WWRF - the Wireless World Research Forum

Third generation mobile radio systems are currently being deployed in different regions of the world. Future systems beyond the third generation are already under discussion in international bodies and forums such as ITU, WWRF and R&D programmes of the European Union and in other regions. These systems will determine the research and standardisation activities in mobile and wireless communication in the next years. Based on experience of the third generation, future systems will be developed mainly from the user perspective with respect to potential services and applications including traffic demands. Therefore, the Wireless World Research Forum was launched in 2001 as a global and open initiative of manufacturers, network operators, SMEs, R&D centres and the academic domain. WWRF is focused on the vision of such systems - the Wireless World-and potential key technologies. This paper describes the international context of activities on systems beyond third generation, the goals, objectives and structure of WWRF, the user perspective as the starting point for a future system design and the key enabling technologies for the Wireless World.     

An application-specific protocol architecture for wireless microsensor networks

Networking together hundreds or thousands of cheap microsensor nodes allows users to accurately monitor a remote environment by intelligently combining the data from the individual nodes. These networks require robust wireless communication protocols that are energy efficient and provide low latency. We develop and analyze low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), a protocol architecture for microsensor networks that combines the ideas of energy-efficient cluster-based routing and media access together with application-specific data aggregation to achieve good performance in terms of system lifetime, latency, and application-perceived quality. LEACH includes a new, distributed cluster formation technique that enables self-organization of large numbers of nodes, algorithms for adapting clusters and rotating cluster head positions to evenly distribute the energy load among all the nodes, and techniques to enable distributed signal processing to save communication resources. Our results show that LEACH can improve system lifetime by an order of magnitude compared with general-purpose multihop approaches.     

Organic Materials and Thin‐Film Structures for Cross‐Point Memory Cells Based on Trapping in Metallic Nanoparticles

Non‐volatile solid‐state memory cells based on composites of metal nanoparticles and polymers are embedded in organic semiconducting host materials. This paper presents data from a wide range of materials and device structures and shows that the switching phenomenon is commonly observed.     

Single‐Source Precursors For Synthesizing Bifunctional Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas

A new class of bifunctional periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) composed of organosilicate building blocks with two different silicon sites have been synthesized from the single‐source bifunctional organosilica precursors tris(triethoxysilylethyl)ethoxysilane and bis(triethoxysilylethyl)diethoxysilane, respectively denoted MT³‐PMO and DT²‐PMO. The synthesis of these PMOs is achieved by the co‐assembly of a triblock‐copolymer Pluronic P123 template with the bifunctional organosilica precursor under acid‐catalyzed and inorganic‐salt‐assisted conditions. After template removal through solvent extraction, the MT³‐PMO and DT²‐PMO so obtained show well‐ordered mesopores and display large pore diameters (6–7 nm) and pore volumes (0.6–0.8 cm³ g^–1) with a narrow pore‐size distribution and high surface areas (700–800 m³ g^–1).     

Nonparametric bootstrapping of the reliability function for multiple copies of a repairable item modeled by a birth process

Nonparametric bootstrap inference is developed for the reliability function estimated from censored, nonstationary failure time data for multiple copies of repairable items. We assume that each copy has a known, but not necessarily the same, observation period; and upon failure of one copy, design modifications are implemented for all copies operating at that time to prevent further failures arising from the same fault. This implies that, at any point in time, all operating copies will contain the same set of faults. Failures are modeled as a birth process because there is a reduction in the rate of occurrence at each failure. The data structure comprises a mix of deterministic & random censoring mechanisms corresponding to the known observation period of the copy, and the random censoring time of each fault. Hence, bootstrap confidence intervals & regions for the reliability function measure the length of time a fault can remain within the item until realization as failure in one of the copies. Explicit formulae derived for the re-sampling probabilities greatly reduce dependency on Monte-Carlo simulation. Investigations show a small bias arising in re-sampling that can be quantified & corrected. The variability generated by the re-sampling approach approximates the variability in the underlying birth process, and so supports appropriate inference. An illustrative example describes application to a problem, and discusses the validity of modeling assumptions within industrial practice.     

Interface characteristics and mechanical properties of carbon fibre reinforced copper composites

Interface characteristics of carbon fibre reinforced copper matrix composites materials with various interface states and their effect on the flexural strength of composites have been studied. Interfacial states are mechanical bonding, dissolution bonding and reaction bonding. To a certain extent, raising the interfacial strength enables an increase in the flexural strength due to prevention of carbon fibre being pulled out under low stress during fracture process of composites. Raising the interfacial bondage strength, causes the brittleness of composites to increase; the fracture surface of composites is converted from a fibre pull-out model to a fibre even model. While strengthening the interface bondage, the extent of chemical reaction and dissolution at the interface must be controlled to avoid degrading the carbon fibre.     

A Constraint-based Approach for Annotating Music Scores with Gestural Information

The physical gestures that operate music instruments are responsible for the qualities of the sound being produced in a performance. Gestural information is thereby crucial for a model of music performance, paired with a model of sound synthesis where this information is applied. The highly constrained nature of performers gestures makes this task suitable to be modeled via a constraint-based approach, coupled with a strategy aimed at maximizing the gestural comfort of performers. We illustrate the problem representation, the search strategy and a validation of the model against human performance.