In this paper, we propose an acoustic model that is robust to multiple noise environments, as well as a method for adapting the acoustic model to an environment to improve the model. The model is called "the multi-mixture model," which is based on a mixture of different HMMs each of which is trained using speech under different noise conditions. Speech recognition experiments showed that the proposed model performs better than the conventional multi-condition model. The method for adaptation is based on the aspect model, which is a "mixture-of-mixture" model. To realize adaptation using extremely small amount of adaptation data (i.e., a few seconds), we train a small number of mixture models, which can be interpreted as models for "clusters" of noise environments. Then, the models are mixed using weights, which are determined according to the adaptation data. The experimental results showed that the adaptation based on the aspect model improved the word accuracy in a heavy noise environment and showed no performance deterioration for all noise conditions, while the conventional methods either did not improve the performance or showed both improvement and degradation of recognition performance according to noise conditions.

In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of phase for speaker recognition in noisy conditions and combine the phase information with mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs). To date, almost speaker recognition methods are based on MFCCs even in noisy conditions. For MFCCs which dominantly capture vocal tract information, only the magnitude of the Fourier Transform of time-domain speech frames is used and phase information has been ignored. High complement of the phase information and MFCCs is expected because the phase information includes rich voice source information. Furthermore, some researches have reported that phase based feature was robust to noise. In our previous study, a phase information extraction method that normalizes the change variation in the phase depending on the clipping position of the input speech was proposed, and the performance of the combination of the phase information and MFCCs was remarkably better than that of MFCCs. In this paper, we evaluate the robustness of the proposed phase information for speaker identification in noisy conditions. Spectral subtraction, a method skipping frames with low energy/Signal-to-Noise (SN) and noisy speech training models are used to analyze the effect of the phase information and MFCCs in noisy conditions. The NTT database and the JNAS (Japanese Newspaper Article Sentences) database added with stationary/non-stationary noise were used to evaluate our proposed method. MFCCs outperformed the phase information for clean speech. On the other hand, the degradation of the phase information was significantly smaller than that of MFCCs for noisy speech. The individual result of the phase information was even better than that of MFCCs in many cases by clean speech training models. By deleting unreliable frames (frames having low energy/SN), the speaker identification performance was improved significantly. By integrating the phase information with MFCCs, the speaker identification error reduction rate was about 30%-60% compared with the standard MFCC-based method.

In a WSAN (Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network), most resources, including sensors and actuators, are designed for certain applications in a dedicated environment. Many researchers have proposed to use of gateways to infer and annotate heterogeneous data; however, such centralized methods produce a bottlenecking network and computation overhead on the gateways that causes longer response time in activity processing, worsening performance. This work proposes two distribution inference mechanisms: regionalized and sequential inference mechanisms to reduce the response time in activity processing. Finally, experimental results for the proposed inference mechanisms are presented, and it shows that our mechanisms outperform the traditional centralized inference mechanism.

In real environments, the presence of ambient noise and room reverberations seriously degrades the accuracy in sound source localization. In addition, conventional sound source localization methods cannot localize multiple sound sources accurately in real noisy environments. This paper proposes a new method of multiple sound source localization using a distributed microphone system that is a recording system with multiple microphones dispersed to a wide area. The proposed method localizes a sound source by finding the position that maximizes the accumulated correlation coefficient between multiple channel pairs. After the estimation of the first sound source, a typical pattern of the accumulated correlation for a single sound source is subtracted from the observed distribution of the accumulated correlation. Subsequently, the second sound source is searched again. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, experiments of two sound source localization were carried out in an office room. The result shows that sound source localization accuracy is about 99.7%. The proposed method could realize the multiple sound source localization robustly and stably.

In this study, a new scanning method for measuring field distributions is proposed. In this method, measurement positions are automatically decided by a magnetic tracker. This method obtains field distributions in real-time, and can display field distribution map successively by interpolating.

Broadband optical access services are spreading throughout the world, and the number of fiber to the home (FTTH) subscribers is increasing rapidly. Telecom operators are constructing passive optical networks (PONs) to provide optical access services. Externally installed optical splitters for PONs are very important passive devices in optical access networks, and they must provide satisfactory performance as outdoor plant over long periods. Therefore, we calculate the failure rate of optical access networks and assign a failure rate to the optical splitters in optical access networks. The maximum cumulative failure rate of 18 optical splitters was calculated as 0.025 for an optical access fiber length of 2.1 km and a 20-year operating lifetime. We examined planar lightwave circuit (PLC) type optical splitters for use as outside plant in terms of their optical characteristics and environmental reliability. We confirmed that PLC type optical splitters have sufficient optical performance for a PON splitter and sufficient reliability as outside plant in accordance with ITU-T standard values. We estimated the lifetimes of three kinds of PLC type optical splitters by using accelerated aging tests. The estimated failure rate of these splitters installed in optical access networks was below the target value for the cumulative failure rate, and we confirmed that they have sufficient reliability to maintain the quality of the network service. We developed 18 optical splitter modules with plug and socket type optical connectors and optical fiber cords for optical aerial closures designed for use as outside plant. These technologies make it easy to install optical splitters in an aerial optical closure. The optical splitter modules have sufficient optical performance levels for PONs because the insertion loss at the commercially used wavelengths of 1.31 and 1.55 µm is less than the criterion established by ITU-T Recommendation G.671 for optical splitters. We performed a temperature cycling test, and a low temperature storage and damp heat test to confirm the long-term reliability of these modules. They exhibited sufficient reliability as regards heat and moisture because the maximum loss change was less than 0.3 dB.

Previously, we have proposed an access point (AP) allocation algorithm in indoor environments for the Wireless Internet-access Mesh NETwork (WIMNET) using one gateway (GW) to the Internet. WIMNET consists of multiple APs that are connected wirelessly mainly by the Wireless Distribution System (WDS), to expand the coverage area inexpensively and flexibly. In this paper, we present two extensions of this algorithm to enhance the applicability to the large-scale WIMNET. One is the multiple GW extension of the algorithm to increase the communication bandwidth with multiple GWs, where all the rooms in the network field are first partitioned into a set of disjoint GW clusters and then, our previous allocation algorithm is applied to each GW cluster sequentially. The APs in a GW cluster share the same GW. The other is the dependability extension to assure the network function by maintaining the connectivity and the host coverage, even if one link/AP fault occurs, where redundant APs are added to the AP allocation by our previous algorithm. The effectiveness of our proposal in terms of the number of APs and the throughput is verified through simulations using the WIMNET simulator.

In this paper, we propose a file replication method to achieve load balancing in terms of write access to storage device ("write storage access load balancing" for short) in unstructured peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks in which the popularity trend of queried files varies dynamically. The proposed method uses a write storage access ratio as a load balance index value in order to stabilize dynamic P2P file-sharing environments adaptively. In the proposed method, each peer autonomously controls the file replication ratio, which is defined as a probability to create the replica of the file in order to uniform write storage access loads in the similar way to thermal diffusion phenomena. Theoretical analysis results show that the behavior of the proposed method actually has an analogy to a thermal diffusion equation. In addition, simulation results reveal that the proposed method has an ability to realize write storage access load balancing in the dynamic P2P file-sharing environments.

In this paper, we describe a verification environment which is based on a constrained random layered testbench using SystemVerilog OOP. As SystemVerilog OOP technique does not allow multiple inheritance, we adopt SystemC to design components of a verification environment which employ multiple inheritance. Then SystemC design unit is linked to a SystemVerilog-based verification environment using SystemVerilog DPI and ModelSim macro. Employing multiple inheritance of SystemC makes the design phase of verification environment simple and easy through source code reusability without corruption due to multi-level single inheritance.

This paper illustrates a large-scale MIMO propagation channel measurement in a real life environment and evaluates throughput performance of various MIMO schemes in that environment. For that purpose, 44 MIMO transceivers and a novel spatial scanner are fabricated for wideband MIMO channel measurements in the 5 GHz band. A total of more than 50,000 spatial samples in an area of 150 m2, which includes a bedroom, a Japanese room, a hallway, and the living and dining areas, are taken in a real residential home environment. Statistical properties of the propagation channel and throughput performance of various MIMO schemes are evaluated by using measured data. Propagation measurement results show large dynamic channel variations occurring in a real environment in which statistical properties of the channel, such as frequency correlation and spatial correlation are not stationary any more, and become functions of the SNR. Furthermore, evaluation of throughput shows that although MIMO schemes outperform the SISO system in most areas, open loop systems perform badly in the far areas with low SNR. Paying for the cost of CSI or partial CSI at Tx, closed loop and hybrid systems have superior performance compared to other schemes, especially in reasonable SNR areas ranging from 10 dB to 30 dB. Spatial correlation, which is common in Japanese wooden residences, is also found to be a dominant factor causing throughput degradation of the open loop MIMO schemes.

Cooperative transmission protocols attract a great deal of attention in recent years as an efficient way to increase the capacity of multi-hop wireless networks in fading environments. In this paper, we propose and analyze a cooperative transmission method, called Cooperative-Aided Skipping multi-Hop protocol (CASH), for multi-hop wireless networks with Rayleigh fading environments. For performance evaluation, we compare and verify the results of the theoretical analysis with the results of simulations.

In the present paper, we propose an evolutionary P2P networking technique that dynamically and adaptively optimizes several P2P network topologies, in which all of the nodes are included at the same time, in an evolutionary manner according to given evaluation criteria. In addition, through simulations, we examine whether the proposed evolutionary P2P networking technique can provide reliable search capability in dynamic P2P environments. In simulations, we assume dynamic P2P environments in which each node leaves and joins the network with its own probability and in which search objects vary with time. The simulation results show that topology reconstruction by the evolutionary P2P networking technique is better than random topology reconstruction when only a few types of search objects are present in the network at any moment and these search objects are not replicated. Moreover, for the scenario in which the evolutionary P2P networking technique is more effective, we show through simulations that when each node makes several links with other nodes in a single network topology, the evolutionary P2P networking technique improves the reliable search capability. Finally, the number of links that yields more reliable search capability appears to depend on how often nodes leave and join the network.

Location Based Services (LBS) are expected to become one of the major drivers of ubiquitous services due to recent inception of GPS-enabled mobile devices, the development of Web2.0 paradigm, and emergence of 3G broadband networks. Having this vision in mind, Community Context-attribute-oriented Collaborative Information Environment (CCCIE) based Autonomous Decentralized Community System (ADCS) is proposed to enable provision of services to specific users in specific place at specific time considering various context-attributes. This paper presents autonomous community construction technology that share service discovered by one member among others in flexible way to improve timeliness and reduce network cost. In order to meet crucial goal of real-time and context-aware community construction (provision of service/ service information to users with common interests), and defining flexible service area in highly dynamic operating environment of ADCS, proposed progressive ripple based service discovery technique introduces novel idea of snail's pace and steady advancing search followed by swift boundary confining mechanism; while service area construction shares the discovered service among members in defined area to further improve timeliness and reduce network cost. Analysis and empirical results verify the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Ultrawide-band impulse radio (UWB-IR) technology and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have attracted interest regarding their use in next-generation high-speed radio communication. We have studied the use of MIMO ultrawide-band (MIMO-UWB) systems to enable higher-speed radio communication. We used frequency-domain equalization based on the minimum mean square error criterion (MMSE-FDE) to reduce intersymbol interference (ISI) and co-channel interference (CCI) in MIMO-UWB systems. Because UWB systems are expected to be used for short-range wireless communication, MIMO-UWB systems will usually operate in line-of-sight (LOS) environments and direct waves will be received at the receiver side. Direct waves have high power and cause high correlations between antennas in such environments. Thus, it is thought that direct waves will adversely affect the performance of spatial filtering and equalization techniques used to enhance signal detection. To examine the feasibility of MIMO-UWB systems, we conducted MIMO-UWB system propagation measurements in LOS environments. From the measurements, we found that the arrival time of direct waves from different transmitting antennas depends on the MIMO configuration. Because we can obtain high power from the direct waves, direct wave reception is critical for maximizing transmission performance. In this paper, we present our measurement results, and propose a way to improve performance using a method of transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) timing control. We evaluate the bit error rate (BER) performance for this form of timing control using measured channel data.

In this paper, the performance of multiuser MIMO E-SDM systems in downlink transmission is evaluated in both uncorrelated and correlated time-varying fading environments. In the ideal case, using the block diagonalization scheme, inter-user interference can be completely eliminated at each user; and using the E-SDM technique for each user, optimal resource allocation can be achieved, and spatially orthogonal substreams can be obtained. Therefore, a combination of the block diagonalization scheme and the E-SDM technique applied to multiuser MIMO systems gives very good results. In realistic environments, however, due to the dynamic nature of the channel and processing delay at both the transmitter and the receiver, the channel change during the delay may cause inter-user interference even if the BD scheme is used. In addition, the change may also result in large inter-substream interference and prevent optimal resource allocation from being achieved. As a result, system performance may be degraded seriously. To overcome the problem, we propose a method of channel extrapolation to compensate for the channel change. Applying our proposed method, simulation results show that much better system performance can be obtained than the conventional case. Moreover, it also shows that the system performance in the correlated fading environments is much dependent on the antenna configuration and the angle spread from the base station to scatterers.

In this letter, an acoustic environment classification algorithm based on the 3GPP2 selectable mode vocoder (SMV) is proposed for context-aware mobile phones. Classification of the acoustic environment is performed based on a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) using coding parameters of the SMV extracted directly from the encoding process of the acoustic input data in the mobile phone. Experimental results show that the proposed environment classification algorithm provides superior performance over a conventional method in various acoustic environments.

In this article, we introduce a new concept for the future information environment, called an "ambient information environment (AmIE)." We first explain it, especially emphasizing the difference from the existing ubiquitous information environment (UbIE), which is an interaction between users and environments. Then, we focus on an ambient networking environment (AmNE) which supports the AmIE as a networking infrastructure. Our approach of a biologically inspired framework is next described in order to demonstrate why such an approach is necessary in the AmIE. Finally, we show some example for building the AmNE.

The observed phenomena in actual sound and electromagnetic environment are inevitably contaminated by the background noise of arbitrary distribution type. Therefore, in order to evaluate sound and electromagnetic environment, it is necessary to establish some signal processing methods to remove the undesirable effects of the background noise. In this paper, we propose noise cancellation methods for estimating a specific signal with the existence of background noise of non-Gaussian distribution from two viewpoins of static and dynamic signal processing. By applying the well-known least mean squared method for the moment statistics with several orders, practical methods for estimating the specific signal are derived. The effectiveness of the proposed theoretical methods is experimentally confirmed by applying them to estimation problems in actual sound and magnetic field environment.

As a flexible, cost effective solution for a large-scale access network to the Internet, we have studied the design optimization of the Wireless Internet-access Mesh NETwork (WIMNET). WIMNET consists of multiple access points (APs) that have wireless links between them mainly on the wireless distribution system (WDS). In WIMNET, the links around the Internet gateway can be bottlenecks because every packet passes through it after multihop link activations. Besides, the link quality may be degraded by obstacles in indoor environments. Thus, the proper allocation of APs is essential in WIMNET, so that the communication quality should be ensured while the installation and management cost be minimized. In this paper, we formulate this AP allocation problem for indoor environments in WIMNET with the proof of the NP-completeness of its decision version. Then, we present its two-stage heuristic algorithm composed of the initial greedy allocation and the iterative improvement. The effectiveness of our proposal is verified through extensive simulations in three indoor environments.

An information-theoretic, optimal framework is developed for tracking the residents in a Context-aware Heterogenous Smart Environment. The resident-tracking problem is formulated in terms of weighted entropy. The framework provides an optimal, online learning and prediction of users movement, location as well as most probable path segments from the symbolic domain. Successful prediction helps in on-demand operations of automated indoor devices along the users future paths and locations, thus providing the necessary comfort at a near-optimal cost. Simulation results corroborate the high prediction success, thereby providing resident-comfort while reducing energy consumption and manual operations.