Complexity reduction of signal detection by exploiting correlation characteristics of spreading sequences

In this paper, we propose an approach to reduce the multi‐user detection (MUD) complexity based on user grouping and signal replica classification by exploiting the correlation characteristics of spreading sequences in multipath fading channels. The spreading sequences are constructed from inter‐group complementary codes with a sparse and regular correlation matrix and inherit its attractive auto/cross‐correlation properties. Users are first partitioned into independent user groups according to whether or not there is interference among them, and then the replicas of user signals from the same user group are further classified into independent replica classes. The MUD is carried out within each low‐dimensional user group or replica class, respectively, reducing the MUD complexity substantially. This approach can be applied to most of the existing MUD algorithms for complexity reduction, and in this paper optimal MUD and multi‐stage MUD are exemplified. The analytical and simulated results demonstrate that this approach can reduce the MUD complexity significantly under any load conditions without performance loss. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new model for the performance evaluation of synchronous circuitswitched multistage interconnection networks

Patel (1981) proposed a probabilistic approach to analyze the performance of synchronous multistage interconnection networks (MINs) based on a uniform reference model and the assumption of independent requests. Patel's model and analytical results have been widely adopted by numerous researchers as a basis to investigate various aspects of MINs. We study in detail the effects of the independence assumption on the accuracy of system performance and point out the factors which cause an inaccuracy. A new queueing model is then proposed and is shown to be very accurate. Since only six states are needed, independent of the size of MINs, this new model is very efficient computationally     

Characteristics of large‐scale nanohole arrays for thin‐silicon photovoltaics

Nanostructured crystalline silicon is promising for thin‐silicon photovoltaic devices because of reduced material usage and wafer quality constraint. This paper presents the optical and photovoltaic characteristics of silicon nanohole (SiNH) arrays fabricated using polystyrene nanosphere lithography and reactive‐ion etching (RIE) techniques for large‐area processes. A post‐RIE damage removal etching is subsequently introduced to mitigate the surface recombination issues and also suppress the surface reflection due to modifications in the nanohole sidewall profile, resulting in a 19% increase in the power conversion efficiency. We show that the damage removal etching treatment can effectively recover the carrier lifetime and dark current–voltage characteristics of SiNH solar cells to resemble the planar counterpart without RIE damages. Furthermore, the reflectance spectra exhibit broadband and omnidirectional anti‐reflective properties, where an AM1.5 G spectrum‐weighted reflectance achieves 4.7% for SiNH arrays. Finally, a three‐dimensional optical modeling has also been established to investigate the dimension and wafer thickness dependence of light absorption. We conclude that the SiNH arrays reveal great potential for efficient light harvesting in thin‐silicon photovoltaics with a 95% material reduction compared to a typical cell thickness of 200 µm. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

VLSI implementation of the quadratic-spline W-transform formulti-resolution image processing

The author presents VLSI implementation of a recently proposed quadratic-spline W-matrix transform (W-transform) to be used in multi-resolution image processing applications. The processor can compute W-transforms of any length (even or odd), rather than only those of a power of two length, as in most discrete wavelet transforms. The physical design of the processor based on a 0.6 μm cell library is also included     

Top-down logic design with pass-transistor cells and efficientsynthesiser

A pass-transistor based cell library containing only two types of cells is designed and a corresponding logic/circuit synthesiser developed for logic mapping of any combinational circuit. The proposed design has better performance than the recently proposed lean integration with pass transistors (LEAP) cell library. Furthermore, the modified LEAP cell library can be easily migrated to a new process technology due to the smaller number of cells     

Parallel singular value decomposition of complex matrices usingmultidimensional CORDIC algorithms

The singular value decomposition (SVD) of complex matrices is computed in a highly parallel fashion on a square array of processors using Kogbetliantz's analog of Jacobi's eigenvalue decomposition method. To gain further speed, new algorithms for the basic SVD operations are proposed and their implementation as specialized processors is presented. The algorithms are 3-D and 4-D extensions of the CORDIC algorithm for plane rotations. When these extensions are used in concert with an additive decomposition of 2×2 complex matrices, which enhances parallelism, and with low resolution rotations early on in the SVD process, which reduce operation count, a fivefold speedup can be achieved over the fastest alternative approach     

Preparation and properties of carbon nanotube/polypropylene nanocomposite bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

This study aims at the fabrication of lightweight and high performance nanocomposite bipolar plates for the application in polymer electrode membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The thin nanocomposite bipolar plates (the thickness <1.2 mm) consisting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), graphite powder and PP were fabricated by means of compression molding. Three types of polypropylene (PP) with different crystallinities including high crystallinity PP (HC-PP), medium crystallinity PP (MC-PP), low crystallinity PP (LC-PP) were prepared to investigate the influence of crystallinity on the dispersion of MWCNTs in PP matrix. The optimum composition of original composite bipolar plates was determined at 80 wt.% graphite content and 20 wt.% PP content based on the measurements of electrical and mechanical properties with various graphite contents. Results also indicate that MWCNTs was dispersed better in LC-PP than other PP owing to enough dispersed regions in nanocomposite bipolar plates. This good MWCNT dispersion of LC-PP would cause better bulk electrical conductivity, mechanical properties and thermal stability of MWCNTs/PP nanocomposite bipolar plates. In the MWCNTs/LC-PP system, the bulk electrical conductivities with various MWCNT contents all exceed 100 S cm⁻¹. The flexural strength of the MWCNTs/LC-PP nanocomposite bipolar plate with 8 phr of MWCNTs was approximately 37% higher than that of the original nanocomposite bipolar plate and the unnotched Izod impact strength of MWCNTs/LC-PP nanocomposite bipolar plates was also increased from 68.32 J m⁻¹ (0 phr) to 81.40 J m⁻¹ (8 phr), increasing 19%. In addition, the coefficient of thermal expansion of MWCNTs/LC-PP nanocomposite bipolar plate was decreased from 32.91 μm m⁻¹ °C⁻¹ (0 phr) to 25.79 μm m⁻¹ °C⁻¹ (8 phr) with the increasing of MWCNT content. The polarization curve of MWCNTs/LC-PP nanocomposite bipolar plate compared with graphite bipolar plate was also evaluated. These results confirm that the addition of MWCNTs in LC-PP leads to a significant improvement on the cell performance of the nanocomposite bipolar plate.     

Simulations and experiments for optimal deployment of an RFID‐based location‐aware system

The proliferation of communication and mobile computing devices and local‐area wireless networks has cultivated a growing interest in location‐aware systems and services. An essential problem in location‐aware computing is the determination of physical locations. RFID technologies are gaining much attention, as they are attractive solutions to indoor localization in many healthcare applications. In this paper, we propose a new indoor localization methodology that aims to deploying RFID technologies in achieving accurate location‐aware undertakings with real‐time computation. The proposed algorithm introduces means to improve the accuracy of the received RF signals. Optimal settings for the parameters in terms of reader and reference tag properties were investigated through simulations and experiments. The experimental results indicate that our indoor localization methodology is promising in applications that require fast installation, low cost and high accuracy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.