular form of lumped element model of attenuation function. Simulation examples of both single and coupled lines terminated with linear and nonlinear elements will be presented. Comparison indicates that the present method is several times faster than the previous waveform relaxation method and its accuracy is verified by the circuit simulator PSpice.