735 research outputs found
Network Utility Maximization under Maximum Delay Constraints and Throughput Requirements
We consider the problem of maximizing aggregate user utilities over a
multi-hop network, subject to link capacity constraints, maximum end-to-end
delay constraints, and user throughput requirements. A user's utility is a
concave function of the achieved throughput or the experienced maximum delay.
The problem is important for supporting real-time multimedia traffic, and is
uniquely challenging due to the need of simultaneously considering maximum
delay constraints and throughput requirements. We first show that it is
NP-complete either (i) to construct a feasible solution strictly meeting all
constraints, or (ii) to obtain an optimal solution after we relax maximum delay
constraints or throughput requirements up to constant ratios. We then develop a
polynomial-time approximation algorithm named PASS. The design of PASS
leverages a novel understanding between non-convex maximum-delay-aware problems
and their convex average-delay-aware counterparts, which can be of independent
interest and suggest a new avenue for solving maximum-delay-aware network
optimization problems. Under realistic conditions, PASS achieves constant or
problem-dependent approximation ratios, at the cost of violating maximum delay
constraints or throughput requirements by up to constant or problem-dependent
ratios. PASS is practically useful since the conditions for PASS are satisfied
in many popular application scenarios. We empirically evaluate PASS using
extensive simulations of supporting video-conferencing traffic across Amazon
EC2 datacenters. Compared to existing algorithms and a conceivable baseline,
PASS obtains up to improvement of utilities, by meeting the throughput
requirements but relaxing the maximum delay constraints that are acceptable for
practical video conferencing applications
On the Min-Max-Delay Problem: NP-completeness, Algorithm, and Integrality Gap
We study a delay-sensitive information flow problem where a source streams
information to a sink over a directed graph G(V,E) at a fixed rate R possibly
using multiple paths to minimize the maximum end-to-end delay, denoted as the
Min-Max-Delay problem. Transmission over an edge incurs a constant delay within
the capacity. We prove that Min-Max-Delay is weakly NP-complete, and
demonstrate that it becomes strongly NP-complete if we require integer flow
solution. We propose an optimal pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for
Min-Max-Delay, with time complexity O(\log (Nd_{\max}) (N^5d_{\max}^{2.5})(\log
R+N^2d_{\max}\log(N^2d_{\max}))), where N = \max\{|V|,|E|\} and d_{\max} is the
maximum edge delay. Besides, we show that the integrality gap, which is defined
as the ratio of the maximum delay of an optimal integer flow to the maximum
delay of an optimal fractional flow, could be arbitrarily large
MASK FACE INPAINTING BASED ON IMPROVED GENERATIVE ADVERSARIAL NETWORK
Face recognition technology has been widely used in all aspects of people's lives. However, the accuracy of face recognition is greatly reduced due to the obscuring of objects, such as masks and sunglasses. Wearing masks in public has been a crucial approach to preventing illness, especially since the Covid-19 outbreak. This poses challenges to applications such as face recognition. Therefore, the removal of masks via image inpainting has become a hot topic in the field of computer vision. Deep learning-based image inpainting techniques have taken observable results, but the restored images still have problems such as blurring and inconsistency. To address such problems, this paper proposes an improved inpainting model based on generative adversarial network: the model adds attention mechanisms to the sampling module based on pix2pix network; the residual module is improved by adding convolutional branches. The improved inpainting model can not only effectively restore faces obscured by face masks, but also realize the inpainting of randomly obscured images of human faces. To further validate the generality of the inpainting model, tests are conducted on the datasets of CelebA, Paris Street and Place2, and the experimental results show that both SSIM and PSNR have improved significantly
Minimizing Age-of-Information with Throughput Requirements in Multi-Path Network Communication
We consider the scenario where a sender periodically sends a batch of data to
a receiver over a multi-hop network, possibly using multiple paths. Our
objective is to minimize peak/average Age-of-Information (AoI) subject to
throughput requirements. The consideration of batch generation and multi-path
communication differentiates our AoI study from existing ones. We first show
that our AoI minimization problems are NP-hard, but only in the weak sense, as
we develop an optimal algorithm with a pseudo-polynomial time complexity. We
then prove that minimizing AoI and minimizing maximum delay are "roughly"
equivalent, in the sense that any optimal solution of the latter is an
approximate solution of the former with bounded optimality loss. We leverage
this understanding to design a general approximation framework for our
problems. It can build upon any -approximation algorithm of the maximum
delay minimization problem, to construct an -approximate solution
for minimizing AoI. Here is a constant depending on the throughput
requirements. Simulations over various network topologies validate the
effectiveness of our approach.Comment: Accepted by the ACM Twentieth International Symposium on Mobile Ad
Hoc Networking and Computing (ACM MobiHoc 2019
Planar Metasurfaces Enable High‐Efficiency Colored Perovskite Solar Cells
The achievement of perfect light absorption in ultrathin semiconductor materials is not only a long‐standing goal, but also a critical challenge for solar energy applications, and thus requires a redesigned strategy. Here, a general strategy is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally to create a planar metasurface absorber comprising a 1D ultrathin planar semiconductor film (replacing the 2D array of subwavelength elements in classical metasurfaces), a transparent spacer, and a metallic back reflector. Guided by derived formulisms, a new type of macroscopic planar metasurface absorber is experimentally demonstrated with light near‐perfectly and exclusively absorbed by the ultrathin semiconductor film. To demonstrate the power and simplicity of this strategy, a prototype of a planar metasurface solar cell is experimentally demonstrated. Furthermore, the device model predicts that a colored planar metasurface perovskite solar cell can maintain 75% of the efficiency of its black counterpart despite the use of a perovskite film that is one order of magnitude thinner. The displayed cell colors have high purities comparable to those of state‐of‐the‐art color filters, and are insensitive to viewing angles up to 60°. The general theoretical framework in conjunction with experimental demonstrations lays the foundation for designing miniaturized, planar, and multifunctional solar cells and optoelectronic devices.A type of macroscopic planar metasurface absorber with light near‐perfectly and exclusively absorbed by the ultrathin semiconductor film is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated via a general strategy. Guided by this strategy, colored perovskite solar cells are further designed to meet all the desired characteristics including high power conversion efficiency, high‐purity, tunability, and angle‐insensitive colors.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146390/1/advs793.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146390/2/advs793-sup-0001-S1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146390/3/advs793_am.pd
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