Several packaging methods for athermalization of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), which is equipped with negative expansion substrates, have been proposed. However, those methods have some deficiency resulted from the substrates such as complex structure or poor thermal expansion characteristics. In order to provide a suitable substrate for the athermalization of FBG, the authors have developed a Negative Expansion Ceramic Substrate (NECS) which has simple structure and suitable thermal expansion characteristics. NECS consists of polycrystalline β-quartz solid solution (Li2O-Al2O3-nSiO2, n>2), and has thermal expansion coefficient of about -65 to -85 10-7/C, which is sufficient large enough for total compensation of the Bragg wavelength shift. No difference in the thermal expansion was observed between the specimen as prepared and the one on which an epoxy adhesive was applied. NECS is produced by means of a sintering method, which enables flexible design of the chemical composition. It was found that the hysteresis in thermal expansion of the NECS depends upon the chemical composition and crystalline structure. We decreased thermal expansion hysteresis by controlling the SiO2 ratio in the composition and the crystal grain size. We confirmed that the temperature dependence of the FBG mounted on the NECS with an epoxy adhesive was decreased to -2.3 10-3 nm/C from 10.0 10-3 nm/C, in good agreement with the calculated value of -2.6 10-3 nm/C. The hysteresis in Bragg wavelength shift was less than 0.03 nm, that is sufficiently small enough for practical use. It was confirmed that NECS has suitable thermal expansion characteristics for the athermalization of FBG.

A Rayleigh lidar (laser radar) system was developed and is now working well for temperature observations of the middle atmosphere at Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, Alaska (65.1 N, 147.5 W). A comparison of lidar data and balloon sonde data showed good agreement in overlapped altitudes. The atmospheric fluctuations are detected in the temperature profiles obtained by the Rayleigh lidar and these are useful for the study of gravity waves. A Rayleigh Doppler lidar for wind measurements of the middle atmosphere is under the phase of development. The expected accuracy in measurements of horizontal winds up to an altitude of 60 km is smaller than 6 m/s in 2 hours observation. The system will be operated at Poker Flat after the completion of development. The combination of these lidars and radars installed at Poker Flat, give us chances of simultaneous observations of the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere in broad range of altitudes. Here, we give descriptions of the Rayleigh lidar and the Rayleigh Doppler lidar for the observations of the Arctic middle atmosphere at Poker Flat.

We analyze the performance of soft handoff used as intergroup handoff in the fiber-optic cellular system. Performance is evaluated in view of blocking and handoff refused probability. The numerical results show that the smaller the handoff region or the more the channel, the larger the system capacity.

In this letter, a new rapid converging method based on orthogonalization is proposed. Our approach is to find the near-optimum coefficient values during training period, and then use them as the initial values of the LMS algorithm. The numerical results show that the rapid convergence speed of the proposed scheme does not depend on the eigenvalue spread.

Gaudry has described a new algorithm (Gaudry's variant) for the discrete logarithm problem (DLP) in hyperelliptic curves. For a hyperelliptic curve of a small genus on a finite field GF(q), Gaudry's variant solves for the DLP in time O(q2+ε). This paper shows that Cab curves can be attacked with a modified form of Gaudry's variant and presents the timing results of such attack. However, Gaudry's variant cannot be effective in all of the Cab curve cryptosystems. This paper also provides an example of a Cab curve that is unassailable by Gaudry's variant.

This paper presents an application of Complex-Valued Associative Memory Model(CAMM) for image processing. An image association system applying CAMM, combined with a 2-dimensional discrete Fourier transform (2-D DFT) process is proposed. Discussed are how a gray level image can be expressed using CAMM, and the image association that can be performed by CAMM. In the proposed system, input images are transformed to phase matrices and the image association can be performed by making use of the phase information. Practical examples are also presented.

In this paper, as a practical application, we focus on the genetic algorithm (GA) for multi-head surface mounting machines which are used to populate printed circuit boards (PCBs). Although there have been numerous studies on the surface mounting machine, studies on the multi-head case are rare because of its complexity. The multi-head surface mounting machine can pick multiple components simultaneously in one pickup operation and this operation can reduce much portion of the assembly time. Hence we try to minimize the assembly time by maximizing the number of simultaneous pickups, resulting in reduction of PCB production cost. This research introduces a partial-link GA method for the single-head case. Then, we apply this method to the multi-head case by regarding a reel-group as one reel and a component-cluster as one component. The results of computer simulation show that our genetic algorithm is greatly superior to the heuristic algorithm that is currently used in industry.

A constraint resolution scheme in the Hopfield-type neural network named "Neuron Filter" is presented for efficiently solving combinatorial optimization problems. The neuron filter produces an output that satisfies the constraints of the problem as best as possible according to both neuron inputs and outputs. This paper defines the neuron filter and shows its introduction into existing neural networks for N-queens problems and FPGA board-level routing problems. The performance is evaluated through simulations where the results show that our neuron filter improves the searching capability of the neural network with the shorter computation time.

Future high density magnetic recording requires a nanometer spaced head-slider interface, high track seeking velocity and high spindle speed. Such a combination greatly increases the likelihood of slider-disk and slider-particle-disk impact. Furthermore, the impact can generate high flash temperature and leads to data reliability problems, such as partial or full data erasure. This work report a method to conduct controlled experimental investigations into the possibility of such a data erasure even when the temperature is far below the Curie temperature. Results indicate that the high density magnetic transitions are of high likelihood of being affected by the flash temperature. Investigations also extended to micromagnetic modeling of the flash temperature effect. Results suggest that thermally induced local stress can play important roll in the data erasure process. Modeling results also exhibit that smaller grain size and higher recording density are also of higher likelihood of getting the transitions being affected by the flash temperature.

This paper investigates an obstructed radio channel by foliage for LMDS (local multipoint distribution services) where a relative evaluation of attenuation characteristics of foliage at 29.5 and 5 GHz is performed. Results show that the attenuation in dB should be treated statistically as Rician distribution. It is also found that swaying foliage in wind causes a significant channel fading at 29.5 GHz, ranging over 10 dB, while the fading depth at 5 GHz is approximately 2 dB.

A low bit-rate encoding method which yields a good performance in edge reconstruction while achieving a high compression is proposed through MTF function and the spatial anisotropy of human vision. Human visual weighting factors applied to sub-blocks within each subband in wavelet domain are produced by the spatial anisotropic-filter, then a good perceptual performance can be obtained.

A Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar using only in-phase channel is advantageous for automotive applications. In this radar, it is necessary to search the pairs of beat frequencies in an up-chirp mode and a down-chirp mode to measure the distances and the velocity of multiple targets similarly to a FMCW radar with both of in-phase and quadrature-phase channel. However the number of combinations to search the pairs is larger than that for the FMCW radar with both of in-phase and quadrature-phase channel. Therefore, false targets by mistaking the combination of these pairs increase. In this paper, we propose a novel measurement algorithm to reduce the false targets. We extract only the beat frequencies of the relatively moving targets using the differential frequency power spectrum of the up-chirp mode and the down-chirp mode. We can reduce the number of selected incorrect pairs by separating the stationary targets and the moving targets. We have conducted some simulations to confirm the capability of the proposed measurement algorithm. It was shown that the false target appearance probability is reduced without significant deterioration of the target detection probability.

This paper describes a DLL (Delay Locked Loop) circuit with the mixed-mode phase tuning method. The circuit accomplishes unlimited phase shift and accurate phase alignment through the coarse and fine phase tuning technique. It is based on a dual delay locked loop structure. The main loop is for generating coarsely spaced clocks and the second loop is for fast and accurate phase tuning with digital and analog phase detection. Simulations show that this circuit has 360 degree phase shift capability and can resolve 10 ps phase error using 0.6 µm CMOS technology.

In this paper, the improvement technique for a nonlinear parallel interference cancellation (PIC) receiver for a DS-CDMA system is studied, which cancels only the estimated multiple access interference (MAI) from specific users at each receiver stage. This technique was introduced as a PIC receiver using null zone hard decision in the proceeding of IEEE MILCOM '94, but the numerical results has not been fully provided with varying decision threshold. In this paper, the performance of the PIC receiver using null zone hard decision is shown in a Rayleigh fading channel. Also, a new PIC receiver with an adaptive decision threshold is proposed. In the proposed new PIC receiver, the decision threshold for partial cancellation is adjusted according to the statistic of its matched filter (MF) outputs. The BER of the proposed PIC receiver is obtained by simulation and compared with those of the conventional PIC receiver and the PIC receiver using null zone hard decision in a Rayleigh fading channel. It is shown that the proposed PIC receiver achieves better performance than the conventional PIC receiver and the PIC receiver using null zone hard decision in a Rayleigh fading channel.

An airborne X- and L-band synthetic aperture radar system was developed by the Communications Research Laboratory and the National Space Development Agency of Japan in their joint project from 1993 to 1996. It is installed in the airplane, Gulfstream II. In both the azimuth and range directions, the resolution is 1.5 m for the X-band and 3 m for the L-band. Both SARs can make fully polarimetric observations. The X-band SAR has a cross-track interferometric function. In this paper we describe the SAR system, its ground processing system, and its performance. We also discuss motion compensation and interferogram quality.

An optimization of the smoothing preprocessing for the correlated signal parameter estimation was considered. Although the smoothing factor (the number of subarrays) is a free parameter in the smoothing preprocessing, a useful strategy to determine it has not yet been established. In this paper, we investigated thoroughly about the smoothing factor and also proposed a new scheme to optimize it. The proposed method, using the smoothed equivalent diversity profile (SED profile), is able to evaluate the effect of smoothing preprocessing without any a priori information. Therefore, this method is applicable in the real multipath parameter estimation.

An airborne cloud profiling radar (SPIDER) which has several unique features has been developed at CRL. In this paper, the objectives and design considerations are outlined, and the system is described. The features of SPIDER are summarized below. (1) A W-band frequency (95 GHz) is used to provide very high sensitivity to small cloud particles. (2) The radar is carried by a jet aircraft that can fly high above most clouds. (3) Full-polarimetric and Doppler capabilities are incorporated in the unit. (4) Almost all radar operational parameters are under software control, and most processing is in real time. (5) The design gives consideration to the study of cloud radiation and microphysics. The system has been completed and is still undergoing performance testing. The functions and performance of the SPIDER system are currently fulfilling the intentions of its design. Several interesting cloud features that had not been seen with previous instruments have already been observed.

We study how to generalize a key agreement and password authentication protocol on the basis of the well known hard problems such as a discrete logarithm problem and a Diffie-Hellman problem. The key agreement and password authentication protocol is necessary for networked or internetworked environments to provide the user knowledge-based authentication and to establish a new cryptographic key for the further secure session. The generalized protocol implies in this paper to require only weak constraints and to be generalized easily in any other cyclic groups which preserve two hard problems. The low entropy of password has made it difficult to design such a protocol and to prove its security soundness. In this paper, we devise a protocol which is easy to be generalized and show its security soundness in the random oracle model. The proposed protocol reduces the constraints extremely only to avoiding a smooth prime modulus. Our main contribution is in solving the password's low entropy problem in the multiplicative group for the generalization.

Meteor storms and showers are now considered as potential hazard in the space environment. Radar observations of meteors has an advantage of a much higher sensitivity over optical observations. The MU radar of Kyoto University, Japan has a unique capability of very fast beam steerability as well as a high sensitivity to the echoes from ionization around the meteors. We developed a special observation scheme which enables us to determine the orbit of individual meteors. The direction of the target is determined by comparing the echo intensity at three adjacent beams. The Doppler pulse compression technique is applied to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the echoes from the very fast target, and also to determine the range accurately. The developed scheme was applied to the observation made during the Leonid meteor storm on November 18, 1998 (JST). Estimated orbital distribution seems to suggest that the very weak meteors detected by the MU radar are dominated by sporadic meteors rather than the stream meteors associated with the Leonids storm.

Recently, cerebral disease is being a serious problem in an aging society. But, rank evaluation of cerebral disease is not developed and therefore rehabilitation is hard. In this study, we try to assess slight cerebral disease by taking notice of recognition mechanism of face and realizing face image synthesis using computer technology. If we can find a slight cerebral disease and rank evaluation, we can apply to rehabilitation, and a load of medical doctor and patient decreases. We have obtained a result by the experiment, so we report it.