Wireless LANs: From WarChalking to Open Access Networks

This work discusses the evolution of W-LANs from their current status of wireless termination of LAN services to a possible global infrastructure where the access networks become open to multiple operators and a vehicle of a win-win scenario, where both users and operators benefit from the new network architecture. The idea of Open Access Networks (OANs) can go beyond wireless HotSpots and be generalized to a generic shared access infrastructure that fosters service operators competition and drastically reduces the cost of last mile coverage.The general concept of Open Access Networks is detailed, highlighting its difference with the more traditional model of vertical integration of the access network into the global service. About the OANs development, it is shown how to support the quick and smooth evolution of the infrastructure toward a widespread and reliable communication support.Business models are discussed by mentioning the different actors, the market organization and the different organization forms.The final part of the paper is devoted to technical challenges such as access control, security, privacy, roaming, resource exploitation and service differentiation. As an example of how to tackle these problems, we discuss a pricing technique devoted to resource management and billing support.In addition we present a simulation on how the OAN concept can speed-up the deployment of broadband access in a real case.A preliminary version of this paper with the title “Global Growth of Open Access Networks: from WarChalking and Connection Sharing to Sustainable Business” was presented at WMASH 2003. Roberto Battiti received the Laurea degree from the University of Trento, Italy, in 1985 and the Ph.D. degree from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA, in 1990. He has been a consultant in the area of parallel computing and pattern recognition and since 1991 he has been a faculty member at the University of Trento, where he is now full professor of Computer Networks. His main research interests are heuristic algorithms for optimization problems, in particular reactive search algorithms for maximum clique, maximum satisfiability, graph coloring, networks and massively parallel architectures, code assignment in wireless and cellular networks, protocols for pricing and Quality of Service in wireless networks.Prof. R. Battiti is currently Dean of the international Graduate School in Information and Communication Technologies at Trento, Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Science, member of the advisory committee for the future Telecommunications Plan of the Autonomous Province of Trento. Prof. R. Battiti is associate editor of various scientific journals. He is the author of more than fifty scientific publications, including special issues dedicated to experimental algorithmics and wireless on-demand networks.R. Battiti is a member of IEEE Computer Society and ACM Sigmobile. Renato Lo Cigno is Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications (DIT) of the University of Trento, Italy. He received a Dr. Ing. degree in Electronic Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 1988. From 1989 to 2002 has been with the Telecommunication Research Group of the Electronics Department of Politecnico di Torino.From June 1998 to February 1999, he was at the CS Department at UCLA as Visiting Scholar under grant CNR 203.15.8. He is coauthor of more than 90 journal and conference papers in the area of communication networks and systems. His curent research interests are in performance evaluation of wired and wireless networks, modeling and simulation techniques, flow and congestion control, as well as network management and architecture. Renato Lo Cigno is member of the IEEE Communication Society and ACM Sigcomm. Mikalai Sabel received his master degree in radio physics from Belorussian State University in 2002. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. at the international Graduate School of Information and Communication Technologies at University of Trento, Italy. His research interest include wireless LANs, pricing and incentive engineering, IEEE802.11 MAC protocol. His current research is focused on optimization algorithms that can provide stability and maximum global welfare in a non-cooperative environment where singles tries to maximize their own benefit function. Experimentation of such schemes to pricing techniques and micro-payments in TLC networks provides the application environment of the fundamental research. Fredrik Orava is associate professor at KTH, Stockholm, Sweden. He conducts research into scalable (in terms of cost, capacity, number of users and devices etc.) communication system architectures and technologies. He has a MSc in engineering physics from Uppsala University and a PhD in computer systems also from Uppsala University. He previously held positions as researcher at the Swedish Institute for Computer Science (SICS); senior lecturer and manager of the telecommunications systems laboratory at the department for teleinformatics, KTH; acting professor in telecomunication systems at KTH; director for the Swedish Centre for Internet Technologies; and vice president of Dynarc AB with world wide responsibility for product management. Dynarc AB develops, manufactures and sells IP routers for optical IP networks. Bjorn Pehrson is a professor of telecommunication systems at KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, since 1992, where he has also served as a department chairman and vice dean. He had his PhD from Uppsala University 1975 where he also served as senior lecturer and established a research group in computer and communication technology. During the period 1985-1992 he participated in the establishment of the Swedish Institute of Computer Science. Björn Pehrson research interests are currently focussed on open network topologies allowing different actors forming new value chains to build networks together based on different, sometimes very local business models. The results are applied in testbeds, especially in rural areas and in developing countries.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

Energy Level Engineering in Organic Thin Films by Tailored Halogenation

In modern electronics, it is essential to adapt band structures by adjusting energy levels and band gaps. At first sight, this “band structure engineering” seems impossible in organic semiconductors, which usually exhibit localized electronic states instead of Bloch bands. However, the strong Coulomb interaction in organic semiconductors allows for a continuous shift of the ionization energy (IE) over a wide range by mixing molecules with halogenated derivatives that exhibit different quadrupole moments. Here, this effect of energy level engineering on blends of pentacene and two fluorinated derivatives, in which the position but not the number of fluorine atoms differ, is studied. Structural investigations confirm that pentacene forms intermixed phases in blends with the fluorinated species. The investigation of electronic properties and simulations reveals a much larger shift of the ionization energy (1.5 eV) than in previous studies, allowing to test this model in a range not investigated so far, and emphasizing the role of the position of the halogen atoms. The tuning effect is preserved in electronic devices such as field‐effect transistors and significantly influences device characteristics.     

On Surface Losses in Direct Metal Laser Sintering Printed Millimeter and Submillimeter Waveguides

Different lengths of WR3 (220–330 GHz) and WR10 (75–110 GHz) waveguides are fabricated through direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). The losses in these waveguides are measured and modelled using the Huray surface roughness model. The losses in WR3 are around 0.3 dB/mm and in WR10 0.05 dB/mm. The Huray equation model is accounting relatively good for the attenuation in the WR10 waveguide but deviates more in the WR3 waveguide. The model is compared to finite element simulations of the losses assuming an approximate surface structure similar to the resulting one from the DMLS process.     

Topology Optimization of Segmented Thermoelectric Generators

The thermoelectric (TE) power output, \(f_P\), and conversion efficiency, \(f_{\eta }\), for segmented thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been optimized by spatially distributing two TE materials (BiSbTe and Skutterudite) using a numerical gradient-based topology optimization approach. The material properties are temperature-dependent, and the segmented TEGs are designed for various heat transfer rates at the hot and cold reservoirs. The topology-optimized design solutions are characterized by spike-shaped features which enable the designs to operate in an intermediate state between the material phases. Important design parameters, such as the device dimensions, objective functions and heat transfer rates, are identified, investigated and discussed. Comparing the topology optimization approach with the classical segmentation approach, the performance improvements of \(f_P\) and \(f_{\eta }\) design problems depend on the heat transfer rates at the hot and the cold reservoirs, the objective function and the device dimensions. The largest performance improvements for the problems investigated are \(\approx \) 6%.     

Influence of sous vide processing, steaming and boiling on vitamin retention and sensory quality in broccoli florets

In this study the effect of sous vide processing, steaming and traditional boiling of broccoli florets on retention of ascorbic acid, vitamin B₆ and folacin was investigated. Freshly prepared samples were also sensorily evaluated. In all heat treatments ascorbic acid was found to have the highest retention, and was therefore judged not to be suitable as an indicator for vitamin retention in general. When the three types of heat treatment were compared, boiling showed lowest retention of all the vitamins examined (45–64% in 5 min), whereas sous-vide processing gave the highest retentions (97–100% in 5 min). Retentions during steaming were a little lower (83–100% in 5 min). Sensory evaluation showed that sous-vide cooked and steamed broccoli florets generally had higher acceptability than boiled.

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Bedeutung des Sous-Vide-Kochens, Dämpfens und des üblichen Kochens für die Vitaminerhaltung und die sensorische Qualität in Broccoli-Sträußchen

Zusammenfassung Bei dieser Untersuchung wurde untersucht, in welchem Ausmaß das Sous-Vide-Kochen, Dämpfen und das übliche Kochen von Broccoli-Sträußchen einen Einfluß auf die Retention der Ascorbinsäure bzw. Vitamin-B₆ und Folsäure hat. Frisch hergestellte Proben wurden ebenfalls sensorisch beurteilt. Bei allen Arten der Wärmebehandlung ergab sich, daß die Ascorbinsäure die höchste Retention hatte und daher als ungeeigneter Indikator einer Vitaminretention im allgemeinen ist. Bei Vergleich der drei Arten der Wärmebehandlung hat sich erwiesen, daß das Kochen die niedrigste Retention aller geprüften Vitamine (45–64% in 5 min) ergab, das Sous-Vide-Kochen dagegen die höchste Retention (97–100% in 5 min). Beim Dämpfen war die Retention etwas niedriger (83–100% in 5 min). Die sensorischen Bewertungen zeigten, daß sous-vide-gekochte sowie gedämpfte Broccoli-Sträußchen allgemein von besserer Qualität waren als die gekochten.

     

Alkali retention/separation during bagasse gasification: a comparison between a fluidised bed and a cyclone gasifier

Biomass fuelled integrated gasification/gas turbines (BIG/GTs) have been found to be one of the most promising technologies to maximise electricity output in the sugar industry. However, biomass fuels contain alkali metals (Na and K) which may be released during the gasification processes and cause deleterious effects on the downstream hardware (e.g. the blades of gas turbines). Much research has therefore been focused on different kinds of gas cleaning. Most of these projects are using a fluidised bed gasifier and includes extensive gas cleaning which leads to a high capital investment.

Increasing alkali retention/separation during the gasification may lead to improved producer gas quality and reduced costs for gas cleaning. However, very little quantitative information is available about the actual potential of this effect. In the present work, comparative bench-scale tests of bagasse gasification were therefore run in an isothermal fluidised bed gasifier and in a cyclone gasifier to evaluate which gasification process is most attractive as regards alkali retention/separation, and to try to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the retention.

The alkali retention in the fluidised bed gasifier was found to be in the range of 12–4% whereas in the cyclone gasifier the alkali separation was found to be about 70%. No significant coating of the fluidised bed's bed material particles could be observed. The SEM/EDS and the elemental maps of the bed material show that a non-sticky ash matrix consisting of mainly Si, Al and K were distributed in a solid form separated from the particles of bed material. This indicates the formation of a high temperature melting potassium containing silicate phase, which is continuously scavenged and lost from the bed through elutriation.     

Molecular Heterojunctions of Oligo(phenylene ethynylene)s with Linear to Cruciform Framework

Electrical transport properties of molecular junctions are fundamentally affected by the energy alignment between molecular frontier orbitals (highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) or lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO)) and Fermi level (or work function) of electrode metals. Dithiafulvene (DTF) is used as substituent group to the oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) molecular wires and different molecular structures based on OPE3 backbone (with linear to cruciform framework) are achieved, with viable molecular orbitals and HOMO–LUMO energy gaps. OPE3, OPE3–DTF, and OPE3–tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) can form good self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au substrates. Molecular heterojunctions based on these SAMs are investigated using conducting probe–atomic force microscopy with different tips (Ag, Au, and Pt) and Fermi levels. The calibrated conductance values follow the sequence OPE3–TTF > OPE3–DTF > OPE3 irrespective of the tip metal. Rectification properties (or diode behavior) are observed in case of the Ag tip for which the work function is furthest from the HOMO levels of the OPE3s. Quantum chemical calculations of the transmission qualitatively agree with the experimental data and reproduce the substituent effect of DTF. Zero‐bias conductance, and symmetric or asymmetric couplings to the electrodes are investigated. The results indicate that improved fidelity of molecular transport measurements may be achieved by systematic studies of homologues series of molecular wires applying several different metal electrodes.     

Distributed power generation versus grid extension: an assessment of solar photovoltaics for rural electrification in Northern Ghana

The competitiveness of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation for rural electrification in northern Ghana is assessed and compared with the conventional option of extending the national grid and increasing the capacity for centralised power generation. A model is constructed to calculate the life‐cycle cost (LCC) of the two options and to test the sensitivity of different parameters. All calculations are based on information from the GEF/UNDP pilot region in the East Mamprusi District. In addition to the economic aspect, issues of quality and environmental effects are discussed. The LCC of distributed PV is lower than that of a grid extension for an electricity demand corresponding to solar home systems of 140 W_p or smaller. Thus, distributed PV is cost competitive for purposes of lighting, entertainment, information and basic public facilities, such as schools and hospitals. The LCC for the option of grid extension with central power generation is dominated by the cost of low‐voltage micro‐grids within the communities. Important factors are the density of households and the penetration (fraction of households electrified), as they affect the line length per connected household. The relatively low cost of regional medium‐voltage grids makes the geographical location of each community less important than expected. Battery replacement every fifth year makes up the major part of the LCC of solar home systems and is also responsible for the large energy input in the production of the systems. This could limit both future cost reductions of distributed PV and its potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non-Hierarchical Architected Materials with Extreme Stiffness and Strength

Stretch-dominated truss and plate microstructures are contenders in the quest for realizing architected materials with extreme stiffness and strength. In the low volume fraction limit, closed-cell isotropic plate microstructures meet theoretical upper bounds on stiffness but have low buckling strength, whereas open-cell truss microstructures have high buckling strength at the cost of significantly reduced stiffness. At finite volume fractions, the picture becomes less clear but both are outperformed by hollow truss lattice and hierarchical microstructures in terms of buckling strength. Despite significant advances in manufacturing methods, hollow and multi-scale hierarchical microstructures are still challenging to build. The question is if there exist realizable microstructures providing stiffness and strength matching or even beating hard-to-realize hollow or hierarchical microstructures? Herein, single-scale non-hierarchical (first order) microstructures that beat the buckling strength of hollow truss lattice structures by a factor of 2.4 and first- and second-order plate microstructures by factors of 5 and 1.4, respectively, are systematically designed, built, and tested. Stiffness of the microstructures is within 40% of theoretical bounds and beats both truss and second order plate microstructures. The microstructures are realized with 3D printing. Experiments validate theoretical predictions and additional insight is provided through numerical modeling of a CT-scanned sample.