Bandpass filters with reconfigurable transmission zeros using varactor-tuned tapped stubs

In this letter, bandpass filters with one or two tunable transmission zeros are proposed. The reconfigurable transmission zeros are implemented through varactors in combination with tapped quarter-wavelength stubs. Based on mixed mode simulations including EM simulation and circuit simulation, the proposed filters were designed and fabricated on low-cost FR4 board. The measurement results verified the design concepts.     

Computation of Running Averages

This brief presents and compares several recursive and nonrecursive techniques for the efficient computation of the running average of discrete signals. First of all, the standard recursive algorithm is considered and its long-term accuracy is assessed when the floating-point arithmetic is employed. A cheap refreshing strategy is proposed as a means of keeping the computed value close enough to the exact one. Then, two alternative nonrecursive algorithms, requiring only log₂N additions, are developed, which are as reliable and accurate as the direct implementation     

Higher Stability Limits for the Symplectic FDTD Method by Making Use of Chebyshev Polynomials

A new scheme is introduced for obtaining higher stability performance for the symplectic finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Both the stability limit and the numerical dispersion of the symplectic FDTD are determined by a function zeta. It is shown that when the zeta function is a Chebyshev polynomial the stability limit is linearly proportional to the number of the exponential operators. Thus, the stability limit can be increased as much as possible at the cost of increased number of operators. For example, the stability limit of the four-exponential operator scheme is 0.989 and of the eight-exponential operator scheme it is 1.979 for fourth-order space discretization in three dimensions, which is almost three times the stability limit of previously published symplectic FDTD schemes with a similar number of operators. This study also shows that the numerical dispersion errors for this new scheme are less than those of the previously reported symplectic FDTD schemes     

A control-theoretic approach to distributed discrete-valued decision-making in networks of sensing agents

We address the problem of global sensor fusion for the purpose of distributed decision-making, from a control-theoretic perspective. In particular, we introduce a quasi-linear stochastic distributed protocol, using which a network of sensing agents can reach agreement in order to take a collective action. Using control-theoretic methods, we design the parameters of our protocol - which include weights in the local update rules used by the agents and a finite stopping time - to achieve agreement in a fair and rapid manner. We show analytically that the developed protocol achieves fair agreement with certainty in the noise-free case and achieves fair agreement with high probability even in the presence of communication noise and assuming very little information storage capability for the agents. Our development is illustrated throughout with a canonical example motivated by autonomous vehicle control.     

A study of the energy consumption characteristics of cryptographic algorithms and security protocols

Security is becoming an everyday concern for a wide range of electronic systems that manipulate, communicate, and store sensitive data. An important and emerging category of such electronic systems are battery-powered mobile appliances, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones, which are severely constrained in the resources they possess, namely, processor, battery, and memory. This work focuses on one important constraint of such devices-battery life-and examines how it is impacted by the use of various security mechanisms. In this paper, we first present a comprehensive analysis of the energy requirements of a wide range of cryptographic algorithms that form the building blocks of security mechanisms such as security protocols. We then study the energy consumption requirements of the most popular transport-layer security protocol: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). We investigate the impact of various parameters at the protocol level (such as cipher suites, authentication mechanisms, and transaction sizes, etc.) and the cryptographic algorithm level (cipher modes, strength) on the overall energy consumption for secure data transactions. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of the energy requirements of SSL. For our studies, we have developed a measurement-based experimental testbed that consists of an iPAQ PDA connected to a wireless local area network (LAN) and running Linux, a PC-based data acquisition system for real-time current measurement, the OpenSSL implementation of the SSL protocol, and parameterizable SSL client and server test programs. Based on our results, we also discuss various opportunities for realizing energy-efficient implementations of security protocols. We believe such investigations to be an important first step toward addressing the challenges of energy-efficient security for battery-constrained systems.     

Viability of bifidobacteria in commercial yogurt products in North Carolina during refrigerated storage

Fifty-eight commercial yogurt products of seven brands (which claimed to include bifidobacteria) were obtained from local stores in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. These products were examined at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks for the viability of bifidobacteria and yogurt starter culture during refrigerated storage at 4°C. Our results showed that bifidobacteria counts were variable, ranging from 0 to 5.5 log cfu/mL. The average yogurt starter culture counts ranged from 5.20 to 8.87 log cfu/mL and 7.51–8.94 log cfu/mL for Lactobacillus delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus , respectively. Of the 58 products tested, only 44 products (76%) contained viable cultures. Viability of bifidobacteria in yogurt samples remained within the same levels during 3 weeks of storage at 4°C; however, the bacterial count started to decline during the fourth week. These results suggest optimal beneficial consumption of yogurt foods with live bifidobacteria should occur within 3 weeks of production. Results obtained from this research could be used by the industry to develop new technologies to ensure consumers receive high-quality products.     

Electrical and photoelectric properties of electrochemically fabricated SnO2/Cd0.4Zn0.6S/CdTe solar cells

Solar cells based on SnO₂/Cd_0.4Zn_0.6S/CdTe heterostructures are fabricated by electrochemical deposition, and the dependences of their electrical and photoelectric properties on the thermal annealing conditions are studied. It is shown that thermal annealing reduces the tunnel currents by almost two orders of magnitude. The best conditions of thermal annealing are determined (t = 300°C and τ = 9 min). These conditions provide the highest photosensitivity of the heterostructures under study (I _sc ≈ 21.2 mA/cm², U _oc ≈ 813 mV, and η = 14.7%).     

Photoemission of polarized electrons from InAlGaAs/GaAs superlattices with minimum conduction band offsets

Photoemission of polarized electrons from heterostructures based on InAlGaAs/GaAs superlattices with minimum conduction-band offsets is investigated. The comparison of the excitation energy dependence of the photoemission polarization degree with the calculated spectra make it possible to determine the polarization losses at different stages of the photoemission. A maximum polarization of P = 91% and a quantum yield of 0.14% are close to the best results obtained for photocathodes on the basis of strained semiconductor superlattices.     

Towards intelligent dressing

The aim of this article is to state the principles of an intelligent monitoring and control system for the grinding machine, comprising the dressing process as well as grinding stability.