BlueStar: Enabling Efficient Integration Between Bluetooth WPANs and IEEE 802.11 WLANs

Bluetooth is a radio technology for Wireless Personal Area Networking (WPAN) operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. So far, there has been little research on how Bluetooth-enabled devices can effectively and efficiently have uninterrupted access to wide area networks (WAN) such as the Internet. We introduce a novel architecture (BlueStar) whereby selected Bluetooth devices, called Bluetooth Wireless Gateways (BWGs), are also IEEE 802.11 enabled so that these BWGs could serve as egress/ingress points to/from the IEEE 802.11 wireless network. We propose mitigating interference between Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11, by employing a hybrid approach of adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) and Bluetooth carrier sense (BCS) of the channels. AFH labels channels as bad or good, and Bluetooth devices only access those channels in the good state, whereas BCS is used to avoid collision by sensing the channel prior to any transmission. By combining AFH and BCS, we drastically minimize the effect of the worst-case interference scenario wherein both a Bluetooth and an IEEE 802.11 interface are co-located in a single device. BlueStar enables Bluetooth devices, belonging to either a piconet or a scatternet, to access the WAN through the BWG without the need for any fixed Bluetooth access points, while utilizing widely deployed base of IEEE 802.11 networks. Moreover, we define the protocol stack employed by BlueStar as well as indicate how BWGs efficiently manage their capacity allocation through the different systems. We also mathematically derive an upper bound on the number BWGs needed in a Bluetooth scatternet so that uninterrupted access to all Bluetooth devices could be provided.     

Titania and Mixed Titania/Aluminum,Gallium, or Indium Oxide Spheres: Sol–Gel/Template Synthesis and Photocatalytic Properties

Porous polymer beads have been used as templates in which sol–gel chemistry was conducted for the formation of porous titanium dioxide and titania/aluminum, gallium, or indium oxide spheres. The addition of 5, 10, and 15 wt.‐% of the second metal oxide to titania was studied, resulting in little variation in the final porous‐sphere diameter, but in a decreased titania nanocrystal size and an increased specific surface area of the material. The crystallinity of the samples was observed after heating at 550, 750, and 950 °C as anatase to rutile phase transitions became apparent and peaks from the added metal oxide were observed with the increase in temperature. Photocatalytic decomposition of 2‐chlorophenol was monitored in the presence of the titania and titania/metal‐oxide spheres showing that a 5 wt.‐% addition of the second metal oxide gave best photocatalytic results for all the metal oxides studied. At a pH of 6 the pure titania spheres were less photocatalytically active than the Degussa P25 titania, however the mixed titania/5 wt.‐% metal‐oxide samples were more active than the standard in the order In (least active), Ga, then Al (most active). Variation of the solution pH (between pH 2 and 10) had little influence on the photocatalytic activity of the titania/5 wt.‐% aluminum oxide material, more effect on the titanium/5 wt. % gallium oxide, and the most pronounced effect on the titanium/5 wt.‐% indium oxide, with increased activity at higher pH values. The adsorption of pyridine to the titania samples containing the second metal oxide indicated the presence of Lewis‐acid sites.     

Shielding effectiveness of metallic enclosures at oblique and arbitrary polarizations

Shielding effectiveness of metallic enclosures with apertures when illuminated by an oblique incidence arbitrary polarized plane wave has been studied by using an efficient hybrid modal/moment technique. Shielding effectiveness of rectangular enclosures with one, two, and four apertures at multiple points inside the enclosures for various frequencies has been calculated when the illuminating source flies by the front of the enclosure. The work shows that the shielding effectiveness is seriously affected by frequency, angle of incidence and polarization of the illuminating field; the number and orientation of apertures; and the location inside the cavity. It has been shown that the usual assumption about the normal incidence being the worst-case scenario for shielding effectiveness values may not be valid when there is more than one aperture in the cavity. The paper emphasizes the need for the statistical investigation of shielding effectiveness problem of metallic enclosures with apertures.     

Network condition and application‐based data adaptive intelligent message routing in vehicular network

Recent advances in intelligent transportation systems enable a broad range of potential applications that significantly improve the vehicle and road safety and facilitate the efficient dissemination of information among the vehicles. To assist the vehicle traffic, message broadcasting is a widely adopted technique for road safety. But efficient message broadcasting is a significant issue, especially in a high network density due to the broadcast storm problem. To solve this issue, several methods are proposed to eliminate the redundant transmission of safety packets. However, they lack in restricting the broadcasting region of safety messages, and the transmissions of safety packets outside the dangerous region, and force the vehicles to unnecessary detours. This paper proposes an adaptive multimode routing protocol, network condition, and application‐based data adaptive intelligent message routing in vehicular network (NetCLEVER) that supports 2 modes of operation such as message broadcasting and intelligent routing. In message broadcasting mode, the NetCLEVER decides the dangerous region of the network by considering the changes of neighbor vehicles velocity, instead of current vehicle velocity, because a vehicle decision in velocity is interdependent with the preceding vehicles. In intelligent routing mode, the NetCLEVER exploits the cuckoo search optimization in routing by taking into account multiple routing factors such as the road topology of intersections and traffic signals and their impact on link stability, which improves the reliability of routing packets significantly. The performance evaluation illustrates that the proposed NetCLEVER improves reliable wireless communication as well as road safety in vehicular ad hoc networks.     

Effect of cholesteryl additive on poly(ethyl methacrylated)–poly(vinyl acetate) blend

Three different compositions (9 : 1, 7 : 3, and 1 : 1) of poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA) and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) are chosen to check the miscibility of a polymer pair. The 9 : 1 and 7 : 3 PEMA-PVAc blends are immiscible and have shown two distinct loss peaks in dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) studies, while 1 : 1 PEMA-PVAc has shown a single loss peak. Immiscible composition 7 : 3 PEMA-PVAc is selected to study the effect of cholesteryl additives on the miscibility of the polymers. The additives chosen for the present studies are cholesteryl chloride, cholesteryl caprylate, and cholesteryl laurate. The DMA studies showed that all the additives caused a merging of the two loss peaks into one. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies of the blend and blend with additive samples are utilized to get further information. The FTIR studies do not show any detectable change. The SEM micrographs of the blend and cholesteryl additive systems show a single-phase ordered structure, and XRD data studies indicate the presence of small crystallites.     

Dynamic mechanical,thermal and electrical properties of cast polyurethanes prepared using diol curatives

The effect of various diol chain extenders on the thermal, mechanical, electrical and viscoelastic properties of polyurethanes is discussed. Prepolymers were prepared using a polyester (polyethylenepropyleneadipate) and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate. Diol chain extenders were of three types in order to investigate structure–property relationships: (a) α,ω-aliphatic diols; (b) diols with unsaturation present in the chain; and (c) diols with an oxygen atom present in the chain.     

Lithium borosulphate glasses: an analysis of glass transition temperature results

Lithium borosulphate glasses have been prepared in three different series: (a) (42·5 −x)Li₂O:57·5 B₂O₃:xLi₂SO₄; (b) 42·5Li₂O: (57·5 −x)B₂O₃:xLi₂SO₄ and (c) 42·5Li₂O:57·5B₂O₃:xLi₂SO₄. The glass transition temperature (T _g) of these glasses has been analysed on the basis of the fraction of four coordinated boron which governs the glass structure. The analysis reveals that the addition of Li₂SO₄ in series (a) and (b) gives rise to increased value of N₄ whereas, in series (c) it increases the number of non-bridging oxygens.     

An evaluation of starch obtained from pearl millet - Pennisetum typhoides. As a binder and disintegrant for compressed tablets

The binding and disintegrant properties of millet starch obtained from Pearl Millet - Pennisteum typhoides (Staph. Burn, and Hubb.) Fam. Gramineae have been evaluated using tablet formulations of four drugs.

The results showed that Millet starch compared favourably with Maize starch with regards to most of the parameters used to evaluate the tablets. It can be safely concluded that millet starch is suitable for use as a binder and disintegrant in tablet formulations.     

Thermal expansion of strontium tungstate

Accurate lattice parameters of strontium tungstate, an isotype of scheelite, have been determined as a function of temperature by the X-ray powder method in the temperature range 28 to 355° C. Both the lattice parameters are found to increase with temperature. Using these data, the two coefficients of thermal expansion, _a along the a-axis and _a along the c-axis, have been calculated. The temperature dependence of the coefficients could be expressed by the following equations: _a =5.88×10^–6–25.63×10^–10 T + 59.49×10^–12 T ² _c =13.20×10^–6–18.18×10^–10T+71.45×10^–12 T ². Here T is the temperature in °C.