A Software-Defined Channel Sounder for Industrial Environments with Fast Time Variance

Novel industrial wireless applications require wideband, real-time channel characterization due to complex multipath propagation. Rapid machine motion leads to fast time variance of the channel's reflective behavior, which must be captured for radio channel characterization. Additionally, inhomogeneous radio channels demand highly flexible measurements. Existing approaches for radio channel measurements either lack flexibility or wide-band, real-time performance with fast time variance. In this paper, we propose a correlative channel sounding approach utilizing a software-defined architecture. The approach enables real-time, wide-band measurements with fast time variance immune to active interference. The desired performance is validated with a demanding industrial application example.Comment: Submitted to the 15th International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS 2018

Autonomic care platform for optimizing query performance

Background: As the amount of information in electronic health care systems increases, data operations get more complicated and time-consuming. Intensive Care platforms require a timely processing of data retrievals to guarantee the continuous display of recent data of patients. Physicians and nurses rely on this data for their decision making. Manual optimization of query executions has become difficult to handle due to the increased amount of queries across multiple sources. Hence, a more automated management is necessary to increase the performance of database queries. The autonomic computing paradigm promises an approach in which the system adapts itself and acts as self-managing entity, thereby limiting human interventions and taking actions. Despite the usage of autonomic control loops in network and software systems, this approach has not been applied so far for health information systems. Methods: We extend the COSARA architecture, an infection surveillance and antibiotic management service platform for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with self-managed components to increase the performance of data retrievals. We used real-life ICU COSARA queries to analyse slow performance and measure the impact of optimizations. Each day more than 2 million COSARA queries are executed. Three control loops, which monitor the executions and take action, have been proposed: reactive, deliberative and reflective control loops. We focus on improvements of the execution time of microbiology queries directly related to the visual displays of patients' data on the bedside screens. Results: The results show that autonomic control loops are beneficial for the optimizations in the data executions in the ICU. The application of reactive control loop results in a reduction of 8.61% of the average execution time of microbiology results. The combined application of the reactive and deliberative control loop results in an average query time reduction of 10.92% and the combination of reactive, deliberative and reflective control loops provides a reduction of 13.04%. Conclusions: We found that by controlled reduction of queries' executions the performance for the end-user can be improved. The implementation of autonomic control loops in an existing health platform, COSARA, has a positive effect on the timely data visualization for the physician and nurse

On the use of a reflective architecture to augment Database Management Systems

The Database Management System (DBMS) used to be a commodity software component, with well known standard interfaces and semantics. However, the performance and reliability expectations being placed on DBMSs have increased the demand for a variety add-ons, that augment the functionality of the database in a wide range of deployment scenarios, offering support for features such as clustering, replication, and selfmanagement, among others. The effectiveness of such extensions largely rests on closely matching the actual needs of applications, hence on a wide range of tradeoffs and configuration options out of the scope of traditional client interfaces. A well known software engineering approach to systems with such requirements is reflection. Unfortunately, standard reflective interfaces in DBMSs are very limited (for instance, they often do not support the desired range of atomicity guarantees in a distributed setting). Some of these limitations may be circumvented by implementing reflective features as a wrapper to the DBMS server. Unfortunately, this solutions comes at the expense of a large development effort and significant performance penalty. In this paper we propose a general purpose DBMS reflection architecture and interface, that supports multiple extensions while, at the same time, admitting efficient implementations. We illustrate the usefulness of our proposal with concrete examples, and evaluate its cost and performance under different implementation strategies

_derivations and the performer-developer : co-evolving digital artefacts and human-machine performance practices

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This thesis concerns the development and use of interactive performance systems designed for improvised musical performance. Written from the perspective of a performer-developer, the research traces the development of personal approaches to designing for musical interactivity in human-machine performance, culminating in the development of the _derivations interactive performance system and related creative outcomes. The contributions and outcomes of this research project are as follows: - The development of novel computer music techniques for use in interactive musical performance; - A novel self-reflective study of the development and use of interactive musical performance systems from the perspective of a performer-developer; - Theoretical perspectives on the design and use of interactive musical performance systems. In addition to the published thesis, this research has generated significant creative outcomes in the form of software, studio recordings, documentation of live performances, video documentation and a publicly available website dedicated to the _derivations system. These creative outcomes are also presented as significant contributions of this research. The creative practice underpinning this research is presented as a narrative of development, tracing advancements in the author’s practice towards the stabilisation of the _derivations system and its accompanying performance practice. Designed for use by instrumental improvisers, _derivations uses live-sampling and timbral matching techniques to generate autonomous responses to the live performance of an improvising musician, engaging the performer in a playful, improvised musical dialogue. This thesis outlines both formative programming experiments and stabilised software artefacts, tracing the author’s creative practice to reveal the iterative and cyclical patterns of development engaged in throughout this research. Employing a practice-based research approach, this project uses the creative practices of software programming and interactive musical performance to surface issues, concerns and interests concerning human-machine performance practice. A self-reflective methodology is employed to engage with emergent research themes arising throughout the development of my creative artefacts. The thesis concludes with three extended reflections-on-action that interrogate theoretical concerns relevant to the interactive computer music community. The first of these reflections addresses the relationship between human and material agencies in the practice of the performer-developer, whilst the second reflection interrogates the concept of musical interpretation in the context of human-machine performance. The final reflection proposes symbiosis as a novel interactive metaphor in the development of interactive musical systems

Reliability and Validity of Angular Joint Velocity Using Peak Motus 2000 Motion Analysis and Kin-Com Isokinetic Dynamometer

Background and Purpose: Use of motion analysis systems for the study of human motion in research settings and clinical settings is becoming more prevalent. In a traditional sense, motion analysis systems are used for gait analysis; most recently, they are being utilized to analyze spinal motion, foot motion, and components of motion during sporting activities. Questions about the accuracy of computerized motion analysis systems and the precision and reliability of the digitizing process remains. The purpose of this study is to determine the validity of the Peak Motus 2000 motion analysis system in calculating dynamic velocities and range of motion. Methods: Six healthy subjects (three females and three males) had reflective markers placed on the right ankle joint. Video cameras filmed the subject\u27s ankle movements while on the Kin-Com Isokinetic Dynamometer. The subjects were taken through five repetitions each of the following passive speeds: 60, 150, and 240 degrees/second. The Kin-Com Isokinetic Dynamometer was then utilized in a passive mode without subjects by placing reflective markers on the lever arm. The Peak Motus 2000 motion analysis computer software program was used from recorded video motion with a subject attached to the apparatus to determine angular joint velocity. Statistical analysis was completed comparing data sets. Results: In summary, the compiled standard deviation values from lowest to highest are Kin-Com, Peak Performance lever arm and Peak Performance skin marker measurement. This indicates that subject motion analyzed by skin marker angular velocity measurements had a greater variability and therefore a higher chance of being inaccurate. It was found that the Peak Performance had a trend towards overestimating set angular velocities, which became larger as the speed was increased. Conclusion: This study found that at 60 degrees/second there was no significant difference in reported angular velocity between the Kin-Com and the Peak Performance and a significant difference in reported angular velocity at 150 and 240 degrees/second. It also showed that the Peak Performance tended to be more accurate at lower speeds and decreased in accuracy as the speeds increased. The Peak Performance system generally overestimated the angular velocity at each speed

Reliability and Validity of Angular Joint Velocity Using Peak Motus 2000 Motion Analysis and Kin-Com Isokinetic Dynamometer

Background and Purpose: Use of motion analysis systems for the study of human motion in research settings and clinical settings are becoming more prevalent. In a traditional sense, motion analysis systems are used for gait analysis; most recently, they are being utilized to analyze spinal motion, foot motion, and components of motion during sporting activities. Questions about the accuracy of these computerized motion analysis systems and the precision and reliability of the digitizing process remains. The purpose of this study is to determine the validity of the Peak Motus 2000 motion analysis system® (Peak Performance) in calculating dynamic velocities and range of motion. Methods: Six healthy subjects (three females and three males) had reflective markers placed on the right ankle joint. Video cameras filmed the subject\u27s ankle movements while on the Kin-Com Isokinetic Dynamometer®(Kin-Com). The subjects were taken through five repetitions each of the following passive speeds: 60, 150, and 240 degrees/second. The Kin-Com Isokinetic Dynamometer® was then utilized in a passive mode without subjects by placing reflective markers on the lever arm. The Peak Motus 2000 motion analysis® computer software program was used from recorded video motion with a subject attached to the apparatus to determine angular joint velocity. Statistical analysis was completed comparing data sets. Results: In summary, the compiled standard deviation values from lowest to highest are Kin-Com, Peak Performance lever arm and Peak Performance skin marker. This indicates that subject motion analyzed by skin marker angular velocity measurements had a greater variability and therefore a higher chance of being inaccurate. It was found that the Peak Performance had a trend towards overestimating set angular velocities, which became larger as the speed was increased. Conclusion: This study found that at 60 degrees/second there was no significant . difference in reported angular velocity between the Kin-Com and the Peak Performance and a significant difference in reported angular velocity at 150 and 240 degrees/second. It also showed that the Peak Performance tended to be more accurate at lower speeds and decreased in accuracy as the speeds increased. The Peak Performance generally overestimated the angular velocity at each speed. Thus, in the clinic the Peak Performance can be used to measure angular joint velocity at lower speeds and can be considered to be reliable

Implementation of a Hardware/Software Platform for Real-Timedata-Intensive Applications in Hazardous Environments

Real-Time Technology and Applications Symposium. Brookline, MA, USA, 10-12 Oct. 1996In real-time data-intensive applications, the simultaneous achievement of the required performance and determinism is a difficult issue to address, mainly due to the time needed to perform I/O operations, which is more significant than the CPU processing time. Additional features need to be considered if these applications are intended to perform in hostile environments. In this paper, we address the implementation of a hardware/software platform designed to acquire, transfer, process and store massive amounts of information at sustained rates of several MBytes/sec, capable of supporting real-time applications with stringent throughput requirements under hazardous environmental conditions. A real-world system devoted to the inspection of nuclear power plants is presented as an illustrative examplePublicad

Flexible programmable networking: A reflective, component-based approach

The need for programmability and adaptability in networking systems is becoming increasingly important. More specifically, the challenge is in the ability to add services rapidly, and be able to deploy, configure and reconfigure them as easily as possible. Such demand is creating a considerable shift in the way networks are expected to operate in the future. This is the main aim of programmable networking research community, and in our project we are investigating a component-based approach to the structuring of programmable networking software. Our intention is to apply the notion of components, component frameworks and reflection ubiquitously, thus accommodating all the different elements that comprise a programmable networking system