An animatronic system including lifelike robotic fish

This paper provides an outline of a new animatronic system, based on the technology of the flexible oscillating fin. The oscillating fin propulsion system was designed and constructed to be combined with a ship model. The system's feasibility has been confirmed by tank tests using the ship model. As a result, several advantages of the oscillating fin system have been found. A neural network was successfully applied for an identification of the ship model dynamics with the oscillating fin and its effectiveness was confirmed. The animatronic system is a computer-controlled biomechanically engineered model, rapidly gaining popularity throughout the world. We have developed aquatic robots with oscillating fins for the animatronics system to build a virtual aquarium. We have proposed an exhibition system for enhancing event spaces that includes an animatronic system for modern-day fish, coelacanths, and Cambrian-world creatures, able to swim under their own electric power.     

Low-cost broadband millimetre-wave array antenna using waveguide/microstrip feed network and slot pair

A low-cost broadband millimetre-wave planar 30/spl times/30 array antenna is presented. The antenna is fed by a microstrip feed network in the H-plane to decrease fabrication costs, and a waveguide feed network in the E-plane to reduce the feed line loss. The waveguide and microstrip feed network are coupled through the proposed slot pair. The slots are placed one quarter of a guided-wavelength distance apart, so that the reflected waves from the slots cancel each other. A conductive bar is laid above the slots to increase the coupling, which increases the antenna gain by about 1 dBi. The maximum gain is 30.5 dBi at 41.5 GHz. The measured bandwidth is as broad as 7.1%.     

OFDM systems in the presence of phase noise: consequences and solutions

We provide an exact analysis of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) performance in the presence of phase noise. Unlike most methods which assume small phase noise, we examine the general case for any phase noise levels. After deriving a closed-form expression for the signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR), we exhibit the effects of phase noise by precisely expressing the OFDM system performance as a function of its critical parameters. This helps in understanding the meaning of small phase noise and how it reflects on the proper parameters selection of a specific OFDM system. In order to combat phase noise, we also provide in this paper a general phase-noise suppression scheme, which, by analytical and numerical results, proves to be quite effective in practice.     

Built-in folded monopole antenna for handsets

A built-in folded monopole antenna for handsets (BFMA) is introduced and investigated. The characteristics of the BFMA are compared with those of a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA), which is one of the conventional handset antennas. As a result, it has been confirmed that the BFMA has smaller size and wider bandwidth compared with the PIFA.     

1:4 interpolation FIR filter

A new 1:4 interpolation FIR filter is presented. Using the symmetries of the filter coefficients and the contents of the lookup table (LUT), the two filters for in-phase (I-phase) and quadrature-phase (Q-phase) share the LUT and activate only the selected part of the LUT. Experimental results show that the proposed filter reduces the power consumption and the gate area by 28 and 5% compared to conventional filters.     

Performance of large-size superconducting coil in 0.21T MRI system

A high-temperature superconductor (HTS) was used on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) receiver coils to improve image quality because of its intrinsic low electrical resistivity. Typical HTS coils are surface coils made of HTS thin-film wafers. Their applications are severely limited by the field of view (FOV) of the surface coil configuration, and the improvement in image quality by HTS coil is also reduced as the ratio of sample noise to coil noise increases. Therefore, previous HTS coils are usually used to image small in vitro samples, small animals, or peripheral human anatomies. We used large-size HTS coils (2.5-, 3.5-, and 5.5-in mean diameter) to enhance the FOV and we evaluated their performance through phantom and human MR images. Comparisons were made among HTS surface coils, copper surface coils, and cool copper surface coils in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and sensitivity profile of the images. A theoretical model prediction was also used to compare against the experimental result. We then selected several human body parts, including the wrist, feet, and head, to illustrate the advantage of HTS coil over copper coil when used in human imaging. The results show an SNR gain of 200% for 5.5-in HTS coil versus same size copper coils, while for 2.5- and 3.5-in coils it is 250%. We also address the various factors that affect the performance of large size HTS coils, including the coil-to-sample spacing due to cryogenic probe and the coil-loading effect.     

Disposable smart lab on a chip for point-of-care clinical diagnostics

This paper presents the development of a disposable plastic biochip incorporating smart passive microfluidics with embedded on-chip power sources and integrated biosensor array for applications in clinical diagnostics and point-of-care testing. The fully integrated disposable biochip is capable of precise volume control with smart microfluidic manipulation without costly on-chip microfluidic components. The biochip has a unique power source using on-chip pressurized air reservoirs, for microfluidic manipulation, avoiding the need for complex microfluidic pumps. In addition, the disposable plastic biochip has successfully been tested for the measurements of partial oxygen concentration, glucose, and lactate level in human blood using an integrated biosensor array. This paper presents details of the smart passive microfluidic system, the on-chip power source, and the biosensor array together with a detailed discussion of the plastic micromachining techniques used for chip fabrication. A handheld analyzer capable of multiparameter detection of clinically relevant parameters has also been developed to detect the signals from the cartridge type disposable biochip. The handheld analyzer developed in this work is currently the smallest analyzer capable of multiparameter detection for point-of-care testing.     

A realization of a below-1-V operational and 30-MS/s sample-and-hold IC with a 56-dB signal-to-noise ratio by applying the current-based circuit approach

This paper demonstrates the low-voltage and low-power operation of a MOS sample-and-hold circuit while preserving speed and accuracy, aiming at the realization of a pipelined low-voltage and low-power analog-to-digital converter on a system large-scale integrated circuit. It was fabricated by utilizing 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The main feature of this circuit is that all the input, signals, and output are in the current form. The circuit consists of simple current mirrors. In order to eliminate the signal-dependent current transfer ratio error, voltages at the drain terminals of mirror transistors are fixed as constant. A source degeneration resistor, which is a transistor in the triode operational region, is connected to a mirror transistor in order to alleviate the influence of the threshold and transconductance parameter variations. Control signals are boosted in voltage and applied to the gate of switch NMOS transistors in the signal path in order to reduce the on-resistance of analog switches. A differential configuration is adopted throughout the entire circuit and effectively cancels switch feedthrough errors. As a result, a 30-MS/s operation with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 56 dB from a 1-V supply has been achieved, when the input current is /spl plusmn/200 /spl mu/A. The chip even operated down to 0.85 V with a 20-MHz clock. The SNR was measured as 50 dB with an input current of /spl plusmn/100 /spl mu/A.     

Dielectric properties of tissue-equivalent liquids and their effects on specific absorption rate

The radio frequency safety of mobile phones has been evaluated in terms of specific absorption rate (SAR). Standard methods for measurement of the SAR, including recipes for tissue-equivalent dielectric liquids, have recently been the subject of discussion among international standards organizations. Standards currently recommend glycol-type liquids as tissue-equivalent liquids for frequencies above 1 GHz. Although the ingredients are specified in the recipes provided, some fundamental information, such as the stability of dielectric properties, remains unclear. We measured the change of dielectric properties with time and with temperature of tissue-equivalent liquids recommended in the standard documents, and evaluated their effects on SAR. The conductivity decreased with increasing temperature in all glycol-type specimens. The permittivity, on the other hand, was almost constant. With the evaporation of water, the permittivity decreased, although the conductivities remained constant. Experimental results proved that dielectric properties are affected by environmental conditions, and that it is inevitably necessary to adjust the dielectric properties regularly, through the addition of ingredients, in order to follow the standards. The SAR values, however, were not affected significantly by the change in dielectric properties; thus, a larger tolerance of the dielectric properties may be acceptable in practical SAR measurements.     

A 980-nm Yb-doped fiber MOPA source and its frequency doubling

A continuous-wave (CW) master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) fiber source, tunable around 978 nm, was frequency-doubled to 488.7 nm. Both the laser and the amplifier were made with cladding-pumped jacketed air-clad Yb-doped fibers. The MOPA generated up to 2.7 W of power in an output beam with an M/sup 2/ value of 1.8. This was frequency-doubled in a periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate crystal at room temperature, in a single-pass configuration. The generated blue light had a CW power of 18.1 mW, a nearly Gaussian spatial intensity profile, and an M/sup 2/ value of 1.7.