Designing Distributed, Component-Based Systems for Industrial Robotic Applications

none3noneM. Amoretti; S. Caselli; M. ReggianiM., Amoretti; S., Caselli; Reggiani, Monic

Logic programming in the context of multiparadigm programming: the Oz experience

Oz is a multiparadigm language that supports logic programming as one of its major paradigms. A multiparadigm language is designed to support different programming paradigms (logic, functional, constraint, object-oriented, sequential, concurrent, etc.) with equal ease. This article has two goals: to give a tutorial of logic programming in Oz and to show how logic programming fits naturally into the wider context of multiparadigm programming. Our experience shows that there are two classes of problems, which we call algorithmic and search problems, for which logic programming can help formulate practical solutions. Algorithmic problems have known efficient algorithms. Search problems do not have known efficient algorithms but can be solved with search. The Oz support for logic programming targets these two problem classes specifically, using the concepts needed for each. This is in contrast to the Prolog approach, which targets both classes with one set of concepts, which results in less than optimal support for each class. To explain the essential difference between algorithmic and search programs, we define the Oz execution model. This model subsumes both concurrent logic programming (committed-choice-style) and search-based logic programming (Prolog-style). Instead of Horn clause syntax, Oz has a simple, fully compositional, higher-order syntax that accommodates the abilities of the language. We conclude with lessons learned from this work, a brief history of Oz, and many entry points into the Oz literature.Comment: 48 pages, to appear in the journal "Theory and Practice of Logic Programming

CrowdSim: a Crowd Sourcing Simulation System

This thesis describes the design and implementation process for a crowd sourcing simulation system. The crowd sourcing system that we are going to simulate performs text translations and it belongs to CA Technologies . They generate certain information over time that needs to be translated to different languages . Moreover, they have become aware that using a crowd sourcing solution may reduce costs and improve results

Maestro: a remote execution tool for visualization clusters

In recent years immersive visualization systems have transitioned from running on large shared memory systems to clusters of commodity PCs. While there has been much research done to create middleware to manage application synchronization, there has been very little work done to allow easy execution of immersive applications on a cluster. Although there are existing remote execution tools, they are targeted at high performance computing (HPC) and enterprise administration. This thesis presents Maestro, a cross-platform remote execution tool designed specifically for visualization clusters. The goals of Maestro, a description of its design, and a detailed discussion of its implementation are provided. The design description gives explanations of the three components of Maestro: the core that handles networking and security, the user interface that controls the cluster, and the daemon on each cluster node. Maestro has been successfully deployed on numerous large visualization clusters, which have led to refinements and improvements to the tool

Towards Optimal Application Mapping for Energy-Efficient Many-Core Platforms

Siirretty Doriast

Abstracting Application Development for Resource Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks

Ubiquitous computing is a concept whereby computing is distributed across smart objects surrounding users, creating ambient intelligence. Ubiquitous applications use technologies such as the Internet, sensors, actuators, embedded computers, wireless communication, and new user interfaces. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is one of the key concepts in the realization of ubiquitous computing, whereby smart objects communicate with each other and the Internet. Further, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a sub-group of IoT technologies that consist of geographically distributed devices or nodes, capable of sensing and actuating the environment.WSNs typically contain tens to thousands of nodes that organize and operate autonomously to perform application-dependent sensing and sensor data processing tasks. The projected applications require nodes to be small in physical size and low-cost, and have a long lifetime with limited energy resources, while performing complex computing and communications tasks. As a result, WSNs are complex distributed systems that are constrained by communications, computing and energy resources. WSN functionality is dynamic according to the environment and application requirements. Dynamic multitasking, task distribution, task injection, and software updates are required in field experiments for possibly thousands of nodes functioning in harsh environments.The development of WSN application software requires the abstraction of computing, communication, data access, and heterogeneous sensor data sources to reduce the complexities. Abstractions enable the faster development of new applications with a better reuse of existing software, as applications are composed of high-level tasks that use the services provided by the devices to execute the application logic.The main research question of this thesis is: What abstractions are needed for application development for resource constrained WSNs? This thesis models WSN abstractions with three levels that build on top of each other: 1) node abstraction, 2) network abstraction, and 3) infrastructure abstraction. The node abstraction hides the details in the use of the sensing, communication, and processing hardware. The network abstraction specifies methods of discovering and accessing services, and distributing processing in the network. The infrastructure abstraction unifies different sensing technologies and infrastructure computing platforms.As a contribution, this thesis presents the abstraction model with a review of each abstraction level. Several designs for each of the levels are tested and verified with proofs of concept and analyses of field experiments. The resulting designs consist of an operating system kernel, a software update method, a data unification interface, and all abstraction levels combining abstraction called an embedded cloud.The presented operating system kernel has a scalable overhead and provides a programming approach similar to a desktop computer operating system with threads and processes. An over-the-air update method combines low overhead and robust software updating with application task dissemination. The data unification interface homogenizes the access to the data of heterogeneous sensor networks. A unification model is used for various use cases by mapping everything as measurements. The embedded cloud allows resource constrained WSNs to share services and data, and expand resources with other technologies. The embedded cloud allows the distributed processing of applications according to the available services. The applications are implemented as processes using a hardware independent description language that can be executed on resource constrained WSNs. The lessons of practical field experimenting are analyzed to study the importance of the abstractions. Software complexities encountered in the field experiments highlight the need for suitable abstractions.The results of this thesis are tested using proof of concept implementations on real WSN hardware which is constrained by computing power in the order of a few MIPS, memory sizes of a few kilobytes, and small sized batteries. The results will remain usable in the future, as the vast amount, tight integration, and low-cost of future IoT devices require the combination of complex computation with resource constrained platforms

An Autonomic Cross-Platform Operating Environment for On-Demand Internet Computing

The Internet has evolved into a global and ubiquitous communication medium interconnecting powerful application servers, diverse desktop computers and mobile notebooks. Along with recent developments in computer technology, such as the convergence of computing and communication devices, the way how people use computers and the Internet has changed people´s working habits and has led to new application scenarios. On the one hand, pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing and nomadic computing become more and more important since different computing devices like PDAs and notebooks may be used concurrently and alternately, e.g. while the user is on the move. On the other hand, the ubiquitous availability and pervasive interconnection of computing systems have fostered various trends towards the dynamic utilization and spontaneous collaboration of available remote computing resources, which are addressed by approaches like utility computing, grid computing, cloud computing and public computing. From a general point of view, the common objective of this development is the use of Internet applications on demand, i.e. applications that are not installed in advance by a platform administrator but are dynamically deployed and run as they are requested by the application user. The heterogeneous and unmanaged nature of the Internet represents a major challenge for the on demand use of custom Internet applications across heterogeneous hardware platforms, operating systems and network environments. Promising remedies are autonomic computing systems that are supposed to maintain themselves without particular user or application intervention. In this thesis, an Autonomic Cross-Platform Operating Environment (ACOE) is presented that supports On Demand Internet Computing (ODIC), such as dynamic application composition and ad hoc execution migration. The approach is based on an integration middleware called crossware that does not replace existing middleware but operates as a self-managing mediator between diverse application requirements and heterogeneous platform configurations. A Java implementation of the Crossware Development Kit (XDK) is presented, followed by the description of the On Demand Internet Computing System (ODIX). The feasibility of the approach is shown by the implementation of an Internet Application Workbench, an Internet Application Factory and an Internet Peer Federation. They illustrate the use of ODIX to support local, remote and distributed ODIC, respectively. Finally, the suitability of the approach is discussed with respect to the support of ODIC

Abstracting Application Development for Resource Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks

Ubiquitous computing is a concept whereby computing is distributed across smart objects surrounding users, creating ambient intelligence. Ubiquitous applications use technologies such as the Internet, sensors, actuators, embedded computers, wireless communication, and new user interfaces. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is one of the key concepts in the realization of ubiquitous computing, whereby smart objects communicate with each other and the Internet. Further, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a sub-group of IoT technologies that consist of geographically distributed devices or nodes, capable of sensing and actuating the environment.WSNs typically contain tens to thousands of nodes that organize and operate autonomously to perform application-dependent sensing and sensor data processing tasks. The projected applications require nodes to be small in physical size and low-cost, and have a long lifetime with limited energy resources, while performing complex computing and communications tasks. As a result, WSNs are complex distributed systems that are constrained by communications, computing and energy resources. WSN functionality is dynamic according to the environment and application requirements. Dynamic multitasking, task distribution, task injection, and software updates are required in field experiments for possibly thousands of nodes functioning in harsh environments.The development of WSN application software requires the abstraction of computing, communication, data access, and heterogeneous sensor data sources to reduce the complexities. Abstractions enable the faster development of new applications with a better reuse of existing software, as applications are composed of high-level tasks that use the services provided by the devices to execute the application logic.The main research question of this thesis is: What abstractions are needed for application development for resource constrained WSNs? This thesis models WSN abstractions with three levels that build on top of each other: 1) node abstraction, 2) network abstraction, and 3) infrastructure abstraction. The node abstraction hides the details in the use of the sensing, communication, and processing hardware. The network abstraction specifies methods of discovering and accessing services, and distributing processing in the network. The infrastructure abstraction unifies different sensing technologies and infrastructure computing platforms.As a contribution, this thesis presents the abstraction model with a review of each abstraction level. Several designs for each of the levels are tested and verified with proofs of concept and analyses of field experiments. The resulting designs consist of an operating system kernel, a software update method, a data unification interface, and all abstraction levels combining abstraction called an embedded cloud.The presented operating system kernel has a scalable overhead and provides a programming approach similar to a desktop computer operating system with threads and processes. An over-the-air update method combines low overhead and robust software updating with application task dissemination. The data unification interface homogenizes the access to the data of heterogeneous sensor networks. A unification model is used for various use cases by mapping everything as measurements. The embedded cloud allows resource constrained WSNs to share services and data, and expand resources with other technologies. The embedded cloud allows the distributed processing of applications according to the available services. The applications are implemented as processes using a hardware independent description language that can be executed on resource constrained WSNs. The lessons of practical field experimenting are analyzed to study the importance of the abstractions. Software complexities encountered in the field experiments highlight the need for suitable abstractions.The results of this thesis are tested using proof of concept implementations on real WSN hardware which is constrained by computing power in the order of a few MIPS, memory sizes of a few kilobytes, and small sized batteries. The results will remain usable in the future, as the vast amount, tight integration, and low-cost of future IoT devices require the combination of complex computation with resource constrained platforms

A Model-Based Development and Verification Framework for Distributed System-on-Chip Architecture

The capabilities and thus, design complexity of VLSI-based embedded systems have increased tremendously in recent years, riding the wave of Moore’s law. The time-to-market requirements are also shrinking, imposing challenges to the designers, which in turn, seek to adopt new design methods to increase their productivity. As an answer to these new pressures, modern day systems have moved towards on-chip multiprocessing technologies. New architectures have emerged in on-chip multiprocessing in order to utilize the tremendous advances of fabrication technology. Platform-based design is a possible solution in addressing these challenges. The principle behind the approach is to separate the functionality of an application from the organization and communication architecture of hardware platform at several levels of abstraction. The existing design methodologies pertaining to platform-based design approach don’t provide full automation at every level of the design processes, and sometimes, the co-design of platform-based systems lead to sub-optimal systems. In addition, the design productivity gap in multiprocessor systems remain a key challenge due to existing design methodologies. This thesis addresses the aforementioned challenges and discusses the creation of a development framework for a platform-based system design, in the context of the SegBus platform - a distributed communication architecture. This research aims to provide automated procedures for platform design and application mapping. Structural verification support is also featured thus ensuring correct-by-design platforms. The solution is based on a model-based process. Both the platform and the application are modeled using the Unified Modeling Language. This thesis develops a Domain Specific Language to support platform modeling based on a corresponding UML profile. Object Constraint Language constraints are used to support structurally correct platform construction. An emulator is thus introduced to allow as much as possible accurate performance estimation of the solution, at high abstraction levels. VHDL code is automatically generated, in the form of “snippets” to be employed in the arbiter modules of the platform, as required by the application. The resulting framework is applied in building an actual design solution for an MP3 stereo audio decoder application.Siirretty Doriast