A new chemically amplified resist for high resolution patterning by E-beam lithography

In this work, we have undertaken evaluation of the lithography property of a recently available chemically amplified resist (CAR) resist, UV1116 supplied by Rohm and Haas Company. Systematic study of the EBL property such as sensitivity, contrast, high resolution limit and dense capability, as well as resistance to plasma dry etching has been carried out. In comparison with the performance of UVIII, we conclude that the UV1116 can be a good alternative with better lithography quality.     

Fabrication and characterization of high extinction ratio transmission polarizers

In this paper, large area nanoimprint lithography on a trilayer resist stack for the nanofabrication of light polarizer was successfully carried out. Large area gratings with 10 mm × 10 mm area and 300 nm pitch were fabricated. The measurement results indicate that our polarizers exhibit extraordinarily high extinction ratio. It is observed that the extinction ratio is dependent on the wavelength. Theoretical simulation also agreed with our measured results very well. The poor reflective polarization property measured in this work was discussed.     

A unified analytical framework for distributed variable step size LMS algorithms in sensor networks

Internet of Things (IoT) is helping to create a smart world by connecting sensors in a seamless fashion. With the forthcoming fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems, IoT is becoming increasingly important since 5G will be an important enabler for the IoT. Sensor networks for IoT are increasingly used in diverse areas, e.g., in situational and location awareness, leading to proliferation of sensors at the edge of physical world. There exist several variable step-size strategies in literature to improve the performance of diffusion-based Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm for estimation in wireless sensor networks. However, a major drawback is the complexity in the theoretical analysis of the resultant algorithms. Researchers use several assumptions to find closed-form analytical solutions. This work presents a unified analytical framework for distributed variable step-size LMS algorithms. This analysis is then extended to the case of diffusion based wireless sensor networks for estimating a compressible system and steady state analysis is carried out. The approach is applied to several variable step-size strategies for compressible systems. Theoretical and simulation results are presented and compared with the existing algorithms to show the superiority of proposed work.     

Effect of Microstructural Anisotropy on Mechanical Behavior of a High-Strength Al–Mg–Si Alloy

The mechanical behavior of an extruded aluminum alloy pipe has been investigated after repeated failures in an oil and gas industry. The pipe failures occurred by longitudinal cracking, and the mechanical properties of the pipe were blamed for the failure. The relevant critical properties of the pipe including basic tests of hardness, tensile, and impact behavior were measured, and extended fatigue testing of the material was conducted. Microstructural examination revealed a recrystallized grain structure and clusters of constituent particles aligned in the direction of extrusion. Tensile testing in both the longitudinal and circumferential directions showed virtually identical yield and tensile strengths. However, the material exhibited higher toughness in the longitudinal direction. Impact test showed that the energy absorbed during fracture was four times higher in the longitudinal direction. Fatigue testing displayed a shorter fatigue life in the transverse direction. The study showed that the microstructure after extrusion and the distribution of the constituent particles have a pronounced effect on the mechanical behavior of the extruded pipe and induced anisotropy in the material performance. Performance of the material can be improved by choosing the proper extrusion ratio to control the microstructure and by controlling the density and distribution of the constituent particles.     

Energy Cooperation with Sleep Mechanism in Renewable Energy Assisted Cellular HetNets

The emerging fifth generation (5G) and beyond radio access networks are expected to be extremely dense and heterogeneous as compared to the current networks, involving a large number of different classes of base stations (BSs), namely macro, micro, femto and pico BSs. Among several performance requirements 5G and beyond systems aim to achieve, energy efficiency is one of the crucial requirements. In order to achieve energy-efficient design in dense heterogeneous 5G networks, various approaches in terms of resource allocation, off-loading techniques, hardware solutions and energy harvesting are being considered. In this regard, this paper develops an energy usage optimization framework in a cellular heterogeneous network (HetNet) consisting of a central macro-BS and a number of micro-BSs, equipped with renewable energy sources (RESs) such as solar panels and wind turbines. The proposed framework incorporates an energy cooperation mechanism along with a sleep mechanism (BS ON/OFF switching), in which the BSs having lean traffic are put into a sleep mode and their traffic load gets shared by the central BS. The surplus harvested energy from RESs of the sleeping BSs can then be sold back to the grid. An optimization problem for maximizing the utilization of RES and minimizing the usage of the traditional sources, such as utility and generator, is formulated and this mixed integer non-linear programming problem is solved through an interior point method. The presented results for various HetNet sizes demonstrate the significant savings in the energy cost with the proposed RES-enabled HetNet sleep mechanism model over the conventional approaches.

     

Efficient visual attention based framework for extracting key frames from videos

The huge amount of video data on the internet requires efficient video browsing and retrieval strategies. One of the viable solutions is to provide summaries of the videos in the form of key frames. The video summarization using visual attention modeling has been used of late. In such schemes, the visually salient frames are extracted as key frames on the basis of theories of human attention modeling. The visual attention modeling schemes have proved to be effective in video summarization. However, the high computational costs incurred by these techniques limit their applicability in practical scenarios. In this context, this paper proposes an efficient visual attention model based key frame extraction method. The computational cost is reduced by using the temporal gradient based dynamic visual saliency detection instead of the traditional optical flow methods. Moreover, for static visual saliency, an effective method employing discrete cosine transform has been used. The static and dynamic visual attention measures are fused by using a non-linear weighted fusion method. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is not only efficient, but also yields high quality video summaries.     

Effective polarization control of metallic planar chiral metamaterials with complementary rosette pattern fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

In this work the interaction between the metallic planar chiral metamaterials (PCM) with complementary rosette pattern and the incident electromagnetic wave was studied theoretically using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Both the evolution of the electric field distribution as the electromagnetic wave propagated through this PCM and the optic activity in near infrared range were investigated. By utilizing nanoimprint lithography technology, we successfully fabricated metallic PCM with complementary rosette pattern with period of 600 nm. The measurement results of polarization rotation capability indicate that by easily tuning the depth of the imprint depth in SU-8, the optical activity of this metallic PCM could be effectively controlled for specific wavelength.     

Failure analysis of an aero engine ball bearing

An aero engine failed due to the misalignment of the ball bearing fitted on the main shaft of the engine. The aero engine incorporates two independent compressors: a six-stage axial flow low-pressure compressor and a nine-stage axial flow high-pressure compressor. The bearing under consideration is a high-pressure-location bearing and is fitted at the rear of the nine-stage compressor. It was supposed to operate for at least 5000 h but failed catastrophically after 1300 h of operation and rendered the engine unserviceable. Unusually high stresses caused by misalignment and uneven axial loading resulted in the generation of fatigue crack(s) in the inner race. When the crack reached the critical size, the collar of the race fractured, causing subsequent damage. The cage also failed due to excessive stresses in the axial direction, and its material was smeared on the steel balls and the outer race.     

Coverage Differentiation Based Adaptive Tx-Power for Congestion and Awareness Control in VANETs

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a copilot for the drivers has a potential to improve traffic safety and efficiency. A key challenge in integrating ICT in vehicular networks is to provide the mechanisms for the delivery of safety messages called beacons. In particular, finding the trade-off between providing sufficient coverage and controlling channel congestion remains the focus in the stipulated amendments for safety message transmissions. In this paper, we handle this trade-off by proposing a Multi-metric Power Control (MPC) approach, which uses application requirements and channel states to determine a transmit power for safety messages. The MPC gives a best-effort approach to satisfy the coverage range requirement of a message as specified by the application. Moreover, the concept distinguishes among message types to provide coverage differentiation. We show that the best-effort approach of providing coverage for different messages can control congestion and as a result improve awareness by minimizing beacon collisions. The performance analysis of MPC using discrete event simulation confirms its practicality.