Joint optimal relay location and power allocation for ultra-wideband-based wireless body area networks

© 2015, Ding et al.; licensee Springer. In this paper, we study the joint optimal relay location and power allocation problem for single-relay-assisted ultra-wideband (UWB)-based wireless body area networks (WBANs). Specifically, to optimize spectral efficiency (SE) for single-relay cooperative communication in UWB-based WBANs, we seek the relay with the optimal location together with the corresponding optimal power allocation. With proposed relay-location-based network models, the SE maximization problems are mathematically formulated by considering three practical scenarios, namely, along-torso scenario, around-torso scenario, and in-body scenario. Taking into account realistic power considerations for each scenario, the optimal relay location and power allocation are jointly derived and analyzed. Numerical results show the necessity of utilization of relay node for the spectral and energy-efficient transmission in UWB-based WBANs and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in particular for the around-torso and in-body scenarios. With the joint optimal relay location and power allocation, the proposed scheme is able to prolong the network lifetime and extend the transmission range in WBANs significantly compared to direct transmission

Channel Efficiency Aware Scheduling Algorithm for Real-Time Services in Wireless Networks

In this paper, we consider the problem of scheduling real time services over time-varying wireless links in broad-band wireless networks where an Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) scheme is applied in the physical layer in order to decrease the packet error rate. It is well known that a properly chosen modulation and coding scheme can increase error robustness in the physical layer. However, this is at the expense of higher system complexity and decreased channel efficiency. We present a novel Near Maximum Weighted Bipartite Matching (NMWBM) scheduling algorithm, which schedules real time services in accordance with delay bounds and phys-cal layer modulation and coding modes. Numerical results set in the context of IEEE 802.16 networks show that NMWBM can improve system packet throughput and pro-vide higher channel efficiency compared to the existing Earliest Deadline First scheduling algorithm. NMWBM provides this improved performance while meeting delay bound and packet loss rate requirements of real time ser-vices in broadband wireless networks

Dynamic Bandwidth MCIDS - A Cognitive Solution for MCIDS based UWB Communications

Dynamic bandwidth multicode interleaved direct sequence (MCIDS), an enhanced MCIDS based Ultra-wideband (UWB) application is proposed in this paper, featuring a cognitive transmission bandwidth adaptation without any adverse effect on the data rate. By introducing a specific lowpass filtering and down-sampling into the traditional MCIDS algorithm, this system can decrease the transmission bandwidth into part of its original bandwidth but still be able to recover all the transmitted data from the reduced bandwidth. This solution can efficiently improve the coexistence ability of UWB devices in a cognitive manner without increasing hardware complexity

Optimal spectral efficiency for cooperative UWB based on-body area networks

© 2014 IEEE. In this paper, spectral efficiency (SE) is investigated for cooperative ultra-wideband (UWB) based on-body area networks (OBANs). To optimize SE for single-relay cooperation, an equivalent generic cooperative model in UWB based OBANs is established first. With the proposed model, joint optimal relay location and power allocation for cooperation is then derived to solve the SE maximization problem. Simulation results show that direct transmission is preferable for UWB based OBANs when the transmitter and receiver are located on the same side of the human body. However, the joint optimal cooperative transmission scheme can achieve a significant improvement on SE compared with direct transmission when the transmitter and receiver are located on the different sides of the human body, which indicates that cooperation is more feasible to be applied in this case due to its robustness to the significant path loss

(Re-) Reading Adam Smith in a Time of Crisis

At a time of not only empirical crisis, but also a philosophical crisis of the underpinning ideologies of the liberal capitalist economic system, there is an increasing tendency to dogmatize the work of classical thinkers, using selective readings of their work as the basis for support or critique of the status quo. Few are as subject to selective reading as the so-called father of modern economics, Adam Smith. This paper seeks to reflect on Smith's thought on two central aspects of the modern crisis: the nature of the limited liability corporation (whose profit motive is increasingly being challenged on a number of grounds) and the role of the individual in a market economy (amid accusations from across the political and philosophical spectrum about the increasing isolation, individualization, and neo-liberalization of the self). These subjects are not as different as they might seem as they both relate to Smith's conception of the nature role of the individual actor - homo oeconomicus - not only in a market in and of itself, but in a market that Smith saw as a social creation and a part of a human community

Non-Human Politics and the Dialogue of Vulnerability

In the given article the author broadens humanistic dimension of world politics and civilizational dialogue. The comprehension of the unity of ecosystem of our planet, international cooperation in protection of nature must overcome corrupted logic of political realism, global capitalism and utilitarianism and become the corner stone of civilizational dialogue in the modern post-crisis world

Modeling the coupling of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry

We examine the interplay between ecology and biogeochemical cycles in the context of a global three-dimensional ocean model where self-assembling phytoplankton communities emerge from a wide set of potentially viable cell types. We consider the complex model solutions in the light of resource competition theory. The emergent community structures and ecological regimes vary across different physical environments in the model ocean: Strongly seasonal, high-nutrient regions are dominated by fast growing bloom specialists, while stable, low-seasonality regions are dominated by organisms that can grow at low nutrient concentrations and are suited to oligotrophic conditions. In the latter regions, the framework of resource competition theory provides a useful qualitative and quantitative diagnostic tool with which to interpret the outcome of competition between model organisms, their regulation of the resource environment, and the sensitivity of the system to changes in key physiological characteristics of the cells.Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationNational Science Foundation (U.S.

Energy-efficient distributed beamforming in UWB based implant body area networks

© 2015 IEEE. In this paper, we investigate a distributed beamforming problem to optimize energy efficiency (EE) in ultra-wideband (UWB) based implant body area networks (IBANs). To evaluate the impact of relay location on the EE, a relay location based cooperative network model is proposed, where multiple on-body relays are employed to assist an implant node to communicate with a BAN coordinator. With the proposed model, the EE optimization problem is mathematically formulated as a non-convex optimization problem. Sequential quadratic programming (SQP) combined with scatter search are applied to find the corresponding optimal solution. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed beamforming scheme outperforms other transmission schemes. A remarkable improvement can be achieved not only in EE but also in spectral efficiency (SE) compared to direct transmission. Moreover, numerical examples show that the relay location has a significant impact on the EE performance

Winners and losers: Ecological and biogeochemical changes in a warming ocean

We employ a marine ecosystem model, with diverse and flexible phytoplankton communities, coupled to an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to explore mechanisms that will alter the biogeography and productivity of phytoplankton populations in a warming world. Simple theoretical frameworks and sensitivity experiments reveal that ecological and biogeochemical changes are driven by a balance between two impacts of a warming climate: higher metabolic rates (the “direct” effect), and changes in the supply of limiting nutrients and altered light environments (the “indirect” effect). On globally integrated productivity, the two effects compensate to a large degree. Regionally, the competition between effects is more complicated; patterns of productivity changes are different between high and low latitudes and are also regulated by how the supply of the limiting nutrient changes. These complex regional patterns are also found in the changes to broad phytoplankton functional groups. On the finer ecological scale of diversity within functional groups, we find that ranges of some phytoplankton types are reduced, while those of others (potentially minor players in the present ocean) expand. Combined change in areal extent of range and in regionally available nutrients leads to global “winners and losers.” The model suggests that the strongest and most robust signal of the warming ocean is likely to be the large turnover in local phytoplankton community composition.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Science (Grant DE-FG02-94ER61937)United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationGordon and Betty Moore Foundatio

Energy efficient cooperative transmission in single-relay UWB based body area networks

© 2015 IEEE. Energy efficiency is one of the most critical parameters in ultra-wideband (UWB) based wireless body area networks (WBANs). In this paper, the energy efficiency optimization problem is investigated for cooperative transmission with a single relay in UWB based WBANs. Two practical onbody transmission scenarios are taken into account, namely, along-torso scenario and around-torso scenario. With a proposed single-relay WBAN model, a joint optimal scheme for the energy efficiency optimization is developed, which not only derives the optimal power allocation but also seeks the corresponding optimal relay location for each scenario. Simulation results show that the utilization of a relay node is necessary for the energy efficient transmission in particular for the around-torso scenario and the relay location is an important parameter. With the joint optimal relay location and power allocation, the proposed scheme is able to achieve up to 30 times improvement compared to direct transmission in terms of the energy efficiency when the battery of the sensor node is very limited, which indicates that it is an effective way to prolong the network lifetime in WBANs