Scanning the Issue

The current issue of the IETE Journal of Research (Vol.66, No.2, Mar-Apr 2020) contains 13 articles. These articles present ongoing research and developments taking place in the broad areas of Microwave Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Signal Processing, Control Systems and Power Engineering.

The paper on “A Low Power CMOS UWB LNA with Dual-band Notch Filter Using Forward Body Biasing” presents the design of two ultra-wide and low noise amplifiers in 2.4-10.2 GHz band for communications applications. A method for power optimization is provided. Simulation studies are presented for the maximum power gain, noise figure and input return loss. The performance parameters are compared with other methods proposed in the literature to bring out the relative efficacy of the design.

In the paper titled “A Modified Framework for Multislice Image Fusion for High Contrast Liver Cancer Detection,” the authors present an algorithm for enhancing the edges of computed tomography images of the liver by fusing two adjacent image slices and by performing anisotropic diffusion filtering in the contourlet domain. Subjective and objective assessments are reported on the algorithm's performance to provide insight on the efficacy of the algorithm.

The following paper titled “A New Symmetric Multimodal MIMO Antenna with Reduction of Modal Correlation Coefficient Using TCM,” presents the structure of a four-port antenna on a circular patch in 4.4-5.2 GHz band. It gives four orthogonal radiation patterns with low correlation and high gain. The design provides for obtaining circular polarization by changing the antenna feeding structure. The theory of characteristic modes is used to create orthogonal patterns using pattern diversity for MIMO system applications. The paper discusses the simulation study and assembled antenna performance in terms of scattering matrix parameters, radiation patterns, antenna gain, bandwidth and envelope correlation coefficient.

The paper on “An Illumination Pre-processing Method Using the Enhanced Energy of Discrete Wavelet Transform for Face Recognition,” presents a method for illumination pre-processing to increase facial recognition accuracy. The discrete wavelet transform is used to pre-process the illumination artifacts in multiple two-dimensional bands and increase the image brightness. The performance of the method is compared with other state-of-the-art methods using different image databases using rank one recognition accuracy and inferences are drawn from the study.

In the next paper on “Compact Microstrip Diplexer Based on CRLH Metamaterial Concept,” the design of a microstrip diplexer as a three-port device is given by using two bandpass filters of different center frequencies of 2.4 GHz and 3.5 GHz. Diplexers are useful for multi-service and multi-band communication systems. The design is studied using simulations and compared with measurements. The paper explains the advantages of the diplexers in terms of size, loss, isolation, and selectivity.

The following paper on “Design and Analysis of Memristor-based Combinational Circuits,” presents memristor based combinational circuit designs and compares them with equivalent CMOS circuits. Memristor based design can provide lower transistor count, high speed and low power dissipation. An XOR gate using memristor is designed. The logic circuits include 4:2 priority encoders, 2:4 decoder and BCD to EX-3 code converter. Simulation studies in LTSPICE are done and inferences are presented from the study.

The next paper “Distributed Control for DC Microgrid Based on Optimized Droop Parameters,” presents a droop control method for the parallel operation of DC sources. It addresses the problem of error in equal load sharing and bus voltage regulation. The method uses particle swarm optimization technique to control a DC microgrid for unequal line resistances. The method is studied using simulations and hardware-in-the-loop real-time simulation.

In the paper “Dynamic Economic Dispatch Incorporating Photovoltaic and Wind Generation using Hybrid FPA with SQP,” the authors present the study of effect of wind and photovoltaic energy on conventional power network using dynamic economic dispatch. The effect of random nature of wind and solar power output are studied. The paper also presents an algorithm to reduce the operating cost of generators. Objective function for thermal generators, solar generators and wind generators are given. The algorithm performance is studied based on simulations and the efficacy of the method is discussed.

The following paper “Facial Action Unit Intensity Detection by Extracting Complimentary Information using Distance Metric Learning,” deals with the problem of intensity detection of action units in facial action decoding system that is useful for information extraction from facial expressions. This is done by obtaining geometric deformations and appearance deformations from facial features using thin plate splines and Gabor filters, and support vector machines for intensity detection. The method is evaluated on standard databases and the performance is compared with other methods to establish its efficacy.

The paper on “Fuzzy-based Security-Driven Optimistic Scheduling of Scientific Workflows in Cloud Computing,” presents a method for schedule optimization for allocation of virtual machines for complex workflow structures in cloud computing paradigm. The optimization is based on fuzzy model. The proposed schedule incorporates security constraints and is compared with several other existing scheduling algorithms for cloud environments.

The next paper on “Reconfigurable Corner Truncated Square Microstrip Patch Antennas for Wireless Communication Applications,” presents a compendium of reconfigurable microstrip antenna topologies with polarization reconfiguration, polarization and frequency reconfiguration and practical realization structures with single layer patch. The description includes design, simulation and experimental results from the geometries to provide comparative insight into the available architectures.

The paper on “Sliding Mode Control of Induction Motor Drive Based on Feedback Linearization,” presents a method for the design and control of rotor speed and rotor flux of the feedback linearized induction motor drive. The derived model is studied through simulations and verified with hardware in loop experiment setup. The performance of the controller is compared with PI controllers for stability analysis, step load, speed reversal, and load torque dynamics encompassing different operating conditions and real-time operation.

The paper “Thermal Analysis of Light Source for Optogenetics Experiments,” presents finite element simulation analysis of the thermal behavior and thermal management techniques for Optrode device operating in brain environment. The utility of the work is in providing insight for using light source based implantable nerve stimulation devices for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. The optical characteristics of LED based stimulation and their correlation with thermal behavior is investigated. The paper presents a thermal management system for an Optrode device.

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 2018-2020. 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 445 Papers, 10 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]