Mixed control design: Numerical optimization approaches

This paper presents some new approaches to mixed performance control problems of linear systems. The design techniques proposed in this paper are based on numerical search of the norm bounded stable transfer matrix Q in the and suboptimal controller parameterizations so that the additional performance specifications are satisfied. The design problems are then converted to some finite dimensional non-linear unconstrained optimization problems by explicitly parameterizing the or norm bounded stable transfer matrix Q for any fixed order. Finally, some two-stage optimization algorithms are applied to find the optimal parameters. Numerical examples have shown significant performance improvements of the proposed algorithms over those in the existing literature.     

A review of top-down and bottom-up synthesis methods for the production of graphene,graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide

Journal of Materials Science - As nanotechnology floods application areas like medicine, electronics, water remediation, space and textiles, just to name a few, some nanomaterials remain in the...     

Distributed power control with multiuser detection for asynchronous DS-CDMA networks subject to time-delays

If transmission power is increased in a direct-sequence code-division multiple-access network, interference increases, thus reducing network capacity. In this paper, we address these opposite goals of reducing transmission power and increased network capacity by jointly considering power control and multiuser detection. Since propagation delay occurs inevitably during data communication, we present an analysis by considering also that the interference measurement is not available at the transmitter instantaneously but with some time-delay, something that is generally neglected in the literature. This framework is used to investigate the design of a distributed power control strategy enhanced with linear multiuser receivers in an asynchronous uplink channel, subject to multipath and quality of service constraints. Thus, a cross-layer solution that combines a Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian power control scheme with a linear multiuser receiver is proposed to compensate for the round-trip delay and the time-varying channel characteristics in the communication link. Simulation results are used to show the advantages of such scheme in terms of saving energy, increasing network capacity and robustness against propagation delays.     

Distributed power allocation algorithm in wireless networks under SNR constraints

In this work, the distributed power allocation problem in wireless networks is studied under signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) constraints. The sources of uncertainty are assumed to come from the quantization process and measurement noise in the feedback system. The power allocation is formulated as a reference tracking problem of a pre-defined signal to noise-interference ratio. First, the synthesis problem with SNR constraints is studied as a 2-norm minimization process, which is equivalent to a linear-quadratic-regulator (LQR) problem. The solution of the associated Riccati equation in the LQR formulation is completely characterized, resulting in a feedback law with a recurrent structure. This control law is re-written in a transfer function format, where a simple control strategy is obtained which is dependant on the round-trip delay in the feedback system. In addition, the corresponding 2-norm closed-loop performance is also studied. Thus, the selection of the weight in the LQR problem establishes a compromise between robustness to quantization errors and measurement noise, and tracking performance. A comprehensive simulation evaluation validates the analytical derivations described in the paper.     

Transmitter pre-filtering for the downlink of a time-division-duplex/direct sequencecode division multiple access system over time-varying multipath fading channels

In this paper, we investigate an optimised transmitter pre-filtering technique for downlink time-division-duplex (TDD) code division multiple access (CDMA) communications, which employs the conventional matched filter (MF) detector at the mobile receivers. The proposed pre-filtering technique eliminates the multiple-access interference and intersymbol interference (MAI/ISI) effects by applying a very simple transmission scheme that combines a signal transformation with a cyclic prefix strategy under a power constraint condition. Two constrained pre-filtering transformations are suggested depending on the information required at the mobile unit. An open-loop transmitter pre-filtering is first formulated; however, this solution does not consider the properties of the noise at the mobile receiver. A second solution is then presented via a closed-loop transmitter pre-filtering that includes an optimum gain for a given transmit and noise power. Some associated issues such as system efficiency, computational complexity and channel estimation errors are also addressed. Simulation results show that the proposed transmitter pre-filtering scheme can be used to increase the system performance and capacity. In addition, its performance is compared with another similar transmit pre-processing scheme in order to evaluate the performance improvement by the proposed algorithm.     

Bulk production of a new form of sp(2) carbon: crystalline graphene nanoribbons

We report the use of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for the bulk production (grams per day) of long, thin, and highly crystalline graphene ribbons (<20-30 microm in length) exhibiting widths of 20-300 nm and small thicknesses (2-40 layers). These layers usually exhibit perfect ABAB... stacking as in graphite crystals. The structure of the ribbons has been carefully characterized by several techniques and the electronic transport and gas adsorption properties have been measured. With this material available to researchers, it should be possible to develop new applications and physicochemical phenomena associated with layered graphene.     

Robust design of a linear quadratic power control algorithm in multiple-access networks

In wireless networks under interference, power control is of the utmost importance to guarantee Quality of Service during data transmissions. A distributed perspective is commonly preferred to design controllers in each mobile user in the network for power allocation. The round-trip delay is a characteristic feature of wireless networks, and it was considered a known quantity in previous works. In this paper, we do not follow this assumption and propose the design of the power controller only with the information of upper and lower bounds on the round-trip delay as functions of a frequency gain. In a second stage, we relate the proposed robust design to common performance indicators, such as the step response overshoot. The proposed design rules can be applied to design a suitable robust controller for power control in a wireless network subject to interference.     

Electron and phonon renormalization near charged defects in carbon nanotubes

Owing to their influence on electrons and phonons, defects can significantly alter electrical conductance, and optical, mechanical and thermal properties of a material. Thus, understanding and control of defects, including dopants in low-dimensional systems, hold great promise for engineered materials and nanoscale devices. Here, we characterize experimentally the effects of a single defect on electrons and phonons in single-wall carbon nanotubes. The effects demonstrated here are unusual in that they are not caused by defect-induced symmetry breaking. Electrons and phonons are strongly coupled in sp(2) carbon systems, and a defect causes renormalization of electron and phonon energies. We find that near a negatively charged defect, the electron velocity is increased, which in turn influences lattice vibrations locally. Combining measurements on nanotube ensembles and on single nanotubes, we capture the relation between atomic response and the readily accessible macroscopic behaviour.     

Graphene edges: a review of their fabrication and characterization

The current status of graphene edge fabrication and characterization is reviewed in detail. We first compare different fabrication methods, including the chemical vapor deposition method, various ways of unzipping carbon nanotubes, and lithographic methods. We then summarize the different edge/ribbon structures that have been produced experimentally or predicted theoretically. We discuss different characterization tools, such as transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, that are currently used for evaluating the edge quality as well as the atomic structures. Finally, a detailed discussion of defective and folded edges is also presented. Considering the short history of graphene edge research, the progress has been impressive, and many further advances in this field are anticipated.     

A parametric optimization approach to H∞ and H2 strong stabilization

This paper presents an approach for designing stable MIMO H_∞ and H₂ controllers by directly computing the norm-constrained stable transfer matrices Q in the H_∞ and H₂ suboptimal controller parameterizations. This is done by first converting the H₂ and H_∞ strong stabilization problems into some nonlinear unconstrained optimization problems through explicit parameterization of the norm-constrained Q's for any fixed order. Then, a two-stage numerical search is carried out by using a combination of a genetic algorithm and a quasi-Newton algorithm in order to reach an optimal solution. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is illustrated through some benchmark numerical examples.