The features of the method of moment (MoM) and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method for numerical analysis of the electromagnetic scattering problem are presented. First, the integral equations for the conducting wire, conducting plane and the dielectric materials are described. Importance to ensure the condition of the continuity of the current of the scatterers is emphasized and numerical examples for a conducting structure involving a junction of wire segment and planar segment is presented. Finally, the advantages and the disadvantages of the FDTD method are discussed.

Closed-loop power control providing maximum capacity of the multicarrier channel with frequency selective Nakagami fading is investigated. Use of the famous Gallager channel capacity (water-filling) theorem with the assumption of limited transmitter power and independent fading in partial channels leads to the algorithm for their optimal power loading. Analytical expressions for the capacity of the multicarrier channel as a function of the number of its subchannels and the fading parameters are derived for the cases of Optimal Power Distribution (OPD) and Equal Power Distribution (EPD). The dependence of the capacity gain on the OPD system order, the fading depth and the average SNR due the optimal power control is obtained. Comparison of the power efficiencies of the systems with OPD and EPD is presented.

This letter proposes a combined input- and crosspoint-queued (CIC) switch in which virtual output queuing (VOQ) is used at each input port. This CIC switch has a large buffer at each input port and a small buffer at each crosspoint. It does not require high-speed memory access or high-speed internal cell transmission lines. Since the performance of the CIC switch depends on the scheduling algorithms, we propose new scheduling algorithms for the CIC switch. Numerical results show that the mean cell delay time performance of the CIC switch using the proposed scheduling algorithms is better than that of an input-queued ATM switch. In addition, the required buffer size for the CIC switch using the proposed scheduling algorithms is smaller than that for a crosspoint-queued ATM switch.

The connectivity augmentation problem asks to add to a given graph the smallest number of new edges so that the edge- (or vertex-) connectivity of the graph increases up to a specified value k. The problem has been extensively studied, and several efficient algorithm have been discovered. We survey the recent development of the algorithms for this problem. In particular, we show how the minimum cut algorithm due to Nagamochi and Ibaraki is effectively applied to solve the edge-connectivity augmentation problem.

Given a plane graph G, we wish to find a drawing of G in the plane such that the vertices of G are represented as grid points, and the edges are represented as straight-line segments between their endpoints without any edge-intersection. Such drawings are called planar straight-line drawings of G. An additional objective is to minimize the area of the rectangular grid in which G is drawn. In this paper first we review known two methods to find such drawings, then explain a hidden relation between them, and finally survey related results.

Two different examples have been respectively given by Aggarwal and Viswanathan to establish the necessity of (n + 2)/5 edge guards for spiral polygons. However, the former example is incorrect. To show why it is wrong, we give an alternate proof of sufficiency of (n + 2)/5 edge guards for spiral polygons. Our proof is simpler than the sufficiency proof given by Viswanathan.

An OTA without a tail-current source is proposed for low power supply voltages. Only two MOSFET's are connected between power supply lines in order to operate under low power supply voltages. A few MOSFET's are added at the expense of eliminating the tail-current source of the conventional OTA. SPICE simulation is shown in order to evaluate the proposed circuits. As an application, a low-pass filter is realized by employing the proposed OTA's.

The Communications Research Laboratory (CRL), the National Astronomical Observatory (NAO), the Institute of Space and Astronoutical Science (ISAS), and the Telecommunication Network Laboratory Group of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) have developed a very-long-baseline-connected-interferometry array, maximum baseline-length was 208 km, using a high-speed asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network with an AAL1 that corresponds to the constant bit-rate protocol. The very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observed data is transmitted through a 2.488-Gbps [STM-16/OC-48] ATM network instead of being recorded onto magnetic tape. By combining antennas via a high-speed ATM network, a highly-sensitive virtual (radio) telescope system was realized. The system was composed of two real-time VLBI networks: the Key-Stone-Project (KSP) network of CRL (which is used for measuring crustal deformation in the Tokyo metropolitan area), and the OLIVE (optically linked VLBI experiment) network of NAO and ISAS which is used for astronomy (space-VLBI). These networks operated in cooperation with NTT. In order to realize a virtual telescope, the acquired VLBI data were corrected via the ATM networks and were synthesized using the VLBI technique. The cross-correlation processing and data observation were done simultaneously in this system and radio flares on the weak radio source (HR1099) were detected.

A new phasor model of neural networks is proposed in which the state of each neuron possibly takes the value at the origin as well as on the unit circle. A stability property of equilibria is studied in association with the energy landscape. It is shown that a simple condition guarantees an equilibrium to be asymptotically stable.

Broadband subscriber loop system and ATM switching system are the key equipment for construction of Broadband networks. In this paper, we describe the architecture of access network and the implementation of ATM switching system with multi-service interface for construction of broadband access network. We also represent the design of MAIN-AN (Multi-service Access Integrated Network--Access Node) system as integrated access network platform which enables to accommodate ATM/SDH-based and ATM/PON-based FTTx (Fiber-To-The-x) access architecture simultaneously. The system has a Cross-point ATM Switch Fabric with 10 Gbits/sec throughput and it has been implemented using 0.5 µm CMOS technology. For performance evaluation of it, we simulate it under burst traffic conditions. In addition, we show the implementation of prototype of ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), MAIN system and its core PBA (Printed circuit Board Assembly) and so on.

This paper describes the roles and benefits of an ATM transport network composed of ATM transport systems, such as ATM cross-connect systems and/or ATM add-drop multiplexers. The ATM transport network is an economical way of providing the ATM public network and a virtual path service for enterprise users. This paper exemplifies the effectiveness of a VP grooming function in the ATM transport system by comparing it to the network costs with direct fiber connection, an alternative to VP grooming. Main and junction module architecture for the ATM cross-connect system is proposed to realize an economical network that supports small to large traffic. For implementing a large-scale cross-connect switch, a cell congestion control method that employs re-arrangement control and a concentration network is proposed. Implementation of multiple service classes and VP protection switching in the ATM cross-connect system are mentioned. We also describe an SDH signal transmission method based on ATM cells, that offers a cost effective and reliable transport network.

An analog standard cell layout configuration is proposed for simplifying the design and reducing the man-hours for designing mixed analog-digital LSIs, and analog standard cells are fabricated for A-D and D-A converters with Δ-Σ modulators. This works seeks to implement 2-D cell placement with up-down and left-right mirror rotation and shorter high-impedance analog wiring than conventional 1-D placement in order to obtain high-performance analog characteristics. By considering sensitivity to noise, routing channels have been classified into 4 types: high-impedance analog, low-impedance analog, analog-digital, and digital, and efforts have been made to prevent analog wires from crossing over digital wires. In addition to power and analog ground wires, analog standard cells have built-in analog ground wires with attached wells optimized for shielding. These wires are interconnected to a new isolation cell that separates analog circuits from digital circuits and routing channels. Based on the above layout structure, 46 different types of analog standard cells have been designed. Also, the analog part of Δ-Σ type A-D and D-A converters can be automatically designed in conjunction with interactive processing and chips fabricated by using these cells. It was found that, compared to manual design, one could easily obtain a chip occupying less than 1.5-times the area with about 2/3 the man-days using this approach. In comparison with manual design, it was also found that the S/N ratio could be reduced from about 6 to 7 dB.

This paper proposes the iterative quasi-oldest-cell-first (i-QOCF) scheduling algorithm, a new scheduling algorithm for input-queued ATM switches with virtual output queuing (VOQ). In the i-QOCF scheduling algorithm, each input port and each output port maintains its own list. The length of the list can be N, 2 N, ..., B N, where B is the size of the separate queue for an output port at input ports, and N is the number of output ports. The list maintained by an input port contains the identifiers for those output ports to which that input port will send a cell. The list maintained by an output port contains the identifiers for input ports that have a cell destined for that output port. If we use a list whose length is B N, then the identifiers in the list appear in the oldest order, and i-QOCF gives preference to cells that have been waiting for the longest time. If we use a list whose length is less than B N, then the identifiers in the list appear in the quasi-oldest order, and i-QOCF gives preference to cells that have been waiting for the quasi-longest time. We determine the performance of i-QOCF in a comparison with i-OCF in terms of cell delay time. We find that an input-queued ATM switch with i-QOCF and VOQ can achieve 100% throughput for independent arrival processes. Under uniform traffic, 3-QOCF is enough to achieve convergence during one cell time. If we use 3-QOCF, the list length is 3 N, then its cell delay time is almost the same as that of 4-OCF (Oldest-Cell-First).

This paper deals with the prediction of stock trends by using the wavelet transform and the multi-stage fuzzy inference system based upon the optimization of membership function by using the GA. The system is expected to recognize the short-term feature which is usually used to estimate the rise/fall of price by human experts. In the prediction of stock prices, the wavelet transform is used to describe the short term feature of the stock trend. The fractal dimension and the variance of the time series are also used as the input variables. By dividing the inference system into multiple stages, the total number of rules is sufficiently depressed compared to the single stage system. In each stage of inference only a portion of input variables are used as the input, and output of the stage is treated as an input to the next stage. To give better performance, the shape of the membership function of the inference rules is optimized by using the GA. Each individual corresponds to an inference system, and its fitness is calculated as the ratio of the correct recognition. In the simulation study, we define the rise and fall of prices by considering the threshold value for the price change, and the interval of prediction. Then, the parameters of the system are adjusted by using the data for learning and the performance is evaluated by comparing the prediction and observation. The simulation study shows that the inference system gives about a 70% correct prediction of the price change of stocks. The result is compared to the prediction by the neural network, and we see better classification of the fuzzy system.

This paper presents an architecture for a single-chip MPEG-2 video encoder and demonstrates its flexibility and usefulness. The architecture based on three-layer cooperation provides flexible data-transfer that improves the encoder from the standpoints of versatility, scalability, and video quality. The LSI was successfully fabricated in the 0.25-µm four-metal CMOS process. Its small size and its low power consumption make it ideal for a wide range of applications, such as DVD recorders, PC-card encoders and HDTV encoders.

The wall admittance of an arbitrarily shaped microstrip antenna is generally formulated. As examples, elliptical microstrip antennas with and without a circular slot are calculated. The wall admittance is determined by the spectral domain analysis in order to consider the effect of the dielectric substrate. The electromagnetic fields within the cavity are expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions in the cylindrical coordinate system and their expansion coefficients are determined by applying the impedance boundary condition at the aperture in the sense of the least squares. The calculated input impedance and axial ratio agree fairly well with the experimental data. The proposed method is valid for the microstrip antennas with a patch whose geometry deviates from the particular coordinate system, such as single-feed circularly polarized microstrip antennas.

In this paper, the waveforms measured by the strain gauge in the tapping test on a number of healthy subjects and patients with Parkinson's disease are analyzed with the objective of reaching a quantitatively evaluation of the associated symptom. It has been observed that the waveform of a patient with Parkinson's disease becomes more irregular as the symptom is getting more serious, while the waveform of a healthy subject is rather regular. In this study, the regularity of the waveform is evaluated by the so-called trajectory parallel measure. The results show a large difference in the trajectory parallel measure of the waveforms of healthy subjects vs. those of the Parkinson's disease patients. Furthermore, the trajectory parallel measure of Parkinson's disease patients can be quantitatively ranked to correlate to the degree of the symptom. This paper begins with a brief description about Parkinson's disease. The trajectory parallel measure is then introduced and applied to analysis of the waveforms of both healthy subjects and patients with Parkinson's disease. Illustrative results are shown to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed analysis methodology.

It is now known that a seemingly random irregular time series can be deterministic chaos (hereafter, chaos). However, there can be various kind of noise superimposed into signals from real systems. Other factors affecting a signal include sampling intervals and finite length of observation. Perhaps, there may be cases in which a chaotic time series is considered as noise. J. Theiler proposed a method of surrogating data to address these problems. The proposed method is one of a number of approaches for testing a statistical hypothesis. The method can identify the deterministic characteristics of a time series. In this approach, a surrogate data is formed to have stochastic characteristics with the statistic value associated with the original data. When the characteristics of the original data differs from that of a surrogate data, the null hypothesis is no longer valid. In other words, the original data is deterministic. In comparing the characteristics of an original time series data and that of a surrogate data, the maximum Lyapunov exponents, correlation dimensions and prediction accuracy are utilized. These techniques, however, can not calculate the structure in local subspaces on the attractor and the flow of trajectories. In deal with these issues, we propose the trajectory parallel measure (TPM) method to determine whether the null hypothesis should be rejected. In this paper, we apply the TPM method and the method of surrogate data to test a chaotic time series and a random time series. We also examine whether a practical time series has a deterministic property or not. The results demonstrate that the TPM method is useful for judging whether the original and the surrogate data sets are different. For illustration, the TPM method is applied to a practical time series, tap water demand data.

As the nonlinear adaptive filter, the neural filter is utilized to process the nonlinear signal and/or system. However, the neural filter requires large number of iterations for convergence. This letter presents a new structure of the multi-layer neural filter where the orthonormal transform is introduced into all inter-layers to accelerate the convergence speed. The proposed structure is called the transform domain neural filter (TDNF) for convenience. The weights are basically updated by the Back-Propagation (BP) algorithm but it must be modified since the error back-propagates through the orthogonal transform. Moreover, the variable step size which is normalized by the transformed signal power is introduced into the BP algorithm to realize the orthonormal transform. Through the computer simulation, it is confirmed that the introduction of the orthonormal transform is effective for speedup of convergence in the neural filter.

Recently, researchers in various fields have shown interest in the behavior of creatures from the viewpoint of adaptiveness and flexibility. Ants, known as social insects, exhibit collective behavior in performing tasks that can not be carried out by an individual ant. In ant colonies, chemical substances, called pheromones, are used as a way to communicate important information on global behavior. For example, ants looking for food lay the way back to their nest with a specific type of pheromone. Other ants can follow the pheromone trail and find their way to baits efficiently. In 1991, Colorni et al. proposed the ant algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problems (TSPs) by using the analogy of such foraging behavior and pheromone communication. In the ant algorithm, there is a colony consisting of many simple ant agents that continuously visit TSP cities with opinions to prefer subtours connecting near cities and they lay strong pheromones. The ants completing their tours lay pheromones of various intensities with passed subtours according to distances. Namely, subtours in TSP tourns that have the possibility of being better tend to have strong pheromones, so the ant agents specify good regions in the search space by using this positive feedback mechanism. In this paper, we propose a multiple ant colonies algorithm that has been extended from the ant algorithm. This algorithm has several ant colonies for solving a TSP, while the original has only a single ant colony. Moreover, two kinds of pheromone effects, positive and negative pheromone effects, are introduced as the colony-level interactions. As a result of colony-level interactions, the colonies can exchange good schemata for solving a problem and can maintain their own variation in the search process. The proposed algorithm shows better performance than the original algorithm with almost the same agent strategy used in both algorithms except for the introduction of colony-level interactions.