Wire antennas in the presence of a dielectric/ferrite inhomogeneity

A moment method solution for treating thin-wire antennas in the presence of an arbitrary dielectric and/or ferrite inhomogeneity is presented. The wire is modeled by an equivalent surface current density, and the dielectric/ferrite inhomogeneity is modeled by equivalent volume polarization currents. The conduction currents on the wire and the polarization currents in the dielectric/ferrite inhomogeneity are treated as independent unknowns and determined in the moment method solution. The method is applied to the problem of a loop antenna loaded with dielectric or ferrite. Numerical results are presented, and are in good agreement with measurements and previous calculations.     

Analysis of the eddy-current induced artifacts and the temporal compensation in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging

Reduction of eddy currents by a temporal compensation of the input current waveform to the gradient coil is studied with an analytic solution. The technique is the inverse filtering of the eddy-current affected field response, which is calculated from the diffusion equation. The limitation of the temporal compensation due to the spatially variant eddy currents is also investigated for whole-body diagnostic imaging systems and small-bore nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microscopy systems. Within a limited imaging volume of less than 60% of the gradient coil diameter, most of eddy-current problems can be solved by the technique.     

A technique for double resonant operation of birdcage imaging coils

The type of radio-frequency (RF) coil known as a high-pass birdcage consists of a set of N; wires arranged axially on the surface of a cylinder and connected by capacitors at each end. Such coils are widely used for NMR imaging because of the high degree of field homogeneity they provide. It is shown how to create homogeneous fields at two frequencies, using an unequal distribution of capacitance. A theoretical analysis which uses the discrete Fourier transform of the currents with respect to the angular positions of the N; wires is presented. A perturbation theory analysis indicates a small sacrifice in homogeneity. The root-mean-square deviation of field magnitude around a circle is proposed as a measure of field inhomogeneity. For the case of double resonance at proton and fluorine frequencies, the loss of homogeneity is at worst 1% and is small compared to the natural inhomogeneity for an N=8 wire coil for radii up to one half the coil radius. The presence of a conducting shield degrades the homogeneity. The theoretical ideas were confirmed in a computer simulation of one particular coil design. A working coil was constructed and images obtained of proton and fluorine phantoms.     

Radiation and scattering from infinite periodic printed antennaswith inhomogeneous media

The hybrid method of moments (MoM)/Green's function method technique is applied to infinite periodic printed antenna arrays containing dielectric inhomogeneities. The solution uses an integral equation for an infinite periodic printed array on or over a homogeneous dielectric substrate, coupled with equivalent volume polarization currents for dielectric inhomogeneities on top of the homogeneous substrate. Volume pulse-basis functions were used to expand the volume polarization currents. A hybrid MoM/Green's function method solution was then obtained through the matrix form of the problem. The two-dimensional (2-D) solution of plane wave scattering from a grounded dielectric slab was used to validate the reaction impedance of the dielectric inhomogeneity. Several infinite periodic printed dipole arrays with dielectric supports and overlays were studied with this solution and good agreement was observed between the hybrid MoM/Green's function method and waveguide simulator experiments     

Magnetically induced currents in the canine heart: a finite elementstudy

A moderately detailed three-dimensional (3-D) finite element model of the conductive anatomy of a canine thorax was used to determine the fields and currents induced by a time-varying magnetic field that has been shown to cause irregular heart beats in canines. The 3-D finite element model of the canine thorax was constructed from CT scans and includes seven isotropic tissue conductivities and the anisotropic conductivity of skeletal muscle. The authors use this model to estimate the stimulation threshold associated with stimulation of the heart by the time-varying magnetic field of a figure-eight coil. Variants of the thoracic model were also constructed to examine the sensitivity of model results to variations in model size, shape, and conductive inhomogeneity and anisotropy. The authors' results show that myocardial fields were only mildly sensitive to thoracic size. However, model shape and conductive inhomogeneity and anisotropy substantially influenced the magnitude and distribution of myocardial fields and currents. The authors' results suggest that an induced peak field magnitude of ≈1 V/cm is required to stimulate the heart with the magnetic excitation simulated in this study     

The use of adaptive algorithms for obtaining optimal electricalshimming in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

A method of determining the dc coil current values to electrically shim the static magnetic fields used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using modified steepest descent adaptive algorithm is described. Using a 32 cm diameter by a 40 cm long water phantom as the test volume, the algorithm achieved field homogeneities of 0.2 parts per million (ppm) peak-to-peak within a 20 cm diameter spherical imaging volume, and 1.3 ppm peak-to-peak within the entire phantom. The algorithm achieved an inhomogeneity variance of 0.18 ppm2. The shim system was successfully modeled as a sum of adaptive linear combiners. The model contains 13 parameters that can be varied, 12 shim coil currents, and the receiver mixer frequency. The model was then used to predict key adaptive algorithm parameters. Experimental verification of these parameters lends support to the accuracy of the model.     

Two-arm eccentric spiral antenna

This paper presents a free-space analysis of a planar two-arm eccentric spiral antenna. The eccentricity generates a circularly polarized wave with the main beam directed off-normal to the spiral plane. Input impedance and radiation characteristics are calculated from the current distribution generated by a method of moments solution. The radiation characteristics include power gain and axial ratio patterns. Three-dimensional (3-D) gain surface plots illustrate off-normal dependence of the eccentricity constant. The eccentric spiral antenna is found to have a significant increase in gain. This occurs when adjacent spiral arms rotating 360° have an electrical length increase of one wavelength. Thus, adjacent currents on one side of the spiral are nearly all in-phase. On the opposite side of the spiral, all neighboring currents are nearly out-of-phase. Evaluation of these currents result in a theory of operation for eccentric spiral antennas     

Conventional and reciprocal approaches to the inverse dipole localization problem of electroencephalography

Forward transfer matrices relating dipole source to surface potentials can be determined via conventional or reciprocal approaches. In numerical simulations with a triangulated boundary-element three-concentric-spheres head model, we compare four inverse electroencephalogram (EEG) solutions: those obtained utilizing conventional or reciprocal forward transfer matrices, relating in each case source dipole components to potentials at either triangle centroids or triangle vertices. Single-dipole inverse solutions were obtained using simplex optimization with an additional position constraint limiting solution dipoles to within the brain region. Dipole localization errors are presented in all four cases, for varying dipole eccentricity and two different values of skull conductivity. Both conventional and reciprocal forward transfer matrices yielded inverse dipole solutions of comparable accuracy. Localization errors were low even for highly eccentric source dipoles on account of the nonlinear nature of the single-dipole solution and the position constraint. In the presence of Gaussian noise, both conventional and reciprocal approaches were also found to be equally robust to skull conductivity errors.     

Constrained Codes as Networks of Relations

We address the well-known problem of determining the capacity of constrained coding systems. While the one-dimensional case is well understood to the extent that there are techniques for rigorously deriving the exact capacity, in contrast, computing the exact capacity of a two-dimensional constrained coding system is still an elusive research challenge. The only known exception in the two-dimensional case is an exact (however, not rigorous) solution to the -run-length limited (RLL) system on the hexagonal lattice. Furthermore, only exponential-time algorithms are known for the related problem of counting the exact number of constrained two-dimensional information arrays. We present the first known rigorous technique that yields an exact capacity of a two-dimensional constrained coding system. In addition, we devise an efficient (polynomial time) algorithm for counting the exact number of constrained arrays of any given size. Our approach is a composition of a number of ideas and techniques: describing the capacity problem as a solution to a counting problem in networks of relations, graph-theoretic tools originally developed in the field of statistical mechanics, techniques for efficiently simulating quantum circuits, as well as ideas from the theory related to the spectral distribution of Toeplitz matrices. Using our technique, we derive a closed-form solution to the capacity related to the Path-Cover constraint in a two-dimensional triangular array (the resulting calculated capacity is ). Path-Cover is a generalization of the well known one-dimensional -RLL constraint for which the capacity is known to be .     

Resource Allocation for OFDMA Based Cognitive Radio Networks with Arbitrarily Distributed Finite Power Inputs

The existing works on resource allocation for OFDMA based cognitive radio networks are based on the assumption of Gaussian inputs whereas in practical systems the inputs are taken from a set of finite symbol alphabets. This paper considers a system with arbitrarily distributed finite power inputs and solve the resource allocation problem by employing the relationship between mutual information and minimum mean-square error. To protect the primary users’ links, constraint on interference power of the secondary users (SUs) is imposed. In OFDMA based CR networks, a tone can be assigned to one SU at most (exclusivity constraint), due to which the resource allocation problem becomes combinatorial and its solution becomes prohibitively difficult.In this paper, first, the exclusivity constraint on tones allocation is relaxed, the problem is convexified and an optimal solution is derived that provides an upper bound on the system performance. Then, an integer tone allocation and optimal power allocation (ITA–OPA) algorithm is developed that guarantees the assignment of each tone to a single SU with close-to-optimal performance. Finally, keeping in view the complexity of the optimal solution and ITA–OPA algorithm, a low-complexity suboptimal algorithm is devised that accounts for exclusive tone assignment. Simulation results show that the suboptimal algorithm also achieves near-optimal performance. The proposed algorithms outperforms the algorithms that assume Gaussian inputs.     

Elliptic cylinder geometry for distinguishability analysis in impedance tomography

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a technique that computes the cross-sectional impedance distribution within the body by using current and voltage measurements made on the body surface. It has been reported that the image reconstruction is distorted considerably when the boundary shape is considered to be more elliptical than circular as a more realistic shape for the measurement boundary. This paper describes an alternative framework for determining the distinguishability region with a finite measurement precision for different conductivity distributions in a body modeled by elliptic cylinder geometry. The distinguishable regions are compared in terms of modeling error for predefined inhomogeneities with elliptical and circular approaches for a noncircular measurement boundary at the body surface. Since most objects investigated by EIT are noncircular in shape, the analytical solution for the forward problem for the elliptical cross section approach is shown to be useful in order to reach a better assessment of the distinguishability region defined in a noncircular boundary. This paper is concentrated on centered elliptic inhomogeneity in the elliptical boundary and an analytic solution for this type of forward problem. The distinguishability performance of elliptical cross section with cosine injected current patterns is examined for different parameters of elliptical geometry.     

Sharpness enhancement of stereo images using binocular just-noticeable difference

In this paper, we propose a new sharpness enhancement algorithm for stereo images. Although the stereo image and its applications are becoming increasingly prevalent, there has been very limited research on specialized image enhancement solutions for stereo images. Recently, a binocular just-noticeable-difference (BJND) model that describes the sensitivity of the human visual system to luminance changes in stereo images has been presented. We introduce a novel application of the BJND model for the sharpness enhancement of stereo images. To this end, an overenhancement problem in the sharpness enhancement of stereo images is newly addressed, and an efficient solution for reducing the overenhancement is proposed. The solution is found within an optimization framework with additional constraint terms to suppress the unnecessary increase in luminance values. In addition, the reliability of the BJND model is taken into account by estimating the accuracy of stereo matching. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can provide sharpness-enhanced stereo images without producing excessive distortion.     

分布式MIMO雷达的目标定位

针对多输入多输出雷达系统，研究了目标定位问题，并提出基于双基测距的分布式多输入多输出(Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MIMO)雷达的目标定位算法。首先，通过引入多余参数和这些参数与未知目标定位的关系，将目标定位问题转化为约束二次规划(Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programming, QCQP)问题，然后，考虑到QCQP问题是非凸和NP-Hard，再将每个非凸约束近似为线性约束，最终QCQP问题就转化为线性约束二次规划(Linearly Constrained Quadratic Programming, LCQP)问题。最后，利用迭代约束权重最小二乘(Iterative Constrained Weighted Least Square, ICWLS)算法求解LCQP问题。实验数据表明，提出的ICWLS算法能够收敛于一个最优值。     

一种基于规则的软件体系结构层性能演化优化方法

目前基于规则的软件体系结构（Software Architecture,简记为SA）层性能优化方法大多未充分考虑优化过程中规则的使用次数和使用顺序的不确定性,导致了搜索空间受限而难以获取更优的性能改进方案.针对这一问题并以最小化系统响应时间为优化目标,文中首先定义一种基于规则的SA层性能优化模型RPOM,以将SA层性能优化抽象为求解最优规则序列的数学问题;然后设计一种支持SA层性能改进规则序列执行的框架RSEF;进一步提出一种采用约束检查、修复及统计学习机制的演化求解算法EA4PO;最后以Web应用为案例与已有方法进行实验对比.结果表明：（1）本文方法较已有方法可以获取更短的系统响应时间;（2） EA4PO所引入的统计学习机制可显著提高演化求解算法的收敛速度和解质量.     

A/sup */ search: an efficient and flexible approach to materialized view selection

Decision support systems issue a large number of online analytical processing (OLAP) queries to access very large databases. A data warehouse needs to precompute or materialize some of such OLAP queries in order to improve the system throughput, since many coming queries can benefit greatly from these materialized views. Materialized view selection with resource constraint is one of the most important issues in the management of data warehouses. It addresses how to fully utilize the limited resource, disk space, or maintenance time to minimize the total query processing cost. This paper revisits the problem of materialized view selection under a disk-space constraint S. Many efficient greedy algorithms have been developed to address this problem. The quality of greedy solutions is guaranteed by a lower bound. However, it is observed that, when S is small, this lower bound can be very small and even be negative. In such cases, their solution quality will not be guaranteed well. In order to improve further the solution quality in such cases, a new competitive A/sup */ algorithm is proposed. It is shown that it is just the distinctive topological structure of the dependent lattice that makes the A/sup */ search a very competitive strategy for this problem. Both theoretical and experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is a powerful, efficient, and flexible approach to this problem.     

Achieving maximum bit rate in a cognitive radio network with physical layer network coding

In this paper, the power allocation problem in a relay‐assisted cognitive radio network (CRN) is considered where the secondary users exchange information in an interweave mode on the basis of physical layer network coding. In order to enhance the capacity of CRN, using multiple‐input multiple‐output and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing has become very popular in the literature. This paper goes one step further to improve the throughput of secondary users using physical layer network coding by drawing off the transmission time. The main goal is to maximize the capacity of CRN, while keeping the total interference imposed on the primary users under a certain threshold. An optimal solution to this power allocation problem with limited relay power constraint, due to the limited budget, is derived; however, because of the high complexity of this method, an efficient suboptimal solution is also proposed.     

The Laplacian inverse problem of electrocardiography: an eccentricspheres study

The eccentric spheres model of the heart-torso system is used to study the inverse problem of electrocardiography using measurements of the Laplacian of the body surface potential distribution. Electrical activity is simulated on the six main regions of the inner surface by considering a limited number of current dipoles placed within the inner sphere. The resulting outer surface potential and Laplacian distributions are then calculated in a forward sense. Varying amounts of random noise are added to these distributions before a zero-order Tikhonov regularization scheme is used to recover the inner surface potential distribution. Comparing the calculated and original inner surface distributions indicates that measurements of the outer surface Laplacian can more accurately reconstruct epicardial potentials than measurements of the outer surface potentials. These distributions are more accurate in that the extrema are placed very close to their original positions and are of nearly the same magnitude. Also, multiple extrema and high potential gradients are recovered     

Routing on field-programmable switch matrices

In this paper, we address the problem of routing nets on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) interconnected by a switch matrix. We extend the switch matrix architecture proposed by Zhu et al. (1993) to route nets between FPGA chips in a multi-FPGA system. Given a limited number of routing resources in the form of programmable connection points within a two-dimensional switch matrix, this problem examines the issue of how to route a given net traffic through the switch matrix structure. First, we define the problem as a general undirected graph in which each vertex has one single color among six possible colors and formulate it as a constraint satisfaction problem. This is further modeled as a 0-1 multidimensional knapsack problem for which a fast approximate solution is applied. Experimental results show that the accuracy of our proposed heuristic is quite high for moderately large switch matrices.     

Degradation of solar cell performance by areal inhomogeneity

Calculations have been made that show how severely areal inhomogeneity can degrade solar-cell conversion efficiency. Two general types of areal inhomogeneity are discussed. In the first type, the emitter recombination current controls the I-V characteristics for voltages near the maximum power voltage, and areal variations in the structural or material parameters of the emitter are assumed to occur. For this type of areal inhomogeneity, the base recombination current controls the dark I-V characteristics, and areal variations in the base minority-carrier lifetime are assumed to occur. For this type, the poor-quality area again dominates in determining the conversion efficiency, though less strongly than for the first type of areal inhomogeneity. An extension of the method used to demonstrate this behavior can provide a first-order solution of the general three-dimensional boundary-value problem resulting from areal inhomogeneity; this extension is briefly described.     

Wavelet-based reconstruction for limited-angle X-ray tomography

The aim of X-ray tomography is to reconstruct an unknown physical body from a collection of projection images. When the projection images are only available from a limited angle of view, the reconstruction problem is a severely ill-posed inverse problem. Statistical inversion allows stable solution of the limited-angle tomography problem by complementing the measurement data by a priori information. In this work, the unknown attenuation distribution inside the body is represented as a wavelet expansion, and a Besov space prior distribution together with positivity constraint is used. The wavelet expansion is thresholded before reconstruction to reduce the dimension of the computational problem. Feasibility of the method is demonstrated by numerical examples using in vitro data from mammography and dental radiology.