PDP picture‐quality enhancement based on human‐visual‐system relevant features

The success of a new display technology such as plasma is strongly related to the final picture quality assessed by the customer's eyes. The human visual system (HVS) characteristics enable the definition of new cost‐efficient methods to significantly reduce the visibility of all plasma‐specific artifacts. Simple optimized encoding methods based on the luminance perception will be presented as well as more‐complicated algorithms based on motion perception.     

A consideration on motion‐image‐quality improvement of LCDs and video systems

Abstract— The motion image quality of video systems with hold‐type displays, such as LCDs or OLEDs, were studied with regard to dynamic spatial frequency response and data from subjective evaluations on motion blur. The system parameters of motion image quality, or frame rate (F) and temporal aperture (A^t), were investigated and their required values were derived. A smaller temporal aperture and/or higher frame rate can improve the dynamic response and motion image quality, but the parameters required in order to maintain a good dynamic response for high motion image velocity seems very difficult to implement, such as a frame rate of 900 Hz. Therefore, the performance goal of video systems is set on “limit of acceptance” for motion image quality, as a compromise. An equation or the relational expression between motion image velocity and required parameter values is derived based on dynamic response and data from subjective evaluations found in published studies. Possible examples of parameter sets are obtained from the equation. Those are (F = 300 Hz, A_t = 5/6), (F = 240 Hz, A_t = 2/3), (F = 120 Hz, A_t = 1/3), and (F > 360 Hz, A_t = 1).     

Eigenmodes of waveguides using a boundary contour mode‐matching method with an FFT scheme

An efficient boundary contour mode‐matching method (BCMM) is applied to the analysis of hollow waveguides whose cross section is enclosed by curved and planar boundaries. The TE and TM modes are expressed in terms of circular waves whose cutoff wavenumber and amplitudes are the unknowns of the problem. The boundary conditions are imposed with a new line‐integral extended over the closed contour. The weighting functions introduced and the use of the transformations between plane and circular waves avoid the conventional numerical integrations. In addition, the conversion between the different field representations is accelerated due to the use of the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Finally, the numerical results are shown as a comparison of our approach with other numerical methods. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2005.     

A frame‐based EM‐simulation for design of LC oscillator with MoM capacitor banks

This article presents a simulation method for the design of a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO). Electromagnetic (EM) simulations are essential and inevitable for modern LC oscillator design. Although EM‐simulators provide high accuracy, the EM‐simulation time is very long when metal‐oxide‐metal (MoM) capacitors are present. The proposed frame‐based EM‐simulation can significantly reduce the EM‐simulation time even in the presence of MoM capacitors without influencing the accuracy. To verify the proposed method, a DCO was fabricated using a 55‐nm CMOS process. Measurements of the DCO are in good agreement with the frame‐based post‐layout simulation results. In addition, the DCO has good performances with a low power consumption of approximately 0.68 mW.     

A psychophysical study of improvements in motion‐image quality by using high frame rates

Abstract— The ideal frame rate for the highest motion‐image quality with respect to blur and jerkiness is presented. In order to determine the requirements for avoiding these impairments, motion images from a high‐speed camera and computer graphics were combined with a high‐speed display to perform a psychophysical evaluation. The camera, operating at 1000 fps, and image processing were used to simulate various frame rates and shutter speeds, and a 480‐Hz CRT display was used to present motion images simulating various frame rates and time characteristics of the display. Subjects were asked to evaluate the difference in quality between motion images at various frame rates. A frame rate of 480 fps was chosen to be an appropriate reference frame rate that, as a first estimation, enables coverage up to the human‐dynamic‐resolution (HDR) limit based on another experiment using real moving charts. The results show that a frame rate of 120 fps provides good improvement compared to that of 60 fps, and that the maximum improvement beyond which evaluation is saturated is found at about 240 fps for representative standard‐resolution natural images.     

Adaptive dynamic surface control of nonaffine nonlinear system with time‐varying state constraints

This paper investigates the problem of adaptive dynamic surface control for pure‐feedback time‐varying state constrained nonaffine nonlinear system. A continuous and semibounded condition is proposed of nonaffine function to ensure that the system can be controlled, and the invariant set is introduced for this mild condition. By employing the dynamic surface control technique, the “complexity explosion” problem caused by backstepping technique is averted in developed control method. Robust compensators are devised to weaken poor effect of disturbances and uncertainties. The time‐varying barrier Lyapunov functions are adopted to dispose the problem of time‐varying state constrains. Moreover, it is proved that the whole closed‐loop signals are bounded, the tracking error can converge to a small neighborhood of zero, and the system states are insured to maintain in the predefined compact sets. Finally, some simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

IPS‐mode dynamic LCD‐TV realization with low black luminance and high contrast by adaptive dynamic image control technology

Abstract— In this paper, an active backlight control technology and a data‐processing algorithm has been developed to improve the image quality in IPS‐mode LCD TVs. The image‐blinking problem caused by repeatedly abrupt changes in the backlight luminance was solved by using algorithms [Fba (flexible‐boundary algorithm) and Cfa (cumulative feedback algorithm)] and an optimized number of backlight dimming steps based on human perception. In the IPS‐mode 42‐in. TFT‐LCD panel, the dynamic contrast ratio can be more than twice the typical level by means of a lower black luminance and a higher white luminance. Additionally, the power consumption and LCD temperature were lowered.     

A neural composite dynamic surface control for pure‐feedback systems with unknown control gain signs and full state constraints

This paper investigates a composite neural dynamic surface control (DSC) method for a class of pure‐feedback nonlinear systems in the case of unknown control gain signs and full‐state constraints. Neural networks are utilized to approximate the compound unknown functions, and the approximation errors of neural networks are applied in the design of updated adaptation laws. Comparing the proposed composite approximation method with the conventional ones, a faster and better approximation performance result can be obtained. Combining the composite neural networks approximation with the DSC technique, an improved composite neural adaptive control approach is designed for the considered nonlinear system. Then, together with the Lyapunov stability theory, all the variables of the closed‐loop system are semiglobal uniformly ultimately bounded. The infringements of full state constraints can be avoided in the case of unknown control gain signs as well as unknown disturbances. Finally, two simulation examples show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed results.     

Distributed event‐triggered tracking control with a dynamic leader for multiple Euler‐Lagrange systems under directed networks

The distributed tracking control for multiple Euler‐Lagrange systems with a dynamic leader is investigated in this article via the event‐triggered approach. Only a portion of followers have access to the leader, and the communication topology among all agents is directed that contains a directed spanning tree rooted at the leader. The case that the leader's generalized velocity is constant is first considered, and a distributed event‐based control law is developed by using a velocity estimator. When the leader's generalized velocity is time‐varying, novel distributed continuous estimators are proposed to avoid the undesirable chattering effect while guaranteeing that the estimate errors converge to zeros. With the designed distributed estimators, another distributed event‐based control protocol is provided. Controller update frequency and resource consumption in our work can be reduced by applying the aforementioned two distributed control laws, and the tracking errors can converge to zeros. In addition, it is rigorously proved that no agent exhibits Zeno behavior. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed distributed event‐based control laws is elucidated by a number of simulation examples.     

A YC‐separation‐type projector: High dynamic range with double modulation

Abstract— An experimental projector that features double modulation to obtain high‐resolution (4096 × 2160 pixels) and high‐dynamic‐range images has been developed. Although a conventional projector contains three modulators for red, green, and blue and outputs light after combining the modulated light from these three sources, our projector has an additional modulator for luminance that modulates the combined RGB modulated light. It can display high‐resolution color images by combining three low‐resolution panels for chrominance modulation and one high‐resolution panel for luminance modulation. In addition, the dynamic range is dramatically improved because the double‐modulation scheme minimizes black levels in projected images. The projector demonstrates an extremely high dynamic range of 1.1 million to 1 and 10‐bit tone reproduction.     

In‐field evaluation of the modulation transfer function and the signal‐to‐noise ratio of electronic‐display devices

Abstract— This paper describes a charged‐coupled device (CCD) camera, which was developed for in‐field evaluation of the image quality of electronic‐display devices [such as cathode‐ray tubes (CRTs) and liquid‐crystal displays (LCDs)] used for medical applications. Contrary to traditional cameras for display‐image‐quality evaluation, this CCD camera does not require a sophisticated x‐y‐z translation stage for mounting and adjustment. Instead, it is handheld and pressed by gentle pressure against the display screen. It is controlled by a software package which was originally developed for display calibration according to the DICOM 14 gray‐scale standard display function (GSDF). This software package controls the camera gain when measurements are made at different display luminance, display test patterns, performs image analysis and displays the results of the measurements and calculations. The work concentrated on the measurement of modulation transfer function (MTF) and of signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) per display pixel. The MTF is derived from the Fourier transform of the line spread function (LSF). The single‐display‐pixel SNR is derived from the integration of the noise power spectrum (NPS) of a camera image taken of a display with a uniform luminance. It is demonstrated that the device can produce repeatable results in terms of MTF and SNR. MTFs were measured on three monochrome CRTs and five monochrome LCDs in order to study repeatability and similar quantities. The MTF was measured on a 5‐Mpixel LCD yielding values that lie within 3.5% of the average MTF at the Nyquist frequency and 4.0% of the maximum total sharpness (∫ MTF² df). The MTF was also measured on a 9‐Mpixel LCD, yielding values that lie within 9.0% of the average MTF at the Nyquist frequency and 8.0% of the maximum total sharpness. The SNR was measured eight times on a 3‐Mpixel monochrome LCD at nine digital driving levels (DDLs). At a DDL of 185, the mean SNR was 15.694 and the standard deviation (Stdv) was 0.587. At a DDL of 65, the mean SNR was 5.675 and Stdv was 0.120.     

Adaptive optimal dynamic surface control of strict‐feedback nonlinear systems with output constraints

In this paper, an adaptive optimal control strategy is proposed for a class of strict‐feedback nonlinear systems with output constraints by using dynamic surface control. The controller design procedure is divided into two parts. One is the design of feedforward controller and the other is the design of optimal controller. To guarantee the satisfaction of output constraints in feedforward controller, nonlinear mapping is utilized to transform the constrained system into an unconstrained system. Neural‐network based adaptive dynamic programming algorithm is employed to approximate the optimal cost function and the optimal control law. By theoretical analysis, all the signals in the closed‐loop system are proved to be semi‐globally uniformly ultimately bounded and the output constraints are not violated. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Influence of image‐quality degradation on accommodation mechanism in human vision: Conditions necessary for objective image‐quality evaluation metrics

This paper clarifies the relationship between image quality and accommodation in human vision through two types of experiments. One examines how image‐quality degradation influences the accommodation mechanism, and the other examines which type of information of quality‐degraded images activates the accommodation mechanism. Actually, accommodative responses are measured using an infrared optometer while subjects are subjectively evaluating sharpness, noise, and pseudo‐contours and while they are observing sine, square, and missing fundamental (MF) square waves. The following results were derived: (1) the accommodation lag increases as the degree of sharpness is degraded regardless of the tone‐reproducing methods; (2) the accommodation lag decreases considerably in the existence of noise or pseudo‐contours, whereas it increases for uniform or gently curved planes; (3) the spatial features of presented images activate the accommodation mechanism. These results suggest that accommodative responses influence human subjective judgments as well as being a human factor related closely to image quality and that the spatial features of quality‐degraded images underlie human subjective judgments. In other words, they imply that objective image‐quality evaluation metrics should satisfy the following two conditions: the incorporation of the accommodation characteristics into such metrics and the formulation of such metrics in the spatial region.     

A fault‐tolerant dynamic scheduling method on hierarchical mobile edge cloud computing

Mobile edge cloud computing has been a promising computing paradigm, where mobile users could offload their application workloads to low‐latency local edge cloud resources. However, compared with remote public cloud resources, conventional local edge cloud resources are limited in computation capacity, especially when serve large number of mobile applications. To deal with this problem, we present a hierarchical edge cloud architecture to integrate the local edge clouds and public clouds so as to improve the performance and scalability of scheduling problem for mobile applications. Besides, to achieve a trade‐off between the cost and system delay, a fault‐tolerant dynamic resource scheduling method is proposed to address the scheduling problem in mobile edge cloud computing. The optimization problem could be formulated to minimize the application cost with the user‐defined deadline satisfied. Specifically, firstly, a game‐theoretic scheduling mechanism is adopted for resource provisioning and scheduling for multiprovider mobile applications. Then, a mobility‐aware dynamic scheduling strategy is presented to update the scheduling with the consideration of mobility of mobile users. Moreover, a failure recovery mechanism is proposed to deal with the uncertainties during the execution of mobile applications. Finally, experiments are designed and conducted to validate the effectiveness of our proposal. The experimental results show that our method could achieve a trade‐off between the cost and system delay.     

A LADRC based fuzzy PID approach to contour error control of networked motion control system with time‐varying delays

This paper investigate the contour error control problem for networked multi‐axis motion system (NMAMS) with time‐varying delays. Firstly, the uncertainties induced by the delays are modeled as a part of the total disturbance, and a linear active disturbance rejection controller (LADRC) is designed for the uniaxial trajectory tracking control. In the LADRC, a linear extended state observer (LESO) is designed to estimate the system state and the total disturbance simultaneously, and the effect of the total disturbance is eliminated by the designed linear feedback error control law. Then, the classical contour error estimation method is adopted, and a fuzzy PID controller is designed to compensate the contour error to achieve a better contour tracking performance. Finally, experiments are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Sliding mode control of boost and buck‐boost power converters using the dynamic sliding manifold

Non‐minimum phase tracking control is studied for boost and buck‐boost power converters. A sliding mode control algorithm is developed to track directly a causal voltage tracking profile given by an exogenous system. The approximate causal output non‐minimum phase asymptotic tracking in non‐linear boost and buck‐boost power converters is addressed via sliding mode control using a dynamic sliding manifold (DSM). Use of DSM allows the stabilization of the internal dynamics when the output tracking error tends asymptotically to zero in the sliding mode. The sliding mode controller with DSM links features of conventional sliding mode control (insensitivity to matched non‐linearities and disturbances) and a conventional dynamic compensator (accommodation to unmatched disturbances). Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the sliding mode controller even for a known time‐varying load. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Signal reconstruction in the presence of finite‐rate measurements: finite‐horizon control applications

In this paper, we study finite‐length signal reconstruction over a finite‐rate noiseless channel. We allow the class of signals to belong to a bounded ellipsoid and derive a universal lower bound on a worst‐case reconstruction error. We then compute upper bounds on the error that arise from different coding schemes and under different causality assumptions. When the encoder and decoder are noncausal, we derive an upper bound that either achieves the universal lower bound or is comparable to it. When the decoder and encoder are both causal operators, we show that within a very broad class of causal coding schemes, memoryless coding prevails as optimal, imposing a hard limitation on reconstruction. Finally, we map our general reconstruction problem into two important control problems in which the plant and controller are local to each other, but are together driven by a remote reference signal that is transmitted through a finite‐rate noiseless channel. The first problem is to minimize a finite‐horizon weighted tracking error between the remote system output and a reference command. The second problem is to navigate the state of the remote system from a nonzero initial condition to as close to the origin as possible in finite‐time. Our analysis enables us to quantify the tradeoff between time horizon and performance accuracy, which is not well studied in the area of control with limited information as most works address infinite‐horizon control objectives (e.g. stability, disturbance rejection). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust consensus control of uncertain multi‐agent systems with input delay: a model reduction method

This paper addresses the robust consensus control design for input‐delayed multi‐agent systems subject to parametric uncertainties. To deal with the input delay, the Artstein model reduction method is employed by a state transformation. The input‐dependent integral term that remains in the transformed system, owing to the model uncertainties, is judiciously analysed. By carefully exploring certain features of the Laplacian matrix, sufficient conditions for the global consensus under directed communication topology are identified using Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals in the time domain. The proposed control only relies on relative state information of the subsystems via network connections. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control design are demonstrated through a numerical simulation example. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regulation of lower triangular and non‐triangular nonlinear systems with uncertain high‐order nonlinearities via dynamic gain control

In this paper, we consider a global regulation problem of a class of nonlinear systems that have uncertain high‐order nonlinear terms. In particular, we introduce new high‐order lower triangular and non‐triangular conditions and propose a controller with dynamic gains to regulate the system with uncertain high‐order nonlinearities. In designing our controller, the information of the growth rate is not required, and the forms of the high‐order nonlinearities are more relaxed. We verify that the proposed method is applicable to the system which cannot be regulated by the existing methods. Examples and simulation results are given for clear illustration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decentralized control of network‐based interconnected systems: A state‐dependent triggering method

This paper investigates decentralized control for a class of interconnected system. Different from the traditional systems, the considered system has the following features: (i) its subsystems are connected through a communication network subject to transmission delays and packet losses; (ii) the subsystems' multi‐actuators are subjected to random faults; and (iii) the subsystems are subject to probabilistic nonlinear disturbances, the inner variation information of the nonlinearities, as well as their bounds information, is utilized to analyze the nonlinearities. Furthermore, in order to reduce the network bandwidth burden, a decentralized state‐dependent triggering scheme is proposed. Considering aforementioned characteristics and using the state‐dependent triggering scheme, new type of network‐based interconnected system model is built. By using the Lyapunov functional approach, sufficient conditions for the mean square stability and stabilization of the network‐based interconnected systems are obtained. Then reliable controllers, as well as the triggering matrices of the local subsystems, can be co‐designed by using a cone complementary linearization algorithm. Two simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and application of the proposed method. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.