A Gaussian probability accelerator for SPHINX 3

technical reportAccurate real-time speech recognition is not currently possible in the mobile embedded space where the need for natural voice interfaces is clearly important. The continuous nature of speech recognition coupled with an inherently large working set creates significant cache interference with other processes. Hence real-time recognition is problematic even on high-performance general-purpose platforms. This paper provides a detailed analysis of CMU?s latest speech recognizer (Sphinx 3.2), identifies three distinct processing phases, and quantifies the architectural requirements for each phase. Several optimizations are then described which expose parallelism and drastically reduce the bandwidth and power requirements for real-time recognition. A special-purpose accelerator for the dominant Gaussian probability phase is developed for a 0.25 CMOS process which is then analyzed and compared with Sphinx?s measured energy and performance on a 0.13 2.4 GHz Pentium4 system. The results show an improvement in power consumption by a factor of 29 at equivalent processing throughput. However after normalizing for process, the specialpurpose approach has twice the throughput, and consumes 104 times less energy than the general-purpose accelerator. The energy-delay product is a better comparison metric due to the inherent design trade-offs between energy consumption and performance. The energydelay product of the special-purpose approach is 196 times better than the Pentium4. These results provide strong evidence that real-time large vocabulary speech recognition can be done within a power budget commensurate with embedded processing using today?s technology

A characterization of visual feature recognition

technical reportNatural human interfaces are a key to realizing the dream of ubiquitous computing. This implies that embedded systems must be capable of sophisticated perception tasks. This paper analyzes the nature of a visual feature recognition workload. Visual feature recognition is a key component of a number of important applications, e.g. gesture based interfaces, lip tracking to augment speech recognition, smart cameras, automated surveillance systems, robotic vision, etc. Given the power sensitive nature of the embedded space and the natural conflict between low-power and high-performance implementations, a precise understanding of these algorithms is an important step developing efficient visual feature recognition applications for the embedded space. In particular, this work analyzes the performance characteristics of flesh toning, face detection and face recognition codes based on well known algorithms. We also show how the problem can be decomposed into a pipeline of filters that have efficient implementations as stream processors

Design of a parallel vector access unit for SDRAM memory systems

Journal ArticleParallel Vector Access is a technique that exploits the regularity of vector or stream accesses to perform them efficiently in parallel on a multi-bank memory system. The performance of applications that have vector accesses may be improved using a memory controller that performs scatter/gather operations so that only the vector or stream elements that are accessed by the application are transmitted across the system bus. These scatter/gather operations can be speeded up by broadcasting vector operations to all banks of memory in parallel, each of which implements an algorithm to determine which elements of the requested vector they contain. This thesis presents the mathematical foundations behind one such algorithm for controller are investigated. The the performance of such a memory controller on vector kernels is studied by gate level simulation and the results analyzed. Because of the parallel approach, the PVA is able to load elements up to 32.8 times faster than a conventional memory system and 3.3 times faster than a pipelined vector unit, without hurting normal cache line fill performance

Ethnobotanical study on wild edible fruits, spices and aquatic plants traditionally used by the Garo tribe of Meghalaya

An ethnobotanical study was carried out in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India during 2015-2017 to identify and document the wild edible fruits, spices and aquatic plants used by the Garo tribe for their nutraceutical properties. The study area is situated between 26oand 25o20’North latitude and 90o 30’ to 89o 40’ East longitude. This area is predominantly inhabited by the Garo tribe following a matrilineal society. In the present study 43 wild edible fruit species belonging to 25 families were recorded which were found to be ethnobotanically important among the Garo tribe. Of these wild edible fruits, 36 species were trees followed by the 5 shrubs and 2 creepers/climbers. It was also observed that 19 species of wild edible plants belonging to 9 families were used by tribal population as spices to enrich their food. Most of the spice plants used by the Garo tribe belong to Zingiberaceae and Rutaceae family. They were grouped under herbs (10 species), shrubs (6 species), trees (2 species) and creepers (1 species). Rhizomes, leaves and flowers/inflorescence were commonly used plant parts. Among the aquatic plants only 5 species were used by the Garo tribe as vegetable, spices and medicines

Very Large Instruction Word Architectures

this article discusses the technology, history, uses and the future of such processor

FPGA Implementation of High Quality Random Number Generator Using LUT Based Shift Registers

AbstractRandom numbers are required for wide range of applications such as in encryption of data, testing and Monte-Carlo simulations. So, hardware implementation of random number generator is inevitable. FPGA Optimized RNGs are more efficient in terms of resource than software based RNGs. The LUT-SR RNG, a type of FPGA RNG in which LUTs are configured into shift registers with varying length. The existing work provides a midpoint between LUT-OPT RNG and LUT-FIFO RNG. In the enhancement work, we proposed modified LUT-SR RNG which provides more randomness, quality and minimum resource utilization than the existing LUT-SR generator. Inorder to improve the randomness quadratic residue method is employed. Linear Congruential Generator (LCG) algorithm, one of the oldest and well known algorithm is also used in modified LUT-SR RNG to enhance the performance. Here design was made by VHDL programming language by using Xilinx software

Stressors and coping strategies among frontline nurses during COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Frontline nurses are more likely to be in close contact with COVID-19 patients and COVID ward duties make nurses to undergo serious emotional disturbances. The physical, psychological, and social well-being of the nurses can be affected in this time and proper training programs and counseling sessions should be undertaken. This study attempts to understand the stressors and coping strategies of nurses from a tertiary hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Descriptive survey design was adopted and data were collected in 2021 from 92 frontline nurses from a selected tertiary hospital in Raipur. The data collection tools used were sociodemographic proforma, structured questionnaire on stress factors, and structured checklist on coping strategies. RESULTS: The analysis was done using frequency and percentage distribution. Among the nurses, 51% reported stressors related work- and work-related environment, 50% reported stressors related to self-safety, and 52% on stressors related to family concerns. The coping strategies adopted by the nurses included realization of the fact that service to patients comes as first (75%), and availability of personal protective equipment kits, confidence in following strict protective measures (69%), talking to family members over phone daily (71%), and support from family and friends (70%). Learning about COVID-19 (65%), and team work (61%) also created confidence to work as frontline nurses during this pandemic. CONCLUSION: The present survey reports that nurses face various stressors and tries to impart different coping strategies to overcome the stress. Understanding their stressors and coping strategies will help the administration to implement measures to create a working situation which will strengthen the health man power resources