Superheterodyne amplification of electromagnetic waves of optical and terahertz bands in gallium nitride films

Superheterodyne amplification of electromagnetic waves of optical and terahertz bands in the case of three-wave interaction in n-GaN films with the space change wave of millimeter band amplified due to negative differential resistance is studied. It is shown that amplification of the space change wave in n-GaN films may be achieved on higher frequencies f ≤ 500 GHz than when using GaAs. The case of three-wave resonant interaction of two counter-propagating waves with the space charge wave is considered for the waveguide on based on GaN film on dielectric substrate. It is shown that gain of electromagnetic waves of optical band may reach 20–40 dB on the waveguide lengths of up to 100 μm.     

An integration architecture for the automation of a continuous production complex

The development of integrated automation systems for continuous production plants is a very complicated process. A variety of factors must be taken into account, such as their different components (e.g., production units control systems, planning systems, financial systems, etc.), the interaction among them, and their different behavior (continuous or discrete). Moreover, the difficulty of this process is increased by the fact that each component can be viewed in a different way depending on the kind of decisions to be made, and its specific behavior. Modeling continuous production complexes as a composition of components, where, in turn, each component may also be a composite, appears to be the simplest and safest way to develop integrated automation systems. In order to provide the most versatile way to develop this kind of system, this work proposes a new approach for designing and building them, where process behavior, operation conditions and equipment conditions are integrated into a hierarchical automation architecture.     

Supervisory control design based on hybrid systems and fuzzy events detection. Application to an oxichlorination reactor

This paper presents a supervisory control scheme based on hybrid systems theory and fuzzy events detection. The fuzzy event detector is a linguistic model, which synthesizes complex relations between process variables and process events incorporating experts' knowledge about the process operation. This kind of detection allows the anticipation of appropriate control actions, which depend upon the selected membership functions used to characterize the process under scrutiny. The proposed supervisory control scheme was successfully implemented for an oxichlorination reactor in a vinyl monomer plant. This implementation has allowed improvement of reactor stability and reduction of raw material consumption.     

Plastic deformation of invar alloys

Heavy cold-rolling (95% reduction) of a 64Fe36Ni Invar alloy results in a decrease in magnetization and magnetic hyperfine field at the Fe nucleus, and an increase in electrical resistivity and x-ray line width. These changes are explained by a transition of iron atoms from a high volume-high spin electronic configuration to a low volume-low spin configuration during the deformation process.     

Equilibrium shapes and quasi-static formation of bubbles at submerged orifice

A detailed analysis of the effect of chamber volume, orifice radius, orifice submergence and contact angle on quasi-static formation of bubbles is presented. It is shown, that many aspects of slow bubble formation, involving phenomena leading to various modes of the bubble release, as well as the maximum orifice diameter which sustains a bubble at equilibrium, can be explained on the basis of information on equilibrium shapes and conditions. Scaling rules enabling adoption of results for water to other liquids are also presented.     

Typical models: minimising false beliefs

A knowledge system S describing a part of real-world does, in general, not contain complete information. Reasoning with incomplete information is prone to errors since any belief derived from S may be false in the present state of the world. A false belief may suggest wrong decisions and lead to harmful actions. So, an important goal is to make false beliefs as unlikely as possible. This work introduces the notions of typical atoms and typical models, and shows that reasoning with typical models minimises the expected number of false beliefs over all ways of using incomplete information. Various properties of typical models are studied, in particular, correctness and stability of beliefs suggested by typical models, and their connection to oblivious reasoning.     

Hydrogen effects on the spall strength and fracture characteristics of amorphous Fe-Si-B alloy at very high strain rates

A novel approach is suggested, using laser-induced shock wave measurements to estimate the effects of cathodic hydrogen charging on the mechanical properties and fracture characteristics of materials. This approach is applied to (1) determine the dominant mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) in an amorphous Fe₈₀B₁₁Si₉ alloy; and (2) estimate the effects of the high pressures involved in cathodic charging. The dynamic spall strength of an amorphous Fe₈₀B₁₁Si₉ alloy shocked before and after hydrogenation by a high-power laser to very high pressures (tens of giga Pascals) is measured. The dynamic spall strength of crystalline iron is measured as well for comparison. An optically recording velocity interferometer system (ORVIS) is used to measure the profile of the free surface velocity in time. The spall strength and the strain rate are calculated from the measurement of the free surface velocity as a function of time. Fracture characteristics are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The main conclusions are (1) the most reasonable mechanism of HE in the amorphous Fe-Si-B alloy is the high-pressure bubble formation; (2) the high pressures involved in cathodic hydrogen charging or laser-induced shock waves measurements may have similar effects on fracture characteristics; and (3) at very high strain rates, the spall strength is determined mainly by the interatomic bonds.     

Software Assisted Digital RF Processor (DRP™) for Single-Chip GSM Radio in 90 nm CMOS

This paper proposes and describes a new software and application programming interface view of an RF transceiver. It demonstrates benefits of using highly programmable digital control logic in an RF wireless system realized in a digital nanoscale CMOS process technology. It also describes a microprocessor architecture design in Digital RF Processor (DRP™) and how it controls calibration and compensation for process, temperature and voltage variations of the analog and RF circuits to meet the required RF performance. A few calibration examples to reduce a DCO bias current and improve device reliability, as well as to optimize transmit modulation and receive performance, are given. The presented circuits and techniques have enabled successful implementation of a commercial single-chip GSM radio in 90 nm CMOS.