A genetic algorithm-assisted semi-adaptive MMSE multi-user detection for MC-CDMA mobile communication systems

In this work, a novel Minimum-Mean Squared-Error (MMSE) multi-user detector is proposed for MC-CDMA transmission systems working over mobile radio channels characterized by time-varying multipath fading. The proposed MUD algorithm is based on a Genetic Algorithm (GA)-assisted per-carrier MMSE criterion. The GA block works in two successive steps: a training-aided step aimed at computing the optimal receiver weights using a very short training sequence, and a decision-directed step aimed at dynamically updating the weights vector during a channel coherence period. Numerical results evidenced BER performances almost coincident with ones yielded by ideal MMSE-MUD based on the perfect knowledge of channel impulse response. The proposed GA-assisted MMSE-MUD clearly outperforms state-of-the-art adaptive MMSE receivers based on deterministic gradient algorithms, especially for high number of transmitting users

Application of Radon Transform to Wavefield Filtering, Reconstruction, and Imaging of Dispersive Energies in Quantitative Bone Ultrasound

Multichannel ultrasonic axial-transmission data are multimodal by nature. Multichannel analysis of dispersive ultrasonic energies requires a reliable mapping of the data from the time– distance (t-x) domain to the frequency–wavenumber (f-k) or frequency–phase velocity (f-c) domain. The mapping is usually performed with the classical 2-D Fourier transform (FT) from t- x plane to f-k plane or to f-c plane with a subsequent substitution and interpolation via c=ω/k. The extracted dispersion trajectories of the guided modes lack the resolution in the transformed domain to discriminate wave modes. The resolving power associated with the FT is closely linked to the aperture of the recorded data. In this presentation, we present a linear high- resolution Radon transform (RT) algorithm [1 & 2] to filter and reconstruct wavefields, and to image the dispersive energies of the recorded wavefields through long bones. The RT is posed as an inverse problem, which allows implementation of the regularization strategy to enhance the focusing power. The simulated, ex-vivo, and in-vivo data will be used to illustrate the advantages and robustness of the high-resolution RT algorithm. The method accommodates unevenly spaced records, effectively attenuates noise, enhances the signal-to-noise ratio, improves the coherency of the guided wave modes, and reconstructs the missing records. The dispersive energies are well focused and the trajectories are much better resolved. The proposed transform presents a powerful signal enhancement and imaging tool to process ultrasonic wavefields and extract dispersive guided wave energies under limited aperture

Information-disturbance tradeoff in estimating a maximally entangled state

We derive the amount of information retrieved by a quantum measurement in estimating an unknown maximally entangled state, along with the pertaining disturbance on the state itself. The optimal tradeoff between information and disturbance is obtained, and a corresponding optimal measurement is provided.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for publication on Physical Review Letter

The submerged structure and stratal architecture of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera, offshore the Campi Flegrei, (Eastern Tyrrhenian Margin): new insights from high resolution seismics and gravity core data

The Campi Flegrei is an active volcanic area defined by a quasi-circular depression that covers some 200 km2 of the coastal zone of SW Italy, a large part of which develops off the Naples (Pozzuoli) Bay (Fig. 1). The area has been active at least since 60 ka BP ( Pappalardo et al., 1999), and is structurally dominated by a caldera, 6 km in diameter, associated with the eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT), a 40 km3 Dense Rock Equivalent (DRE) ignimbrite (Scarpati et al., 1993) dated at ca 15 ka BP (Deino et al., 2004), that covered the district now occupied by the city of Naples, the Campi Flegrei and a large area of the continental shelf off the Pozzuoli Bay. The volcanological evolution of the NYT caldera as been long described on the basis of outcrop and subsurface studies onland (Rosi & Sbrana, 1987; Orsi et al., 1996, 2004 and references therein; Di Vito et al., 1999; Perrotta et al., 2006; Fedele et al., 2011), but its offshore morphology, detailed structure and recent stratigraphic setting are still poorly understood. In this study we integrate geological and geophysical data of different resolution/penetration obtained from high-resolution reflection seismic profiles (Sparker and Chirp source) with gravity core and swath bathymetry to better constrain the shallow structure, stratigraphic architecture and latest Quaternary to Holocene evolution of the submerged sector of the NYT caldera off the Pozzuoli Bay. Our data clearly image, for the first time, the offshore geometry of the NYT caldera ring-fault zone, as well as the style and timing of volcano-tectonic deformation associated with the late stage evolution of the NYT inner caldera resurgence. Our interpretation suggests that since 15 ka the offshore sector of NYT inner caldera underwent significant deformation and uplift (with minor subsidence episodes) that occurred at almost the same rate as the post-glacial sea-level rise. Particularly, the inner Pozzuoli Bay started to deform soon after 15 ka BP, when sea-level rise was initially faster than uplift. This caused a general increase of the accommodation space that was progressively filled up by volcaniclastic sediments. Since ca. 8 ka BP, along with the mid Holocene decrease in the rate of the sea-level rise, the early NYT resurgent structure was then uplifted up to the sea-level or even to partial subaerial exposure. From ca. 8 to 5 ka BP two distinct layers of volcaniclastic resediments, mostly represented by gravity flow deposits, formed throughout the Bay. A significant post- Roman (post 2 ka BP) subsidence phase of ca 10 m is then recorded offshore Pozzuoli by the drowning of the infralittoral prograding wedge below the present-day fair-weather wave base. REFERENCES Deino AL, Orsi G, de Vita S, Piochi M (2004) The age of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera-forming eruption (Campi Flegrei caldera—Italy) assessed by 40Ar/39Ar dating method. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 133, 157–170. Di Vito M., Isaia R., Orsi G., Southon J., de Vita S., D’Antonio M., Pappalardo L., Piochi M., 1999. Volcanism and deformation since 12,000 years at the Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy), J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 91 (2-4), 221-246. Fedele L., Insinga D.D., Calvert A.T., Morra V., Perrotta A., Scarpati C., 2011. 40Ar/39Ar dating of tuff vents in the Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy): toward a new chronostratigraphic reconstruction of the Holocene volcanic activity. Bull. Volcanol. 73, 1323-1336. Orsi G, de Vita S, Di Vito M, 1996. The restless, resurgent Campi Flegrei nested caldera (Italy): constraints on its evolution and configuration. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 74, 179–214. Orsi G., Di Vito M.A. Isaia R., 2004. Volcanic hazard assessment at the restless Campi Flegrei caldera. Bull. Volcanol. 66, 514–530. Pappalardo L., Civetta L., D’Antonio M., Deino A., Di Vito M., Orsi G., Carandente A., de Vita S., Isaia R. & Piochi M., 1999. Chemical and Srisotopical evolution of the Phlegrean magmatic system before the Campanian Ignimbrite and the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruptions J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 91, 141-166. Perrotta A., Scarpati C., Luongo G., Morra V., 2006. The Campi Flegrei caldera boundary in the city of Naples. In: De Vivo B (ed) Volcanism in the Campania Plain: Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei and Ignimbrites. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 85–96 (in the series Developments in Volcanology, 9) Scarpati C., Cole P., & Perrotta A., 1993. The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff- A large volume multiphase eruption from Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy. Bull. Volcan. 55, 343-35

Photometric and proper motion study of neglected open cluster NGC 2215

Optical UBVRI photometric measurements using the Faulkes Telescope North were taken in early 2011 and combined with 2MASS JHK$_s$ and WISE infrared photometry as well as UCAC4 proper motion data in order to estimate the main parameters of the galactic open cluster NGC 2215 of which large uncertainty exists in the current literature. Fitting a King model we estimate a core radius of 1.12$'\pm$0.04$'$ (0.24$\pm$0.01pc) and a limiting radius of $4.3'\pm$0.5$'$ (0.94$\pm$0.11pc) for the cluster. The results of isochrone fits indicates an age of $log(t)=8.85\pm0.10$ with a distance of $d=790\pm90$pc, a metallicity of $[Fe/H]=-0.40\pm0.10$ dex and a reddening of $E(B-V)=0.26\pm0.04$. A proportion of the work in this study was undertaken by Australian and Canadian upper secondary school students involved in the Space to Grow astronomy education project, and is the first scientific publication to have utilized our star cluster photometry curriculum materials.Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures, 3 Table

Minimum error discrimination of Pauli channels

We solve the problem of discriminating with minimum error probability two given Pauli channels. We show that, differently from the case of discrimination between unitary transformations, the use of entanglement with an ancillary system can strictly improve the discrimination, and any maximally entangled state allows to achieve the optimal discrimination. We also provide a simple necessary and sufficient condition in terms of the structure of the channels for which the ultimate minimum error probability can be achieved without entanglement assistance. When such a condition is satisfied, the optimal input state is simply an eigenstate of one of the Pauli matrices.Comment: 8 pages, no figure

A hybrid strategy based on fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm and very fast simulated annealing: application to the prestack seismic inverse problem

With the purpose of characterizing the Earth subsurface, one of the objectives of the inversion of prestack seismic data is to determine contrasts between rock properties from the information contained in the variation of the amplitudes of the reflected compressional waves with the angle of incidence. This amplitude-versus-angle (AVA) variation can be described by various approximations to the so-called Zoeppritz equations, a set of non-linear equations that depend on the physical characteristics of the medium at each side of the interface where the compressional wave strikes. The coefficients of such approximations constitute AVA attributes that may provide important information about fluid content, a key issue for the characterization of hydrocarbon reservoirs. In this work we present a new inversion strategy to estimate efficiently and accurately high-resolution AVA attributes from prestack data. The proposed technique promotes sparse-spike reflectivities that, when convolved with the source wavelet, fit the observed data. Sparse solutions are desirable because they can be used to characterize significant and close reflectors more accurately than using conventional solutions. The inversion is carried out using a hybrid two-step strategy than combines Fast Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding Algorithm (FISTA) and Very Fast Simulated Annealing (VFSA). FISTA provides sparse solutions by minimizing both the misfit between the modeled and the observed data, and the l1-norm of the solution. VFSA is an stochastic computational algorithm to finding near-optimal solutions to hard optimization problems. At the first stage, FISTA sparse-solutions provide an estimate of the location in time of the main reflectors, information that is subsequently used as an initial guess for the second stage, where accurate reflectivity amplitudes are estimated by solving a more stable overdetermined inverse problem. The second stage also involves the use of VFSA for tuning the location in time of the main reflectors and the source wavelet. FISTA does not require the inversion of matrices in explicit form. At each iteration only matrix-vector multiplications are involved, making it easy to apply, economic in computational terms, and adequate for solving large-scale problems. As a result, the FISTA+VFSA strategy represents a simple and cost-effective new procedure to solve the high-resolution AVA inversion problem. Results on synthetic data show that the proposed hybrid method can obtain high-resolution AVA attributes from noisy observations, even when the number of reflectors is not known a priori and the utilized wavelet is inaccurate, making it an interesting alternative to conventional methods.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Numerical analysis of wave-induced fluid flow effects on seismic data: Application to monitoring of CO2 storage at the Sleipner field

In this work we analyze how patchy distributions of CO2 and brine within sand reservoirs may lead to significant attenuation and velocity dispersion effects, which in turn may have a profound impact on surface seismic data. The ultimate goal of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of these processes within the framework of the seismic monitoring of CO2 sequestration, a key strategy to mitigate global warming. We first carry out a Monte Carlo analysis to study the statistical behavior of attenuation and velocity dispersion of compressional waves traveling through rocks with properties similar to those at the Utsira Sand, Sleipner field, containing quasi-fractal patchy distributions of CO2 and brine. These results show that the mean patch size and CO2 saturation play key roles in the observed wave-induced fluid flow effects. The latter can be remarkably important when CO2 concentrations are low and mean patch sizes are relatively large. To analyze these effects on the corresponding surface seismic data, we perform numerical simulations of wave propagation considering reservoir models and CO2 accumulation patterns similar to the CO2 injection site in the Sleipner field. These numerical experiments suggest that wave-induced fluid flow effects may produce changes in the reservoir's seismic response, modifying significantly the main seismic attributes usually employed in the characterization of these environments. Consequently, the determination of the nature of the fluid distributions as well as the proper modeling of the seismic data constitute important aspects that should not be ignored in the seismic monitoring of CO2 sequestration problems.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Fast and automatic microseismic phase-arrival detection and denoising by pattern recognition and reduced-rank filtering

We have developed a fast method that allowed us to automatically detect and denoise microseismic phase arrivals from 3C multichannel data. The method is a two-step process. First, the detection is carried out by means of a pattern recognition strategy that seeks plausible hyperbolic phase arrivals immersed in noisy 3C multichannel data. Then, the microseismic phase arrivals are denoised and reconstructed using a reduced-rank approximation of the singular value decomposition of the data along the detected phase arrivals in the context of a deflation procedure that took into account multiple arrivals and/or phases. For the detection, we have defined an objective function that measured the energy and coherence of a potential microseismic phase arrival along an apex-shifted hyperbolic search window. The objective function, which was maximized using very fast simulated annealing, was based on the energy of the average signal and depended on the source position, receivers geometry, and velocity. In practice, the detection process did not require any a priori velocity model, leading to a fast algorithm that can be used in real time, even when the underlying velocity model was not constant. The reduced-rank filtering coupled with a crosscorrelation-based synchronization strategy allowed us to extract the most representative waveform for all the individual traces. Tests using synthetic and field data have determined the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed method for the accurate detection and denoising of 3C multichannel microseismic events under noisy conditions. Two confidence indicators to assess the presence of an actual phase arrival and the reliability of the denoised individual wave arrivals were also developed.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Fast and automatic microseismic phase-arrival detection and denoising by pattern recognition and reduced-rank filtering

We have developed a fast method that allowed us to automatically detect and denoise microseismic phase arrivals from 3C multichannel data. The method is a two-step process. First, the detection is carried out by means of a pattern recognition strategy that seeks plausible hyperbolic phase arrivals immersed in noisy 3C multichannel data. Then, the microseismic phase arrivals are denoised and reconstructed using a reduced-rank approximation of the singular value decomposition of the data along the detected phase arrivals in the context of a deflation procedure that took into account multiple arrivals and/or phases. For the detection, we have defined an objective function that measured the energy and coherence of a potential microseismic phase arrival along an apex-shifted hyperbolic search window. The objective function, which was maximized using very fast simulated annealing, was based on the energy of the average signal and depended on the source position, receivers geometry, and velocity. In practice, the detection process did not require any a priori velocity model, leading to a fast algorithm that can be used in real time, even when the underlying velocity model was not constant. The reduced-rank filtering coupled with a crosscorrelation-based synchronization strategy allowed us to extract the most representative waveform for all the individual traces. Tests using synthetic and field data have determined the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed method for the accurate detection and denoising of 3C multichannel microseismic events under noisy conditions. Two confidence indicators to assess the presence of an actual phase arrival and the reliability of the denoised individual wave arrivals were also developed.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica