関屋 大雄

This article presents a load-independent zero-current switching (ZCS) parallel-resonant inverter with a constant output current. The proposed inverter features constant-current output inherently without the need for any control method. Moreover, ZCS is achieved despite load variations, ensuring high power efficiency even at MHz-order switching frequencies. We conduct a comprehensive circuit analysis of the proposed inverter and provide a step-by-step parameter design method for achieving load-independent conditions. Additionally, a 25 W, 1 MHz prototype of the proposed inverter was implemented. In the circuit experiment, constant current output and ZCS were achieved across the entire range of load variations, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed load-independent inverter.

Synchronisability of limit cycle oscillators has been measured by the width of the synchronous frequency band, known as the Arnold tongue, concerning external forcing. We clarify a fundamental limit on maximizing this synchronisability within a specified extra low power budget, which underlies an important and ubiquitous problem in nonlinear science related to an efficient synchronisation of weakly forced nonlinear oscillators. In this letter, injection-locked Class-E oscillators are considered as a practical case study, and we systematically analyse their power consumption; our observations demonstrate the independence of power consumption in the oscillator from power consumption in the injection circuit and verify the dependency of power consumption in the oscillator solely on its oscillation frequency. These systematic observations, followed by the mathematical optimisation establish the existence of a fundamental limit on synchronisability, validated through systematic circuit simulations. The results offer insights into the energetics of synchronisation for a specific class of injection-locked oscillators.

The fusion of IoT and Blockchain (i.e., IoT-Blockchain) promisingly revolutionizes numerous domains. However, IoT-Blockchain systems may face scalability challenges due to a large number of IoT devices and blockchain performance. Sharding, which divides the blockchain into smaller groups, offers a solution to enhance blockchain scalability. However, most previous sharding research typically considers even node distribution in a shard (i.e., a fixed node number). Hence, it may not capture the characteristics of IoT- Blockchain systems well, where nodes are diversely distributed. This paper investigates a new scenario of shards having unevenly distributed nodes, aiming to see the impacts of the scenario on sharding protocols. More specifically, we evaluate the BrokerChain protocol on the sharding-based emulation platform (i.e., BlockEmulator) in scenarios with even and uneven node distributions. The results show that the protocol performance degrades with the uneven node distribution, suggesting the need for a dynamic sharding protocol.

Blockchain holds significant potential in addressing the security, privacy, decentralization, and interoperability challenges prevalent in the Internet of Things (IoT), However, this advancement often comes at the expense of scalability. Therefore, enhancing the scalability of IoT blockchain systems while preserving other essential blockchain attributes is imperative. This paper aims to mitigate network latency in the blockchain network, a factor directly linked to blockchain scalability. Achieving this goal requires implementing an efficient peer selection method, moving beyond the reliance on default selection (i.e., the one in Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.). In existing literature, Perigee has been introduced as a method that nearly optimizes the delay in the transaction transmission process. However, Perigee has not comprehensively addressed the complete transaction life cycle, which includes a crucial process-block transmission. In response to this limitation, we propose Dual Perigee, a solution that thoroughly considers and optimizes both transaction-oriented latency (TOL) and block-oriented latency (BOL). To show the effectiveness of Dual Perigee, we implemented and evaluated it within an emulated IoT-Blockchain system, comparing its performance with Perigee and the default peering method in Ethereum. The results reveal that Dual Perigee excels in reducing BOL compared to Perigee. Moreover, Dual Perigee exhibited a latency that was 43% and 80% lower than the default peering method and Perigee, respectively.