While high compression ratio has been achieved using recently developed image coding algorithm, the noise removal technique is considered as an important subject. This still holds for very low bitrate video coding, that is, MPEG-4 has defined it as a core experiment which is mainly concerned with block based discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding such as H.263 and MPEG-1. This paper describes a novel and practical technique which attempts to accomplish both noise suppression and detail preservation at the same time. Some of the conventional adaptive filters are designed to search a homogeneous region among the predetermined polygonal subregions, then to apply a smoothing operation within the selected subregion. It shall be, however noted that sometimes the predetermined subregion finally selected may still be hererogeneous. This fact leads us to a novel idea; instead of examining the predetermined regions, define a lot more flexible region likely to be homogeneous. In order to achieve this, we introduce the binary index. each pixel is classified into either the lower intensity group or higher intensity group based on a local statistics. Then a smoothing operation is applied within the pixels having the same group index as the pixel to be processed. Thus our scheme can search a homogeneous region appropriately. The adaptive smoothing adopted in the proposed scheme is also designed to be consistent with an important property of human visual system, i.e., the spatial masking. noise visibility decreases at spatial details such as edges and textures. Another advantage is that it can be realized with significantly low computations. The simulation results show that his approach can suppress the visible artifacts while retaining the fine details such as edge and texture.

This paper presents a new Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) demodulation method using the Short Time-Discrete Fourier Transform (ST-DFT) analysis to combat large frequency offset with time variation in low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications systems. This demodulation method can demodulate the received signal only by searching for the instantaneous spectrum energy peaks without complicated carrier recovery. In addition, it is insensitive to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) degradation caused by the excessively wide bandwidth of the receiver front-end band pass filter. Furthermore, the ST-DFT analysis combined with a differential encoding scheme gives FSK demodulation method a potential robustness against large and fast time-varying frequency offset.

There are many kinds of transmission lines such as uniform, nonuniform and nonlinear ones terminated by linear and/or nonlinear subnetworks. The nonuniform transmission lines are crucial in integrated circuits and printed circuit boards, because these circuits have complex geometries and layout between the multi layers, and most of the transmission lines possess nonuniform characteristics. On the other hand, the nonlinear transmission line have been focused in the fields of communication and instrumentation. Here, we present a new numerical method for analyzing nonuniform and nonlinear transmission lines with linear and/or nonlinear terminations. The waveforms at any points along the lines are described by the Fourier expansions. The partial differential equations representing the circuit are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations at each frequency component, where for nonlinear transmission line, the perturbation technique is applied. The method is efficiently applied to weakly nonlinear transmission line. The nonuniform transmission lines terminated by a nonlinear subnetwork are analyzed by hybrid frequency-domain method. The stability for stiff circuit is improved by introducing compensation element. The efficiency of our method is illustrated by some examples.

Recently, the high-speed data transmission techniques that have been developed for communication systems have in turn necessitated the implementation of high-speed error correction circuits. Parallel processing has been found to be an effective method of speeding up operarions, since the maximum achievable clock frequency is generally bounded by the physical constraints of the circuit. This paper presents a parallel encoder and decoder architecture which can be applied to both binary and nonbinary cyclic codes. The architecture allows H symbols to be processed in parallel, where H is an arbitrary integer, although its hardware complexity is not proportional to the number of parallel symbols H. As an example, we investigate hardware complexity for a Reed-Solomon code and a binary BCH code. It is shown that both the hardware complexity and the delay for a parallel circuit is much less than that with the parallel operation of H conventional circuits. Although the only problem with this parallel architecture is that the encoder's critical path length increases with H, the proposed architecture is more efficient than a setup using H conventional circuits for high data rate applications. It is also suggested that a parallel Reed-Solomon encoder and decoder, which can keep up with optical transmission rates, i.e., several giga bits/sec, could be implemented on one LSI chip using current CMOS technology.

Most research on the estimation of direction of arrival (DOA) has been performed based on the assumption that the signal sources are point sources. In some real surroundings, signal source localization can more adequately be accomplished with distributed source models. When the signal sources are distributed over an area, we cannot directly use well-known DOA estimation methods, because these methods are established based on the point source assumption. In this paper, we propose a 3-dimensional distributed signal source model, in which a source is represented by two parameters, the center angle and degree of dispersion. Then, we address the estimation of the elevation and azimuth angles of distributed sources based on the parametric distributed source modeling in the 3-dimensional space.

Microcellular systems are suitable as personal mobile communication systems because of their high channel re-use efficiency and low transmission power. To implement a microcellular system, the antennas of base stations should be low enough, compared to the buildings around them, to reduce the interference to or from other base stations. In high-speed digital mobile radio communications, the time delay spread caused by multipath propagation is a significant factor in determining the maximum data transmission rate. In the case of a low-antenna-height microcellular system, the propagation characteristics rapidly change when the mobile terminal moves from a line-of-sight (LOS) location to a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) location. In this paper, the time dealy spread characteristics under LOS and NLOS conditions are examined using a geometrical street model which has a reflecting wall at one end of the street on which the base station is located. The RMS delay spreads are calculated using optical ray theory, taking into consideration the wedge diffraction on the street corner. If a reflecting wall exists, the RMS delay spread increases as the mobile terminal moves away from the base station under LOS conditions, or away from the street corner under NLOS conditions. The calculated results agree with the experimental results if measuring equipment noise is taken into consideration.

The importance sampling simulation technique has been exploited to obtain an accurate estimate for a very small probability which is not tractable by the ordinary Monte Carlo simulation. In this paper, we will investigate the simulation for a sample average of an output sequence from a Markov chain. The optimal simulation distribution will be characterized by the Kullback-Leibler divergence of Markov chains and geometric properties of the importance sampling simulation will be presented. As a result, an effective computation method for the optimal simulation distribution will be obtained.

Viterbi decoding is known as a decoding scheme that can realize maximum likelihood decoding. However, it is impossible to continue it without re-synchronization even if only an insertion/deletion error occurs in a channel. In this paper, we show that Levenshtein distance is suitable for the metric of Viterbi decoding in a channel where not only symbol errors but also insertion/deletion errors occur under some conditions and we propose a kind of Viterbi decoding considering insertion/deletion errors.

For two devices whose quality is described by non-negative one-dimensional time-homogeneous diffusion processes of the Wiener and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck types sufficient conditions are given such that their failure times, modeled as first-passage times through the zero state, are ordered according to the likelihood ratio ordering.

A method for the recognition of handprinted Thai characters input using an image scanner is presented. We use methods of edge detection and boundary contour tracing algorithms to extract loop structures from input characters. The number of loops and their locations are detected and used as information for rough classification. For fine classification, local feature analysis of Thai characters is presented to discriminate an output character from a group of similar characters. In this paper, four parts of the recognition system are presented: Preprocessing, single-character segmentation, loop structure extraction and character identification. Preprocessing consists of pattern binarization, noise reduction and slant normalization based on geometrical transformation for the forward (backward) slanted word. The method of single-character segmentation is applied during the recognition phase. Each character from an input word including the character line level information is subjected to the processes of edge detection, contour tracing and thinning to detect loop structures and to extract topological properties of strokes. The decision trees are constructed based on the obtained information about loops, end points of strokes and some local characteristics of Thai characters. The proposed system is implemented on a personal computer, and a high recognition rate is obtained for 1000 samples of handprinted Thai words from 20 subjects.

Superconductive LSIs with Josephson junctions have features such as low power dissipation and high switching speed. In this paper, we review our developed 4-Kbit RAM with vortex transitional memory cells as an illustration of superconductive LSIs with Josephson junctions. We have developed a fabrication process technology for the 4-Kbit RAM. In the 4-Kbit RAM, 380ps access time and 9.8 mW power dissipation have been experimentally obtained. And also, we have estimated a suitable moat structure to reduce the influence of trapped magnetic structure. The 4-Kbit RAM has been successfully operated with a bit yield of 99.8%. Furthermore, we discuss GHz testing which is one of the most significant issues concerning superconductive digital LSIs.

This paper develops an efficient mechanism for extracting primary information requests from 'Seek-Object' type query messages. The mechanism consists of three steps. The first step extracts sentences which signal that the query is 'Seek-Object' type by recognizing distinctive surface expressions. The second step, biased by the expression patterns, analyzes their internal structures. The third step integrates these fragments by a partial discourse processing and represents writers' goal-directed information request; as these sentences often include referential expressions and the referred expressions are in background goal descriptions. We claim the mechanism can extract information requests fairly accurately, by showing evaluation results.

A quasi-optical Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixer has been designed and tested in the 270-GHz band. The mixer used a substrate-lens-coupled log-periodic antenna and a tuning circuit for RF matching. The antenna is planar and self-complementary, and has a frequency-independent impedance of around 114 Ω over several octaves. The tuning circuit consists of two Nb/AIOx/Nb tunnel junctions separated by inductance for tuning out the junction capacitances and a λ/4 impedance transformer for matching the resistance of the two-junction circuit to the antenna impedance. The IF output from the mixer is brought out in a balanced method at each edge of the antenna, and is coupled to a low noise amplifier through a balun transformer using a 180-degree hybrid coupler for broadband IF matching. Double sideband receiver noise temperatures, determined from experimental Y-factor measurements, are about 150 K across the majority of the desired operating frequency band. The minimum receiver noise temperature of 120 K was measured at 263 GHz, which is as low as that of waveguide receivers. At this frequency, measurement of the noise contribution to the receiver results in input losses of 90 K, mixer noise of 17 K, and multiplied IF noise of 13 K. We found that the major sources of noise in our quasi-optical receiver were the optical losses.

Direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) is a promising candidate for 3rd generation mobile communications systems. We recently proposed a coherent multicode DS-CDMA (CM-CDMA) scheme that uses pilot symbol-aided coherent RAKE, interference power measurement based transmit power control, orthogonal multicode transmission, and concatenated channel coding. We have implemented a CM-CDMA test-bed for a series of laboratory and field tests using the 2 GHz band. This paper describes the test-bed system and experimental results are presented. It is confirmed that pilot symbol-aided coherent RAKE can reduce the required signal energy per bit-to-interference plus background noise spectrum density ratio (Eb/Io) by 2-3 dB from that achievable with differential detection. Also shown is that by using both RAKE combining and SIR-based power control the transmit power of mobile stations can be significantly reduced. Measurement results show that the required Eb/Io degrades only slightly when 24 code-channels (768 kbps) are used since orthogonal Gold sequences are used as short spreading codes.

Resonant properties of resistance shunted tunnel junctions have been investigated using the RLCSJ model. We found that an increase in dc current resulted from an increase in impedance of the shunted tunnel junctions. The static and dynamic properties of the shunted tunnel junctions were described in detail by numerical simulations and experiments. The simulated and measured results showed good agreement in I-V characteristics. A Josephson array oscillator has been proposed using the resonant properties for increasing oscillator output impedance. We designed and fabricated the oscillator with 20 shunted tunnel junctions. The output power of the oscillator delivered to the load resistor was estimated to be about 0.5µW at 312 GHz.

In this paper we will propose a deterministic approach to model the radio wave propagation channels in large empty buildings. This technique applies the modified SBR method to find equivalent sources (images) in each launched triangular ray tube, and sums the receiving amplitude contributed by all images coherently. In addition, vector effective antenna height (VEH) is introduced to consider the polarization coupling effect resulting from the multiple reflection inside the buildings. We verify this approach by comparing the numerical results in three canonical examples where closed-form solutions exist. The good agreement indicates that our method can provide a good approximation of high frequency radio propagation inside buildings where multiple reflection is dominant. Work reported in this paper has shown that propagation loss in large empty buildings can vary considerably according to the geometrical configurations of buildings and polarizations. This SBR/image method can be enhanced by including the wall penetration and wedge diffraction effects so that more complicated indoor environments with furniture will be handled. Additional considerations, such as buildings crowded with pedestrians are left for future studies.

In this study, we analyze the system which simultaneously transmits spread-spectrum signals with different processing gains. The main purpose of this study is to give an analytical framework that describes the influence of the interfering signals with different processing gains. For this purpose, we define a crosscorrelation function between the spreading sequences with different code lengths, and discuss the effects of interaction between the signals. As the results, we show that the power of the interference component after despreading procedure, the power ratio of the desired to undesired components, and thus the bit error rate are not constant but vary symbol by symbol.

BaSnO3 is proposed as a new insulating material with good surface coverage of the lower superconductor electrode for superconductor/insulator/superconductor (SIS) tunnel junctions made of high-Tc superconductor YBa2Cu3Ox (YBCO). This paper reports on investigation of the epitaxial nature of BaSnO3 on YBCO thin films and YBCO/BaSnO3 /YBCO trilayer formation that are grown in situ by reactive co-evaporation in oxygen radicals. Investigation was done by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). these observations confirm that (001)-oriented YBCO and (100)-oriented BaSnO3 thin films with atomically smooth surfaces grow epitaxially on each other. In addition, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation reveals that an approximately 4-nm-thick layer of BaSnO3 perfectly covers the lower YBCO thin film surface steps to a height of 1 to 2 unit cells of YBCO. The zero-resistance critical temperature Tc zero of both the upper and the lower YBCO thin films is higher than about 86 K.

A new application of the factorization method is reported for 3-D shape reconstruction from endoscope image sequences. The feasibility of the method is verified with some theoretical considerations and results of extensive experiments. This method was developed by Tomasi and Kanade, and improved by Poelman and Kanade, with the aim of achieving accurate shape reconstruction by using a large number of points and images, and robustly applying well-understood matrix computations. However, the latter stage of the method, called normalization, is not as easily understandable as the use of singular value decomposition in the first stage. In fact, as shown in this report, many choices are possible for this normalization and a variety of results have been obtained depending on the choice. This method is easy to understand, easy to implement, and provides sufficient accuracy when the approximation used for the optical system is reasonable. However, the details of the theoretical basis require further study.

A binary counter circuit in the extended phase-mode logic (EPL) family is presented. The EPL family utilizes a single flux quantum as an information bit carrier. Numerical simulations show that a binary counter circuit with a Josephson critical current density of 1 kA/cm2 can operate up to a 30 GHz input signal. The circuit has been fabricated using Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson junction technology. New interface circuits are employed in the fabricated chip. A low speed test result shows the correct operation of the binary counter.