169 research outputs found
A Survey on Data Plane Programming with P4: Fundamentals, Advances, and Applied Research
With traditional networking, users can configure control plane protocols to
match the specific network configuration, but without the ability to
fundamentally change the underlying algorithms. With SDN, the users may provide
their own control plane, that can control network devices through their data
plane APIs. Programmable data planes allow users to define their own data plane
algorithms for network devices including appropriate data plane APIs which may
be leveraged by user-defined SDN control. Thus, programmable data planes and
SDN offer great flexibility for network customization, be it for specialized,
commercial appliances, e.g., in 5G or data center networks, or for rapid
prototyping in industrial and academic research. Programming
protocol-independent packet processors (P4) has emerged as the currently most
widespread abstraction, programming language, and concept for data plane
programming. It is developed and standardized by an open community and it is
supported by various software and hardware platforms. In this paper, we survey
the literature from 2015 to 2020 on data plane programming with P4. Our survey
covers 497 references of which 367 are scientific publications. We organize our
work into two parts. In the first part, we give an overview of data plane
programming models, the programming language, architectures, compilers,
targets, and data plane APIs. We also consider research efforts to advance P4
technology. In the second part, we analyze a large body of literature
considering P4-based applied research. We categorize 241 research papers into
different application domains, summarize their contributions, and extract
prototypes, target platforms, and source code availability.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials (COMS) on
2021-01-2
Traffic Optimization in Data Center and Software-Defined Programmable Networks
L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen
Parallel implementation of fractal image compression
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.Fractal image compression exploits the piecewise self-similarity present in real images
as a form of information redundancy that can be eliminated to achieve compression. This
theory based on Partitioned Iterated Function Systems is presented. As an alternative to the
established JPEG, it provides a similar compression-ratio to fidelity trade-off. Fractal
techniques promise faster decoding and potentially higher fidelity, but the computationally
intensive compression process has prevented commercial acceptance.
This thesis presents an algorithm mapping the problem onto a parallel processor
architecture, with the goal of reducing the encoding time. The experimental work involved
implementation of this approach on the Texas Instruments TMS320C80 parallel processor
system. Results indicate that the fractal compression process is unusually well suited to
parallelism with speed gains approximately linearly related to the number of processors used.
Parallel processing issues such as coherency, management and interfacing are discussed. The
code designed incorporates pipelining and parallelism on all conceptual and practical levels
ensuring that all resources are fully utilised, achieving close to optimal efficiency.
The computational intensity was reduced by several means, including conventional
classification of image sub-blocks by content with comparisons across class boundaries
prohibited. A faster approach adopted was to perform estimate comparisons between blocks
based on pixel value variance, identifying candidates for more time-consuming, accurate
RMS inter-block comparisons. These techniques, combined with the parallelism, allow
compression of 512x512 pixel x 8 bit images in under 20 seconds, while maintaining a 30dB
PSNR. This is up to an order of magnitude faster than reported for conventional sequential
processor implementations. Fractal based compression of colour images and video sequences
is also considered.
The work confirms the potential of fractal compression techniques, and demonstrates
that a parallel implementation is appropriate for addressing the compression time problem.
The processor system used in these investigations is faster than currently available PC
platforms, but the relevance lies in the anticipation that future generations of affordable
processors will exceed its performance. The advantages of fractal image compression may
then be accessible to the average computer user, leading to commercial acceptance
Resilient and Scalable Forwarding for Software-Defined Networks with P4-Programmable Switches
Traditional networking devices support only fixed features and limited configurability.
Network softwarization leverages programmable software and hardware platforms to remove those limitations.
In this context the concept of programmable data planes allows directly to program the packet processing pipeline of networking devices and create custom control plane algorithms.
This flexibility enables the design of novel networking mechanisms where the status quo struggles to meet high demands of next-generation networks like 5G, Internet of Things, cloud computing, and industry 4.0.
P4 is the most popular technology to implement programmable data planes.
However, programmable data planes, and in particular, the P4 technology, emerged only recently.
Thus, P4 support for some well-established networking concepts is still lacking and several issues remain unsolved due to the different characteristics of programmable data planes in comparison to traditional networking.
The research of this thesis focuses on two open issues of programmable data planes.
First, it develops resilient and efficient forwarding mechanisms for the P4 data plane as there are no satisfying state of the art best practices yet.
Second, it enables BIER in high-performance P4 data planes.
BIER is a novel, scalable, and efficient transport mechanism for IP multicast traffic which has only very limited support of high-performance forwarding platforms yet.
The main results of this thesis are published as 8 peer-reviewed and one post-publication peer-reviewed publication. The results cover the development of suitable resilience mechanisms for P4 data planes, the development and implementation of resilient BIER forwarding in P4, and the extensive evaluations of all developed and implemented mechanisms. Furthermore, the results contain a comprehensive P4 literature study.
Two more peer-reviewed papers contain additional content that is not directly related to the main results.
They implement congestion avoidance mechanisms in P4 and develop a scheduling concept to find cost-optimized load schedules based on day-ahead forecasts
A PC-based data acquisition system for sub-atomic physics measurements
Modern particle physics measurements are heavily dependent upon automated data acquisition systems (DAQ) to collect and process experiment-generated information. One research group from the University of Saskatchewan utilizes a DAQ known as the Lucid data acquisition and analysis system. This thesis examines the project undertaken to upgrade the hardware and software components of Lucid. To establish the effectiveness of the system upgrades, several performance metrics were obtained including the system's dead time and input/output bandwidth.Hardware upgrades to Lucid consisted of replacing its aging digitization equipment with modern, faster-converting Versa-Module Eurobus (VME) technology and replacing the instrumentation processing platform with common, PC hardware. The new processor platform is coupled to the instrumentation modules via a fiber-optic bridging-device, the sis1100/3100 from Struck Innovative Systems.The software systems of Lucid were also modified to follow suit with the new hardware. Originally constructed to utilize a proprietary real-time operating system, the data acquisition application was ported to run under the freely available Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems (RTEMS). The device driver software provided with sis1100/3100 interface also had to be ported for use under the RTEMS-based system. Performance measurements of the upgraded DAQ indicate that the dead time has been reduced from being on the order of milliseconds to being on the order of several tens of microseconds. This increased capability means that Lucid's users may acquire significantly more data in a shorter period of time, thereby decreasing both the statistical uncertainties and data collection duration associated with a given experiment
A multiple in-camera processing system for machine vision.
In a typical machine vision application, a line-scan camera positioned on the production line captures images of the parts to be inspected and sends them to the machine vision computer. The computer then uses high-speed data acquisition devices and sophisticated analysis software to extract information from these cameras and generates decisions about the product and manufacturing system. As the manufacturing systems increasingly generate more fine featured and advanced products, the need for higher resolution and faster processing of these camera images is necessary to maintain quality control. To reduce the overwhelming amount of data from multiple camera systems to the analysis computer, an in-camera processing system is introduced. This system involves placing a computing system inside the camera which can perform similar operations to the analysis system, but without all of the additional overhead components. The work presented in this thesis describes an enhanced embedded system which is mounted into a DALSA line-scan camera. This system provides support for real-time one dimensional signal processing with the aid of integrated hardware and software resources.Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1999 .M89. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-03, page: 0757. Adviser: Graham A. Jullien. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1999
Parallel implementation of fractal image compression
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.Fractal image compression exploits the piecewise self-similarity present in real images
as a form of information redundancy that can be eliminated to achieve compression. This
theory based on Partitioned Iterated Function Systems is presented. As an alternative to the
established JPEG, it provides a similar compression-ratio to fidelity trade-off. Fractal
techniques promise faster decoding and potentially higher fidelity, but the computationally
intensive compression process has prevented commercial acceptance.
This thesis presents an algorithm mapping the problem onto a parallel processor
architecture, with the goal of reducing the encoding time. The experimental work involved
implementation of this approach on the Texas Instruments TMS320C80 parallel processor
system. Results indicate that the fractal compression process is unusually well suited to
parallelism with speed gains approximately linearly related to the number of processors used.
Parallel processing issues such as coherency, management and interfacing are discussed. The
code designed incorporates pipelining and parallelism on all conceptual and practical levels
ensuring that all resources are fully utilised, achieving close to optimal efficiency.
The computational intensity was reduced by several means, including conventional
classification of image sub-blocks by content with comparisons across class boundaries
prohibited. A faster approach adopted was to perform estimate comparisons between blocks
based on pixel value variance, identifying candidates for more time-consuming, accurate
RMS inter-block comparisons. These techniques, combined with the parallelism, allow
compression of 512x512 pixel x 8 bit images in under 20 seconds, while maintaining a 30dB
PSNR. This is up to an order of magnitude faster than reported for conventional sequential
processor implementations. Fractal based compression of colour images and video sequences
is also considered.
The work confirms the potential of fractal compression techniques, and demonstrates
that a parallel implementation is appropriate for addressing the compression time problem.
The processor system used in these investigations is faster than currently available PC
platforms, but the relevance lies in the anticipation that future generations of affordable
processors will exceed its performance. The advantages of fractal image compression may
then be accessible to the average computer user, leading to commercial acceptance
The design and evaluation of an interface and control system for a scariculated rehabilitation robot arm
This thesis is concerned with the design and development of a prototype implementation of a Rehabilitation Robotic manipulator based on a novel kinematic configuration. The initial aim of the research was to identify appropriate design criteria for the design of a user interface and control system, and for the subsequent evaluation of the manipulator prototype. This led to a review of the field of rehabilitation robotics, focusing on user evaluations of existing systems.
The review showed that the design objectives of individual projects were often contradictory, and that a requirement existed for a more general and complete set of design criteria. These were identified through an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of existing systems, including an
assessment of manipulator performances, commercial success and user feedback.
The resulting criteria were used for the design and development of a novel interface and control system for the Middlesex Manipulator - the novel scariculated robotic system. A highly modular architecture was adopted, allowing the manipulator to provide a level of adaptability not approached by existing rehabilitation robotic systems. This allowed the interface to be configured to match the controlling ability and input device selections of individual users.
A range of input devices was employed, offering variation in communication mode and bandwidth. These included a commercial voice recognition system, and a novel gesture
recognition device. The later was designed using electrolytic tilt sensors, the outputs of which were encoded by artificial neural networks. These allowed for control of the manipulator through head or hand gestures.
An individual with spinal-cord injury undertook a single-subject user evaluation of the Middlesex Manipulator over a period of four months. The evaluation provided evidence for the
value of adaptability presented by the user interface. It was also shown that the prototype did not currently confonn to all the design criteria, but allowed for the identification of areas for design improvements.
This work led to a second research objective, concerned with the problem of configuring an adaptable user interface for a specific individual. A novel form of task analysis is presented
within the thesis, that allows the relative usability of interface configurations to be predicted based upon individual user and input device characteristics. An experiment was undertaken with 6 subjects performing 72 tasks runs with 2 interface configurations controlled by user gestures. Task completion times fell within the range predicted, where the range was generated using confidence intervals (α = 0.05) on point estimates of user and device characteristics. This allowed successful prediction over all task runs of the relative task completion times of interface configurations for a given user
FPGA-based stereo vision system for autonomous driving
The project consists on the design and implementation of a real-time stereo vision image
sensor oriented to autonomous driving systems using an FPGA.
The function of this sensor is to output a real-time depth image from an input of two grayscale
luminance images, which can make further processing much easier and faster.
The final objective of the project is to develop a standalone prototype for the implementation of the
system on an autonomous vehicle, but it will be developed on an existing FPGA platform to prove its
viability. Two low-cost digital cameras will be used as input sensors, and the output image will be
transmitted to a PC
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