Gain clamping in two-stage L-band EDFA using a broadband FBG

A gain-clamped long wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-band EDFA) with an improved gain characteristic is demonstrated by simply adding a broadband conventional band (C-band) fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a two-stage amplifier system. The FBG reflects backward C-band amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from the second stage back into the system to clamp the gain. The gain is clamped at about 22.4 dB with a gain variation below 0.4 dB for input signal powers of -40 to -15 dBm. Compared with an unclamped amplifier of similar noise figure values, the small signal gain has improved by 2.4 dB due to the FBG which blocks the backward propagating ASE. At wavelengths from 1570 to 1600 nm, gain of the clamped amplifier varies from 19.4 to 26.7 dB. The corresponding noise figure varies by /spl plusmn/0.35 dB around 5 dB, which is not much different compared to that of the unclamped amplifier.     

Deployable Structures Based on Buckling of Curved Beams Upon a Rotational Input

Inspired by the recent success of buckling-induced reconfigurable structures, a new class of deployable systems that harness buckling of curved beams upon a rotational input is proposed. First, experimental and numerical methods are combined to investigate the influence of the beam's geometric parameters on its non-linear response. Then, it is shown that a wide range of deployable architectures can be realized by combining curved beams. Finally, the proposed principles are used to build deployable furniture such as tables and lamp shades that are flat/compact for transportation and storage, require simple or no assembly, and can be expanded by applying a simple rotational input.     

Optical GFDM: an improved alternative candidate for indoor visible light communication

Photonic Network Communications - This paper proposes generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) for indoor visible light communication (VLC). GFDM is a flexible multi-carrier scheme that...     

Effect of wafer thinning methods towards fracture strength and topography of silicon die

This paper characterizes die damage resulting from various wafer thinning processes. Die fracture strength is measured using ball breaker test with respect to die surface finish. Further study on surface roughness and topography of each surface finish is obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Stress relief process with 25 μm removal is able to strengthen 100 μm wafer by 20.4% using chemical wet etch and 75 μm wafer by 36.4% with plasma etch. Relatively, plasma etching shows higher fracture strength and flexibility compared to chemical wet etch. This is due to topography of the finished surface of plasma etch is smoother and rounded, leading to a reduced stress concentration, hence improved fracture strength.     

A routing algorithm for reducing optical loss in photonic Networks-on-Chip

Driven by increase in automation, smart homes play an important role in today’s human life. This paper presents a new model for smart home technologies based on multi-device bidirectional visible light communication (VLC). For multiple devices and users, orthogonal code-based wavelength division (color beams) full-duplexed bidirectional VLC link is proposed. The color beams from RGB LEDs are utilized to transmit data and synchronize multi-device transmission. To enhance the performance of the proposed model, receiver diversity is also employed. Performance evaluation reveals that the proposed VLC-based model for smart homes is efficient with superior BER performance in a typical smart home environment except for the far corners. The maximum achievable data rate for each user up to four users is found to be 24 Mbps at both uplink and downlink transmissions.     

Industrie 4.0 Readiness: Green Computing in Relation with Key Performance Indicator for a Manufacturing Industry

Mobile Networks and Applications - An effective measure of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is of great significance to enhance the capabilities of a decision support system (DSS) of any...     

New Feedback Architecture for VCO-Based Delta-Sigma ADCs Utilizing Phase Shifter

The voltage controlled oscillator-based （VCO-based） continuous-time delta-sigma （CTDS） analog to digital converter （ADC） suffers from nonlinearity and mismatch in its feedback network. A new feedback network consisting of a phase shifter is proposed. The phase shifter replaces the digital to analog converter （DAC） in the proposed architecture. Feasibility of the proposed idea is discussed and its higher performance is illustrated through a behavioral simulation approach （CppSim）. We have also developed the phase shifter as a variable all-pass filter in the C language. The nonlinearity and mismatch of the system caused by DAC is mitigated, resulting in higher signal to noise ratio （SNR） and signal to noise and distortion ratio （SNDR）, respectively.     

Carrier Transport Enhancement Mechanism in Highly Efficient Antimony Selenide Thin-Film Solar Cell

Exhibiting outstanding optoelectronic properties, antimony selenide (Sb₂Se₃) has attracted considerable interest and has been developed as a light absorber layer for thin-film solar cells over the decade. However, current state-of-the-art Sb₂Se₃ devices suffer from unsatisfactory “cliff-like” band alignment and severe interface recombination loss, which deteriorates device performance. In this study, the heterojunction interface of an Sb₂Se₃ solar cell is improved by introducing effective aluminum (Al³⁺) cation into the CdS buffer layer. Then, the energy band alignment of Sb₂Se₃/CdS:Al heterojunction is modified from a “cliff-like” structure to a “spike-like” structure. Finally, heterojunction interface engineering suppresses recombination losses and strengthens carrier transport, resulting in a high efficiency of 8.41% for the substrate-structured Sb₂Se₃ solar cell. This study proposes a facile strategy for interfacial treatment and elucidates the related carrier transport enhancement mechanism, paving a bright avenue to overcome the efficiency bottleneck of Sb₂Se₃ thin-film solar cells.     

Optimized intrusion detection mechanism using soft computing techniques

Intrusion detection is an important technique in computer and network security. A variety of intrusion detection approaches be present to resolve this severe issue but the main problem is performance. It is important to increase the detection rates and reduce false alarm rates in the area of intrusion detection. Therefore, in this research, an optimized intrusion detection mechanism using soft computing techniques is proposed to overcome performance issues. The KDD-cup dataset is used that is a benchmark for evaluating the security detection mechanisms. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to transform the input samples into a new feature space. The selecting of an appropriate number of principal components is a critical problem. So, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in the optimum selection of principal components instead of using traditional method. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used for classification purpose. The performance of this approach is addresses. Further, a comparative analysis is made with existing approaches. Consequently, this method provides optimal intrusion detection mechanism which is capable to minimize amount of features and maximize the detection rates.     

New radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2)/(4/spl times/4/spl times/4) and radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2)/(8/spl times/8/spl times/8) DIF FFT algorithms for 3-D DFT

In this paper, new three-dimensional (3-D) radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2)/(4/spl times/4/spl times/4) and radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2)/(8/spl times/8/spl times/8) decimation-in-frequency (DIF) fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms are developed and their implementation schemes discussed. The algorithms are developed by introducing the radix-2/4 and radix-2/8 approaches in the computation of the 3-D DFT using the Kronecker product and appropriate index mappings. The butterflies of the proposed algorithms are characterized by simple closed-form expressions facilitating easy software or hardware implementations of the algorithms. Comparisons between the proposed algorithms and the existing 3-D radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2) FFT algorithm are carried out showing that significant savings in terms of the number of arithmetic operations, data transfers, and twiddle factor evaluations or accesses to the lookup table can be achieved using the radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2)/(4/spl times/4/spl times/4) DIF FFT algorithm over the radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2) FFT algorithm. It is also established that further savings can be achieved by using the radix-(2/spl times/2/spl times/2)/(8/spl times/8/spl times/8) DIF FFT algorithm.