Robust Kalman filtering for uncertain discrete-time systems with probabilistic parameters bounded within a polytope

We consider the problem of finite horizon discrete-time Kalman filtering for systems with parametric uncertainties. Specifically, we consider unknown but deterministic uncertainties where the uncertain parameters are assumed to lie in a convex polyhedron with uniform probability density. The condition and a procedure for the construction of a suboptimal filter that minimizes an expected error covariance over-bound are derived.     

Robust Estimation of Rotation Angles from Image Sequences Using the Annealing M-Estimator

A robust method is presented for computing rotation angles of image sequences from a set of corresponding points containing outliers. Assuming known rotation axis, a least-squares (LS) solution are derived to compute the rotation angle from a clean data set of point correspondences. Since clean data is not guaranteed, we introduce a robust solution, based on the M-estimator, to deal with outliers. Then we present an enhanced robust algorithm, called the annealing M-estimator (AM-estimator), for reliable robust estimation. The AM-estimator has several attractive advantages over the traditional M-estimator: By definition, the AM-estimator involves neither scale estimator nor free parameters and hence avoids instabilities therein. Algorithmically, it uses a deterministic annealing technique to approximate the global solution regardless of the initialization. Experimental results are presented to compare the performance of the LS, M- and AM-estimators for the angle estimation. Experiments show that in the presence of outliers, the M-estimator outperforms the LS estimator and the AM-estimator outperforms the M-estimator.     

Constrained pole-placement using transformation and LQ-design

A new procedure for constrained pole-placement is presented. The poles of the closed loop system are placed within a circle in the left half plane. The design procedure is noniterative and the solution is obtained via linear quadratic (LQ) design for a transformed system. The circle can be chosen in order to obtain good transient properties of the closed loop system. The method combines the properties of pole-placement and LQ-design.     

Comments on ‘Smallest destabilizing perturbations for linear systems’

A sufficient condition that guarantees the stability of a perturbed continuous time system is derived. It has the advantage that it does not require global minimiza- tion.     

Images of a First‐Order Spin‐Reorientation Phase Transition in a Metallic Kagome Ferromagnet

First‐order phase transitions, where one phase replaces another by virtue of a simple crossing of free energies, are best known between solids, liquids, and vapors, but they also occur in a wide range of other contexts, including even elemental magnets. The key challenges are to establish whether a phase transition is indeed first order, and then to determine how the new phase emerges because this will determine thermodynamic and electronic properties. Here it is shown that both challenges are met for the spin reorientation transition in the topological metallic ferromagnet Fe₃Sn₂. The magnetometry and variable temperature magnetic force microscopy experiments reveal that, analogous to the liquid–gas transition in the temperature–pressure plane, this transition is centered on a first‐order line terminating in a critical end point in the field‐temperature plane. The nucleation and growth associated with the transition is directly imaged, indicating that the new phase emerges at the most convoluted magnetic domain walls for the high temperature phase and then moves to self‐organize at the domain centers of the high temperature phase. The dense domain patterns and phase coexistence imply a complex inhomogenous electronic structure, which can yield anomalous contributions to the electrical conductivity.     

A 980-nm Yb-doped fiber MOPA source and its frequency doubling

A continuous-wave (CW) master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) fiber source, tunable around 978 nm, was frequency-doubled to 488.7 nm. Both the laser and the amplifier were made with cladding-pumped jacketed air-clad Yb-doped fibers. The MOPA generated up to 2.7 W of power in an output beam with an M/sup 2/ value of 1.8. This was frequency-doubled in a periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate crystal at room temperature, in a single-pass configuration. The generated blue light had a CW power of 18.1 mW, a nearly Gaussian spatial intensity profile, and an M/sup 2/ value of 1.7.     

QoS provisioning in cellular networks based on mobility prediction techniques

In cellular networks, QoS degradation or forced termination may occur when there are insufficient resources to accommodate handoff requests. One solution is to predict the trajectory of mobile terminals so as to perform resource reservations in advance. With the vision that future mobile devices are likely to be equipped with reasonably accurate positioning capability, we investigate how this new feature may be used for mobility predictions. We propose a mobility prediction technique that incorporates road topology information, and describe its use for dynamic resource reservation. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the improvement in reservation efficiency compared with several other schemes.     

Combined Magnetic Imaging and Anisotropic Magnetoresistance Detection of Dipolar Skyrmions

Magnetic skyrmions are localized particle-like nontrivial swirls that are promising in building high-performance topological spintronic devices. The read-out functions in skyrmionic devices require the translation of magnetic skyrmions to electrical signals. Here, combined real-space magnetic imaging and anisotropic magnetoresistance studies on dipolar skyrmions are reported. A single skyrmion chain and single skyrmion are observed using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy imaging. Meanwhile, the field, helicity, and skyrmion count dependence of anisotropic magnetoresistance of the Fe₃Sn₂ nanostructures are obtained simultaneously. These results demonstrate that the anisotropic magnetoresistance of skyrmions is independent of the helicity and proportional to the skyrmion count. This study promotes read-out operations in skyrmion-based spintronic devices.     

A computer approach for reliability evaluation of telecommunicationnetworks with heterogeneous link-capacities

The authors present a computer approach to obtaining a survivability index called capacity related reliability (CRR) in large telecommunication networks where links have different capacities. The method is a two-step approach. The first step deals with composite path enumeration (CPE). A k-composite path is defined as the union of the set of edges in any k simple paths and relates link capacity and network connectivity. The CPE approach is an improvement over the algorithms proposed by the authors earlier (1991). In step two, k-composite paths information is manipulated to generate the CRR. The authors use CAREL (computer aided reliability evaluator) to solve this step. The technique is automated using C on the Encore Multimax System. The results on CRR for three networks with various values of minimum message capacity are presented. An exhaustive technique is used to verify these results. An informal proof of the CPE approach is also included     

A fast-lock delay-locked loop architecture with improved precharged PFD

In this paper, a dual charge pump architecture for fast-lock delay-locked loop (DLL) is proposed and analyzed. The proposed fast lock DLL uses only one phase frequency detector (PFD) to perform dual path tuning and a lock control circuit to control the switching between the two path. An improved PFD is proposed to reduce the output jitter by reducing the one-shot pulse produced when the reference signal and feedback signal is in phase. The proposed DLL circuit is designed based on the Silterra 0.18-μm 1P6M CMOS process with a 1.8-V supply voltage. The active area of the proposed DLL circuit is 327.46 × 116.16 μm. An experimental chip was implemented and measured. The measurement results show that the proposed DLL has fast locking properties.