Performance analysis of an improved power-saving medium access protocol for IEEE 802.11 point coordination function WLAN

Wireless enabled portable devices must operate with the highest possible energy efficiency while still maintaining a minimum level and quality of service to meet the user's expectations. The authors analyse the performance of a new pointer-based medium access control protocol that was designed to significantly improve the energy efficiency of user terminals in wireless local area networks. The new protocol, pointer controlled slot allocation and resynchronisation protocol (PCSAR), is based on the existing IEEE 802.11 point coordination function (PCF) standard. PCSAR reduces energy consumption by removing the need for power saving stations to remain awake and listen to the channel. Using OPNET, simulations were performed under symmetric channel loading conditions to compare the performance of PCSAR with the infrastructure power saving mode of IEEE 802.11, PCF-PS. The simulation results demonstrate a significant improvement in energy efficiency without significant reduction in performance when using PCSAR. For a wireless network consisting of an access point and 8 stations in power saving mode, the energy saving was up to 31% while using PCSAR instead of PCF-PS, depending upon frame error rate and load. The results also show that PCSAR offers significantly reduced uplink access delay over PCF-PS while modestly improving uplink throughput.

An exactly solvable four transition point model

Heavy particle collisions, in particular low-energy ion-atom collisions, are amenable to semiclassical JWKB phase integral analysis in the complex plane of the internuclear separation. Analytic continuation in this plane requires due attention to the Stokes phenomenon which parametrizes the physical mechanisms of curve crossing, non-crossing, the hybrid Nikitin model, rotational coupling and predissociation. Complex transition points represent adiabatic degeneracies. In the case of two or more such points, the Stokes constants may only be completely determined by resort to the so-called comparison- equation method involving, in particular, parabolic cylinder functions or Whittaker functions and their strong-coupling asymptotics. In particular, the Nikitin model is a two transition-point one-double-pole problem in each half-plane corresponding to either ingoing or outgoing waves. When the four transition points are closely clustered, new techniques are required to determine Stokes constants. However, such investigations remain incomplete, A model problem is therefore solved exactly for scattering along a one-dimensional z-axis. The energy eigenvalue is b(2)-a(2) and the potential comprises -z(2)/2 (parabolic) and -a(2) + b(2)/2z(2) (centrifugal/centripetal) components. The square of the wavenumber has in the complex z-plane, four zeros each a transition point at z = +/-a +/- ib and has a double pole at z = 0. In cases (a) and (b), a and b are real and unitarity obtains. In case (a) the reflection and transition coefficients are parametrized by exponentials when a(2) + b(2) > 1/2. In case (b) they are parametrized by trigonometrics when a(2) + b(2) <1/2 and total reflection is achievable. In case (c) a and b are complex and in general unitarity is not achieved due to loss of flux to a continuum (O'Rourke and Crothers, 1992 Proc. R. Sec. 438 1). Nevertheless, case (c) coefficients reduce to (a) or (b) under appropriate limiting conditions. Setting z = ht, with h a real constant, an attempt is made to model a two-state collision problem modelled by a pair of coupled first-order impact parameter equations and an appropriate (T) over tilde-tau relation, where (T) over tilde is the Stueckelberg variable and tau is the reduced or scaled time. The attempt fails because (T) over tilde is an odd function of tau, which is unphysical in a real collision problem. However, it is pointed out that by applying the Kummer exponential model to each half-plane (O'Rourke and Crothers 1994 J. Phys. B: At. Mel. Opt. Phys. 27 2497) the current model is in effect extended to a collision problem with four transition points and a double pole in each half-plane. Moreover, the attempt in itself is not a complete failure since it is shown that the result is a perfect diabatic inelastic collision for a traceless Hamiltonian matrix, or at least when both diagonal elements are odd and the off-diagonal elements equal and even.

Current-driven magnetic rearrangements in spin-polarized point contacts

A method for investigating the dynamics of atomic magnetic moments in current-carrying magnetic point contacts under bias is presented. This combines the nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method for evaluating the current and the charge density with a description of the dynamics of the magnetization in terms of quasistatic thermally activated transitions between stationary configurations. This method is then implemented in a tight-binding (TB) model with parameters chosen to simulate the main features of the electronic structures of magnetic transition metals. We investigate the domain wall (DW) migration in magnetic monoatomic chains sandwiched between magnetic leads, and for realistic parameters find that collinear arrangement of the magnetic moments of the chain is always favorable. Several stationary magnetic configurations are identified, corresponding to a different number of Bloch walls in the chain and to a different current. The relative stability of these configurations depends on the geometrical details of the junction and on the bias; however, we predict transitions between different configurations with activation barriers of the order of a few tens of meV. Since different magnetic configurations are associated with different resistances, this suggests an intrinsic random telegraph noise at microwave frequencies in the I-V curves of magnetic atomic point contacts at room temperature. Finally, we investigate whether or not current-induced torques are conservative.

Magnetomechanical interplay in spin-polarized point contacts

We investigate the interplay between magnetic and structural dynamics in ferromagnetic atomic point contacts. In particular, we look at the effect of the atomic relaxation on the energy barrier for magnetic domain wall migration and, reversely, at the effect of the magnetic state on the mechanical forces and structural relaxation. We observe changes of the barrier height due to the atomic relaxation up to 200%, suggesting a very strong coupling between the structural and the magnetic degrees of freedom. The reverse interplay is weak; i.e., the magnetic state has little effect on the structural relaxation at equilibrium or under nonequilibrium, current-carrying conditions.

A Planetary Nebula around Nova V458 Vulpeculae Undergoing Flash Ionization

Nova V458 Vul erupted on 2007 August 8 and reached a visual magnitude of 8.1 a few days later. Ha images obtained 6 weeks before the outburst as part of the IPHAS Galactic plane survey reveal an 18th magnitude progenitor surrounded by an extended nebula. Subsequent images and spectroscopy of the nebula reveal an inner nebular knot increasing rapidly in brightness due to flash ionization by the nova event. We derive a distance of 13 kpc based on light travel time considerations, which is supported by two other distance estimation methods. The nebula has an ionized mass of 0.2 Msolar and a low expansion velocity: this rules it out as ejecta from a previous nova eruption, and is consistent with it being a ~14,000 year old planetary nebula, probably the product of a prior common envelope (CE) phase of evolution of the binary system. The large derived distance means that the mass of the erupting WD component of the binary is high. We identify two possible evolutionary scenarios, in at least one of which the system is massive enough to produce a Type Ia supernova upon merging.

The Influence of Point Defects and Inhomogeneous Strain on the Functional Behaviour of Thin film Ferroelectrics

An attempt has been made to unequivocally identify the influence that inhomogeneous strain fields, surrounding point defects, have on the functional properties of thin film ferroelectrics. Single crystal thin film lamellae of BaTiO3 have been integrated into capacitor structures, and the functional differences between those annealed in oxygen and those annealed in nitrogen have been mapped. Key features, such as the change in the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transition from first to second order were noted and found to be consistent with mean field modeling predictions for the effects of inhomogeneous strain. Switching characteristics appeared to be unaffected, suggesting that point defects have a low efficacy in domain wall pinning.