CONTREX: Design of embedded mixed-criticality CONTRol systems under consideration of EXtra-functional properties

The increasing processing power of today’s HW/SW platforms leads to the integration of more and more functions in a single device. Additional design challenges arise when these functions share computing resources and belong to different criticality levels. The paper presents the CONTREX European project and its preliminary results. CONTREX complements current activities in the area of predictable computing platforms and segregation mechanisms with techniques to consider the extra-functional properties, i.e., timing constraints, power, and temperature. CONTREX enables energy efficient and cost aware design through analysis and optimization of these properties with regard to application demands at different criticality levels

Room-temperature preparation and characterization of poly (ethylene glycol)-coated silica nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Monodisperse, spherical, polyethylene glycol (PEG)–coated silica nanoparticles have been prepared at room temperature and characterized for the purpose of biomedical applications. The particles were synthesized by the hydrolysis of tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) in alcohol media under catalysis by ammonia, and their size can range from about 50–350 nm in diameter. We studied the particle size and size distribution using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an asymmetric field-flow fractionation (AFFF) multiangle static light-scattering instrument. The chemical and/or physical binding of PEG to the silica nanoparticles was studied by infrared spectroscopy, and the weight percentage of PEG attached to the particles was quantified. The PEG-coated silica nanoparticles showed enhanced colloidal stability when redispersed into aqueous solutions from the dried state as a result of the steric stabilization function of the PEG polymer grafted on the surface of particles. A nonspecific protein-binding test was also carried out to show that the PEG coating can help reduce the protein adsorption onto the surface of the particles, relating to the biocompatibility of these PEG-coated particles. Also, the inclusion of magnetic nanoparticles into the silica particles was shown as an example of the possible applications of PEG-coated silica particles. These silica nanoparticles, as a matrix for encapsulation of certain reagents, have potential for applications to in vivo diagnosis, analysis, and measurements inside intact biologic systems. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 66A: 870–879, 2003Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34427/1/10057_ftp.pd

Impact simulation of changes to development processes: An ESL case study

Due to the ever increasing need for enhanced productivity in electronic system design new methods and tools in the area of Electronic System Level (ESL) design are becoming more important. Regrettably, the introduction of new methods and tools come at a certain cost, and after its introduction it might be hard to assess the real improvements in the development process. In this paper we present a methodology to model the design process and linked cause-effects based on experience and statistical data. In our case-study we create two models of the same design flow: 1st traditional design flow and 2nd ESL design flow using high-level synthesis. By means of Monte Carlo simulations we automatically process 10.000 probabilistically varied benchmark runs so that the causalities in the modeled development process become clear and the impact of changes to the flow can be predicted prior to their implementation

The UP2DATE baseline research platforms

The UP2DATE H2020 project focuses on highperformance heterogeneous embedded platforms for critical systems. We will develop observability and controllability solutions to support online updates while ensuring safety and security for mixed-criticality tasks. In this paper, we describe the rationale behind the selection of the baseline research platforms which will be used to develop and demonstrate the project concepts, including a performance comparison to identify the most efficient one.This work is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme under the UP2DATE project (grant agreement 871465). It is also partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under grants PID2019-107255GB and FJCI-2017-34095 and HiPEAC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft