Vasilis Christofilakis

Bio: Vasilis Christofilakis is an academic researcher from University of Ioannina. The author has contributed to research in topics: Schumann resonances & Antenna (radio). The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 49 publications receiving 266 citations. Previous affiliations of Vasilis Christofilakis include National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos".

Performance of Turbo Coded OFDM Under the Presence of Various Noise Types

Abstract: A telecommunication system uses carriers in order to transmit information through a cable or wirelessly. If each time only one carrier is transmitted, then the system's signal will not be immune to frequency selective fading. If frequency selective fading includes the working frequency of the system, then the wireless link will not be established. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is the primary solution for coping with inter-signal interference and frequency-selective fading. Many carriers can be produced by splitting a fast information stream to slower data series. Different orthogonal frequencies carry slower data series. System's performance can be further enhanced with the utilization of turbo codes. Turbo codes make the system more immune to noise effects with excellent BER results. This paper presents the thorough analysis of a turbo coded OFDM scheme using a PCCC technique in the presence of a channel which includes AWGN, phase noise, Rayleigh fading, Rician fading and Doppler shift.

A Prototype Photoplethysmography Electronic Device that Distinguishes Congestive Heart Failure from Healthy Individuals by Applying Natural Time Analysis

Abstract: In this paper, a prototype photoplethysmography (PPG) electronic device is presented for the distinction of individuals with congestive heart failure (CHF) from the healthy (H) by applying the concept of Natural Time Analysis (NTA). Data were collected simultaneously with a conventional three-electrode electrocardiography (ECG) system and our prototype PPG electronic device from H and CHF volunteers at the 2nd Department of Cardiology, Medical School of Ioannina, Greece. Statistical analysis of the results show a clear separation of CHF from H subjects by means of NTA for both the conventional ECG system and our PPG prototype system, with a clearly better distinction for the second one which additionally inherits the advantages of a low-cost portable device.

Geometry Aspects and Experimental Results of a Printed Dipole Antenna

Abstract: Detail experimental measurements of a 2.4 GHz printed dipole antenna for wireless communication systems is presented and discussed. A group of printed dipoles with integrated balun have been designed and constructed on a dielectric substrate. This paper is based on modifications of the known printed dipole architecture. The corresponding printed dipole antennas have differences on their forms that are provided by two essential geometry parameters. The first parameter l is related to the bend on microstrip line that feeds the dipole and the second w corresponds to the form of the dipole’s gap. The impact of these parameters on reflection coefficient and radiation pattern of antenna has been investigated. The corresponding measured results indicate that the return loss and radiation pattern of a printed dipole antenna are independent of the w parameter. Instead, variations in the value of the l parameter in the dipole’s structure affect the form of the corresponding return loss. These observations are very important and provide interesting considerations on affecting design and construction of antenna elements at frequency range of 2.4 GHz.

Earth-to-Earth Microwave Rain Attenuation Measurements: A Survey On the Recent Literature

Abstract: Many works have been conducted relevant to rainfall measurements, while the first relevant ones were based on the power loss estimation function from wireless links located back to the early 1940s. It is notable, though, that this innovative idea conduced to many theoretical models correlating the signal attenuation to the rainfall intensity. This type of parameter strongly contributes to the mechanism of frequency attenuation above 10 GHz. Consequently, in the last twenty years, there has been a significant boost to this research topic. Researchers all around the world have worked thoroughly on the issue of estimating rain with the use of earth-to-earth microwave signal attenuation. Nevertheless, the issue remains intriguing and challenging. This paper presents a literature survey, of the last decade, on this challenging issue focusing on measurements from backhaul cellular microwave links and experimental setups. Research challenges and future trends are also presented.

Pre-seismic Electromagnetic Perturbations in Two Earthquakes in Northern Greece

Abstract: Two medium-magnitude earthquakes separated by a distance of 230 km occurred within 34 days from each other in Northern Greece. A few hours before the manifestation of seismic activity, significant extra-low-frequency (ELF) perturbations were detected in a nearby Schumann resonance observation site. The typical spectrum of ELF measurements was deformed with the appearance of an enhanced spectral feature in the frequency range 20–25 Hz. A logit regression model was applied to the data to examine whether ELF perturbations could be considered as precursors of seismic activity. In general, two earthquakes so close to each other (in space, time, and magnitude) form a unique opportunity for the study of characteristic features of pre-seismic ultra-low-frequency (ULF)/ELF perturbations. Quantitative results from a simple nonlinear statistical model support the idea that there is some kind of physical interaction between seismic and atmospheric ELF activities, and that ELF measurements could potentially be used as a useful tool in the forecasting of seismic activity.

Three Years of Country-Wide Rainfall Maps from Cellular Communication Networks

Abstract: Accurate and timely surface precipitation measurements are crucial for water resources management, agriculture, weather prediction, climate research, as well as ground validation of satellite-based precipitation estimates. However, the majority of the land surface of the earth lacks such data, and in many parts of the world the density of surface precipitation gauging networks is even rapidly declining. This development can potentially be counteracted by using received signal level data from the enormous number of microwave links used worldwide in commercial cellular communication networks. Along such links, radio signals propagate from a transmitting antenna at one base station to a receiving antenna at another base station. Rain-induced attenuation and, subsequently, path-averaged rainfall intensity can be retrieved from the signal’s attenuation between transmitter and receiver. Here, we show how one such a network can be used to retrieve the space–time dynamics of rainfall for an entire country (The Netherlands, ∼35,500 km2), based on an unprecedented number of links (∼2,400) and a rainfall retrieval algorithm that can be applied in real time. This demonstrates the potential of such networks for real-time rainfall monitoring, in particular in those parts of the world where networks of dedicated ground-based rainfall sensors are often virtually absent.

ELF Electromagnetic Waves from Lightning: The Schumann Resonances

Abstract: Lightning produces electromagnetic fields and waves in all frequency ranges. In the extremely low frequency (ELF) range below 100 Hz, the global Schumann Resonances (SR) are excited at frequencies of 8 Hz, 14 Hz, 20 Hz, etc. This review is aimed at the reader generally unfamiliar with the Schumann Resonances. First some historical context to SR research is given, followed by some theoretical background and examples of the extensive use of Schumann resonances in a variety of lightning-related studies in recent years, ranging from estimates of the spatial and temporal variations in global lighting activity, connections to global climate change, transient luminous events and extraterrestrial lightning. Both theoretical and experimental results of the global resonance phenomenon are presented. It is our hope that this review will increase the interest in SR among researchers previously unfamiliar with this phenomenon.

Mobile-Phone Antenna Array with Diamond-Ring Slot Elements for 5G Massive MIMO Systems

Abstract: A design of mobile-phone antenna array with diamond-ring slot elements is proposed for fifth generation (5G) massive multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The configuration of the design consists of four double-fed diamond-ring slot antenna elements placed at different corners of the mobile-phone printed circuit board (PCB). A low-cost FR-4 dielectric with an overall dimension of 75 × 150 mm2 is used as the design substrate. The antenna elements are fed by 50-Ohm L-shaped microstrip-lines. Due to the orthogonal placement of microstrip feed lines, the diamond-ring slot elements can exhibit the polarization and radiation pattern diversity characteristic. A good impedance bandwidth (S11 ≤ −10 dB) of 3.2–4 GHz has been achieved for each antenna radiator. However, for S11 ≤ −6 dB, this value is 3–4.2 GHz. The proposed design provides the required radiation coverage of 5G smartphones. The performance of the proposed MIMO antenna design is examined using both simulation and experiment. High isolation, high efficiency and sufficient gain-level characteristics have been obtained for the proposed MIMO smartphone antenna. In addition, the calculated total active reflection coefficient (TARC) and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) of the antenna elements are very low over the whole band of interest which verify the capability of the proposed multi-antenna systems for massive MIMO and diversity applications. Furthermore, the properties of the design in Data-mode/Talk-mode are investigated and presented.

Retrieval algorithm for rainfall mapping from microwave links in a cellular communication network

Abstract: Abstract. Microwave links in commercial cellular communication networks hold a promise for areal rainfall monitoring and could complement rainfall estimates from ground-based weather radars, rain gauges, and satellites. It has been shown that country-wide (≈ 35 500 km2) 15 min rainfall maps can be derived from the signal attenuations of approximately 2400 microwave links in such a network. Here we give a detailed description of the employed rainfall retrieval algorithm. Moreover, the documented, modular, and user-friendly code (a package in the scripting language “R”) is made available, including a 2-day data set of approximately 2600 commercial microwave links from the Netherlands. The purpose of this paper is to promote rainfall mapping utilising microwave links from cellular communication networks as an alternative or complementary means for continental-scale rainfall monitoring.

Generalized Deep Neural Network Model for Cuffless Blood Pressure Estimation with Photoplethysmogram Signal Only.

Abstract: Due to the growing public awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD), blood pressure (BP) estimation models have been developed based on physiological parameters extracted from both electrocardiograms (ECGs) and photoplethysmograms (PPGs). Still, in order to enhance the usability as well as reduce the sensor cost, researchers endeavor to establish a generalized BP estimation model using only PPG signals. In this paper, we propose a deep neural network model capable of extracting 32 features exclusively from PPG signals for BP estimation. The effectiveness and accuracy of our proposed model was evaluated by the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) standard and the British Hypertension Society (BHS) standard. Experimental results showed that the RMSEs in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) are 4.643 mmHg and 3.307 mmHg, respectively, across 9000 subjects, with 80.63% of absolute errors among estimated SBP records lower than 5 mmHg and 90.19% of absolute errors among estimated DBP records lower than 5 mmHg. We demonstrated that our proposed model has remarkably high accuracy on the largest BP database found in the literature, which shows its effectiveness compared to some prior works.