In this paper, we compare the major issues associated with TDMA and S-CDMA (Synchronous-Code Division Multiple Access), which is considered as a new cable modem standard technology for upstream channel. We mainly deal with the following 3 topics: MAC protocol, modem structure and BER (Bit Error Rate) performance comparison between TDMA and S-CDMA. Especially, we derive BER of TDMA and S-CDMA schemes in the ε-mixture impulse noise model which appropriately reflects impulse noise characteristics of the upstream channel by using various parameters.

The origins of baseline shift were discussed considering the measured off-track properties using a wide write head with track widths of 97 µm and a narrow read head with track widths of 2.7 µm. The baseline shift increased when the read head was moved close to the track edge. Beyond the track edge, baseline shift decreased to negative values. The impulse response curve of the MR head to the perpendicular magnetization was estimated from the readback waves of the MIG head and the MR head. The response curve depended on the recorded track width. When the recorded track was narrow, the undershoot of the response curve was smaller than that of the head field based on the 2D double-gap ring head model with infinite track width. This small undershoot induces sensitivity of the DC-component of the recorded magnetization and causes the baseline shift. To calculate the readback waves of the MR head for single-layer perpendicular recording media with narrow-track recording, the effect from stray field at the recorded track edge must be included in the impulse response curve of read head.

In some applications, such as the echo cancellation problem of satellite-linked communication channels, there occurs a problem of estimation of a long impulse response, which consists of a long flat delay and a short dispersive response region. In this paper, it is shown that the use of the adaptive algorithm based on the frequency domain sampling theorem enables efficient identification of the long impulse response. The use of the proposed technique can lead to the reduction of both the number of adaptive weights and the complexity of flat delay estimation.

This paper proposes a method of improving the accuracy of the attenuation constant estimate obtained by using the cross-spectral technique. In the cross-spectral technique, the envelope of the estimated impulse response is deformed due to the use of a time window. As a result, the estimated impulse response decays more rapidly than the real impulse response does, and the attenuation constant obtained by the estimated impulse response becomes larger than the real value. This paper first describes how the attenuation constant changes in the process of impulse response estimation. Next, we propose a method of improving the accuracy of the estimation. The effect of the proposed method is confirmed by computer simulation.

A new method is proposed for recovering an unknown source signal ,which is observed through two unknown channels characterized by non-minimum phase FIR filters. Conventional methods cannot estimate the non-minimum phase parts and recover the source signal. Our method is based on computing the eigenvector corresponding to the smallest eigenvalue of the input correlation matrix and using the criterion with the multi-channnel inverse filtering theory. The impulse responses are estimated by computing the eigenvector for all modeling orders. The optimum order is searched for using the criterion and the most appropriate impulse responses are estimated. Multi-channel inverse filtering with the estimated impulse responses is used to recover the unknown source signal. Computer simulation shows that our method can estimate nonminimum phase impulse responses from two reverberant signals and recover the source signal.

A new low-power and high-speed CMOS interface circuit is proposed in which signals are transmitted by means of impulse voltage. This mode of transmission is called impulse transmission. Although a termination resistor is used for impedance matching, the current through the output transistors and the termination resistor flows only in transient states and no current flows in stable states. The output buffer and the termination resistor dissipate power only in transient states, so their power dissipation is reduced to 30% that of conventional low-voltage-swing CMOS interface circuits at 160 MHz. The circuit was fabricated by 0.5 µm CMOS technology and was evaluated at a supply voltage of 3.3 V. Experimental results confirm low power of 4.8 mW at 160 MHz and high-speed 870 Mb/s error free point-to-point transmission.

In this paper we propose a new method for removing the characteristic of the piezoelectric transducer from the received signal in the pulse-echo method so that the time resolution in the determination of transit time of ultrasound in a thin layer is increased. The total characteristic of the pulse-echo system is described by cascade of distributed-constant systems for the ultrasonic transducer, matching layer, and acoustic medium. The input impedance is estimated by the inverse matrix of the cascade system and the voltage signal at the electrical port. From the inverse Fourier transform of input impedance, the transit time in a thin layer object is accurately determined with high time resolution. The principle of the method is confirmed by simulation experiments.

This paper discusses a new image resolution conversion method which converts not only spatial resolution but also amplitude resolution. This method involves considering impulse responses of image devices and human visual characteristics, and can preserve high image quality. This paper considers a system that digitizes the multilevel input image with high spatial resolution and low amplitude resolution using an image scanner, and outputs the image with low spatial resolution and high amplitude resolution on a CRT display. The algorithm thus reduces the number of pixels while increasing the number of brightness levels. Since a CRT display is chosen as the output device, the distribution of each spot in the display, which is modeled as a Gaussian function, is taken as the impulse response. The output image is then expressed as the summation of various amplitudes of the impulse response. Furthermore, human visual perception, which bears a nonlinear relationship to the spatial frequency component, is simplified and modeled with a cascade combination of low-pass and high-pass filters. The output amplitude is determined so that the error between the output image and the input image, after passing through the visual perception filter, is minimized. According to the results of a simulation, it is shown that image quality can be largely preserved by the proposed method, while significant image information is lost by conventional methods.

Quantization of the impulse response coefficients due to finite word length causes the moments to deviate from their ideal values. This deviation is found to have a linear variation with the output roundoff noise of the filter realized in direct form. Since the zeros and poles of a given filter also move away from their designed locations due to quantization, we show a relation between the zeros and poles and the moments of the impulse response.