Cluster‐based coordination scheme for cooperative cognitive radio networks

In this paper, a cluster‐based two‐phase coordination scheme for cooperative cognitive radio networks is proposed considering both spectrum efficiency and network fairness. Specifically, candidate secondary users (SUs) are first selected by a partner selection algorithm to enter the two‐phase cooperation with primary users (PUs). In phase I, the selected SUs cooperate with PUs to acquire a fraction of time slot as a reward. In phase II, all SUs including the unselected ones share the available spectrum resources in local clusters; each of which is managed by a cluster head who participated in the cooperation in phase I. To improve the total network utility of both PUs and SUs, the maximum weighted bipartite matching is adopted in partner selection. To further improve the network performance and communication reliability, network coding is exploited during the spectrum sharing within the cluster. Simulation results demonstrate that, with the proposed cluster‐based coordination scheme, not only the PUs' transmission performance is improved, but also SUs achieve spectrum access opportunities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced distributed explicit rate allocation for ABR services inATM networks

Rate allocation for available bit-rate (ABR) services in ATM networks has received a considerable amount of attention, but important issues such as bandwidth fairness, MCR rate guarantees, and queue control still require further investigation. In light of these concerns, an enhanced rate allocation algorithm is proposed for congestion management using explicit rate feedback control. The algorithm uses fast, exact rate computations and is capable of achieving a variety of MCR-related fairness criteria. The scheme handles transient effects and can function in heterogeneous networks carrying higher priority real-time traffic. Simulation results for a wide range of network scenarios demonstrate that the algorithm effectively controls queue buildups and achieves good fairness. Performance scalability to large networks under challenging conditions is also shown for a given control parameter set     

QoS guarantee and power distribution for soft handoff connections in cellular CDMA downlinks

A two-phase power distribution scheme for supporting quality-of-service (QoS) and best effort traffic is proposed. We first formulate the power distribution for QoS traffic as an optimization problem so that the number of simultaneously transmitting connections is maximized. Optimum power distribution is difficult to implement in practice due to both the computational complexity and the requirement for global information about the mobile station (MS) locations, connection channel conditions, and traffic load in the system. We then propose a heuristic scheme of power distribution for soft handoff (SHO) connections. The full scheme includes an initial power distribution (IPD) and a power distribution adjustment (PDA). IPD allocates BS power resource based on the channel condition of each individual connection, while PDA further coordinates the power distribution between neighboring base stations (BSs) in order to accommodate more connections. The proposed power distribution scheme can achieve a capacity close to that of the optimum power distribution, while providing much higher transmission throughput for best effort data traffic. The proposed power distribution scheme can be applied to existing SHO schemes for efficient BS power resource usage. The scheme does not require global information, and its implementation can be further simplified by performing IPD only with slight performance degradation.     

Method for three-dimensional data registration from disparate imaging modalities in the NOGA Myocardial Viability Trial

Region-by-region comparison of data concerning left ventricular (LV) status is difficult to perform quantitatively if the data was acquired from disparate imaging modalities. We validated a method for comparing measurements obtained by electromechanical mapping (EMM) catheter with dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) via biplane contrast ventriculography, with the assistance of three-dimensional (3-D) echocardiographic data. The ventriculograms were traced and the borders were used to reconstruct the LV in 3-D with the aid of a database of 3-D echocardiographic studies. The 3-D LV was oriented to the EMM data based on the body coordinates and then manually scaled and translated to fit. The EMM data were mapped to the 3-D surface. The 3-D surface was divided into the 16 regions defined for echocardiographic assessment. The mean EMM value for local linear shortening, a parameter of function, was computed in each segment. The EMM and semiquantitative echocardiographic assessments of regional myocardial function were compared by segment, and the volume of the 3-D LV was compared with the volume computed from the ventriculogram. The volume of the 3-D surface correlated closely with that of the ventriculogram (r = 0.97, SEE = 27.4 ml) but with a significant overestimation of 63 +/- 35 ml. There was a highly significant (p < 0.0001) agreement in regional function between EMM and echo. Local linear shortening correlated significantly (p < 0.0001) with echocardiographic severity of wall motion, averaging 9.5 +/- 6.5, 8.1 +/- 5.4, 5.9 +/- 4.8, and 6.2 +/- 3.3 in segments read as normal, hypokinetic, akinetic, and dyskinetic, respectively. The method presented is valid for comparing cardiac parameters derived from disparate image data on a region-by-region basis by employing anatomic landmarks on 3-D reconstructions of the LV endocardial surface.     

Analyzing the Next Generation Software Defined Radio for Future Architectures

Commercial and research work in the field of software defined radio (SDR) has produced designs which have been able to deliver the efficiency and computational power needed to process 3G wireless technologies. Though efficient 3G processing has been achieved by these designs, next generation 4G SDR technology requires 10–1000x more computational performance but limits the power budget increase to 2–5x. In this paper, we present a breakdown of the major 4G kernels and analyze two methods of increasing performance and reducing power consumption. Specifically, we consider the effect of SIMD width and reduction in number of register file accesses on the performance and energy consumption of a SDR architecture, SODA. We show that by increasing SIMD width we can gain almost 2–8x performance increase while increasing total energy used by 1–2x for different SIMD widths. We also show that by reducing SIMD register accesses we can reduce the total energy used by 5–20% for the 4G kernels.     

Self‐Compensation in Transparent Conducting F‐Doped SnO2

The factors limiting the conductivity of fluorine‐doped tin dioxide (FTO) produced via atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition are investigated. Modeling of the transport properties indicates that the measured Hall effect mobilities are far below the theoretical ionized impurity scattering limit. Significant compensation of donors by acceptors is present with a compensation ratio of 0.5, indicating that for every two donors there is approximately one acceptor. Hybrid density functional theory calculations of defect and impurity formation energies indicate the most probable acceptor‐type defects. The fluorine interstitial defect has the lowest formation energy in the degenerate regime of FTO. Fluorine interstitials act as singly charged acceptors at the high Fermi levels corresponding to degenerately n‐type films. X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy of the fluorine impurities is consistent with the presence of substitutional F_O donors and interstitial F_i in a roughly 2:1 ratio in agreement with the compensation ratio indicated by the transport modeling. Quantitative analysis through Hall effect, X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy, and calibrated secondary ion mass spectrometry further supports the presence of compensating fluorine‐related defects.     

An Investigation into Zinc Diffusion and Tin Whisker Growth for Electroplated Tin Deposits on Brass

It is widely documented that whisker growth is more rapid for tin deposits on brass compared with deposits produced on other substrate materials, such as copper. As a result, studies investigating the effect of process variables on tin whisker formation are often conducted on brass substrates to take advantage of the increased whisker growth rates. Although it has been understood since the 1960s that the increased whisker growth results from zinc diffusion, to date there has not been any detailed analysis of the zinc/zinc oxide distribution at the surface of the tin deposit. Using a commercial bright tin electroplating bath, the formation of zinc oxide at the surface of tin deposits on brass has been investigated. Analyses show that zinc oxide is present on the surface of the deposit within 1 day of electroplating. During storage at room temperature, a network of zinc oxide is formed at the surface grain boundaries, the extent of which increases with time. The critical role that zinc surface diffusion plays in whisker growth for tin deposits on brass has been demonstrated by electrochemical oxidation of the tin shortly after electroplating. This develops a tin oxide film that is thicker than the native air-formed oxide and subsequently serves as a diffusion barrier to zinc surface diffusion, thereby mitigating whisker growth.     

Soft handoff and connection reliability in cellular CDMA downlinks

A two-phase soft handoff scheme, which includes an initial power allocation phase followed by a power redistribution phase, is proposed. The initial power allocation phase makes a handoff decision for each connection by assigning a connection to the BS with the best link quality and allocating a minimum amount of power from the BS for the connection. The initial handoff decisions are made for individual connections independent of other connections or the BS power availability. Therefore, there might be heavily loaded and lightly loaded BSs because (i) traffic load may not be equally distributed in all cells, and (ii) the channel condition of the connections is random. The power re-distribution phase is to smooth out the loading on the system by coordinating the power allocations among neighboring BSs so that more connections can receive reliable transmissions. We then develop an analytical model for studying the connection reliability with the proposed soft handoff scheme. Our results show that the proposed two-phase soft handoff scheme can significantly improve connection reliability and increase system capacity in downlink transmissions.     

A method for coordinating the distributed transmission of imagery.

Distributed imaging using sensor arrays is gaining popularity among various research and development communities. A common bottleneck within such an imaging sensor network is the large resulting data load. In applications for which transmission power and/or bandwidth are constrained, this can drastically decrease the sensor network lifetime. We present an algorithm that efficiently exploits inter- and intrasensor correlation for the purpose of power-constrained distributed transmission of sensor-network imagery. Gains in network lifetime up to 114% are obtained when using the suggested algorithm with lossless compression. Our results also demonstrate that when lossy compression is employed, much larger gains are achieved. For example, when a normalized root-mean-squared error of 0.78% can be tolerated in the received measurements, the network lifetime increases by a factor of 2.8, as compared to the (optimized) lossless case.