This paper reports on the use of microelectronic test structures to characterise a novel fabrication technique for thin-film electronic circuit boards. In this technology circuit tracks are formed on paper-like substrates by depositing films of a metal-loaded ink via a standard lithographic printing process. Sheet resistance and linewidth for both horizontal and vertical lines are electrically evaluated and these compared with optical and surface profiling measurements.

This paper proposes a phase-rotating phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation and shows that its narrow-band version is suitable for Viterbi equalization. The proposed PSK has the following features: 1) a spectrum shaping of the transmit/receive filters does not need to be restricted to the Nyquist criterion; 2) the transmitted data sequence is rotated for every symbol in order to reduce noise-correlation at the receiver. First, this paper discusses a performance degradation of bit error rate of Viterbi equalizers in the presence of the sampling timing offset or under time-dispersive frequency selective fading. Next, computer simulation confirms that π/2-shifted binary PSK with narrow-band spectrum shaping filter, which includes offset QPSK for its special case, solves the above mentioned performance degradation, keeping good spectrum efficiency equal to M-ary PSK.

An Acoustic echo canceller has problems adaptating under noisy or double-talk conditions. The adaptation process requires a precise identification of the temporarily changed room impulse response. To do this, both minimizing the step size parameter of the Least Mean Square (LMS) method to be as small as possible and giving up on updating the adaptive filter coefficients have been considered. This paper describes an adaptive cross-spectral technique that is robust to adaptive filtering under noisy or double-talk conditions and for colored signals such a speech signal. The cross-spectral technique was originally developed to measure the impulse response in a linear system. Here we apply in the adaptive cross-spectral technique to solve the acoustic echo cancelling problem. This cross-spectral technique takes the ensemble average of the cross spectrum between input and error signals and the averaged cross spectrum is divided by the averaged power spectrum of the input signal to update the filter coefficients. We have confirmed that the echo signal is suppressed by about 15 dB even under double-talk conditions. We also explain that this method has a systematic error due to using a short time block for estimating the room impulse response. Then we investigate overlapping every last half block by the following first half block in order to reduce the effect of the systematic error. Finally, we compare our method with the Frequency-domain Block LMS (FBLMS) method because both methods are implemented in the frequency domain using a short time block.

Packet contention is one of the fundamental problems that must be overcome in designing packet switches. In banyan network, which has multistage interconnection structure of many small switch elements, we must be concerned with output port conflicts and internal collisions. Dilated banyan network which provides multiple path for internal link can reduce packet loss due to internal collisions in loss system. However, under hot-spot traffic higher packet loss probability is measured at the hot-spot port and the ports close to the hot-spot as coefficient h increases due to the heavy traffic to hot-spot port. In order to moderate the packet loss probability at the hot-spot port we propose the method to disperse the packets which concentrate on the hot-spot route by altering address field of a half of incoming packets. These packets are switched along detour routes. Thus, the traffic concentration toward hot-spot is mitigated and the packet loss probability at the hot-spot port is moderated.

We have investigated the operation of a reflection type magnetostatic wave signal-to-noise enhancer in detail. It has good enhancement characteristics, low insertion loss, and low operating power. It is also composed of a transducer using a ceramic substrate having a high dielectric constant and an LaGa-YIG film with low saturation magnetization to enable direct operation in the 400-MHz band (the IF band of current DBS receivers). Enhancement of 8 dB was achieved over a 40-MHz bandwidth. Although its operating frequency range depends critically on device temperature, we can compensate for the temperature dependence by adjusting the bias magnetic field. Experiments showed that the enhancer improved the received carrier-to-noise ratio by 2 to 3 dB, providing good noise reduction in DBS reception.

This paper shows the applicability of the integral equation formulation of the measured equation of invariance (IE-MEI) to two-dimensional dielectric scatterers. That is, a relationship between the scattered electric and magnetic fields, which is derived from the new formulation of the IE-MEI, is applicable to lossless dielectric materials as well as perfect electric conductors (PEC). In addition, we show that the IE-MEI does not suffer from internal resonance problems. These two facts are validated by numerical examples for a circular cylinder and a square cylinder illuminated by Transverse Magnetic (TM) plane wave or a TM line source very close to the scatterers. The numerical results calculated by the IE-MEI agree well with the ones by moment methods that employ combined field formulations with exact boundary conditions.

The change over from IPv4 to IPv6 entails a potential increase in the number of records that the Registry System must maintain. Currently, only a few Network Information Centers (NICs), controlled by Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA), operate their Registry Systems. As they concentrates data into several Registry System, it is not scalable. This paper focuses on the scalability issue in a Registry System and Mie Advanced Registry System (MARS) is proposed. Through the collaboration of independent Registry Systems, MARS ensures data consistency as well as making it possible to access data managed by other Registry Systems. A prototype system of MARS is implemented, maintained and managed on the WIDE 6bone. Some lessen from the operation of MARS give also described.

This paper presents a network surveillance technique for detecting malicious activities. Based on the hypothesis that unusual conducts like system exploitation will trigger an abnormal network pattern, we try to detect this anomalous network traffic pattern as a sign of malicious, or at least suspicious activities. Capturing and analyzing of a network traffic pattern is implemented with a concept of port profiling, where measures representing various characteristics of connections are monitored and recorded for each port. Though the generation of the port profiles requires the minimum calculation and memory, they exhibit high stability and robustness. Each port profile retains the patterns of the corresponding connections precisely, even if the connections demonstrate multi-modal characteristics. By comparing the pattern exhibited by live traffic with the expected behavior recorded in the profile, intrusive activities like compromising backdoors or invoking trojan programs are successfully detected.

In this paper, we describe a new way of mobility support for the Internet and Intranet called "Unified Access." Different from other similar proposed technologies like Mobile IP, our scheme is more easy to use, secure, and have the full backward compatibility with existing equipments which are already used.

In this paper, we propose a new competitive learning algorithm for training single-layer neural networks to cluster data. The proposed algorithm adopts a new measure based on the idea of "symmetry" so that neurons compete with each other based on the symmetrical distance instead of the Euclidean distance. The detected clusters may be a set of clusters of different geometrical structures. Four data sets are tested to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.

This paper proposes a traffic-adaptive dynamic routing method, which we have named RAG, for connectionless packet networks. Conventional traffic control methods discard the packets which cause congestion. Furthermore, conventional routing methods propagate control messages all over the network for gathering global topology information, and this causes more congestion. In contrast, RAG estimates traffic conditions all over a network without any communication between nodes and makes the best use of free links so that packets make detours to avoid congestive sites. RAG adopts distributed control based on game theory (non-communication, non-zero-sum, two-person). With RAG, nodes play a packet-forwarding game without any communication with each other, and each node controls ordering and routing of the forwarding packets based on the node's individual payoff table which is dynamically reconstructed by observation of surrounding nodes. Nodes cooperate with each other, except for punishment for disloyalty. Repetition of these local operations in nodes aims at the emergence of the gradual network-global traffic balancing. The results of experiments in comparison with the conventional shortest path first (SPF) routing method show that the throughput is about 1.58 times higher with the new method.

This paper evaluates the performance of a reliable multicast protocol for bulk-data transfer over unreliable networks via IP-multicast. Bulk-data type reliable multicast appears promising for commercial publishing and large-scale data replication. The proposed reliable multicast transport protocol (RMTP) provides high-performance due to the use of IP multicast while also providing confirmed and error free transfer by end-to-end controls. The protocol includes a multi-round selective repeat scheme dedicated for bulk-data multicast applications. This paper examines the multicast retransmission procedures in RMTP through analysis and tests on an implemented system and clarifies the basic performance behavior of the protocol. Evaluations are conducted with regard to retransmission redundancy, transfer time, and packet processing load with various error conditions and number of receivers. Against the response concentration problem seen in end-to-end communication, the backoff time algorithm is applied to the protocol; the limits it places on system scalability are clarified.

Enhancement of resonance is shown by coupling and summing in sinusoidally driven chaotic neural networks. This resonance phenomenon has a peak at a drive frequency similar to noise-induced stochastic resonance (SR), however, the mechanism is different from noise-induced SR. We numerically study the properties of resonance in chaotic neural networks in the turbulent phase with summing and homogeneous coupling, with particular consideration of enhancement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by coupling and summing. Summing networks can enhance the SNR of a mean field based on the law of large numbers. Global coupling can enhance the SNR of a mean field and a neuron in the network. However, enhancement is not guaranteed and depends on the parameters. A combination of coupling and summing enhances the SNR, but summing to provide a mean field is more effective than coupling on a neuron level to promote the SNR. The global coupling network has a negative correlation between the SNR of the mean field and the Kolmogorov-Sinai (KS) entropy, and between the SNR of a neuron in the network and the KS entropy. This negative correlation is similar to the results of the driven single neuron model. The SNR is saturated as an increase in the drive amplitude, and further increases change the state into a nonchaotic one. The SNR is enhanced around a few frequencies and the dependence on frequency is clearer and smoother than the results of the driven single neuron model. Such dependence on the drive amplitude and frequency exhibits similarities to the results of the driven single neuron model. The nearest neighbor coupling network with a periodic or free boundary can also enhance the SNR of a neuron depending on the parameters. The network also has a negative correlation between the SNR of a neuron and the KS entropy whenever the boundary is periodic or free. The network with a free boundary does not have a significant effect on the SNR from both edges of the free boundaries.

This paper presents a contact-less connector using proximity coupling through a parasitic element. For example, proximity coupling is used for interconnect of microstrip lines for DC-break structure. We also present a cross wiring structure using this interconnect.

In this paper, the bit error rate (BER) of 16 differential amplitude phase shift keying (16DAPSK) modems in future mobile communication system is derived analytically. The channel employed in this paper is the frequency-selective and fast Rayleigh fading channel, corrupted by cochannel interference (CCI) and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Exact expressions for the probability distributions of the differential phase and amplitude ratio are derived for the BER calculation. The BER and optimum boundary are obtained for various channel conditions. In addition, the results for the BER in the presence of CCI are provided.

We fabricated and evaluated a second-order ΣΔ ADC with a polarity alternating feedback (PAF) comparator based on 0.4 µm InGaP/InGaAs enhancement and depletion mode high electron mobility transistors (E/D HEMT) technology. We propose a PAF technique for enhancing the sampling frequency and have applied the technique in the design of ADC circuit. The ADC has a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 43 dB when operating at a differential clock frequency of 4.9 GHz, and has a power dissipation of 400 mW.

A high-speed static logic circuit, the 1:8 demultiplexer (DEMUX), fabricated using single-gate CMOS technology (single-gate means the structure consisting of n+ poly-Si gate for both NMOS and PMOS transistors) has been demonstrated. To suppress short-channel effects in PMOS transistors, we only used the low-energy ion implantation (I/I) of BF2 at 10 keV for counterdoping of the channel and that at 5 keV for source/drain (S/D) extension. To control the threshold voltage Vth of PMOS transistors precisely, the channel dopants were implanted after the growth of the gate oxide because of the suppression of the transient-enhanced diffusion (TED) of boron, and the suppression of boron out-diffusion. A tree-type 1:8 DEMUX circuit composed of 0. 134 µm gate CMOS transistors operates at a high speed of 3.1 GHz and consumes a low power of 35.5 mW/GHz at VDD = 2.0 V. In this single-gate CMOS circuit, down to this small gate length, the maximum operating frequency of the DEMUX circuit increases proportionally with an increase of the inverse of the gate length without an increase of power consumption per GHz. At a practical 2.48832 Gb/s operation, the power consumption was 88 mW, and the phase margin between the input clock signal and the input data signal was 260 ps. It is suggested that a circuit composed of a single-gate CMOS transistor with 0.15 µm gate generation can be applicable to high speed ICs.

In this article we present a survey of medical image processing with the stress on applications of image generation and pattern recognition / understanding to computer aided diagnosis (CAD) and surgery (CAS). First, topics and fields of research in medical image processing are summarized. Second the importance of the 3D image processing and the use of virtualized human body (VHB) is pointed out. Thirdly the visualization and the observation methods of the VHB are introduced. In the forth section the virtualized endoscope system is presented from the viewpoint of the observation of the VHB with the moving viewpoints. The fifth topic is the use of VHB with deformation such as the simulation of surgical operation, intra-operative aids and image overlay. In the seventh section several topics on image processing methodologies are introduced including model generation, registration, segmentation, rendering and the use of knowledge processing.

This paper surveys the results of various studies on 3-D image coding. Themes are focused on efficient compression and display-independent representation of 3-D images. Most of the works on 3-D image coding have been concentrated on the compression methods tuned for each of the 3-D image formats (stereo pairs, multi-view images, volumetric images, holograms and so on). For the compression of stereo images, several techniques concerned with the concept of disparity compensation have been developed. For the compression of multi-view images, the concepts of disparity compensation and epipolar plane image (EPI) are the efficient ways of exploiting redundancies between multiple views. These techniques, however, heavily depend on the limited camera configurations. In order to consider many other multi-view configurations and other types of 3-D images comprehensively, more general platform for the 3-D image representation is introduced, aiming to outgrow the framework of 3-D "image" communication and to open up a novel field of technology, which should be called the "spatial" communication. Especially, the light ray based method has a wide range of application, including efficient transmission of the physical world, as well as integration of the virtual and physical worlds.

In this paper, we consider the steady state mean square error (MSE) analysis for 2-D LMS adaptive filtering algorithm in which the filter's weights are updated along both vertical and horizontal directions as a doubly-indexed dynamical system. The MSE analysis is conducted using the well-known independence assumption. First we show that computation of the weight-error covariance matrix for doubly-indexed 2-D LMS algorithm requires an approximation for the weight-error correlation coefficients at large spatial lags. Then we propose a method to solve this problem. Further discussion is carried out for the special case when the input signal is white Gaussian. It is shown that the convergence in the MSE sense occurs for step size range that is significantly smaller than the one necessary for the convergence of the mean. Simulation experiments are presented to support the obtained analytical results.