The current issue of the IETE Journal of Research (Vol. 62, No. 6, November–December 2016) contains 20 articles. These articles present on-going research and developments taking place in the broad areas of Electromagnetics, Electrical Engineering, Microelectronics, Signal Processing, Computer Science, Photonics and Biomedical Engineering.
The paper on ‘A novel binary spider monkey optimization algorithm for thinning of concentric circular antenna arrays’, presents an optimization algorithm for thinning of circular antenna arrays to reduce the maximum side-lobe level, the cost and size of the antenna array. The optimization is based on modeling the thinning task as a binary integer optimization problem. The performance has been studied through side lobe levels and convergence time and compared with other standard optimization algorithms.
In the next paper on ‘Comparison of Hartley and Fourier transforms in harmonic modelling of five-limb core transformer inrush current’, the authors have given a method to estimate the harmonic components of inrush current for a three-phase five-limb core transformer in the time and frequency domains. The nonlinear model equations of the electric circuit are solved, and the simulation results from the Hartley and Fourier transform methods are compared.
The following paper on ‘Reliability analysis of P+ pickup on anti-ESD performance in four CMOS low-voltage technology nodes’, gives an empirical method to characterize a device's secondary breakdown current using the figure of merit of a N-channel MOSFET device's electrostatic discharge performance. This is used for reliability analysis of 0.6 μm, 0.5 μm, 0.36 μm and 0.18 μm CMOS low-voltage technology nodes. The results from experiments are analyzed from the leakage and snapback I-V characteristics.
The paper titled ‘An efficient 3D elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) based two-server password-only authenticated key exchange protocol with provable security’, gives a password authenticated and key exchange (PAKE) protocol to represent text passwords to provide protection against adversarial attacks in large-scale distributed systems. In the protocol, it is not possible to reclaim passwords from stored credentials when either one or both of the servers get compromised. It provides a provably secure two-server PAKE protocol against offline dictionary attacks.
In the paper ‘Modified ternary Karnaugh map and logic synthesis in ternary quantum dot cellular automata’, a modified mapping technique is given for the realization of ternary proposition logic and minimization in ternary logic synthesis for ternary quantum dot cellular automata (tQCA). The paper presents the tQCA logic circuit and layout design for logic gates. The technique is compared with previously proposed logic minimization technique.
The next paper ‘Exploring the asymmetric characteristics of a double gate MOSFET with linearly graded binary metal alloy gate electrode for enhanced performance’, presents a study of the properties of an asymmetric double gate MOSFET using work function engineering principles. The 2-dimensional analytical modeling of linearly graded asymmetric double gate MOSFET structure is also given to obtain a model for short channel threshold voltage. The performance analysis of the device is given in terms of short channel effect mitigation and reduction in threshold voltage.
The paper on ‘The effect of duty cycle and brightness variation of visual stimuli on SSVEP in brain computer interface systems’, reports the study of information transfer rate by visual stimuli in steady-state visual evoked potential brain computer interface (BCI) systems by visual stimuli. This study focuses on duty cycle and brightness of the stimuli together compared to past studies that considered only one of the changes in the stimuli. Results are presented on improvement of the information transfer rate.
In the paper ‘FPGA design for multi-line acquisition and Ethernet interface in high frame rate ultrasound machines’, an FPGA design for high-frame rate operation of ultrasound instruments is given. The FPGA design incorporates several methods for data rate reduction including moving window, critical window capture and envelope detection. The functional blocks of the FPGA implementation are described. The design has been realized and the acquired image results are given.
The following paper titled ‘Robust actuator and sensor faults reconstruction based on new sliding mode observer for a class of output time-delay systems’, presents a design method based on sliding mode observer (SMO) for observing uncertain time-delay systems. This is relevant for fault detection and isolation tasks. The uncertainty and time-delay are bounded and affect the output of the system. The paper gives sufficient conditions for the stability of the error estimation dynamics. The stability of the estimation error is derived in the paper. The designed SMO is used for an actuator and sensor fault reconstruction. The paper also compares the performance of the given SMO design with other design approaches.
The paper on ‘Total variation based multi feature model for epilepsy detection using support vector machine’, describes an epileptic detection system based on the total variational model. Several features are used such as sample entropy, spectral entropy, total variation, linear prediction coefficients etc. for the detection and classification of EEG signal sub-bands using support vector machines. The results for the classification accuracy for the different sub-bands i.e. Gamma, beta, alpha, theta, and delta, for different combination of features is presented.
In ‘Computer-based system for simulating visual impairments’, the design and evaluation of a computer-based system for simulating the consequences of several eye diseases related to human vision are given. The system is expected to be useful in the testing of assistive devices for visually impaired persons. The system can simulate eye pathologies such as diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, hemianopsia, retinitis, pigmentosa etc. The system performance is evaluated by normal sighted persons for reading and mobility tasks.
The following paper on ‘Improved accuracy in initial search center prediction to fasten motion estimation in h.264/AVC’ gives a two-step approach for enhancing the initial search center accuracy for finding the mean or median of motion vectors of neighborhood blocks in h.264 video coding. The two steps work on the identification of candidate blocks followed by refined search of the center. The approach is studied through simulation experiments and compared with other methods for various video sequences.
In the paper on ‘New modified Euclidean and binary greatest common divisor algorithm’, a method is given for implementing the Euclid algorithm based on modular reduction and reduction based on Binary Greatest Common Divisor algorithm. The worst-case time complexity and bit-time complexity for two n-bit integers are obtained. A parallel implementation version of the GCD algorithm is also described. Inferences are drawn from the performance measures of the given algorithms.
The paper on ‘Development of the radio frequency section of a Ku-band multiple-beam klystron’, gives the design of a four beam klystron. The design and EM simulation of RF cavities is presented. The issues of uniformity of RF coupling between external circuitry and the cavity RF field are presented. The paper also gives the design details of individual cavities, and their simulation performance along with the frequency characterization of a fabricated cavity.
In ‘A 4-channel de-multiplexer based on 2D photonic crystal using line defect resonant cavity’, the design of a 4-channel de-multiplexer with one input and four output waveguides, based on 2D photonic crystal using line defect resonant cavity is given. The utility lies in optical integrated circuits for waveform division de-multiplexer applications. The performance of the de-multiplexer is analyzed through simulation studies in terms of the quality factor, cross talk, and transmission efficiency.
The following paper on ‘Immune feature weighted least squares support vector machine for brain tumor detection using MR images’, is about the detection of brain tumors from medical images. It gives a immune feature weighted least square based support vector machine algorithm for the purpose. The emphasis of the paper is on the optimization of parameters of the least square SVM and the kernel function that have a bearing on the performance. The paper presents theoretical analysis and experimental results and compares the performance with other algorithms.
In the next paper on ‘QRS complex detection in ECG signals using synchro-squeezed wavelet transform’, a method for the detection of QRS complex from an ECG signal is presented. It is relevant for the detection of other waves and segments in the signal that are useful for heart-rate estimation and other parameters. The technique uses the synchro-squeezed wavelet transform and nonlinear mapping to detect the QRS complex and the R-peaks. The performance of the technique is analyzed in the paper.
The paper titled ‘Diabetic retinopathy diagnosis in retinal images using Hopfield neural network’, gives the study of artificial neural network based detection of diabetic retinopathy from retinal images. Several features are extracted and studied for their relevance in diagnosis. The performance is studied on images taken from patients and the results are compared with other methods for detection.
In the paper on ‘A 0.13-μm CMOS PCSNIM LNA for multi-standard 0.9, 1.8, and 2.1 GHz mobile application’, the design of a 0.13-μm CMOS multi-standard power constrained simultaneous noise and input matching low noise amplifier (PCSNIM LNA). The multi-standard design spans the GSM900, DCS1800, and W-CDMA wireless standards. The multi-standard LNA design is compared with the performance of single standard LNA.