Floor acquisition multiple access (FAMA) in single‐channel wireless networks

The FAMANCS protocol is introduced for wireless LANs and adhoc networks that are based on a single channel and asynchronous transmissions (i.e., no time slotting). FAMANCS (for floor acquisition multiple access with nonpersistent carrier sensing) guarantees that a single sender is able to send data packets free of collisions to a given receiver at any given time. FAMANCS is based on a threeway handshake between sender and receiver in which the sender uses nonpersistent carrier sensing to transmit a requesttosend (RTS) and the receiver sends a cleartosend (CTS) that lasts much longer than the RTS to serve as a busy tone that forces all hidden nodes to back off long enough to allow a collisionfree data packet to arrive at the receiver. It is shown that carrier sensing is needed to support collisionfree transmissions in the presence of hidden terminals when nodes transmit RTSs asynchronously. The throughput of FAMANCS is analyzed for singlechannel networks with and without hidden terminals; the analysis shows that FAMANCS performs better than ALOHA, CSMA, and all prior proposals based on collision avoidance dialogues (e.g., MACA, MACAW, and IEEE 802.11 DFWMAC) in the presence of hidden terminals. Simulation experiments are used to confirm the analytical results.     

A scalable wireless virtual LAN

This paper presents a Wireless Virtual Local Area Network (WVLAN) to support mobility in IPoverATM local area networks. Mobility is handled by a joint ATMlayer handoff for connection rerouting and MAClayer handoff for location tracking, such that the effects of mobility are localized and transparent to the higherlayer protocols. Different functions, such as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), mobile location, and ATM connection admission are combined to reduce protocol overhead and frontend delay for connectionless packet transmission in connectionoriented ATM networks. The proposed WVLAN, through the use of ATM technology, provides a scalable wireless virtual LAN solution for IP mobile hosts.     

Adaptive multicast routing in multirate loss networks

In this paper, we study two versions of the multicast routing problem in multirate loss networks: complete and partial. In the complete version of the multicast routing problem, the identities of all destination nodes are available to the multicast routing algorithm at once. Conversely, in the partial version of the multicast problem, the identities of the destination nodes are revealed to the routing algorithm one by one. Although the complete version of the multicast routing problem, also known as the Steiner tree problem, has been well studied in the literature, less attention has been paid for the definition of link costs and evaluating the performance of multicast routing algorithm from the network revenue point of view. Therefore, in this paper, we first propose two approaches, namely, the Markov Decision Processbased (MDPbased) and Least Loaded Routingbased (LLRbased) approaches, for defining link costs. Several heuristic multicast routing algorithms are then proposed for both fully connected networks and sparsely connected networks. We have also proposed a new performance metric, referred to as fractional reward loss, for evaluating the performance of multicast routing algorithms. Our simulation results indicate that algorithms based on partial destination information yield worse performance than those based on complete information. We also found that, for fully connected networks, algorithms that use LLRbased link costs yield very competitive performance as compared to those that use MDP approach. However, for sparsely connected networks, LLRbased algorithms yield significantly worse performance as compared to the MDPbased algorithms.     

Nonlinear analog networks for image smoothing and segmentation

Image smoothing and segmentation algorithms are frequently formulated as optimization problems. Linear and nonlinear (reciprocal)resistive networks have solutions characterized by an extremum principle. Thus, appropriately designed networks canautomatically solve certain smoothing and segmentation problems in robot vision. This paper considers switched linear resistive networks and nonlinear resistive networks for such tasks. Following [1] the latter network type is derived from the former via an intermediate stochastic formulation, and a new result relating the solution sets of the two is given for the zero temperature limit. We then present simulation studies of several continuation methods that can be gracefully implemented in analog VLSI and that seem to give good results for these nonconvex optimization problems.     

Using a WLFSR to Embed Test Pattern Pairs in Minimum Time

We propose a methodology for reducing the number of test cycles needed by a Weighted LFSR (WLFSR) to reproduce a 2P × W test matrix T of P pattern pairs. The methodology introduces a very small number of extra cells into the WLFSR and uses appropriate combinational mapping logic in order to make the time be equal to that required by a (W + )-bit WLFSR to generate vectors containing the W bits of the first pattern for each pair plus the extra bits. We present an algorithm that makes the value of be less than or equal to log₂, where is the size of the maximum subset of pairs in T with identical first patterns. This is a significant improvement over the time E _P,W · P required by a trivial approach that uses a WLFSR with W cells to generate the first patterns of the pairs and a P × W ROM to store the second patterns of the pairs. Experimental results on the application of the methodology to the embedding of test matrices for path delay faults are particularly encouraging, even for very large numbers of test pattern pairs that are necessary for provably high fault coverage.     

A Kind of Topology Aggregation Algorithm in Hierarchical Wavelength-Routed Optical Networks

In large scale networks composed of several hierarchical subnetworks, topology aggregation is implemented for both scalability and security consideration. However, due to the special characteristic of optical wavelength-routed networks, existing topology aggregation algorithms cannot be applied directly for topology compression. In this paper, we propose a kind of topology aggregation algorithm suitable for hierarchical wavelength-routed optical networks, thereby considering information of residual wavelengths on network links. Basically, our topology aggregation algorithm is based on a transition matrix technique for constructing a full mesh topology and asymmetric star approach for a more compact topology. Simulations with randomly-generated networks show that topology information compression can be achieved with a little loss of its accuracy: the ratio of border node pairs with representation deviation being well below 10%. Results also indicate that the advantage of our algorithm is also behaved on reducing the amount of link-state-advertisement messages and making networks less vulnerable to propagation delay of these messages over communication links. This work is supported by National 863 Program 2003AA122220.     

Simulation‐based performance evaluation of routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper we evaluate several routing protocols for mobile, wireless, ad hoc networks via packetlevel simulations. The ad hoc networks are multihop wireless networks with dynamically changing network connectivity owing to mobility. The protocol suite includes several routing protocols specifically designed for ad hoc routing, as well as more traditional protocols, such as link state and distance vector, used for dynamic networks. Performance is evaluated with respect to fraction of packets delivered, endtoend delay, and routing load for a given traffic and mobility model. Both small (30 nodes) and medium sized (60 nodes) networks are used. It is observed that the new generation of ondemand routing protocols use much lower routing load, especially with small number of peertopeer conversations. However, the traditional link state and distance vector protocols provide, in general, better packet delivery and endtoend delay performance.     

Tree multicast strategies in mobile,multihop wireless networks

Tree multicast is a well established concept in wired networks. Two versions, persource tree multicast (e.g., DVMRP) and shared tree multicast (e.g., Core Based Tree), account for the majority of the wireline implementations. In this paper, we extend the tree multicast concept to wireless, mobile, multihop networks for applications ranging from ad hoc networking to disaster recovery and battlefield. The main challenge in wireless, mobile networks is the rapidly changing environment. We address this issue in our design by: (a) using soft state (b) assigning different roles to nodes depending on their mobility (2level mobility model); (c) proposing an adaptive scheme which combines shared tree and persource tree benefits, and (d) dynamically relocating the shared tree Rendezvous Point (RP). A detailed wireless simulation model is used to evaluate various multicast schemes. The results show that persource trees perform better in heavy loads because of the more efficient traffic distribution; while shared trees are more robust to mobility and are more scalable to large network sizes. The adaptive tree multicast scheme, a hybrid between shared tree and persource tree, combines the advantages of both and performs consistently well across all load and mobility scenarios. The main contributions of this study are: the use of a 2level mobility model to improve the stability of the shared tree, the development of a hybrid, adaptive persource and shared tree scheme, and the dynamic relocation of the RP in the shared tree.     

A unified partitioning and scheduling scheme for mapping multi-stage regular iterative algorithms onto processor arrays

This paper addresses the partitioning and scheduling problems in mapping multi-stage regular iterative algorithms onto fixed size distributed memory processor arrays. We first propose a versatile partitioning model which provides a unified framework to integrate various partitioning schemes such as locally sequential globally parallel, locally parallel globally sequential and multi-projection. To alleviate the run time data migration overhead—a crucial problem to the mapping of multi-stage algorithms, we further relax the widely adopted atomic partitioning constraint in our model such that a more flexible partitioning scheme can be achieved. Based on this unified partitioning model, a novel hierarchical scheduling scheme which applies separate schedules at different processor hierarchies is then developed. The scheduling problem is then formulated into a set of ILP problem and solved by the existing software package for optimal solutions. Examples indicate that our partitioning model is a superset of the existing schemes and the proposed hierarchical scheduling scheme can outperform the conventional one-level linear schedule.     

On the Performance of Pulsed and Spiking Neurons

This tutorial paper presents an annotated overview of existing hardware implementations of Artificial Neural Systems based on Pulse Stream modulations, including also Spiking Neurons. Pulse Streams are quasi-periodic binary waveforms which convey analog information on waveform timing.The theoretical bases of Pulse Stream computation and multiplexing are shown for all the existing techniques. Pulse Stream modulations and multiplexing are then analyzed in terms of accuracy, response time, and both power and energy requirements. The performances of the various techniques are compared both with each other, and with those of other analog computing systems.