A Real-Time Error Detection (RTD) architecture and its use for reliability and post-silicon validation for F/F based memory arrays

This work proposes in-situ Real-Time Error Detection (RTD): embedding hardware in a memory array for detecting a fault in the array when it occurs, rather than when it is read. RTD breaks the serialization between data access and error-detection and, thus, it can speed-up the access-time of arrays that use in-line error-correction. The approach can also reduce the time needed to root-cause array related bugs during post-silicon validation and product testing. The paper introduces a two-dimensional error-correction scheme based on RTD and, also, presents a proactive error-correction method that combines RTD with demand-scrubbing. The work describes how to build RTD into a memory array with flip-flops to track in real-time the column-parity. A comparison of the proposed two-dimensional ECC scheme, as compared to single-error-correction-double-error-detection, shows that the RTD design has comparable error-detection-and-correction strength and, depending on the array dimensions and configuration, RTD reduces access time by 4% to 26% at an area and power overhead (negative is a reduction) between -7% to 33% and -42% to 86% respectively.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Model-Based Assurance for Satellites with Commercial Parts in Radiation Environments

Small satellite projects often do not have the budget or schedule to incorporate radiation-hardened parts or extensive radiation test campaigns into their schedule. Yet a case must be made that the spacecraft will function as intended in orbit, with radiation, temperature and vacuum affecting part performance. The Vanderbilt Institute for Space and Defense Electronics, with support from NASA HQ, NASA NEPP, and NASA JPL, has developed a platform for making a safety case for systems with commercial (non-hardened) parts, called the Systems Engineering Assurance and Modeling (SEAM) platform. The platform has three elements: goal structuring notation (GSN), systems engineering models (SysML and our extensions), and Bayesian networks (BN). The GSN is a visual argument structure that presents an argument that the system meets specifications based on goals, strategies, and evidence. The systems engineering model is a high-level descriptive language that captures the spacecraft design and system architecture through various diagrams. We extend the SysML diagram set to include fault propagation diagrams, which map the environment, failure manifestations, anomalies, failure effects and responses (mitigation measures) of components and systems. The SEAM platform provides a low-cost alternative to conventional radiation hardening assurance paradigms

Quantum theta functions and Gabor frames for modulation spaces

Representations of the celebrated Heisenberg commutation relations in quantum mechanics and their exponentiated versions form the starting point for a number of basic constructions, both in mathematics and mathematical physics (geometric quantization, quantum tori, classical and quantum theta functions) and signal analysis (Gabor analysis). In this paper we try to bridge the two communities, represented by the two co--authors: that of noncommutative geometry and that of signal analysis. After providing a brief comparative dictionary of the two languages, we will show e.g. that the Janssen representation of Gabor frames with generalized Gaussians as Gabor atoms yields in a natural way quantum theta functions, and that the Rieffel scalar product and associativity relations underlie both the functional equations for quantum thetas and the Fundamental Identity of Gabor analysis.Comment: 38 pages, typos corrected, MSC class change

DCMQI: An open source library for standardized communication of quantitative image analysis results using DICOM

Quantitative analysis of clinical image data is an active area of research that holds promise for precision medicine, early assessment of treatment response, and objective characterization of the disease. Interoperability, data sharing, and the ability to mine the resulting data are of increasing importance, given the explosive growth in the number of quantitative analysis methods being proposed. The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard is widely adopted for image and metadata in radiology. dcmqi (DICOM for Quantitative Imaging) is a free, open source library that implements conversion of the data stored in commonly used research formats into the standard DICOM representation. dcmqi source code is distributed under BSD-style license. It is freely available as a precompiled binary package for every major operating system, as a Docker image, and as an extension to 3D Slicer. Installation and usage instructions are provided in the GitHub repository at https://github.com/qiicr/dcmqi

Frame expansions for Gabor multipliers

AbstractDiscrete Gabor multipliers are composed of rank one operators. We shall prove, in the case of rank one projection operators, that the generating operators for such multipliers are either Riesz bases (exact frames) or not frames for their closed linear spans. The same dichotomy conclusion is valid for general rank one operators under mild and natural conditions. This is relevant since discrete Gabor multipliers have an emerging role in communications, radar, and waveform design, where redundant frame decompositions are increasingly applicable

Software Engineering for Self-Adaptive Systems: A second Research Roadmap

The goal of this roadmap paper is to summarize the state of-the-art and identify research challenges when developing, deploying and managing self-adaptive software systems. Instead of dealing with a wide range of topics associated with the field, we focus on four essential topics of self-adaptation: design space for adaptive solutions, processes, from centralized to decentralized control, and practical run-time verification and validation. For each topic, we present an overview, suggest future directions, and focus on selected challenges. This paper complements and extends a previous roadmap on software engineering for self-adaptive systems published in 2009 covering a different set of topics, and reflecting in part on the previous paper. This roadmap is one of the many results of the Dagstuhl Seminar 10431 on Software Engineering for Self-Adaptive Systems, which took place in October 2010