223 research outputs found
Visualizing three-dimensional graph drawings
viii, 110 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm.The GLuskap system for interactive three-dimensional graph drawing applies techniques of
scientific visualization and interactive systems to the construction, display, and analysis of
graph drawings. Important features of the system include support for large-screen stereographic
3D display with immersive head-tracking and motion-tracked interactive 3D wand
control. A distributed rendering architecture contributes to the portability of the system,
with user control performed on a laptop computer without specialized graphics hardware.
An interface for implementing graph drawing layout and analysis algorithms in the Python
programming language is also provided. This thesis describes comprehensively the work
on the system by the author—this work includes the design and implementation of the major
features described above. Further directions for continued development and research in
cognitive tools for graph drawing research are also suggested
Temporal unpredictability detection of real-time video sequence
Imperial Users onl
Doctor of Philosophy
dissertationThis dissertation explores three key facets of software algorithms for custom hardware ray tracing: primitive intersection, shading, and acceleration structure construction. For the first, primitive intersection, we show how nearly all of the existing direct three-dimensional (3D) ray-triangle intersection tests are mathematically equivalent. Based on this, a genetic algorithm can automatically tune a ray-triangle intersection test for maximum speed on a particular architecture. We also analyze the components of the intersection test to determine how much floating point precision is required and design a numerically robust intersection algorithm. Next, for shading, we deconstruct Perlin noise into its basic parts and show how these can be modified to produce a gradient noise algorithm that improves the visual appearance. This improved algorithm serves as the basis for a hardware noise unit. Lastly, we show how an existing bounding volume hierarchy can be postprocessed using tree rotations to further reduce the expected cost to traverse a ray through it. This postprocessing also serves as the basis for an efficient update algorithm for animated geometry. Together, these contributions should improve the efficiency of both software- and hardware-based ray tracers
The instruction of systolic array (ISA) and simulation of parallel algorithms
Systolic arrays have proved to be well suited for Very Large
Scale Integrated technology (VLSI) since they:
-Consist of a regular network of simple processing cells,
-Use local communication between the processing cells only,
-Exploit a maximal degree of parallelism.
However, systolic arrays have one main disadvantage compared with
other parallel computer architectures: they are special purpose
architectures only capable of executing one algorithm, e.g., a
systolic array designed for sorting cannot be used to form matrix
multiplication.
Several approaches have been made to make systolic arrays more
flexible, in order to be able to handle different problems on a
single systolic array.
In this thesis an alternative concept to a VLSI-architecture
the Soft-Systolic Simulation System (SSSS), is introduced and
developed as a working model of virtual machine with the power to
simulate hard systolic arrays and more general forms of concurrency
such as the SIMD and MIMD models of computation.
The virtual machine includes a processing element consisting of
a soft-systolic processor implemented in the virtual.machine language.
The processing element considered here was a very general element
which allows the choice of a wide range of arithmetic and logical
operators and allows the simulation of a wide class of algorithms
but in principle extra processing cells can be added making a library
and this library be tailored to individual needs.
The virtual machine chosen for this implementation is the
Instruction Systolic Array (ISA). The ISA has a number of interesting
features, firstly it has been used to simulate all SIMD algorithms
and many MIMD algorithms by a simple program transformation technique,
further, the ISA can also simulate the so-called wavefront processor
algorithms, as well as many hard systolic algorithms. The ISA removes
the need for the broadcasting of data which is a feature of SIMD
algorithms (limiting the size of the machine and its cycle time) and also presents a fairly simple communication structure for MIMD
algorithms.
The model of systolic computation developed from the VLSI
approach to systolic arrays is such that the processing surface is
fixed, as are the processing elements or cells by virtue of their
being embedded in the processing surface.
The VLSI approach therefore freezes instructions and hardware
relative to the movement of data with the virtual machine and softsystolic
programming retaining the constructions of VLSI for array
design features such as regularity, simplicity and local communication,
allowing the movement of instructions with respect to data. Data can
be frozen into the structure with instructions moving systolically.
Alternatively both the data and instructions can move systolically
around the virtual processors, (which are deemed fixed relative to
the underlying architecture).
The ISA is implemented in OCCAM programs whose execution and
output implicitly confirm the correctness of the design.
The soft-systolic preparation comprises of the usual operating
system facilities for the creation and modification of files during
the development of new programs and ISA processor elements. We allow
any concurrent high level language to be used to model the softsystolic
program. Consequently the Replicating Instruction Systolic
Array Language (RI SAL) was devised to provide a very primitive program
environment to the ISA but adequate for testing. RI SAL accepts
instructions in an assembler-like form, but is fairly permissive
about the format of statements, subject of course to syntax.
The RI SAL compiler is adopted to transform the soft-systolic
program description (RISAL) into a form suitable for the virtual
machine (simulating the algorithm) to run.
Finally we conclude that the principles mentioned here can form
the basis for a soft-systolic simulator using an orthogonally
connected mesh of processors. The wide range of algorithms which the
ISA can simulate make it suitable for a virtual simulating grid
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