Electromagnetic relays were developed in the first half of 19th century. At the beginning, they have been mainly used for telecommunication systems, afterwards, their uses were expanded, they have been applied to various systems such as industry products, traffic control equipment, household appliances and so on. During this time, international standardization on them became active, Japan took part in the auxiliary relay committee in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Recently, Japan is playing an important role in the committee activities. In this paper, transition and the present circumstance on technical trends of the electromagnetic relays and their activities on international standardization are described, talking about some future prospects.

After large-scale disasters, information sharing among people becomes more important than usual. This, however, is extremely difficult to achieve in disaster zones due to serious damage to the existing network infrastructure, power outages, and high traffic congestion. For the quick provision of alternative networks to serve heavy communication demands after disasters, establishing local area networks (LANs) consisting of portable servers with data storage has been considered as one of the most promising solutions. Based on the established LAN and a data server in each area, people can share many kinds of disaster-related information such as emergency information and supply/demand information via deployed neighboring servers. However, due to the lack of stable Internet connection, these servers are isolated and cannot be synchronized in real time. To enable and guarantee more efficient information sharing across the whole disaster-hit area, data stored on each server should be synchronized without the Internet. Our solution is to propose an intermittent data synchronization scheme that uses moving vehicles as relays to exchange data between isolated servers after disasters. With the objective of maximizing the total number of synchronized high priority data under the capability constraints of mobile relays, we first propose a data allocation scheme (DAS) from a server to a mobile relay. After that, we propose a trajectory planning scheme for the relays which is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Fractional Programming (MILFP) problem, and an algorithm to solve it efficiently. Extensive simulations and comparisons with other methods show the superior performance of our proposals.

In this paper, we investigate the effect of outdated channel state information (CSI) on decode-and-forward opportunistic mobile relaying networks with direct link (DL) between source node and destination node. Relay selection schemes with different levels of CSI are considered: 1) only outdated CSI is available during the relay selection procedure; 2) not only outdated CSI but also second-order statistics information are available in relay selection process. Three relay selection schemes are proposed based on the two levels of outdated CSI. Closed-form expressions of the outage probability are derived for the proposed relay selection schemes. Meanwhile, the asymptotic behavior and the achievable diversity of three relay selection schemes are analyzed. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify our analytical results.

In this paper, we investigate the outage probability of a dual-hop, channel state information (CSI)-assisted amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple antenna relay network when interference is present at the relay. The source and the destination are equipped with multiple antennas and communicate with each other with the help of a single antenna relay. Transmit antenna selection is performed at the source for source-relay communication. Three receiver combining schemes namely, maximal ratio combining (MRC), equal gain combining (EGC) and selection combining (SC) are considered at the destination. Exact analytical expressions are derived for the outage probability of MRC and SC receiving while an approximate expression is obtained for EGC. Monte-Carlo simulation results are provided to complement analytical results and to demonstrate the effect of interference.

Usually the contact voltage drop or contact resistance of electromagnetic relays is observed only to identify if the contacts are failure or not on the manufactures' life tests. However, it is difficult to reveal the contact performance degradation because the variation of contact resistance may not be obvious. In this paper, a new life test technology was investigated to analyze the contact failure mechanisms and degenerative processes of electromagnetic relays by measuring their time parameters including closing time, opening time, over-travel time, rebound duration and gap time during each operation. Moreover, for the purpose of verifying the time parameters, the contact motion and contact morphology during life test were record by using a high speed camera. Both the variations of time parameters and information obtained from photos taken by high speed camera show that it involves three different degenerative phases during the whole life of a relay. The results also indicate this method is an effective technology to discriminate and diagnose the failure mechanisms for electromagnetic relays.

In this paper, a new handover procedure for OFDM-based multi-hop relay systems is proposed to reduce handover overhead by distinguishing an inter-cell handover event from an intra-cell handover event at the level of the physical layer using a preamble with a hierarchical design. A Subcell ID concept used to identify relay station in a cell is proposed in the hierarchical design that works in conjunction with the existing Cell ID used to identify base station. The proposed handover procedure can simplify the scanning procedure and skip/simplify the network re-entry procedure, resulting in a significant reduction in handover overhead.

In a Decode and Forward (DF) type of an OFDM-based Full Duplex Relay (FDR), the frequency-domain approach is more efficient than the time-domain approach for feedback interference cancellation. However, Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) and Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) may occur due to timing mismatch between the feedback interference signal and the desired signal from the Base Station (BS). In this letter, the effects of a timing mismatch on synchronous types and asynchronous types of OFDM-based FDRs are investigated in uplink and downlink cases. A synchronization procedure and techniques for minimizing ISI and ICI in OFDM-based FDRs with a frequency-domain feedback interference canceller are proposed.

Electrical life is an important parameter to estimate the reliability of a relay, and it is greatly affected by load current. In order to shorten the time of life test, load current stress accelerated life tests were carried out by using a life test system designed for relay in this paper. During the life test, many parameters such as the contact resistance, the closing time and the over-travel time of relay were measured for each operation to identify the failure modes. After the life test, the failure mechanisms under each current stress, which cause the same failure mode, were analyzed by investigating the variations of parameters and observing the morphology of contact surface. In addition, for the purpose of further studying the consistency of failure mechanisms between different current stress, a Weibull statistical analysis was adopted to estimate the shape parameter of Weibull distribution because the same shape parameter means the same failure mechanism. Finally, a statistical model for estimating the lifetime under load current stress was built. The research methods and conclusions mentioned in this paper are meaningful to perform the accelerated life tests for other types of relays.

In this letter, we propose a novel singular value decomposition zero-forcing beamforming (SVD-ZFBF) relaying scheme in the multiuser downlink MIMO broadcasting channel with fixed relays. Based on the processing scheme, we apply SUS [5] to select users at the relay station (RS) and develop a joint power allocation strategy at the base station (BS) and RS. By increasing the power at RS or selecting active users to obtain more multiuser diversity, SVD-ZFBF can approach an upper bound and outperform SVD-ZFDPC [1] with much lower complexity. Moreover, we show that the noise power ratio of RS to users significantly impacts the performance.

VI time responses of a conventional electromagnetic relay during breaking contact operations were measured. In a conventional switching circuit, unstable contact resistance, irregular bouncing, and poor reproducibility were confirmed. Using a transient current switch circuit and two sharpened contact electrodes, bouncing during a breaking operation was suppressed, and unstable contact resistance changes and reproducibility of breaking operation were also improved.

In this letter, the effect of a propagation delay resulting from the use of an OFDM system with a transparent mobile multi-hop relay (MMR) is initially analyzed. Then, a least square (LS) channel estimation technique for the OFDM system with throughput enhancement (TE) MMR or cooperative MMR is proposed. It is demonstrated by computer simulation that the proposed LS channel estimation technique for OFDM systems with transparent MMR is superior to the conventional technique in terms of mean square error (MSE) and bit error rate (BER).

Modern telecom and signal relays have been optimized to carry and switch low signals and to withstand high dielectric strength. Recent designs have extremely small physical dimensions and are comparatively cheap. Small size and low cost also make this type of relay very attractive for industrial and automotive applications. For industrial and automotive applications performance characteristics other than low and stable contact resistance values are of importance. While, for industrial applications, safety aspects and inductive load switching characteristics are of major importance, in automotive applications, high switching currents, inductive and lamp loads and high ambient temperatures are essential. Tests were carried out in order to determine the limitations of small size relays. The results obtained clearly show the unexpectedly high load range which signal relays are able to cover. Despite their small size, these relays can handle switching loads up to several hundred volts and currents up to 5 A. On top of the high switching current there is high excess current capability, and relays can work at extreme ambient temperatures between -55 and more than +105 degrees C.

The three major failures of electrical contacts for automotive relay applications are: contact welding (or contact sticking), high contact resistance and severe contact erosion due to switching arcing. With the demand of high power and multiple functions of automotive vehicles, the switching current has be dramatically increased, it results in higher failing rate, in particular for contact welding. On the other hand, the miniaturization of electromechanical relays has lead to the reduction of mechanical spring force. This not only results in the earlier contact welding but also makes the relay more susceptible to the contact resistance and arc erosion failures. This paper is a review of most recent studies on these three failure aspects. It describes the progress in the understanding of contact welding caused by short arcing and high contact resistance due to contamination of particles and films in relay manufacturing process and also it review the material transfer due to switching arcing. At the end, the brief considerations of electromechanical relays used in 42 volts have also been given.

Various effective and draft legislations and rules in Europe (WEEE--Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ROHS--Restrictions on the use of certain substances and ELV--End of life of vehicles) and Japan (Recycling Law for Home Electric Appliances) have either targeted restrictions or fully banned on the use of lead, to be enforced from 2001, 2003 and 2006 onwards. Up to now, mainly tin-lead alloys have been used in electronics. The process temperatures usually applied have been in the range of 230. All currently discussed lead-free alternatives for professional electronics need process temperatures which are at least 20 higher. In addition, the process duration is significantly longer. The combination of higher process temperatures and longer duration results in significant thermal stress on electromechanical devices. In particular the precision mechanics of electromechanical relays must withstand the solder process with maximum process temperatures of 255 without dimensional changes. During the transition from tin-lead to lead-free solder processes all combinations of component surfaces and solder must be possible. The selection of pure Sn100 or SnCu0.7 as terminal surface allows mixed assemblies with tin-lead as well as lead-free solders. All tested combinations of terminal surface, PCB surface and solder showed good results. From these results it can be concluded that mixed assemblies are possible during the transition time without any negative impact on the reliability of the electronic devices.

Telecom- and Signal Relays with gastight plastic sealed housings enables the usage of inert and highly insulating gases. Although plastic sealed housings are used, optimized designs can keep the gas during the entire life of more than 25 years. The application of this technology allows the application of highly insulting gases like SF6 and result in a significant reduction of the relay size as reduced physical dimensions can be applied. With unchanged distances a significantly better dielectric performance can be achieved, without a relevant cost increase. Furthermore the inert switching atmosphere increases the switching characteristics or reduces the consumption of precious metals for the contacts. Even the usage of less precious metals like tungsten or ruthenium might be possible for switching typical telecommunication signals.

AgCdO12wt% contacts mounted on electromagnetic relays are tested in a DC 42 V-8.4 A resistive circuit as make-only contacts and break-only contacts. In this experiment, the arc duration has been measured for each operation and the shape of the transferred pip on each contact has been observed using photograph records taken every 1000 operations. The transferred pip grows markedly at make-only contacts. Furthermore, as a few samples with the long arc duration have the flat hill transferred from the cathode on the anode surface of break-only contacts, we believe that the transferred direction reverses at a certain arc length.

Sticking is one of dominant characteristics of reliability in relays for medium current loads from several amperes to several dozen amperes, which are used for relays for automobiles, industrial control units or power supplies of household electrical appliances. Correlations between the release failures due to sticking and contact characteristics such as arc discharges, material parameters and design factors in relays have never been always made clear. This puts difficulty in the way of reasonable development of contact materials and rational design of relays. So, dependence of electrical load conditions on sticking characteristics are investigated, using the Ag-CdO contacts which have had high practical use to relays for medium current loads. Furthermore, relationship among the sticking characteristics, arc discharge characteristics and contact surface properties after operations are studied. Mechanism of sticking is considered on the basis of those data. The results are as follows: (1) Sticking phenomenon occurs intermittently from initial operations and lasts to the end. (2) The µ + 2 σ value (the sum of the mean value and the integral multiple of the standard deviation of sticking force) increases in proportion to the circuit current. On the other hand, it has the maximum value at a circuit voltage, slightly less than the minimum arc voltage. (3) Factors causing the sticking are considered to be divided into direct factors and its root factors. It is considered that a dominant direct factor is welding, and that its root factor is bridge or welding by Joule's heat. On the other hand, the sticking force becomes rather lower as the circuit voltage increases, in the circuit voltage range where regular arc discharge occurs.