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IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications

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Advance publication (published online immediately after acceptance)

Volume E94-B No.9  (Publication Date:2011/09/01)

    Special Section on Information Communication Technology for Highly Reliable Human Health Care Services
  • FOREWORD Open Access

    Shinsuke HARA  

     
    FOREWORD

      Page(s):
    2447-2447
  • A Fully-Implantable Wireless System for Human Brain-Machine Interfaces Using Brain Surface Electrodes: W-HERBS Open Access

    Masayuki HIRATA  Kojiro MATSUSHITA  Takafumi SUZUKI  Takeshi YOSHIDA  Fumihiro SATO  Shayne MORRIS  Takufumi YANAGISAWA  Tetsu GOTO  Mitsuo KAWATO  Toshiki YOSHIMINE  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    2448-2453

    The brain-machine interface (BMI) is a new method for man-machine interface, which enables us to control machines and to communicate with others, without input devices but directly using brain signals. Previously, we successfully developed a real time control system for operating a robot arm using brain-machine interfaces based on the brain surface electrodes, with the purpose of restoring motor and communication functions in severely disabled people such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. A fully-implantable wireless system is indispensable for the clinical application of invasive BMI in order to reduce the risk of infection. This system includes many new technologies such as two 64-channel integrated analog amplifier chips, a Bluetooth wireless data transfer circuit, a wirelessly rechargeable battery, 3 dimensional tissue-fitting high density electrodes, a titanium head casing, and a fluorine polymer body casing. This paper describes key features of the first prototype of the BMI system for clinical application.

  • CMOS Imaging Devices for Biomedical Applications Open Access

    Jun OHTA  Takuma KOBAYASHI  Toshihiko NODA  Kiyotaka SASAGAWA  Takashi TOKUDA  

     
    INVITED PAPER

      Page(s):
    2454-2460

    We review recently obtained results for CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) imaging devices used in biomedical applications. The topics include dish type image sensors, deep-brain implantation devices for small animals, and retinal prosthesis devices. Fundamental device structures and their characteristics are described, and the results of in vivo experiments are presented.

  • Power-Controlled Topology Optimization and Channel Assignment for Hybrid MAC in Wireless Sensor Networks

    Eui-Jik KIM  Sungkwan YOUM  Chul-Hee KANG  

     
    PAPER

      Page(s):
    2461-2472

    This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a power-controlled topology optimization and channel assignment scheme for Hybrid MAC (abbreviated PTOCA) in wireless sensor networks that require comparatively high data rate communications. In order to maximize the network performance, PTOCA is designed with a cross-layer concept of MAC and network layers, which provides multi-channel TDMA scheduling based on the information of the network topology optimized by transmission power control. The simulation results show that by using the proposed scheme, the network throughput and energy efficiency can be significantly improved. PTOCA is also more effective in improving the network performance when the nodes are uniformly deployed on the sensor field rather than when they are randomly distributed.

  • Induced Voltage to an Active Implantable Medical Device by a Near-Field Intra-Body Communication Device

    Yuuki YOSHINO  Masao TAKI  

     
    PAPER

      Page(s):
    2473-2479

    The induced voltage at the terminals of an implantable cardiac pacemaker of unipolar type was investigated by numerical calculations. Operating frequency was assumed 5 MHz according to a recent product. The dependencies of the induced voltage on various conditions were investigated including those on the locations of the transmitter and the pacemaker, and on the electric properties and the size of the phantom. The results showed that they were reasonably explained by considerations of quasi-static coupling of the electric field between the device and the pacemaker. Regarding the effect of electrical properties of the phantom a conservative result was obtained by using a phantom of homogeneous material with electric constants of fat. With regard to the phantom size the phantom used in previous studies provided more conservative results than that of larger size. The results suggested that the electric near-field intra-body communication devices are not likely to interfere with implantable cardiac pacemakers as far as the situation assumed in this study.

  • Energy-Efficient Flexible Beacon Scheduling Mechanism for Cluster-Tree Healthcare Systems

    Haoru SU  Heungwoo NAM  Sunshin AN  

     
    LETTER

      Page(s):
    2480-2483

    An Energy-efficient Flexible Beacon Scheduling (EFBS) mechanism is proposed to solve the beacon collision problem in cluster-tree healthcare systems. In EFBS, after clustering, BAN Coordinators perform power control. Then they are divided into groups and each group is assigned one contention-free time-slot. The duration of the beacon-only period is flexible. According to the simulation results, EFBS provides better performance than other beacon scheduling approaches.

  • An Emergency Handling Scheme for Superframe-Structured MAC Protocols in WBANs

    BeomSeok KIM  Jinsung CHO  Dae-Young KIM  

     
    LETTER

      Page(s):
    2484-2487

    Wireless body area networks (WBANs) provide medical and/or consumer electronics (CE) services within the vicinity of a human body. In a WBAN environment, immediate and reliable data transmissions during an emergency situation should be supported for medical services. In this letter, we propose a flexible emergency handling scheme for WBAN MAC protocols. The proposed scheme can be applied to superframe-structured MAC protocols such as IEEE 802.15.4 and its extended versions. In addition, our scheme can be incorporated into the current working draft for IEEE 802.15.6 standards. Extensive simulations were performed and the low latency of emergent traffics was validated.

  • Performance Evaluation of Wireless Communications for Capsule Endoscopy

    Kenichi TAKIZAWA  Takahiro AOYAGI  Kiyoshi HAMAGUCHI  

     
    LETTER

      Page(s):
    2488-2491

    This letter presents a performance evaluation of wireless communications applicable into a capsule endoscope. A numerical model to describe the received signal strength (RSS) radiated from a capsule-sized signal generator is derived through measurements in which a liquid phantom is used that has electrical constants equivalent to human tissue specified by IEC 62209-1. By introducing this model and taking into account the characteristics of its direction pattern of the capsule and propagation distance between the implanted capsule and on-body antenna, a cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the received SNR is evaluated. Then, simulation results related to the error ratio in the wireless channel are obtained. These results show that the frequencies of 611 MHz or lesser would be useful for the capsule endoscope applications from the view point of error rate performance. Further, we show that the use of antenna diversity brings additional gain to this application.

  • On-Body Area UWB Channel Modeling Including Reflection from Surroundings

    Ippei KIMURA  Jianqing WANG  

     
    LETTER

      Page(s):
    2492-2495

    This study aims how to contain the environment reflection in a dynamic on-body ultra wideband (UWB) channel model. Based on a measurement approach, it is demonstrated that a complete body area channel model can be regarded as a combination of the on-body propagation characteristic and additional components from the environment. Based on such a channel model, the effect of environment reflection on the average bit error rate performance was investigated for a typical impulse radio UWB system.

  • Numerical Simulations for Wearable BAN Propagation Channel during Various Human Movements

    Takahiro AOYAGI  Minseok KIM  Jun-ichi TAKADA  Kiyoshi HAMAGUCHI  Ryuji KOHNO  

     
    LETTER

      Page(s):
    2496-2500

    In this paper, we performed six human movement simulation by a commercial software (Poser7). We performed FDTD simulations for body area network propagation with one transmitter and six receivers. Received amplitudes were calculated for every time frame of 1/30 s interval. We also demonstrated a polarization diversity effectiveness for dynamic wearable body area network propagation.

  • Regular Section
  • Towards Opening Network Knowledge for User-Centric Services in NGN

    Yoo-mi PARK  Aekyung MOON  Byung-sun LEE  Sangha KIM  

     
    PAPER-Network

      Page(s):
    2501-2510

    In this paper, we propose a Network Knowledge Layer (NKL) that is a service platform overlaid onto the existing networks to provide network knowledge for user-centric services in the Next Generation Network (NGN). Most traditional networks lack capabilities for accommodating user-centric service paradigm. Taking this into consideration, the proposed NKL has capabilities to acquire contextual information from various sources, to evolve this information with legacy information into high-level knowledge, and to expose the high-level knowledge to entities outside the network. For easy knowledge exposure, we specify a set of abstracted application programming interfaces (APIs). For efficient handling of network knowledge accessed by the APIs, we design and compare the three different network knowledge models. With the proposed APIs and the three knowledge models, we accomplish the experimental performance evaluation of NKL to verify its feasibility. The results of the various tests on knowledge models and APIs give good guidelines for efficient design and exposing network knowledge in developing a user-centric service platform. Finally, we expect NKL can support the effective development and execution of user-centric services by providing rich network knowledge with the APIs.

  • A Framework for Goodput Optimization in P2P Streaming over Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks

    Hao YE  Kaiping XUE  Peilin HONG  Hancheng LU  

     
    PAPER-Network

      Page(s):
    2511-2520

    Since the Content Distribution Network (CDN) and IP multicast have heavy infrastructure requirements, their deployment is quite restricted. In contrast, peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming applications are independent on infrastructures and thus have been widely deployed. Emerging wireless ad-hoc networks are poised to enable a variety of streaming applications. However, many potential problems, that are trivial in wired networks, will emerge when deploying existing P2P streaming applications directly into wireless ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we propose a goodput optimization framework for P2P streaming over wireless ad-hoc networks. A two-level buffer architecture is proposed to reassign the naive streaming systems' data requests. The framework adopts a chunk size-varying transmission algorithm to obtain smooth playback experience and acceptable overhead and utilize limited bandwidth resources efficiently. The distinguishing features of our implementation are as follows: first, the framework works as a middleware and is independent on the streaming service properties; existing P2P streaming application can be deployed in wireless ad-hoc networks with minimum modifications and development cost; second, the proposed algorithm can reduce unnecessary communication overheads compared with traditional algorithms which gain high playback continuity with small chunk size; finally, our scheme can utilize low bandwidth transmission paths rather than discarding them, and thus improve overall performance of the wireless network. We also present a set of experiments to show the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism.

  • Enhanced 2-Level Traffic Adaptive Active Period Control for IEEE802.15.4 Cluster-Based Wireless Sensor Networks

    Keiji KUBO  Kazuo MORI  Katsuhiro NAITO  Hideo KOBAYASHI  

     
    PAPER-Network

      Page(s):
    2521-2531

    Temporal and spatial (geographical) fluctuations, which are present in the traffic of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), have a significant affect on the transmission performance and power consumption of WSNs. Several medium access control (MAC) mechanisms have been proposed for IEEE802.15.4 cluster-based WSNs to counter the temporal and spatial traffic fluctuations. However, these mechanisms cannot always achieve simultaneous improvement in both transmission performance and power consumption. In this paper, we propose two enhanced 2-level active period control mechanisms, BI&CAP control and BI&SD&CAP control, to achieve higher system performance than conventional control mechanisms. Various computer simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanisms for WSNs with various traffic fluctuations.

  • Traffic Monitoring System Based on Correlation between BGP Messages and Traffic Data

    Atsushi KOBAYASHI  Shingo KASHIMA  Hiroshi KURAKAMI  Keisuke ISHIBASHI  

     
    PAPER-Network Management/Operation

      Page(s):
    2532-2542

    An anomalous change in traffic distributions caused by an external inter-domain routing change leads to congestion of some network links, which then affects the network quality or disrupts traffic. Thus, network operators need to promptly deal with these problems by changing the routing policy or by soliciting the help of an involved or neighboring network operator through operator channels. In addition, they need to diagnose situations in which customers are affected by the incident or in which destinations become unreachable. Although this task is indispensable, understanding the situation is difficult since the cause lies outside the operators' network domains. To alleviate the load on operators, we developed a system for monitoring traffic shifts and the disruptions caused by BGP routing changes. It is challenging to extract information that is more valid from a large amount of BGP update messages and traffic flow records. By correlating these data, the system provides meaningful reports and visualized traffic statistics, and it enables operators to easily detect the cause of traffic changes and to investigate the extent of damage. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the system and evaluate its feasibility by applying it to an ISP backbone network. In addition, we present a case study of traffic changes that the system detected.

  • Distributed Load Balancing with Handovers over Mobile Cellular Networks Using Supervisory Control

    Heejung BYUN  

     
    PAPER-Network Management/Operation

      Page(s):
    2543-2548

    This paper proposes a scheme for distributed load balancing in mobile communication networks based on a supervisory control framework. Using load information exchanged with neighbors, the “supervisors” that reside in the base stations distribute the load among cells by controlling handover parameters in a distributed manner. The supervisors are designed so that the load difference among neighboring cells are kept under a pre-defined threshold. Simulations show that our approach can effectively balance load among cells and thus reduce call blocking rate of the overloaded cells.

  • A New Calibration Algorithm Using Reference Materials for the Waveguide-Penetration Method

    Alfred KIK  Atsuhiro NISHIKATA  

     
    PAPER-Electromagnetic Compatibility(EMC)

      Page(s):
    2549-2557

    The waveguide-penetration method is a method to measure the electrical properties of materials. In this method, a cylindrical object pierces a rectangular waveguide through a pair of holes at the centre of its broad walls. Then, the complex permittivity and permeability of the object are estimated from measured S-parameters after TRL calibration. This paper proposes a new calibration algorithm for the waveguide-penetration method. Reference materials with known electrical properties are fabricated in cylindrical shapes to fit into the holes in the waveguide and are used as calibration standards. The algorithm is formulated using the property of equal traces in similar matrices, and we show that at least two reference materials are needed to calibrate the system. The proposed algorithm yields a simpler means of calibration compared to TRL and is verified using measurements in the S-band. Also, the error sensitivity coefficients are derived. These coefficients give valuable information for the selection of reference materials.

  • Robust Detection of Incumbents in Cognitive Radio Networks Using Groups

    Helena RIFA-POUS  Mercedes JIMENEZ BLASCO  Jose Carlos MUT ROJAS  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2558-2564

    Cognitive radio is a wireless technology aimed at improving the efficient use of the radio-electric spectrum, thus facilitating a reduction in the load on the free frequency bands. Cognitive radio networks can scan the spectrum and adapt their parameters to operate in the unoccupied bands. To avoid interfering with licensed users operating on a given channel, the networks need to be highly sensitive, which is achieved by using cooperative sensing methods. Current cooperative sensing methods are not robust enough against occasional or continuous attacks. This article outlines a Group Fusion method that takes into account the behaviour of users over the short and long term. On fusing the data, the method is based on giving more weight to user groups that are more unanimous in their decisions. Simulations of a dynamic environment with interference are performed. Results prove that when attackers are present (both reiterative or sporadic), the proposed Group Fusion method has superior sensing capability than other methods.

  • Statistical Characteristics of OFDM Systems over Frequency-Selective Rician Fading Channels and Its Application to BER Study

    Zhiwei MAO  Julian CHENG  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2565-2573

    Some statistical characteristics, including the means and the cross-correlations, of frequency-selective Rician fading channels seen by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers are derived in this paper. Based on a pairwise error probability analysis, the mean vector and the cross-correlation matrix are used to obtain an upper bound of the overall bit-error rate (BER) in a closed-form for coded OFDM signals with and without inter-carrier interference. In this paper, the overall BER is defined as the average BER of OFDM signals of all subcarriers obtained by considering their cross-correlations. Numerical examples are presented to compare the proposed upper bound of the overall BERs and the overall BERs obtained by simulations.

  • A Compact Design of a Low Frequency Quadrature DDFS with Low Distortion Using Analog Shapers

    Kanitpong PENGWON  Ekachai LEELARASMEE  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2574-2581

    An analysis and design of a CMOS differential pair and a common source amplifier for shaping a triangular signal into 0-π/4 segments of sine and cosine waveforms are presented. By multiplexing these two shaped outputs, low distortion full sine and cosine signals can be produced at one fourth the frequency of the triangular input. These two circuits can be combined with one DAC and a phase accumulator to form a compact quadrature direct digital frequency synthesizer (Q-DDFS) suitable for generating low distortion sinusoidal signals at low frequency. The shapers are biased by two current generators specially designed to compensate for process parameter variations. MOS dimensional mismatch is also studied. The analog part of the Q-DDFS is synthesized using 0.18-micron n-well CMOS technology. A simulation shows that the circuit consumes 1.3 mW and can generate 19.96 mV 50 kHz sine and cosine signals with spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) of around 50 dBc from a Q-DDFS running at 1.6 MHz.

  • Optimal Placement of Transparent Relay Stations in 802.16j Mobile Multihop Relay Networks Open Access

    Yongchul KIM  Mihail L. SICHITIU  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2582-2591

    WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) has emerged as a promising radio access technology for providing high speed broadband connectivity to subscribers over large geographic regions. New enhancements allow deployments of relay stations (RSs) that can extend the coverage of the base station (BS), increase cell capacity, or both. In this paper, we consider the placement of transparent RSs that maximize the cell capacity. We provide a closed-form approximation for the optimal location of RS inside a cell. A numerical analysis of a number of case studies validates the closed-form approximation. The numerical results show that the closed-form approximation is reasonably accurate.

  • Unequal Error Protection (UEP) Image Transmission System with Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT) Based Reed Solomon (RS) Coded Cooperation Scheme

    A. H. M. ALMAWGANI  M. F. M. SALLEH  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2592-2599

    This paper presents a new unequal error protection (UEP) image transmission system that incorporates a Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT) and Reed Solomon (RS) coded cooperation scheme to increase image transmission diversity, as well as save transmission bandwidth. Having a partner to assist direct communication increases the resilience of low frequency subband data against an error-prone fading channel. Low frequency subbands are partitioned into two sets of data and transmitted using the RS coded cooperation scheme. High frequency subbands data are transmitted directly to a base station. Results show that the new UEP image transmission system using LWT based RS coded cooperation scheme achieves diversity gains of around 10 dB, with channel SNR from 10 to 20 dB, compared with the image transmission system with non-cooperative system under slow Rayleigh fading channel for all levels of LWT decomposition. In addition, the new UEP image transmission system using LWT based RS coded cooperation scheme with one level of wavelet decomposition offers around 37.5% bandwidth gain (β), compared with the system without LWT, which incurs a reduction of 3 dB in reconstructed image quality.

  • A Novel Framework for Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks

    Navid TAFAGHODI KHAJAVI  Siavash SADEGHI IVRIGH  Seyed Mohammad-Sajad SADOUGH  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2600-2609

    Cognitive radio (CR) is a key solution for the problem of inefficient usage of spectral resources. Spectrum sensing in each CR aims at detecting whether a preassigned spectrum band is occupied by a primary user or not. Conventional techniques do not allow the CR to communicate with its own base station during the spectrum sensing process. So, only a part of the frame can be used for cognitive data transmission. In this paper, we introduce a new spectrum sensing framework that combines a blind source separation technique with conventional spectrum sensing techniques. In this way, the cognitive transmitter can continue to transmit during spectrum sensing, if it was in operation in the previous frame. Moreover, the accuracy is improved since the decision made by the spectrum unit in each frame depends on the decision made in the previous frame. We use Markov chain tools to model the behavior of our spectrum sensing proposal and to derive the parameters that characterize its performance. Numerical results are provided to confirm the superiority of the proposed technique compared to conventional spectrum sensing techniques.

  • DCF-Based Cooperative MAC Protocol Employing Fuzzy Logic Partner Selection Scheme

    Verotiana H. RABARIJAONA  Akeo MASUDA  Shigeru SHIMAMOTO  

     
    PAPER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2610-2619

    We propose FuzzyCoop, a cooperative MAC layer protocol employing a fuzzy logic partner selection algorithm. The protocol is based on the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) protocol used in the IEEE 802.11 standard. There are three inputs to the fuzzy system: the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), the error ratio between two neighbors and the time the most recent packet was received from a neighbor. The fuzzy output is the partnership probability of a neighboring terminal. Besides, we introduce a cooperation incentive to the stations by providing them with the right to transmit their own data without contention after a successful cooperation. The protocol is evaluated through extensive simulations in different scenarios and is compared to the DCF protocol and a previously proposed cooperative protocol. Simulation results show that FuzzyCoop improves the performances of a wireless network and provides a more robust partner selection scheme.

  • Nonbinary Quasi-Cyclic LDPC Cycle Codes with Low-Density Systematic Quasi-Cyclic Generator Matrices

    Yang YANG  Chao CHEN  Jianjun MU  Jing WANG  Rong SUN  Xinmei WANG  

     
    LETTER-Fundamental Theories for Communications

      Page(s):
    2620-2623

    In this letter, we propose an appealing class of nonbinary quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) cycle codes. The parity-check matrix is carefully designed such that the corresponding generator matrix has some nice properties: 1) systematic, 2) quasi-cyclic, and 3) sparse, which allows a parallel encoding with low complexity. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed encoding-aware LDPC codes is comparable to that of the progressive-edge-growth (PEG) constructed nonbinary LDPC cycle codes.

  • On the Achievable Diversity Multiplexing Tradeoff for the Optimal Time Allocation in the Two-Way Channel

    Ao ZHAN  Chen HE  Ling-ge JIANG  

     
    LETTER-Fundamental Theories for Communications

      Page(s):
    2624-2628

    In a two-way half-duplex system where source nodes are equipped with multiple antennas and a relay with a single antenna, we study the diversity multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) achieved by orthogonal decode-and-forward (ODF), orthogonal amplify-and-forward (OAF), non-orthogonal decode-and-forward (NDF) and non-orthogonal amplify-and-forward (NAF), respectively. Their closed-form DMT are derived with given transmission time of each terminal, and optimized by allocating the transmission time. From these analyses, NDF achieves the best performance in terms of DMT in low spectral efficiency scenarios, while NAF outperforms other protocols in high spectral efficiency scenarios.

  • Dynamic Multipoint Relay Candidate Selection for Broadcast Data Aggregation in Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

    Hyung-Weon CHO  Jong-Moon CHUNG  Myunghwan SEO  Jongho PARK  Jihyoung AHN  Bumkwi CHOI  Tae-Jin LEE  

     
    LETTER-Network

      Page(s):
    2629-2633

    In OLSR, only selected multipoint relays (MPRs) are allowed to forward broadcast data during the flooding process, which reduces the message propagation overhead compared to the classical flooding mechanism. Since every node in a network selects its own MPRs independently, many nodes may be MPRs of other nodes, which results in many collisions in the medium access control (MAC) layer under heavy traffic conditions. In this paper, we propose an MPR candidate selection mechanism for broadcast data aggregation in mobile ad-hoc networks. The proposed MPR candidate selection scheme can reduce the number of MPR candidates and appropriately spread MPR candidates over the whole network area. The performance of the proposed MPR candidate selection mechanism is investigated via mathematical analysis and simulations. We also propose a broadcast data aggregation mechanism to achive efficient resource utilization. Performance evaluation indicates that the proposed MPR candidate selection and broadcast data aggregation mechanism is efficient under heavy broadcast traffic load conditions.

  • Distance Estimation by Sequential Rearrangement of Signal Strength in Wireless Sensor Networks

    Seung-Hwan JIN  Jae-Kark CHOI  Nan HAO  Sang-Jo YOO  

     
    LETTER-Network

      Page(s):
    2634-2637

    In the received signal strength-based ranging algorithms, distance is estimated from a path loss model, in which the path loss exponent is considered a key parameter. The conventional RSS-based algorithms generally assume that the path loss exponent is known a priori. However, this assumption is not acceptable in the real world because the channel condition depends on the current wireless environment. In this paper, we propose an accurate estimation method of the path loss exponent that results in minimizing distance estimation errors in varying environments. Each anchor node estimates the path loss exponent for its transmission coverage by the sequential rearrangement of the received signal strengths of all sensor nodes within its coverage. Simulation results show that the proposed method can accurately estimate the actual path loss exponent without any prior knowledge and provides low distance estimation error.

  • VoIP Accounting Model: Using the Gap Ratio as a Quality Metric

    Younchan JUNG  J. William ATWOOD  

     
    LETTER-Network

      Page(s):
    2638-2641

    Providing quality-of service (QoS) guarantees in VoIP applications has become an urgent demand in wireless and mobile networks. One of the important issues is to find a simple quality metric fitted to low power mobile devices such as smart phones. This paper considers the gap ratio (the proportion of the accumulated gap periods over the whole call session) as a simple quality metric. Our study aims to find the optimum packet count threshold between two adjacent lost packets (referred to as Gmin in RTCP-XR), which is needed for the purpose of identifying whether the current packet at the receiver belongs to the gap state or the burst state, because quality prediction errors depend on the Gmin value when the gap ratio is used as a simple quality metric. Based on this metric, we propose an accounting model that can be a candidate accounting metric useful for a quality-based accounting mechanism.

  • Enhanced Power Saving Mechanism for Type I and Type II Power Saving Classes in IEEE 802.16e

    Kyunghye LEE  Youngsong MUN  

     
    LETTER-Network

      Page(s):
    2642-2645

    A mobile station (MS) in an IEEE 802.16e network manages its limited energy using the sleep mode operation. An MS can power down its physical operation components during the unavailability interval of the sleep mode. To reduce energy consumption by increasing the unavailability interval, this paper proposes an enhanced power saving mechanism (ePSM) when both activated Type I and Type II power saving classes (PSCs) exist in an MS. A performance evaluation confirms that ePSM results in the improved performance in terms of the unavailability interval as well as the energy consumption than conventional schemes.

  • Decoupled Location Parameter Estimation of Near-Field Sources with Symmetric ULA

    Bum-Soo KWON  Tae-Jin JUNG  Kyun-Kyung LEE  

     
    LETTER-Antennas and Propagation

      Page(s):
    2646-2649

    A novel algorithm is presented for near-field source localization with a symmetric uniform linear array (ULA) consisting of an even number of sensors. Based on element reordering of a symmetric ULA, the steering vector is factorised with respect to the range-independent bearing parameters and range-relevant 2-D location parameters, which allows the range-independent bearing estimation with rank-reduction idea. With the estimated bearing, the range estimation for each source is then obtained by defining the 1-D MUSIC spectrum. Simulation results are presented to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm.

  • Switchable Microstrip Antenna with Circular Polarization Diversity

    Seongmin PYO  Jung-Woo BAIK  Young-Sik KIM  

     
    LETTER-Antennas and Propagation

      Page(s):
    2650-2652

    In this letter, a novel design of a switchable microstrip antenna is proposed for circular polarization diversity. The proposed antenna has a simple construction of inner and outer corner-truncated radiating circular patches for switchable circular polarization. By controlling the state of two PIN diodes, left- and right-hand circular polarizations are easily alternated. The results of experiments show excellent switching radiation performances at the resonant frequency and good agreements with the simulated ones.

  • A Cross Polarization Suppressed Sequential Array with L-Probe Fed Rectangular Microstrip Antennas

    Kazuki IKEDA  Keigo SATO  Ken-ichi KAGOSHIMA  Shigeki OBOTE  Atsushi TOMIKI  Tomoaki TODA  

     
    LETTER-Antennas and Propagation

      Page(s):
    2653-2655

    In this paper, we present a sequentially rotated array antenna with a rectangular patch MSA fed by an L-probe. Since it's important to decrease couplings between patch elements in order to suppress the cross-polarization level, rectangular patches with aspect ratio of k are adopted. We investigate the cross-polarization level of the sequential array and discuss the relationship between the cross-polarization level and the mutual coupling. As a result, the bandwdith of the antenna element is obtained 14.6% when its VSWR is less than 1.5, and the directivity and cross-polarization level of a 4-patch sequential array are 10.8 dBic and 1.7 dBic, respectively, where k=0.6 and the patch spacing of d=0.5 wave length. These characteristics are 5.6 dB and 5.8 dB better than the corresponding values of a square patch sequential array antenna.

  • Coordinated Power Allocation for Generalized Multi-Cluster Distributed Antenna Systems

    Wei FENG  Yanmin WANG  Yunzhou LI  Xibin XU  Jing WANG  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2656-2659

    In this letter, coordinated power allocation (PA) is investigated for the downlink of a generalized multi-cluster distributed antenna system (DAS). Motivated by practical applications, we assume only the global large-scale channel state information is known at the transmitter. First, an upper bound (UB) for the ergodic sum capacity of the system is derived and used as a simplified optimization target. Then, a coordinated PA scheme is proposed based on Geometric Programming (GP), which is demonstrated to be nearly optimal by Monte Carlo simulations.

  • Optimal Power Scaling for Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes with Power Scaling and Square Lattice Constellations

    Hoojin LEE  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2660-2662

    Recently proposed full-rate quasi-orthogonal space-time block codes (QSTBCs) with power scaling is able to achieve full-diversity through linearly combining two adequately power scaled orthogonal space-time block codes (OSTBCs). While in our initial work we numerically derived the optimal value of the power scaling factor to achieve full-diversity, our goal in this letter is to analytically derive the optimal power scaling, especially for square lattice constellations (e.g., 4-QAM, 16-QAM, etc.) by maximizing the coding gain.

  • Performance Analysis for the Amplify-and-Forward Two-Way Cooperative Relaying Networks

    Ha Nguyen VU  Hyung Yun KONG  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2663-2666

    In this letter, we analyze the amplify-and-forward (AF) two-way cooperative relaying scheme with regard to the average data transmission rate and the symbol error probability. By investigating the Moment-Generating function (MGF) and the k-th moment of “extra-harmonic” mean of two variables, we derive an exact closed-form expression for the symbol error probability (SEP) and the approximate average sum rate. Analysis results show that the proposed scheme achieves higher SEP performance as well as a lower data rate than the conventional AF two-way scheme. Additionally, it also matches the SEP performance of the one-way AF cooperative scheme but attains higher sum rate. Finally, Monte Carlo simulation results will be shown to confirm our analytical results.

  • A Closed-Loop Macro Diversity Scheme in Cooperative Multi-Point Downlink Transmission Systems

    Yingquan ZOU  Chunguo LI  Luxi YANG  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2667-2671

    In this paper, the joint optimization issue of the cooperative precoder design is investigated for the transmission from the cooperative multi-point system to one mobile terminal. Based on the mean squared error minimization criterion, the problem is established for the cooperative precoder design. Unfortunately, this problem cannot be solved due to the block diagonal structure of the whole precoding matrix resulting from the fact that there is no data exchange among multiple base stations. In order to tackle this difficulty, the original problem is converted into an equivalent problem by stacking all of the nonzero entries in the block diagonal matrix into a long column vector. With the equivalent problem, the optimum solution is obtained in a closed-form expression by using the Lagrangian multiplier method. Numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in terms of bit error rate and spectral efficiency.

  • Hybrid Overlay/Underlay Spectrum Sharing in Cognitive Radio Networks

    Mei RONG  Shihua ZHU  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2672-2676

    A hybrid overlay/underlay spectrum sharing method for cognitive radio networks based on user classification and convex optimization is proposed. Interference radii are configured for the primary receiver and each cognitive receiver. Cognitive users are divided into four groups and allocated different spectrum sharing patterns according to their distance from the primary transmitter and receiver. An optimal power allocation scheme that achieves the maximum sum rate of cognitive radio system on the premise of satisfying the interference constraint of primary receiver is acquired through the convex optimization method. Performance analysis and simulation results show that, compared with existing methods, our method leads to improved performance of achievable sum rate of cognitive users while guarantees the transmission of primary users.

  • Efficient Pruning for Infinity-Norm Sphere Decoding Based on Schnorr-Euchner Enumeration

    Tae-Hwan KIM  In-Cheol PARK  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2677-2680

    An efficient pruning method is proposed for the infinity-norm sphere decoding based on Schnorr-Euchner enumeration in multiple-input multiple-output spatial multiplexing systems. The proposed method is based on the characteristics of the infinity norm, and utilizes the information of the layer at which the infinity-norm value is selected in order to decide unnecessary sub-trees that can be pruned without affecting error-rate performance. Compared to conventional pruning, the proposed pruning decreases the average number of tree-visits by up to 37.16% in 44 16-QAM systems and 33.75% in 66 64-QAM systems.

  • A Two-Stage Spectrum Sensing Scheme Based on Cyclostationarity in Cognitive Radio

    Ying-pei LIN  Chen HE  Ling-ge JIANG  Di HE  

     
    LETTER-Wireless Communication Technologies

      Page(s):
    2681-2684

    A spectrum sensing scheme for cognitive radio that includes coarse and fine sensing stages based on cyclostationarity is proposed in this paper. The cyclostationary feature detection (CFD) based on a single cyclic frequency (SCF) is used in the coarse sensing stage and that based on multiple cyclic frequencies (MCF) is employed in the fine sensing stage. Whether the fine sensing stage is performed or not is decided by comparing the statistic constructed in the coarse sensing stage with two thresholds. Theoretical analyses and simulation results show that the proposed sensing scheme has superior sensing performance and needs shorter sensing time.

  • Optimal Power Control of Cognitive Radio under SINR Constraint with Primary User's Cooperation

    Ding XU  Zhiyong FENG  Yizhe LI  Ping ZHANG  

     
    LETTER-Terrestrial Wireless Communication/Broadcasting Technologies

      Page(s):
    2685-2689

    In this letter, we study the power control of a cognitive radio (CR) network, where the secondary user (SU) is allowed to share the spectrum with the primary user (PU) only if the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) at the PU is higher than a predetermined level. Both PU fixed power control and PU adaptive power control are considered. Specifically, for the PU adaptive power control, the PU will cooperate with the SU by transmitting with adaptive power. The optimal power control schemes for the SU to maximize the SU throughput under the PU SINR constraint are derived. It is shown that the SU throughput achieved by the optimal power control with the PU adaptive power control is a significant improvement over the optimal power control with the PU fixed power control, especially under high power constraint and low SINR constraint.

  • A High Capacity Cell Architecture Based on Distributed Antenna System and Frequency Allocation Scheme

    Chih-Wen (Wenson) CHANG  Chien-Yuan CHU  

     
    LETTER-Terrestrial Wireless Communication/Broadcasting Technologies

      Page(s):
    2690-2695

    In orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFD-MA) systems, soft frequency reuse (SFR) and distributed antenna system (DAS) are two effective techniques to avoid excessive inter-cell interference (ICI). To gain the advantages of both, in this letter, we build a new cell architecture by jointly taking DAS and SFR into consideration to achieve the goal of high and well-balanced capacity. Furthermore, to rectify the shortfall in the literature, the capacity and outage probability in the multi-cell environment are derived by taking the complete channel effects into account, including the path loss, shadowing and Rayleigh fading. Simulations verify the superior performance and exactness of the analytical results.

  • Acceleration for Shadow Region Imaging Algorithm with Multiple Scattered Waves for UWB Radars

    Ken AKUNE  Shouhei KIDERA  Tetsuo KIRIMOTO  

     
    LETTER-Sensing

      Page(s):
    2696-2699

    Ultra-wide band (UWB) pulse radar has high range resolution, and is thus applicable to imaging sensors for a household robot. To enhance the imaging region of UWB radar, especially for multiple objects with complex shapes, an imaging algorithm based on aperture synthesis for multiple scattered waves has been proposed. However, this algorithm has difficulty realizing in real-time processing because its computation time is long. To overcome this difficulty, this letter proposes a fast accurate algorithm for shadow region imaging by incorporating the Range Points Migration (RPM) algorithm. The results of the numerical simulation show that, while the proposed algorithm affects the performance of the shadow region imaging slightly, it does not cause significant accuracy degradation and significantly decreases the computation time by a factor of 100 compared to the conventional algorithm.