Error monitoring issues for common channel signaling

Motivated by field data which showed a large number of link changeovers and incidences of link oscillations between in-service and out-of-service states in common channel signalling (CCS) networks, a number of analyses of the link error monitoring procedures in the SS7 protocol were performed by the authors. This paper summarizes the results obtained thus far and include the following: (a) results of an exact analysis of the performance of the error monitoring procedures under both random and bursty errors; (b) a demonstration that there exists a range of error rates within which the error monitoring procedures of SS7 may induce frequent changeovers and changebacks; (c) an analysis of the performance of the SS7 level-2 transmission protocol to determine the tolerable error rates within which the delay requirements can be met; (d) a demonstration that the tolerable error rate depends strongly on various link and traffic characteristics, thereby implying that a single set of error monitor parameters will not work well in all situations; and (e) some recommendations on a customizable/adaptable scheme of error monitoring with a discussion on their implementability. These issues may be particularly relevant in the presence of anticipated increases in SS7 traffic due to widespread deployment of advanced intelligent network (AIN) and personal communications service (PCS) as well as for developing procedures for high-speed SS7 links currently under consideration by standards bodies     

Focusing characteristics of a wide-striped laser diode integratedwith a microlens

We developed a wide-striped laser diode integrated with a microlens that provides good focusing characteristics through a small focusing spot. We calculated and demonstrated that a 60-μm-wide core and a 1.9-μm-high ridge is the best structure for fundamental index-guiding mode oscillation of a wide-striped laser diode. We integrated a wide-striped laser diode with the developed microlens in the Fresnel diffraction held, and demonstrated that a device with a 60-μm-wide core has a minimum focusing spot width of 2.0 μm in the horizontal direction. Also, we estimated the wavefront in the Fresnel diffraction field from the working distance error of a lens designed for a collimated incident beam, and showed that the working distance error, focusing spot width, and sidelobe can be improved by this estimated wavefront     

Dynamic range of coherent analog fiber-optic links

We investigate the performance of coherent analog optical links employing amplitude modulation (AM), phase modulation (PM), and frequency modulation (FM). The performance of these coherent links is compared to that of AM direct-detection (DD) links. The signal-to-noise ratios, nonlinearities, and-spurious-free dynamic ranges (SFDR's) of the foregoing links are evaluated. We calculate the SFDR for links using DFB and Nd:YAG lasers with typical linewidths of 10 MHz and 5 kHz, respectively. The performance of PM and FM links is dominated by phase noise above a critical value of received optical power. For a linewidth of 10 MHz, and SFDR's of PM and FM links are 30 and 31 dB, respectively, for a received optical power above -27 dBm in a 1 GHz bandwidth. For a linewidth of 5 kHz, the corresponding SFDR's above a received power level of 0 dBm are 51 and 53 dB. The performance of DD and AM links is dominated by RIN above a critical value of received optical power. For a RIN level of -155 dB/Hz, the SFDR's of DD and AM links are 49 and 47 dB, respectively, for a received optical power of 10 dBm in a 1 GHz bandwidth. The SFDR's of the DD and coherent links used for transmission of subcarrier-multiplexed (SCM) signals are also derived. We evaluate target laser parameters needed by a number of different applications. For AM video and antenna remoting applications, linewidths of <1 and <3 kHz are required to use PM and FM links, respectively. For FM video, linewidths of <150 and <350 MHz are required to use PM and FM links. For SCM digital applications, linewidths of <80 and <200 MHz are required to use PM and FM links. The paper concludes with a discussion of system implementation issues, including linearization, optical frequency modulation, balanced receivers, and IF issues     

Computationally efficient methods for bit-error rate evaluation inweakly coherent optical systems

A semianalytical method to estimate the bit-error rate performance of nonsynchronous ASK and FSK optical heterodyne systems is presented. This approach takes into account numerous system details with an accuracy similar to Monte-Carlo simulation, but with a computation time reduced by several orders of magnitude. An analytical approximation, based on a closed-form expression for the decision variable moment generating function, is also presented. The results obtained with the semianalytical method and the analytical approximation are compared to Monte-Carlo simulation results and to measurements obtained on a practical FSK system     

A 20-Gb/s silicon bipolar 1:4-demultiplexer IC

This paper presents a 20-Gb/s 1:4-demultiplexer for future fiber-optic transmission systems. It uses an 0.4-μm emitter double polysilicon 21-GHz f_T Si bipolar foundry process. This is the highest data rate of a 1:4-DEMUX reported so far in any technology. The 1:4-DEMUX features a tree-type architecture with one frequency divider and a channel switch circuit. The circuit design was carefully optimized to achieve high speed and moderate power dissipation. It consumes 1.4 W with a single -4.5-V supply     

Ultrahigh and controllable drain current peak-to-valley ratio innegative resistance field-effect transistors with a strained InGaAschannel

Negative resistance field-effect transistor (NERFET) devices using either strained InGaAs or unstrained GaAs channel layers have been fabricated. The strained InGaAs channel NERFET's show strong negative differential resistance and large drain current peak-to-valley ratio. The peak-to-valley ratio of the InGaAs channel NERFET is more than 3000 at room temperature and larger than one million (10⁶) at 77 K. The peak-to-valley ratio is controllable by adjusting the collector voltage     

Large area GaInAsP solar cells grown by gas-source MBE on GaAssubstrates

Large area (1×1 cm²) Ga_0.84In_0.18 As_0.68P_0.32 solar cells with a band-gap of 1.50 eV were grown by gas-source MBE on GaAs substrates. Both n-on-p and p-on-n structures were fabricated and studied. The n-on-p cells showed significantly better total area conversion efficiencies (14.3% at AMO, 1-sun, with 20% of grid obscuration) than p-on-n structures (10.5%, same conditions) due to longer minority carrier lifetimes in the p-type base and heavily doped n-type emitter layers     

Integrated access to heterogeneous data from NCBI

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) was created by Congress in 1988 to provide a stable government entity with a leadership role in coping with the information issues associated with this field. The NCBI Software Toolkit permits software tools to be developed in a heterogeneous environment. The use of abstract syntax notation (ASN.I) allows one to specify and exchange data across systems, and to reach biologists in whatever system they choose to work. However, the relevant data are still accumulated by different groups with different data models, different quality standards, in different subject domains, and with different time courses. NCBI has designed a data model to define a number of key data elements for molecular biology, including bibliographic data, nucleic acid sequence, protein sequence, genetic and physical maps, and the information about them. The model was constructed in as much detail as possible to accommodate the data contained in the heterogeneous sources, while still maintaining a common model