This paper present an alternative promising approach to ISI mitigation by the use of single-carrier (SC) modulation combined with frequency-domain equalization (FDE).

In the last years, substantial attention has been paid to the use of radar systems in health monitoring, due to the availability of both low-cost radar devices and computationally efficient algorithms for processing their measurements. In this article, a tutorial overview of radar-based monitoring of vital signs is provided. More specifically, we first focus on the available radar technologies and the signal processing algorithms developed for the estimation of vital signs. Then, we provide some useful guidelines that should be followed in the selection of radar devices for vital sign monitoring and in their use. Finally, we illustrate various specific applications of radar systems to health monitoring and some relevant research trends in this field.

Rail tracks undergo massive stresses that can affect their structural integrity and produce rail breakage. The last phenomenon represents a serious concern for railway management authorities, since it may cause derailments and, consequently, losses of rolling stock material and lives. Therefore, the activities of track maintenance and inspection are of paramount importance. In recent years, the use of various technologies for monitoring rails and the detection of their defects has been investigated; however, despite the important progresses in this field, substantial research efforts are still required to achieve higher scanning speeds and improve the reliability of diagnostic procedures. It is expected that, in the near future, an important role in track maintenance and inspection will be played by the ultrasonic guided wave technology. In this manuscript, its use in rail track monitoring is investigated in detail; moreover, both of the main strategies investigated in the technical literature are taken into consideration. The first strategy consists of the installation of the monitoring instrumentation on board a moving test vehicle that scans the track below while running. The second strategy, instead, is based on distributing the instrumentation throughout the entire rail network, so that continuous monitoring in quasi-real-time can be obtained. In our analysis of the proposed solutions, the prototypes and the employed methods are described.

In this paper, novel equalization algorithms for continuous phase modulations (CPMs) are illustrated. Both conventional (linear and decision-feedback) and turbo equalization techniques are derived using the Laurent decomposition of CPM signals. All of them operate in the frequency domain and process two samples of the received signal per channel symbol. Numerical results show that on one hand, conventional equalization strategies offer good performance for binary partial response signaling over severely frequency-selective wireless channels at a moderate complexity. On the other hand, there is evidence that turbo techniques provide a small energy saving at the price of a substantial computational burden.

A novel equalization/detection algorithm for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals transmitted over frequency-selective channels is introduced and investigated. The algorithm stems from the recognition that the Fourier transform processing inherent in OFDM turns a single wideband frequency-selective channel into a set of correlated narrowband frequency-flat fading channels. This suggests that sequence detection techniques, such as those discussed by Vitetta et al. (see IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.43, p.2750-8, 1995, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.43, pt.II, p.1256-9, 1995, and Proc. IEEE Commun. Theory Mini-Conf (Globecom '96), London, UK, p.153-7, 1996), for time-selective flat-fading channels, can be also profitably utilized for joint equalization and decoding of OFDM signals in the frequency domain. Simulation results show that the proposed detection strategy, implemented via a standard Viterbi algorithm, provides improved performance over differential detection, with a moderate increase in receiver complexity and without requiring the periodic transmission of training blocks