Natural Intelligence as the Brain of Intelligent Systems.

This article discusses the concept and applications of cognitive dynamic systems (CDS), which are a type of intelligent system inspired by the brain. There are two branches of CDS, one for linear and Gaussian environments (LGEs), such as cognitive radio and cognitive radar, and another one for non-Gaussian and nonlinear environments (NGNLEs), such as cyber processing in smart systems. Both branches use the same principle, called the perception action cycle (PAC), to make decisions. The focus of this review is on the applications of CDS, including cognitive radios, cognitive radar, cognitive control, cyber security, self-driving cars, and smart grids for LGEs. For NGNLEs, the article reviews the use of CDS in smart e-healthcare applications and software-defined optical communication systems (SDOCS), such as smart fiber optic links. The results of implementing CDS in these systems are very promising, with improved accuracy, performance, and lower computational costs. For example, CDS implementation in cognitive radars achieved a range estimation error that is as good as 0.47 (m) and a velocity estimation error of 3.30 (m/s), outperforming traditional active radars. Similarly, CDS implementation in smart fiber optic links improved the quality factor by 7 dB and the maximum achievable data rate by 43% compared to those of other mitigation techniques.

Free Space Ground to Satellite Optical Communications Using Kramers-Kronig Transceiver in the Presence of Atmospheric Turbulence.

Coherent detection provides the optimum performance for free space optical (FSO) communication systems. However, such detection systems are expensive and require digital phase noise compensation. In this paper, the transmission performance of long-haul FSO system for ground-to-satellite communication based on a Kramers-Kronig (KK) transceiver is evaluated. KK transceivers utilize inexpensive direct detection receivers and the signal phase is retrieved from the received current using the well-known KK relations. KK transceivers are not sensitive to the laser phase noise and, hence, inexpensive lasers with large linewidths can be used at the transmitter. The transmission performance of coherent and KK transceivers is compared in various scenarios such as satellite-to-ground, satellite-to-satellite, and ground-to-satellite for weak, moderate, and strong turbulence. The results show that the transmission performance of a system based on the KK transceiver is comparable to that based on a coherent transceiver, but at a significantly lower system cost and complexity. It is shown that in the absence of turbulence, the coherent receiver has a ~3 dB performance advantage over the KK receiver. However, in the presence of strong turbulence, this performance advantage becomes negligible.

Time-Domain Investigation of Switchable Filter Wide-Band Antenna for Microwave Breast Imaging.

This paper investigates the time-domain performance of a switchable filter impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) antenna for microwave breast imaging applications. A miniaturized CPW-fed integrated filter antenna with switchable performance in the range of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) bands could operate well within a 3.0 to 11 GHz frequency range. The time-domain performance of the filter antenna was investigated in comparison to that of the designed reference wideband antenna. By comparing both antennas' time-domain characteristics, it was seen that the switchable filter antenna had good time-domain resolution along with the frequency-domain operation. Additionally, the time-domain investigation revealed that the switchable filter wide-band antenna performed similarly to the reference wide band antenna. This antenna was also utilized for a tumor detection application, and it was seen that the switchable filter wide-band antenna could detect a miniaturized irregularly shaped tumor easily, which is quite promising. Such an antenna with a good time-domain resolution and tumor detection capability will be a good candidate and will find potential applications in microwave breast imaging.

Brain Inspired Dynamic System for the Quality of Service Control over the Long-Haul Nonlinear Fiber-Optic Link.

Brain-inspired intelligence using the cognitive dynamic system (CDS) concept is proposed to control the quality-of-service (QoS) over a long-haul fiber-optic link that is nonlinear and with non-Gaussian channel noise. Digital techniques such as digital-back-propagation (DBP) assume that the fiber optic link parameters, such as loss, dispersion, and nonlinear coefficients, are known at the receiver. However, the proposed CDS does not need to know about the fiber optic link physical parameters, and it can improve the bit error rate (BER) or enhance the data rate based on information extracted from the fiber optic link. The information extraction (Bayesian statistical modeling) using intelligent perception processing on the received data, or using the previously extracted models in the model library, is carried out to estimate the transmitted data in the receiver. Then, the BER is sent to the executive through the main feedback channel and the executive produces actions on the physical system/signal to ensure that the BER is continuously under the forward-error-correction (FEC) threshold. Therefore, the proposed CDS is an intelligent and adaptive system that can mitigate disturbance in the fiber optic link (especially in an optical network) using prediction in the perceptor and/or doing proper actions in the executive based on BER and the internal reward. A simplified CDS was implemented for nonlinear fiber optic systems based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to show how the proposed CDS can bring noticeable improvement in the system's performance. As a result, enhancement of the data rate by 12.5% and the Q-factor improvement of 2.74 dB were achieved in comparison to the conventional system (i.e., the system without smart brain).

Resonator Based Switching Technique between Ultra Wide Band (UWB) and Single/Dual Continuously Tunable-Notch Behaviors in UWB Radar for Wireless Vital Signs Monitoring.

This paper presents a novel resonator that can switch and create three important behaviors within the same antenna using miniaturized capacitors. The resonator was integrated into conventional Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) antenna to achieve UWB and Single/Dual continuously tunable-notch behaviors. The Single/Dual notched was continuously tuned to our desired frequency band by changing the value of the capacitors. The antenna designed and fabricated to validate these behaviors had a compact size of 24 × 30.5 mm², including the ground plane. The radiation patterns were very clean due to the placement of the proposed resonator in the special ground plane. Moreover, the presented novel resonator and switching technique was compared with the recently proposed resonators and their switching techniques. The prototype for the antenna was also developed in order to validate its performance in wireless vital signs monitoring. The presented miniaturized resonator based antenna was utilized for tumor sensing and simulations were provided in this regard. Moreover, the deployment of the proposed resonator based UWB antenna sensor in Pipeline Integrity Monitoring system was also investigated and discussed.

Bandwidth Enhancement and Frequency Scanning Array Antenna Using Novel UWB Filter Integration Technique for OFDM UWB Radar Applications in Wireless Vital Signs Monitoring.

This paper presents the bandwidth enhancement and frequency scanning for fan beam array antenna utilizing novel technique of band-pass filter integration for wireless vital signs monitoring and vehicle navigation sensors. First, a fan beam array antenna comprising of a grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) radiating element, CPW fed line, and the grounded reflector is introduced which operate at a frequency band of 3.30 GHz and 3.50 GHz for WiMAX (World-wide Interoperability for Microwave Access) applications. An advantageous beam pattern is generated by the combination of a CPW feed network, non-parasitic grounded reflector, and non-planar GCPW array monopole antenna. Secondly, a miniaturized wide-band bandpass filter is developed using SCSRR (Semi-Complementary Split Ring Resonator) and DGS (Defective Ground Structures) operating at 3⁻8 GHz frequency band. Finally, the designed filter is integrated within the frequency scanning beam array antenna in a novel way to increase the impedance bandwidth as well as frequency scanning. The new frequency beam array antenna with integrated band-pass filter operate at 2.8 GHz to 6 GHz with a wide frequency scanning from the 50 to 125-degree range.