Scanning the Issue

First of all, I would like to wish all Editors, Reviewers, Readers, IETE and Taylor and Francis Staff a very Happy New Year 2020.

The current issue of the IETE Journal of Research (Vol.66, No.1, Jan.-Feb.2020) contains 12 articles. These articles present ongoing research and developments taking place in the broad areas of Computer Science, Electronics, Electromagnetics, Signal Processing, Biomedical Engineering, Control Systems and Power Engineering.

The paper titled “Detection of Highly Motivated Time Segments in Brain Computer Interface Signals”, presents a study of the time-interval distribution of a subject’s motivation during brain computer interface (BCI) experiments and the classification accuracy in terms of highly motivated time intervals and its complement using linear discriminant analysis. The study has been done on BCI competition databases that consist of several channels of EEG recordings of subjects and the results are presented as histogram distributions and RoC plots. The classification results are also compared with other methods from the literature.

The paper on “Digital Calibration of Memory Errors in Passive Sigma-Delta Modulator”, presents an adaptive calibration method to compensate for passive delta-sigma modulator error due to the gain and phase errors in a modulator loop. The errors are determined in the form of output due to 1-bit pseudorandom noise signals that are used for adaptive calibration. The efficacy of the method is explained using simulation studies with first and second-order passive sigma-delta modulators.

The paper “Flexible and Compact Spiral-Shaped Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna for Wireless Applications”, provides design of a compact frequency reconfigurable antenna working at 5 different frequency bands within 4.19 and 7.0 GHz. The different bands basically cover different communication bands. The design has low profile planar structure. The spiral shape is achieved with different strips having lumped elements that allow frequency switching. The results of simulation study and measurements from fabricated antenna are given in terms of return loss, directivity, bandwidth and peak gain, and the same are compared with other reported work.

In the paper “Human Epithelial Type-2 Cell Image Classification Using an Artificial Neural Network with Hybrid Descriptors”, presents an algorithm for human epithelial type-2 cell classification. The contribution of the paper is in the proposal of hybrid features that characterize the texture and morphology of the cells. It uses a classifier based on artificial neural networks. The classification performance for target 6 classes has been studied on standard cell-image database and compared with prior methods.

The following paper on “Improved Reduced-Order Modeling Using Clustering Method with Dominant Pole Retention”, gives a criterion for selection of dominant poles from higher order model that is used for model order reduction. The numerator polynomial of the transfer function is reduced using classical Pade approximation method. The approximation of the reduced-order model with the large-scale system in terms of transient and steady-state responses is presented. The efficacy of the proposed method with several other methods from the literature is also discussed in the paper.

The paper titled “Investigation and Development of 3D Printed Biodegradable PLA as Compact Antenna for Broadband Applications”, investigates the use of biodegradable PLA for creating 3D printed antenna structure. The paper reports the development of three conventional antennas for broadband applications from C-band to Ku-band, and their parametric analyses in simulation study and through measurement from fabricated antennas. Inferences are drawn about their practical applications from the study.

In the paper “Model Predictive Control for Three-Level Cascaded H-bridge D-STATCOM”, the authors present the study of a discrete-time model predictive control method for three-level cascaded H-bridge D-STATCOM. A single objective cost function to control the error in reference and actual current is used to reduce the complexity of optimization. The model is developed and simulation and steady-state performance is analyzed for nonlinear load.

The paper titled “Multi-resonant Bowtie Antenna with Modified Symmetric SRR for Wireless Applications”, presents the design of a multi-resonant bowtie antenna with symmetric split ring resonator as meta-material loading that enables the multiple bands. These multiple bands are in 1.6 to 7.1 GHz and coupled with high gain and has potential applications in telecom services, WLAN etc. The antenna is studied in simulation and through measurement of S-parameters from fabricated antenna.

In the next paper on “Numerical Modelling of Interconnect Electromigration under Non-DC Stressing Conditions”, a numerical model for electromigration failures in metallic interconnects is studied for different current waveforms and considering different effects. Inferences are drawn for various cases of operation.

The following paper titled “Optimal Control of DFIG Wind Energy System in Multi-machine Power System using Advanced Differential Evolution”, presents the study of performance optimization of vector controlled doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind energy system in multi-machine power system scenario under faulty conditions. The parameters of a PU controller are optimized and the performance study is presented through simulations.

The paper on “Performance Evaluation and Filter Design Aspects of Single-Phase Inverter under Different Loading Conditions”, studies power quality issues at the output of an inverter. A single phase inverter output is studied as a function of a filter parameters so as to minimize harmonic content due to modulation effects. The system is studied in simulation environment and inferences are drawn from the study.

The next paper titled “Supercapacitor Module Solely Powering DC–DC Buck Converter for Hand-held Applications”, presents the study of DC-DC buck converter that use two charged super capacitor modules as input. The circuit topology is considered suitable for low and medium voltage applications such as in mobile phones due to advantages such as high rate of charging. Various simulation experiments have been reported in the paper that are used to analyze the circuit design.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shiban K Koul

Shiban K Koul is currently an Emeritus Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He served as Deputy Director (Strategy and Planning) at IIT Delhi from 2012-2016 and Mentor Deputy Director (Strategy & Planning, International Affairs) at IIT Jammu from 2018-2019. He also served as the Chairman of Astra Microwave Products Limited, Hyderabad from 2009-2019 and Dr R.P. Shenoy Astra Microwave Chair Professor at IIT Delhi from 2014-2019. His research interests include: RF MEMS, High Frequency Wireless Communication, Microwave Engineering, Microwave Passive and Active Circuits, Device modeling, Millimeter wave IC Design and Reconfigurable Microwave Circuits including Antennas. He has completed 38 major sponsored projects, 52 consultancy projects and 60 technology development projects. He has authored 440 Papers, 9 state-of-the art Books and 3 Book Chapters. He holds 10 patents and 6 copyrights. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE and Fellow of INAE and IETE. He is the Chief Editor of IETE Journal of Research, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, Cambridge University Press. He served as a Distinguished Microwave Lecturer of IEEE MTT-S for the period 2012-2014.

Recipient of numerous awards including IEEE MTT Society Distinguished Educator Award (2014); Teaching Excellence Award (2012) from IIT Delhi; Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Young Scientist Award (1986); Top Invention Award (1991) of the National Research Development Council for his contributions to the indigenous development of ferrite phase shifter technology; VASVIK Award (1994) for the development of Ka-band components and phase shifters; Ram Lal Wadhwa Gold Medal (1995) from the Institution of Electronics and Communication Engineers (IETE); Academic Excellence Award (1998) from Indian Government for his pioneering contributions to phase control modules for Rajendra Radar; Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award (2009) in the field of Electronics and Information Technology; Vasvik Award (2012) for the contributions made to the area of Information, Communication Technology (ICT) and M N Saha Memorial Award (2013) from IETE.E-mail: [email protected]