Hardware/software codesign methodology for fuzzy controller implementation

This paper describes a HW/SW codesign methodology for the implementation of fuzzy controllers on a platform composed by a general-purpose microcontroller and specific processing elements implemented on FPGAs or ASICs. The different phases of the methodology, as well as the CAD tools used in each design stage, are presented, with emphasis on the fuzzy system development environment Xfuzzy. Also included is a practical application of the described methodology for the development of a fuzzy controller for a dosage system

Performance and toolchain of a combined GPU/FPGA desktop

Low-power, high-performance computing nowadays relies on accelerator cards to speed up the calculations. Combining the power of GPUs with the flexibility of FPGAs enlarges the scope of problems that can be accelerated. We describe the performance analysis of a desktop equipped with a GPU Tesla 2050 and an FPGA Virtex- 6 LX 240T. The balance between the I/O and the raw peak performance is analyzed using the roofline model. A well-tuned accelerator- based codesign, identifying the parallelism, the computation and data patterns of different classes of algorithms, will enable to maximize the performance of the combined GPU/FPGA system

Co-designing for common values:creating hybrid spaces to nurture autonomous cooperation

This paper concerns the development of digitally-mediated technologies that value social cooperation as a common good rather than as a source of revenue and accumulation. The paper discusses the activities that shaped a European participatory design project which aims to develop a digital space that promotes and facilitates the ‘Commonfare’, a complementary approach to social welfare. The paper provides and discusses concrete examples of design artifacts to address a key question about the role of co- and participatory design in developing hybrid spaces that nurture sharing and autonomous cooperation: how can co-design practices promote alternatives to the commodification of digitally-mediated cooperation? The paper argues for a need to focus on relational, social, political and ethical values, and highlights the potential power of co- and participatory design processes to achieve this. In summary, the paper proposes that only by re-asserting the centrality of shared values and capacities, rather than individual needs or problems, co-design can reposition itself thereby encouraging autonomous cooperation