Thomas Sphicopoulos

The Reflection from an Open-Ended Rectangular Waveguide Terminated by a Layered Dielectric Medium

The measurement of reflection from an open-ended waveguide is a simple and nondestructive technique for determining the dielectric properties of materials. A flange-mounted waveguide is considered, the flange being pressed on an unknown material which may be of finite or infinite thickness. The relationship linking the reflection coefficient to the dielectric properties is obtained from a theoretical analysis of the electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the aperture. The theory includes the effects of both cross polarization and higher order modes. An integral equation is obtained, the kernel of which is the dyadic Green function in each medium. The method of characteristic modes is used for the numerical computation. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental measurements. Futhermore, a simple and handy technique for data inversion is provided.

Analysis of stacked microstrip patches with a mixed potential integral equation

A method based on the mixed potential integral equation for the analysis of flat microstrip antennas in a double-layer substrate is presented. The method is used to compute the input impedance of a stacked patch configuration. This structure permits a larger bandwidth and may also provide dual-frequency operation. The Greens functions are discussed in detail, and numerical results are obtained for the propagation constant of the dominant surface wave. Theoretical and experimental results are compared for a dual-frequency and a broadband stacked patch antenna. Theoretical results for the input impedance are in good agreement with measurements. The difference between theoretical and experimental results for the resonant frequency is less than 4.5% in all cases. >

Combining Illumination Dimming Based on Pulse-Width Modulation With Visible-Light Communications Based on Discrete Multitone

In the field of indoor wireless networks, visible-light communications is garnering increasing attention. One of the type of emitters used in this technology is white light-emitting diodes, which can synergistically provide both illumination and data transmission. Discrete multitone modulation is attractive for visible-light communications. One of the issues to be addressed in these synergetic use cases is how to incorporate light dimming while not corrupting the communication link. In this paper, the performance of a visible-light communication system combining pulse-width modulation for dimming and discrete multitone for data transmission was investigated. Performance indicators were addressed, i.e., the signal-to-interference ratio due to dimming and the achievable bit-error ratio in the absence of additional noise. By aid of simulations it was shown that practical communication is only feasible when the line rate of the dimming modulation is at least twice the frequency assigned to the largest multitone subcarrier frequency. The results demonstrate that under this constraint and when using a suitably modified demodulation scheme, dimming does not influence the data transmission.

Impact of Nonlinear LED Transfer Function on Discrete Multitone Modulation: Analytical Approach

Light-emitting diodes constitute a low-cost choice for optical transmitters in medium-bit-rate optical links. An example for the latter is local-area networks. However, one of the disadvantageous properties of light-emitting diodes is their nonlinear characteristic, which may limit the data transmission performance of the system, especially in the case of multiple subcarrier modulation, which is starting to attract attention in various applications, such as visible-light communications and data transmission over polymer optical fibers. In this paper, the influence of the nonlinear transfer function of the light-emitting diodes on discrete multitone modulation is studied. The transfer function describes the dependence of the emitted optical power on the driving current. Analytical expressions for an idealized link were derived, and these equations allow the estimation of the power of the noise-like, nonlinear crosstalk between the orthogonal subcarriers. The crosstalk components of the quadrature and in-phase subcarrier components were found to be independent and approximately normally distributed. Using these results, the influence of light-emitting-diode nonlinearity on the performance of the system was investigated. The main finding was that systems using a small number of subcarriers and/or high QAM level exhibit a large signal-to-noise-ratio penalty due to the nonlinear crosstalk. The model was applied to systems with white and resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes. It is shown that the nonlinearity may severely limit the performance of the system, particularly in the case of resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes, which exhibit a strong nonlinear behavior.

A tractable above-threshold model, for the design of DFB and phase-shifted DFB lasers

A model, based on the transfer matrix method, and extended to above-threshold conditions in order to be used in the analysis and design of distributed feedback (DFB) structures, is presented. It provides the oscillation parameters as lasing frequency and net material gain, the linewidth estimation and output power, the photon density, carrier density, and effective refractive index profiles. This model can be used with or without facet reflectivities and with a number of symmetric or asymmetric phase shifts. It takes into account nonuniform envelope material gain and nonuniform index saturation. It is easily adaptable to any structure modifications. >

New techniques for the suppression of the four-wave mixing-induced distortion in nonzero dispersion fiber WDM systems

The performance of a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical network can be severely degraded due to fiber nonlinear effects. In the case where nonzero dispersion (NZD) fibers are employed, the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect sets an upper limit on the input power, especially in the case of narrow channel spacing. In order to reduce FWM-induced distortion two new techniques, the hybrid amplitude-/frequency-shift keying (ASK/FSK) modulation and the use of prechirped pulses are investigated. It is shown that both techniques can greatly improve the Q-factor in a 10 Gb/s WDM system. This happens even for very high input powers (/spl sim/10 dBm), where the degradation of the conventional WDM system is prohibitively high. The proposed methods are also applied and tested in higher bit rates (40 Gb/s). It is deduced that although the hybrid ASK/FSK modulation technique marginally improves the system performance, the optical prechirp technique can still be used to greatly increase the maximum allowable input power of the system.

On the Economics of 3G Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

The paper assesses the market conditions and dynamics, the architectures and the different approaches for deployment of 3G Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), in an attempt to address specific advantages and pitfalls. Following the definition of appropriate service sets and tariff structures, and taking into account demand scenarios, a techno-economic model has been developed, in order to compute key economic indicators. The paper presents techno-economic results of specific business cases and deployment alternatives for an average “large” European country and a smaller, Nordic-type country. Fixed and variable costs have been identified and the business case shows how different service sets lead to different costs. Different MVNO business profiles have been investigated. Profitability for all scenarios and business profiles has been calculated, presented and discussed. Major opportunities and threats, as well as critical parameters and uncertainties have been identified through sensitivity analysis.

Performance analysis of space time block coding techniques for indoor optical wireless systems

Indoor optical wireless systems provide an attractive alternative for realizing next generation wireless local area networks (WLANs). In this paper, the performance of diffuse optical wireless systems, employing space time block coding (STBC) techniques, is numerically investigated, accurately taking into account, the indoor channel impulse response and the characteristics of ambient light and thermal noises at the receiver. Discrete multitone modulation (DMT) is used to mitigate the effect of intersymbol interference due to the channels impulse response. The performance of STBC systems, employing two transmit elements, is compared against single input/ single output (SISO) and maximum ratio combining (MRC) systems operating with the same total optical transmitter power. It is shown that STBC techniques can be used to increase the capacity of diffuse optical wireless systems, improve their coverage and decrease the required optical power at the transmitter. These results demonstrate the usefulness of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques in the realization of optical WLANs.

Estimation of the power scintillation probability density function in free-space optical links by use of multicanonical Monte Carlo sampling

Free-space optics (FSO) can provide cost-effective, high-bandwidth, wireless connections. However, atmospheric turbulence may degrade the performance of FSO links by causing intensity and power scintillations at the receiver. Multicanonical Monte Carlo sampling is used in conjunction with the phase screen method to calculate the statistics, and particularly the probability density function (PDF), of the power fluctuations at an FSO receiver. This allows the efficient calculation of the PDF even for very small values with a limited number of iterations. The obtained PDF can be used to characterize the performance of the system in terms of the error probability.

Slow light in insulator–metal–insulator plasmonic waveguides

We study numerically the slow-light capability of insulator–metal–insulator (IMI) plasmonic waveguides. Metal-induced losses are included in the calculation of the dispersion relations, and their effect on the slow-light properties of the waveguide is investigated. In addition to reducing the propagation lengths of surface plasmon polaritons, losses are found to limit the achievable slowdown factors and the practical potential of the device. To alleviate the problem, we consider active materials. Using realistic parameters, we find that a spectral region is then formed where a slow-light pulsed signal can achieve infinite propagation lengths or be amplified. The optical buffering capabilities of the IMI waveguide with losses are analyzed, and we conclude that while losses limit the buffering capabilities of the passive device, the use of active materials may combat the problem effectively from an application point of view.