Electronics

14 pages, 744 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High Velocity Lane Keeping Control Method Based on the Non-Smooth Finite-Time Control for Electric Vehicle Driven by Four Wheels Independently

by Qinghua Meng, Xin Zhao, Chuan Hu and Zong-Yao Sun

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060760 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2405

Abstract

In order to improve the output response and robustness of the lane keeping controller for the electric vehicle driven by four wheels independently (EV-DFWI), the article proposes a lane keeping controller based on the non-smooth finite-time (NoS-FT) control method. Firstly, a lane keeping [...] Read more.

In order to improve the output response and robustness of the lane keeping controller for the electric vehicle driven by four wheels independently (EV-DFWI), the article proposes a lane keeping controller based on the non-smooth finite-time (NoS-FT) control method. Firstly, a lane keeping control (LKC) model was built for the EV-DFWI. Secondly, a tracking method and error weight superposition method to track error computing for the lane keeping control based on the LKC model are proposed according to the lane line information. Thirdly, a NoS-FT controller was constructed for lane keeping. It is proved that the NoS-FT controller can stabilize the system by the direct Lyapunov method. Finally, the simulations were carried out to verify that the NoS-FT controller can keep the vehicle running in the desired lane with the straight road, constant curvature road, varied curvature road, and S-bend road. The simulation results show that the NoS-FT controller has better effectiveness than the PID controller. The contributions of this article are that two kinds of tracking error computing methods of lane keeping control are proposed to deal with different conditions, and a Non-FT lane keeping controller is designed to keep the EV-DFWI running in the desired lane suffering external disturbances. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feasible, Robust and Reliable Automation and Control for Autonomous Systems)

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20 pages, 3008 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enabling Parallelized-QEMU for Hardware/Software Co-Simulation Virtual Platforms

by Edel Díaz, Raúl Mateos, Emilio J. Bueno and Rubén Nieto

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 759; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060759 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4462

Abstract

Presently, the trend is to increase the number of cores per chip. This growth is appreciated in Multi-Processor System-On-Chips (MPSoC), composed of more cores in heterogeneous and homogeneous architectures in recent years. Thus, the difficulty of verification of this type of system has [...] Read more.

Presently, the trend is to increase the number of cores per chip. This growth is appreciated in Multi-Processor System-On-Chips (MPSoC), composed of more cores in heterogeneous and homogeneous architectures in recent years. Thus, the difficulty of verification of this type of system has been great. The hardware/software co-simulation Virtual Platforms (VP) are presented as a perfect solution to address this complexity, allowing verification by simulation/emulation of software and hardware in the same environment. Some works parallelized the software emulator to reduce the verification times. An example of this parallelization is the QEMU (Quick EMUlator) tool. However, there is no solution to synchronize QEMU with the hardware simulator in this new parallel mode. This work analyzes the current software emulators and presents a new method to allow an external synchronization of QEMU in its parallelized mode. Timing details of the cores are taken into account. In addition, performance analysis of the software emulator with the new synchronization mechanism is presented, using: (1) a boot Linux for MPSoC Zynq-7000 (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9) (Xilinx, San Jose, CA, USA); (2) an FPGA-Linux co-simulation of a power grid monitoring system that is subsequently implemented in an industrial application. The results show that the novel synchronization mechanism does not add any appreciable computational load and enables parallelized-QEMU in hardware/software co-simulation virtual platforms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Computer Science & Engineering)

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19 pages, 3226 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Emergency Alert Broadcast Based on the Convergence of 5G and ATSC 3.0

by Yoon-Kwan Byun, Sekchin Chang and Seong Jong Choi

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 758; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060758 - 23 Mar 2021

Viewed by 2396

Abstract

We propose a novel emergency alert broadcast mechanism for mobile phone users, which is based on the convergence of 5G and ATSC 3.0. Cellular networks including 5G adopt a broadcast technique for emergency alert. This technique just delivers a text-based message. Moreover, the [...] Read more.

We propose a novel emergency alert broadcast mechanism for mobile phone users, which is based on the convergence of 5G and ATSC 3.0. Cellular networks including 5G adopt a broadcast technique for emergency alert. This technique just delivers a text-based message. Moreover, the message only includes a limited number of characters. Therefore, cellular networks cannot afford to provide abundant information in emergency cases. Broadcast networks such as ATSC 3.0 also offer an emergency alert broadcast service. This service can deliver a multimedia-based message in emergency cases. Therefore, the ATSC 3.0 supports more abundant information in the cases of emergency alert broadcasts. Especially, the ATSC 3.0 employs wake-up functionality and location information, which enables the delivery of emergency alerts to idle-state receivers in emergency areas. However, it is unlikely that the wake-up functionality and the location information are directly applicable to mobile phone users due to some practical issues. In order to improve the emergency alert broadcast service in mobile environments, we converge the 5G and the ATSC 3.0 networks, which effectively exploits the advantages of the networks. For the convergence network, we suggest a modified table, which associates the 5G message with the ATSC 3.0 message in the cases of emergency alerts. We also present a novel scenario for delivery of the emergency alert messages. Simulation results show that the convergence significantly enhances the receiver performance for emergency alert broadcast. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Networks)

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28 pages, 11387 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Electrothermal Effects in Devices and Arrays in InGaP/GaAs HBT Technology

by Vincenzo d’Alessandro, Antonio Pio Catalano, Ciro Scognamillo, Lorenzo Codecasa and Peter J. Zampardi

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 757; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060757 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3622

Abstract

In this paper, the dc electrothermal behavior of InGaP/GaAs HBT test devices and arrays for power amplifier output stages is extensively analyzed through an efficient simulation approach. The approach relies on a full circuit representation of the domains, which accounts for electrothermal effects [...] Read more.

In this paper, the dc electrothermal behavior of InGaP/GaAs HBT test devices and arrays for power amplifier output stages is extensively analyzed through an efficient simulation approach. The approach relies on a full circuit representation of the domains, which accounts for electrothermal effects through the thermal equivalent of the Ohm’s law and can be solved in any commercial circuit simulator. In particular, the power-temperature feedback is described through an equivalent thermal network automatically obtained by (i) generating a realistic 3-D geometry/mesh of the domain in the environment of a numerical tool with the aid of an in-house routine; (ii) feeding the geometry/mesh to FANTASTIC, which extracts the network without performing simulations. Nonlinear thermal effects adversely affecting the behavior of devices/arrays at high temperatures are included through a calibrated Kirchhoff’s transformation. For the test devices, the thermally-induced distortion in I–V curves is explained, and the limits of the safe operating regions are identified for a wide range of bias conditions. A deep insight into the electrothermal behavior of the arrays is then provided, with particular emphasis on the detrimental nonuniform operation. Useful guidelines are offered to designers in terms of layout and choice of the ballasting strategy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrothermal Effects in Semiconductor Devices/Circuits)

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12 pages, 777 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Framework for Using Humanoid Robots in the School Learning Environment

by Deepti Mishra, Karen Parish, Ricardo Gregorio Lugo and Hao Wang

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 756; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060756 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3317

Abstract

With predictions of robotics and efficient machine learning being the building blocks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, countries need to adopt a long-term strategy to deal with potential challenges of automation and education must be at the center of this long-term strategy. Education [...] Read more.

With predictions of robotics and efficient machine learning being the building blocks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, countries need to adopt a long-term strategy to deal with potential challenges of automation and education must be at the center of this long-term strategy. Education must provide students with a grounding in certain skills, such as computational thinking and an understanding of robotics, which are likely to be required in many future roles. Targeting an acknowledged gap in existing humanoid robot research in the school learning environment, we present a multidisciplinary framework that integrates the following four perspectives: technological, pedagogical, efficacy of humanoid robots and a consideration of the ethical implications of using humanoid robots. Further, this paper presents a proposed application, evaluation and a case study of how the framework can be used. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Educational Robotics)

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17 pages, 2977 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Robust Autoregression with Exogenous Input Model for System Identification and Predicting

by Jiaxin Xie, Cunbo Li, Ning Li, Peiyang Li, Xurui Wang, Dongrui Gao, Dezhong Yao, Peng Xu, Gang Yin and Fali Li

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060755 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2620

Abstract

Autoregression with exogenous input (ARX) is a widely used model to estimate the dynamic relationships between neurophysiological signals and other physiological parameters. Nevertheless, biological signals, such as electroencephalogram (EEG), arterial blood pressure (ABP), and intracranial pressure (ICP), are inevitably contaminated by unexpected artifacts, [...] Read more.

Autoregression with exogenous input (ARX) is a widely used model to estimate the dynamic relationships between neurophysiological signals and other physiological parameters. Nevertheless, biological signals, such as electroencephalogram (EEG), arterial blood pressure (ABP), and intracranial pressure (ICP), are inevitably contaminated by unexpected artifacts, which may distort the parameter estimation due to the use of the L2 norm structure. In this paper, we defined the ARX in the Lp (p ≤ 1) norm space with the aim of resisting outlier influence and designed a feasible iteration procedure to estimate model parameters. A quantitative evaluation with various outlier conditions demonstrated that the proposed method could estimate ARX parameters more robustly than conventional methods. Testing with the resting-state EEG with ocular artifacts demonstrated that the proposed method could predict missing data with less influence from the artifacts. In addition, the results on ICP and ABP data further verified its efficiency for model fitting and system identification. The proposed Lp-ARX may help capture system parameters reliably with various input and output signals that are contaminated with artifacts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Learning and Health Diagnosis Technologies)

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21 pages, 36785 KiB

Open AccessArticle

PSF Analysis of the Inverse Source and Scattering Problems for Strip Geometries

by Ehsan Akbari Sekehravani, Giovanni Leone and Rocco Pierri

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 754; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060754 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3522

Abstract

This paper is concerned with estimating the achievable resolution in the reconstruction of strip sources from the knowledge of its radiated field and strip objects from the knowledge of its scattered field. In particular, the study focuses on the evaluation of the point [...] Read more.

This paper is concerned with estimating the achievable resolution in the reconstruction of strip sources from the knowledge of its radiated field and strip objects from the knowledge of its scattered field. In particular, the study focuses on the evaluation of the point spread function (PSF), providing the reconstruction of a point-like unknown. Since this can be performed only numerically for most geometries, an approximate closed-form evaluation is introduced and compared with the exact one. Numerical results confirm the approximation accuracy, at least in the main lobe region of the PSF, which is the most important, as far as the discussion about resolution is concerned. The main results of the analysis concern the space invariance of the PSF of the considered geometries, which means that resolution is the same over the whole investigation domain, and the appreciation of its values for the inverse source and scattering problems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photonic and Microwave Sensing Developments and Applications)

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16 pages, 1913 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Identification and Prediction of Stalling Events to Improve QoE in Video Streaming

by J.-M. Martinez-Caro and M.-D. Cano

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060753 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1763

Abstract

Monitoring the Quality of user Experience is a challenge for video streaming services. Models for Quality of User Experience (QoE) evaluation such as the ITU-T Rec. P.1203 are very promising. Among the input data that they require are the occurrence and duration of [...] Read more.

Monitoring the Quality of user Experience is a challenge for video streaming services. Models for Quality of User Experience (QoE) evaluation such as the ITU-T Rec. P.1203 are very promising. Among the input data that they require are the occurrence and duration of stalling events. A stalling even5 is an interruption in the playback of multimedia content, and its negative impact on QoE is immense. Given the idiosyncrasy of this type of event, to count it and its duration is a complex task to be automated, i.e., without the participation of the user who visualizes the events or without direct access to the final device. In this work, we propose two methods to overcome these limitations in video streaming using the DASH framework. The first method is intended to detect stalling events. For simplicity, it is based on the behavior of the transport layer data and is able to classify an IP packet as belonging (or not) to a stalling event. The second method aims to predict if the next IP packet of a multimedia stream will belong to a stalling event (or not), using a recurrent neural network with a variant of the Long Short–Term Memory (LSTM). Our results show that the detection model is able to spot the occurrence of a stalling event before being experienced by the user, and the prediction model is able to forecast if the next packet will belong to a stalling event with an error rate of 10.83%, achieving an F1 score of 0.923. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Computer Science & Engineering)

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14 pages, 2045 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Complex-Valued Pix2pix—Deep Neural Network for Nonlinear Electromagnetic Inverse Scattering

by Liang Guo, Guanfeng Song and Hongsheng Wu

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 752; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060752 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2804

Abstract

Nonlinear electromagnetic inverse scattering is an imaging technique with quantitative reconstruction and high resolution. Compared with conventional tomography, it takes into account the more realistic interaction between the internal structure of the scene and the electromagnetic waves. However, there are still open issues [...] Read more.

Nonlinear electromagnetic inverse scattering is an imaging technique with quantitative reconstruction and high resolution. Compared with conventional tomography, it takes into account the more realistic interaction between the internal structure of the scene and the electromagnetic waves. However, there are still open issues and challenges due to its inherent strong non-linearity, ill-posedness and computational cost. To overcome these shortcomings, we apply an image translation network, named as Complex-Valued Pix2pix, on the inverse scattering problem of electromagnetic field. Complex-Valued Pix2pix includes two parts of Generator and Discriminator. The Generator employs a multi-layer complex valued convolutional neural network, while the Discriminator computes the maximum likelihoods between the original value and the reconstructed value from the aspects of the two parts of the complex: real part and imaginary part, respectively. The results show that the Complex-Valued Pix2pix can learn the mapping from the initial contrast to the real contrast in microwave imaging models. Moreover, due to the introduction of discriminator, Complex-Valued Pix2pix can capture more features of nonlinearity than traditional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) by confrontation training. Therefore, without considering the time cost of training, Complex-Valued Pix2pix may be a more effective way to solve inverse scattering problems than other deep learning methods. The main improvement of this work lies in the realization of a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) in the electromagnetic inverse scattering problem, adding a discriminator to the traditional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) method to optimize network training. It has the prospect of outperforming conventional methods in terms of both the image quality and computational efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Microwave and Wireless Communications)

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16 pages, 5935 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of a LoRa Mesh Network for Smart Metering in Rural Locations

by Anup Marahatta, Yaju Rajbhandari, Ashish Shrestha, Ajay Singh, Anup Thapa, Francisco Gonzalez-Longatt, Petr Korba and Seokjoo Shin

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 751; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060751 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3975

Abstract

Accompanying the advancement on the Internet of Things (IoT), the concept of remote monitoring and control using IoT devices is becoming popular. Digital smart meters hold many advantages over traditional analog meters, and smart metering is one of application of IoT technology. It [...] Read more.

Accompanying the advancement on the Internet of Things (IoT), the concept of remote monitoring and control using IoT devices is becoming popular. Digital smart meters hold many advantages over traditional analog meters, and smart metering is one of application of IoT technology. It supports the conventional power system in adopting modern concepts like smart grids, block-chains, automation, etc. due to their remote load monitoring and control capabilities. However, in many applications, the traditional analog meters still are preferred over digital smart meters due to the high deployment and operating costs, and the unreliability of the smart meters. The primary reasons behind these issues are a lack of a reliable and affordable communication system, which can be addressed by the deployment of a dedicated network formed with a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) platform like wireless radio standards (i.e., LoRa devices). This paper discusses LoRa technology and its implementation to solve the problems associated with smart metering, especially considering the rural energy system. A simulation-based study has been done to analyse the LoRa technology’s applicability in different architecture for smart metering purposes and to identify a cost-effective and reliable way to implement smart metering, especially in a rural microgrid (MG). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from International Conference on Smart Media and Applications (SMA 2020))

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23 pages, 1332 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Auditory Uta-Karuta: Development and Evaluation of an Accessible Card Game System Using Audible Cards for the Visually Impaired

by Haruna Miyakawa, Noko Kuratomo, Hisham E. Bilal Salih and Keiichi Zempo

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 750; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060750 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3527

Abstract

Playing board games is important for people with a visually impairment, as it promotes interactive socialization and communication skills. However, some board games are not accessible to them at present. In this study, we proposed an auditory card game system that presents a [...] Read more.

Playing board games is important for people with a visually impairment, as it promotes interactive socialization and communication skills. However, some board games are not accessible to them at present. In this study, we proposed an auditory card game system that presents a card’s contents with auditory stimuli to all players, towards playing equally with others, regardless of whether they have a visual impairment or not as one of the solutions to make board games accessible. This proposal contributes significantly to expand the range of inclusive board games for the visually impaired. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the game allows for fair competition for people with visual impairments and to clarify the effects of the valuable parameters of the system on the players. The effectiveness of the proposed system was verified by having experimental participants play “Auditory Uta-Karuta”. The results suggested that the proposed system has the potential for an accessible board game design regardless of visual impairment. In the following experiment, we investigated the impact of each valuable parameter of the system on the player’s perception of the board games to clarify the appropriate audio cue design method. The results of this experiment will greatly assist in designing an appropriate board game using the proposed system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Sensory Interaction for Blind and Visually Impaired People)

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17 pages, 2377 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Line Chart Understanding with Convolutional Neural Network

by Chanyoung Sohn, Heejong Choi, Kangil Kim, Jinwook Park and Junhyug Noh

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 749; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060749 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4490

Abstract

Visual understanding of the implied knowledge in line charts is an important task affecting many downstream tasks in information retrieval. Despite common use, clearly defining the knowledge is difficult because of ambiguity, so most methods used in research implicitly learn the knowledge. When [...] Read more.

Visual understanding of the implied knowledge in line charts is an important task affecting many downstream tasks in information retrieval. Despite common use, clearly defining the knowledge is difficult because of ambiguity, so most methods used in research implicitly learn the knowledge. When building a deep neural network, the integrated approach hides the properties of individual subtasks, which can hinder finding the optimal configurations for the understanding task in academia. In this paper, we propose a problem definition for explicitly understanding knowledge in a line chart and provide an algorithm for generating supervised data that are easy to share and scale-up. To introduce the properties of the definition and data, we set well-known and modified convolutional neural networks and evaluate their performance on real and synthetic datasets for qualitative and quantitative analyses. In the results, the knowledge is explicitly extracted and the generated synthetic data show patterns similar to human-labeled data. This work is expected to provide a separate and scalable environment to enhance research into technical document understanding. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolutionary Machine Learning for Nature-Inspired Problem Solving)

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17 pages, 27115 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Keyframe Insertion: Enabling Low-Latency Random Access and Packet Loss Repair

by Glenn Van Wallendael, Hannes Mareen, Johan Vounckx and Peter Lambert

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 748; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060748 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2943

Abstract

From a video coding perspective, there are two challenges when performing live video distribution over error-prone networks, such as wireless networks: random access and packet loss repair. There is a scarceness of solutions that do not impact steady-state usage and users with reliable [...] Read more.

From a video coding perspective, there are two challenges when performing live video distribution over error-prone networks, such as wireless networks: random access and packet loss repair. There is a scarceness of solutions that do not impact steady-state usage and users with reliable connections. The proposed solution minimizes this impact by complementing a compression-efficient video stream with a companion stream solely consisting of keyframes. Although the core idea is not new, this paper is the first work to provide restrictions and modifications necessary to make this idea work using the High-Efficiency Video Coding (H.265/HEVC) compression standard. Additionally, through thorough quantification, insight is provided on how to provide low-latency fast channel switching capabilities and error recovery at low quality impact, i.e., less than 0.94 average Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF) score decrease. Finally, worst-case drift artifacts are described and visualized such that the reader gets an overall picture of using the keyframe insertion technique. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multimedia Content Delivery over Mobile Networks)

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16 pages, 7162 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Modeling Small UAV Micro-Doppler Signature Using Millimeter-Wave FMCW Radar

by Marco Passafiume, Neda Rojhani, Giovanni Collodi and Alessandro Cidronali

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 747; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060747 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4830

Abstract

With the increase in small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications in several technology areas, detection and small UAVs classification have become of interest. To cope with small radar cross-sections (RCSs), slow-flying speeds, and low flying altitudes, the micro-Doppler signature provides some of the [...] Read more.

With the increase in small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications in several technology areas, detection and small UAVs classification have become of interest. To cope with small radar cross-sections (RCSs), slow-flying speeds, and low flying altitudes, the micro-Doppler signature provides some of the most distinctive information to identify and classify targets in many radar systems. In this paper, we introduce an effective model for the micro-Doppler effect that is suitable for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar applications, and exploit it to investigate UAV signatures. The latter depends on the number of UAV motors, which are considered vibrational sources, and their rotation speed. To demonstrate the reliability of the proposed model, it is used to build simulated FMCW radar images, which are compared with experimental data acquired by a 77 GHz FMCW multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) cost-effective automotive radar platform. The experimental results confirm the model’s ability to estimate the class of the UAV, namely its number of motors, in different operative scenarios. In addition, the experimental results show that the motors rotation speed does not imprint a significant signature on the classification of the UAV; thus, the estimation of the number of motors represents the only viable parameter for small UAV classification using the micro-Doppler effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Technologies for Vehicular Communications and Autonomous Driving)

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10 pages, 1740 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Object Detection Using Improved Bi-Directional Feature Pyramid Network

by Tran Ngoc Quang, Seunghyun Lee and Byung Cheol Song

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 746; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060746 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2637

Abstract

Conventional single-stage object detectors have been able to efficiently detect objects of various sizes using a feature pyramid network. However, because they adopt a too simple manner of aggregating feature maps, they cannot avoid performance degradation due to information loss. To solve this [...] Read more.

Conventional single-stage object detectors have been able to efficiently detect objects of various sizes using a feature pyramid network. However, because they adopt a too simple manner of aggregating feature maps, they cannot avoid performance degradation due to information loss. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a new framework for single-stage object detection. The proposed aggregation scheme introduces two independent modules to extract global and local information. First, the global information extractor is designed so that each feature vector can reflect the information of the entire image through a non-local neural network (NLNN). Next, the local information extractor aggregates each feature map more effectively through the improved bi-directional network. The proposed method can achieve better performance than the existing single-stage object detection methods by providing improved feature maps to the detection heads. For example, the proposed method shows 1.6% higher average precision (AP) than the efficient featurized image pyramid network (EFIPNet) for the MicroSoft Common Objects in COntext (MS COCO) dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence)

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21 pages, 8605 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Proposal of a Decoupled Structure of Fuzzy-PID Controllers Applied to the Position Control in a Planar CDPR

by Marco Carpio, Roque Saltaren, Julio Viola, Cristian Calderon and Juan Guerra

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 745; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060745 - 22 Mar 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2367

Abstract

The design of robot systems controlled by cables can be relatively difficult when it is approached from the mathematical model of the mechanism, considering that its approach involves non-linearities associated with different components, such as cables and pulleys. In this work, a simple [...] Read more.

The design of robot systems controlled by cables can be relatively difficult when it is approached from the mathematical model of the mechanism, considering that its approach involves non-linearities associated with different components, such as cables and pulleys. In this work, a simple and practical decoupled control structure proposal that requires practically no mathematical analysis was developed for the position control of a planar cable-driven parallel robot (CDPR). This structure was implemented using non-linear fuzzy PID and classic PID controllers, allowing performance comparisons to be established. For the development of this research, first the structure of the control system was proposed, based on an analysis of the cables involved in the movement of the end-effector (EE) of the robot when they act independently for each axis. Then a tuning of rules was carried out for fuzzy PID controllers, and Ziegler–Nichols tuning was applied to classic PID controllers. Finally, simulations were performed in MATLAB with the Simulink and Simscape tools. The results obtained allowed us to observe the effectiveness of the proposed structure, with noticeably better performance obtained from the fuzzy PID controllers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Theory and Applications of Fuzzy Systems and Neural Networks)

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13 pages, 5752 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Shaped-Beam Reflectarray Design by Means of Social Network Optimization (SNO)

by Michele Beccaria, Alessandro Niccolai, Riccardo E. Zich and Paola Pirinoli

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 744; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060744 - 21 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1901

Abstract

In this work, an innovative approach for the design of a shaped-beam reflectarray (RA) is presented. It is based on the use of a novel evolutionary algorithm (EA), named Social Network Optimization (SNO), that presents good capabilities in terms of convergence and reliability, [...] Read more.

In this work, an innovative approach for the design of a shaped-beam reflectarray (RA) is presented. It is based on the use of a novel evolutionary algorithm (EA), named Social Network Optimization (SNO), that presents good capabilities in terms of convergence and reliability, and therefore it is suitable for optimizing a complex problem such as the one of interest. The full-wave analysis of a small–medium configuration designed with the proposed approach and the experimental characterization of a prototype proved the effectiveness of the adopted method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Reflectarray and Transmitarray Antennas)

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18 pages, 6922 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Battery Powered Inductive Welding System for Electrofusion Joints in Optical Fiber Microducts

by Shazad Akram, Johan Sidén and Kent Bertilsson

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 743; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060743 - 21 Mar 2021

Viewed by 2309

Abstract

Optical fiber microducts are joined together by mechanical joints. These mechanical joints are bulky, require more space per joint, and are prone to air pressure leakage and water seepage during service. A battery powered electrofusion welding system with a resistive-type joint has been [...] Read more.

Optical fiber microducts are joined together by mechanical joints. These mechanical joints are bulky, require more space per joint, and are prone to air pressure leakage and water seepage during service. A battery powered electrofusion welding system with a resistive-type joint has been recently developed to replace mechanical joints. These resistive-type electrofusion joints require physical connectors for power input. Due to a different installation environment, the power input connectors of resistive optical fiber microduct joints may corrode over time. This corrosion of connectors will eventually cause water seepage or air pressure leakage in the long run. Moreover, due to connector corrosion, resistive-type optical fiber microduct joints cannot be re-heated in future if the need arises. In this study, an inductively coupled electrofusion-type joint was proposed and investigated. This inductive-type electrofusion joint is not prone to long-term corrosion risk, due to the absence of power connectors. Inductive-type electrofusion joints can be re-heated again for resealing or removal in the long run, as no metal part is exposed to the environment. The battery powered inductive welding system can be easily powered with a 38 volts 160 watt-hour battery. The inductive-type electrofusion joint was welded within one second, and passed a 300-newton pull strength test and a 10-bar air pressure leakage test. It was demonstrated that the power input requirement for inductive electrofusion joints is 64% higher than that of resistive electrofusion joints. However, these inductive joints are relatively easy to manufacture, inexpensive, have no air leakage, and no water seepage risk in highly corrosive environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Power Electronics)

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17 pages, 5497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cooperation-Assisted Spectrum Handover Mechanism in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

by Ming-Chin Chuang

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060742 - 21 Mar 2021

Viewed by 1518

Abstract

This paper proposes a cooperation-assisted spectrum handover (CASH) scheme in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). In CASH, each vehicle uses cognitive radio technology to collect the surrounding spectrum information, computes the stability of the spectrum, exchanges neighbor information by vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration technology, and [...] Read more.

This paper proposes a cooperation-assisted spectrum handover (CASH) scheme in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). In CASH, each vehicle uses cognitive radio technology to collect the surrounding spectrum information, computes the stability of the spectrum, exchanges neighbor information by vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration technology, and then executes a partial prescan mechanism to reduce the handover delay. The proposed method can improve the spectrum utilization, shorten the delay time of the spectrum handover, and reduce the total number of handovers. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms other existing schemes. In spectrum utilization, CASH is about 20% better than that of the traditional full scan method. In average scan time, the time of CASH is about 5 times less than the time of the traditional full scan method. In total number of handovers, CASH improves the performance of the full scan scheme by 33%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Networks)

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15 pages, 5034 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How the Multiplicity of Suggested Information Affects the Behavior of a User in a Recommender System

by Yuseok Ban and Kyungjae Lee

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 741; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060741 - 20 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1814

Abstract

Many researchers have suggested improving the retention of a user in the digital platform using a recommender system. Recent studies show that there are many potential ways to assist users to find interesting items, other than high-precision rating predictions. In this paper, we [...] Read more.

Many researchers have suggested improving the retention of a user in the digital platform using a recommender system. Recent studies show that there are many potential ways to assist users to find interesting items, other than high-precision rating predictions. In this paper, we study how the diverse types of information suggested to a user can influence their behavior. The types have been divided into visual information, evaluative information, categorial information, and narrational information. Based on our experimental results, we analyze how different types of supplementary information affect the performance of a recommender in terms of encouraging users to click more items or spend more time in the digital platform. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Computer Science & Engineering)

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14 pages, 2088 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Motor Indicators for the Assessment of Frozen Shoulder Rehabilitation via a Virtual Reality Training System

by Si-Huei Lee, Shih-Ching Yeh, Jianjun Cui, Chia-Ru Chung, Chang-Hsin Yeh and Lizheng Liu

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 740; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060740 - 20 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2655

Abstract

Adhesive capsulitis (also known as frozen shoulder) is a common clinical shoulder disorder and can be effectively improved through physical rehabilitation. With advancements in technology, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly employed in rehabilitation treatments. However, most relevant studies have merely employed traditional [...] Read more.

Adhesive capsulitis (also known as frozen shoulder) is a common clinical shoulder disorder and can be effectively improved through physical rehabilitation. With advancements in technology, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly employed in rehabilitation treatments. However, most relevant studies have merely employed traditional assessment tools to assess the therapeutic effects rather than the substantial amount of motor trajectory data or task performance collected by motor training systems. In this research, an innovative frozen shoulder rehabilitation system using a Microsoft Kinect sensor and VR was successfully developed and five task-oriented motor indices and task performance were proposed to assess motor performance. A clinical experiment involving twenty patients was conducted. Objective clinical assessment outcomes verified the effectiveness of the developed system for frozen shoulder rehabilitation. The improvements assessed according to motor indices and task performance were consistent with the objective clinical assessment results. Furthermore, correlation analysis showed that several items in the task performance and motor indices were significantly correlated to clinical assessment items. Moreover, numerous items in the task performance and motor indices capable of predicting the clinical assessment results were identified through stepwise regression analysis. The results of this research can facilitate the subsequent development of new assessment methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Augmented Reality in IoT)

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17 pages, 821 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Continuous Automotive Software Updates through Container Image Layers

by Nicholas Ayres, Lipika Deka and Daniel Paluszczyszyn

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 739; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060739 - 20 Mar 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6029

Abstract

The vehicle-embedded system also known as the electronic control unit (ECU) has transformed the humble motorcar, making it more efficient, environmentally friendly, and safer, but has led to a system which is highly dependent on software. As new technologies and features are included [...] Read more.

The vehicle-embedded system also known as the electronic control unit (ECU) has transformed the humble motorcar, making it more efficient, environmentally friendly, and safer, but has led to a system which is highly dependent on software. As new technologies and features are included with each new vehicle model, the increased reliance on software will no doubt continue. It is an undeniable fact that all software contains bugs, errors, and potential vulnerabilities, which when discovered must be addressed in a timely manner, primarily through patching and updates, to preserve vehicle and occupant safety and integrity. However, current automotive software updating practices are ad hoc at best and often follow the same inefficient fix mechanisms associated with a physical component failure of return or recall. Increasing vehicle connectivity heralds the potential for over the air (OtA) software updates, but rigid ECU hardware design does not often facilitate or enable OtA updating. To address the associated issues regarding automotive ECU-based software updates, a new approach in how automotive software is deployed to the ECU is required. This paper presents how lightweight virtualisation technologies known as containers can promote efficient automotive ECU software updates. ECU functional software can be deployed to a container built from an associated image. Container images promote efficiency in download size and times through layer sharing, similar to ECU difference or delta flashing. Through containers, connectivity and OtA future software updates can be completed without inconveniences to the consumer or incurring expense to the manufacturer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles Technological Trends)

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16 pages, 1823 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Atomic Network-Based DOA Estimation Using Low-Bit ADC

by Shuran Sheng, Peng Chen, Yuxuan Yao, Lenan Wu and Zhimin Chen

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 738; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060738 - 20 Mar 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2023

Abstract

In the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation problem, when a low-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) is used, the estimation performance severely deteriorates. In this paper, the DOA estimation problem is considered in a low-cost direction finding system with low-bit ADC. To eliminate [...] Read more.

In the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation problem, when a low-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) is used, the estimation performance severely deteriorates. In this paper, the DOA estimation problem is considered in a low-cost direction finding system with low-bit ADC. To eliminate quantization noise, we propose a novel network ADCnet, which is a composition of fully connected layers and exponential linear unit (ELU) layers, and the input signals are the received signals using low-bit ADC. After the ADCnet, an AtomicNet is also proposed to estimate the DOA from the denoised signals, where atomic vectors are corresponding to the steer vectors. A loss function considering both the reconstruction performance and the sparsity is proposed in the AtomicNet. Different from the exiting atomic norm-based methods, the proposed method can avoid an optimization problem and estimate the DOA with lower computational complexity. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods in the DOA estimation performance using low-bit ADC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Technologies for Vehicular Communications and Autonomous Driving)

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48 pages, 6657 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Extending TOSCA for Edge and Fog Deployment Support

by Andreas Tsagkaropoulos, Yiannis Verginadis, Maxime Compastié, Dimitris Apostolou and Gregoris Mentzas

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 737; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060737 - 20 Mar 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3212

Abstract

The emergence of fog and edge computing has complemented cloud computing in the design of pervasive, computing-intensive applications. The proximity of fog resources to data sources has contributed to minimizing network operating expenditure and has permitted latency-aware processing. Furthermore, novel approaches such as [...] Read more.

The emergence of fog and edge computing has complemented cloud computing in the design of pervasive, computing-intensive applications. The proximity of fog resources to data sources has contributed to minimizing network operating expenditure and has permitted latency-aware processing. Furthermore, novel approaches such as serverless computing change the structure of applications and challenge the monopoly of traditional Virtual Machine (VM)-based applications. However, the efforts directed to the modeling of cloud applications have not yet evolved to exploit these breakthroughs and handle the whole application lifecycle efficiently. In this work, we present a set of Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) extensions to model applications relying on any combination of the aforementioned technologies. Our approach features a design-time “type-level” flavor and a run time “instance-level” flavor. The introduction of semantic enhancements and the use of two TOSCA flavors enables the optimization of a candidate topology before its deployment. The optimization modeling is achieved using a set of constraints, requirements, and criteria independent from the underlying hosting infrastructure (i.e., clouds, multi-clouds, edge devices). Furthermore, we discuss the advantages of such an approach in comparison to other notable cloud application deployment approaches and provide directions for future research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Cloud-Based Service/Application Platforms and Ecosystems)

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10 pages, 3489 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Nonvolatile Analog Switch for Low-Voltage Applications

by Giorgiana-Catalina Ilie (Chiranu), Cristian Tudoran, Otilia Neagoe, Florin Draghici and Gheorghe Brezeanu

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 736; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060736 - 20 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1955

Abstract

In this paper, a nonvolatile switch based on n-type floating-gate transistors is described. The switch states are programmed through the memory cell floating-gate voltage, allowing higher levels than the application supply. Furthermore, due to its nonvolatile nature, the power consumption is reduced. The [...] Read more.

In this paper, a nonvolatile switch based on n-type floating-gate transistors is described. The switch states are programmed through the memory cell floating-gate voltage, allowing higher levels than the application supply. Furthermore, due to its nonvolatile nature, the power consumption is reduced. The on-state resistance, which does not depend on the supply voltage, is one of the greatest advantages of this type of switch in comparison to conventional switches. This benefit can be successfully exploited in low-voltage applications. The switch on-resistance can be increased without the need for increasing the switch area. The characteristics of the proposed switch were confirmed by the experimental results obtained on a test chip fabricated in a 0.18 µm EEPROM process. Measured on-resistance values between 45 and 70 Ω were obtained for a floating-gate voltage of 6.2 V and input source levels below 2 V. The required programming voltage was 18 V. The maximum off-state leakage current was measured at 5 nA. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Circuit and Signal Processing)

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16 pages, 4844 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study and Assessment of Defect and Trap Effects on the Current Capabilities of a 4H-SiC-Based Power MOSFET

by Fortunato Pezzimenti, Hichem Bencherif, Giuseppe De Martino, Lakhdar Dehimi, Riccardo Carotenuto, Massimo Merenda and Francesco G. Della Corte

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 735; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060735 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2981

Abstract

A numerical simulation study accounting for trap and defect effects on the current-voltage characteristics of a 4H-SiC-based power metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is performed in a wide range of temperatures and bias conditions. In particular, the most penalizing native defects in the [...] Read more.

A numerical simulation study accounting for trap and defect effects on the current-voltage characteristics of a 4H-SiC-based power metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is performed in a wide range of temperatures and bias conditions. In particular, the most penalizing native defects in the starting substrate (i.e., EH_6/7 and Z_1/2) as well as the fixed oxide trap concentration and the density of states (DoS) at the 4H-SiC/SiO₂ interface are carefully taken into account. The temperature-dependent physics of the interface traps are considered in detail. Scattering phenomena related to the joint contribution of defects and traps shift the MOSFET threshold voltage, reduce the channel mobility, and penalize the device current capabilities. However, while the MOSFET on-state resistance (R_ON) tends to increase with scattering centers, the sensitivity of the drain current to the temperature decreases especially when the device is operating at a high gate voltage (V_GS). Assuming the temperature ranges from 300 K to 573 K, R_ON is about 2.5 MΩ·µm² for V_GS > 16 V with a percentage variation ΔR_ON lower than 20%. The device is rated to perform a blocking voltage of 650 V. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrical Characterization of Wide Bandgap Devices for Modern Power Electronics)

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17 pages, 6312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wideband Reconfigurable Integrated Low-Pass Filter for 5G Compatible Software Defined Radio Solutions

by Karolis Kiela, Marijan Jurgo, Vytautas Macaitis and Romualdas Navickas

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060734 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2620

Abstract

This article presents a wideband reconfigurable integrated low-pass filter (LPF) for 5G NR compatible software-defined radio (SDR) solutions. The filter uses Active-RC topology to achieve high linearity performance. Its bandwidth can be tuned from 2.5 MHz to 200 MHz, which corresponds to a [...] Read more.

This article presents a wideband reconfigurable integrated low-pass filter (LPF) for 5G NR compatible software-defined radio (SDR) solutions. The filter uses Active-RC topology to achieve high linearity performance. Its bandwidth can be tuned from 2.5 MHz to 200 MHz, which corresponds to a tuning ratio of 92.8. The order of the filter can be changed between the 2nd, 4th, or 6th order; it has built-in process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) compensation with a tuning range of ±42%; and power management features for optimization of the filter performance across its entire range of bandwidth tuning. Across its entire order, bandwidth, and power configuration range, the filter achieves in-band input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) between 32.7 dBm and 45.8 dBm, spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) between 63.6 dB and 79.5 dB, 1 dB compression point (P_1dB) between 9.9 dBm and 14.1 dBm, total harmonic distortion (THD) between −85.6 dB and −64.5 dB, noise figure (NF) between 25.9 dB and 31.8 dB and power dissipation between 1.19 mW and 73.4 mW. The LPF was designed and verified using 65 nm CMOS process; it occupies a 0.429 mm² area of silicon and uses a 1.2 V supply. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analog Microelectronic Circuit Design and Applications)

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14 pages, 7594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

UAV Forensic Analysis and Software Tools Assessment: DJI Phantom 4 and Matrice 210 as Case Studies

by Fahad E. Salamh, Mohammad Meraj Mirza and Umit Karabiyik

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 733; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060733 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5074

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones have created many challenges to the digital forensic field. These challenges are introduced in all processes of the digital forensic investigation (i.e., identification, preservation, examination, documentation, and reporting). From identification of evidence to reporting, there [...] Read more.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones have created many challenges to the digital forensic field. These challenges are introduced in all processes of the digital forensic investigation (i.e., identification, preservation, examination, documentation, and reporting). From identification of evidence to reporting, there are several challenges caused by the data type, source of evidence, and multiple components that operate UAVs. In this paper, we comprehensively reviewed the current UAV forensic investigative techniques from several perspectives. Moreover, the contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) discovery of personal identifiable information, (2) test and evaluation of currently available forensic software tools, (3) discussion on data storage mechanism and evidence structure in two DJI UAV models (e.g., Phantom 4 and Matrice 210), and (4) exploration of flight trajectories recovered from UAVs using a three-dimensional (3D) visualization software. The aforementioned contributions aim to aid digital investigators to encounter challenges posed by UAVs. In addition, we apply our testing, evaluation, and analysis on the two selected models including DJI Matrice 210, which have not been presented in previous works. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Networks and Cyber Security)

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23 pages, 1358 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of 5G-NR-MIMO Links in the Presence of an Interferer

by Avner Elgam, Yael Balal and Yosef Pinhasi

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 732; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060732 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2385

Abstract

Many communication systems are based on the Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) scheme, and Orthogonal Space–time Block Transmit diversity Coding (OSTBC), combined with Maximal Ratio Receive Combining (MRRC), to create an optimal diversity system. A system with optimal diversity fixes and optimizes the [...] Read more.

Many communication systems are based on the Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) scheme, and Orthogonal Space–time Block Transmit diversity Coding (OSTBC), combined with Maximal Ratio Receive Combining (MRRC), to create an optimal diversity system. A system with optimal diversity fixes and optimizes the channel’s effects under multi-path and Rayleigh fading with maximum energy efficiency; however, the challenge does not end with dealing with the channel destruction of the multi-path impacts. Susceptibility to interference is a significant vulnerability in future wireless mobile networks. The 5th Generation New Radio (5G-NR) technologies bring hundreds of small cells and pieces of User Equipment (UE) per indoor or outdoor local area scenario under a specific Long Term Evolution (LTE)-based station (e-NodeB), or under 5G-NR base-station (g-NodeB). It is necessary to study issues that deal with many interference signals, and smart jammers from advanced communication equipment cause deterioration in the links between the UE, the small cells, and the NodeB. In this paper, we study and present the significant impact and performances of

2 \times 2

Alamouti Phase-Shift Keying (PSK) modulation techniques in the presence of an interferer and a smart jammer. The destructive effects affecting the MIMO array and the advanced diversity technique without closed-loop MIMO are analyzed. The performance is evaluated in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) vs. Signal to Interference Ratio (SIR). In addition, we proved the impairment of the orthogonal spectrum assumption mathematically. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enabling-5G)

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10 pages, 2510 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Level Switching of Al-Doped HfO₂ RRAM with a Single Voltage Amplitude Set Pulse

by Jinfu Lin, Shulong Wang and Hongxia Liu

Electronics 2021, 10(6), 731; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10060731 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4848

Abstract

In this paper, the resistive switching characteristics in a Ti/HfO₂: Al/Pt sandwiched structure are investigated for gradual conductance tuning inherent functions. The variation in conductance of the device under different amplitudes and voltage pulse widths is studied. At the same time, [...] Read more.

In this paper, the resistive switching characteristics in a Ti/HfO₂: Al/Pt sandwiched structure are investigated for gradual conductance tuning inherent functions. The variation in conductance of the device under different amplitudes and voltage pulse widths is studied. At the same time, it was found that the variation in switching parameters in resistive random-access memory (RRAM) under impulse response is impacted by the initial conductance states. The device was brought to a preset resistance value range by energizing a single voltage amplitude pulse with a different number of periodicities. This is an efficient and simple programming algorithm to simulate the strength change observed in biological synapses. It exhibited an on/off of about 100, an endurance of over 500 cycles, and a lifetime (at 85 °C) of around 10⁵ s. This multi-level switching two-terminal device can be used for neuromorphic applications to simulate the gradual potentiation (increasing conductance) and inhibition (decreasing conductance) in an artificial synapse. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue RRAM Devices: Materials, Designs, and Properties)

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Electronics, Volume 10, Issue 6 (March-2 2021) – 126 articles

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