12 research outputs found
Accelerating software radio astronomy FX correlation with GPU and FPGA co-processors
Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves [117]-121).This thesis attempts to accelerate compute intensive sections of a frequency domain radio astronomy correlator using dedicated co-processors. Two co-processor implementations were made independently with one using reconfigurable hardware (Xilinx Virtex 4LXlOO) and the other uses a graphics processor (Nvidia 9800GT). The objective of a radio astronomy correlator is to compute the complex valued correlation products for each baseline which can be used to reconstruct the sky's radio brightness distribution. Radio astronomy correlators have huge computation demands and this dissertation focuses on the computational aspects of correlation, concentrating on the X-engine stage of the correlator
Development of the FPGA-based Raw Data Preprocessor for the TPC Readout Upgrade in ALICE
ALICE is one of the four major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is the dedicated heavy-ion experiment and therefore primarily examines the Quark–Gluon Plasma. In order to prepare for the running conditions of 50 kHz lead-lead interactions at the LHC after the Long Shutdown 2 (2018–2021), an extensive upgrade program is carried out. The goal of the upgrade is a continuous readout of the TPC without the need of a trigger. It is essential to reduce the enormous data rate of 3.7 TB/s, generated by the upgraded detector, already during the data taking by a factor of about 60. Otherwise the data volume would exceed the expected available bandwidth and storage capabilities.
In this thesis, an online Cluster Finder (CF) was developed and implemented for FPGAs which processes the whole data volume in real-time during the read out. This is the first step in the data reduction sequence which achieves already a factor of about 5 by keeping only physically relevant information and making use of a better suited data format. In addition to the CF, also the whole data preparation chain was designed and implemented to decode the input data stream, to resort the individual channels to allow for cluster finding and to correct the detector effects in the input signals. All modules which were implemented were extensively simulated to verify their proper functionality. With this, the complete processing chain within the FPGAs was prepared and validated
Belle II Technical Design Report
The Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider has collected
almost 1 billion Y(4S) events in its decade of operation. Super-KEKB, an
upgrade of KEKB is under construction, to increase the luminosity by two orders
of magnitude during a three-year shutdown, with an ultimate goal of 8E35 /cm^2
/s luminosity. To exploit the increased luminosity, an upgrade of the Belle
detector has been proposed. A new international collaboration Belle-II, is
being formed. The Technical Design Report presents physics motivation, basic
methods of the accelerator upgrade, as well as key improvements of the
detector.Comment: Edited by: Z. Dole\v{z}al and S. Un
Architectures for embedded multimodal sensor data fusion systems in the robotics : and airport traffic suveillance ; domain
Smaller autonomous robots and embedded sensor data fusion systems often suffer from limited
computational and hardware resources. Many ‘Real Time’ algorithms for multi modal sensor data
fusion cannot be executed on such systems, at least not in real time and sometimes not at all, because
of the computational and energy resources needed, resulting from the architecture of the
computational hardware used in these systems. Alternative hardware architectures for generic
tracking algorithms could provide a solution to overcome some of these limitations. For tracking and
self localization sequential Bayesian filters, in particular particle filters, have been shown to be able to
handle a range of tracking problems that could not be solved with other algorithms. But particle filters
have some serious disadvantages when executed on serial computational architectures used in most
systems. The potential increase in performance for particle filters is huge as many of the computational
steps can be done concurrently. A generic hardware solution for particle filters can relieve the central
processing unit from the computational load associated with the tracking task.
The general topic of this research are hardware-software architectures for multi modal sensor data
fusion in embedded systems in particular tracking, with the goal to develop a high performance
computational architecture for embedded applications in robotics and airport traffic surveillance
domain. The primary concern of the research is therefore: The integration of domain specific concept
support into hardware architectures for low level multi modal sensor data fusion, in particular
embedded systems for tracking with Bayesian filters; and a distributed hardware-software tracking
systems for airport traffic surveillance and control systems.
Runway Incursions are occurrences at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft,
vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft.
The growing traffic volume kept runway incursions on the NTSB’s ‘Most Wanted’ list for safety
improvements for over a decade. Recent incidents show that problem is still existent. Technological
responses that have been deployed in significant numbers are ASDE-X and A-SMGCS. Although these
technical responses are a significant improvement and reduce the frequency of runway incursions,
some runway incursion scenarios are not optimally covered by these systems, detection of runway
incursion events is not as fast as desired, and they are too expensive for all but the biggest airports.
Local, short range sensors could be a solution to provide the necessary affordable surveillance accuracy
for runway incursion prevention. In this context the following objectives shall be reached. 1) Show the
feasibility of runway incursion prevention systems based on localized surveillance. 2) Develop a design
for a local runway incursion alerting system. 3) Realize a prototype of the system design using the
developed tracking hardware.Kleinere autonome Roboter und eingebettete Sensordatenfusionssysteme haben oft mit stark
begrenzter Rechenkapazität und eingeschränkten Hardwareressourcen zu kämpfen. Viele
Echtzeitalgorithmen für die Fusion von multimodalen Sensordaten können, bedingt durch den hohen
Bedarf an Rechenkapazität und Energie, auf solchen Systemen überhaupt nicht ausgeführt werden,
oder zu mindesten nicht in Echtzeit. Der hohe Bedarf an Energie und Rechenkapazität hat seine
Ursache darin, dass die Architektur der ausführenden Hardware und der ausgeführte Algorithmus
nicht aufeinander abgestimmt sind. Dies betrifft auch Algorithmen zu Spurverfolgung. Mit Hilfe von
alternativen Hardwarearchitekturen für die generische Ausführung solcher Algorithmen könnten sich
einige der typischerweise vorliegenden Einschränkungen überwinden lassen. Eine Reihe von Aufgaben,
die sich mit anderen Spurverfolgungsalgorithmen nicht lösen lassen, lassen sich mit dem Teilchenfilter,
einem Algorithmus aus der Familie der Bayesschen Filter lösen. Bei der Ausführung auf traditionellen
Architekturen haben Teilchenfilter gegenüber anderen Algorithmen einen signifikanten Nachteil,
allerdings ist hier ein großer Leistungszuwachs durch die nebenläufige Ausführung vieler
Rechenschritte möglich. Eine generische Hardwarearchitektur für Teilchenfilter könnte deshalb die
oben genannten Systeme stark entlasten.
Das allgemeine Thema dieses Forschungsvorhabens sind Hardware-Software-Architekturen für die
multimodale Sensordatenfusion auf eingebetteten Systemen - speziell für Aufgaben der
Spurverfolgung, mit dem Ziel eine leistungsfähige Architektur für die Berechnung entsprechender
Algorithmen auf eingebetteten Systemen zu entwickeln, die für Anwendungen in der Robotik und
Verkehrsüberwachung auf Flughäfen geeignet ist. Das Augenmerk des Forschungsvorhabens liegt
dabei auf der Integration von vom Einsatzgebiet abhängigen Konzepten in die Architektur von
Systemen zur Spurverfolgung mit Bayeschen Filtern, sowie auf verteilten Hardware-Software
Spurverfolgungssystemen zur Überwachung und Führung des Rollverkehrs auf Flughäfen.
Eine „Runway Incursion“ (RI) ist ein Vorfall auf einem Flugplatz, bei dem ein Fahrzeug oder eine Person
sich unerlaubt in einem Abschnitt der Start- bzw. Landebahn befindet, der einem Verkehrsteilnehmer
zur Benutzung zugewiesen wurde. Der wachsende Flugverkehr hat dafür gesorgt, das RIs seit über
einem Jahrzehnt auf der „Most Wanted“-Liste des NTSB für Verbesserungen der Sicherheit stehen.
Jüngere Vorfälle zeigen, dass das Problem noch nicht behoben ist. Technologische Maßnahmen die in
nennenswerter Zahl eingesetzt wurden sind das ASDE-X und das A-SMGCS. Obwohl diese Maßnahmen
eine deutliche Verbesserung darstellen und die Zahl der RIs deutlich reduzieren, gibt es einige RISituationen
die von diesen Systemen nicht optimal abgedeckt werden. Außerdem detektieren sie RIs
ist nicht so schnell wie erwünscht und sind - außer für die größten Flughäfen - zu teuer. Lokale Sensoren
mit kurzer Reichweite könnten eine Lösung sein um die für die zuverlässige Erkennung von RIs
notwendige Präzision bei der Überwachung des Rollverkehrs zu erreichen. Vor diesem Hintergrund
sollen die folgenden Ziele erreicht werden. 1) Die Machbarkeit eines Runway Incursion
Vermeidungssystems, das auf lokalen Sensoren basiert, zeigen. 2) Einen umsetzbaren Entwurf für ein
solches System entwickeln. 3) Einen Prototypen des Systems realisieren, das die oben gennannte
Hardware zur Spurverfolgung einsetzt
Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics
The purpose of the workshop was to present results and original concepts for electronics research and development relevant to particle physics experiments as well as accelerator and beam instrumentation at future facilities; to review the status of electronics for the LHC experiments; to identify and encourage common efforts for the development of electronics; and to promote information exchange and collaboration in the relevant engineering and physics communities
Dependable Embedded Systems
This Open Access book introduces readers to many new techniques for enhancing and optimizing reliability in embedded systems, which have emerged particularly within the last five years. This book introduces the most prominent reliability concerns from today’s points of view and roughly recapitulates the progress in the community so far. Unlike other books that focus on a single abstraction level such circuit level or system level alone, the focus of this book is to deal with the different reliability challenges across different levels starting from the physical level all the way to the system level (cross-layer approaches). The book aims at demonstrating how new hardware/software co-design solution can be proposed to ef-fectively mitigate reliability degradation such as transistor aging, processor variation, temperature effects, soft errors, etc. Provides readers with latest insights into novel, cross-layer methods and models with respect to dependability of embedded systems; Describes cross-layer approaches that can leverage reliability through techniques that are pro-actively designed with respect to techniques at other layers; Explains run-time adaptation and concepts/means of self-organization, in order to achieve error resiliency in complex, future many core systems