Quasi-dynamic Load Balanced Clustering Protocol for Energy Efficient Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - Miscellaneous issues related to wireless sensor networks (WSN) like clustering of sensor nodes, load balancing amongst the cluster heads, energy efficient...     

Dose control circuit for digital electrostatic electron-beam array lithography

This paper demonstrates a technique for controlling the electron emission of an array of field emitting vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs). An array of carbon nanofibers (CNF) is to be used as the source of electron beams for lithography purposes. This tool is intended to replace the mask in the conventional photolithography process by controlling their charge emission using the “Dose Control Circuitry” (DCC). The large variation in the charge emitted between CNFs grown in identical conditions forced the controller design to be based on fixed dose rather than on fixed time. Compact digital control logic has been designed for controlling the operation of DCC. This system has been implemented in a 0.5 μm CMOS process. Chandra Sekhar A. Durisety received his B.E. (Hons.) Instrumentation from Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, India in 1997 and his M.S in Electrical Engineering from University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2002. Since 2003, he has been working towards his Ph.D degree also in Electrical Engineering at Integrated Circuits and Systems Lab (ICASL), University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He joined Wipro Infotech Ltd, Global R & D, Bangalore, India in 1997, where he designed FPGA based IPs for network routers. Since 1999, he was involved in the PCI bridge implementation at CMOS chips Inc, Santa Clara, CA, and the test bench development for Sony’s MP3 player, while at Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc., San Jose, CA. His research interests include multi-stage amplifiers, data converters, circuits in SOI and Floating Gate Devices. Rajagopal Vijayaraghavan received the B.E degree in electronics and communication engineering from Madras University in 1998 and the M.S degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas, Dallas in 2001.He is currently working towards the Ph.D degree in electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee. His research interest is in the area of CMOS Analog and RF IC design. His current research focuses on LNAs and VCOs using SOI based MESFET devices. Lakshmipriya Seshan was born in Trivandrum, India on April 30, 1979. She received her B.tech in Electronincs & Communication Engg from Kerala University, India in June 2000 and M.S in Electrical Engg from University of Tennessee in 2004. In 2004, she joined Intel Corporation as an Analog Engineer, where she is engaged in the design of low power, high speed analog circuits for various I/O interface topologies. Syed K. Islam received his B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Systems Engineering from the University of Connecticut. He is presently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Islam is leading the research efforts of the Analog VLSI and Devices Laboratory at the University of Tennessee. His research interests are design, modeling and fabrication of microelectronic/optoelectronic devices, molecular scale electronics and nanotechnology, biomicroelectronics and monolithic sensors. Dr. Islam has numerous publications in technical journals and conference proceedings in the areas of semiconductors devices and circuits. Benjamin J. Blalock received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1991 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, also in electrical engineering, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in 1993 and 1996 respectively. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Tennessee where he directs the Integrated Circuits and Systems Laboratory (ICASL). His research focus there includes analog IC design for extreme environments (both wide temperature and radiation immune), multi-gate transistors and circuits on SOI, body-driven circuit techniques for ultra low-voltage analog, mixed-signal/mixed-voltage circuit design for systems-on-a-chip, and bio-microelectronics. Dr. Blalock has co-authored over 60 published refereed papers. He has also worked as an analog IC design consultant for Cypress Semiconductor Corp. and Concorde Microsystems Inc.     

Estimation of power density in IMPATT using different materials

ABSTRACT

The RF output power dissipated per unit area is calculated using Runge-Kutta method for the high-moderate-moderate-high (n⁺-n-p-p⁺) doping profile of double drift region (DDR)-based impact avalanche transit time (IMPATT) diode by taking different substrate at Ka band. Those substrates are silicon, gallium arsenide, germanium, wurtzite gallium nitride, indium phosphide and 4H-silicon carbide. A comparative study regarding power dissipation ability by the IMPATT using different material is being presented thereby modelling the DDR IMPATT diode in a one-dimensional structure. The IMPATT based on 4H-SiC element has highest power density in the order of 10¹⁰ Wm^?2 and the Si-based counterpart has lowest power density of order 10⁶ Wm^?2 throughout the Ka band. So, 4H-SiC-based IMPATT should be preferable over others for the power density preference based application. This result will be helpful to estimate the power density of the IMPATT for any doping profile and to select the proper element for the optimum design of the IMPATT as far as power density is concerned in the Ka band. Also, we have focused on variation of power density with different junction temperatures and modelled the heat sink with analysis of thermal resistances.     

Ball Mill Synthesis of Bulk Quaternary Cu<Subscript>2</Subscript>ZnSnSe<Subscript>4</Subscript> and Thermoelectric Studies

In this work, quaternary chalcogenide Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ (CZTSe) was synthesized using a mechanochemical ball milling process and its thermoelectric properties were studied by electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity measurements. The synthesis process comprises three steps viz., wet ball milling of the elemental precursors, vacuum annealing, and densification by hot pressing. The purpose of this is to evaluate the feasibility of introducing wet milling in place of vacuum melting in solid state synthesis for the reaction of starting elements. We report the structural characterization and thermoelectric studies conducted on samples that were milled at 300 rpm and 500 rpm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed the existence of multiple phases in the as-milled samples, indicating the requirement for heat treatment. Therefore, the ball milled powders were cold pressed and vacuum annealed to eliminate the secondary phases. Annealed samples were hot pressed and made into dense pellets for further investigations. In addition to XRD, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) studies were performed on hot pressed samples to study the composition. XRD and EDS studies confirm CZTSe phase formation along with ZnSe secondary phase. Electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements were done on the hot pressed samples in the temperature range 340–670 K to understand the thermoelectric behaviour. Thermal conductivity was calculated from the specific heat capacity and thermal diffusivity values. The thermoelectric figure of merit zT values for samples milled at 300 rpm and 500 rpm are ～0.15 and ～0.16, respectively, at 630 K, which is in good agreement with the values reported for solid state synthesized compounds.     

Structural and Electrical Properties of Ag/<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Si/Al Heterostructure Fabricated by Pulsed Laser Deposition Technique

We have investigated the structural and electrical characteristics of the Ag/n-TiO₂/p-Si/Al heterostructure. Thin films of pure TiO₂ were deposited on p-type silicon (100) by optimized pulsed laser ablation with a KrF-excimer laser in an oxygen-controlled environment. X-ray diffraction analysis showed the formation of crystalline TiO₂ film having a tetragonal texture with a strong (210) plane as the preferred direction. High purity aluminium and silver metals were deposited to obtain ohmic contacts on p-Si and n-TiO₂, respectively. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the fabricated heterostructure were studied by using thermionic emission diffusion mechanism over the temperature range of 80–300 K. Parameters such as barrier height and ideality factor were derived from the measured I–V data of the heterostructure. The detailed analysis of I–V measurements revealed good rectifying behavior in the inhomogeneous Ag/n-TiO₂/p-Si(100)/Al heterostructure. The variations of barrier height and ideality factor with temperature and the non-linearity of the activation energy plot confirmed that barrier heights at the interface follow Gaussian distributions. The value of Richardson’s constant was found to be 6.73 × 10⁵ Am^?2 K^?2, which is of the order of the theoretical value 3.2 × 10⁵ Am^?2 K^?2. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements of the heterostructure were investigated as a function of temperature. The frequency dependence (Mott–Schottky plot) of the C–V characteristics was also studied. These measurements indicate the occurrence of a built-in barrier and impurity concentration in TiO₂ film. The optical studies were also performed using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer. The optical band gap energy of TiO₂ films was found to be 3.60 eV.     

SEP calculations for coherent M‐ary FSK in different fading channels with MRC diversity

In this paper, the authors derive symbol error probability (SEP) expressions for coherent M‐ary frequency shift keying (MFSK) modulation schemes in multipath fading channels. The multipath or small‐scale fading process is assumed to be slow and frequency non‐selective. In addition, the channel is also subjected to the usual degradation caused by the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Different small‐scale fading statistics such as Rayleigh, Rician (Nakagami‐n), Hoyt (Nakagami‐q), and Nakagami‐m have been considered to portray diverse wireless environments. Further, to mitigate fading effects through space diversity, the receiver front‐end is assumed to be equipped with multiple antennas. Independent and identically distributed (IID) as well as uncorrelated signal replicas received through all these antennas are combined with a linear combiner before successive demodulation. As the detection is coherent in nature and thus involves phase estimation, optimum phase‐coherent combining algorithms, such as predetection maximal ratio combining (MRC), may be used without any added complexity to the receiver. In the current text, utilizing the alternate expressions for integer powers (1≤n≤4) of Gaussian Q function, SEP values of coherent MFSK are obtained through moment generating function (MGF) approach for all the fading models (with or without MRC diversity) described above. The derived end expressions are composed of finite range integrals, which can be numerically computed with ease, dispenses with the need of individual expressions for different M, and gives exact values up to M=5. When the constellation size becomes bigger (M≥6), the same SEP expressions provide a quite realistic approximation, much tighter than the bounds found in previous literatures. Error probabilities are graphically displayed for each fading model with different values of constellation size M, diversity order L, and for corresponding fading parameters (K, q, or m). To validate the proposed approximation method extensive Monte‐Carlo simulations were also performed, which show a close match with the analytical results deduced in the paper. Both these theoretical and simulation results offer valuable insight to assess the efficacy of relatively less studied coherent MFSK in the context of the optimum modulation choice in wireless communication. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Arsenic-doped mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe photodiodes

The recently developed Te-rich, liquid-phase-epitaxy growth technology for low arsenic-doped mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) HgCdTe with p-type doping concentrations <10¹⁵ cm⁻³ has enabled the fabrication of n⁺/p photodiodes using the damage associated with a boron ion implantation. The diode properties are presented and compared to similar diodes fabricated in p-HgCdTe doped with Group IBs. The attraction of the arsenic-doped diode technology is associated with the fact that the arsenic resides on the Te sublattice and is immune to the Hg interstitial fluxes that are present in the diode-formation process. This leads to minimal diode spread, limited primarily to the n⁺ region and, hence, a potential for use in really high-density infrared focal planes. At the same time, the Hg interstitials generated in the diode-formation process should purge the photodiode volume of fast diffusing species, resulting in a high-quality, diode-depletion region devoid of many Shockley-Read recombination centers. These aspects of diode formation in this material are discussed.     

Unified BER and optimum threshold analysis of binary modulations in simple and cascaded Rayleigh fading channels with switched combining

Following a unified analytical framework, the bit error rate (BER) of several coherent and non‐coherent binary modulation schemes is derived for a switched diversity system. The two variants of switched combining that have been investigated are switch and stay combining and switch and examine combining. For channel modelling, at first a simple slow flat fading channel is assumed, where the amplitude attenuation obeys the Rayleigh distribution. Later the BER calculations are repeated for cascaded Rayleigh fading channel case. Rayleigh fading is the most popular model for electromagnetic signal propagation in wireless media when both or either of the transmitter/receiver is fixed. On the other hand, when both the transmitter and the receiver are mobile, a cascaded (or double) Rayleigh fading model is better suited. The applicability of these two models, namely simple and cascaded Rayleigh model, has been indicated by several theoretical studies and their suitability is established by various field measurements. In our paper, simple closed‐form BER expressions as a function of switching threshold have been found and optimum switching thresholds have been computed for both these models as well as for both types of diversity combining described earlier. The results presented in this paper can be very useful for communication system designers to analyze link quality of switched diversity assisted systems in various wireless environments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Formulae for determining heterodyne system spurious frequencies that coincide with desired output frequency

In this paper, formulae to determine the lowest order and other higher order spurious frequencies that coincide with desired output signal frequencies of mixers have been derived. The proposed formulae give general expressions that are suitable for any order of heterodyne mixing. The formulae have been verified using a suitable example and compared with the simulation results obtained through the radio frequency simulation software of Advanced Design System. The formulae directly reveal the order of the troublesome spurious frequencies that the designers would encounter in heterodyne systems. In comparison with these direct formulae, the results of existing spurious analysis software are based on the maximum order of simulation carried out. Based on these simulations, the coinciding spurious components have to be manually sorted out. Proposed formulae are quick tools used by the microwave system and circuit designers for choosing and finalizing heterodyne frequencies in their designs without the need for any simulations.     

Attribute Allocation and Retrieval Scheme for Large-Scale Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor network is an emerging technology that enables remote monitoring of large geographical regions. In this paper, we address the problem of distributing attributes over such a large-scale sensor network so that the cost of data retrieval is minimized. The proposed scheme is a data-centric storage scheme where the attributes are distributed over the network depending on the correlations between them. The problem addressed here is similar to the Allocation Problem of distributed databases. In this paper, we have defined the Allocation Problem in the context of sensor networks and have proposed a scheme for finding a good distribution of attributes to the sensor network. We also propose an architecture for query processing given such a distribution of attributes. We analytically determine the conditions under which the proposed architecture is beneficial and present simulation results to demonstrate the same. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to determine an allocation of attributes over a sensor network based on the correlations between attributes.