441 research outputs found
Chip-Chat: Challenges and Opportunities in Conversational Hardware Design
Modern hardware design starts with specifications provided in natural
language. These are then translated by hardware engineers into appropriate
Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) such as Verilog before synthesizing
circuit elements. Automating this translation could reduce sources of human
error from the engineering process. But, it is only recently that artificial
intelligence (AI) has demonstrated capabilities for machine-based end-to-end
design translations. Commercially-available instruction-tuned Large Language
Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard claim to be able to
produce code in a variety of programming languages; but studies examining them
for hardware are still lacking. In this work, we thus explore the challenges
faced and opportunities presented when leveraging these recent advances in LLMs
for hardware design. Given that these `conversational' LLMs perform best when
used interactively, we perform a case study where a hardware engineer
co-architects a novel 8-bit accumulator-based microprocessor architecture with
the LLM according to real-world hardware constraints. We then sent the
processor to tapeout in a Skywater 130nm shuttle, meaning that this `Chip-Chat'
resulted in what we believe to be the world's first wholly-AI-written HDL for
tapeout.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures. Accepted in 2023 ACM/IEEE 5th Workshop on Machine
Learning for CAD (MLCAD
P15. Employing students' multilingualism and language diversity in teaching and learning
Before our innovative clinical skills session âInterpreting in Consultationsâ, we conducted an annual survey of languages spoken by students on admission, in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Froma response rate of 94% we noted that 28% of students are advanced/fluent speakers of language(s) other than English and a total of 48 languages are spoken.The session, âInterpreting in Consultationsâ, involves first and second year students who speak the same language other than English, role-playing an âinterpretedâ consultation.Feedback from tutors and students following the session shows that using different languages serves multiple, valuable purposes, highlighting:âą issues encountered with interpretersâą challenges of âmedicalâ languageâą difficulties in transmitting a patient centred approachâą how linguistic and cultural sensitivities are lost in translation.Student linguistic diversity is considerable and not used to its full potential: the single clinical skills session we report suggests there is much more to be gained. The education we design and delivermay fail to recognise what patient-centred-ness means in different languages and cultures.Future research should: consider how to make best use of multiculturalism and linguistic diversity; explore how studentsâ awareness of, and competence in, different languages and culturescan be developed and maintained
Dcc --help: Generating Context-Aware Compiler Error Explanations with Large Language Models
In the challenging field of introductory programming, high enrollments and
failure rates drive us to explore tools and systems to enhance student
outcomes, especially automated tools that scale to large cohorts. This paper
presents and evaluates the dcc --help tool, an integration of a Large Language
Model (LLM) into the Debugging C Compiler (DCC) to generate unique,
novice-focused explanations tailored to each error. dcc --help prompts an LLM
with contextual information of compile- and run-time error occurrences,
including the source code, error location and standard compiler error message.
The LLM is instructed to generate novice-focused, actionable error explanations
and guidance, designed to help students understand and resolve problems without
providing solutions. dcc --help was deployed to our CS1 and CS2 courses, with
2,565 students using the tool over 64,000 times in ten weeks. We analysed a
subset of these error/explanation pairs to evaluate their properties, including
conceptual correctness, relevancy, and overall quality. We found that the
LLM-generated explanations were conceptually accurate in 90% of compile-time
and 75% of run-time cases, but often disregarded the instruction not to provide
solutions in code. Our findings, observations and reflections following
deployment indicate that dcc-help provides novel opportunities for scaffolding
students' introduction to programming.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted in SIGCSE'2
FLAG: Finding Line Anomalies (in code) with Generative AI
Code contains security and functional bugs. The process of identifying and
localizing them is difficult and relies on human labor. In this work, we
present a novel approach (FLAG) to assist human debuggers. FLAG is based on the
lexical capabilities of generative AI, specifically, Large Language Models
(LLMs). Here, we input a code file then extract and regenerate each line within
that file for self-comparison. By comparing the original code with an
LLM-generated alternative, we can flag notable differences as anomalies for
further inspection, with features such as distance from comments and LLM
confidence also aiding this classification. This reduces the inspection search
space for the designer. Unlike other automated approaches in this area, FLAG is
language-agnostic, can work on incomplete (and even non-compiling) code and
requires no creation of security properties, functional tests or definition of
rules. In this work, we explore the features that help LLMs in this
classification and evaluate the performance of FLAG on known bugs. We use 121
benchmarks across C, Python and Verilog; with each benchmark containing a known
security or functional weakness. We conduct the experiments using two state of
the art LLMs in OpenAI's code-davinci-002 and gpt-3.5-turbo, but our approach
may be used by other models. FLAG can identify 101 of the defects and helps
reduce the search space to 12-17% of source code
Designing Neural Networks for Real-Time Systems
Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are increasingly being used within
safety-critical Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs). They are often co-located with
traditional embedded software, and may perform advisory or control-based roles.
It is important to validate both the timing and functional correctness of these
systems. However, most approaches in the literature consider guaranteeing only
the functionality of ANN based controllers. This issue stems largely from the
implementation strategies used within common neural network frameworks -- their
underlying source code is often simply unsuitable for formal techniques such as
static timing analysis. As a result, developers of safety-critical CPS must
rely on informal techniques such as measurement based approaches to prove
correctness, techniques that provide weak guarantees at best. In this work we
address this challenge. We propose a design pipeline whereby neural networks
trained using the popular deep learning framework Keras are compiled to
functionally equivalent C code. This C code is restricted to simple constructs
that may be analysed by existing static timing analysis tools. As a result, if
compiled to a suitable time-predictable platform all execution bounds may be
statically derived. To demonstrate the benefits of our approach we execute an
ANN trained to drive an autonomous vehicle around a race track. We compile the
ANN to the Patmos time-predictable controller, and show that we can derive
worst case execution timings.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. IEEE Embedded Systems Letters, 202
VeriGen: A Large Language Model for Verilog Code Generation
In this study, we explore the capability of Large Language Models (LLMs) to
automate hardware design by generating high-quality Verilog code, a common
language for designing and modeling digital systems. We fine-tune pre-existing
LLMs on Verilog datasets compiled from GitHub and Verilog textbooks. We
evaluate the functional correctness of the generated Verilog code using a
specially designed test suite, featuring a custom problem set and testing
benches. Here, our fine-tuned open-source CodeGen-16B model outperforms the
commercial state-of-the-art GPT-3.5-turbo model with a 1.1% overall increase.
Upon testing with a more diverse and complex problem set, we find that the
fine-tuned model shows competitive performance against state-of-the-art
gpt-3.5-turbo, excelling in certain scenarios. Notably, it demonstrates a 41%
improvement in generating syntactically correct Verilog code across various
problem categories compared to its pre-trained counterpart, highlighting the
potential of smaller, in-house LLMs in hardware design automation.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2212.1114
Reactivation of Fault Systems by Compartmentalized Hydrothermal Fluids in the Southern Andes Revealed by Magnetotelluric and Seismic Data
In active volcanic arcs such as the Andean volcanic mountain belt, magmaticallyâsourced fluids are channelled through the brittle crust by faults and fracture networks. In the Andes, volcanoes, geothermal springs and major mineral deposits have a spatial and genetic relationship with NNEâtrending, marginâparallel faults and marginâoblique, NWâtrending Andean Transverse Faults (ATF). The Tinguiririca and PlanchĂłnâPeteroa volcanoes in the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) demonstrate this relationship, as their spatially associated thermal springs show strike alignment to the NNEâoriented El Fierro Thrust Fault System. We constrain the fault system architecture and its interaction with volcanically sourced hydrothermal fluids using a combined magnetotelluric (MT) and seismic survey that was deployed for 20 months. High conductivity zones are located along the axis of the active volcanic chain, delineating fluids and/or melt. A distinct WNWâtrending cluster of seismicity correlates with resistivity contrasts, considered to be a reactivated ATF. Seismicity occurs below 4 km, suggesting activity is limited to basement rocks, and the cessation of seismicity at 9 km delineates the local brittleâductile transition. As seismicity is not seen west of the El Fierro fault, we hypothesize that this structure plays a key role in compartmentalizing magmaticallyâderived hydrothermal fluids to the east, where the fault zone acts as a barrier to crossâfault fluid migration and channels faultâparallel fluid flow to the surface from depth. Increases in fluid pressure above hydrostatic may facilitate reactivation. This siteâspecific case study provides the first threeâdimensional seismic and magnetotelluric observations of the mechanics behind the reactivation of an ATF
Needle in a Haystack: Detecting Subtle Malicious Edits to Additive Manufacturing G-code Files
Increasing usage of Digital Manufacturing (DM) in safety-critical domains is increasing attention on the cybersecurity of the manufacturing process, as malicious third parties might aim to introduce defects in digital designs. In general, the DM process involves creating a digital object (as CAD files) before using a slicer program to convert the models into printing instructions (e.g. g-code) suitable for the target printer. As the g-code is an intermediate machine format, malicious edits may be difficult to detect, especially when the golden (original) models are not available to the manufacturer. In this work we aim to quantify this hypothesis through a red-team/blue-team case study, whereby the red-team aims to introduce subtle defects that would impact the properties (strengths) of the 3D printed parts, and the blue-team aims to detect these modifications in the absence of the golden models. The case study had two sets of models, the first with 180 designs (with 2 compromised using 2 methods) and the second with 4320 designs (with 60 compromised using 6 methods). Using statistical modelling and machine learning (ML), the blue-team was able to detect all the compromises in the first set of data, and 50 of the compromises in the second
Potential mainland Chinese cruise travelersâ expectations, motivations, and intentions
The global cruise industry is the fastest growing sector in the entire leisure market. Due to the limited development of the Chinese cruise sector and government controls on outbound travel, the cruise, especially the outbound cruise, is a new concept in China. Few studies have addressed Chinese consumersâ perceptions of cruises. This study aimed to explore the preferences of potential Chinese cruisers and their expectations, motivations, and intentions in relation to taking an outbound cruise. This study also proposed and tested a conceptual framework: the Expectation, Motivation, and Intention (EMI) Model. Data were collected in Beijing and Shanghai; 242 valid responses were received. The results partially supported the proposed model. The theoretical and practical contributions of the study are discussed
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