This book presents high-performance data transmission over plastic optical fibers (POF) using integrated optical receivers having good properties with multilevel modulation, i.e. a higher sensitivity and higher data rate transmission over a longer plastic optical fiber length. Integrated optical receivers and transmitters with high linearity are introduced for multilevel communication. For binary high-data rate transmission over plastic optical fibers, an innovative receiver containing an equalizer is described leading also to a high performance of a plastic optical fiber link. The cheap standard PMMA SI-POF (step-index plastic optical fiber) has the lowest bandwidth and the highest attenuation among multimode fibers. This small bandwidth limits the maximum data rate which can be transmitted through plastic optical fibers. To overcome the problem of the plastic optical fibers high transmission loss, very sensitive receivers must be used to increase the transmitted length over POF. The plastic optical fiber limited bandwidth problem can be decreased by using multilevel signaling like multilevel pulse amplitude modulation or by using an equalizer for binary data transmission.

This book employs homogeneous coordinate notation to compute the first- and second-order derivative matrices of various optical quantities. It will be one of the important mathematical tools for automatic optical design. The traditional geometrical optics is based on raytracing only. It is very difficult, if possible, to compute the first- and second-order derivatives of a ray and optical path length with respect to system variables, since they are recursive functions. Consequently, current commercial software packages use a finite difference approximation methodology to estimate these derivatives for use in optical design and analysis. Furthermore, previous publications of geometrical optics use vector notation, which is comparatively awkward for computations for non-axially symmetrical systems.

This thesis explores a route to induce and control the structure formation process in thin films by the use of strong electric fields. We investigate, establish and apply the use of the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) lithography as a versatile patterning tool on the sub-micrometre and nanometre length scales for functional materials. Thin films are ubiquitous, they are found in nature and used in almost every aspect of daily life. While film instabilities are often undesirable in nature and technology, they can be utilized to produce structures by precisely controlling the destabilization of the film. EHD lithography utilizes instabilities induced by means of an electric field to fabricate periodic structures. EHD patterning is set to become a competitive candidate for low-cost lithographic technology for a number of applications. Herein, the applied potential of this lithographic process is explored by expanding its applicability to a broad range of materials and by a simultaneous patterning of multilayer systems or functional polymers yielding hierarchical architectures with novel functionalities.
EHD pattern formation enables for instance, the fabrication of multi-scale structured arrays as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active platforms. Furthermore, crystalline and conductive polymers are patterned using the EHD approach and the underlying structure formation mechanisms are discussed. This extension towards functional material systems offers interesting prospects for potential applications. Findings of this thesis are very promising for use in optoelectronic devices.

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics "merges two long-running serials--"Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics" and "Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy."
This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
* Contributions from leading international scholars and industry experts
* Discusses hot topic areas and presents current and future research trends
* Invaluable reference and guide for physicists, engineers and mathematicians

Session 2 includes 110 papers selected from 2011 3rd International Asia Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (CAR 2011), held on December 24-25, 2011, Shenzhen, China. As we all know, the ever growing technology in robotics and automation will help build a better human society. This session will provide a unique opportunity for the academic and industrial communities to address new challenges, share solutions, and discuss research directions for the future. Robotics research emphasizes intelligence and adaptability to cope with unstructured environments. Automation research emphasizes efficiency, productivity, quality, and reliability, focusing on systems that operate autonomously. The main focus of this session is on the autonomous acquisition of semantic information in intelligent robots and systems, as well as the use of semantic knowledge to guide further acquisition of information.

It is through images that we understand the form and function of material objects, from the fundamental particles that are the constituents of matter to galaxies that are the constituents of the Universe. Imaging must be thought of in a flexible way as varying from just the detection of objects -- a blip on a screen representing an aircraft or a vapour trail representing the passage of an exotic particle -- to displaying the fine detail in the eye of an insect or the arrangement of atoms within or on the surface of a solid. The range of imaging tools, both in the type of wave phenomena used and in the devices that utilize them, is vast. This book will illustrate this range, with wave phenomena covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum and ultrasound, and devices that vary from those that just detect the presence of objects to those that image objects in exquisite detail. The word fundamentals' in the title has meaning for this book. There will be no attempt to delve into the fine technical details of the construction of specific devices but rather the book aims to give an understanding of the principles behind the imaging process and a general account of how those principles are utilized.

Hardware Based Packet Classification for High Speed Internet Routers presents the most recent developments in hardware based packet classification algorithms and architectures. This book describes five methods which reduce the space that classifiers occupy within TCAMs; TCAM Razor, All-Match Redundancy Removal, Bit Weaving, Sequential Decomposition, and Topological Transformations. These methods demonstrate that in most cases a substantial reduction of space is achieved. Case studies and examples are provided throughout this book. About this book: * Presents the only book in the market that exclusively covers hardware based packet classification algorithms and architectures. * Describes five methods which reduce the space that classifiers occupy within TCAMs: TCAM Razor, All-Match Redundancy Removal, Bit Weaving, Sequential Decomposition, and Topological Transformations. * Provides case studies and examples throughout. Hardware Based Packet Classification for High Speed Internet Routers is designed for professionals and researchers who work within the related field of router design. Advanced-level students concentrating on computer science and electrical engineering will also find this book valuable as a text or reference book.

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics "merges two long-running serials--"Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics" and "Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy."

This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
* Contributions from leading international scholars and industry experts
* Discusses hot topic areas and presents current and future research trends
* Invaluable reference and guide for physicists, engineers and mathematicians

This volume includes papers presented at IIH-MSP 2017, the 13th International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing, held on 12-15 August 2017 in Matsue, Shimane, Japan. The conference covered topics ranging from information hiding and security, and multimedia signal processing and networking, to bio-inspired multimedia technologies and systems. This volume focuses on subjects related to multimedia security and applications, wearable computing, Internet of Things (IoT) privacy and information security, biomedical system design and applications, emerging techniques and applications, soft computing and applications, applications of image encoding and rendering, and information hiding and its criteria. Updated with the latest research outcomes and findings, the papers presented appeal to researchers and students in the corresponding fields.

This thesis presents the fundamental research and latest findings on novel flexible/wearable photovoltaic technology, and comprehensively summarizes the rapid developments in flexible photovoltaics, from traditional planar solar cells to fiber solar cells. It discusses the rational design of fiber solar cell materials, electrodes and devices, as well as critical factors including cost, efficiency, flexibility and stability . Furthermore, it addresses fundamental theoretical principles and novel fabrication technologies and their potential applications. The book provides practical information for university researchers and graduate students interested in flexible fiber photovoltaics, and inspires them to design other novel flexible/wearable electronics and textiles.

This book covers the complete spectrum of nonlinear optics and all solid state lasers.The book integrates theory, calculations and practical design, technology, experimental schemes and applications. With the expansion and further development of Laser technology, the wavelength spectrum of Lasers had to be enlarged, even to be tunable which requires the use of nonlinear optical and Laser tunable technology. It systematically summarizes and integrates the analysis of international achievements within the last 20 years in this field. It will be helpful for university teachers, graduate students as well as engineers.

This work deals with the matrix methods of continuous signal and image processing according to which strip-transformation is used. The authors suggest ways to solve a problem of evaluating potential noise immunity and synthesis of an optimal filter for the case of pulse noises, of applying the two-dimensional strip-transformation for storage and noise immune transmission of images. The strip-transformation of images is illustrated by examples and classes of images invariant relative to symmetrical orthogonal transformations. The monograph is intended for scientists and specialists whose activities are connected with computer signals and images processing, instrumentation and metrology. It can also be used by undergraduates, as well as by post-graduates for studying computer methods of signal and image processing.

This book proposes a data-driven methodology using multi-way data analysis for the design of video-quality metrics. It also enables video- quality metrics to be created using arbitrary features. This data- driven design approach not only requires no detailed knowledge of the human visual system, but also allows a proper consideration of the temporal nature of video using a three-way prediction model, corresponding to the three-way structure of video. Using two simple example metrics, the author demonstrates not only that this purely data- driven approach outperforms state-of-the-art video-quality metrics, which are often optimized for specific properties of the human visual system, but also that multi-way data analysis methods outperform the combination of two-way data analysis methods and temporal pooling.

"Introducing Spoken Dialogue Systems into Intelligent Environments "outlines the formalisms of a novel knowledge-driven framework for spoken dialogue management and presents the implementation ofa model-based Adaptive Spoken Dialogue Manager(ASDM) called OwlSpeak. The authors have identified three stakeholders thatpotentially influence the behavior of the ASDM: the user, the SDS, and a complex Intelligent Environment (IE) consisting of various devices, services, and task descriptions.
The theoretical foundation of a working ontology-based spoken dialogue description framework, the prototype implementation of the ASDM, and the evaluation activities that are presented as part of this book contribute to the ongoing spoken dialogue research by establishing the fertile ground of model-based adaptive spoken dialogue management.
Thismonograph is ideal for advanced undergraduate students, PhD students, and postdocs as well as academic and industrial researchers and developers in speech and multimodal interactive systems."

A survey of monolithic tunable semiconductor lasers, including applications in optical communication systems. The text discusses the underlying physics, operational principles and performance and applications of tunable laser diodes, covering tuning mechanisms, properties and laser structures.

This book develops valuable new approaches to digital out-of-home media and digital signage in urban environments. It offers solutions for communicating interactive features of digital signage to passers-by. Digital out-of-home media and digital signage screens are becoming increasingly interactive thanks to touch input technology and gesture recognition. To optimize their conversion rate, interactive public displays must 1) attract attention, 2) communicate to passers-by that they are interactive, 3) explain the interaction, and 4) provide a motivation for passers-by to interact. This book highlights solutions to problems 2 and 3 above. The focus is on whole-body interaction, where the positions and orientations of users and their individual body parts are captured by specialized sensors (e.g., depth cameras). The book presents revealing findings from a field study on communicating interactivity, a laboratory on analysing visual attention, a field study on mid-air gestures, and a field study on using mid-air gestures to select items on interactive public displays.

This book shows how to model selected communication scenarios using game theory. The book helps researchers specifically dealing with scenarios motivated by the increasing use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G Communications by using game theory to approach the study of such challenging scenarios. The author explains how game theory acts as a mathematical tool that models decision making in terms of strategies and mechanisms that can result in optimal payoffs for a number of interacting entities, offering often antagonistic behaviors. The book explores new technologies in terms of design, development and management from a theoretical perspective, using game theory to analyze strategic situations and demonstrate profitable behaviors of the cooperative entities. The book identifies and explores several significant applications/uses/situations that arise from the vast deployment of the IoT. The presentation of the technological scenarios is followed in each of the first four chapters by a step-by-step theoretical model often followed by equilibrium proof, and numerical simulation results, that are explained in a tutorial-like manner. The four chapters tackle challenging IoT and 5G related issues, including: new security threats that IoT brings, e.g. botnets, ad hoc vehicular networks and the need for trust in vehicular communications, content repetition by offloading traffic onto mobile users, as well as issues due to new wearable devices that enable data collection to become more intrusive.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to all major topics in digital signal processing (DSP). The book is designed to serve as a textbook for courses offered to undergraduate students enrolled in electrical, electronics, and communication engineering disciplines. The text is augmented with many illustrative examples for easy understanding of the topics covered. Every chapter contains several numerical problems with answers followed by question-and-answer type assignments. The detailed coverage and pedagogical tools make this an ideal textbook for students and researchers enrolled in electrical engineering and related programs.

Written by the inventor of Raman lasers, this reference describes their developments, fundamentals, operation characteristics and application methods. It is for optoelectronic researchers, system engineers and researchers in nonlinear optics, crystal optics and metrology.

The book presents information about Terahertz science, Terahertz photodetectors and Terahertz Lasers. A special emphasis is given to room temperature operation of long wavelength photodetectors based on novel quantum dots (Centered Defect Spherical Quantum Dots). Moreover, a complete analysis of systems based on Quantum Cascade structures to detect far infrared wavelengths is provided. Finally, the book presents Terahertz laser principles considering multi-color lasers in this range of wavelengths. Written as a background for graduate students in the Optics field.

Advances in the synthesis of new materials with often complex, nano-scaled structures require increasingly sophisticated experimental techniques that can probe the electronic states, the atomic magnetic moments and the magnetic microstructures responsible for the properties of these materials.

At the same time, progress in synchrotron radiation techniques has ensured that these light sources remain a key tool of investigation, e.g. synchrotron radiation sources of the third generation are able to support magnetic imaging on a sub-micrometer scale.

With the Fifth Mittelwihr School on Magnetism and Synchrotron Radiation the tradition of teaching the state-of-the-art on modern research developments continues and is expressed through the present set of extensive lectures provided in this volume. While primarily aimed at postgraduate students and newcomers to the field, this volume will also benefit researchers and lecturers actively working in the field.

"It strikes an excellent balance between underlying theory and principles, rigorous derivation of design formulae and description of practical applications, ranging from device to system and network, performances and properties." -- International Journal of Optoelectronics

"I would recommend it as a reference for those seeking to gain a basic understanding of fiber optic access networks and for technical managers who want an up-to-date overview of advances in this technology." -- Laser Focus World

This book examines the architectures, technologies, and design methods that make it possible to achieve a survivable fiber network, both practically and economically. Combining theory and actual results, it explores alternative methods and presents analytical and computational optimization approaches.

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics " merges two long-running serials--"Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics" and "Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy."
This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
* Contributions from leading international scholars and industry experts
* Discusses hot topic areas and presents current and future research trends
* Invaluable reference and guide for physicists, engineers and mathematicians

Studying and using light or "photons" to image and then to control and transmit molecular information is among the most challenging and significant research fields to emerge in recent years. One of the fastest growing areas involves research in the temporal imaging of quantum phenomena, ranging from molecular dynamics in the femto (10-15s) time regime for atomic motion to the atto (10-18s) time scale of electron motion. In fact, the attosecond "revolution" is now recognized as one of the most important recent breakthroughs and innovations in the science of the 21st century. A major participant in the development of ultrafast femto and attosecond temporal imaging of molecular quantum phenomena has been theory and numerical simulation of the nonlinear, non-perturbative response of atoms and molecules to ultrashort laser pulses. Therefore, imaging quantum dynamics is a new frontier of science requiring advanced mathematical approaches for analyzing and solving spatial and temporal multidimensional partial differential equations such as Time-Dependent Schroedinger Equations (TDSE) andTime-Dependent Dirac equations (TDDEs for relativistic phenomena). These equations are also coupled to the photons in Maxwell's equations for collective propagation effects. Inversion of the experimental imaging data of quantum dynamics presents new mathematical challenges in the imaging of quantum wave coherences on subatomic (subnanometer) spatial dimensions and multiple timescales from atto to femto and even nanoseconds.In "Quantum Dynamic Imaging: Theoretical and Numerical Methods," leading researchers discuss these exciting state-of-the-art developments and theirimplications for R&D in view of the promise of quantum dynamic imagingscience as the essential tool for controlling matter at the molecular level."