Multiprocessor Iso-surface Volume Rendering

The rendering of iso-surfaces in a scalar 3D dataset can be performed with a new algorithm, called iso surface volume rendering. This algorithm does not introduce sampling artifacts or artifacts due to triangularization. The risk to skip very small details by insufficient re-sampling is also eliminated. Another advantage is its speed compared to conventional volume rendering. So far we achieved speeds in the order of ten frames per second on advanced CPU's. The multiprocessor implementation of this new algorithm uses a division of the voxel data into multiple cubes. These cubes are the basis for distributing the workload onto several processors. A scheduler process is running to perform the distribution of the workload. During the distribution of the workload the scheduler also eliminates the need to render invisible parts of the dataset. This reduces the part of the dataset which must be processed to one third of the original dataset for typical applications. Another major advantage of the scheduling algorithm is that the communication overhead is reduced by a factor of ten to twenty, which allows for the efficient use of many processors

Reconfigurable Mobile Multimedia Systems

This paper discusses reconfigurability issues in lowpower hand-held multimedia systems, with particular emphasis on energy conservation. We claim that a radical new approach has to be taken in order to fulfill the requirements - in terms of processing power and energy consumption - of future mobile applications. A reconfigurable systems-architecture in combination with a QoS driven operating system is introduced that can deal with the inherent dynamics of a mobile system. We present the preliminary results of studies we have done on reconfiguration in hand-held mobile computers: by having reconfigurable media streams, by using reconfigurable processing modules and by migrating functions

Exploring Energy-Efficient Reconfigurable Architectures for DSP Algorithms

Future hand-held multimedia terminals require a very high performance on a very small energy budged. Such devices can only be realized if their entire system is energy cognisant. In this paper a reconfigurable systems-architecture for mobile multimedia systems is introduced. The Field Programmable Function Array (FPFA) is discussed in detail. Several digital signal processing algorithms are discussed and mapped on the FPFA. Also,the power radius theory about low-power design is introduced

Two-level pipelined systolic array graphics engine

The authors report a VLSI design of an advanced systolic array graphics (SAG) engine built from pipelined functional units which can generate realistic images interactively for high-resolution displays. They introduce a structured frame store system as an environment for the advanced SAG engine and present the principles and architecture of the advanced SAG engine. They introduce pipelined functional units into this SAG engine to meet the performance requirements. This is done by a formal approach where the original systolic array is represented at bit level by a finite, vertex-weighted, edge-weighted, directed graph. Two architectures built from pipelined functional units are described. A prototype containing nine processing elements was fabricated in a 1.6-¿m CMOS technolog

Stoichiometry controlled oxide thin film growth by pulsed laser deposition

The oxidation of species in the plasma plume during pulsed laser deposition controls both the stoichiometry as well as the growth kinetics of the deposited SrTiO3 thin films, instead of the commonly assumed mass distribution in the plasma plume and the kinetic energy of the arriving species. It was observed by X-ray diffraction that SrTiO3 stoichiometry depends on the composition of the background gas during deposition, where in a relative small pressure range between 10−2 mbars and 10−1 mbars oxygen partial pressure, the resulting film becomes fully stoichiometric. Furthermore, upon increasing the oxygen (partial) pressure, the growth mode changes from 3D island growth to a 2D layer-by-layer growth mode as observed by reflection high energy electron diffraction