This paper describes a mobile information access system based on a multi-agent architecture. With the rapid progress of wireless data communications, mobile Internet access will be more and more popular. In mobile environments, user location plays an important role for information filtering and flexible communication service. In this paper, we propose a mobile information service system where a user with a handy terminal accesses Internet in an open air to look up map information and related town information. Each user information is managed by an independent agent process. And the agent provides each user with a personal service collaborating with other applications. A map-based information service example based on this architecture is also described.

A novel cryptographic key assignment scheme for dynamic access control in a user hierarchy is presented. Based on Rabin's public key system and Chinese remainder theorem, each security class SCi is assigned a secret key Ki and some public parameters. In our scheme, a secret key is generated in a bottom-up manner so as to reduce the computation time for key generation and the storage size for public parameters. We also show that our proposed scheme is not only secure but also efficient.

The introduction of networks providing Internet-like services such as the Open Computer Network (OCN) by NTT and others like it will lead to higher level demands by users. For example, users will be asking for higher quality, greater functionality, and lower charges for high-speed, high-throughput data transfer. To respond effectively to the wishes of sophisticated and varied users, technological development must be pursued from the user's point of view. For this reason, research and development is being performed on middleware to open up network functions and make it possible for the user and network to cooperate with each other. This paper discusses the development of major technologies for achieving an enhanced internetworking that should become a catalyst for the future multimedia network, and presents a future vision for the network.

In this paper, we first prove that the Randomly Addressed Polling (RAP) protocol is unstable under the random access channel with heavy traffic. We also show that network stability can be ensured by controlling the arrival rate λ or by expanding the available addresses p on the assumption that there are M finite stations within the coverage of the controller (the base station). From analyses and results, we see the equilibrium of arrival rate is inversely proportional to the product of users (stations) and the exponent of stations. We also see that the maximum throughput can be derived at the point of λ1/M. This maximum performance can be easily obtained under the consideration of RAP protocol's stability. It also implies that the maximum throughput is independent of the available addresses of RAP protocol when pM.

A hybrid mo-demodulation approach, fully insensitive to the phase noise induced by the sources, is described for CDMA applications at optical frequencies. It is analytically demonstrated that, using bipolar codes in conjunction with polarisation modulation, the considered system can improve the performance of coherent schemes with not negligible laser linewidths, as well as the performance of more conventional noncoherent schemes based on intensity modulation and unipolar codes.

We propose an instruction-based variable priority scheme (IBVPS) which achieves high sustained memory throughput on a TCMP type vector supercomputer. Generally, there are two approaches to arbitrating interprocessor memory access conflict: request level priority control and fixed priority control. Each approach, however, affects performance in its own way: In the case of request level priority control, mutual obstruction causes a performance degradation, and in the case of fixed priority control, memory bank monopoly causes a performance degradation. Mutual obstruction refers to the interference among access requests coming from different instructions; memory bank monopoly refers to the un-interrupted accessing of the same memory bank by a series of higher priority instructions. The strategy of the instruction-based variable priority scheme consists in: (a) generally changing the priority assignment of all load/store pipelines at the end of any instruction running in the system, and (b) changing the priority assignment of all load/store pipelines more than once in the middle of an access instruction with a stride greater than 1 or an indirect access instruction which may monopolize some memory banks for an extended period of time. This strategy reduces mutual obstruction because the priority assignment is reshuffled for the entire group of load/store pipelines at a time. it also reduces memory bank monopoly because the opportunity for memory access is made equal among different instructions by changing the priority assignment at the end of an instruction. Moreover, it prevents the memory bank monopoly by a memory access instruction with a stride greater than 1 or an indirect access instruction, by changing the priority assignment more frequently. Consequently, high sustained memory throughput is achieved on TCMP type vector supercomputers.

We present a scalable parallel memory architecture with a skew scheme by which permanent-concentration-free strides, if any, do not depend on the number of ways in parallel memory interleaving. The permanent-concentration is a kind of memory access conflict. With conventional skew schemes, permanent-concentration-free strides depended on the number of banks (or bank groups) in parallel memory (=number of ways in parallel memory interleaving). We analyze two kinds of cause of conflicts: permanent-concentration occurs when memory access requests concentrate in limited number of banks (or bank groups) in parallel memory, and transient-concentration, when memory access requests transiently concentrate in some banks (or bank groups) in parallel memory. We have identified permanent-concentration-free strides, which are independent of the number of banks (or bank groups) in parallel memory, by solving two concentrations separately. The strategy is to increase the size of address block of shifting address assignment to the parallel memory in order to reduce permanent-concentrations, and make the size of the buffer for each banks (or bank groups) in the parallel memory match the size of address block of shifting in order to absorb transient-concentrations. The skew scheme uses the same size of address block of shifting address assignment for memory systems for different numbers of banks (or bank groups) in parallel memory. As a result, scalability for permanent-concentration-free strides is achieved independent of the number of banks (or bank groups) in parallel memory.

In this paper, we derive the mean message waiting times in a local area network that uses the Demand-Priority Access Method. We model the system as a two-priority M/G/1 queue with switchover time between service periods. This switchover time accounts for the polling and port selection performed by the repeater after each message transmission. The service discipline is non-preemptive and the length of the switchover time is dependent upon the priority class of the preceding message served as well as that of the message to be served next. The dependency in the switchover times is motivated by the polling and port selection operation of the protocol and it makes the analysis much more involved. In order to avoid the complexities of an exact analysis, we make some independence assumptions and thus obtain an approximate solution. Laplace-Stieltjes transforms of the stationary probability distribution functions for the waiting time of high- and normal-priority messages are derived, and subsequently, the expressions for the mean message waiting times. Numerical results computed using these expressions are verified using simulations which model the actual protocol. These numerical results which are shown to be accurate can be easily computed with widely available mathematical software.

This paper proposes the reserved idle signal multiple access with collision resolution (R-ISMA/CR) protocol, which can maintain stability without being influenced by the retransmission probability. The R-ISMA/CR makes use of the multi-idle signals at the base station and the manipulating counter at the terminals. The performance of this protocol is evaluated by using the maximum throughput analysis and simulations.

It is indispensable to establish a multi-access protocol and resource management technique that can assure transmission quality and efficiently utilize the radio frequency spectrum for ATM-based wireless access systems. This paper proposes dynamic time-slot assignment schemes for the forward link from a user to a central station (CS): (1) the centralized assignment and release scheme (CAR), and (2) the centralized-assignment and autonomous-release scheme (CAAR). In the proposed schemes, a central station dynamically assigns time-slots based on traffic information obtained by monitoring the input traffic in each radio module (RM). In addition, forward protection is used to prevent false-release of assigned time-slots. Performance evaluations have been carried out by analysis as well as computer simulations. They show that the proposed schemes achieve good performance in delay, link stability, and utilization efficiency of radio resources with an optimized number of forward protection steps.

This paper proposes a novel FEC (forward error correction) scheme for high-speed wireless systems aiming at mobile computing applications. The proposed scheme combines inner nonredundant error correction with outer parallel encoding random FEC for differentially detected QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) signals. This paper, first, examines error patterns after the differential detection with nonredundant error correction and reveals that particular double symbol errors occur with relatively high probability. To improve the outer FEC performance degradation due to the double symbol errors, the proposed scheme uses I and Q channel serial to parallel conversion in the transmission side and parallel to serial conversion in the receiving side. As a result, it enables to use simple FEC for the outer parallel encoding random FEC without interleaving. Computer simulation results show the proposed scheme employing one bit correction BCH coding obtains a required Eb/No improvement of 1.2 dB at a Pe of 10-5 compared to that with the same memory size interleaving in an AWGN environment. Moreover, in a Rician fading environment where directional beam antennas are assumed to be used to improve the degradation due to severe multipath signals, an overall Eb/No improvement at Pe of 10-5 of 3.0 dB is achieved compared to simple differential detection when the condition of delay spread of 5 nsec, carrier to multipath signal power ratio of 20 dB and Doppler frequency at 20 GHz band of 150 Hz.

An analytic traffic model is presented to estimate the soft handoff rate in DS-CDMA cellular systems. The model is based on the fact that a mobile in soft handoff call is connected to two cell sites when it is in an overlapped region. The handoff rate is estimated by the mobility of mobiles, which is a function of the size and shape of cell area, and the call density and speed of mobiles in the area. Simulation results show good agreement with the analytical model.

In a radio network, while deploying microcells enhances spectral efficiency, it increases handoff in number and puts restriction on mobility of a terminal. As a solution of this contradictory matter, we propose a random access micro-cellular system (RAMCS). In the system deployed microcells produce higher system capacity, and "handoff on a terminal" isn't required. Therefore flexible mobility is given to terminals, and a terminal becomes simple. The aspect of the air interface is as follows. On uplink, packets are transmitted by means of random access (e.g., slotted ALOHA) at the same channel in any cell. On downlink, packets are broadcast at the same carrier in any cell and they are picked out conforming to TDMA. In this paper, a model of RAMCS is proposed. In addition, characters of RAMCS (e.g., throughput, system capacity, and delay) are clarified comparing it with a primary cellular system, where a spectrum can be reused repeatedly in different cells.

We propose a new bit timing recovery (BTR) scheme, what we call Step Sampled BTR (SSBTR), that can lower the sampling clock frequency and shorten the clock phase convergence time, for burst signals in high bit rate wireless access systems. The SSBTR scheme has the following characteristics. A sine wave resulting from the BTR code passing through a Nyquist Transmission System is always used, the sampling clock has a lower frequency than the system clock, and the clock phase of Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal input can be estimated from as few as 3 sampled data. The SSBTR scheme corrects the clock phase only once in a burst signal. Therefore, in some wireless access systems, some kind of operation must be performed after the SSBTR, in order to deal with long burst signals, instability of the system clock, and so on. In other wireless access systems that do not have these problems, clock phase can be fixed by the SSBTR scheme alone. The preformance of the SSBTR scheme with respect to additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) was examined by computer simulation. In addition, when SSBTR is implemented in hardware, there are imperfections in the circuitry that lead to phase estimation error and thus deterioration, so we studied the effects of several such imperfections by computer simulation. The results of these simulations clarify the performance of the SSBTR scheme.

This paper describes research on a cost-effective regional Personal-Computer (PC) communication network system based on Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) systems and examines its realization. A small scale prototype experimental system was developed and tested in a home-use trial. This paper specifically discusses a sophisticated system architecture with a newly developed miutiplex-port brouter (bridging router) based on the experimental system. The system provides a LAN environment and group communication services to the customers. The Low-end Card (LEC), which provides the popular Ethernet interface (10Base-T), is set up in the subscriber household. The leased circuits are connected between the LEC and the brouter. The LEC and the brouter are controlled by the management server to function as a group communication system. The brouter, which has a multiplex subscriber-port interface, must accommodate many customers in a cost effective manner. This paper presents the system design of a multiplex-port brouter with an SDH/SONET interface. Two types of interface cards at 150 Mbit/s and 50 Mbit/s are prepared making the system scalable. The brouter can accommodate up to 2,700 subscribers. The subscriber channel rate can be set from 64 Kbit/s to 1.5 Mbit/s. Ethernet packets from the PCs are transferred through each subscriber channel between the LEC and the brouter using the High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) protocol.

The Resource Auction Multiple Access (RAMA) protocol was proposed by N. Amitay for fast resource allocations to mobile terminals. We have proposed an Enhanced RAMA (ERAMA) protocol yielding lower system delay and delay variations than does the RAMA protocol. In this paper, we model a two-stage queueing network to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol in terms of mean access delay, mean buffering delay, talk spurt loss ratio, and channel utilization, under homogeneous voice connections. The analytical results yield upper estimates for the various performance indices, compared with those of the simulations.

Modern database systems have to support complex data objects, which appear in advanced data models such as object-oriented data models and nested relational data models. Set-valued objects are basic constructs to build complex structures in those models. Therefore, efficient processing of set-valued object retrieval (simply, set retrieval) is an important feature required of advanced database systems. Our previous work proposed a basic scheme to apply superimposed coded signature files to set retrieval and showed its potential advantages over the B-tree index based approach using a performance analysis model. Retrieval with signature files is always accompanied by mismatches called false drops, and proper control of the false drops is indispensable in the signature file design. This study intensively analyzes the false drops in set retrieval with signature files. First, schemes to use signature files are presented to process set retrieval involving "has-subset," "is-subset," "has-intersection," and "is-equal" predicates, and generic formulas estimating the false drops are derived. Then, three sets of concrete formulas are derived in three ways to estimate the false drops in the four types of set retrieval. Finally, their estimates are validated with computer simulations, and advantages and disadvantages of each set of the false drop estimation formulas are discussed. The analysis shows that proper choice of estimation formulas gives quite accurate estimates of the false drops in set retrieval with signature files.

This letter describes our DFB-LD module for use in WDM optical access networks. We realized an isolator-free DFB-LD module with a thermo-electric cooler in aim of stabilizing the emission wavelength for WDM systems. Silicon waferboard technology was employed to achieve simple assembly and small size of the module. This small size contributed to low TEC power. Our fabricated module demonstrated low-noise and stable emission wavelength characteristics under 156 Mbit/s pseudo random modulation.

Outage probability evaluation for a new category of wireless access systems is discussed. Wireless access systems dealt with in this paper are links which connect a portable terminal to a base station through a line-of-sight path. It is also assumed that the terminal equipment is operated in a still atate during actual communications. This mobility restriction enables the wireless access to have a capacity as high as the Mbit-order with high quality performance. Multipath fading observed in such a system may have more moderate variations than Rayleigh distribution. This paper tentatively designates the above wireless access as relocatable systems, and attempts to analyze their error performance, approximating the fading characteristics with Gamma-distribution. Also dynamic relations between bit error rate (BER) and signal-to-noise ratio are calculated under Gamma-distribution fading. Based on the analyses prediction methods for outage probability of typical QPSK systems are given, and thus it is established to design the performance aspect of relocatable systems with different features from both fixed and mobile systems.

Recent technology innovations have increased the study on wireless LAN (Local Area Network). Also, improved computing power of end user has needed the distributed communication environment. However, conventional access protocols (TDMA, CSMA/CA and CDMA) have some problems such as the degradation of channel utilization, necessity of control station and code reuse. Therefore, we propose new multiple access scheme, Hybrid Reservation CDMA based on our previous work, DR-CDMA. Proposed method for distributed/central wireless LAN architecture provides, distributed channel access mechanism, code reuse method and internetworking method with conventional wire-based LAN. In proposed mechanism, efficient channel utilization could be obtained by minimizing overhead. Also, variable length frame from upper layer could be transmitted without segmentation. Moreover, nodes are serviced based on priority. In view of management, insertion of new node could be done easily in proposed HR-CDMA in proposed method due to its variable length property which can encapsulate conventional LAN frame. According to computer simulation, it has been shown that performances of proposed method are better than those of reservation TDMA bitmap protocol with respect to delay and throughput characteristics in the distributed environments as well as interworking environments between wire and wireless LAN.