Engineering TCP transmission and retransmission mechanisms for wireless networks

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provides mechanisms for reliable data communications. Although it works well in wired networks, it fails to offer satisfactory performance in lossy and wireless environments. And in the multi-hop wireless infrastructure, packet delivery suffers high cumulative loss rate if traveling over multiple wireless hops. The Selective acknowledgment (SACK) is one header option that might be used to combat segment corruptions in air channels. In this paper, an alternative set of flow control mechanisms is proposed to handle high packet loss rate in a wireless medium. Using a measurement-based mechanism, sustainable segment delivery is achievable through a novel size-reduction method. Multiple segment retransmission mechanisms are introduced to reduce successive timeout events. One single byte loss is sufficient to waste all other bytes in a file received at a destination. That is, a good TCP flow control mechanism should provide a high successful file transmission completion rate, and this is set as our design goal. Through thorough simulations, our proposed multi-segment retransmission designs perform with higher successful file transfer rate and fewer timeout events than NewReno and SACK under a wide range of packet loss probabilities.     

Spatial gamut mapping algorithms for cross‐display color reproduction

Abstract— Owing to the fast developments of computer networks and color imaging technologies, there is a tendency towards remote proofing in the printing or textile industries. More cases such as cross‐display color matching will occur in the future information society. The problems of color mismatching we usually find in cross‐display devices have been widely discussed today. In this paper, to achieve equivalent color matching between a sRGB monitor and an Adobe RGB monitor, the spatial gamut mapping algorithm (SGMA), which introduces sigmoidal tone mapping, multi‐mapping paths, and unsharp mask (USM) operation into a sRGB color‐management system, is proposed. According to the designs of USM locations, this proposed SGMA can be further developed into pre‐USM, post‐USM, and double‐USM types. Besides, two critical image characteristics, edge map and color histogram, are investigated to establish the relationship between image content and SGMA. The psychophysical experimental results show that double‐USM SGMA obtains better color matching than the other spatial types.     

The Effectiveness of Short Message Service for Communication With Concerns of Privacy Protection and Conflict Avoidance

Why would people use Short Message Service (SMS) to say something they would not say in person? There is a trend that SMS is becoming more and more popular because it facilitates more extended modes of communications. Using technology acceptance model, we hypothesize the attitude of SMS would be influenced by its perceived effectiveness for communications, perceived ease of use, and subjective norm. Besides the special aspects of communications, conflict avoidance and privacy protection will enforce the impact of perceived effectiveness of SMS for communication. We investigated 953 SMS users and the results support most of our hypotheses. Furthermore, our analyses also show there are differences between females and males on the influence mechanism behind their attitude towards SMS.     

Spin-valve planar Hall sensor for single bead detection

The planar Hall effect (PHE) sensor with a junction size of 3 μm × 3 μm for a single micro-bead detection has been fabricated successfully using a typical spin-valve thin film Ta(5)/NiFe(16)/Cu(1.2)/NiFe(2)/IrMn(15)/Ta(5) nm. The PHE sensor exhibits a sensitivity of about 7.2 μV Oe^?1 in the magnetic field range of ±7 Oe approximately. We have performed an experiment to illustrated the possibility of single micro-bead detection by using a PHE sensor. A single micro-bead of 2.8 μm diameter size is secluded from 0.1% dilute solution of the Dynabeads^® M-280 dropped on the sensor surface and is located on the sensor junction by using a micro magnetic needle. The comparison of the PHE voltage profiles in the field range from 0 to 20 Oe in the absence and presence of a single micro-bead identifies a single Dynabeads^® M-280, the maximal signal change as large as ΔV ～ 1.1 μV can be obtained at the field ～6.6 Oe. The results are well described in terms of the reversal of a basic single domain structure.     

An improvement on the digital redesign method using fuzzy PWM controller

In this paper, a new digital redesign composed of pulse width modulator (PWM) is proposed. The proposed PWM combines fuzzy logic with genetic algorithm (GA) to tune the parameter of the proposed controller such that the output response of hybrid system closely matches the one of original continuous system. Finally, an illustrated example is proposed to show the proposed method is superior to the existing one.     

Combining GA and iterative searching DOA estimation for CDMA signals

This paper deals with direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation based on iterative searching technique for code-division multiple access signals. It has been shown that the iterative searching technique is more likely to converge to a local maximum, causing errors in DOA estimation. In conjunction with a genetic algorithm for selecting initial search angle, we present an efficient approach to achieve the advantages of iterative DOA estimation with fast convergence and more accuracy estimate over existing conventional spectral searching methods. Finally, several computer simulation examples are provided for illustration and comparison.     

Electroplating of nickel films at ultra low electrolytic temperature

In this paper, we have demonstrated a successful electroplating process of nickel (Ni) in a sulfamate electrolyte bath at ultra low electrolytic temperatures of 273–278 K. The potentiostatic mode is essential for the electroplating process rather than galvanostatic mode. The reason is that diffusion-limited current can be easily obtained by applying a specific potential which is higher than reduction potential. On the contrary, galvanostatic mode can not identify the diffusion-limited current and the reduction will suspend while the setting current is higher than diffusion-limited current ranged in hundreds of μA. The microstructure, morphology and hardness of the Ni electrodeposits were characterized using grazing incidence x-ray diffractometer, atomic force microscopy and nano-indentation test were performed. The hardness of Ni film was much enhanced to around 6.37 GPa at 273 K to 6.18 GPa at 278 K compared with that around 4.11 GPa at 288 K to 4.01 GPa at 293 K. The normal hardness of pure nickel is about 4 GPa. The enhanced hardness of Ni at ultra low temperature is attributed to both mechanisms of reduced grain size strengthening and residual compressive stress hardening.