Methodologies and Toolflows for the Predictable Design of Reliable and Low-Power NoCs

There is today the unmistakable need to evolve design methodologies and tool ows for Network-on-Chip based embedded systems. In particular, the quest for low-power requirements is nowadays a more-than-ever urgent dilemma. Modern circuits feature billion of transistors, and neither power management techniques nor batteries capacity are able to endure the increasingly higher integration capability of digital devices. Besides, power concerns come together with modern nanoscale silicon technology design issues. On one hand, system failure rates are expected to increase exponentially at every technology node when integrated circuit wear-out failure mechanisms are not compensated for. However, error detection and/or correction mechanisms have a non-negligible impact on the network power. On the other hand, to meet the stringent time-to-market deadlines, the design cycle of such a distributed and heterogeneous architecture must not be prolonged by unnecessary design iterations. Overall, there is a clear need to better discriminate reliability strategies and interconnect topology solutions upfront, by ranking designs based on power metric. In this thesis, we tackle this challenge by proposing power-aware design technologies. Finally, we take into account the most aggressive and disruptive methodology for embedded systems with ultra-low power constraints, by migrating NoC basic building blocks to asynchronous (or clockless) design style. We deal with this challenge delivering a standard cell design methodology and mainstream CAD tool ows, in this way partially relaxing the requirement of using asynchronous blocks only as hard macros

Modellierung von On-Chip-Trace-Architekturen für eingebettete Systeme

Das als Trace bezeichnete nicht-invasive Aufzeichnen von Systemzuständen, während ein eingebettetes System unter realen Einsatzbedingungen in Echtzeit läuft und mit der Systemumgebung interagiert, ist ein wichtiger Teil von Softwaretests. Die Notwendigkeit für den On-Chip-Trace resultiert aus der rückläufigen Einsetzbarkeit etablierter Werkzeuge für den Off-Chip-Trace. Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil von On-Chip-Trace-Architekturen ist die Volumenreduktion der Tracedaten in deren Entstehungsgeschwindigkeit direkt auf dem Chip. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem Trace des Instruktionsflusses von Prozessoren. Der aktuelle Stand der Forschung zeigt zwei Ausprägungen. Bei einfachen Lösungen ist der Kompressionsfaktor zu klein. Aufwendigere Lösungen liefern einen unvollständigen Instruktionstrace, wenn auch sequentielle Befehle bedingt ausgeführt werden. Bisher existieren keine Lösungen, die einen vollständigen Instruktionstrace mit hoher Kompression realisieren. Diese Lücke wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit geschlossen. Der systematische Entwurf der neuen On-Chip-Trace-Architektur beginnt mit der umfassenden Analyse typischer Benchmarkprogramme. Aus den Ergebnissen werden grundlegende Entwurfsentscheidungen abgeleitet. Diese Bitsequenzen von Ausführungsbits, die bei der bedingten Befehlsausführung entstehen, und die Zieladressen ausgeführter indirekter Sprünge werden in unabhängigen Kompressoren verarbeitet. Ein nachgeschalteter Kompressor für die Messages der anderen beiden Kompressoren ist optional und kann die Kompression weiter steigern. Diese Aufteilung stellt ein architektonisches Novum dar. Die Kompression von Bitsequenzen ist bisher ein weitestgehend unbehandeltes Feld. Implementiert worden ist hierfür ein gleitendes Wörterbuch mit der Granularität von Einzelbits. Die Vergleiche mit den untersuchten existierenden Architekturen zeigen die Überlegenheit der neuen Architektur bei der Kompression. Ein vollständiger Instruktionstrace ist für Prozessoren mit und ohne bedingt ausführbaren sequentiellen Befehlen realisiert worden

Data bases and data base systems related to NASA's aerospace program. A bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 1778 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system, 1975 through 1980

The development of a near infrared spectroscopy system and its application for non invasive monitoring of cerebral blood and tissue oxygenation in the newborn infants

This project had two main objectives. The first of these was to design and construct a spectroscopic instrument to monitor small changes in optical transmission across an infant's head at several near infrared wavelengths resulting from changes in the cerebral oxygenation status. The overall attenuation of light by brain tissue is very high and is dominated by the scattering properties of the tissue. Hence a major requirement of the instrument was the ability to measure spectral changes at very low light levels. Once the instrument was available, the second objective was to convert the measured changes in optical transmission into changes in the concentration of the naturally occurring chromophores oxyhaemoglobin, deoxyhaemoglobin and oxidised and reduced cytochrome c oxidase. An important aspect of the work was that the chromophore concentration measurements should be quantified in non-arbitrary units. Medical Physics is, by its nature, highly interdisciplinary and this is reflected in the introductory chapter which briefly covers the clinical problems, the medical science background and the technical aspects of monitoring the cerebral oxygenation status of newborn infants. The second and third chapters examine those constituents of brain tissue which absorb and scatter light and how the complication of multiple scattering can be dealt with in performing quantitative spectroscopy. The fourth and fifth chapters describe the technical details of the instrument design and construction from the initial step of setting its design specifications to the final testing of its performance. The sixth chapter examines the absorption characteristics of the main chromophores of interest namely oxyhaemoglobin, deoxyhaemoglobin and the cytochrome enzymes of the respiratory chain within the brain cells. A discussion on the interpretation of the redox state of the respiratory enzymes in terms of the metabolic state of the brain is also included. The final chapter describes the data analysis methods, the measurement of optical pathlengths in scattering media and introduces a non-linear modification to the Beer-Lambert law which improves the accuracy of the spectroscopic measurements in highly scattering media

Brain Injury

The present two volume book "Brain Injury" is distinctive in its presentation and includes a wealth of updated information on many aspects in the field of brain injury. The Book is devoted to the pathogenesis of brain injury, concepts in cerebral blood flow and metabolism, investigative approaches and monitoring of brain injured, different protective mechanisms and recovery and management approach to these individuals, functional and endocrine aspects of brain injuries, approaches to rehabilitation of brain injured and preventive aspects of traumatic brain injuries. The collective contribution from experts in brain injury research area would be successfully conveyed to the readers and readers will find this book to be a valuable guide to further develop their understanding about brain injury

Remote Sensing of Earth Resources: A literature survey with indexes (1970 - 1973 supplement). Section 1: Abstracts

Abstracts of reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between March 1970 and December 1973 are presented in the following areas: agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, oceanography and marine resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis

11th International Coral Reef Symposium Proceedings

A defining theme of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium was that the news for coral reef ecosystems are far from encouraging. Climate change happens now much faster than in an ice-age transition, and coral reefs continue to suffer fever-high temperatures as well as sour ocean conditions. Corals may be falling behind, and there appears to be no special silver bullet remedy. Nevertheless, there are hopeful signs that we should not despair. Reef ecosystems respond vigorously to protective measures and alleviation of stress. For concerned scientists, managers, conservationists, stakeholders, students, and citizens, there is a great role to play in continuing to report on the extreme threat that climate change represents to earth’s natural systems. Urgent action is needed to reduce CO2 emissions. In the interim, we can and must buy time for coral reefs through increased protection from sewage, sediment, pollutants, overfishing, development, and other stressors, all of which we know can damage coral health. The time to act is now. The canary in the coral-coal mine is dead, but we still have time to save the miners. We need effective management rooted in solid interdisciplinary science and coupled with stakeholder buy in, working at local, regional, and international scales alongside global efforts to give reefs a chance.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_icrs/1000/thumbnail.jp