A Self-Regulating Power-Control Scheme Using Reinforcement Learning for D2D Communication Networks.

We investigate a power control problem for overlay device-to-device (D2D) communication networks relying on a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG), which is a model-free off-policy algorithm for learning continuous actions such as transmitting power levels. We propose a DDPG-based self-regulating power control scheme whereby each D2D transmitter can autonomously determine its transmission power level with only local channel gains that can be measured from the sounding symbols transmitted by D2D receivers. The performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed in terms of average sum-rate and energy efficiency and compared to several conventional schemes. Our numerical results show that the proposed scheme increases the average sum-rate compared to the conventional schemes, even with severe interference caused by increasing the number of D2D pairs or high transmission power, and the proposed scheme has the highest energy efficiency.

A New Cache Update Scheme Using Reinforcement Learning for Coded Video Streaming Systems.

As the demand for video streaming has been rapidly increasing recently, new technologies for improving the efficiency of video streaming have attracted much attention. In this paper, we thus investigate how to improve the efficiency of video streaming by using clients' cache storage considering exclusive OR (XOR) coding-based video streaming where multiple different video contents can be simultaneously transmitted in one transmission as long as prerequisite conditions are satisfied, and the efficiency of video streaming can be thus significantly enhanced. We also propose a new cache update scheme using reinforcement learning. The proposed scheme uses a K-actor-critic (K-AC) network that can mitigate the disadvantage of actor-critic networks by yielding K candidate outputs and by selecting the final output with the highest value out of the K candidates. The K-AC exists in each client, and each client can train it by using only locally available information without any feedback or signaling so that the proposed cache update scheme is a completely decentralized scheme. The performance of the proposed cache update scheme was analyzed in terms of the average number of transmissions for XOR coding-based video streaming and was compared to that of conventional cache update schemes. Our numerical results show that the proposed cache update scheme can reduce the number of transmissions up to 24% when the number of videos is 100, the number of clients is 50, and the cache size is 5.

Position Tracking Techniques Using Multiple Receivers for Anti-Drone Systems.

The need for drone traffic control management has emerged as the demand for drones increased. Particularly, in order to control unauthorized drones, the systems to detect and track drones have to be developed. In this paper, we propose the drone position tracking system using multiple Bluetooth low energy (BLE) receivers. The proposed system first estimates the target's location, which consists of the distance and angle, while using the received signal strength indication (RSSI) signals at four BLE receivers and gradually tracks the target based on the estimated distance and angle. We propose two tracking algorithms, depending on the estimation method and also apply the memory process, improving the tracking performance by using stored previous movement information. We evaluate the proposed system's performance in terms of the average number of movements that are required to track and the tracking success rate.

An Efficient Coded Streaming Using Clients' Cache.

As multimedia traffic has been increasing and is expected to grow more sharply, various technologies using caches have been attracting lots of attention. As one breakthrough technology to deal with the explosively growing traffic, exclusive OR (XOR)-based index coding has been widely investigated because it can greatly enhance the efficiency of network resource by reducing the number of transmissions. In this paper, we investigate how to apply XOR-based index coding to large-scaled practical streaming systems for video traffic that accounts for more than 70% of total Internet traffic. Contrary to most previous studies that have focused on theoretical analysis of optimal performance or development of optimal index coding schemes, our study proposes a new XOR coding-based video streaming (XC). We also propose a new grouping algorithm for creating XC groups while guaranteeing the complete backward compatibility of XC with existing streaming schemes such as unicast (UC), multicast (MC), and broadcast (BC). The performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed in two steps. First, the behavior of video contents in caches at clients is modeled as a Markov chain, and the steady-state probabilities and caching probabilities for each piece of video content are derived. Based on the probabilities, the performance of the proposed system is then analyzed in terms of the average number of connections that each client requires in order to receive one video content. Our numerical results show that the proposed video streaming scheme using XC can reduce the average number of transmissions by up to 18%, compared to the conventional scheme.

Channel Measurement and Feasibility Test for Wireless Avionics Intra-Communications.

Wireless avionics intra-communication (WAIC) refers to a wireless communication system among electronic components (e.g., sensors and actuators) that are integrated or installed in an aircraft and it is proposed to replace heavy and expensive wired communication cables. Recently, the use of a frequency band (4.2⁻4.4 GHz) for the WAIC (so-called, WAIC band) has been approved by international telecommunication union (ITU). Accordingly, several existing wireless protocols such as IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15 are being considered as candidate techniques for the intra-avionics sensor network. In this paper, we perform a real field experiment to investigate wireless channel characteristics in intra-avionics sensor networks at the WAIC bands by a software-defined radio platform (universal software radio peripheral, USRP) and self-produced monopole antennas for the WAIC band. Through the experiment, we validated the feasibility of IEEE 802.11 protocol for the intra-avionics sensor network at the WAIC band in real aircraft environments. Furthermore, based on the measurement data, we evaluated the bit error rate (BER) performance of multiple antenna techniques where we considered the maximum ratio combining (MRC) for the multi-antenna receiver and the space-time block coding (STBC) for the multi-antenna transmitter.

Development of dye-sensitized solar cells composed of liquid crystal embedded, electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) nanofibers as polymer gel electrolytes.

In order to overcome the problems associated with the use of liquid electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a new system composed of liquid crystal embedded, polymer electrolytes has been developed. For this purpose, three types of DSSCs have been fabricated. The cells contain electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (e-PVdF-co-HFP) polymer gel electrolyte, with and without doping with the liquid crystal E7 and with a liquid electrolyte. The morphologies of the newly prepared DSSCs were explored using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Analysis of the FE-SEM images indicate that the DSSC composed of E7 embedded on e-PVdF-co-HFP polymer gel electrolyte has a greatly regular morphology with an average diameter. The ionic conductivity of E7 embedded on e-PVdF-co-HFP polymer gel electrolyte was found to be 2.9 × 10(-3) S/cm at room temperature, a value that is 37% higher than that of e-PVdF-co-HFP polymer gel electrolyte. The DCCS containing the E7 embedded, e-PVdF-co-HFP polymer gel electrolyte was observed to possess a much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE = 6.82%) than that of an e-PVdF-co-HFP nanofiber (6.35%). In addition, DSSCs parameters of the E7 embedded, e-PVdF-co-HFP polymer gel electrolyte (V(oc) = 0.72 V, J(sc) = 14.62 mA/cm(2), FF = 64.8%, and PCE = 6.82% at 1 sun intensity) are comparable to those of a liquid electrolyte (V(oc) = 0.75 V, J(sc) = 14.71 mA/cm(2), FF = 64.9%, and PCE = 7.17%, both at a 1 sun intensity).