1,086 research outputs found
The Synthesis and Analysis of Stochastic Switching Circuits
Stochastic switching circuits are relay circuits that consist of stochastic
switches called pswitches. The study of stochastic switching circuits has
widespread applications in many fields of computer science, neuroscience, and
biochemistry. In this paper, we discuss several properties of stochastic
switching circuits, including robustness, expressibility, and probability
approximation.
First, we study the robustness, namely, the effect caused by introducing an
error of size \epsilon to each pswitch in a stochastic circuit. We analyze two
constructions and prove that simple series-parallel circuits are robust to
small error perturbations, while general series-parallel circuits are not.
Specifically, the total error introduced by perturbations of size less than
\epsilon is bounded by a constant multiple of \epsilon in a simple
series-parallel circuit, independent of the size of the circuit.
Next, we study the expressibility of stochastic switching circuits: Given an
integer q and a pswitch set S=\{\frac{1}{q},\frac{2}{q},...,\frac{q-1}{q}\},
can we synthesize any rational probability with denominator q^n (for arbitrary
n) with a simple series-parallel stochastic switching circuit? We generalize
previous results and prove that when q is a multiple of 2 or 3, the answer is
yes. We also show that when q is a prime number larger than 3, the answer is
no.
Probability approximation is studied for a general case of an arbitrary
pswitch set S=\{s_1,s_2,...,s_{|S|}\}. In this case, we propose an algorithm
based on local optimization to approximate any desired probability. The
analysis reveals that the approximation error of a switching circuit decreases
exponentially with an increasing circuit size.Comment: 2 columns, 15 page
Space vehicle electrical power systems study
Developing suitable solid state power controllers for space vehicles electrical power system
Stochastic Digital Circuits for Probabilistic Inference
We introduce combinational stochastic logic, an abstraction that generalizes deterministic digital circuit design (based on Boolean logic gates) to the probabilistic setting. We show how this logic can be combined with techniques from contemporary digital design to generate stateless and stateful circuits for exact and approximate sampling from a range of probability distributions. We focus on Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for Markov random fields, using massively parallel circuits. We implement these circuits on commodity reconfigurable logic and estimate the resulting performance in time, space and price. Using our approach, these simple and general algorithms could be affordably run for thousands of iterations on models with hundreds of thousands of variables in real time
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The Gigabit per Second Isochronet Switch
This paper overviews the electronic and all-optical design and the gigabit per second electronic implementation of a switch based on the Isochronets highspeed network architecture. The absence of frame processing in the Isochronets architecture is core to the switch efficiency and multi-protocol support. The electronic design is low cost and uses simple off-the-shelf components, while the optical design can be realized with current optical devices. The switch interface is simple and provides novel services such as propagation of synchronization signals to upper protocol layers. The switch makes it possible the negotiation of Quality of Service (QoS) while promoting flexible resource sharing. The modular switch designs are scaleable in number of nodes and link speed. Using faster implementation technology, the electronic design can reach scores of gigabits per second, while the all-optical design can potentially operate at terabits per second
An essay in information retrieval or the birth of a myth
A frequently quoted and still current myth on the ill effects of the so-called information explosion is analyzed. Five years and 250,000 dollars were allegedly spent in the United States to duplicate a result published in the Soviet Union in 1950. Not only does this myth rest on a comedy of errors, but the trivial results in question were surprisingly well known to all specialists most concerned, in at least one instance as early as 1937
Theory of reliable systems
An attempt was made to refine the current notion of system reliability by identifying and investigating attributes of a system which are important to reliability considerations. Techniques which facilitate analysis of system reliability are included. Special attention was given to fault tolerance, diagnosability, and reconfigurability characteristics of systems
Techniques for the realization of ultra- reliable spaceborne computer Final report
Bibliography and new techniques for use of error correction and redundancy to improve reliability of spaceborne computer
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