Integration of a Contextual Observation System in a Multi-Process Architecture for Autonomous Vehicles

We propose a software layered architecture for autonomous vehicles whose efficiency is driven by pull-based acquisition of sensor data. This multiprocess software architecture, to be embedded into the control loop of these vehicles, includes a Belief-Desire-Intention agent that can consistently assist the achievement of intentions. Since driving on roads implies huge dynamic considerations, we tackle both reactivity and context awareness considerations on the execution loop of the vehicle. While the proposed architecture gradually offers 4 levels of reactivity, from arch-reflex to the deep modification of the previously built execution plan, the observation module concurrently exploits noise filtering and introduces frequency control to allow symbolic feature extraction while both fuzzy and first order logic management are used to enforce consistency and certainty over the context information properties. The presented use-case, the daily delivery of a network of pharmacy offices by an autonomous vehicle taking into account contextual (spatio-temporal) traffic features, shows the efficiency and the modularity of the architecture, as well as the scalability of the reaction levels

Virtual prototyping of pressure driven microfluidic systems with SystemC-AMS extensions

The design of "Lab on a Chip" microfluidic devices is, typically, preceded by a long and costly period of prototyping stages in which the system is gradually refined by an iterative process, involving the manufacturing of a physical prototype and the making of a lot of laboratory experiments. In this scenario, a virtual prototyping framework which allows the emulation of the behavior of the complete system is greatly welcome. This paper presents such a framework and details a virtual prototyping methodology able to soundly handle microfluidic behavior based on SystemC-AMS extensions. The use of these extensions will permit the communication of the developed microfluidic models with external digital or mixed signal devices. This allows the emulation of the whole Lab on a Chip system as it usually includes a digital control and a mixed-signal reading environment. Moreover, as SystemC-AMS is also being extended to cover other physical domains within the CATRENE CA701 project, interactions with these domains will be possible, for example, with electromechanical or optical parts, should they be part of the system. The presented extensions that can manage the modeling of a micro-fluidic system are detailed. Two approaches have been selected: to model the fluid analytically based on the Poiseuille flow theory and to model the fluid numerically following the SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) approach. Both modeling techniques are, by now, encapsulated under the TDF (Timed Data Flow) MoC (Model of Computation) of SystemC-AMS.This work has been supported by CATRENE CA701H-INCEPTION Projec

Programmable routers for efficient mapping of applications onto NoC-based MPSoCs

International audienceWe extend the state-of-the-art DSPIN network-on-chip architecture by defining programmable NoC routers that can establish effective static scheduling and routing of data packets as demanded by the application. Router programs are the result of a general compilation process which targets the NoC and the computing cores altogether. The objective is to reduce NoC contentions, improving speed and timing predictability. We consider the range of applications of such an approach and provide results on two of them (a simple embedded controller and an FFT)

WiNoCoD : Un réseau d'interconnexion hiérarchique RF pour les MPSoC

International audienceLa multiplication du nombre de cœurs de calcul présents sur les puces va de pair avec une augmentation des besoins en communication. C'est pour palier à ce problème que nous présentons dans cette article un réseau d'interconnexion sur puce utilisant la RF. Nous présentons les raisons du choix de la RF par rapport aux autres nouvelles technologies du domaine que sont l'optique et la 3D, l'architecture détaillée de ce réseau et d'une puce le mettant en œuvre ainsi que l'évaluation de sa faisabilité et de ses performances. Un des avantages potentiels de ce réseau d'interconnexion RF est la possibilité de faire du broadcast à faible coût, ce qui ouvre de nouvelles perspectives notamment en terme de gestion de la cohérence mémoire

Modeling and simulation of a manycore pcr-ce lab-on-chip for dna sequencing using systemc/systemc-ams

International audienceThe paper details the systemC/systemC-AMS model of a bio-compatible heterogeneous system, a lab-on-chip that encompasses several disciplines such as analog, digital, chemical kinetic reactions, optics and embedded software. The corresponding system virtual prototype takes as input an initial DNA concentration as well as the expression of the gene as a DNA string, and is able to compare the input string to a huge database of reference samples, and this detects mutation and pathologies. The model is composed of three parts: (1) DNA amplification by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), (2) molecular separation by Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) and optical detection of fluorescently labeled molecules, (3) automated DNA sequencing on a digital manycore architecture running a highly multi-threaded software. The platform also digitally assists the two former analog parts which allows performance in complete autonomy. The simulated model can be used as a simulatable specification at a very high level of abstraction and can be seen as the first refinement step towards the design of a complex heterogeneous and bio-compatible system

Towards high-level executable specifications of heterogeneous systems with systemc-ams : Application to a manycore pcr-ce lab on chip for dna sequencing.

International audienceThe paper presents the systemC/systemC-AMS implentation of a for DNA analysis lab-on-chip that encompasses several disciplines such as analog, digital, chemical kinetic reactions, optics and embedded software. The corresponding system virtual prototype takes as input an initial DNA concentration as well as the expression of the gene as a DNA string, and is able to compare the input string to a huge database of reference samples, thus providing a way to efficiently detect mutation and pathologies. The presented model is composed of three parts: (1) DNA amplification by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), (2) molecular separation by Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) and optical detection of fluorescently labeled molecules, (3) automated DNA sequencing on a digital manycore architecture running a highly multi-threaded software. The platform also digitally assists the two former AMS parts. The simulated model can be used as a simulatable specification at a very high level of abstraction and can be seen as the first refinement step towards the design of complex heterogeneous bio-compatible designs

Online test and monitoring of multiprocessor socs : A software-based approach

International audienceThis paper introduces principles of software based on-line testing and monitoring of multi-processors systems on a chip (MPSoC)

Is systemc-ams an appropriate promoter for the modeling and simulation of bio-compatible systems ?

International audienceThe paper presents an innovative approach for the modeling and simulation of heterogeneous biological systems based on SystemC-AMS, an open-source C++ extension to the OSCI SystemC Standard. After some basic notions on synthetic biology, an analogy is drawn between this active field of research and nanoelectronics. The paper then presents the SystemC-AMS Timed DataFlow (TDF) modeling formalism used to model these multidomain devices. It also details the presented case study, a bio-compatible system with feedback consisting of a biological sensor instanciating a T flip-flop BioBrick and a EnFET, a voluntarily simple digital processing unit and an actuator based on the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron model. Some simulation results are given that validate the use of SystemC-AMS as an attractive, open-source and flexible framework for modeling complex bio-compatible systems

Attention visuelle et distractibilité chez des bébés de 3 à 5 mois

Summary : Visual attention and distractability in 3- to 5-month-old infants Development of sensitivity to distractors is explored in 3- to 5-month-old infants. A peripheral distractor was presented when infants sustained attention on a central stimulus for 4 seconds, and both targets remained present for 10 seconds. A session involved 5 trials, with the central stimulus changing from trial to trial, while the distractor remained the same. Moreover, infants were observed in an habituation situation. Two hypotheses were studied : first, as 3 months is a transition point concerning the development ofthe oculomotor system, important interindividual differences are expected. Second, such problems no longer occur in 5-month-old infants, thus no links between ages are expected, whereas habituation with trials should be observed. For 3-month-old infants, long latences were observed, which may correspond to difficulties in disengaging fixations. Two months later such long latencies were rare, and no individual stability was observed. Moreover habituation to the distractor appeared only in 5-month olds. Finally, correlations between fixation durations in both situations, distractor and habituation, were significant in 3-month olds. Results are discussed in relation to Colombo's, Richards's and Ruffs data. Key word : attention, distractability, infrency.Résumé Cette recherche porte sur l'évolution de la distractibilité chez des bébés de 3 et 5 mois. Un distracteur périphérique a été présenté lorsque les bébés avaient maintenu leur attention sur un stimulus central pendant 4 secondes, et les deux cibles sont restées présentes pendant 10 secondes. Une session expérimentale comprenait 5 essais, le stimulus central changeant à chaque essai cependant que le distracteur était toujours le même. Par ailleurs, les bébés ont été soumis à une épreuve d'habituation. Deux hypothèses sont étudiées : d'une part, 3 mois est un âge de transition du point de vue de la maturation du système oculomo-teur et on peut s'attendre à d'importantes différences interindividuelles. D'autre part, à 5 mois, l'exploration est guidée par le traitement de l'information et on devrait observer une habituation aux éléments fixes d'essai en essai (distracteur). Chez les bébés de 3 mois, on a observé de longues latences, qui peuvent traduire des difficultés de désengagement. Deux mois plus tard, ces longues latences disparaissent et aucune stabilité intra-individuelle n'est observée. L'habituation au distracteur apparaît effectivement à 5 mois. Enfin les corrélations entre les deux épreuves, distracteur et habituation (durées de fixations), sont significatives à 3 mois. Ces résultats sont discutés en liaison avec les perspectives de Colombo, Richards et de Ruff. Mots-clés : attention, distractibilité, bébé.Pêcheux Marie-Germaine, Findji F., Ruel J. Attention visuelle et distractibilité chez des bébés de 3 à 5 mois. In: L'année psychologique. 2001 vol. 101, n°2. pp. 201-219

Systemc-ams modeling of a pcr-ce lab-on-chip for multithreaded dna analysis

International audienceThe paper focuses on the modeling and simulation of heterogeneous bio-compatible systems using SystemC and its AMS extension SystemC-AMS. The studied lab-on-chip takes as input a DNA sample, represented by its initial chemical concentration and the sequence of DNA characters representing the DNA sequence. The sample is amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction, separated by Capillary Electrophoresis and optically detected by fluorescence. A manycore digital architecture controls the analog systems on one hand, and executes multithreaded complex DNA alignments on the other. The analog parts are modeled in SystemC-AMS, using the Timed Data Flow Model of Computation (TDF MoC). The digital part is modeled with systemC and optimized components and models dedicated to the simulation of manycore architectures. First, The paper discusses the modeling and optimization of each part independently from the others, then it details how these parts can be interconnected to simulate the whole system. Results are shown, and special attention is given to the simulation timesteps used to overcome the huge time scale difference between the digital and analog parts. Finally, the paper proposes potential solutions that could be the next step towards the modeling, simulation, and the refinement of complex heterogeneous systems