Abstract: An electronic apparatus is disclosed having components mounted within an environmentally sealed external enclosure. The external enclosure is cast from heat conductive material, and the components are mounted in heat conductive association with one or more walls of the external enclosure. These one or more walls have external pin fins projecting therefrom. The pin fins of the present invention improve cooling compared with conventional fins, which are, in effect, flat strips extending a significant distance along the surface of the external enclosure. Additionally, the external enclosure may be lighter in weight than an external enclosure that has conventional fins.

Abstract: A method for making an optical connector support member. The method can be broadly summarized by the following steps: One or more features are partially etched in a monocrystalline substrate to form a template. The features are etched in the substrate to a depth necessary to form the functional portions of the features. An inverse replica is created and then separated from the template. Additional material is bonded to the inverse replica in the regions that correspond to the features that were partially etched in the monocrystalline substrate. The inverse replica with the additional material bonded thereto is then used as a pattern for making a support member. A multi-fiber support member made using the inverse replica described in the foregoing will have one or more features formed therein that correspond to the features etched in the monocrystalline substrate, but are deeper because of the additional material that was bonded to the inverse replica.

Abstract: For a given rate set, an IS-95 transmitter can generate an IS-95 signal at any one of four different data rates. According to the present invention, an IS-95 receiver performs a statistical analysis on the received data stream to determine which particular data rate was used by the transmitter. In particular, the IS-95 receiver uses partially decoded data from the received signal to generate a statistical value corresponding to the log likelihood function for each of the four possible data rates and selects the data rate having the largest corresponding statistical value as the data rate used by the transmitter to generate the signal. The receiver then uses this detected data rate to complete the process of decoding and reconstructing the data from the received signal.

Abstract: In accordance with the invention, a reconfigurable optical fiber grating comprises an optical fiber grating with a temperature sensitive material surrounding the cladding region or incorporated into the cladding region. One or more heating elements are arranged to produce a a temperature gradient along the length of the grating and thereby chirp the grating. In a preferred embodiment, a long period fiber grating is surrounded by a material in which dn/dT is 10 times as large as that of glass and in which n is close to but lower than that of the glass. A temperature gradient along the length of the grating results in a broadening of the resonance.

Abstract: An RF coupler incorporating a pair of branch circuits which combine first and second input signals supplied at the same impedance level, amplitude and phase into an output signal at the same impedance level, twice the amplitude and phase shifted with respect to the input signals when both input signals are present, and which, if only one of the input signals is present, passes that input signal through its branch circuit to the output without loss, while terminating the branch circuit associated with the absent input signal with an equal impedance.

Abstract: A device for emitting audible signals within a vehicle compartment for notifying a driver of a vehicle of the presence of objects at predetermined locations around the vehicle. The driver is alerted to the presence of objects at predetermined sensing zones around the vehicle through the presence of audibly distinct tones corresponding to each sensing zone. Thus, an object present in any sensing zone causes a unique, audibly distinct sound to be generated within the cabin for warning the driver of the presence of a particular object.

Abstract: A noise suppressor that increases a signal to noise ratio of time domain audio data and a method of increasing such signal to noise ratio. The noise suppressor includes: (1) frequency domain transformation circuitry that transforms a frame of the time domain audio data into a frequency domain, (2) noise background modeling circuitry, coupled to the domain transformation circuitry, that spectrally analyzes the frame to model an estimated noise background spectrum thereof, (3) a frequency domain suppression filter, coupled to the noise background modeling circuitry, that filters at least some of the noise background spectrum from the frame and (4) time domain transformation circuitry, coupled to the frequency domain suppression filter, that transforms the frame back into a time domain, the transformed frame having an increased signal to noise ratio.

Abstract: An expandable and modular intercom and annunciation system includes a plurality of signal sources, such as smoke detectors, breakage detectors, intrusion detectors, telecommunication detectors (such as ringers), and gas detectors. The system further includes a plurality of originating interface modules, each respectively coupled to a signal source for receiving signals from the corresponding plurality of signal sources and for converting the signals to common communication protocol signals. The system also includes a receiving interface module coupled to the plurality of originating interface modules for communication via the common communication protocol, and an intercom and annunciation unit coupled to the receiving interface module to receive the common communication protocol signals. The intercom unit has a processor, a memory, and a user interface including an audio output.

Abstract: The aerial terminal has a tray assembly having zero, one, or more holes for paired-conductor drop wires, as well as one or more converter holes for converters (e.g., baluns), each of which allows signals over an additional conductor pair to be converted and sent through a coaxial-cable drop wire. The tray assembly enables the aerial terminal to be used to distribute to customers both communication signals and broadband signals carried by a multi-wire distribution cable. In a preferred embodiment, the tray assembly of the present invention is designed to replace the grommet trays of prior-art Flexterm.RTM. 5000 Aerial Terminals by Lucent Technology, Inc., that are already in service, without disturbing any of the connections between the distribution cable and the terminal block of the existing aerial terminal.

Abstract: A wavelength filter has a low index waveguide, a high index waveguide and a grating for coupling therebetween. The high index waveguide is in horizontal proximity to said low index waveguide. The low index waveguide and said high index waveguide have substantially different geometries which result in substantially different indices. A method for fabricating the wavelength filter is also disclosed.

Abstract: An application processor within a distributed network of a cellular communications system minimizes CPU resource consumption for processing paging messages by determining whether a message received at the application processor is a paging message. In the case that such a message is a paging message, any other components such as radio cluster servers that are not essential for processing the paging message is bypassed within the application processor. A paging message is sent directly to a communication module that sends the paging message to the cells of the cellular communications system. In the case that such a message is not a paging message, the message is determined to be a regular call control message that is sent to components such as the radio cluster servers within the application processor that may have been bypassed for paging messages. CPU resources can be significantly conserved in processing paging messages within the cellular communications system.

Abstract: A novel intermetallic superconductor with surprisingly high transition temperature is disclosed. The material comprises B and C, and can form a bulk superconductor. Exemplary of the novel superconductors is material of nominal composition YPd.sub.5 B.sub.3 C.sub.x, with x chosen such that the C:B ratio is in the range 0.05-2. An exemplary bulk sample of such composition has T, (onset) of 22.5 K, with more than 15 volume % of the sample being superconducting.

Abstract: The invention is a device that provides a phase-tunable antenna feed network that allows beam-steering and beam-width variation with simple actuation, at low cost, and with high rf performance. The device provides a series-feed where signal power splitters and phase-shifters are alternately disposed in series. Each phase-shifter consists of reflection-mode phase-shifter elements that operate in conjunction with an isolation device. This avoids the critical resonance condition between periodically aligned phase-shifters over the entire tuning range, since the isolation devices can easily be matched and/or aligned with non-resonant spacing. The main feed-line interconnections have the same impedance, thereby enabling the utilization of the same phase-shifter design for the entire network. Moreover, a common driving mechanism can be used for the phase-shifters to steer the antenna beam.

Abstract: Properly designed optical waveguides exhibit anomalous (positive) dispersion over a continuum of visible and near infrared wavelengths and, in one embodiment, the fiber has zero-dispersion at a visible wavelength (e.g., about 760 nm). Preferably, the zero-dispersion point occurs at a vis-nir wavelength where the normal (negative) material dispersion is relatively high and the effective refractive index difference between the core and the cladding is sufficiently large that the anomalous (positive) waveguide dispersion compensates the normal material dispersion. Illustratively, the optical waveguide is a microstructured fiber comprising a solid silica core surrounded by an inner cladding that includes a plurality of capillary air holes that allow for index-guiding within the core. The pattern formed by the cross-sections of the air holes, typically circles, may take on a variety geometric configurations, such as a closely packed hexagon or triangle.

Abstract: A packet of information is encapsulated into a frame and the frame is segmented into one or more cells for transmission over a communications network. One of the cells contains a sequence-identifier. When a cell is received with a non-consecutive sequence-identifier, it is determined whether or not the entire packet is contained within one cell. If the packet is not contained within one cell, the receiver discards the frame associated with the received cells. If the packet is contained within one cell, the receiver attempts to recover the packet notwithstanding the non-consecutive sequence-identifier.

Abstract: Hardware-software co-synthesis is the process of partitioning an embedded system specification into hardware and software modules to meet performance, power, and cost goals. Embedded systems are generally specified in terms of a set of acyclic task graphs. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a co-synthesis algorithm, called COSYN, starts with periodic task graphs with real-time constraints and produces a low-cost heterogeneous distributed embedded system architecture meeting these constraints. The algorithm has the following features: 1) it allows the use of multiple types of processing elements (PEs) and inter-PE communication links, where the links can take various forms (point-to-point, bus, local area network, etc.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a reception device for microwave signals, in which it is possible to extract information (V2) linearly dependent on the power level received at the input of the said device. According to the invention, the profile of the control voltage of the variable power attenuators (6, 7, 8) of the device is modified in order to obtain a curve of the control voltage which is of hyperbolic shape, and this voltage is linearized by a polynomial unit (11).Application for the production of point-to-point links in the field of directional millimeter radio.

Abstract: A network for multi-bit word parallel communication between optoelectronic chips on a two dimensional array of optical input and output channels carried on a single dimension of optical fibers. Each bit of a word is carried on a different wavelength and the multiple wavelengths carrying a word are wavelength multiplexed onto a single optical fiber. Multiple fibers can be joined into a one dimensional array of fibers. A transceiver for transmitting and receiving along the optical data channels comprises an array of modulators powered by individual wavelength light beams, either from individual monochromatic light sources and a light beam from a single broadband light source made to pass through a diffraction grating. The modulators are positioned so that each modulator reflects a different wavelength light beam, thereby providing multiple optical channels. Alternatively, multiple wavelengths are generated from CMOS integrated light sources.

Abstract: A balanced/unbalanced (balun) transformer has at least one pair of stacked coupled spiral lines. The spiral lines are formed on different levels of the device with the upper spiral line nested between the lower spiral line. This structure allows the width W and spacing S of the lines to be independently varied. Analysis of devices made with this configuration shows an optimum ratio of W to W+S of from 0.4 to 0.6.

Abstract: A method of automatically detecting the baud rate of an input signal and an apparatus using the method. A counter is started upon detecting a first transition of the input signal. The counter is stopped upon detecting a second transition of the input signal. After the counter is stopped, the measured count in the counter represents the duration between the first and second transitions of the input signal. The measured count is compared to a plurality of expected counts to determine which of the plurality of expected counts has a value closest to the measured count. The input signal is sampled using a baud rate based on the expected count having a value closest to the measured count.