This book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art in the practical implementation of Spoken Dialog Systems for applications in everyday settings. It includes contributions on key topics in situated dialog interaction from a number of leading researchers and offers a broad spectrum of perspectives on research and development in the area. In particular, it presents applications in robotics, knowledge access and communication and covers the following topics: dialog for interacting with robots; language understanding and generation; dialog architectures and modeling; core technologies; and the analysis of human discourse and interaction. The contributions are adapted and expanded contributions from the 2014 International Workshop on Spoken Dialog Systems (IWSDS 2014), where researchers and developers from industry and academia alike met to discuss and compare their implementation experiences, analyses and empirical findings.

This book summarizes the research advances in star identification that the author's team has made over the past 10 years, systematically introducing the principles of star identification, general methods, key techniques and practicable algorithms. It also offers examples of hardware implementation and performance evaluation for the star identification algorithms. Star identification is the key step for celestial navigation and greatly improves the performance of star sensors, and as such the book include the fundamentals of star sensors and celestial navigation, the processing of the star catalog and star images, star identification using modified triangle algorithms, star identification using star patterns and using neural networks, rapid star tracking using star matching between adjacent frames, as well as implementation hardware and using performance tests for star identification. It is not only valuable as a reference book for star sensor designers and researchers working in pattern recognition and other related research fields, but also as teaching resource for senior postgraduate and graduate students majoring in information processing, computer science, artificial intelligence, aeronautics and astronautics, automation and instrumentation. Dr. Guangjun Zhang is a professor at the School of Instrumentation Science and Opto-electronics Engineering, Beihang University, China and also the Vice President of Beihang University, China

This book provides a comprehensive overview of multiple access techniques used in the cellular industry. The usage of multiple access techniques in telecommunications enables many users to share the same spectrum in the frequency domain, time domain, code domain or phase domain. Licenses are given, by the FCC, to operate wireless communication systems over given bands of frequencies, with the smaller bands, (channels), reused to provide services to other users. Thus, bandwidth efficiency is vital, as the speed and size of digital data networks continue to expand. This brief also uses numerous illustrations to bring students up-to-date in the practical applications of multiple access techniques, which can then be put to work in the industry. Primarily, electrical engineering students who study telecommunications, as well as engineers and designers working in wireless communications, would find this book useful.

Computers play an important role in the analyzing and designing of modern DC-DC power converters. This book shows how the widely used analysis techniques of averaging and linearization can be applied to DC-DC converters with the aid of computers. Obtained dynamical equations may then be used for control design. The book is composed of two chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the extraction of control-to-output transfer function. A second-order converter (a buck converter) and a fourth-order converter (a Zeta converter) are studied as illustrative examples in this chapter. Both ready-to-use software packages, such as PLECS (R) and MATLAB (R) programming, are used throught this chapter. The input/output characteristics of DC-DC converters are the object of considerations in Chapter 2. Calculation of input/output impedance is done with the aid of MATLAB (R) programming in this chapter. The buck, buck-boost, and boost converter are the most popular types of DC-DC converters and used as illustrative examples in this chapter. This book can be a good reference for researchers involved in DC-DC converters dynamics and control.

DC-DC converters require negative feedback to provide a suitable output voltage or current for the load. Obtaining a stable output voltage or current in the presence of disturbances like input voltage changes and/or output load changes seems impossible without some form of control. This book shows how simple controllers such as Proportional-Integral (PI) can turn into a robust controller by correct selection of its parameters. Kharitonov's theorem is an important tool toward this end. This book consist of two parts. The first part shows how one can obtain the interval plant model of a DC-DC converter. The second part introduces the Kharitonov's theorem. Kharitonov's theorem is an analysis tool rather than a design tool. Some case studies show how it can be used as a design tool. The prerequisite for reading this book is a first course on feedback control theory and power electronics.

This book showcases the state of the art in the field of sensors and microsystems, revealing the impressive potential of novel methodologies and technologies. It covers a broad range of aspects, including: bio-, physical and chemical sensors; actuators; micro- and nano-structured materials; mechanisms of interaction and signal transduction; polymers and biomaterials; sensor electronics and instrumentation; analytical microsystems, recognition systems and signal analysis; and sensor networks, as well as manufacturing technologies, environmental, food and biomedical applications. The book gathers a selection of papers presented at the 19th AISEM National Conference on Sensors and Microsystems. Held in Lecce, Italy in February 2017, the event brought together researchers, end users, technology teams and policy makers.

An authoritative work on Synthetic Aperture Radar system engineering, with key focus on high resolution imaging, moving target indication, and system engineering technology Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a powerful microwave remote sensing technique that is used to create high resolution two or three-dimensional representations of objects, such as landscapes, independent of weather conditions and sunlight illumination. SAR technology is a multidisciplinary field that involves microwave technology, antenna technology, signal processing, and image information processing. The use of SAR technology continues grow at a rapid pace in a variety of applications such as high-resolution wide-swath observation, multi-azimuth information acquisition, high-temporal information acquisition, 3-D terrain mapping, and image quality improvement. Design Technology of Synthetic Aperture Radar provides detailed coverage of the fundamental concepts, theories, technology, and design of SAR systems and sub-systems. Supported by the author's over two decades of research and practice experience in the field, this in-depth volume systematically describes SAR design and presents the latest research developments. Providing examination of all topics relevant to SAR--from radar and antenna system design to receiver technology and signal and image information processing--this comprehensive resource: Provides wide-ranging, up-to-date examination of all major topics related to SAR science, systems, and software Includes guidelines to conduct grounding system designs and analysis Offers coverage of all SAR algorithm classes and detailed SAR algorithms suitable for enabling software implementations Surveys SAR and computed imaging literature of the last sixty years Emphasizes high resolution imaging, moving target indication, and system engineering Design Technology of Synthetic Aperture Radar is indispensable for graduate students majoring in SAR system design, microwave antenna, signal and information processing as well as engineers and technicians involved in SAR system techniques.

This book shows how to build in and assess reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) of components, equipment, and systems. It presents the state of the art of reliability (RAMS) engineering, in theory & practice, and is based on over 30 years author's experience in this field, half in industry and half as Professor of Reliability Engineering at the ETH, Zurich. The book structure allows rapid access to practical results. Methods & tools are given in a way that they can be tailored to cover different RAMS requirement levels. Thanks to Appendices A6 - A8 the book is mathematically self-contained, and can be used as a textbook or as a desktop reference with a large number of tables (60), figures (210), and examples / exercises^ 10,000 per year since 2013) were the motivation for this final edition, the 13th since 1985, including German editions. Extended and carefully reviewed to improve accuracy, it represents the continuous improvement effort to satisfy reader's needs and confidence. New are an introduction to risk management with structurally new models based on semi-Markov processes & to the concept of mean time to accident, reliability & availability of a k-out-of-n redundancy with arbitrary repair rate for n - k=2, 10 new homework problems, and refinements, in particular, on multiple failure mechanisms, approximate expressions, incomplete coverage, data analysis, and comments on e, MTBF, MTTF, MTTR, R, PA.

These two volumes present the proceedings of the International Conference on Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2017 (TIPP2017), which was held in Beijing, China from 22 to 26 May 2017. Gathering selected articles on the basis of their quality and originality, it highlights the latest developments and research trends in detectors and instrumentation for all branches of particle physics, particle astrophysics and closely related fields. This is the second volume, and focuses on the main themes Astrophysics and space instrumentation, Front-end electronics and fast data transmission, Trigger and data acquisition systems, Machine detectors, Interfaces and beam instrumentation, Backend readout structures and embedded systems, Medical imaging, and Security & other applications. The TIPP2017 is the fourth in a series of international conferences on detectors and instrumentation, held under the auspices of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The event brings together experts from the scientific and industrial communities to discuss their current efforts and plan for the future. The conference's aim is to provide a stimulating atmosphere for scientists and engineers from around the world.

This book provides an overview of the latest research and development of new technologies for cognitive radio, mobile communications, and wireless networks. The contributors discuss the research and requirement analysis and initial standardization work towards 5G cellular systems and the capacity problems it presents. They show how cognitive radio, with the capability to flexibly adapt its parameters, has been proposed as the enabling technology for unlicensed secondary users to dynamically access the licensed spectrum owned by legacy primary users on a negotiated or an opportunistic basis. They go on to show how cognitive radio is now perceived in a much broader paradigm that will contribute to solve the resource allocation problem that 5G requirements raise. The chapters represent hand-selected expanded papers from EAI sponsored and hosted conferences such as the 12th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems, the 11th EAI International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness, the 10th International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks, the 8th International Conference on Mobile Multimedia Communications, and the EAI International Conference on Software Defined Wireless Networks and Cognitive Technologies for IoT.

The proceedings present a selection of refereed papers presented at the 1st International Conference on Electronic Engineering and Renewable Energy (ICEERE 2018) held during 15-17 April 2018, Saidi, Morocco. The contributions from electrical engineers and experts highlight key issues and developments essential to the multifaceted field of electrical engineering systems and seek to address multidisciplinary challenges in Information and Communication Technologies. The book has a special focus on energy challenges for developing the Euro-Mediterranean regions through new renewable energy technologies in the agricultural and rural areas. The book is intended for academia, including graduate students, experienced researchers and industrial practitioners working in the fields of Electronic Engineering and Renewable Energy.

This book features selected papers presented at Third International Conference on Nanoelectronics, Circuits and Communication Systems (NCCS 2017). Covering topics such as MEMS and nanoelectronics, wireless communications, optical communication, instrumentation, signal processing, Internet of Things, image processing, bioengineering, green energy, hybrid vehicles, environmental science, weather forecasting, cloud computing, renewable energy, RFID, CMOS sensors, actuators, transducers, telemetry systems, embedded systems, and sensor network applications in mines, it is a valuable resource for young scholars, researchers, and academics.

This thesis describes the controlled immobilization of molecules between two cuboidal metal nanoparticles by means of a self-assembly method to control the quantum plasmon resonances. It demonstrates that quantum-plasmonics is possible at length scales that are useful for real applications. Light can interact with certain metals and can be captured in the form of plasmons, which are collective, ultra-fast oscillations of electrons that can be manipulated at the nano-scale. Surface plasmons are considered as a promising phenomenon for potentially bridging the gap between fast-operating-speed optics and nano-scale electronics. Quantum tunneling has been predicted to occur across two closely separated plasmonic resonators at length scales (<0.3 nm) that are not accessible using present-day nanofabrication techniques. Unlike top-down nanofabrication, the molecules between the closely-spaced metal nanoparticles could control the gap sizes down to sub-nanometer scales and act as the frequency controllers in the terahertz regime, providing a new control parameter in the fabrication of electrical circuits facilitated by quantum plasmon tunneling.

Dive hands-on into the tools, techniques, and information for making your own analog synthesizer. If you're a musician or a hobbyist with experience in building electronic projects from kits or schematics, this do-it-yourself guide will walk you through the parts and schematics you need, and how to tailor them for your needs. Author Ray Wilson shares his decades of experience in synth-DIY, including the popular Music From Outer Space (MFOS) website and analog synth community. At the end of the book, you'll apply everything you've learned by building an analog synthesizer, using the MFOS Noise Toaster kit. You'll also learn what it takes to create synth-DIY electronic music studio. Get started in the fun and engaging hobby of synth-DIY without delay. With this book, you'll learn: The differences between analog and digital synthesizers Analog synthesizer building blocks, including VCOs, VCFs, VCAs, and LFOs How to tool up for synth-DIY, including electronic instruments and suggestions for home-made equipment Foundational circuits for amplification, biasing, and signal mixing How to work with the MFOS Noise Toaster kit Setting up a synth-DIY electronic music studio on a budget

This book introduces a paradigm of reverse hypothesis machines (RHM), focusing on knowledge innovation and machine learning. Knowledge- acquisition -based learning is constrained by large volumes of data and is time consuming. Hence Knowledge innovation based learning is the need of time. Since under-learning results in cognitive inabilities and over-learning compromises freedom, there is need for optimal machine learning. All existing learning techniques rely on mapping input and output and establishing mathematical relationships between them. Though methods change the paradigm remains the same-the forward hypothesis machine paradigm, which tries to minimize uncertainty. The RHM, on the other hand, makes use of uncertainty for creative learning. The approach uses limited data to help identify new and surprising solutions. It focuses on improving learnability, unlike traditional approaches, which focus on accuracy. The book is useful as a reference book for machine learning researchers and professionals as well as machine intelligence enthusiasts. It can also used by practitioners to develop new machine learning applications to solve problems that require creativity.

This book focuses on the development of wellness protocols for smart home monitoring, aiming to forecast the wellness of individuals living in ambient assisted living (AAL) environments. It describes in detail the design and implementation of heterogeneous wireless sensors and networks as applied to data mining and machine learning, which the protocols are based on. Further, it shows how these sensor and actuator nodes are deployed in the home environment, generating real-time data on object usage and other movements inside the home, and therefore demonstrates that the protocols have proven to offer a reliable, efficient, flexible, and economical solution for smart home systems. Documenting the approach from sensor to decision making and information generation, the book addresses various issues concerning interference mitigation, errors, security and large data handling. As such, it offers a valuable resource for researchers, students and practitioners interested in interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of wireless sensing processing, radio communication, the Internet of Things and machine learning, and in how they can be applied to smart home monitoring and assisted living environments.

This book describes the development of a new low-cost medium wavelength IR (MWIR) monolithic imager technology for high-speed uncooled industrial applications. It takes the baton on the latest technological advances in the field of vapor phase deposition (VPD) PbSe-based MWIR detection accomplished by the industrial partner NIT S.L., adding fundamental knowledge on the investigation of novel VLSI analog and mixed-signal design techniques at circuit and system levels for the development of the readout integrated device attached to the detector. In order to fulfill the operational requirements of VPD PbSe, this work proposes null inter-pixel crosstalk vision sensor architectures based on a digital-only focal plane array (FPA) of configurable pixel sensors. Each digital pixel sensor (DPS) cell is equipped with fast communication modules, self-biasing, offset cancellation, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and fixed pattern noise (FPN) correction. In-pixel power consumption is minimized by the use of comprehensive MOSFET subthreshold operation.

This book discusses how smart cities strive to deploy and interconnect infrastructures and services to guarantee that authorities and citizens have access to reliable and global customized services. The book addresses the wide range of topics present in the design, development and running of smart cities, ranging from big data management, Internet of Things, and sustainable urban planning. The authors cover - from concept to practice - both the technical aspects of smart cities enabled primarily by the Internet of Things and the socio-economic motivations and impacts of smart city development. The reader will find smart city deployment motivations, technological enablers and solutions, as well as state of the art cases of smart city implementations and services. * Provides a single compendium of the technological, political, and social aspects of smart cities; * Discusses how the successful deployment of smart Cities requires a unified infrastructure to support the diverse set of applications that can be used towards urban development; * Addresses design, development and running of smart cities, including big data management and Internet of Things applications.

This book offers an up-to-date overview of the concepts, modeling, technical and technological details and practical applications of different types of sensors, and discusses the trends of next generation of sensors and systems for environmental and food engineering. This book is aimed at researchers, graduate students, academics and industry professionals working in the field of environmental and food engineering, environmental monitoring, precision agriculture and food quality control.

This book reports on cutting-edge research into innovative system interfaces, highlighting both lifecycle development and human-technology interaction, especially in virtual, augmented and mixed-reality systems. It describes advanced methodologies and tools for evaluating and improving interface usability and discusses new models, as well as case studies and good practices. The book addresses the human, hardware, and software factors in the process of developing interfaces for optimizing total system performance, particularly innovative computing technologies for teams dealing with dynamic environments, while minimizing total ownership costs. It also highlights the forces currently shaping the nature of computing and systems, including the need for decreasing hardware costs; the importance of portability, which translates to the modern tendency toward hardware miniaturization and technologies for reducing power requirements; the necessity of a better assimilation of computation in the environment; and social concerns regarding access to computers and systems for people with special needs. The book, which is based on the AHFE 2018 International Conference on Human Factors and Systems Interaction, held on July 21-25, 2018, in Orlando, Florida, USA, offers a timely survey and practice-oriented guide for systems interface users and developers alike.

Sensors were developed to detect and quantify structures and functions of human body as well as to gather information from the environment in order to optimize the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of healthcare services as well as to improve health and quality of life. This book offers an up-to-date overview of the concepts, modeling, technical and technological details and practical applications of different types of sensors. It also discusses the trends for the next generation of sensors and systems for healthcare settings. It is aimed at researchers and graduate students in the field of healthcare technologies, as well as academics and industry professionals involved in developing sensing systems for human body structures and functions, and for monitoring activities and health.

This book presents the state-of-the-arts application of digital watermarking in audio, speech, image, video, 3D mesh graph, text, software, natural language, ontology, network stream, relational database, XML, and hardware IPs. It also presents new and recent algorithms in digital watermarking for copyright protection and discusses future trends in the field. Today, the illegal manipulation of genuine digital objects and products represents a considerable problem in the digital world. Offering an effective solution, digital watermarking can be applied to protect intellectual property, as well as fingerprinting, enhance the security and proof-of-authentication through unsecured channels.

This book provides comprehensive, graduate-level treatment of analog and digital signal analysis suitable for course use and self-guided learning. This expert text guides the reader from the basics of signal theory through a range of application tools for use in acoustic analysis, geophysics, and data compression. Each concept is introduced and explained step by step, and the necessary mathematical formulae are integrated in an accessible and intuitive way. The first part of the book explores how analog systems and signals form the basics of signal analysis. This section covers Fourier series and integral transforms of analog signals, Laplace and Hilbert transforms, the main analog filter classes, and signal modulations. Part II covers digital signals, demonstrating their key advantages. It presents z and Fourier transforms, digital filtering, inverse filters, deconvolution, and parametric modeling for deterministic signals. Wavelet decomposition and reconstruction of non-stationary signals are also discussed. The third part of the book is devoted to random signals, including spectral estimation, parametric modeling, and Tikhonov regularization. It covers statistics of one and two random variables and the principles and methods of spectral analysis. Estimation of signal properties is discussed in the context of ergodicity conditions and parameter estimations, including the use of Wiener and Kalman filters. Two appendices cover the basics of integration in the complex plane and linear algebra. A third appendix presents a basic Matlab toolkit for computer signal analysis. This expert text provides both a solid theoretical understanding and tools for real-world applications.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the conversational interface, which is becoming the main mode of interaction with virtual personal assistants, smart devices, various types of wearable, and social robots. The book consists of four parts. Part I presents the background to conversational interfaces, examining past and present work on spoken language interaction with computers. Part II covers the various technologies that are required to build a conversational interface along with practical chapters and exercises using open source tools. Part III looks at interactions with smart devices, wearables, and robots, and discusses the role of emotion and personality in the conversational interface. Part IV examines methods for evaluating conversational interfaces and discusses future directions.

This volume focuses on the theory and practice of data stream management, and the novel challenges this emerging domain poses for data-management algorithms, systems, and applications. The collection of chapters, contributed by authorities in the field, offers a comprehensive introduction to both the algorithmic/theoretical foundations of data streams, as well as the streaming systems and applications built in different domains. A short introductory chapter provides a brief summary of some basic data streaming concepts and models, and discusses the key elements of a generic stream query processing architecture. Subsequently, Part I focuses on basic streaming algorithms for some key analytics functions (e.g., quantiles, norms, join aggregates, heavy hitters) over streaming data. Part II then examines important techniques for basic stream mining tasks (e.g., clustering, classification, frequent itemsets). Part III discusses a number of advanced topics on stream processing algorithms, and Part IV focuses on system and language aspects of data stream processing with surveys of influential system prototypes and language designs. Part V then presents some representative applications of streaming techniques in different domains (e.g., network management, financial analytics). Finally, the volume concludes with an overview of current data streaming products and new application domains (e.g. cloud computing, big data analytics, and complex event processing), and a discussion of future directions in this exciting field. The book provides a comprehensive overview of core concepts and technological foundations, as well as various systems and applications, and is of particular interest to students, lecturers and researchers in the area of data stream management.