A wireless infrared system using a dual-band receiver and a pulse width on–off keying modulation scheme

In this paper, we propose a dual-band infrared receiver and a pulse width on–off keying (PWOOK) modulation scheme for wireless systems. The dual-band receiver recovers the signal from two different subcarrier waves: 37.9 kHz for the conventional remote control systems and 113.7 kHz for the human interface device (HID) applications which require relatively fast data-transfer-rate and high infrared noise immunity under various optical environments. The PWOOK modulation scheme is a combined form of the pulse width modulation (PWM) and the on–off keying (OOK) using the subcarrier intensity-modulated (SIM) infrared signal. This paper also describes a wireless infrared system that is designed with the proposed dual-band infrared receiver and the PWOOK modulation scheme to demonstrate practical use of them. The dual-band infrared receiver is fabricated in a 0.5 μm CMOS process and the PWOOK modulation scheme transfers data at average bit-transfer-rate of 2.75 kbit/s through the wireless infrared link.     

A 3.16–7 GHz transformer-based dual-band CMOS VCO

A dual-band, wide tuning range voltage-controlled oscillator that uses transformer-based fourth-order(LC) resonator with a compact common-centric layout is presented. Compared with the traditional wide band(VCO), it can double frequency tuning range without degrading phase noise performance. The relationship between the coupling coefficient of the transformer, selection of frequency bands, and the quality factor at each band is investigated. The transformer used in the resonator is a circular asymmetric concentric topology. Compared with conventional octagon spirals, the proposed circular asymmetric concentric transformer results in a higher qualityfactor, and hence a lower oscillator phase noise. The VCO is designed and fabricated in a 0.18- m CMOS technology and has 75% wide tuning range of 3.16–7.01 GHz. Depending on the oscillation frequency, the VCO current consumption is adjusted from 4.9 to 6.3 m A. The measured phase noises at 1 MHz offset from carrier frequencies of 3.1, 4.5, 5.1, and 6.6 GHz are –122.5, –113.3, –110.1, and –116.8 d Bc/Hz, respectively. The chip area, including the pads, is 1.20.62 mm2 and the supply voltage is 1.8 V.     

Low area ASIC implementation of LUT–CLA–QTL architecture for cryptography applications

Wireless Networks - The block cipher (BC) algorithm is very fast and easy to standardize and facilitate the hardware (H/W) and software implementations. Thus, in data security BC values are the...     

New design of 3.2–4.8 GHz generator for multi-bands architecture of UWB communication

In this paper a new design of Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) generator is presented. This circuit is the most important block in multi-bands transmitter architecture of UWB communication system. The proposed UWB generator is composed of multi-bands voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), mixer and rectangular pulse generator which consist of ring oscillator, time delay and AND gate function. The UWB generator is based on multiplying the rectangular pulse envelope to a continuous sinusoidal wave in order to generate the UWB signal. This UWB generator circuit produces an output signal which is characterized by the bandwidth of 1600 MHz divided into three sub-bands of 528 MHz, centered at frequencies of 3.432, 3.96, 4.488 GHz and the limited Power Spectral Density (PSD) is −41.44 dBm/MHz. The maximum amplitude of UWB signal is 214 mV, the pulse is during of 3 ns and the pulse repetition period (PRP) is 32 ns. The power consumption is approximately equal to 26 mW at a voltage supply of 2.5 V. This topology is designed in CMOS 0.35 μm AMS process technology.     

Photon-assisted capacitance–voltage study of organic metal–insulator–semiconductor capacitors

The results are reported of a detailed investigation into the photoinduced changes that occur in the capacitance–voltage (C–V) response of an organic metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) capacitor based on the organic semiconductor poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT. During the forward voltage sweep, the device is driven into deep depletion but stabilizes at a voltage-independent minimum capacitance, C_min, whose value depends on photon energy, light intensity and voltage ramp rate. On reversing the voltage sweep, strong hysteresis is observed owing to a positive shift in the flatband voltage, V_FB, of the device. A theoretical quasi-static model is developed in which it is assumed that electrons photogenerated in the semiconductor depletion region escape geminate recombination following the Onsager model. These electrons then drift to the P3HT/insulator interface where they become deeply trapped thus effecting a positive shift in V_FB. By choosing appropriate values for the only disposable parameter in the model, an excellent fit is obtained to the experimental C_min, from which we extract values for the zero-field quantum yield of photoelectrons in P3HT that are of similar magnitude, 10^?5 to 10^?3, to those previously deduced for π-conjugated polymers from photoconduction measurements. From the observed hysteresis we deduce that the interfacial electron trap density probably exceeds 10¹⁶ m^?2. Evidence is presented suggesting that the ratio of free to trapped electrons at the interface depends on the insulator used for fabricating the device.     

Assisted DASH-aware networking over SDN–CCN architecture

Photonic Network Communications - High bandwidth demand is incited by online video streaming that has become a fundamental of many consumers’ lives. To provide the best user experience taking...     

Multi-user receiver scheme and uplink performance of space–time-coded CDMA system in Rician fading channels

The uplink performance of multi-user space–time-coded code-division multiple access (STC-CDMA) system in Rician fading channel is presented. A simple and effective multi-user receiver scheme is developed for STC-CDMA system. The scheme has linear decoding complexity when compared to the existing scheme with exponential decoding complexity, and thus implements low-complexity decoding. Based on the bit error rate (BER) analysis and moment generation function, theoretical BER expressions are derived for STC-CDMA with orthogonal and quasi-orthogonal spreading code, respectively. It is shown that these expressions have more accuracy. Using these expressions and the approximation of error function, closed-form approximate BER expressions are obtained, which can simplify the calculation of the derived theoretical BER. Simulation results show that the developed low-complexity decoding scheme can achieve almost the same performance as the existing scheme. The theoretical BER are in good agreement with the corresponding simulated values. Moreover, the presented approximate expressions are also close to the simulated values due to the better approximation. Under the same system throughput and concatenation of channel code, the presented full-rate STC-CDMA system has lower BER than the corresponding full-diversity STC-CDMA systems.     

Design of a full-band CMOS UWB receiver and fast-hopping carrier generator for 3.1–10.6 GHz

This paper presents an interference rejection full-band UWB receiver and fast hopping carrier generator for 3.1–10.6 GHz. This receiver enables 11 bands of operation by embedding a tunable notch filter to eliminate interferers in a 5 GHz wireless local area network. The carrier generator can cover 3.1–10.6 GHz within less than 9.5 ns. The receiver, based on the proposed multi-band OFDM standard, consists of a zero-IF receive chain and required system noise figure, the receiver linearity specifications of which are discussed in this paper. It consists of a single-ended low-noise amplifier (LNA), a down-conversion mixer, a low-pass filter (LPF), and a programmable gain amplifier with an IO buffer. The LNA employs a common-gate topology of the 1st stage with dual-resonant loads, a cascade amplifier of the 2nd stage for mid-band resonance, and a tunable notch filter. The down-conversion mixer adopts a single-balanced architecture with LO cancellation. The LPF is implemented based on an active RC topology, and implements a four-stage programmable gain amplifier. The receiver dissipates 49.3 mA from a 1.8 V power supply. The average voltage conversion gain of the receiver IC is 73.5 dB, and the system noise figure is 8.4 dB. Input P1dB increases from ?36.8 dBm at 4 GHz to ?30.5 dBm at 10.3 GHz. The attenuation is 8.5 dB, which is achieved in the interference rejection band at 5.2 GHz. It occupies an area of 0.98 × 3.3 mm² including the bond pads.     

Demonstration of performance enhanced pre-spectrum sliced seed light for low-cost seeded WDM–PON architecture

We proposed and demonstrated high efficient pre-spectrum sliced seed lights (PS-SL) for serving low-cost seeded wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM–PON). The PS-SLs reused backward amplified spontaneous emission light which were generated by an Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) to improve output characteristics. The power, flatness and bandwidth of seed signal from the proposed PS-SL were sufficient to serve multiple seeded WDM–PON OLTs. We experimentally demonstrated the feasibility of the PS-SL with multiple seeded WDM–PONs over 20 km transmission. In addition, the PS-SL was tolerated to these ranges of environmental conditions since no data error was observed after 48 h. We anticipated a considerable reduction in the seed light cost per channel for multiple WDM–PONs because the seed light cost was shared by multiple WDM–PON OLTs.     

Calibration algorithm for 16-bit voltage-mode R–2R DAC

A novel calibration algorithm is presented for the 16-bit voltage-mode R–2R Digital-to-Analog converter (DAC). The proposed calibration can be realized with only some digital circuits and an additional calibrating DAC (CaliDAC) identical to the main DAC (MDAC) added. With the weighing-coefficient compressing technology (WCT) adopted, the nonlinearity of the CaliDAC can be compressed when the calibration is implemented, therefore leaving almost no effect on the output. Adopting the segment-calibration technology (SCT), the integral nonlinearity (INL) errors of the output can be calibrated segment by segment. With the proposed calibration algorithm, the INL errors in the final output can be calibrated successfully in the range of [−0.5LSB, 0.5LSB] for 16-bit voltage-mode R–2R DAC.     

A single-electrode capacitive sensor using incremental delta–sigma architecture

This paper presents a single-electrode capacitive sensor using a single-bit second-order incremental delta–sigma architecture. In order to achieve high accuracy in this capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC), the shielding signal and the digitally controlled offset capacitors are used in combination with the delta–sigma CDC. The designed sensor is suitable for capacitive transducers for ±10 pF input range with sub-fF resolution.     

Single-Reference Foreground Calibration of High-Resolution, High-Speed Pipeline ADCs

The paper presents a digital foreground calibration technique for pipeline analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). While the conventional calibration approach requires additional buffered voltage references, the proposed technique requires only a voltage reference, already available in the converter, thus allowing a significant circuit simplification and silicon area savings. Since the number of buffered voltage references in the conventional calibration algorithm increases exponentially with the resolution of the conversion stages to be calibrated, the proposed technique is suitable for high-resolution, high-speed pipeline ADCs.     

Low-clock-speed time-interleaved architecture for a polar delta–sigma modulator transmitter

The polar delta–sigma modulator (DSM) transmitter architecture exhibits good coding efficiency and can be used for software-defined radio applications. However, the necessity of high clock speed is one of the major drawbacks of using this transmitter architecture. This study proposes a low-complexity time-interleaved architecture for the polar DSM transmitter baseband part to reduce the clock speed requirement of the polar DSM transmitter using an upsampling technique. Simulations show that using the proposed four-branch time-interleaved polar DSM transmitter baseband part, the clock speed requirement of the transmitter is reduced by four times without degrading the signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio.     

Monitoring extent of curing and thermal–mechanical property study of printed circuit board substrates

Precise control of curing conversion for epoxy-based printed circuit board (PCB) substrates and clarification of curing–property relationship are critical for the performance and reliability assessment, and for the design optimization of electronic systems. In this article, various epoxy composites for PCB substrates were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy (IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheometry, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Compared with mid-IR and DSC, near-IR (NIR) is found to be a reliable method for the characterization of curing conversion process by detecting the consumption of epoxy groups. And DMA is a powerful method for measuring the conversion of PCB materials by testing glass transition temperatures (T_g) and viscoelastic properties. The curing behaviors of a variety of epoxy composites show distinct differences in both curing rate and activation energy, and the growth tendency of T_g with curing conversion also changed depending on the material compositions. Correlation of curing conversion versus thermal properties shows that the activation energy of curing at different stage by DSC resembles the tendency of T_g transitions tested by DMA. Mechanical properties of the composites show close relationship with the curing conversions. Peel strength, the indicator of adhesion strength between copper foil and epoxy composites, was tested on all the specimens of different curing conversions, and the results showed a maximum value at curing conversion between ca. 90 and 95%.     

Experimental study of the effect of parametric noise on the Andronov–Hopf bifurcation in brusselator

Specific features of the Andronov–Hopf bifurcation in the model of brusselator in the presence of parametric noise are numerically and experimentally studied. Regularities of evolution of the probability distribution with an increase in the noise intensity are typical of the additive and multiplicative effect of the Gaussian white noise. The existence of bifurcation interval corresponding to the gradual transition to the generation regime is experimentally revealed for both additive and multiplicative noise.     

Design of a dual-channel multi-mode GNSS receiver with a∑△fractional-N synthesizer

A 72 mW highly integrated dual-channel multimode GNSS(global navigation satellite system) receiver with aΣ△fractional-N synthesizer which covers GPS L1 and the Compass B1/B2/B3 band is presented.This chip was fabricated in a TSMC CMOS 0.18μm process and packaged in a 48-pin 3×3 mm~2 land grid array chip scale package.This work achieves NF≤5.3 dB without an external LNA,channel gain = 105 dB for channel one (Compass B2 and B3 band),and channel gain = 110 dB for channel two(GPS L1 and Compass B1 band).Image rejection(IMRR) = 36 dB,phase noise is -115.9 dBc @ 1 MHz and -108.9 dBc @ 1 MHz offset from the carrier for the two channels separately.At the low power consumption,multibands of GNSS are compatible in one chip, which is easy for consumers to use,when two different navigation signals are received simultaneously.     

Electronic structure of the pentacene–gold interface: A density-functional theory study

The structural and electronic properties of a pentacene monolayer adsorbed on the Au(1 1 1) surface have been studied with a density-functional theory (DFT) approach. A thermally stable adsorption geometry of the pentacene monolayer on the gold surface is found, from which the adsorption energy per pentacene molecule can be evaluated. Our results illustrate how the electron charge distribution initially present over the clean gold surface is pushed back upon adsorption of the pentacene monolayer; this push-back (pillow effect) leads to a significant work-function decrease for the modified gold surface. The electronic couplings between the highest occupied molecular orbital of pentacene and the Au(1 1 1) surface and between adjacent pentacene molecules within the monolayer, were extracted from the calculated band structures; the pentacene–gold surface electronic coupling is found to be about five times smaller than the electronic coupling between pentacene molecules.     

Intrinsic current–voltage characteristics of metal-carbon nanotube networks: A first-principles study

The interconnections involving metal atoms in single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) networks are crucial for building nanoscaled devices. The influence of the metal-(η⁶-SWNT) interconnects in the electrical conductivity of SWNT film have been reported in recent experiments [X. Tian et al. Nano lett. 2014,14,3930]. Using non-equilibrium Green's function with density function theory, we performed theoretical calculations on the electron transport properties of (Cr, Li, Au)-SWNT systems. We revealed the roles of transition metal Cr, alkalis metal Li and inert metal Au in improving the electrical conductance of metal-SWNT systems. Our calculated results show that transport properties along the inter-tube direction are strongly dependent on the connecting metal atoms varying over many orders of magnitudes. Gold atoms fail to enhance the electrical conductance of SWNT systems. Meanwhile, negative differential resistances are demonstrated in semiconducting inter-tube models, which would have potential applications in the electronic device. Our results provide a promising way to optimize the performance of SWNT based networks.     

Performance of partially coherent selection combining receiver in α-μ fading channel

In this paper the impact of the imperfect reference signal extraction is investigated, the bit error rate (BER) performance of multibranch selection combining (SC) receiver for binary and quaternary phase-shift keying (BPSK and QPSK) signals in a generalized α-μ fading channel are shown. The combined effects of imperfect phase estimation of the received signal, diversity order, fading severity and average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) per bit on BER values are examined. The analytical results are verified by Monte Carlo simulations.