Infrastructures and Compilation Strategies for the Performance of Computing Systems

This document presents our main contributions to the field of compilation, and more generally to the quest of performance ofcomputing systems.It is structured by type of execution environment, from static compilation (execution of native code), to JIT compilation, and purelydynamic optimization. We also consider interpreters. In each chapter, we give a focus on the most relevant contributions.Chapter 2 describes our work about static compilation. It covers a long time frame (from PhD work 1995--1998 to recent work on real-timesystems and worst-case execution times at Inria in 2015) and various positions, both in academia and in the industry.My research on JIT compilers started in the mid-2000s at STMicroelectronics, and is still ongoing. Chapter 3 covers the results we obtained on various aspects of JIT compilers: split-compilation, interaction with real-time systems, and obfuscation.Chapter 4 reports on dynamic binary optimization, a research effort started more recently, in 2012. This considers the optimization of a native binary (without source code), while it runs. It incurs significant challenges but also opportunities.Interpreters represent an alternative way to execute code. Instead of native code generation, an interpreter executes an infinite loop thatcontinuously reads a instruction, decodes it and executes its semantics. Interpreters are much easier to develop than compilers,they are also much more portable, often requiring a simple recompilation. The price to pay is the reduced performance. Chapter 5presents some of our work related to interpreters.All this research often required significant software infrastructures for validation, from early prototypes to robust quasi products, andfrom open-source to proprietary. We detail them in Chapter 6.The last chapter concludes and gives some perspectives

SpiNNaker - A Spiking Neural Network Architecture

20 years in conception and 15 in construction, the SpiNNaker project has delivered the world’s largest neuromorphic computing platform incorporating over a million ARM mobile phone processors and capable of modelling spiking neural networks of the scale of a mouse brain in biological real time. This machine, hosted at the University of Manchester in the UK, is freely available under the auspices of the EU Flagship Human Brain Project. This book tells the story of the origins of the machine, its development and its deployment, and the immense software development effort that has gone into making it openly available and accessible to researchers and students the world over. It also presents exemplar applications from ‘Talk’, a SpiNNaker-controlled robotic exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery as part of ‘The Imitation Game’, a set of works commissioned in 2016 in honour of Alan Turing, through to a way to solve hard computing problems using stochastic neural networks. The book concludes with a look to the future, and the SpiNNaker-2 machine which is yet to come

SpiNNaker - A Spiking Neural Network Architecture

20 years in conception and 15 in construction, the SpiNNaker project has delivered the world’s largest neuromorphic computing platform incorporating over a million ARM mobile phone processors and capable of modelling spiking neural networks of the scale of a mouse brain in biological real time. This machine, hosted at the University of Manchester in the UK, is freely available under the auspices of the EU Flagship Human Brain Project. This book tells the story of the origins of the machine, its development and its deployment, and the immense software development effort that has gone into making it openly available and accessible to researchers and students the world over. It also presents exemplar applications from ‘Talk’, a SpiNNaker-controlled robotic exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery as part of ‘The Imitation Game’, a set of works commissioned in 2016 in honour of Alan Turing, through to a way to solve hard computing problems using stochastic neural networks. The book concludes with a look to the future, and the SpiNNaker-2 machine which is yet to come

Earth imaging with microsatellites: An investigation, design, implementation and in-orbit demonstration of electronic imaging systems for earth observation on-board low-cost microsatellites.

This research programme has studied the possibilities and difficulties of using 50 kg microsatellites to perform remote imaging of the Earth. The design constraints of these missions are quite different to those encountered in larger, conventional spacecraft. While the main attractions of microsatellites are low cost and fast response times, they present the following key limitations: Payload mass under 5 kg, Continuous payload power under 5 Watts, peak power up to 15 Watts, Narrow communications bandwidths (9.6 / 38.4 kbps), Attitude control to within 5°, No moving mechanics. The most significant factor is the limited attitude stability. Without sub-degree attitude control, conventional scanning imaging systems cannot preserve scene geometry, and are therefore poorly suited to current microsatellite capabilities. The foremost conclusion of this thesis is that electronic cameras, which capture entire scenes in a single operation, must be used to overcome the effects of the satellite's motion. The potential applications of electronic cameras, including microsatellite remote sensing, have erupted with the recent availability of high sensitivity field-array CCD (charge-coupled device) image sensors. The research programme has established suitable techniques and architectures necessary for CCD sensors, cameras and entire imaging systems to fulfil scientific/commercial remote sensing despite the difficult conditions on microsatellites. The author has refined these theories by designing, building and exploiting in-orbit five generations of electronic cameras. The major objective of meteorological scale imaging was conclusively demonstrated by the Earth imaging camera flown on the UoSAT-5 spacecraft in 1991. Improved cameras have since been carried by the KITSAT-1 (1992) and PoSAT-1 (1993) microsatellites. PoSAT-1 also flies a medium resolution camera (200 metres) which (despite complete success) has highlighted certain limitations of microsatellites for high resolution remote sensing. A reworked, and extensively modularised, design has been developed for the four camera systems deployed on the FASat-Alfa mission (1995). Based on the success of these missions, this thesis presents many recommendations for the design of microsatellite imaging systems. The novelty of this research programme has been the principle of designing practical camera systems to fit on an existing, highly restrictive, satellite platform, rather than conceiving a fictitious small satellite to support a high performance scanning imager. This pragmatic approach has resulted in the first incontestable demonstrations of the feasibility of remote sensing of the Earth from inexpensive microsatellites

Technology 2000, volume 1

The purpose of the conference was to increase awareness of existing NASA developed technologies that are available for immediate use in the development of new products and processes, and to lay the groundwork for the effective utilization of emerging technologies. There were sessions on the following: Computer technology and software engineering; Human factors engineering and life sciences; Information and data management; Material sciences; Manufacturing and fabrication technology; Power, energy, and control systems; Robotics; Sensors and measurement technology; Artificial intelligence; Environmental technology; Optics and communications; and Superconductivity

Intelligent Circuits and Systems

ICICS-2020 is the third conference initiated by the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Lovely Professional University that explored recent innovations of researchers working for the development of smart and green technologies in the fields of Energy, Electronics, Communications, Computers, and Control. ICICS provides innovators to identify new opportunities for the social and economic benefits of society.　 This conference bridges the gap between academics and R&D institutions, social visionaries, and experts from all strata of society to present their ongoing research activities and foster research relations between them. It provides opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, applications, and experiences in the field of smart technologies and finding global partners for future collaboration. The ICICS-2020 was conducted in two broad categories, Intelligent Circuits & Intelligent Systems and Emerging Technologies in Electrical Engineering

Aerial Vehicles

This book contains 35 chapters written by experts in developing techniques for making aerial vehicles more intelligent, more reliable, more flexible in use, and safer in operation.It will also serve as an inspiration for further improvement of the design and application of aeral vehicles. The advanced techniques and research described here may also be applicable to other high-tech areas such as robotics, avionics, vetronics, and space