Digital signal processing: the impact of convergence on education, society and design flow

Design and development of real-time, memory and processor hungry digital signal processing systems has for decades been accomplished on general-purpose microprocessors. Increasing needs for high-performance DSP systems made these microprocessors unattractive for such implementations. Various attempts to improve the performance of these systems resulted in the use of dedicated digital signal processing devices like DSP processors and the former heavyweight champion of electronics design – Application Specific Integrated Circuits. The advent of RAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays has changed the DSP design flow. Software algorithmic designers can now take their DSP algorithms right from inception to hardware implementation, thanks to the increasing availability of software/hardware design flow or hardware/software co-design. This has led to a demand in the industry for graduates with good skills in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. This paper evaluates the impact of technology on DSP-based designs, hardware design languages, and how graduate/undergraduate courses have changed to suit this transition

Lessons Learned from a Decade of Providing Interactive, On-Demand High Performance Computing to Scientists and Engineers

For decades, the use of HPC systems was limited to those in the physical sciences who had mastered their domain in conjunction with a deep understanding of HPC architectures and algorithms. During these same decades, consumer computing device advances produced tablets and smartphones that allow millions of children to interactively develop and share code projects across the globe. As the HPC community faces the challenges associated with guiding researchers from disciplines using high productivity interactive tools to effective use of HPC systems, it seems appropriate to revisit the assumptions surrounding the necessary skills required for access to large computational systems. For over a decade, MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been supporting interactive, on-demand high performance computing by seamlessly integrating familiar high productivity tools to provide users with an increased number of design turns, rapid prototyping capability, and faster time to insight. In this paper, we discuss the lessons learned while supporting interactive, on-demand high performance computing from the perspectives of the users and the team supporting the users and the system. Building on these lessons, we present an overview of current needs and the technical solutions we are building to lower the barrier to entry for new users from the humanities, social, and biological sciences.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, First Workshop on Interactive High Performance Computing (WIHPC) 2018 held in conjunction with ISC High Performance 2018 in Frankfurt, German

SciTech News Volume 71, No. 3 (2017)

Columns and Reports From the Editor.........................3 Division News Science-Technology Division....5 Chemistry Division....................8 Conference Report, Marion E, Sparks Professional Development Award Recipient..9 Engineering Division................10 Engineering Division Award, Winners Reflect on their Conference Experience..15 Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division .....18 Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction, and Design Section of the Engineering Division................20 Reviews Sci-Tech Book News Reviews...22 Advertisements IEEE..........................................

Data Acquisition and Control System of Hydroelectric Power Plant Using Internet Techniques

Vodní energie se nyní stala nejlepším zdrojem elektrické energie na zemi. Vyrábí se pomocí energie poskytované pohybem nebo pádem vody. Historie dokazuje, že náklady na tuto elektrickou energii zůstávají konstantní v průběhu celého roku. Vzhledem k mnoha výhodám, většina zemí nyní využívá vodní energie jako hlavní zdroj pro výrobu elektrické energie.Nejdůležitější výhodou je, že vodní energie je zelená energie, což znamená, že žádné vzdušné nebo vodní znečišťující látky nejsou vyráběny, také žádné skleníkové plyny jako oxid uhličitý nejsou vyráběny, což činí tento zdroj energie šetrný k životnímu prostředí. A tak brání nebezpečí globálního oteplování. Použití internetové techniky k ovladání několika vodních elektráren má velmi významné výhody, jako snížení provozních nákladů a flexibilitu uspokojení změny poptávky po energii na straně spotřeby. Také velmi efektivně čelí velkým narušením elektrické sítě, jako je například přidání nebo odebrání velké zátěže, a poruch. Na druhou stranu, systém získávání dat poskytuje velmi užitečné informace pro typické i vědecké analýzy, jako jsou ekonomické náklady, predikce poruchy systémů, predikce poptávky, plány údržby, systémů pro podporu rozhodování a mnoho dalších výhod. Tato práce popisuje všeobecný model, který může být použit k simulaci pro sběr dat a kontrolní systémy pro vodní elektrárny v prostředí Matlab / Simulink a TrueTime Simulink knihovnu. Uvažovaná elektrárna sestává z vodní turbíny připojené k synchronnímu generátoru s budicí soustavou, generátor je připojen k veřejné elektrické síti. Simulací vodní turbíny a synchronního generátoru lze provést pomocí různých simulačních nástrojů. V této práci je upřednostňován SIMULINK / MATLAB před jinými nástroji k modelování dynamik vodní turbíny a synchronního stroje. Program s prostředím MATLAB SIMULINK využívá k řešení schematický model vodní elektrárny sestavený ze základních funkčních bloků. Tento přístup je pedagogicky lepší než komplikované kódy jiných softwarových programů. Knihovna programu Simulink obsahuje funkční bloky, které mohou být spojovány, upravovány a modelovány. K vytvoření a simulování internetových a Real Time systémů je možné použít bud‘ knihovnu simulinku Real-Time nebo TRUETIME, v práci byla použita knihovna TRUETIME.Hydropower has now become the best source of electricity on earth. It is produced due to the energy provided by moving or falling water. History proves that the cost of this electricity remains constant over the year. Because of the many advantages, most of the countries now have hydropower as the source of major electricity producer. The most important advantage of hydropower is that it is green energy, which mean that no air or water pollutants are produced, also no greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are produced which makes this source of energy environment-friendly. It prevents us from the danger of global warming. Using internet techniques to control several hydroelectric plants has very important advantages, as reducing operating costs and the flexibility of meeting changes of energy demand occurred in consumption side. Also it is very effective to confront large disturbances of electrical grid, such as adding or removing large loads, and faults. In the other hand, data acquisition systems provides very useful information for both typical and scientific analysis, such as economical costs reducing, fault prediction systems, demand prediction, maintenance schedules, decision support systems and many other benefits. This thesis describes a generalized model which can be used to simulate a data acquisition and control system of hydroelectric power plant using MATLAB/SIMULINK and TrueTime simulink library. The plant considered consists of hydro turbine connected to synchronous generator with excitation system, and the generator is connected to public grid. Simulation of hydro turbine and synchronous generator can be done using various simulation tools, In this work, SIMULINK/MATLAB is favored over other tools in modeling the dynamics of a hydro turbine and synchronous machine. The SIMULINK program in MATLAB is used to obtain a schematic model of the hydro plant by means of basic function blocks. This approach is pedagogically better than using a compilation of program code as in other software programs .The library of SIMULINK software programs includes function blocks which can be linked and edited to model. Either Simulink Real-Time library or TrueTime library can be used to build and simulate internet and real time systems, in this thesis the TrueTime library was used.