Комплекс моделей технологии прототипирования для адаптивного проектирования компонентных программных решений

У процесі адаптивної розробки програмного забезпечення його архітектура й компоненти перетерплюють зміни в міру зміни пропонованих системних вимог. У статті представлений новий підхід до адаптивного проектування, заснований на технології прототипування. Представлені моделі й технології дозволяють створювати, конфігурувати, виконувати й аналізувати прототипи системи, що розроблюється, з метою зменшення ресурсів, необхідних для її розробки.During the adaptive development process software components and system architecture constantly change with respect to corresponding changes in system requirements. In the paper we present a new design approach for adaptive software development which is based on prototyping technology. Models and technologies integrated into the approach provide processes of system prototypes building, configuring, execution and estimation aiming to reduce development costs and needed resources

Least squares optimization: From theory to practice

Nowadays, Nonlinear Least-Squares embodies the foundation of many Robotics and Computer Vision systems. The research community deeply investigated this topic in the last few years, and this resulted in the development of several open-source solvers to approach constantly increasing classes of problems. In this work, we propose a unified methodology to design and develop efficient Least-Squares Optimization algorithms, focusing on the structures and patterns of each specific domain. Furthermore, we present a novel open-source optimization system that addresses problems transparently with a different structure and designed to be easy to extend. The system is written in modern C++ and runs efficiently on embedded systemsWe validated our approach by conducting comparative experiments on several problems using standard datasets. The results show that our system achieves state-of-the-art performances in all tested scenarios

Low Cost Quadruped: MUTT

The field of educational and research robotics is alight with development platforms that fall short of being interesting and novel. Our goal was to create a quadruped for use as an entry level research project for students and educators. Reducing cost through the use of commercially available parts combined with rapid-prototyping, we built a platform that can be used to teach and learn legged locomotion for less than $600 (half the price of a Turtlebot 2 from OSRF). Our robot was able to walk in basic form using limited actuation; this was limited by the components we chose - specifically the motor controllers for part of the actuation. We expect that using components better suited to the task could accomplish what we set out to achieve

Low Cost Quadruped: MUTT

The field of educational and research robotics is alight with development platforms that fall short of being interesting and novel. Our goal was to create a quadruped for use as an entry level research project for students and educators. Reducing cost through the use of commercially available parts combined with rapid-prototyping, we built a platform that can be used to teach and learn legged locomotion for less than $600 (half the price of a Turtlebot 2 from OSRF). Our robot was able to walk in basic form using limited actuation; this was limited by the components we chose - specifically the motor controllers for part of the actuation. We expect that using components better suited to the task could accomplish what we set out to achieve

Innovative Education, President\u27s Progress Report 2017

How can academic leadership create a culture of INNOVATION? How can faculty more effectively convey their KNOWLEDGE? How can students learn the skills, traits, and process to become future INNOVATORS

A model-based design flow for embedded vision applications on heterogeneous architectures

The ability to gather information from images is straightforward to human, and one of the principal input to understand external world. Computer vision (CV) is the process to extract such knowledge from the visual domain in an algorithmic fashion. The requested computational power to process these information is very high. Until recently, the only feasible way to meet non-functional requirements like performance was to develop custom hardware, which is costly, time-consuming and can not be reused in a general purpose. The recent introduction of low-power and low-cost heterogeneous embedded boards, in which CPUs are combine with heterogeneous accelerators like GPUs, DSPs and FPGAs, can combine the hardware efficiency needed for non-functional requirements with the flexibility of software development. Embedded vision is the term used to identify the application of the aforementioned CV algorithms applied in the embedded field, which usually requires to satisfy, other than functional requirements, also non-functional requirements such as real-time performance, power, and energy efficiency. Rapid prototyping, early algorithm parametrization, testing, and validation of complex embedded video applications for such heterogeneous architectures is a very challenging task. This thesis presents a comprehensive framework that: 1) Is based on a model-based paradigm. Differently from the standard approaches at the state of the art that require designers to manually model the algorithm in any programming language, the proposed approach allows for a rapid prototyping, algorithm validation and parametrization in a model-based design environment (i.e., Matlab/Simulink). The framework relies on a multi-level design and verification flow by which the high-level model is then semi-automatically refined towards the final automatic synthesis into the target hardware device. 2) Relies on a polyglot parallel programming model. The proposed model combines different programming languages and environments such as C/C++, OpenMP, PThreads, OpenVX, OpenCV, and CUDA to best exploit different levels of parallelism while guaranteeing a semi-automatic customization. 3) Optimizes the application performance and energy efficiency through a novel algorithm for the mapping and scheduling of the application 3 tasks on the heterogeneous computing elements of the device. Such an algorithm, called exclusive earliest finish time (XEFT), takes into consideration the possible multiple implementation of tasks for different computing elements (e.g., a task primitive for CPU and an equivalent parallel implementation for GPU). It introduces and takes advantage of the notion of exclusive overlap between primitives to improve the load balancing. This thesis is the result of three years of research activity, during which all the incremental steps made to compose the framework have been tested on real case studie

Интеллектуальные CASE-средства для разработки адаптируемых информационных систем

Представлено підхід до створення інтелектуальних інформаційних систем, що є основою CASE-технології METAS, призначеної для підтримки життєвого циклу динамічно адаптуємих розподілених інформаційних систем. Системи, створені за допомогою CASE-засобів METAS, функціонують у режимі інтерпретації. Вони базуються на багаторівневих метаданих, які описують предметну область системи. Можливості адаптації реалізуються через засоби реструктуризації даних, настроювання користувальницького інтерфейсу, генерації запитів і звітів, динамічного підключення програмних компонентів сторонніх розроблювачів. Одна з найбільш важливих – підсистема керування документами, що забезпечує можливості інтелектуального пошуку, аналізу автоматичної класифікації й каталогізації документів, заснована на використанні онтологій й агентного підходу.An approach to development of intelligent information systems is presented. This approach is the base of CASE-technology METAS intended for support of adaptable distributed information systems life cycle. Information systems created with METAS CASE-tools operates in interpretation mode. It’s based on multilayer metadata which describes universe of discourse for the information system. The adaptation capabilities are realized by means of data restructuring tools, interface generation and tuning, query builder and reportsgeneration, dynamic linking of program components developed by exterior application designer. Document management subsystem is one of the most important. It includes tools of storing documents in database, business intelligent means, automatic classification and intelligent search of electronic documents. This subsystem is based on ontologies and multi-agents architecture

FlightGoggles: A Modular Framework for Photorealistic Camera, Exteroceptive Sensor, and Dynamics Simulation

FlightGoggles is a photorealistic sensor simulator for perception-driven robotic vehicles. The key contributions of FlightGoggles are twofold. First, FlightGoggles provides photorealistic exteroceptive sensor simulation using graphics assets generated with photogrammetry. Second, it provides the ability to combine (i) synthetic exteroceptive measurements generated in silico in real time and (ii) vehicle dynamics and proprioceptive measurements generated in motio by vehicle(s) in a motion-capture facility. FlightGoggles is capable of simulating a virtual-reality environment around autonomous vehicle(s). While a vehicle is in flight in the FlightGoggles virtual reality environment, exteroceptive sensors are rendered synthetically in real time while all complex extrinsic dynamics are generated organically through the natural interactions of the vehicle. The FlightGoggles framework allows for researchers to accelerate development by circumventing the need to estimate complex and hard-to-model interactions such as aerodynamics, motor mechanics, battery electrochemistry, and behavior of other agents. The ability to perform vehicle-in-the-loop experiments with photorealistic exteroceptive sensor simulation facilitates novel research directions involving, e.g., fast and agile autonomous flight in obstacle-rich environments, safe human interaction, and flexible sensor selection. FlightGoggles has been utilized as the main test for selecting nine teams that will advance in the AlphaPilot autonomous drone racing challenge. We survey approaches and results from the top AlphaPilot teams, which may be of independent interest.Comment: Initial version appeared at IROS 2019. Supplementary material can be found at https://flightgoggles.mit.edu. Revision includes description of new FlightGoggles features, such as a photogrammetric model of the MIT Stata Center, new rendering settings, and a Python AP