Performance analysis of asymptotically optimal noncoherentdetection of trellis-coded multi-amplitude/-phase modulation signals inGaussian noise and ISI channels

Performance upper bounds for noncoherent receivers employed in conjunction with single and multi-amplitude/-phase signals, transmitted over time dispersive and Gaussian noise channels are derived. Based upon a metric which has been previously derived by the authors, we present analytical expressions and computer generated results for the performance of asymptotically optimal noncoherent detection over such channels. As a typical application of the developed theoretical analysis, we consider wideband telecommunication systems. Where time dispersion resulting in intersymbol interference (ISI) is one of the significant sources of system performance degradation. Numerical evaluation of the optimal noncoherent decoding algorithms, shows the proposed bounds to be an effective and efficient means of evaluating the performance of the noncoherent receivers under investigation. Using the derived bounds, performance evaluation results for modulation schemes such as π/4-shift DQPSK (differential quadrature phase shift keying), 8- and 16-DQAM (differential quadrature amplitude modulation), at very low bit-error rates (BER), which would otherwise pose impractically high computational loads when using Monte-Carlo error counting techniques, are readily obtained. At BER>10^-4 evaluation results generated via computer simulation have verified the tightness of the bounds     

Ascent of neotropical migratory fish in the Itaipu Reservoir fish pass

The Piracema Canal is a complex 10‐km fish pass system that climbs 120 m to connect the Paraná River to the Itaipu Reservoir along the Brazil–Paraguay border. The canal was constructed to allow migratory fishes to reach suitable habitats for reproduction and feeding in tributaries upstream from the reservoir. The Piracema Canal attracted 17 of the 19 long‐distance migratory species that have been recorded in the Paraná River Basin and Paraguay–Paraná Basin. However, the incidence of migratory fish decreased from downstream to upstream, with the pattern of decrease depending on species. Overall, 0.5% of the migratory fish that entered the Piracema Canal and segment 1, eventually were able to reach segment 5 and potentially Itaipu Reservoir. Ascension rate was examined relative to various physical attributes of canal segments; maximum water velocity emerged as the most influential variable affecting fish passage. Water velocity may be manipulated by controlling water discharge, and by re‐engineering critical sections of the canal. Because the Itaipu Reservoir flooded a set of falls that separated two distinct biogeographical regions, facilitating fish movements through the Piracema Canal into the Itaipu Reservoir presents a management dilemma that requires deliberation in the context of the fish assemblages rather than on selected migratory species. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Secure communication mechanism for ubiquitous Smart grid infrastructure

Smart grid and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technologies have recently been the focus of rapid advancement and significant investment by many utilities and other service providers. For proper Smart grid deployment, smart energy home area network (HAN) must deploy smart meter along with other utility HAN devices and customer HAN devices. Energy service interface (ESI) is deployed as a HAN gateway which can provide two-way communications between HAN devices and utilities or service providers. However, in order to meet the envisioned functional, reliability, and scalability requirements of the Smart grid, cyber security must no longer be neglected. Thus, the development of a comprehensive security mechanism for AMI network is predominantly essential. A remote access to HAN devices may be required for either the customer that using his ubiquitous mobile device at the remote site or maintenance personals (either from utilities or service providers) those using handheld devices, which must be done securely. In this paper, we propose a security mechanism for remote access to HAN networks which is comprised of a lightweight and effective ECC-based entity authentication mechanism and ECC-based digital signature scheme. ECC-based entity authentication mechanism allows ESI as a gatekeeper to monitor the authentication process between two communicating entities. With a modified ECC-based digital signature scheme, secure data transfer between mobile devices and HAN devices has occurred. We have conducted security analysis, efficiency analysis as well as formal verification of the proposed mechanism.     

Bidirectional connectivity via fish ladders in a large Neotropical river: Response to a comment

In a recent article, we described fitting electronic tags to the fish Prochilodus lineatus to document how a fishway connected aquatic habitats downstream and upstream of a major dam. Moreover, given that tagged fish remained upstream or downstream for periods extending months and years before returning to the fishway, and that observed patterns of passage were consistent with seasonal migratory cycles, and building on existing literature, we speculated that the fishway allows fish access to spawning habitats upstream and feeding habitats downstream. Our interpretation of the movement data resulted in several comments from Pelicice, Pompeu, and Agostinho (2020) and they outline various reasons by which, in their opinion, some of our conclusions may be mistaken. Their critique is threefold. First, they argue that the percentage of fish attracted into the fishway is too low to consider the fishway an effective link between the reservoir and the river downstream. We contend that without estimates of population size it is impossible to judge if 28% passage is “limited”; conceivably, the absolute number of fish passed may still be enough to maintain a viable population. Second, they assert that because receivers were located only in the fishway it is unknown if fish that used the fishway remained near the dam, or if they continued their migration. We counter with a brief literature review that documents P. lineatus migrating through reservoirs and spawning in tributaries. Third, they advocate for a broader conservation perspective and for additional research. We agree and, in the article, had already expressed this view that fishways are only a temporary fix and that we support their use only as an element of a broader environmental management package. We also agree with the need for more research but argue that procrastinating on conservation action may not be wise because we do not know if the research will be done, how long it will take, or what the cost may be of waiting.     

Dual-Space Diversity over Land Mobile Satellite Channels Operating in the L and K Frequency Bands

Land mobile satellite communication systems at Ka/K band (30/20 GHz) are attracting more and more attention to researchers because of its frequency band availability and the possibility of using small earth stations and satellite antennas for the systems. However, the Ka/K-band communications also give significant challenges in the system design due to severe channel impairments expected from the satellite links. In this paper, K-band channel characteristics are studied and compared with those at L band. The channel is modeled as Rayleigh multipath fading with the line-of-sight (LOS) component following a lognormal distribution. The first and second-order statistics of the fading channel are studied. Dual-space diversity reception is investigated to combat the flat channel fading. The bit error rate performance of coherent binary phase shift keying (BPSK) with ideal bit and carrier phase synchronization over the fading channel at K band is evaluated theoretically and verified by computer simulations in the case with and without diversity reception.     

Performance aspects of data broadcast in wireless networks with user retrials

The user retrial phenomenon and its significant impact on network performance in unicast wireless systems are known and relatively well studied in the literature. However, there have been no previous studies on the impact of the user retrial phenomenon on other types of wireless networks. The objective of this paper is to extend the analysis of the user retrial phenomenon to wireless systems which, in addition to unicast service, also support a data broadcast service. This objective is realized by defining several performance measures appropriate for the analysis of hybrid unicast-broadcast systems in the presence of users' retrials. Subsequently, we derive the exact mathematical expression for each of the measures. Based on these expressions, we prove the existence of a single broadcast scheduling scheme, which ensures optimal system performance, with respect to the given set of proposed measures, the system's throughput, and the grade and quality of service. We also take a closer look at the class of hybrid unicast-broadcast systems with autonomous estimation of data item popularities, and we elaborate on the major challenges associated with such systems. Finally, we evaluate our theoretical expressions through simulation, and we discuss their robustness with respect to moderate deviations in the underlying model.     

Resilient Security Mechanism for Wireless Ad hoc Network

A wireless multihop network is emerging as one of the most important technologies in the field of ubiquitous networking. However, a number of formidable challenges remain, several of the most crucial been associated with robustness and network security. In this paper, we introduce a comprehensive resilient security framework for wireless ad hoc networks that are using multipath routing. It deploys an integrated multisignatures scheme and uses a self-certified public keying technique to ensure secure route discovery. In addition, it uses the Schnorr signature scheme along with an information dispersal algorithm to ensure secure data transfer. We provide security analysis of the proposed approach and compare it with several existing popular schemes. It can be seen that the proposed approach is more secure than other existing schemes. We also evaluated the proposed approach by means of computer simulation and compared its performance to that of the existing popular schemes. The results are in favor of the proposed technique in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.