Energy Efficient Raptor Codes for Error Control in Wireless Body Area Networks

WBAN consists of several tiny sensors that are located inside and outside human body for continuous monitoring of vital parameters of patients suffering from chronic diseases. The wearable sensor unit consists of transmitter, receiver and central process unit (gateway). The gateway is used to connect wearable sensors on human body to the internet. To increase the lifetime of such networks, the energy spent by the sensors has to be minimized. In this work we analyzed the feasibility and performance of fountain code based raptor code for error correction to overcome the energy and reliability issues. Versatility of raptor code in terms of code rate and coding gain is advantageous to increase the energy efficiency of WBAN network. Simulation results considering different fading channels show that the raptor coded packet transmission is more energy efficient than that of LT code, traditional BCH code and ARQ error control technique.     

A 1-V 2.4 GHz Low-Power CMOS LNA Using Gain-Boosting and Derivative Superposition Techniques for WSN

Wireless Personal Communications - In the literature, for Zigbee receivers using cascode LNAs, a number of techniques such as gain-boosting, derivative superposition technique and forward body bias...     

Stability and 2-D Simulation Studies of Avalanche Breakdown in 4H-SiC DMOSFETs With JTE

In this paper, the stability of n-channel 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) DMOSFETs with junction termination extension (JTE) was assessed by measuring the breakdown voltage (BV) of these devices before and after bias stress at a high temperature. The BV slumped after the DMOSFET was bias stressed at 1200 V for 2 h at 175degC, and the slumped BV dynamically recovered to the prestress value during the poststress period. Computer simulation suggests that the BV slump and its recovery are dominated by the positive charge trapping/detrapping phenomena at the SiC/fleld oxide interface in the JTE structure, rather than the trapping/detrapping at the SiC/gate oxide interface in the cell structure. A positive interface charge of approximately one-third of the sheet dopant concentration of the JTE region, lowers BV by 150 V, which is the typical measured BV slump of the DMOSFETs of this paper.     

Molecular Dynamics Study of Gas–Surface Interactions in a Force-Driven Flow of Argon through a Rectangular Nanochannel

In recent times, flows through micro- and nanochannels have gained prominence due to their applicability to the fast growing fields of micro- and nanotechnology among others. Understanding gas–surface interactions in such flows is crucial, because the size of the micro/nanoscale devices is typically comparable to boundary layer thickness near a wall and the surface starts playing a significant role. An attempt is made to understand these interactions by modeling simple force-driven argon gas flow between two parallel platinum plates by the molecular dynamics method. One of the most important parameters that describes gas–surface interactions—that is, the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient, along with flow properties such as velocity and density—is calculated for a range of Knudsen numbers in the early transitional flow regime. A deeper insight into the flow physics is obtained by considering various case studies for the variation of aforesaid properties with respect to external driving forces and gas–wall interaction strengths.     

Response of materials as a function of grinding angle on friction and transfer layer formation

Surface texture influences friction and transfer layer formation during sliding contact. In the present investigation, basic studies were conducted using an inclined pin-on-plate sliding apparatus to understand the effect of grinding mark directionality on the coefficient of friction and transfer layer formation. In the experiments, 080 M40 steel plates were ground to attain different surface roughness with unidirectional grinding marks. Pins consisting of soft materials (pure Al, pure Mg, and Al–4Mg alloy) were then slid against the prepared steel plates. The grinding angle (angle between direction of sliding and grinding marks) was varied between 0° and 90° in the tests. The experiments were conducted under both dry and lubricated conditions in an ambient environment. It was observed that the transfer layer formation and the coefficient of friction depend primarily on the directionality of the plate grinding marks. For the case of pure Mg pins, a stick-slip friction phenomenon was observed for all grinding angles under dry conditions and for grinding angles over 25° under lubricated conditions. In the case of Al pins, the stick-slip phenomenon was observed only under lubricated conditions for angles exceeding 25°. The stick-slip phenomena did not occur in any of the conditions studied with Al–4Mg alloy pins. Based on the results, it was concluded that the magnitudes of the friction and the stick-slip motion amplitude (for Al and Mg pins) were primarily controlled by changes in the level of plowing friction.     

Analysis of the stress-strain curves of a modified 9Cr-1Mo steel by the voce equation

The representation of stress-strain curves by empirical relations can give first-hand information on the deformation behavior of a material. Although the constants in these equations are simple numerals for smooth fitting of the curves, a theoretical basis using dislocation interaction has been out forth bv Berastrom.[1]     

Computed tomography in the postoperative patient

Nine cases of patients in whom intracranial infection was suspected after operation are presented. Lesions with ring enhancement were seen in all of these patients. The differentiation of enhancement, seen as a normal postoperative phenomenon, from residual neoplasia and cerebral abscess can be difficult. This can be resolved by serial and sequential-delayed CT, and thus unnecessary re-exploration may be prevented.