Virtual Runtime Application Partitions for Resource Management in Massively Parallel Architectures

This thesis presents a novel design paradigm, called Virtual Runtime Application Partitions (VRAP), to judiciously utilize the on-chip resources. As the dark silicon era approaches, where the power considerations will allow only a fraction chip to be powered on, judicious resource management will become a key consideration in future designs. Most of the works on resource management treat only the physical components (i.e. computation, communication, and memory blocks) as resources and manipulate the component to application mapping to optimize various parameters (e.g. energy efficiency). To further enhance the optimization potential, in addition to the physical resources we propose to manipulate abstract resources (i.e. voltage/frequency operating point, the fault-tolerance strength, the degree of parallelism, and the configuration architecture). The proposed framework (i.e. VRAP) encapsulates methods, algorithms, and hardware blocks to provide each application with the abstract resources tailored to its needs. To test the efficacy of this concept, we have developed three distinct self adaptive environments: (i) Private Operating Environment (POE), (ii) Private Reliability Environment (PRE), and (iii) Private Configuration Environment (PCE) that collectively ensure that each application meets its deadlines using minimal platform resources. In this work several novel architectural enhancements, algorithms and policies are presented to realize the virtual runtime application partitions efficiently. Considering the future design trends, we have chosen Coarse Grained Reconfigurable Architectures (CGRAs) and Network on Chips (NoCs) to test the feasibility of our approach. Specifically, we have chosen Dynamically Reconfigurable Resource Array (DRRA) and McNoC as the representative CGRA and NoC platforms. The proposed techniques are compared and evaluated using a variety of quantitative experiments. Synthesis and simulation results demonstrate VRAP significantly enhances the energy and power efficiency compared to state of the art.Siirretty Doriast

Hierarchical Agent-based Adaptation for Self-Aware Embedded Computing Systems

Siirretty Doriast

Radio Spectrum and the Disruptive Clarity OF Ronald Coase.

In the Federal Communications Commission, Ronald Coase (1959) exposed deep foundations via normative argument buttressed by astute historical observation. The government controlled scarce frequencies, issuing sharply limited use rights. Spillovers were said to be otherwise endemic. Coase saw that Government limited conflicts by restricting uses; property owners perform an analogous function via the "price system." The government solution was inefficient unless the net benefits of the alternative property regime were lower. Coase augured that the price system would outperform the administrative allocation system. His spectrum auction proposal was mocked by communications policy experts, opposed by industry interests, and ridiculed by policy makers. Hence, it took until July 25, 1994 for FCC license sales to commence. Today, some 73 U.S. auctions have been held, 27,484 licenses sold, and $52.6 billion paid. The reform is a textbook example of economic policy success. We examine Coase‘s seminal 1959 paper on two levels. First, we note the importance of its analytical symmetry, comparing administrative to market mechanisms under the assumption of positive transaction costs. This fundamental insight has had enormous influence within the economics profession, yet is often lost in current analyses. This analytical insight had its beginning in his acclaimed early article on the firm (Coase 1937), and continued into his subsequent treatment of social cost (Coase 1960). Second, we investigate why spectrum policies have stopped well short of the property rights regime that Coase advocated, considering rent-seeking dynamics and the emergence of new theories challenging Coase‘s property framework. One conclusion is easily rendered: competitive bidding is now the default tool in wireless license awards. By rule of thumb, about$17 billion in U.S. welfare losses have been averted. Not bad for the first 50 years of this, or any, Article appearing in Volume II of the Journal of Law & Economics.

The Application of Ranging Techniques to Navigation and Traffic Control

During the last decade a variety of ground- and airbased radio aids have been implemented in efforts to solve major military problems in navigation and guidance, and command, control and communications. Because of significant advances in space technology and avionics, satellite-based systems to provide position-fixing data by means of ranging and range-differencing techniques, and to provide communications capability, have been shown to be feasible and attractive, and to have unique technical and operational advantages. World-wide coverage, essentially instantaneously availability, and threedimensional position-fixing accuracy of a few tens of feet seem feasible. In the civil area, demand for improved communications over the oceans, and for improved air traffic control over both the U.S. and the oceans, may be met by space-based systems. Indeed, the Office of Telecommunications Policy has recently called for a satellite telecommunications service for over-ocean aeronautical operations. A developing view supports the use of satellite-ranging techniques and satellite communications to provide for certain fundamental air traffic control functions over the U. S. in the period through the 1990s. From a satellite and data processing point of view, it appears feasible to implement in the early 1980s a system which could provide surveillance data to the order of 100 feet in three dimensions; an emergency communications capability corresponding to the operational notion of intermittent positive control; data for accurate autonomous navigation and for terminal approach and blind landing. These capabilities would be available to aircraft to an extent depending on its investment in avionics. To accomplish the implied objectives requires the establishment of organized and systematic R&D programs, including a well conceived evaluation methodology

Synchronous communication techniques for rationally clocked systems

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-205).by Luis Francisco G. Sarmenta.M.S

Automated Debugging Methodology for FPGA-based Systems

Electronic devices make up a vital part of our lives. These are seen from mobiles, laptops, computers, home automation, etc. to name a few. The modern designs constitute billions of transistors. However, with this evolution, ensuring that the devices fulfill the designer’s expectation under variable conditions has also become a great challenge. This requires a lot of design time and effort. Whenever an error is encountered, the process is re-started. Hence, it is desired to minimize the number of spins required to achieve an error-free product, as each spin results in loss of time and effort. Software-based simulation systems present the main technique to ensure the verification of the design before fabrication. However, few design errors (bugs) are likely to escape the simulation process. Such bugs subsequently appear during the post-silicon phase. Finding such bugs is time-consuming due to inherent invisibility of the hardware. Instead of software simulation of the design in the pre-silicon phase, post-silicon techniques permit the designers to verify the functionality through the physical implementations of the design. The main benefit of the methodology is that the implemented design in the post-silicon phase runs many order-of-magnitude faster than its counterpart in pre-silicon. This allows the designers to validate their design more exhaustively. This thesis presents five main contributions to enable a fast and automated debugging solution for reconfigurable hardware. During the research work, we used an obstacle avoidance system for robotic vehicles as a use case to illustrate how to apply the proposed debugging solution in practical environments. The first contribution presents a debugging system capable of providing a lossless trace of debugging data which permits a cycle-accurate replay. This methodology ensures capturing permanent as well as intermittent errors in the implemented design. The contribution also describes a solution to enhance hardware observability. It is proposed to utilize processor-configurable concentration networks, employ debug data compression to transmit the data more efficiently, and partially reconfiguring the debugging system at run-time to save the time required for design re-compilation as well as preserve the timing closure. The second contribution presents a solution for communication-centric designs. Furthermore, solutions for designs with multi-clock domains are also discussed. The third contribution presents a priority-based signal selection methodology to identify the signals which can be more helpful during the debugging process. A connectivity generation tool is also presented which can map the identified signals to the debugging system. The fourth contribution presents an automated error detection solution which can help in capturing the permanent as well as intermittent errors without continuous monitoring of debugging data. The proposed solution works for designs even in the absence of golden reference. The fifth contribution proposes to use artificial intelligence for post-silicon debugging. We presented a novel idea of using a recurrent neural network for debugging when a golden reference is present for training the network. Furthermore, the idea was also extended to designs where golden reference is not present

The Psychological Effects of Cochlear Implants: a Comparison of One Adult with a Cochlear Implant and One Without.

This study involved the development, implementation and analyzation of two qualitative case studies, with one involving a profoundly deaf individual who possesses a cochlear implant, the other with an individual who possesses normal hearing ranges. Participants were given two quantitative measures of observation, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire and the Thought Control Questionnaire, before participating in a semi-structured interview that was intended to gather information about the individuals, their life experiences, and the factors of psychological flexibility, adaptability and resiliency as applied to their lives. The semi-structured interview involved a set list of questions that were posed to the individuals; clarification or “follow-up” questions were added in as the need to understand the answers arose. The results of the quantitative measures showed that the individual with normal hearing scored slightly higher than the individual with the cochlear implant, which could show that normal hearing ranges enables an individual to be more psychologically flexible and better able to control unwanted thoughts. During the course of the semi-structured interview, the individual with the cochlear implant had a high rating of psychological flexibility, which may indicate a greater sense of self-awareness; more research is needed to validate this idea. However, considering that only two participants were involved in this particular study such a conclusion is difficult to come to

Simulation of Few Mode Fiber Communication System Using Adaptive Recursive least Square Algorithm

The constant demand of faster mode of communication has revolutionized the technology related to optical fiber communication system. The large member of global researchers are using space division multiplexing (SDM).The research is motivated by the urgent industrial requirement. This technology has sample of scope of improving the channel space. The few mode fiber (FMF) communication system improvement using adaptive algorithm has few issues which are posing the challenges like intermodal noise due to compiling in a random manner .It has some delay which needs to be taken care of is called as differential mode group delay (DMGD).In this work, Recursive Least Square (RLS) has been promised. This yield the convergence faster but at the cost of complex hardware. The FD-LMS algorithm has been considered as a reference. A step size controlled has been put to work. In the reference work the FD-LMS appears to better than LMS algorithm