Optimizing the Energy Efficiency of Short Term Ultra Reliable Communications in Vehicular Networks

We evaluate the use of HARQ schemes in the context of vehicle to infrastructure communications considering ultra reliable communications in the short term from a channel capacity stand point. We show that it is not possible to meet strict latency requirements with very high reliability without some diversity strategy and propose a solution to determining an optimal limit on the maximum allowed number of retransmissions using Chase combining and simple HARQ to increase energy efficiency. Results show that using the proposed optimizations leads to spending 5 times less energy when compared to only one retransmission in the context of a benchmark test case for urban scenario. In addition, we present an approximation that relates most system parameters and can predict whether or not the link can be closed, which is valuable for system design

Distributed drone base station positioning for emergency cellular networks using reinforcement learning

Due to the unpredictability of natural disasters, whenever a catastrophe happens, it is vital that not only emergency rescue teams are prepared, but also that there is a functional communication network infrastructure. Hence, in order to prevent additional losses of human lives, it is crucial that network operators are able to deploy an emergency infrastructure as fast as possible. In this sense, the deployment of an intelligent, mobile, and adaptable network, through the usage of drones—unmanned aerial vehicles—is being considered as one possible alternative for emergency situations. In this paper, an intelligent solution based on reinforcement learning is proposed in order to find the best position of multiple drone small cells (DSCs) in an emergency scenario. The proposed solution’s main goal is to maximize the amount of users covered by the system, while drones are limited by both backhaul and radio access network constraints. Results show that the proposed Q-learning solution largely outperforms all other approaches with respect to all metrics considered. Hence, intelligent DSCs are considered a good alternative in order to enable the rapid and efficient deployment of an emergency communication network

Negative Capacitance beyond Ferroelectric Switches

Negative capacitance transistors are a unique class of switches capable of operation beyond the Boltzmann limit to realize subthermionic switching. To date, the negative capacitance effect has been predominantly attributed to devices employing an unstable insulator with ferroelectric properties, exhibiting a two-well energy landscape, in accordance with the Landau theory. The theory and operation of a solid electrolyte field effect transistor (SE-FET) of subthreshold swing less than 60 mV/dec in the absence of a ferroelectric gate dielectric are demonstrated in this work. Unlike ferroelectric FETs that rely on a sudden switching of dipoles to achieve negative capacitance, we demonstrate a distinctive mechanism that relies on the accumulation and dispersion of ions at the interfaces of the oxide, leading to a subthreshold slope (SS) as low as 26 mV/dec in these samples. The frequency of operation of these unscaled devices lies in a few millihertz because at higher or lower frequencies, the ions in the insulator are either too fast or too slow to produce voltage amplification. This is unlike Landau switches, where the SS remains below 60 mV/dec even under quasi-static sweep of the gate bias. The proposed FETs show a higher on-current with a thicker oxide in the entire range of gate voltage, clearly distinguishing their scaling laws from those of ferroelectric FETs. Our theory, validated with experiment, demonstrates a new class of devices capable of negative capacitance that opens up alternate methods of steep switching beyond the traditional approach of ferroelectric or memristive FETs

Leveraging Retransmissions in Wireless Networked Control Systems with Packetized Predictive Control

In this work we propose a communication and control joint design strategy using packetized predictive control and halted Chase combining hybrid automatic repeat request to minimize the bandwidth required to provide ultra-reliable low latency communications towards wireless networked control systems. The joint design nature comes from tunning at the same time both the length of the control horizon, a control parameter, and the maximum number of transmission attempts, a communication variable. Numerical results show that by using this strategy and correctly choosing the parameters, significant savings in bandwidth can be achieved

FATORES AMBIENTAIS QUE INFLUENCIAM O PESO À DESMAMA, ANO E SOBREANO EM BOVINOS DA RAÇA NELORE MOCHA, NO SUDOESTE DE MATO GROSSO DO SUL - BRASIL

Animals of the race Nelore hornless (mocha = sem cornos) in regime of pastures in the three territorial units of the Southwest region of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, in the period of 27 years, were analyzed with the objective of evaluating the environmental and genetic effects on the weight of these animals. Relative data to 21,919 observations of weights at the weaning (W205), at the year (W365) and at 18-month (W550) have been considered. Analyses were accomplished by the method of the minimum squares, to verify the influence of some environmental factors. The statistical model included the fixed effects of year and month from birth, sex, area and the covariable of age of the cow to the childbirth (lineal and quadratic). The observed average of the weight to the 205 days of 9,256 observations was of 181,30 ± 23,29 kg, for weight to the 365 days with average of 7,786 observations was of 244,51 ± 35,49 kg and for the weight to the 550 days of 4,877 observations was of 327,54 ± 47,80 kg. The effects of them were half significant (PAnimais da raça Nelore Mocha, criados em regime de pastagens, na região sudoeste do estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, no período de 27 anos, permitiu a confecção de um banco de dados com 21.919 observações de pesos a desmama (P205), ao ano (P365) e ao sobreano (P550). Estas foram analisadas pelo método dos quadrados mínimos, para verificar a influência dos fatores ambientais sobre as mesmas. O modelo estatístico incluiu os efeitos fixos de ano e mês de nascimento do bezerro, sexo, região e a covariável de idade da vaca ao parto (linear e quadrático). A média observada do peso aos 205 dias de 9.256 observações foi de 181,30 ± 23,29 kg, para peso aos 365 dias, de 7.786 animais, a média foi 244,51 ± 35,49 kg e para o peso aos 550 dias, 4.877 observações a média do peso foi de 327,54 ± 47,80 kg. Os efeitos foram significativos (