Demonstrating Advantages of Neuromorphic Computation: A Pilot Study

Neuromorphic devices represent an attempt to mimic aspects of the brain's architecture and dynamics with the aim of replicating its hallmark functional capabilities in terms of computational power, robust learning and energy efficiency. We employ a single-chip prototype of the BrainScaleS 2 neuromorphic system to implement a proof-of-concept demonstration of reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity in a spiking network that learns to play the Pong video game by smooth pursuit. This system combines an electronic mixed-signal substrate for emulating neuron and synapse dynamics with an embedded digital processor for on-chip learning, which in this work also serves to simulate the virtual environment and learning agent. The analog emulation of neuronal membrane dynamics enables a 1000-fold acceleration with respect to biological real-time, with the entire chip operating on a power budget of 57mW. Compared to an equivalent simulation using state-of-the-art software, the on-chip emulation is at least one order of magnitude faster and three orders of magnitude more energy-efficient. We demonstrate how on-chip learning can mitigate the effects of fixed-pattern noise, which is unavoidable in analog substrates, while making use of temporal variability for action exploration. Learning compensates imperfections of the physical substrate, as manifested in neuronal parameter variability, by adapting synaptic weights to match respective excitability of individual neurons.Comment: Added measurements with noise in NEST simulation, add notice about journal publication. Frontiers in Neuromorphic Engineering (2019

IREEL: remote experimentation with real protocols and applications over emulated network

This paper presents a novel e-learning platform called IREEL. IREEL is a virtual laboratory allowing students to drive experiments with real Internet applications and end-to-end protocols in the context of networking courses. This platform consists in a remote network emulator offering a set of predefined applications and protocol mechanisms. Experimenters configure and control the emulation and the end-systems behavior in order to perform tests, measurements and observations on protocols or applications operating under controlled specific networking conditions. A set of end-to-end mechanisms, mainly focusing on transport and application level protocols, are currently available. IREEL is scalable and easy to use thanks to an ergonomic web interface

Network emulation focusing on QoS-Oriented satellite communication

This chapter proposes network emulation basics and a complete case study of QoS-oriented Satellite Communication

When Should I Use Network Emulation?

The design and development of a complex system requires an adequate methodology and efficient instrumental support in order to early detect and correct anomalies in the functional and non-functional properties of the tested protocols. Among the various tools used to provide experimental support for such developments, network emulation relies on real-time production of impairments on real traffic according to a communication model, either realistically or not. This paper aims at simply presenting to newcomers in network emulation (students, engineers, ...) basic principles and practices illustrated with a few commonly used tools. The motivation behind is to fill a gap in terms of introductory and pragmatic papers in this domain. The study particularly considers centralized approaches, allowing cheap and easy implementation in the context of research labs or industrial developments. In addition, an architectural model for emulation systems is proposed, defining three complementary levels, namely hardware, impairment and model levels. With the help of this architectural framework, various existing tools are situated and described. Various approaches for modeling the emulation actions are studied, such as impairment-based scenarios and virtual architectures, real-time discrete simulation and trace-based systems. Those modeling approaches are described and compared in terms of services and we study their ability to respond to various designer needs to assess when emulation is needed

When should I use network emulation ?

The design and development of a complex system requires an adequate methodology and efficient instrumental support in order to early detect and correct anomalies in the functional and non-functional properties of the tested protocols. Among the various tools used to provide experimental support for such developments, network emulation relies on real-time production of impairments on real traffic according to a communication model, either realistically or not. This paper aims at simply presenting to newcomers in network emulation (students, engineers, ...) basic principles and practices illustrated with a few commonly used tools. The motivation behind is to fill a gap in terms of introductory and pragmatic papers in this domain. The study particularly considers centralized approaches, allowing cheap and easy implementation in the context of research labs or industrial developments. In addition, an architectural model for emulation systems is proposed, defining three complementary levels, namely hardware, impairment and model levels. With the help of this architectural framework, various existing tools are situated and described. Various approaches for modeling the emulation actions are studied, such as impairment-based scenarios and virtual architectures, real-time discrete simulation and trace-based systems. Those modeling approaches are described and compared in terms of services and we study their ability to respond to various designer needs to assess when emulation is needed

Towards an unified experimentation framework for protocol engineering

The design and development process of complex systems require an adequate methodology and efficient instrumental support in order to early detect and correct anomalies in the functional and non-functional properties of the solution. In this article, an Unified Experimentation Framework (UEF) providing experimentation facilities at both design and development stages is introduced. This UEF provides a mean to achieve experiment in both simulation mode with UML2 models of the designed protocol and emulation mode using real protocol implementation. A practical use case of the experimentation framework is illustrated in the context of satellite environment

IP-Level Satellite Link Emulation with KauNet

Distributed applications and transport protocols communicating over a satellite link may react very strongly to conditions specific to that kind of link. Providing a evaluation framework to allow tests of real implementations of such software in that context is quite a challenging task. In this paper we demonstrate how the use of the general-purpose KauNet IP-level emulator combined with satellite-specific packet loss patterns can help by reproducing losses and delays experienced on a satellite link with a simple Ethernet LAN setup. Such a platform is an essential tool for developers performing continuous testing as they provide new features for e.g. video codecs or transport-level software like DCCP and its congestion control components

W-NINE: a two-stage emulation platform for mobile and wireless systems

More and more applications and protocols are now running on wireless networks. Testing the implementation of such applications and protocols is a real challenge as the position of the mobile terminals and environmental effects strongly affect the overall performance. Network emulation is often perceived as a good trade-off between experiments on operational wireless networks and discrete-event simulations on Opnet or ns-2. However, ensuring repeatability and realism in network emulation while taking into account mobility in a wireless environment is very difficult. This paper proposes a network emulation platform, called W-NINE, based on off-line computations preceding online pattern-based traffic shaping. The underlying concepts of repeatability, dynamicity, accuracy and realism are defined in the emulation context. Two different simple case studies illustrate the validity of our approach with respect to these concepts