Design sensitivity analysis of acoustical damping and its application to design of musical bells

Damping characteristics of a musical bell plays an important role in characterizing the musical sound. The total damping consists of acoustical damping and internal damping. Acoustical damping depends upon resonating frequencies and vibration patterns while internal damping is a material property. The acoustical damping of a vibrating structure is formulated via boundary element method and finite element method using eigenmode decomposition. The design sensitivity of acoustical damping is derived using an adjoint variable method of the eigenvalue problem. Design optimization of a musical bell is then performed in terms of acoustical parameters. The goal of the optimization problem is to design a harmonically tuned bell with given acoustical damping values. The proposed automated design process integrates finite element analysis, boundary element analysis, design sensitivity analysis, mode-tracking algorithm and optimization module, seamlessly. It is demonstrated by numerical examples to show practical applications.     

Face recognition using fuzzy Integral and wavelet decomposition method

In this paper, we develop a method for recognizing face images by combining wavelet decomposition, Fisherface method, and fuzzy integral. The proposed approach is comprised of four main stages. The first stage uses the wavelet decomposition that helps extract intrinsic features of face images. As a result of this decomposition, we obtain four subimages (namely approximation, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal detailed images). The second stage of the approach concerns the application of the Fisherface method to these four decompositions. The choice of the Fisherface method in this setting is motivated by its insensitivity to large variation in light direction, face pose, and facial expression. The two last phases are concerned with the aggregation of the individual classifiers by means of the fuzzy integral. Both Sugeno and Choquet type of fuzzy integral are considered as the aggregation method. In the experiments we use n-fold cross-validation to assure high consistency of the produced classification outcomes. The experimental results obtained for the Chungbuk National University (CNU) and Yale University face databases reveal that the approach presented in this paper yields better classification performance in comparison to the results obtained by other classifiers.     

Printed compact dual band antenna for 2.4 and 5 GHz ISM band applications

A printed compact dipole antenna for dual ISM band (2.44 and 5 GHz) is presented. The proposed antenna fed by using a 50 /spl Omega/ coaxial line occupies a volume of 15/spl times/40/spl times/1 mm/sup 3/ (FR-4, permittivity 4.6). The impedance bandwidth for 10 dB return loss is about 400 MHz (from 2170 to 2570 MHz) at 2.4 GHz band and over 2300 MHz (from 4690 to beyond 7000 MHz) at 5 GHz band. The measured radiation gains range from 1.20 to 1.41 dBi at 2.4 GHz band and from 2.25 to 3.44 dBi at 5 GHz band, respectively.     

Novel UWB Transceiver for WBAN Networks: A Study on AWGN Channels

A novel ultra‐wideband (UWB) transceiver structure is presented to be used in wireless body area networks (WBANs). In the proposed structure, a data channel and a control channel are combined into a single transmission signal. In the signal, a modulation method mixing pulse position modulation and pulse amplitude modulation is proposed. A mathematical framework calculating the power spectrum density of the proposed pulse‐based signal evaluates its coexistence with conventional radio systems. The transceiver structure is discussed, and the receiving performance is investigated in the additive white Gaussian noise channel. It is demonstrated that the proposed scheme is easier to match to the UWB emission mask than conventional UWB systems. The proposed scheme achieves the data rate requirement of WBAN; the logical control channel achieves better receiving performance than the logical data channel, which is useful for controlling and maintaining networks. The proposed scheme is also easy to implement.     

On the scalability of ad hoc networks

We investigate the inherent scalability problem of ad hoc networks originated from the nature of multihop networks. First, the expected packet traffic at the center of a network is analyzed. The result shows that the expected packet traffic at the center of a network is linearly related with the network size, that is, the expected packet traffic at the center of a network is O(k), where k is the radius of a network. From the result, the upper bound of the diameter of a network D=2k, that guarantees the network is scalable, is obtained. The upper bound is given by C/r-1, where C is the channel capacity available to each node and r is the packet arrival rate at each node.     

Mechanoreceptor-Inspired Dynamic Mechanical Stimuli Perception based on Switchable Ionic Polarization

Diverse touch experiences offer a path toward greater human–machine interaction, which is essential for the development of haptic technology. Recent advances in triboelectricity-based touch sensors provide great advantages in terms of cost, simplicity of design, and use of a broader range of materials. Since performance solely relies on the level of contact electrification between materials, triboelectricity-based touch sensors cannot effectively be used to measure the extent of deformation of materials under a given mechanical force. Here, an ion-doped gelatin hydrogel (IGH)-based touch sensor is reported to identify not only contact with an object but also deformation under a certain level of force. Switchable ionic polarization of the gelatin hydrogel is found to be instrumental in allowing for different sensing mechanisms when it is contacted and deformed. The results show that ionic polarization relies on conductivity of the hydrogels. Quantitative studies using voltage sweeps demonstrate that higher ion mobility and shorter Debye length serve to improve the performance of the mechanical stimuli-perceptible sensor. It is successfully demonstrated that this sensor offers dynamic deformation-responsive signals that can be used to control the motion of a miniature car. This study broadens the potential applications for ionic hydrogel-based sensors in a human–machine communication system.     

Minimalist counting in sensor networks (Noise helps)

We propose a novel algorithm for counting N indistinguishable objects, called targets, by a collection of sensors. We adopt a minimalist scenario where sensors are unaware of the (non-empty) intersections of sensing regions, and so simple addition of all sensor counts inflates estimates of the total number of targets. The multiple counting in intersections must be accounted for, but with nothing more than the sensor counts, this is clearly impossible. However, noise is typically present in the target counting of many, if not most, applications. We make the key observation that if there is a (target-dependent) noise source affecting all sensors simultaneously, then it couples those with non-empty intersections. Exploitation of this coupling allows us to extract multiple-counting statistics from stochastic correlation patterns, and hence to compute accurate estimates of N via the classical inclusion–exclusion formula. Cumulants are the correlation measures of choice. Our analysis brings out and resolves certain technicalities that arise in our statistical counting algorithm. Examples are worked out to show the potential of the new algorithm. The paper concludes with a discussion of alternative models and open problems.     

Pulse-driven LED circuit with transformer-based current balance technique

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been gradually used for backlight modules for liquid crystal display as a substitute for cold cathode fluorescent lamps. In most of LED applications, it is required to connect several LED strings in parallel to limit the dc voltage level to be applied to the single LED string. Due to considerable current variations through each LED string with inevitable parameter deviations as well as temperature and ageing effects, techniques to balance currents flowing through LED strings are required for LED drivers. This article proposes a pulse-driven LED circuit with transformer-based current balancing scheme, which can simply regulate currents through the LED strings. The transformers are placed in series with the LED strings in such a way that the LED currents are automatically balanced. Since the developed current sharing technique employs no dissipative resistors and no linear-mode transistors, the proposed driver has high efficiency, low power dissipation and reduced thermal problems. In addition, the presented driver with no additional semiconductor devices and no additional controllers can provide a simple and a cost-effective current balancing solution, compared to conventional approaches. Thus, the proposed LED driver can feature a simple, highly efficient, reliable and cost-effective method. The presented LED driver is verified with experimental results.     

An optimal checkpointing-strategy for real-time control systemsunder transient faults

Real-time computer systems are often used in harsh environments, such as aerospace, and in industry. Such systems are subject to many transient faults while in operation. Checkpointing enables a reduction in the recovery time from a transient fault by saving intermediate states of a task in a reliable storage facility, and then, on detection of a fault, restoring from a previously stored state. The interval between checkpoints affects the execution time of the task. Whereas inserting more checkpoints and reducing the interval between them reduces the reprocessing time after faults, checkpoints have associated execution costs, and inserting extra checkpoints increases the overall task execution time. Thus, a trade-off between the reprocessing time and the checkpointing overhead leads to an optimal checkpoint placement strategy that optimizes certain performance measures. Real-time control systems are characterized by a timely, and correct, execution of iterative tasks within deadlines. The reliability is the probability that a system functions according to its specification over a period of time. This paper reports on the reliability of a checkpointed real-time control system, where any errors are detected at the checkpointing time. The reliability is used as a performance measure to find the optimal checkpointing strategy. For a single-task control system, the reliability equation over a mission time is derived using the Markov model. Detecting errors at the checkpointing time makes reliability jitter with the number of checkpoints. This forces the need to apply other search algorithms to find the optimal number of checkpoints. By considering the properties of the reliability jittering, a simple algorithm is provided to find the optimal checkpoints effectively. Finally, the reliability model is extended to include multiple tasks by a task allocation algorithm