Sequences with good correlation properties are of substantial interest in many applications. By interleaving a perfect array with shift sequences, a new method of constructing binary array set with zero correlation zone (ZCZ) is presented. The interleaving operation can be performed not only row-by-row but also column-by-column on the perfect array. The resultant ZCZ binary array set is optimal or almost optimal with respect to the theoretical bound. The new method provides a flexible choice for the rectangular ZCZ and the set size.

An FFT-based full-search block matching algorithm (BMA) is described that uses the sum of squared differences (SSD) criterion. The proposed method does not have to extend a real signal into complex one. This reduces the computational load of FFT approaches. In addition, if two macroblocks share the same search window, they can be matched at the same time. In a simulation of motion estimation, the proposed method achieved the same performance as a direct SSD full search and its processing speed is faster than other FFT-based BMAs.

A novel construction of complementary sequences with multi-width zero cross-correlation zone (ZCCZ) is presented based on the interleaving iteration of a basic kernel set. The presented multi-width ZCCZ complementary (MWZC) sequences can be divided into multiple sequence groups, the correlation functions of which possess one-width intragroup ZCCZ and multi-width intergroup ZCCZ. When an arbitrary orthogonal sequence set with set size equal to sequence length is used as a basic kernel set, the constructed MWZC sequence set and the combination sets of specific subsets with each subset including several groups can be optimal with respect to the theoretical bound on set size. In addition, the MWZC sequence set includes complementary sequence sets with one-width or two-width ZCCZ as special subsets, and allows a more flexible choice of sequence parameters.

The final goal of the present project is to develop a ship detection and identification system by integrating spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR), ground-based maritime radar and automatic identification system (AIS); and this article presents the results of the first phase experiments and current status toward achieving this goal. The data acquired by the Phased Array L-band SAR (PALSAR) on board of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) were used as SAR data, and X-band maritime radar including AIS were used as a ground-based system. The work is divided into two experimental phases. The first phase is to examine the ability of PALSAR to detect ships whose sizes are comparable with the SAR resolution cells, and the second is to incorporate the PALSAR data with those acquired by the ground-based radar with AIS. For the experiments in the first phase, we deployed three small fishing boats whose lengths ranged from approximately 8 m to 15 m in the Tosa Bay in Kochi, Japan in 2006. The experiments were carried out for four observation PALSAR modes: FBS (Fine Beam Single) 34.3, FBS 21.5, FBD (Fine Beam Double) 41.5, and PLR (PoLaRimetric) 20.5, where the numbers in each modes represent the off-nadir angles. For extracting the boats from the PALSAR images, five algorithms were considered, including amplitude-based, CFAR (Constant False Alarm Rate), MLCC (Multi-Look Cross-Correlation), CCF (Cross-Correlation Function) of HH- and HV-polarization amplitudes, and polarimetric analyses. This paper summarizes the results of the first phase experiments; the summary of the integrated system in the second phase will be reported in the near future.

Ultrasonic distance measurement using the pulse-echo method is based on the determination of the time of flight of ultrasonic waves. The pulse-compression technique, in which the cross-correlation function of a detected ultrasonic wave and a transmitted ultrasonic wave is obtained, is the conventional method used for improving the resolution of distance measurement. However, the calculation of a cross-correlation operation requires high-cost digital signal processing. This paper presents a new method of sensor signal processing within the pulse-compression technique using a delta-sigma modulated single-bit digital signal. The proposed sensor signal processing method consists of a cross-correlation operation employing single-bit signal processing and a smoothing operation involving a moving average filter. The proposed method reduces the calculation cost of the digital signal processing of the pulse-compression technique.

In this paper, the cross-correlation distribution between a p-ary m-sequence s(t) and its p + 1 distinct decimated sequences s(dt + l) is derived. For an odd prime p, an even integer n, and d = pk +1 with gcd(n, k) = 1, there are p + 1 distinct decimated sequences s(dt + l), 0 ≤ l < p + 1, for a p-ary m-sequence s(t) of period pn -1 because gcd(d, pn - 1) = p + 1. The maximum magnitude of their cross-correlation values is 1 + p if l ≡ 0 mod p + 1 for n ≡ 0 mod 4 or l ≡ (p + 1)/2 mod p + 1 for n ≡ 2 mod 4 and otherwise, 1 + . Also by using s(t) and s(dt + l), a new family of p-ary sequences of period pn -1 is constructed, whose family size is pn and Cmax is 1 + p.

Recently, a lot of UWB antennas have been reported by many research groups. Most of the reported antennas have omnidirectional radiation characteristics. The disadvantage of using omnidirectional antennas is that the antenna performance can be degraded by adjacent walls or metals. If unidirectional UWB antennas are utilized, the degradation on the antenna performance due to omnidirectionality can be avoided. Another important topic in UWB antennas is the waveform distortion caused by antennas' transmission characteristics. In impulse-based UWB communications, waveform distortions of transmitted and received pulses caused by antennas deteriorate the communication performance. Therefore, the development of UWB antennas having small waveform distortions is highly desirable. In this paper, we propose a novel bowtie antenna using leaf-shaped radiating elements and a flat reflector. This antenna has unidirectional radiation patterns over the frequency range of 3.0 to 10.5 GHz. The actual gain in the maximum radiation direction is 6.0-9.0 dBi in the frequency range of 4.5-9.4 GHz (relative bandwidth of 71%). The cross-correlations between source pulse and received pulse waveforms are 0.89-0.94, and hence the waveform distortion caused by this antenna is relatively small. As a result, the proposed antenna is useful for impulse-based UWB communication systems using correlation detection.

The class of complete complementary sequences (of fixed length) have the ideal correlation properties and are good at increasing the channel usage efficiency but lacks in desirable sequence lengths. In spread spectrum communication systems, sequences having nice correlation properties are important in many ways such as in suppressing multi-user interference, for reliable initial synchronization and in separation of the multipath components. It would be even good if the sequences are easy to construct and have desirable lengths for the system under consideration. In this paper, M sets of sequences that constitute a complete complementary sequences with ith set containing N sequences of length Li each, i = 0, 1, ..., M - 1, is defined and a general method that constructs such a class of complete complementary sequences (of different lengths) is given. The proposed class of complete complementary sequences, constituted by sequence sets of different lengths, does not increase the data rates when short-length sequences are employed.

The performance of M-ary code shift keying (CSK) in multipath fading channels is analyzed in this letter. In conventional spread spectrum (SS) systems, which employ a single spreading code, the interference due to the delay signal depends on the auto-correlation property of the spreading code. In CSK, since one code is selected from a code set that contains multiple codes, the effect of the delay signal differs from that for conventional SS systems. Analytical results reveal that, in the multipath fading channel, the error rate of CSK depends on the cross-correlation property with the other codes in addition to the auto-correlation of transmitted code.

We have developed a code-division-multiplexing (CDM) transmission scheme for future road-vehicle communication systems, which uses cyclic shifted-and-extended (CSE) codes generated from a basic code with superior auto-correlation characteristics. This paper proposes to use a Quasi-Orthogonal (QO) sequence as the basic code. Its auto-correlation values are zero except at zero and middle shifts. When the CDM transmission is performed by the CSE codes based on the QO sequence, a desired correlation value is, at a receiver, interfered by the auto-correlation value at middle shift. Therefore, an elimination technique for the interfered correlation value is proposed and realizes zero cross-correlation characteristics within the cyclical shift interval. The new CDM transmission scheme based on the proposed scheme is evaluated by computer simulations in terms of the bit-error-rate performance.

We have developed a code-division-multiplexing (CDM) transmission scheme for future cellular communication systems, which uses cyclic shifted-and-extended (CSE) codes generated from an M-sequence to enable seamless communication in highly mobile environments. Because the correlation characteristics of CSE codes are determined by the M-sequence, the cross-correlation values are accumulated as a result of combining transmitted signals with opposite polarities in parallel channels. The accumulated cross-correlation values significantly degrade transmission performance, especially with multi-level modulation schemes such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). We thus propose a cancellation technique to eliminate the accumulated cross-correlation values. We have evaluated the transmission performance of the CDM transmission scheme with the proposed technique by computer simulation. The new scheme enables high-quality data transmission in fast-fading channels.

In the present paper, we evaluate the inter-cell interference of AS-CDMA systems. First, the cross-correlation property of AS-CDMA systems is examined by theoretical study in order to clarify the fundamental feature of the inter-cell interference. The result shows that the influence of one interference terminal in each adjacent cell is dominant regardless of whether approximate synchronization is maintained. Next, the ratio of interference signal power and desired signal power is evaluated by computer simulation. The simulation result shows that total interference power does not increase even when approximate synchronization is not maintained.

A field trial, within a suburban macro-cell environment, of a space-time (ST) equalizer for TDMA mobile communication systems is described. The ST equalizer was a cascade connection of two array processors for a four-antenna array and a two-branch-metric-combining maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) that was designed to obtain full space- and path-diversity gains from first-arrival and one-symbol-delayed signals while suppressing excessively long-delayed inter-symbol interference (ISI). The radio frequency was 3.35 GHz, the transmission rate was 4.096 Mb/s, and the modulation was QPSK. The long-delayed ISI reduction and the space-path diversity effect of the ST equalizer was validated by Eb/N0 vs. bit-error-rate (BER) curves with respect to delay spread and antenna spacing as compared with the case of an array processor alone being used.

This paper presents a new technique for the synthesis of sets of low-peak sequences exhibiting low peak cross correlation. The sequences also have flat power spectra and are suitable for many applications requiring such sets of uncorrelated pseudo-white-noise sources. This is a new application of the ta-sequence (trigonometric function aliasing sequence), which itself is a very new technique that uses the well-known "Reed-Solomon code" or "One coincident code" to generate these sets of low-peak-factor pseudo-white-noise exhibiting low peak cross correlation. The ta sequence method presented here provides the means for generating various sequences at the lengths required for such applications as system measurement (needing uncorrelated test signals), pseudo-noise synthesis (for spread spectrum communication), and audio signal processing for sound production (for enhancing spatial imagery in stereo signals synthesized from mono sources) and sound reproduction (for controlling unwanted interference effects in multiple-loudspeaker arrays).

Either GMW sequence or m-sequence possesses a 2-valued auto-correlation function which helps to improve the performance of a RAKE receiver. However, their cross-correlation functions are less well controlled. Before they can be applied to a CDMA system, it is necessary to construct their sub-families (taking advantage of their large family size) which offer satisfactory cross-correlation functions. This paper studies several algorithms for constructing those quasi-optimum sub-families in terms of minimized bit error rate under co-channel interference. The study shows that the performance of resultant sub-families is sensitive to sub-family sizes and algorithms. A new criterion based on combined (even and odd) maximum cross-correlation for code selection is introduced, and highest-peak-deleting and most-peak-deleting algorithms are suggested for constructing quasi-optimum sub-families of GMW and m-sequences.

In general, a time-limited signal such as a single sinusoidal waveform framed by a frame period T can be utilized for conveying a multi-level symbol in data transmission. If such a signal is analyzed by the conventional DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) analysis, the infinite number of frequency components with frequency spacing fD = T1 is needed. This limits the accuracy with which the original frequency of the unframed sinusoidal waverform can be identified. It is especially difficult to identify two similar framed sinusoids whose frequency spacing is narrower than fD. An analytical principle for time-limited signals is therefore proposed by introducing the concept of an Extended Frame into DFT. Waveform analysis more accurate than DFT is achieved by taking into account multiple correlations between extended frames made of an input frame signal and the element frequency components corresponding to the length of each extended frame. In this approach, it is possible to use arbitrary element frequency spacing less than fD. It also allows an element frequency to be selected as a real number times of fD, rather than as an integer times of fD that is used for DFT. With this analyzing mechanism, it is verified that an input frame signal with only the frequency components which coincide with any of the element frequencies can be exactly analyzed. The disturbance caused by the input white noise is examined. As a result, it is found that the superior noise suppression function is achieved by this method over a conventional matched filter. In addition, the error caused by using a finite number of element frequencies and the A/D conversion accuracy required for sampling an input signal are examined, and it is shown that these factors need not impede practical implementation. For this reason, this principle is useful for multi-ary transmission systems, noise tolerant receivers, or systems requiring precise filtering of time limited waveforms.

This paper presents a new internal image representation, in which the scene is encoded into a three-intensity-level image. This representation is generated by Laplacian-Gaussian filtering followed by dual-thresholding. We refer to this imege as three-level broad-edge representation. It supresses the high frequency noise and shading in the image and encodes the sign of relative intensity of a pixel compared with surrounding region. Image model search based on cross correlation using this representation is as reliable as the one based on gray normalized correlation, while it reduces the computational cost by 50 times. We examined the reliability and realtime performance of this method when it is applied to an industrial object recognition task. Our prototype system achieves 3232 image model search from the 128128 pixel area in 2 milli-seconds with a 9 MHz pixel clock image processor. This speed is fast enough for searching and tracking a single object at video frame rate.