Variable rate vector quantization for speech, image, and videocompression

The performance of a vector quantizer can be improved by using a variable-rate code. Three variable-rate vector quantization systems are applied to speech, image, and video sources and compared to standard vector quantization and noiseless variable-rate coding approaches. The systems range from a simple and flexible tree-based vector quantizer to a high-performance, but complex, jointly optimized vector quantizer and noiseless code. The systems provide significant performance improvements for subband speech coding, predictive image coding, and motion-compensated video, but provide only marginal improvements for vector quantization of linear predictive coefficients in speech and direct vector quantization of images. Criteria are suggested for determining when variable-rate vector quantization may provide significant performance improvement over standard approaches     

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.     

A bidirectional vector associative memory architecture with application to neural networks

A bidirectional architecture for associative memory (AM) capable of vector arithmetic operations is proposed. By introducing a pair of masking and tagging mechanisms, the conventional concepts of bit-operations and word-operations in AM have been generalized to row and column operations, respectively. The proposed architecture demonstrates a symmetrical functionality such that associative processing can be performed in both column and row directions. A set of built-in vector arithmetic and logic units (VALU) is designed to perform the basic vector operations, which offers O(max{n, m}) speed-up for vector operations over the conventional AM at an O(n + m) cost for realizing an n × m AM array. As an applicational example, an associative processing implementation for artificial neural networks is presented.     

Copper migration in cdte heterojunction solar cells

CdTe solar cells were fabricated by depositing a Au/Cu contact with Cu thickness in the range of 50 to 150Å on polycrystalline CdTe/CdS/SnO₂/glass structures. The increase in Cu thickness improves ohmic contact and reduces series resistance (R_s), but the excess Cu tends to diffuse into CdTe and lower shunt resistance (R_sh) and cell performance. Light I-V and secondary ion mass spectros-copy (SIMS) measurements were performed to understand the correlations between the Cu contact thickness, the extent of Cu incorporation in the CdTe cells, and its impact on the cell performance. The CdTe/CdS/SnO₂/glass, CdTe/ CdS/GaAs, and CdTe/GaAs structures were prepared in an attempt to achieve CdTe films with different degrees of crystallinity and grain size. A large grain polycrystalline CdTe thin film solar cell was obtained for the first time by selective etching the GaAs substrate coupled with the film transfer onto a glass substrate. SIMS measurement showed that poor crystallinity and smaller grain size of the CdTe film promotes Cu diffusion and decreases the cell performance. Therefore, grain boundaries are the main conduits for Cu migration and larger CdTe grain size or alternate method of contact formation can mitigate the adverse effect of Cu and improve the cell performance.     

太阳能吸附式空气取水器的技术方案及其理论和实验研究

报道了一种太阳能吸附式空气取水器的技术方案，对其进行了原理分析和实验验证。     

Comprehensive study on a novel bidirectional tunnelingprogram/erase NOR-type (BiNOR) 3-D flash memory cell

In this paper a recently proposed bidirectional tunneling program/erase (P/E) NOR-type (BiNOR) flash memory is extensively investigated. With the designated localized p-well structure, uniform Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling is first fulfilled for both program and erase operations in NOR-type array architecture to facilitate low power applications. The BiNOR flash memory guarantees excellent tunnel oxide reliability and is provided with fast random access capability. Furthermore, a three-dimensional (3D) current path in addition to the conventional two-dimensional (2D) conduction is proven to improve the read performance. The BiNOR flash memory is thus promising for low-power, high-speed, and high-reliability nonvolatile memory applications     

MEMS压电-磁电复合式振动能量采集器

具有高能量输出密度的自我供电振动能量采集技术有着迫切的应用需求,是智能化MEMS器件系统发展的重要方向。研究了一种可将外界环境振动能转化为电能的MEMS压电-磁电复合振动能量采集器,其综合了压电发电和磁电发电的优势,为新型MEMS供电研究提供了新思路。利用溶胶-凝胶工艺完成锆钛酸铅(PZT)压电功能薄膜的制备,采用MEMS加工技术完成器件四悬臂梁-中心质量块基础结构的设计和制作,结合集成封装技术实现微结构与永磁铁的微组装。测试结果表明:在一阶谐振频率247 Hz,10 g加速度激励的振动状态下,器件压电部分压电敏感单元与磁电部分电感线圈的单位体积最大有效输出电压分别为2.066×107和5.002×106 mV/cm3。     

LT348电路的研制

本文介绍了ＬＴ３４８的电路、版图和工艺设计。ＬＴ３４８是由四个功能和７４１组件等同而又各自独立的高增益、内补偿、低功耗运放器组成，并且它的电源电流可以和单个的７４１典型运放器相比拟。此外，它还具有比标准７４正低得多的输入失调电流和输入偏流的特征。     

Minimum-energy multicast in mobile ad hoc networks using network coding

The minimum energy required to transmit one bit of information through a network characterizes the most economical way to communicate in a network. In this paper, we show that, under a layered model of wireless networks, the minimum energy-per-bit for multicasting in a mobile ad hoc network can be found by a linear program; the minimum energy-per-bit can be attained by performing network coding. Compared with conventional routing solutions, network coding not only allows a potentially lower energy-per-bit to be achieved, but also enables the optimal solution to be found in polynomial time, in sharp contrast with the NP-hardness of constructing the minimum-energy multicast tree as the optimal routing solution. We further show that the minimum energy multicast formulation is equivalent to a cost minimization with linear edge-based pricing, where the edge prices are the energy-per-bits of the corresponding physical broadcast links. This paper also investigates minimum energy multicasting with routing. Due to the linearity of the pricing scheme, the minimum energy-per-bit for routing is achievable by using a single distribution tree. A characterization of the admissible rate region for routing with a single tree is presented. The minimum energy-per-bit for multicasting with routing is found by an integer linear program. We show that the relaxation of this integer linear program, studied earlier in the Steiner tree literature, can now be interpreted as the optimization for minimum energy multicasting with network coding. In short, this paper presents a unifying study of minimum energy multicasting with network coding and routing.