Cell Broadcast (CB) is a possible technical realisation of a global emergency alert system. It is a technique used for sending short text messages to all mobile stations (MSs) in a defined geographical area. An potential effect of using CB is the increase in battery consumption of the MS due to the fact that an extra channel has to be used to make the service available even when the network is otherwise congested. Another part of the service which leads to a potential problem is making CB messages available in different languages. Investigating these problems is the objective of this thesis and the studies it includes. During the first part of the thesis, we measured the battery consumption of MSs in different modes of operation in order to analyse how CB affects the amount of current drained. The tests showed that battery consumption increased only slightly when CB messages were being received at the MS. Although some of the results can be, and are, discussed, we believe that CB would have a small effect on the power consumption of an MS, particularly in a context where it would be used for emergency warning messages only. This mentioned, it would however be wishful to confirm the conclusions further through the realisation of long-term testing. The second part of the thesis deals with the investigation of the MSs’ support for CB messages with different coding schemes. Based on the investigation’s result, we have come to the conclusion that in the long term the usage of different coding schemes on the same channel is preferred. However, the usage of one, global, emergency channel is hard to realise since that requires a standardisation between all countries. In our opinion this may be achieved first in the long run and until then, the usage of separate channels seems to be necessary.

Shannon's classical separation result holds only in the limit of infinite source code dimension and infinite channel code block length. In addition, Shannon theory does not address the design of good source codes when the probability of channel error is nonzero, which is inevitable for finite-length channel codes. Thus, for practical systems, a joint source and channel code design could improve performance for finite dimension source code and finite block length channel code, as well as complexity and delay. Consider a multicast system over a broadcast channel, where different end users typically have different capacities. To support such user or capacity diversity, it is desirable to encode the source to be broadcasted into a scalable bit stream along which multiple resolutions of the source can be reconstructed progressively from left to right. Such source coding technique is called multiresolution source coding. In wireless communications, joint source channel coding (JSCC) has attracted wide attention due to its adaptivity to time-varying channels. However, there are few works on joint source channel coding for network multicast, especially for the optimal source coding over broadcast channels. In this work, we aim at designing and analyzing the optimal multiresolution vector quantization (MRVQ) in conjunction with the subsequent broadcast channel over which the coded scalable bit stream would be transmitted. By adopting random index assignment (RIA) to link MRVQ for the source with superposition coding for the broadcast channel, we establish a closed-form formula of end-to-end distortion for a tandem system of MRVQ and a broadcast channel. From this formula we analyze the intrinsic structure of end-to-end distortion (EED) in a communication system and derive two necessary conditions for optimal multiresolution vector quantization over broadcast channels with random index assignment. According to the two necessary conditions, we propose a greedy iterative algorithm for jointly designed MRVQ with channel conditions, which depends on the channel only through several types of average channel error probabilities rather than the complete knowledge of the channel. Experiments show that MRVQ designed by the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms conventional MRVQ designed without channel information. By building an closed-form formula for the weighted EED with RIA, it also makes the computational complexity incurred during the performance analysis feasible. In comparison with MRVQ design for a fixed index assignment, the computation complexity for quantization design is significantly reduced by using random index assignment. In addition, simulations indicate that our proposed algorithm shows better robustness against channel mismatch than MRVQ design with a fixed index assignment, simply due to the nature of using only the average channel information. Therefore, we conclude that our proposed algorithm is more appropriate in both wireless communications and applications where the complete knowledge of the channel is hard to obtain. Furthermore, we propose two novel algorithms for MRVQ over broadcast channels. One aims to optimize the two corresponding quantizers at two layers alternatively and iteratively, and the other applies under the constraint that each encoding cell is convex and contains the reconstruction point. Finally, we analyze the asymptotic performance of weighted EED for the optimal joint MRVQ. The asymptotic result provides a theoretically achievable quantizer performance level and sheds light on the design of the optimal MRVQ over broadcast channel from a different aspect.

The paradigm of separate source-channel coding is inspired by Shannon's separation result, which implies the asymptotic optimality of designing source and channel coding independently from each other. The result exploits the fact that channel error probabilities can be made arbitrarily small, as long as the block length of the channel code can be made arbitrarily large. However, this is not possible in practice, where the block length is either fixed or restricted to a range of finite values. As a result, the optimality of source and channel coding separation becomes unknown, leading researchers to consider joint source-channel coding (JSCC) to further improve the performance of practical systems that must operate in the finite block length regime. With this motivation, this thesis investigates the application of JSCC principles for multimedia communications over point-to-point, broadcast, and relay channels. All analyses are conducted from the perspective of end-to-end distortion (EED) for results that are applicable to channel codes with finite block lengths in pursuing insights into practical design. The thesis first revisits the fundamental open problem of the separation of source and channel coding in the finite block length regime. Derived formulations and numerical analyses for a source-channel coding system reveal many scenarios where the EED reduction is positive when pairing the channel-optimized source quantizer (COSQ) with an optimal channel code, hence establishing the invalidity of the separation theorem in the finite block length regime. With this, further improvements to JSCC systems are considered by augmenting error detection codes with the COSQ. Closed-form EED expressions for such system are derived, from which necessary optimality conditions are identified and used in proposed algorithms for system design. Results for both the point-to-point and broadcast channels demonstrate significant reductions to the EED without sacrificing bandwidth when considering a tradeoff between quantization and error detection coding rates. Lastly, the JSCC system is considered under relay channels, for which a computable measure of the EED is derived for any relay channel conditions with nonzero channel error probabilities. To emphasize the importance of analyzing JSCC systems under finite block lengths, the large sub-optimality in performance is demonstrated when solving the power allocation configuration problem according to capacity-based formulations that disregard channel errors, as opposed to those based on the EED. Although this thesis only considers one JSCC setup of many, it is concluded that consideration of JSCC systems from a non-asymptotic perspective not only is more meaningful, but also reveals more relevant insight into practical system design. This thesis accomplishes such by maintaining the EED as a measure of system performance in each of the considered point-to-point, broadcast, and relay cases.

No description available.

Little is known about the distribution and habitat suitability of yellow rails (Coturnicops noveboracensis) throughout their breeding range. Yellow rail and vegetation surveys were conducted at 80 wetlands in south-central Manitoba in 2010-2011 to evaluate the effectiveness of repeat-visit, call-broadcast night surveys for detecting this species and habitat associations of this species at the 3-km landscape, patch, and plot scales. Yellow rails were detected at 44% of the study wetlands. Yellow rail detection was imperfect (0.63 in each year), but call-broadcast increased the number of yellow rails detected. Future yellow rail survey efforts should employ call-broadcast and at least three surveys per survey point. Yellow rail presence was positively influenced by the amount of marsh/fen in the landscape and the proportion of rushes at the study wetlands. These characteristics should be considered when identifying potential yellow rail habitat in south-central Manitoba.

The CBC Current Affairs program Sunday Morning is used as a case study to develop an appropriate theory and conceptual apparatus for the understanding of the relationship between the organisation of news-production and news-product. This relation is first identified as critical to the field of mass media studies in general, and news-research in particular. On the basis of this review a new model of news-as-discourse is proposed. In the examination of the radio program Sunday Morning this model and its conceptual categories are further developed and linked with other research in the sociology of news, the structuralist analysis of narrative, and the cultural study of artistic forms and practices. Sunday Morning is shown to employ discursive practices and formations, and production practices which result in power format radio.

Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems are now a proven area in current and future telecommunications research. MIMO wireless channels, in which both the transmitter and receiver have multiple antennas, have been shown to provide high bandwidth efficiency. In this thesis, we cover MIMO communications technology with a focus on cellular systems and the MIMO broadcast channel (MIMO-BC). Our development of techniques and analysis for the MIMO-BC starts with a study of single user MIMO systems. One such single user technique is that of antenna selection. In this thesis, we discuss various flavours of antenna selection, with the focus on powerful, yet straightforward, norm-based algorithms. These algorithms are analyzed and the results of this analysis produce a powerful and flexible power scaling factor. This power scaling factor can be used to model the gains of norm-based antenna selection via a single signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-based parameter. This provides a powerful tool for engineers interested in quickly seeing the effects of antenna selection on their systems. A novel low complexity power allocation scheme follows on from the selection algorithms. Named “Poor Man’s Waterfilling” (PMWF), this scheme can provide significant gains in low SNR systems with very little extra complexity compared to selection alone. We then compare a variety of algorithms for the MIMO-BC, ranging from selection to beamforming, to the optimal, yet complex, iterative waterfilling (ITWF) solution. In this thesis we show that certain algorithms perform better in different scenarios, based on whether there is shadow fading or not. A power scaling factor analysis is also performed on these systems. In the cases where the user’s link gains are widely varying, such as when shadowing and distance effects are present, user fairness is impaired when optimal and near optimal throughput occurs. This leads to a key problem in the MIMO-BC, the balance between user fairness and throughput performance. In an attempt to find a suitable balance between these two factors, we modify the ITWF algorithm by both introducing extra constraints and also by using a novel utility function approach. Both these methods prove to increase user fairness with only minor loss in throughput over the optimal systems. The introduction of MIMO systems to the cellular domain has been hampered by the effects of interference between the cells. In this thesis we move MIMO to the cellular domain, addressing the interference using two different methods. We first use power control, where the transmit power of the base station is controlled to optimize the overall system throughput. This leads to promising results using low complexity methods. Our second method is a novel method of collaboration between base stations. This collaboration transforms neighbouring cell sectors into macro-cells and this results in substantial increases in performance.

Fault tolerant and distributed embedded systems are research areas that have the interest of such entities as NASA, the Department of Defense, and various other government agencies, corporations, and universities. Taking a system and designing it to work in the presence of faults is appealing to these entities as it inherently increases the reliability of the deployed system. There are a few different fault tolerant techniques that can be implemented in a system design to handle faults as they occur. One such technique is the reconfiguration of a portion of the system to a redundant resource. This is a difficult task to manage within a distributed embedded system because of the distributed, directly addressed data producer and consumer dependencies that exist in common network infrastructures. It is the goal of this thesis work to develop a novel message routing layer for the communication management of distributed embedded systems that reduces the complexity of this problem. The resulting product of this thesis provides a robust approach to the design, implementation, integration, and deployment of a distributed embedded system.

Tall ironweed (Vernonia altissima) and Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) control in cool season grass pastures was evaluated in 2007 and 2008. Tall ironweed was evaluated in Fayette and Boone Counties, KY and Canada thistle was evaluated at Spindletop Research Farm. Herbicides applied selectively with a rope-wick were compared to a broadcast foliar spray. Treatments were a broadcast treatment, of aminopyralid + 2, 4-D and six rope-wick treatments: aminopyralid at three concentrations, glyphosate, triclopyr and clopyralid at one concentration each. The Boone County location had five broadcast foliar treatments: aminopyralid at three rates, triclopyr + fluroxpyr, and 2,4-D + triclopyr. The Canada thistle study consisted of the same six rope-wick treatments as the Fayette County tall ironweed study. A broadcast treatment of aminopyralid at 70 g a.e./ha was included in 2008. Studies were evaluated 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 52 weeks after treatment. Aminopyralid plus 2,4-D provided 86% control of tall ironweed 52 WAT. Aminopyralid at 20% v/v controlled 65% of tall ironweed. Canada thistle control 52 WAT ranged from 0 to 25% control for the six ropewick treatments.

The first line of defence against wireless attacks in Radio Frequency Identi cation (RFID) systems is authentication of tags and readers. RFID tags are very constrained in terms of power, memory and size of circuit. Therefore, RFID tags are not capable of performing sophisticated cryptographic operations. In this dissertation, we have designed light-weight authentication schemes to securely identify the RFID tags to readers and vice versa. The authentication schemes require simple binary operations and can be readily implemented in resource-constrained Radio Frequency Identi cation (RFID) tags. We provide a formal proof of security based on the di culty of solving the Syndrome Decoding (SD) problem. Authentication veri es the unique identity of an RFID tag making it possible to track a tag across multiple readers. We further protect the identity of RFID tags by a light-weight privacy protecting identifi cation scheme based on the di culty of the Learning Parity with Noise (LPN) complexity assumption. To protect RFID tags authentication against the relay attacks, we have designed a resistance scheme in the analog realm that does not have the practicality issues of existing solutions. Our scheme is based on the chaos-suppression theory and it is robust to inconsistencies, such as noise and parameters mismatch. Furthermore, our solutions are based on asymmetric-key algorithms that better facilitate the distribution of cryptographic keys in large systems. We have provided a secure broadcast encryption protocol to effi ciently distribute cryptographic keys throughout the system with minimal communication overheads. The security of the proposed protocol is formally proven in the adaptive adversary model, which simulates the attacker in the real world.