Development of the transmission line matrix method in acoustics applications to higher modes in the vocal tract and other complex ducts

Most traditional theories of speech production are currently based on plane waves. However, it is well known that, for acoustic waveguides, higher acoustical modes start to propagate and can become predominant above cut-on frequencies. This paper thus presents the transmission line matrix method, a numerical method initially designed for electromagnetic waves, and its adaptation to acoustic waveguides. The method, and in particular the representation of boundary conditions, is validated by comparison with known analytical theories. It is then used to show the dramatic effect of higher order modes upon the radiation characteristics of uniform ducts, as well as the importance of source location. Finally, first applications to bent and bifurcating rectangular ducts are presented, and the transfer function of a vowel [a] is shown to display frequency patterns typical of those measured on human subjects and that cannot be explained by one-dimensional propagation only. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multihour engineering and traffic routing optimization in hierarchical telephone networks

Classical hierarchical routing in telephone networks is extended to a wider class called out-of-chain routing in such a way that some useful properties of hierarchical routing are retained. This new routing pattern offers more potential paths than the fixed hierarchical one and can be introduced as a dynamic routing where the fixed alternate sequences change at some predetermined instants during the day. The effect of this new routing pattern on the network performances is examined. The main topic of this paper is to present heuristic methods used to optimise such routings in large networks. We show on artificial networks that the throughput of a given network can be significantly improved by suitable routing choices. We demonstrate that the integration of routing changes within a multihour dimensioning process is possible but the lack of realistic data does not permit at this time to quantify the value of routing optimization on real networks.     

On the impact of mobility and soft vertical handoff on voice admission control in loosely coupled 3G/WLAN networks

Loose coupling between 3G and WLAN ensures flexibility and openness. However, providing an ubiquitousmobile voice service in a loosely coupled 3G/WLAN network requires both packet-level and call-level quality of service (QoS) guarantees using soft vertical handoff (SVHO) and call admission control (CAC). In this paper, we evaluate the impact of both SVHO and WLAN mobility on call blocking and dropping probabilities rederived for the integrated network. For this purpose, we propose a new multi-region mobility model that accurately estimate these probabilities under a resource-efficient dynamicthreshold SVHO compared to a standard static-threshold SVHO. Results show us that the resource-efficient SVHO blocks and drops much less voice calls than the static one when very low mean and high variability of multi-mode mobile station velocities are noticed. Therefore, resource-efficient SVHO implementations are highly recommended in these mobility environments.     

Advanced control strategy for a digital mass flow controller

Mass flow controllers are complex mechatronic devices, the design of which involves many techniques and skills in various scientific domains. Due to the slow response time of the sensors embedded in such devices, it is critically important to control gas flow variations in processes used in semiconductor industry. This paper shows how a digital controller for MFCs can be mathematically computed once the dynamic characteristics of the open-loop system have been identified. The proposed control method goes beyond prior art control methods as it explicitly takes into account the dynamics of the sensor, computes the digital controller appropriate to the order of the open-loop model and imposes a desired closed-loop transient response. The simulations performed and experimental results obtained with this new type of digital controller were very promising.     

3.2 Tbit/s (80 × 40 Gbit/s) phase-shaped binary transmissionover 3 × 100 km with 0.8 bit/s/Hz efficiency

50 GHz-spaced 80 × 40 Gbit/s WDM transmission over 300 km of TeraLight^TM fibre is demonstrated without polarisation demultiplexing, using the PSBT format. A record capacity of 3.2 Tbit/s is thus achieved over the C-band only, with a spectral efficiency of 0.8 bit/s/Hz     

Computer-aided method for quantification of cartilage thickness and volume changes using MRI: validation study using a synthetic model

The primary objective of this study was to develop a computer-aided method for the quantification of three-dimensional (3-D) cartilage changes over time in knees with osteoarthritis (OA). We introduced a local coordinate system (LCS) for the femoral and tibial cartilage boundaries that provides a standardized representation of cartilage geometry, thickness, and volume. The LCS can be registered in different data sets from the same patient so that results can be directly compared. Cartilage boundaries are segmented from 3-D magnetic resonance (MR) slices with a semi-automated method and transformed into offset-maps, defined by the LCS. Volumes and thickness are computed from these offset-maps. Further anatomical labeling allows focal volumes to be evaluated in predefined subregions. The accuracy of the automated behavior of the method was assessed, without any human intervention, using realistic, synthetic 3-D MR images of a human knee. The error in thickness evaluation is lower than 0.12 mm for the tibia and femur. Cartilage volumes in anatomical subregions show a coefficient of variation ranging from 0.11% to 0.32%. This method improves noninvasive 3-D analysis of cartilage thickness and volume and is well suited for in vivo follow-up clinical studies of OA knees.     

1.6 Tbit/s (40/spl times/40 Gbit/s) DPSK transmission over 3/spl times/100 km of TeraLight fibre with direct detection

By transmitting 40 channels over 300 km of TeraLight fibre, it is shown that optical differential phase shift keying can be used in 100 GHz-spaced 40 Gbit/s systems, with direct detection and a simple receiving filter. Chromatic dispersion tolerance around 300 ps/nm is also measured, compared to 70 ps/nm for NRZ.     

A full-wave analysis of interconnection planar lines applications to structures with finite ground plane

The high integration level associated to the increase of the operating frequency of microelectronic integrated circuits create complex electromagnetic coupling in the interconnection lines which lead to mismatch and frequency dispersion. In the present paper, we propose a full-wave analysis to characterise the electromagnetic behaviour of interconnection planar lines using mixed-potential integral equations technique. The theoretical and numerical treatments of Green’s functions for the specific structures are firstly presented. The calculated results for parallel and coplanar strips are compared to the published ones. The effect of the finite ground plane on the propagation constant and the characteristic impedance is then analysed for different permittivities. The obtained theoretical and experimental results for the reflection coefficient of straight resonators confirm finally the observed effect of the finite ground plane on the frequency dispersion and the scattering characteristics.     

Compilation Methods for the Address Calculation Units of Embedded Processor Systems

An essential component of today's embedded system is an instruction-set processor running real-time software. All variations of these core components contain at least the minimum data-flow processing capabilities, while a certain class contain specialized units for highly data-intensive operations for Digital Signal Processing (DSP). For the required level of memory interaction, the parallel executing Address Calculation Unit (ACU) is often used to tune the architecture to the memory access characteristics of the application. The design of the ACU is performance critical. In today's typical design flow, this design task is somewhat driven by intuition as the transformation from application algorithm to architecture is complex and the exploration space is immense. Automatic utilities to aid the designer are essential; however, the key compilation techniques which map high-level language constructs onto addressing units have lagged far behind the emergence of these units. This paper presents a new retargetable approach and prototype tool for the analysis of array references and traversals for efficient use of ACUs. In addition to being an enhancement to existing compiler systems, the ArrSyn utility may be used as an aid to architecture exploration. A simple specification of the addressing resources and basic operations drives the available transformations and allows the designer to quickly evaluate the effects on speed and code size of his/her algorithm. Thus, the designer can tune the design of the ACU toward the application constraints. ArrSyn has been successfully used together with a C compiler developed for a VLIW architecture for an MPEG audio decoding application. The combination of these methods with the C compiler showed on average a 39% speedup and 29% code size reduction for a representative set of DSP benchmarks.