Network-on-Chip

Limitations of bus-based interconnections related to scalability, latency, bandwidth, and power consumption for supporting the related huge number of on-chip resources result in a communication bottleneck. These challenges can be efficiently addressed with the implementation of a network-on-chip (NoC) system. This book gives a detailed analysis of various on-chip communication architectures and covers different areas of NoCs such as potentials, architecture, technical challenges, optimization, design explorations, and research directions. In addition, it discusses current and future trends that could make an impactful and meaningful contribution to the research and design of on-chip communications and NoC systems

Integration of tools for the Design and Assessment of High-Performance, Highly Reliable Computing Systems (DAHPHRS), phase 1

Systems for Space Defense Initiative (SDI) space applications typically require both high performance and very high reliability. These requirements present the systems engineer evaluating such systems with the extremely difficult problem of conducting performance and reliability trade-offs over large design spaces. A controlled development process supported by appropriate automated tools must be used to assure that the system will meet design objectives. This report describes an investigation of methods, tools, and techniques necessary to support performance and reliability modeling for SDI systems development. Models of the JPL Hypercubes, the Encore Multimax, and the C.S. Draper Lab Fault-Tolerant Parallel Processor (FTPP) parallel-computing architectures using candidate SDI weapons-to-target assignment algorithms as workloads were built and analyzed as a means of identifying the necessary system models, how the models interact, and what experiments and analyses should be performed. As a result of this effort, weaknesses in the existing methods and tools were revealed and capabilities that will be required for both individual tools and an integrated toolset were identified

Design and Implementation of a Communication Protocol to Improve Multimedia QoS and QoE in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

[EN] This dissertation addresses the problem of multimedia delivery over multi-hop ad hoc wireless networks, and especially over wireless sensor networks. Due to their characteristics of low power consumption, low processing capacity and low memory capacity, they have major difficulties in achieving optimal quality levels demanded by end users in such communications. In the first part of this work, it has been carried out a study to determine the behavior of a variety of multimedia streams and how they are affected by the network conditions when they are transmitted over topologies formed by devices of different technologies in multi hop wireless ad hoc mode. To achieve this goal, we have performed experimental tests using a test bench, which combine the main codecs used in audio and video streaming over IP networks with different sound and video captures representing the characteristic patterns of multimedia services such as phone calls, video communications, IPTV and video on demand (VOD). With the information gathered in the laboratory, we have been able to establish the correlation between the induced changes in the physical and logical topology and the network parameters that measure the quality of service (QoS) of a multimedia transmission, such as latency, jitter or packet loss. At this stage of the investigation, a study was performed to determine the state of the art of the proposed protocols, algorithms, and practical implementations that have been explicitly developed to optimize the multimedia transmission over wireless ad hoc networks, especially in ad hoc networks using clusters of nodes distributed over a geographic area and wireless sensor networks. Next step of this research was the development of an algorithm focused on the logical organization of clusters formed by nodes capable of adapting to the circumstances of real-time traffic. The stated goal was to achieve the maximum utilization of the resources offered by the set of nodes that forms the network, allowing simultaneously sending reliably and efficiently all types of content through them, and mixing conventional IP data traffic with multimedia traffic with stringent QoS and QoE requirements. Using the information gathered in the previous phase, we have developed a network architecture that improves overall network performance and multimedia streaming. In parallel, it has been designed and programmed a communication protocol that allows implementing the proposal and testing its operation on real network infrastructures. In the last phase of this thesis we have focused our work on sending multimedia in wireless sensor networks (WSN). Based on the above results, we have adapted both the architecture and the communication protocol for this particular type of network, whose use has been growing hugely in recent years.[ES] Esta tesis doctoral aborda el problema de la distribución de contenidos multimedia a través de redes inalámbricas ad hoc multisalto, especialmente las redes inalámbricas de sensores que, debido a sus características de bajo consumo energético, baja capacidad de procesamiento y baja capacidad de memoria, plantean grandes dificultades para alcanzar los niveles de calidad óptimos que exigen los usuarios finales en dicho tipo de comunicaciones. En la primera parte de este trabajo se ha llevado a cabo un estudio para determinar el comportamiento de una gran variedad de flujos multimedia y como se ven afectados por las condiciones de la red cuando son transmitidos a través topologías formadas por dispositivos de diferentes tecnologías que se comunican en modo ad hoc multisalto inalámbrico. Para ello, se han realizado pruebas experimentales sobre una maqueta de laboratorio, combinando los principales códecs empleados en la transmisión de audio y video a través de redes IP con diversas capturas de sonido y video que representan patrones característicos de servicios multimedia tales como las llamadas telefónicas, videoconferencias, IPTV o video bajo demanda (VOD). Con la información reunida en el laboratorio se ha podido establecer la correlación entre los cambios inducidos en la topología física y lógica de la red con los parámetros que miden la calidad de servicio (QoS) de una transmisión multimedia, tales como la latencia el jitter o la pérdida de paquetes. En esta fase de la investigación se realiza un estudio para determinar el estado del arte de las propuestas de desarrollo e implementación de protocolos y algoritmos que se han generado de forma explícita para optimizar la transmisión de tráfico multimedia sobre redes ad hoc inalámbricas, especialmente en las redes inalámbricas de sensores y redes ad hoc utilizando clústeres de nodos distribuidos en un espacio geográfico. El siguiente paso en la investigación ha consistido en el desarrollo de un algoritmo propio para la organización lógica de clústeres formados por nodos capaces de adaptarse a las circunstancias del tráfico en tiempo real. El objetivo planteado es conseguir un aprovechamiento máximo de los recursos ofrecidos por el conjunto de nodos que forman la red, permitiendo de forma simultánea el envío de todo tipo de contenidos a través de ellos de forma confiable y eficiente, permitiendo la convivencia de tráfico de datos IP convencional con tráfico multimedia con requisitos exigentes de QoS y QoE. A partir de la información conseguida en la fase anterior, se ha desarrollado una arquitectura de red que mejora el rendimiento general de la red y el de las transmisiones multimedia de audio y video en particular. De forma paralela, se ha diseñado y programado un protocolo de comunicación que permite implementar el modelo y testear su funcionamiento sobre infraestructuras de red reales. En la última fase de esta tesis se ha dirigido la atención hacia la transmisión multimedia en las redes de sensores inalámbricos (WSN). Partiendo de los resultados anteriores, se ha adaptado tanto la arquitectura como el protocolo de comunicaciones para este tipo concreto de red, cuyo uso se ha extendido en los últimos años de forma considerable[CA] Esta tesi doctoral aborda el problema de la distribució de continguts multimèdia a través de xarxes sense fil ad hoc multi salt, especialment les xarxes sense fil de sensors que, a causa de les seues característiques de baix consum energètic, baixa capacitat de processament i baixa capacitat de memòria, plantegen grans dificultats per a aconseguir els nivells de qualitat òptims que exigixen els usuaris finals en eixos tipus de comunicacions. En la primera part d'este treball s'ha dut a terme un estudi per a determinar el comportament d'una gran varietat de fluxos multimèdia i com es veuen afectats per les condicions de la xarxa quan són transmesos a través topologies formades per dispositius de diferents tecnologies que es comuniquen en mode ad hoc multi salt sense fil. Per a això, s'han realitzat proves experimentals sobre una maqueta de laboratori, combinant els principals códecs empleats en la transmissió d'àudio i vídeo a través de xarxes IP amb diverses captures de so i vídeo que representen patrons característics de serveis multimèdia com son les cridades telefòniques, videoconferències, IPTV o vídeo baix demanda (VOD). Amb la informació reunida en el laboratori s'ha pogut establir la correlació entre els canvis induïts en la topologia física i lògica de la xarxa amb els paràmetres que mesuren la qualitat de servei (QoS) d'una transmissió multimèdia, com la latència el jitter o la pèrdua de paquets. En esta fase de la investigació es realitza un estudi per a determinar l'estat de l'art de les propostes de desenvolupament i implementació de protocols i algoritmes que s'han generat de forma explícita per a optimitzar la transmissió de tràfic multimèdia sobre xarxes ad hoc sense fil, especialment en les xarxes sense fil de sensors and xarxes ad hoc utilitzant clusters de nodes distribuïts en un espai geogràfic. El següent pas en la investigació ha consistit en el desenvolupament d'un algoritme propi per a l'organització lògica de clusters formats per nodes capaços d'adaptar-se a les circumstàncies del tràfic en temps real. L'objectiu plantejat és aconseguir un aprofitament màxim dels recursos oferits pel conjunt de nodes que formen la xarxa, permetent de forma simultània l'enviament de qualsevol tipus de continguts a través d'ells de forma confiable i eficient, permetent la convivència de tràfic de dades IP convencional amb tràfic multimèdia amb requisits exigents de QoS i QoE. A partir de la informació aconseguida en la fase anterior, s'ha desenvolupat una arquitectura de xarxa que millora el rendiment general de la xarxa i el de les transmissions multimèdia d'àudio i vídeo en particular. De forma paral¿lela, s'ha dissenyat i programat un protocol de comunicació que permet implementar el model i testejar el seu funcionament sobre infraestructures de xarxa reals. En l'última fase d'esta tesi s'ha dirigit l'atenció cap a la transmissió multimèdia en les xarxes de sensors sense fil (WSN). Partint dels resultats anteriors, s'ha adaptat tant l'arquitectura com el protocol de comunicacions per a aquest tipus concret de xarxa, l'ús del qual s'ha estés en els últims anys de forma considerable.Díaz Santos, JR. (2016). Design and Implementation of a Communication Protocol to Improve Multimedia QoS and QoE in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/62162TESI

Reliability and fault tolerance modelling of multiprocessor systems

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Reliability evaluation by analytic modelling constitute an important issue of designing a reliable multiprocessor system. In this thesis, a model for reliability and fault tolerance analysis of the interconnection network is presented, based on graph theory. Reliability and fault tolerance are considered as deterministic and probabilistic measures of connectivity. Exact techniques for reliability evaluation fail for large multiprocessor systems because of the enormous computational resources required. Therefore, approximation techniques have to be used. Three approaches are proposed, the first by simplifying the symbolic expression of reliability; the other two by applying a hierarchical decomposition to the system. All these methods give results close to those obtained by exact techniques.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia" (National Council for Science and Technology of Mexico) and "Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas" (Institute for Electrical Research

Scalable verification of probabilistic networks

This paper presents McNetKAT, a scalable tool for verifying probabilistic network programs. McNetKAT is based on a new semantics for the guarded and history-free fragment of Probabilistic NetKAT in terms of finite-state, absorbing Markov chains. This view allows the semantics of all programs to be computed exactly, enabling construction of an automatic verification tool. Domain-specific optimizations and a parallelizing backend enable McNetKAT to analyze networks with thousands of nodes, automatically reasoning about general properties such as probabilistic program equivalence and refinement, as well as networking properties such as resilience to failures. We evaluate McNetKAT’s scalability using real-world topologies, compare its performance against state-of-the-art tools, and develop an extended case study on a recently proposed data center network design

Modelling and Design of Resilient Networks under Challenges

Communication networks, in particular the Internet, face a variety of challenges that can disrupt our daily lives resulting in the loss of human lives and significant financial costs in the worst cases. We define challenges as external events that trigger faults that eventually result in service failures. Understanding these challenges accordingly is essential for improvement of the current networks and for designing Future Internet architectures. This dissertation presents a taxonomy of challenges that can help evaluate design choices for the current and Future Internet. Graph models to analyse critical infrastructures are examined and a multilevel graph model is developed to study interdependencies between different networks. Furthermore, graph-theoretic heuristic optimisation algorithms are developed. These heuristic algorithms add links to increase the resilience of networks in the least costly manner and they are computationally less expensive than an exhaustive search algorithm. The performance of networks under random failures, targeted attacks, and correlated area-based challenges are evaluated by the challenge simulation module that we developed. The GpENI Future Internet testbed is used to conduct experiments to evaluate the performance of the heuristic algorithms developed

Evolutionary approaches toward practical network coding

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-137).There have been numerous studies showing various benefits of network coding. However, in order to have network coding widely deployed in real networks, it is also important to show that the amount of overhead incurred by network coding can be kept minimal and eventually be outweighed by the benefits network coding provides. Owing to the mathematical operations required, network coding necessarily incurs some additional cost such as computational overhead or transmission delay, and as a practical matter, the cost of special hardware and/or software for network coding. While most network coding solutions assume that the coding operations are performed at all nodes, it is often possible to achieve the network coding advantage for multicast by coding only at a subset of nodes. However, determining a minimal set of the nodes where coding is required is NP-hard, as is its close approximation; hence there are only a few existing approaches each with certain limitations. In this thesis, we develop an evolutionary approach toward a practical multicast protocol that achieves the full benefit of network coding in terms of throughput, while performing coding operations only when required at as few nodes as possible. We show that our approach operates in a very efficient and practical manner such that it is distributed over the network both spatially and temporally, yielding a sufficiently good solution, which is at least as good as those obtained by existing centralized approaches but often turns out to be much superior in practice. We broaden the application areas of our evolutionary approach by generalizing it in several ways. First, we show that a generalized version of our approach can effectively reveal the possible tradeoff between the costs of network coding and link usage, enabling more informed decisions on where to deploy network coding. Also, we demonstrate that our approach can be applied to investigate many important but, because of the lack of appropriate tools, largely unanswered questions arising in practical scenarios based on heterogeneous wireless ad hoc networks and fault-tolerant optical networks.(cont.) Finally, further generalizing our evolutionary approach, we propose a novel network coding scheme for the general connection problem beyond multicast, for which no optimal network coding strategy is known. Our coding scheme allows general random linear coding over a large finite field, in which decoding is done only at the receivers and the mixture of information at interior nodes is controlled by evolutionary mechanisms.by Minkyu Kim.Ph.D

Reliability and Availability Evaluation of Wireless Sensor Networks for Industrial Applications

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) currently represent the best candidate to be adopted as the communication solution for the last mile connection in process control and monitoring applications in industrial environments. Most of these applications have stringent dependability (reliability and availability) requirements, as a system failure may result in economic losses, put people in danger or lead to environmental damages. Among the different type of faults that can lead to a system failure, permanent faults on network devices have a major impact. They can hamper communications over long periods of time and consequently disturb, or even disable, control algorithms. The lack of a structured approach enabling the evaluation of permanent faults, prevents system designers to optimize decisions that minimize these occurrences. In this work we propose a methodology based on an automatic generation of a fault tree to evaluate the reliability and availability of Wireless Sensor Networks, when permanent faults occur on network devices. The proposal supports any topology, different levels of redundancy, network reconfigurations, criticality of devices and arbitrary failure conditions. The proposed methodology is particularly suitable for the design and validation of Wireless Sensor Networks when trying to optimize its reliability and availability requirements

FPGA acceleration of a quantized neural network for remote-sensed cloud detection

The capture and transmission of remote-sensed imagery for Earth observation is both computationally and bandwidth expensive. In the analyses of remote-sensed imagery in the visual band, atmospheric cloud cover can obstruct up to two-thirds of observations, resulting in costly imagery being discarded. Mission objectives and satellite operational details vary; however, assuming a cloud-free observation requirement, a doubling of useful data downlinked with an associated halving of delivery cost is possible through effective cloud detection. A minimal-resource, real-time inference neural network is ideally suited to perform automatic cloud detection, both for pre-processing captured images prior to transmission and preventing unnecessary images being taken by larger payload sensors. Much of the hardware complexity of modern neural network implementations resides in high-precision floating-point calculation pipelines. In recent years, research has been conducted in identifying quantized, or low-integer precision equivalents to known deep learning models, which do not require the extensive resources of their floating-point, full-precision counterparts. Our work leverages existing research on binary and quantized neural networks to develop a real-time, remote-sensed cloud detection solution using a commodity field-programmable gate array. This follows on developments of the Forwards Looking Imager for predictive cloud detection developed by Craft Prospect, a space engineering practice based in Glasgow, UK. The synthesized cloud detection accelerator achieved an inference throughput of 358.1 images per second with a maximum power consumption of 2.4 W. This throughput is an order of magnitude faster than alternate algorithmic options for the Forwards Looking Imager at around one third reduction in classification accuracy, and approximately two orders of magnitude faster than the CloudScout deep neural network, deployed with HyperScout 2 on the European Space Agency PhiSat-1 mission. Strategies for incorporating fault tolerance mechanisms are expounded

Design of complex integrated systems based on networks-on-chip: Trading off performance, power and reliability

The steady advancement of microelectronics is associated with an escalating number of challenges for design engineers due to both the tiny dimensions and the enormous complexity of integrated systems. Against this background, this work deals with Network-On-Chip (NOC) as the emerging design paradigm to cope with diverse issues of nanotechnology. The detailed investigations within the chapters focus on the communication-centric aspects of multi-core-systems, whereas performance, power consumption as well as reliability are considered likewise as the essential design criteria