The main issue in real time voice applications over Internet is to investigate a lossless playout without jitter while maintaining playout delay as small as possible. Existing playout algorithms estimate network delay by using timestamps and determine the playout schedule only at the beginning of each talkspurt. Also their scheduled playout time is determined based on a fixed upper playout delay bound over a talkspurt. The sliding adaptive playout algorithm we propose can estimate jitter without using timestamps and its playout time is allowed to slide to a certain extent. The aim of sliding playout schedule is to determine the scheduled playout time at the beginning of each talkspurt based on the playout delay expected under the normal condition where the degree of actual jitter is below the magnitude which is not quite large in relation to variations in the "baseline" delays. Then the proposed algorithm can be effectively applied to minimize the scheduled playout delay while improving the voice quality against a spike which may occur at the beginning of a talkspurt as well as a spike which occurs in the middle of a talkspurt. We develop an analytical model of the general adaptive playout algorithms and analyze the playout buffer performance for different degrees of jitter, different values of the scheduled playout delay, different maximum lengths of delay spikes, and arbitrary tolerable ranges of sliding. Based on the analytical results, we suggest the specific values of parameters used in the sliding algorithm.

In this letter, we propose an enhanced time-based registration method and analyze the performance numerically. In the analysis, we assume Poisson call arrival distribution and exponential cell resident time. The performance of the enhanced time-based registration method is compared with the performance of the original time-based registration method. In the comparisons, we see that in a certain range of parameters, the enhanced time-based registration method has better performance.

We present master-slave pulse-coupled bifurcating neurons having refractoriness. The system can exhibit various phenomena, e. g. , periodic and chaotic in-phase synchronizations, and periodic out-of-phase synchronization. We clarify local stabilities of the phenomena and a sufficient condition for the in-phase synchronization. It is suggested that bifurcations of the synchronization phenomena may relate to detection of a master parameter, and the refractoriness may relate to control of the detection accuracy. Using a simple test circuit, typical phenomena are verified in the laboratory.

The new Internet has to provide the Quality of Services to converged multimedia services, in which each one may choose its own requirements. Managing such a dynamic network is not an easy task. A more intelligent and adaptive behavior is required from network management. We argue that agents are able to realize this task by dynamically adapting management mechanisms to the current network conditions. This article presents a Behavioral Multi-Agent-based model for QoS-enabled Internet. Based on this behavioral approach, we analyze network management mechanisms (or "elementary behaviors") in terms of performance and applicability profile. We use simulation to observe services performances when submitted to diverse QoS management elementary behaviors.

Using the Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) principle of classical feedback control theory, this paper develops two general congestion control algorithms for routers implementing Active Queue Management (AQM) while supporting TCP/IP traffic flows. The general designs of non-interacting (N-PID) and interacting (I-PID) congestion control algorithms are tailored for practical network scenarios using the Ziegler-Nichols guidelines for tuning such controllers. Discrete event simulations using ns are performed to evaluate the performance of an existing F-PID and new N-PID and I-PID algorithms. The performance of N-PID and I-PID is compared mutually as well as with the F-PID algorithm. It reveals that N-PID and I-PID have higher speed of response but lower stability margins than F-PID. In general the accurate following of the target queue size by the PID principle congestion control algorithms, while providing high link utilization, low loss rate and low queuing delays, is also demonstrated.

A compact wide-band antennas design for the 2.4 GHz/5.8 GHz dual ISM-band application is introduced by combing a single-feed and single-layer microstrip antenna in the form of a T-type strip with an edge perturbation. Good impedance bandwidth performance for the dual-band is observed. The advantage of the design suggested in this paper is its simplicity of manufacturing and low cost.

In this letter, we present the new type parallel-coupled band-pass filter (BPF) which uses the dielectric guide in coupled sections with finite metallization thickness. A mode-matching method has been used to analyze this new structure and the simulation results are shown and validated through comparison with other available data. The results in this letter show that the dielectric guide of coupled lines with finite metal strips can be newly added to the design parameters of the parallel-coupled BPF structure and other microwave applications.

This paper presents a method to compensate the effect of non-cancellable zeros of the plant on output by incorporating finite impulse response (FIR) filter in the feed-forward path. This FIR filter is designed using the approximate inverse system of the non-cancellable part of numerator polynomial of the plant. The proposed controller guarantees boundedness of all signals from the reference input to the plant output. Computer simulation and real-time control experiment results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this paper, we present a new closed-form formula for the ergodic capacity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless channels. Assuming independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh flat-fading between antenna pairs and equal power allocation to each of the transmit antennas, the ergodic capacity of such channels is expressed in closed form as finite sums of the exponential integrals which are the special cases of the complementary incomplete gamma function. Using the asymptotic capacity rate of MIMO channels, which is defined as the asymptotic growth rate of the ergodic capacity, we also give simple approximate expressions for the MIMO capacity. Numerical results show that the approximations are quite accurate for the entire range of average signal-to-noise ratios.

Channel estimation is one of the key technologies in mobile communications. Channel estimation is critical in providing high data rate services and to overcome fast fading in very high-speed mobile communications. This paper presents a novel channel estimation based on hybrid spreading of I and Q signals (CEHS). Simulation results show that it can effectively mitigate the influence of fast fading and enable to provide high data rates for very high speed mobile systems.

This paper investigates prefix computations on Iterative Arrays (IAs) with sequential input/output mode. We show that, for any language L accepted by a linear-time IA, there is an IA which, given an infinite string a1a2 ai, generates the values of χL(a1),χL(a1a2),,χL(a1a2 ai), at steps 4,16,,4i2,, respectively. Here, χL:Σ*{0,1} is the characteristic function of the language L Σ*, defined as χL(w) = 1 iff w L. We also construct 2i3-time and i4-time prefix algorithms for languages accepted by quadratic-time and cubic-time IAs, respectively.

A number-conserving cellular automaton (NCCA) is a cellular automaton (CA) such that all states of cells are represented by integers and the sum of the cell states is conserved throughout its computing process. It can be thought of as a kind of modelization of the physical conservation law of mass or energy. It is known that the local function of a two-dimensional 45-degree reflection-symmetric von Neumann neighbor NCCA can be represented by linear combinations of a binary function. In spite of the number-conserving constraints, it is possible to design an NCCA with complex rules by employing this representation. In this paper, we study the case in which the binary function depends only on the difference of two cell states, i.e., the case in which the function can be regarded as a unary one and its circuit for applying rules to a cell only need adders and a single value table look up module. Even under this constraint, it is possible to construct a logically universal NCCA.

We discuss photonic crystals (PhCs) with advanced micro/nano-structres which are semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) for the purpose of realizing novel classes of PhC devices in future photonic network system. After brief introduction on advantages to implement QDs and MEMS with PhCs, we discuss optical characterization of PhC microcavity containing self-assembled InAs QDs. Modification of emission spectrum of a QD ensemble due to the resonant cavity modes is demonstrated. We also point out the feasibility of low-threshold PhC lasers with QD active media in numerical analysis. A very low threshold current of 10 µA is numerically obtained for lasing action in the multi dimensional distributed feedback mode by using realistic material parameters. Then, the basic concept for MEMS-controlled PhC slab devices is described. We show numerical results that demonstrate some of interesting functions such as the intensity modulation and the tuning of resonant frequency of cavity mode. Finally, a preliminary experiment of MEMS-based switching operation in a PhC line-defect waveguide is demonstrated.

Most of system-on-chips (SOCs) have many memory cores. Diagnosis is often used to improve the yield of memories. Memory cores usually represent a significant portion of the chip area and dominate the yield of the chip. Memory diagnosis thus is one of key techniques for improving the yield and quality of SOCs. Content addressable memories (CAMs) are important components in many SOCs. In this paper we propose a three-phase diagnosis procedure for binary CAMs (BCAMs). The user can distinguish different types of BCAM-specific comparison and RAM faults and locate the faulty cells with the procedure. A March-like fault identification algorithm is also proposed. The algorithm can distinguish different types of faults--including typical RAM faults and BCAM-specific comparison faults. The algorithm requires 15N Read/Write operations and 2(N + B) Compare operations for an N B-bit BCAM. Analysis results show that the algorithm has 100% diagnostic resolution for the target faults.

We present an overview of our work on the application of scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) to photonic crystal structures. Our results show that SNOM can be used to map the subwavelength confinement of light to a point-defect in a 2D photonic crystal microresonator. Comparison with numerical modelling shows that SNOM is able to resolve patterns in the intensity distribution that are due to the slight non-uniformity in the crystal structure. We also discuss the future possibilities for applications of different modes of SNOM to photonic crystal devices.

Low-loss optical coupling structures between photonic crystal waveguides and channel waveguides were investigated. It was emphasized that impedance matching of guided modes of those waveguides, as well as field-profile matching, was essential to achieving the low-loss optical coupling. We developed an impedance matching theory for Bloch waves, and applied it to designing the low-loss optical coupling structures. It was demonstrated that the optical coupling loss between a photonic crystal waveguide and a Si-channel waveguide was reduced to as low as 0.7 dB by introducing an interface structure for impedance matching between the two waveguides.

Mining generalized frequent patterns of generalized association rules is an important process in knowledge discovery system. In this paper, we propose a new approach for efficiently mining all frequent patterns using a novel set enumeration algorithm with two types of constraints on two generalized itemset relationships, called subset-superset and ancestor-descendant constraints. We also show a method to mine a smaller set of generalized closed frequent itemsets instead of mining a large set of conventional generalized frequent itemsets. To this end, we develop two algorithms called SET and cSET for mining generalized frequent itemsets and generalized closed frequent itemsets, respectively. By a number of experiments, the proposed algorithms outperform the previous well-known algorithms in both computational time and memory utilization. Furthermore, the experiments with real datasets indicate that mining generalized closed frequent itemsets gains more merit on computational costs since the number of generalized closed frequent itemsets is much more smaller than the number of generalized frequent itemsets.

A silicon (Si) wire waveguiding system fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates is one of the most promising platforms for highly-integrated, ultra-small optical circuits, or microphotonics devices. The cross-section of the waveguide's core is about 300-nm-square, and the minimum bending radius are a few micrometers. Recently, crucial problems involving propagation losses and in coupling with external circuits have been resolved. Functional devices using silicon wire waveguides are now being tested. In this paper, we describe our recent progress and future prospects on the microphotonics devices based on the silicon-wire waveguiding system.

There is a growing need for high-speed, high capacity networks amongst the academic and research community, as grid applications become increasingly important. To meet this demand, SURFnet, National Research Network (NRN) in the Netherlands, is actively investigating new technologies and deploying high capacity backbone network to accommodate these high bandwidth and real time grid computing applications. In this paper, we provide outline on several aspects of SURFnet network, SURFnet5 network topology including its interconnection with other research networks around the world, technologies that are being deployed and investigated, applications supported by next generation networks and also discuss briefly about next generation SURFnet network, known as SURFnet6.

Artificial electromagnetic structures have significantly broadened the range of wave propagation phenomena available. In particular, it has been shown that metamaterials can be constructed for which the index-of-refraction is negative over a finite band of frequencies. In this paper, we present the design, fabrication and characterization of a metamaterial that exhibits negative refraction. The metamaterial design we explore is anisotropic in the plane of propagation. Based on our analysis and supporting simulations and measurements, we demonstrate that for the geometry considered, the anisotropic metamaterial has the identical negative refraction properties as would an isotropic negative index metamaterial.