A Computationally Efficient PWM Algorithm for Multilevel Inverters

Centred space vector PWM (CSVPWM) technique is popularly used for three level voltage source inverters. The reference voltage vector is synthesized by time-averaging of the three nearest voltage vectors produced by the inverter. Identifying the three voltage vectors, and calculation of the dwelling time for each vector are both computationally intensive. This paper analyses the process of PWM generation in CSVPWM. This analysis breaks up a three-level inverter into six different conceptual two level inverters in different regions of the fundamental cycle. Control of 3-level inverter is viewed as the control of the appropriate 2-level inverter. The analysis leads to a systematic simplification of the computations involved, finally resulting in a computationally efficient PWM algorithm. This algorithm exploits the equivalence between triangle comparison and space vector approaches to PWM generation. This algorithm does not involve any 3-phase/2-phase or 2-phase/3-phase transformation. This also does not involve any transformation from rectangular to polar coordinates, and vice versa. Further no evaluation of trigonometric functions is necessary. This algorithm also provides for the mitigation of DC neutral point unbalance, and is well suited to digital implementation. Simulation and experimental results are presented.

Miniature Compliant Grippers With Vision-Based Force Sensing

This paper is concerned with grasping biological cells in aqueous medium with miniature grippers that can also help estimate forces using vision-based displacement measurement and computation. We present the design, fabrication, and testing of three single-piece, compliant miniature grippers with parallel and angular jaw motions. Two grippers were designed using experience and intuition, while the third one was designed using topology optimization with implicit manufacturing constraints. These grippers were fabricated using different manufacturing techniques using spring steel and polydimethylsiloxane ( PDMS). The grippers also serve the purpose of a force sensor. Toward this, we present a vision-based force-sensing technique by solving Cauchy's problem in elasticity using an improved algorithm. We validated this technique at the macroscale, where there was an independent method to estimate the force. In this study, the gripper was used to hold a yeast ball and a zebrafish egg cell of less than 1 mm in diameter. The forces involved were estimated to be about 30 and 10 mN for the yeast ball and the zebrafish egg cell, respectively.

Generating artificial chromosomes with probability control in genetic algorithm for machine scheduling problems

In this paper, a novel genetic algorithm is developed by generating artificial chromosomes with probability control to solve the machine scheduling problems. Generating artificial chromosomes for Genetic Algorithm (ACGA) is closely related to Evolutionary Algorithms Based on Probabilistic Models (EAPM). The artificial chromosomes are generated by a probability model that extracts the gene information from current population. ACGA is considered as a hybrid algorithm because both the conventional genetic operators and a probability model are integrated. The ACGA proposed in this paper, further employs the ``evaporation concept'' applied in Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) to solve the permutation flowshop problem. The ``evaporation concept'' is used to reduce the effect of past experience and to explore new alternative solutions. In this paper, we propose three different methods for the probability of evaporation. This probability of evaporation is applied as soon as a job is assigned to a position in the permutation flowshop problem. Experimental results show that our ACGA with the evaporation concept gives better performance than some algorithms in the literature.

Flow And Heat-Transfer Over An Upstream Moving Wall With A Magnetic-Field And A Parallel Free Stream

The flow and heat transfer over an upstream moving non-isothermal wall with a parallel free stream have been considered. The magnetic field has been applied in the free stream parallel to the wall and the effect of induced magnetic field has been included in the analysis. The boundary layer equations governing the steady incompressible electrically conducting fluid flow have been solved numerically using a shooting method. This problem is interesting because a solution exists only when the ratio of the wall velocity does not exceed a certain critical value and this critical value depends on the magnetic field and magnetic Prandtl number. Also dual solutions exist for a certain range of wall velocity.

A Low-Complexity Algorithm for Intrusion Detection in a PIR-Based Wireless Sensor Network

We present a low-complexity algorithm for intrusion detection in the presence of clutter arising from wind-blown vegetation, using Passive Infra-Red (PIR) sensors in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The algorithm is based on a combination of Haar Transform (HT) and Support-Vector-Machine (SVM) based training and was field tested in a network setting comprising of 15-20 sensing nodes. Also contained in this paper is a closed-form expression for the signal generated by an intruder moving at a constant velocity. It is shown how this expression can be exploited to determine the direction of motion information and the velocity of the intruder from the signals of three well-positioned sensors.

Signal subspace approach in localization of sound source in shallow water

A new algorithm based on signal subspace approach is proposed for localizing a sound source in shallow water. In the first instance we assumed an ideal channel with plane parallel boundaries and known reflection properties. The sound source is assumed to emit a broadband stationary stochastic signal. The algorithm takes into account the spatial distribution of all images and reflection characteristics of the sea bottom. It is shown that both range and depth of a source can be measured accurately with the help of a vertical array of sensors. For good results the number of sensors should be greater than the number of significant images; however, localization is possible even with a smaller array but at the cost of higher side lobes. Next, we allowed the channel to be stochastically perturbed; this resulted in random phase errors in the reflection coefficients. The most singular effect of the phase errors is to introduce into the spectral matrix an extra term which may be looked upon as a signal generated coloured noise. It is shown through computer simulations that the signal peak height is reduced considerably as a consequence of random phase errors.

Visualisation of a 2′-5′ parallel stranded double helix at atomic resolution: crystal structure of cytidylyl-2′,5′-adenosine

X-ray crystallographlc studies on 3′–5′ ollgomers have provided a great deal of information on the stereochemistry and conformational flexibility of nucleic acids and polynucleotides. In contrast, there is very little Information available on 2′–5′ polynucleotides. We have now obtained the crystal structure of Cytidylyl-2′,5′-Adenoslne (C2′p5′A) at atomic resolution to establish the conformational differences between these two classes of polymers. The dlnucleoside phosphate crystallises in the monocllnlc space group C2, with a = 33.912(4)Å, b =16.824(4)Å, c = 12.898(2)Å and 0 = 112.35(1) with two molecules in the asymmetric unit. Spectacularly, the two independent C2′p5′A molecules in the asymmetric unit form right handed miniature parallel stranded double helices with their respective crystallographic two fold (b axis) symmetry mates. Remarkably, the two mini duplexes are almost indistinguishable. The cytosines and adenines form self-pairs with three and two hydrogen bonds respectively. The conformation of the C and A residues about the glycosyl bond is anti same as in the 3′–5′ analog but contrasts the anti and syn geometry of C and A residues in A2′p5′C. The furanose ring conformation is C3′endo, C2′endo mixed puckering as in the C3′p5′A-proflavine complex. A comparison of the backbone torsion angles with other 2′–5′ dinucleoside structures reveals that the major deviations occur in the torsion angles about the C3′–C2′ and C4′-C3′ bonds. A right-handed 2′–5′ parallel stranded double helix having eight base pairs per turn and 45° turn angle between them has been constructed using this dinucleoside phosphate as repeat unit. A discussion on 2′–5′ parallel stranded double helix and its relevance to biological systems is presented.

A heuristic clustering algorithm using union of overlapping pattern-cells

Relative geometric arrangements of the sample points, with reference to the structure of the imbedding space, produce clusters. Hence, if each sample point is imagined to acquire a volume of a small M-cube (called pattern-cell), depending on the ranges of its (M) features and number (N) of samples; then overlapping pattern-cells would indicate naturally closer sample-points. A chain or blob of such overlapping cells would mean a cluster and separate clusters would not share a common pattern-cell between them. The conditions and an analytic method to find such an overlap are developed. A simple, intuitive, nonparametric clustering procedure, based on such overlapping pattern-cells is presented. It may be classified as an agglomerative, hierarchical, linkage-type clustering procedure. The algorithm is fast, requires low storage and can identify irregular clusters. Two extensions of the algorithm, to separate overlapping clusters and to estimate the nature of pattern distributions in the sample space, are also indicated.

Effect of coordinated ions on structure and flexiblity of parallel G-quandruplexes: a molecular dynamics study

Single tract guanine residues can associate to form stable parallel quadruplex structures in the presence of certain cations. Nanosecond scale molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on fully solvated fibre model of parallel d(G7) quadruplex structures with Na+ or K+ ions coordinated in the cavity formed by the 06 atoms of the guanine bases. The AMBER 4.1 force field and Particle Mesh Ewald technique for electrostatic interactions have been used in all simulations. These quadruplex structures are stable during the simulation, with the middle four base tetrads showing root mean square deviation values between 0.5 to 0.8 A from the initial structure as well the high resolution crystal structure. Even in the absence of any coordinated ion in the initial structure, the G-quadruplex structure remains intact throughout the simulation. During the 1.1 ns MD simulation, one Na+ counter ion from the solvent as well as several water molecules enter the central cavity to occupy the empty coordination sites within the parallel quadruplex and help stabilize the structure. Hydrogen bonding pattern depends on the nature of the coordinated ion, with the G-tetrad undergoing local structural variation to accommodate cations of different sizes. In the absence of any coordinated ion, due to strong mutual repulsion, 06 atoms within G-tetrad are forced farther apart from each other, which leads to a considerably different hydrogen bonding scheme within the G-tetrads and very favourable interaction energy between the guanine bases constituting a G-tetrad. However, a coordinated ion between G-tetrads provides extra stacking energy for the G-tetrads and makes the quadruplex structure more rigid. Na+ ions, within the quadruplex cavity, are more mobile than coordinated K+ ions. A number of hydrogen bonded water molecules are observed within the grooves of all quadruplex structures

Random-Restart Reactive Tabu Search Algorithm for Detection in Large-MIMO Systems

We present a low-complexity algorithm based on reactive tabu search (RTS) for near maximum likelihood (ML) detection in large-MIMO systems. The conventional RTS algorithm achieves near-ML performance for 4-QAM in large-MIMO systems. But its performance for higher-order QAM is far from ML performance. Here, we propose a random-restart RTS (R3TS) algorithm which achieves significantly better bit error rate (BER) performance compared to that of the conventional RTS algorithm in higher-order QAM. The key idea is to run multiple tabu searches, each search starting with a random initial vector and choosing the best among the resulting solution vectors. A criterion to limit the number of searches is also proposed. Computer simulations show that the R3TS algorithm achieves almost the ML performance in 16 x 16 V-BLAST MIMO system with 16-QAM and 64-QAM at significantly less complexities than the sphere decoder. Also, in a 32 x 32 V-BLAST MIMO system, the R3TS performs close to ML lower bound within 1.6 dB for 16-QAM (128 bps/Hz), and within 2.4 dB for 64-QAM (192 bps/Hz) at 10(-3) BER.

An efficient marching algorithm for waterhammer analysis by the method of characteristics

A new fast and efficient marching algorithm is introduced to solve the basic quasilinear, hyperbolic partial differential equations describing unsteady, flow in conduits by the method of characteristics. The details of the marching method are presented with an illustration of the waterhammer problem in a simple piping system both for friction and frictionless cases. It is shown that for the same accuracy the new marching method requires fewer computational steps, less computer memory and time.

Focal plane analysis of the Knox-Thompson algorithm in speckle interferometry

For the specific case of binary stars, this paper presents signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculations for the detection of the parity (the side of the brighter component) of the binary using the double correlation method. This double correlation method is a focal plane version of the well-known Knox-Thompson method used in speckle interferometry. It is shown that SNR for parity detection using double correlation depends linearly on binary separation. This new result was entirely missed by previous analytical calculations dealing with a point source. It is concluded that, for magnitudes relevant to the present day speckle interferometry and for binary separations close to the diffraction limit, speckle masking has better SNR for parity detection.

Molecular dynamics simulations on parallel and antiparallel C.G*G triplexes

Molecular dynamics (MD) studies have been carried out on the Hoogsteen hydrogen bonded parallel and the reverse Hoogsteen hydrogen banded antiparallel C.G*G triplexes. Earlier, the molecular mechanics studies had shown that the parallel structure was energetically more favourable than the antiparallel structure. To characterize the structural stability of the two triplexes and to investigate whether the antiparallel structure can transit to an energetically more favourable structure, due to the local fluctuations in the structure during the MD simulation, the two structures were subjected to 200ps of constant temperature vacuum MD simulations at 300K. Initially no constraints were applied to the structures and it was observed that for the antiparallel tripler, the structure showed a large root mean square deviation from the starting structure within the first 12ps and the N4-H41-O6 hydrogen bond in the WC duplex got distorted due to a high propeller twist and a moderate increase in the opening angle in the basepairs. Starting from an initial value of 30 degrees, helical twist of the average structure from this simulation had a value of 36 degrees, while the parallel structure stabilized at a twist of 33 degrees. In spite of the hydrogen bond distortions in the antiparallel tripler, it was energetically comparable to the parallel tripler. To examine the structural characteristics of an undistorted structure, another MD simulation was performed on the antiparallel tripler by constraining all the hydrogen bonds. This structure stabilized at an average twist of 33 degrees. In the course of the dynamics though the energy of the molecule - compared to the initial structure - improved, it did not become comparable to the parallel structure. Energy minimization studies performed in the presence of explicit water and counterions also showed the two structures to be equally favourable energetically Together these results indicate that the parallel C.G*G tripler with Hoogsteen hydrogen bonds also represents a stereochemically and energetically favourable structure for this class of triplexes.