Temporal Logic and State Systems



Fred Kröger, Stephan Merz “Temporal Logic and State Systems"
Springer | 2008-04 | ISBN: 3540674012 | PDF | 436 pages | 3,4 Mb

Temporal logic has developed over the last 30 years into a powerful formal setting for the specification and verification of state-based systems. Based on university lectures given by the authors, this book is a comprehensive, concise, uniform, up-to-date presentation of the theory and applications of linear and branching time temporal logic; TLA (Temporal Logic of Actions); automata theoretical connections; model checking; and related theories.

All theoretical details and numerous application examples are elaborated carefully and with full formal rigor, and the book will serve as a basic source and reference for lecturers, graduate students and researchers.

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names



Lutz D. Schmadel “Dictionary of Minor Planet Names"
Springer | 2003-08-05 | ISBN: 3540002383 | PDF | 992 pages | 6,5 Mb

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, fifth edition, is the official reference for the field of the IAU, which serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. The accelerating rate of the discovery of minor planets has not only made a new edition of this established compendium necessary but has also significantly altered its scope: this thoroughly revised edition concentrates on the approximately 10,000 minor planets that carry a name. It provides authoritative information about the basis for all names of minor planets. In addition to being of practical value for identification purposes, this collection provides a most interesting historical insight into the work of those astronomers who over two centuries vested their affinities in a rich and colorful variety of ingenious names, from heavenly goddesses to more prosaic constructions. The fifth edition serves as the primary reference, with plans for supplementary booklets with newly named bodies to be issued every three years.

Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma Modulators for High-Speed A/D Conversion: Theory, Practice and Fundamental Performance Limits



James A. Cherry, W. Martin Snelgrove “Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma Modulators for High-Speed A/D Conversion: Theory, Practice and Fundamental Performance Limits"
Springer | 1999-09-30 | ISBN: 0792386256 | PDF | 280 pages | 7,2 Mb

Among analog-to-digital converters, the delta-sigma modulator has cornered the market on high to very high resolution converters at moderate speeds, with typical applications such as digital audio and instrumentation. Interest has recently increased in delta-sigma circuits built with a continuous-time loop filter rather than the more common switched-capacitor approach. Continuous-time delta-sigma modulators offer less noisy virtual ground nodes at the input, inherent protection against signal aliasing, and the potential to use a physical rather than an electrical integrator in the first stage for novel applications like accelerometers and magnetic flux sensors. More significantly, they relax settling time restrictions so that modulator clock rates can be raised. This opens the possibility of wideband (1 MHz or more) converters, possibly for use in radio applications at an intermediate frequency so that one or more stages of mixing might be done in the digital domain. Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma Modulators for High-Speed A/D Conversion: Theory, Practice and Fundamental Performance Limits covers all aspects of continuous-time delta-sigma modulator design, with particular emphasis on design for high clock speeds. The authors explain the ideal design of such modulators in terms of the well-understood discrete-time modulator design problem and provide design examples in Matlab. They also cover commonly-encountered non-idealities in continuous-time modulators and how they degrade performance, plus a wealth of material on the main problems (feedback path delays, clock jitter, and quantizer metastability) in very high-speed designs and how to avoid them. They also give a concrete design procedure for a real high-speed circuit which illustrates the tradeoffs in the selection of key parameters. Detailed circuit diagrams, simulation results and test results for an integrated continuous-time 4 GHz band-pass modulator for A/D conversion of 1 GHz analog signals are also presented. Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma Modulators for High-Speed A/D Conversion: Theory, Practice and Fundamental Performance Limits concludes with some promising modulator architectures and a list of the challenges that remain in this exciting field.

Learning-Based Robot Vision



Josef Pauli “Learning-Based Robot Vision"
Springer | 2001-06-15 | ISBN:3540421084 | PDF | 288 pages | 3,4 Mb


This book provides the background and introduces a practical methodology for developing autonomous camera-equipped robot systems which solve deliberate tasks in open environments based on their competences acquired from training, interaction, and learning in the real task-relevant world; visual demonstration and neural learning for the backbone for acquiring the situated competences. The author verifies the practicability of the proposed methodology by presenting a structured case study including high-level sub-tasks such as localizing, approaching, grasping, and carrying objects.

Digital Design and Computer Architecture



David Harris, Sarah Harris “Digital Design and Computer Architecture"
Morgan Kaufmann | 2007-03-02 | ISBN:0123704979 | PDF | 592 pages | 31,3 Mb


Digital Design and Computer Architecture is designed for courses that combine digital logic design with computer organization/architecture or that teach these subjects as a two-course sequence. Digital Design and Computer Architecture begins with a modern approach by rigorously covering the fundamentals of digital logic design and then introducing Hardware Description Languages (HDLs). Featuring examples of the two most widely-used HDLs, VHDL and Verilog, the first half of the text prepares the reader for what follows in the second: the design of a MIPS Processor. By the end of Digital Design and Computer Architecture, readers will be able to build their own microprocessor and will have a top-to-bottom understanding of how it works--even if they have no formal background in design or architecture beyond an introductory class. David Harris and Sarah Harris combine an engaging and humorous writing style with an updated and hands-on approach to digital design.

• Unique presentation of digital logic design from the perspective of computer architecture using a real instruction set, MIPS.
• Side-by-side examples of the two most prominent Hardware Design Languages--VHDL and Verilog--illustrate and compare the ways the each can be used in the design of digital systems.
• Worked examples conclude each section to enhance the reader's understanding and retention of the material.
• Companion Web site includes links to CAD tools for FPGA design from Synplicity and Xilinx,
lecture slides, laboratory projects, and solutions to exercises.

Digital Content Annotation and Transcoding



Katashi Nagao “Digital Content Annotation and Transcoding "
Artech House Publishers | 2003-03 | ISBN:158053337X | PDF | 260 pages | 3,2 Mb

Topics include: Extension of Digital Content; Advanced Transcoding; Annotation and Transcoding; and Advanced Applications. Also discusses problems with online content.

Future Trends in Microelectronics: Up the Nano Creek



Serge Luryi, Jimmy Xu, Alex Zaslavsky " Future Trends in Microelectronics: Up the Nano Creek "
Wiley-IEEE Press | 2007-05-18 | ISBN:0470081465 | PDF | 459 pages | 23,2 Mb


In this book leading profesionals in the semiconductor microelectronics field discuss the future evolution of their profession. The following are some of the questions discussed:
Does CMOS technology have a real problem?
Do transistors have to be smaller or just better and made of better materials?
What is to come after semiconductors?
Superconductors or molecular conductors?
Is bottom-up self-assembling the answer to the limitation of top-down lithography?
Is it time for Optics to become a force in computer evolution?
Quantum Computing, Spintronics?
Where is the printable plastic electronics proposed 10 years ago?
Are carbon nanotube transistors the CMOS of the future?