Optical signal processing using photonic reservoir computing

As a new approach to recognition and classification problems, photonic reservoir computing has such advantages as parallel information processing, power efficient and high speed. In this paper, a photonic structure has been proposed for reservoir computing which is investigated using a simple, yet, non-partial noisy time series prediction task. This study includes the application of a suitable topology with self-feedbacks in a network of SOA’s – which lends the system a strong memory – and leads to adjusting adequate parameters resulting in perfect recognition accuracy (100%) for noise-free time series, which shows a 3% improvement over previous results. For the classification of noisy time series, the rate of accuracy showed a 4% increase and amounted to 96%. Furthermore, an analytical approach was suggested to solve rate equations which led to a substantial decrease in the simulation time, which is an important parameter in classification of large signals such as speech recognition, and better results came up compared with previous works.     

Free-running ADC- and FPGA-based signal processing method for brain PET using GAPD arrays

Currently, for most photomultiplier tube (PMT)-based PET systems, constant fraction discriminators (CFD) and time to digital converters (TDC) have been employed to detect gamma ray signal arrival time, whereas anger logic circuits and peak detection analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) have been implemented to acquire position and energy information of detected events. As compared to PMT the Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (GAPDs) have a variety of advantages, such as compactness, low bias voltage requirement and MRI compatibility. Furthermore, the individual read-out method using a GAPD array coupled 1:1 with an array scintillator can provide better image uniformity than can be achieved using PMT and anger logic circuits. Recently, a brain PET using 72 GAPD arrays (4×4 array, pixel size: 3 mm×3 mm) coupled 1:1 with LYSO scintillators (4×4 array, pixel size: 3 mm×3 mm×20 mm) has been developed for simultaneous PET/MRI imaging in our laboratory. Eighteen 64:1 position decoder circuits (PDCs) were used to reduce GAPD channel number and three off-the-shelf free-running ADC and field programmable gate array (FPGA) combined data acquisition (DAQ) cards were used for data acquisition and processing. In this study, a free-running ADC- and FPGA-based signal processing method was developed for the detection of gamma ray signal arrival time, energy and position information all together for each GAPD channel. For the method developed herein, three DAQ cards continuously acquired 18 channels of pre-amplified analog gamma ray signals and 108-bit digital addresses from 18 PDCs. In the FPGA, the digitized gamma ray pulses and digital addresses were processed to generate data packages containing pulse arrival time, baseline value, energy value and GAPD channel ID. Finally, these data packages were saved to a 128 Mbyte on-board synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) and then transferred to a host computer for coincidence sorting and image reconstruction. In order to evaluate the functionality of the developed signal processing method, energy and timing resolutions for brain PET were measured via the placement of a 6 μCi ²²Na point source at the center of the PET scanner. Furthermore the PET image of the hot rod phantom (rod diameter: from 2.5 mm to 6.5 mm) with activity of 1 mCi was simulated, and then image acquisition experiment was performed using the brain PET. Measured average energy resolution for 1152 GAPD channels and system timing resolution were 19.5% (FWHM%) and 2.7 ns (FWHM), respectively. With regard to the acquisition of the hot rod phantom image, rods could be resolved down to a diameter of 2.5 mm, which was similar to simulated results. The experimental results demonstrated that the signal processing method developed herein was successfully implemented for brain PET. This reduced the complexity, cost and developing duration for PET system relative to normal PET electronics, and it will obviously be useful for the development of high-performance investigational PET systems.     

Source separation based processing for integrated Hall sensor arrays

Integrated arrays of Hall-type magnetic sensors are generally subject to significant crosstalk due to poor spatial selectivity of very closely spaced sensors. In this paper, we explore blind source separation as a signal processing technique to unmix a number of magnetic sources that impinge on the array. The processing consists of two stages: the first one estimates the source number and projects the observations on the signal subspace; the second stage is a source separation algorithm. Experimental results from a silicon array of Hall sensors, interfaced with a DSP, demonstrate real-time separation of two magnetic sources even under ill-conditioning of the mixing matrix.     

Sub-threshold signal processing in arrays of non-identical nanostructures

Weak input signals are routinely processed by molecular-scaled biological networks composed of non-identical units that operate correctly in a noisy environment. In order to show that artificial nanostructures can mimic this behavior, we explore theoretically noise-assisted signal processing in arrays of metallic nanoparticles functionalized with organic ligands that act as tunneling junctions connecting the nanoparticle to the external electrodes. The electronic transfer through the nanostructure is based on the Coulomb blockade and tunneling effects. Because of the fabrication uncertainties, these nanostructures are expected to show a high variability in their physical characteristics and a diversity-induced static noise should be considered together with the dynamic noise caused by thermal fluctuations. This static noise originates from the hardware variability and produces fluctuations in the threshold potential of the individual nanoparticles arranged in a parallel array. The correlation between different input (potential) and output (current) signals in the array is analyzed as a function of temperature, applied voltage, and the variability in the electrical properties of the nanostructures. Extensive kinetic Monte Carlo simulations with nanostructures whose basic properties have been demonstrated experimentally show that variability can enhance the correlation, even for the case of weak signals and high variability, provided that the signal is processed by a sufficiently high number of nanostructures. Moderate redundancy permits us not only to minimize the adverse effects of the hardware variability but also to take advantage of the nanoparticles' threshold fluctuations to increase the detection range at low temperatures. This conclusion holds for the average behavior of a moderately large statistical ensemble of non-identical nanostructures processing different types of input signals and suggests that variability could be beneficial for signal processing. We demonstrate also that circuits composed of coupled non-identical nanoparticles can act as elementary nano-oscillators that show synchronization properties for sub-threshold stimuli. The results obtained should be of conceptual interest for the design of reliable signal processing schemes with non-identical nanostructures.     

Optical data switching in information processing and measuring systems

The functional diagram of a broadband data router for distributed information processing and measuring systems with a large number of sensors is considered. The proposed device ensures a low level of crosstalk noise with minimal equipment on one input-output.Translated from Izmeritelnaya Tekhnika, No. 9, pp. 23–26, September, 2004.     

All-optical router with pulse-position modulation header processing in high-speed photonic packet switching networks

In future high-speed photonic packet switching networks, it is highly desirable to carry out robust alloptical header recognition to provide high-throughput routing. The authors present a pulse-position modulation header processing (PPM-HP) scheme, offering significantly reduced routing table size and employing a single bitwise AND operation to carry out correlation of the packet header with the entire routing table entries. The downsized routing table also offers multiple transmission modes (unicast, multicast and broadcast) in the optical layer and improves core network scalability where the number of core/edge nodes could be altered without the need for changing the number of routing table entries. The authors present modelling and simulation of the packet switching router based on PPM-HP. Noise propagation and crosstalk incurred in a multiple-hop routing scenario are investigated. The simulation results are presented and compared with the theoretical calculations.     

Optical signal processing in dual-wavelength optoelectronic drop analyzer

Dual-wavelength optical signals are injected into the liquid drop through optical fibers in order to study the light intensity variation during the drop growth. Modulation and demodulation are used to reduce the influence of ambient light on the valuable optical signals. HA17555 chip composes the oscillating circuit for light modulation, with different high oscillating frequency for different light source. The light signal collected by a fiber detector after propagation inside the drop is changed into electric signal through the OPA2111 photoelectric circuit. The second-order band-pass filter composed of MAX275 chip is used for signal-separation. The high-pass filter is used to prevent the low frequency signal of ambient light. The valuable signal related to the drop is demodulated by a linear demodulation circuit including a half-wave rectifier, full-wave composition and low-pass filter.     

Surface light scattering: integrated technology and signal processing

The miniaturization of surface-scattering instruments for measuring viscoelastic properties is investigated. The concepts are based on the use of holographic optical elements and integrated optics. Compact forms of optics that provide the necessary spatial and angular selections are devised. Four systems representing increasing levels of integration are considered. It is demonstrated that efficient signal and data processing can be achieved by evaluation of the statistics of the derivative of the instantaneous phase of the detector signal.     

Optical impedance matching using coupled plasmonic nanoparticle arrays

Silver nanoparticle arrays placed on top of a high-refractive index substrate enhance the coupling of light into the substrate over a broad spectral range. We perform a systematic numerical and experimental study of the light incoupling by arrays of Ag nanoparticle arrays in order to achieve the best impedance matching between light propagating in air and in the substrate. We identify the parameters that determine the incoupling efficiency, including the effect of Fano resonances in the scattering, interparticle coupling, as well as resonance shifts due to variations in the near-field coupling to the substrate and spacer layer. The optimal configuration studied is a square array of 200 nm wide, 125 nm high spheroidal Ag particles, at a pitch of 450 nm on a 50 nm thick Si(3)N(4) spacer layer on a Si substrate. When integrated over the AM1.5 solar spectral range from 300 to 1100 nm, this particle array shows 50% enhanced incoupling compared to a bare Si wafer, 8% higher than a standard interference antireflection coating. Experimental data show that the enhancement occurs mostly in the spectral range near the Si band gap. This study opens new perspectives for antireflection coating applications in optical devices and for light management in Si solar cells.     

Packet contention resolution in slotted optical packet switch using ant-colony based algorithm

An ant-based contention resolution scheme for the slotted optical packet switched networks has been proposed, and the optimal number of fibre delay lines (FDLs) used in the switch under various traffic loads is investigated. The proposed algorithm can makes FDLs and output port assignment so as to improve the cell-loss rate under various traffic loads. It is found for traffic loads 0.9, 0.6, 0.3, the optimum value for FDL is 64 128 and 128.     

Ultrasonic signal processing using Born inversion

A pulse-echo (1D) Born inversion technique, which utilizes digital signal processing on ultrasonic back-scattered signals to size defects, is briefly outlined together with its application to the measurement of spheroidal defects in metals. The theoretical derivation of the algorithm is valid for application to weak scatterers; however, it is shown experimentally that this technique can give accurate radius predictions for strong scatterers such as voids. This apparent anomaly is examined using theoretically generated exact scattering data. A methodology for testing a specific transducer's suitability for sizing a specific defect is reported and demonstrated.     

Surface-micromachined pyroelectric infrared imaging array withvertically integrated signal processing circuitry

Surface-micromachining techniques have been used in the fabrication of a 64×64 element PbTiO₃ pyroelectric infrared imager. Polysilicon microbridges of 1.2 μm-thickness have been formed 0.8 μm above the surface of a silicon wafer. Each of the 4096 polysilicon microbridges measures 50×50 μm² and forms a low thermal mass support for a 30×30 μm² PbTiO₃ pyroelectric capacitor with a thickness of 0.36 μm. The air-bridge formed reduces the thermal conduction path between the detector element and substrate. An NMOS preamplifier cell is located directly beneath each microbridge element. The measured blackbody voltage responsivity at 30 Hz is 1.2×10⁴ V/W. The corresponding measured normalized detectivity (unamplified) D* is 2×10⁸ cm-Hz^1/2W at 30 Hz. The test chip fabricated measures 1×1 cm² and contains more than ten thousand transistors and 4096 micromechanical structures with integrated ferroelectric microsensors. The technique of stacking of microsensors and integrated circuits represents a new approach for achieving high-density and high-performance integrated pyroelectric microsensors through minimization of circuit to sensor interconnection with extremely small thermal crosstalk     

Optical method of measuring angular displacement using four photodiode arrays

A method of measuring angular displacement is investigated that uses two pairs of photodiode arrays arranged in a square and crossed linear images produced with two cylindrical mirrors. According to this method the measurement error can be greatly reduced even when inclination of the rotation axis exists.     

Load-balanced wavelength assignment strategies for optical burst/packet switching networks

Loss-free schemes are defined to ensure successful packet/burst transmissions in optical packet/burst switching networks. To this end, they rely on a collision-free routing and wavelength assignment (CF-RWA) scheme combined with simple contention resolution mechanisms that guarantee the absence of losses in intermediate links. Here, the CF-RWA problem is studied. In particular, by using graph theory, the problem of finding CF-RWA schemes that minimise the number of wavelengths to serve a given traffic matrix is set. The problem is simplified when it is formulated by using pre-defined sets of non-colliding paths. Within this framework, the problem is shown to be equivalent to finding a given vertex-set colouring of the so-called restriction digraph. Here, two heuristic algorithms are proposed to obtain such vertex-set colourings. One of them provides a suitable CF-RWA without having to solve the minimisation problem. By way of example, the proposed method is applied to the NSFNet and the EON network providing quasi-optimal results.     

分布式传声器阵列的低频宽带信号方位估计

现有的预防道路交通安全事故、治理道路交通噪声污染等问题的解决方案是从视觉维度监控重点区域并通过声音维度确定事件触发类型与位置。为了实现公路异常声源的实时监测,提出了一种基于双尺度旋转不变信号参数估计旋转不变子空间技术(Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques, ESPRIT)的低频宽带声源波达方向(Direction of Arrival, DOA)估计算法,该算法适用于三个矩形子阵呈三角形分布的分布式阵列。算法利用该分布式阵列具有的子阵内相邻阵元间距、相邻子阵间距两种尺度对应的空间平移不变性分别进行方向余弦估计,并利用基于阵型分布的解模糊策略实现高精度方位估计。仿真结果验证了算法的有效性,表明了基于该算法的分布式阵列DOA估计精度优于相同阵元数与阵元间距的单个均匀矩形阵,分析了估计精度与分布基线长度的关系,体现了算法的实际工程应用价值。     

Photorefractive processing for large adaptive phased arrays

An adaptive null-steering phased-array optical processor that utilizes a photorefractive crystal to time integrate the adaptive weights and null out correlated jammers is described. This is a beam-steering processor in which the temporal waveform of the desired signal is known but the look direction is not. The processor computes the angle(s) of arrival of the desired signal and steers the array to look in that direction while rotating the nulls of the antenna pattern toward any narrow-band jammers that may be present. We have experimentally demonstrated a simplified version of this adaptive phased-array-radar processor that nulls out the narrow-band jammers by using feedback-correlation detection. In this processor it is assumed that we know a priori only that the signal is broadband and the jammers are narrow band. These are examples of a class of optical processors that use the angular selectivity of volume holograms to form the nulls and look directions in an adaptive phased-array-radar pattern and thereby to harness the computational abilities of three-dimensional parallelism in the volume of photorefractive crystals. The development of this processing in volume holographic system has led to a new algorithm for phased-array-radar processing that uses fewer tapped-delay lines than does the classic time-domain beam former. The optical implementation of the new algorithm has the further advantage of utilization of a single photorefractive crystal to implement as many as a million adaptive weights, allowing the radar system to scale to large size with no increase in processing hardware.     

Optical inspection of periodic structures using lens arrays and moire magnification

Abstract

This paper describes a technique that uses the phenomenon of moire magnification, developed recently for the measurement and inspection of periodic structures. Moire magnification occurs when an array of lenses is used to view an array of identical objects situated at the focal plane of the lenses. As the lens array is aligned with the object array, a moire pattern is observed in which each moire fringe consists of a magnified image of the repeat element of the object array. As the arrays are rotated with respect to each other, the magnification and orientation of the image changes.

The moire magnifier builds up an image from a large number of components of an array and therefore gives a representation of the average unit. It is a very simple and robust device and may well be more convenient to use, for example in an industrial production environment, than a microscope. A large number of components used in electronic imaging systems are periodic in nature and can conveniently be inspected using this technique. Examples are shown.     

Array signal processing for local arterial pulse wave velocity measurement using ultrasound

A new signal processing approach to estimation of local arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV) in superficial arterial segments using long-axis ultrasound measurements is proposed. The method is designed to be resistant to estimation bias due to pulse wave reflections. It is evaluated using a laboratory test tank, and it appears to estimate local PWV with less bias than previously accepted methods, and with similar estimation variance to those methods.     

Low-loss, silicon integrated, aluminum nitride photonic circuits and their use for electro-optic signal processing

Photonic miniaturization requires seamless integration of linear and nonlinear optical components to achieve passive and active functions simultaneously. Among the available material systems, silicon photonics holds immense promise for optical signal processing and on-chip optical networks. However, silicon is limited to wavelengths above 1.1 μm and does not provide the desired lowest order optical nonlinearity for active signal processing. Here we report the integration of aluminum nitride (AlN) films on silicon substrates to bring active functionalities to chip-scale photonics. Using CMOS-compatible sputtered thin films we fabricate AlN-on-insulator waveguides that exhibit low propagation loss (0.6 dB/cm). Exploiting AlN's inherent Pockels effect we demonstrate electro-optic modulation up to 4.5 Gb/s with very low energy consumption (down to 10 fJ/bit). The ultrawide transparency window of AlN devices also enables high speed modulation at visible wavelengths. Our low cost, wideband, carrier-free photonic circuits hold promise for ultralow power and high-speed signal processing at the microprocessor chip level.