A three-axis automotive gyroscope ASIC for electronic stability control (ESC) with noise density that is less than 0.004°/s/√Hz in a 80 Hz bandwidth and an offset drift lower than ±0.1°/s over the ...automotive temperature range -40 to 140 °C, without any temperature compensation, is reported. A closed-loop, force-feedback architecture along with electromechanical quadrature cancellation enables the low noise and low offset-drift performance. The application of this work needs to meet the ASIL-D automotive safety standard which requires the highest level of automotive safety. Therefore, this work also presents a low-overhead approach for implementing accurate continuous safety monitoring to monitor defects, which can develop in the field, and can give rise to a false output. To achieve this, two test signals are injected into the quadrature cancellation loop to traverse the entire signal path. The system is clocked by a low-phase noise PLL, which allows the coexistence of the test signals and the measured signal in close proximity, without a noise penalty. The architecture of the drive loop is chosen to not only achieve low-phase noise but also robustness to parasitic mechanical modes of the sensor.
A qualitative game describes a situation in which antagonistic players strive to keep the evolutions of their state variables in predetermined constraint sets. We argue that a qualitative game model ...is a suitable mathematical representation of the struggle between a domestic central bank of a small open economy and a foreign central bank of a large economy to maintain their respective state variables within an acceptable band regardless of the other player’s choices. The actions of the foreign central bank affect the domestic exchange rate and, hence, domestic inflation, output gap and interest rate. However, these actions do not necessarily aim to destabilise the small open economy, nor do they take into account the state of the latter. The domestic bank’s problem, therefore, is similar to that of a game against nature. We refer to this type of qualitative game as a nuisance-agent game (or NA-game). We use viability theory to derive satisficing rules (in the sense of Simon) of nominal interest-rate adjustments for the domestic central bank of a small open economy in a qualitative NA-game against the foreign central bank.
An accelerometer for electronic stability control utilizes a two-mass mechanical sensor element to implement a fully-differential signal path, achieving robustness against electromagnetic ...interference (EMI) without the need for external shielding in the package. The EMI rejection is augmented further with a pseudo-random chopping scheme, which spreads the interference over a wide bandwidth, reducing its in-band portion to the level of the noise floor. The chopping function maintains zero-mean voltage waveforms across the sensor electrodes, which is also beneficial for the long-term offset stability of the device. A charge-balanced capacitance-to-voltage converter provides linear transduction for displacements of the proof-mass up to 70% of the gap and minimizes the residual electrostatic forces. A dual-axis design occupies 1.1 mm 2 in 0.18- μm CMOS and consumes 820 μA from an internally regulated 1.9-V supply. The system achieves 380 μg/ √Hz noise floor and 84-dB dynamic range. The offset variation in the automotive temperature range of -40 to +140°C has a 3 σ range of ±11 mg.
This paper presents a closed-loop accelerometer interface based on a force-feedback ΔΣ loop. The interface reduces the offset, and its drift, arising from asymmetry in the parasitic capacitances of ...the bondwires connecting the CMOS interface IC and the MEMS sensor element. This is achieved by modulating the spring constant of the sensor electrostatically and continuously measuring and nulling the offset via an offset cancellation loop. In a bondwire deformation experiment, we show that the offset cancellation loop reduces an induced offset of 350 mg by 54 dB down to 0.7 mg. The interface was fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The active circuit area is 1.35 mm 2 and the interface consumes 3.1 mW from a 3-V supply, while achieving a noise floor of 220 μg/√Hz over a 1-kHz bandwidth. When the offset cancellation loop is turned on the bandwidth available for the signal is 200 Hz.
We examine how a tax on cigarettes would be affected by endogeneity of their addictiveness. In our model, the rationale for government intervention is based on internalities and externalities. While ...a corrective tax could be imposed to address these two distortions, it may result in excessive nicotine consumption per cigarette. This suggests that tax rates should be moderated. We consider two types of behavior that affect the addictiveness of cigarettes. First, producers can manipulate the nicotine content of tobacco products. Second, consumers are able to adjust the intensity of their smoking. We show that there may still be a case for a corrective tax. However, tax policies and attainable welfare depend on whether the nicotine dose from each cigarette is influenced by producers or consumers.
A 4-GS/s current-domain analog front end (CurAFE) for phase-coded pulse-compression direct time-of-flight (dTOF) automotive Lidar has been realized in 130-nm CMOS. The permissible eye-safe laser ...energy is transmitted in the form of a burst of optical sub-pulses. The burst embeds a phase coding designed to have an auto-correlation function with a maximum peak-to-sidelobe ratio. The optical reflection of this burst, reflected from a target, is then detected by an avalanche photodiode (APD). The APD's output current drives the CurAFE, whose 4-GS/s single-bit output is processed by a digital matched filter for pulse-compression and TOF estimation through cross correlation. The 200-MHz bandwidth frontend detects bursts with bitrates up to 200 Mb/s (5-ns sub-pulsewidth) and is designed for >80-dB DR without saturation and 5-pA/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\surd </tex-math></inline-formula>Hz input-referred noise. A current-feedback dc servo loop at its input cancels the background-light-induced detector current. Compared to state-of-the-art single-pulse Lidars, operating with peak optical transmit powers ~50 W, this work achieves an inaccuracy of 0.225 m (1<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\sigma </tex-math></inline-formula>) over 60-m range at >10<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\times </tex-math></inline-formula> lower peak transmit power of ~3.5 W.
International environmental agreements (IEAs) can coordinate abatement of transboundary pollutants. This paper investigates how heterogeneous countries facing a stock pollutant might structure such ...an agreement. In particular, we examine how an IEA might be implemented with a set of monetary transfers. The focus is on transfers that are time invariant, linear in emissions, and consistent with budget balance. There is a range of such schemes that would induce efficient emissions. We provide a simple and intuitive characterization of these penalties and describe how specific proposals might be chosen in order to facilitate compliance and implementation. Our proposals are illustrated with a simple example. We show that heterogeneity reduces the scope for penalty schemes to jointly satisfy desirable properties.
This paper studies a simultaneous-move infinite-horizon delegation game in which the principal of a durable goods monopoly entrusts pricing decisions to a manager who enjoys consuming her monetary ...rewards but dislikes production effort. The delegation contract allows for continual interference with managerial incentives: in each period the principal rewards the manager according to her performance. We show that when the cost of delegation is low relative to profits, the principal can attain the precommitment price plan in a perfect rational expectations equilibrium. The paper analyzes the robustness of this result under alternative specifications of timing and objectives. We also provide a numerical characterization of the equilibrium strategies for the case of linear-quadratic payoffs.
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