Engineering Commons^™

Forensicloud: An Architecture For Digital Forensic Analysis In The Cloud, Cody Miller, Dae Glendowne, David Dampier, Kendall Blaylock

David Dampier

The amount of data that must be processed in current digital forensic examinations continues to rise. Both the volume and diversity of data are obstacles to the timely completion of forensic investigations. Additionally, some law enforcement agencies do not have the resources to handle cases of even moderate size. To address these issues we have developed an architecture for a cloud-based distributed processing platform we have named Forensicloud. This architecture is designed to reduce the time taken to process digital evidence by leveraging the power of a high performance computing platform and by adapting existing tools to operate within this …

Work In Progress: Teaching Game Design And Robotics Together: A Natural Marriage Of Computing And Engineering Design In A First-Year Engineering Course, Adam R. Carberry, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

The increased dependence on computer programming in engineering has made it essential for engineering students to learn about programming throughout their undergraduate education. In the same vein, computing students benefit when given an opportunity to learn more about engineering design and systematic thinking. This paper discusses how one college embedded computing and engineering into a combined first-year introductory course. The course fuses computing and engineering using game design and robotics as an offering for both cohorts of students to work together in a multidisciplinary environment. Over the course of the semester, students learn introductory computing and engineering design concepts by …

Scrumtutor: A Web-Based Interactive Tutorial For Scrum Software Development, Sindhura Potineni, Srividya K. Bansal, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

In a traditional software engineering class, students are typically engaged in theoretical lectures followed by homework assignments or a project. Use of hands-on training and laboratory activities using realworld projects is more likely to produce students with a higher level of achievement and more confidence in the course material. If every topic or technique introduced in the course has a corresponding hands-on activity that demonstrates an application or use of the concept in the industry, students better understand the need for the technique and the learning environment is more interactive, engaging, and interesting to students. This paper presents a project …

The Fat-Pyramid: A Robust Network For Parallel Computation, Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

This paper shows that a fat-pyramid of area Theta(A) built from processors of size lg A requires only O(lg^2 A) slowdown in bit-times to simulate any network of area A under very general conditions. Specifically, there is no restriction on processor size (amount of attached memory) or number of processors in the competing network, nor is the assumption of unit wire delay required. This paper also derives upper bounds on the slowdown required by a fat-pyramid to simulate a network of larger area in the case of unit wire delay.

Randomized Routing On Fat-Trees, Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

Fat-trees are a class of routing networks for hardware-efficient parallel computation. This paper presents a randomized algorithm for routing messages on a fat-tree. The quality of the algorithm is measured in terms of the load factor of a set of messages to be routed, which is a lower bound on the time required to deliver the messages. We show that if a set of messages has load factor lambda on a fat-tree with n processors, the number of delivery cycles (routing attempts) that the algorithm requires is O(lambda+lgnlglgn) with probability 1-O(1/ …

An Empirical Comparison Of Area-Universal And Other Parallel Computing Networks, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lee Guan

Ronald Greenberg

This paper provides empirical comparison of the communication capabilities of two area-universal networks, the fat-tree and the fat-pyramid, to the popular mesh and hypercube networks for parallel computation. While area-universal networks have been proven capable of simulating, with modest slowdown, any computation of any other network of comparable area, prior work has generally left open the question of how area-universal networks compare to other networks in practice. Comparisons are performed using techniques of throughput and latency analysis that have previously been applied to k-ary n-cube networks and using various existing models to equate the hardware cost of the networks being …

An Improved Analytical Model For Wormhole Routed Networks With Application To Butterfly Fat-Trees, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lee Guan

Ronald Greenberg

A performance model for wormhole routed interconnection networks is presented and applied to the butterfly fat-tree network. Experimental results agree very closely over a wide range of load rate. Novel aspects of the model, leading to accurate and simple performance predictions, include (1) use of multiple-server queues, and (2) a general method of correcting queuing results based on Poisson arrivals to apply to wormhole routing. These ideas can also be applied to other networks.

An Empirical Comparison Of Networks And Routing Strategies For Parallel Computation, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lee Guan

Ronald Greenberg

This paper compares message routing capabilities of important networks proposed for general-purpose parallel computing. All the networks have been proven to have some type of universality property, i.e., an ability to simulate other networks of comparable cost with modest slowdown, using appropriate cost and communication models. But in this paper we seek an empirical comparison of communication capability under typical direct use rather than an analysis of worst-case results for simulating message traffic of another network.

A Systolic Simulation And Transformation System, Ronald I. Greenberg, H.-C. Oh

Ronald Greenberg

This paper presents a CAD tool, SystSim, to ease the design of systolic systems. Given a high-level, functional description of processors, and a high-level description of their interconnection, SystSim will perform simulations and provide graphical output. SystSim will also perform transformations such as retiming, which eases use of the methodology of Leiserson and Saxe of designing a system with broadcasting and then obtaining a systolic system through retiming.

Access Update For Gvsu, Matt Schultz, Kyle Felker

Matt Schultz

Maa & Mmdp: Fall Workshop 2016 With Mid-Michigan Digital Practitioners, Matt Schultz, Annie Benefiel

Matt Schultz

Moving The Digital Curation Needle @Gvsu, Matt Schultz, Kyle Felker

Matt Schultz

Dense Point-Cloud Representation Of A Scene Using Monocular Vision, Yakov Diskin, Vijayan K. Asari

Vijayan K. Asari

We present a three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction system designed to support various autonomous navigation applications. The system presented focuses on the 3-D reconstruction of a scene using only a single moving camera. Utilizing video frames captured at different points in time allows us to determine the depths of a scene. In this way, the system can be used to construct a point-cloud model of its unknown surroundings. We present the step-by-step methodology and analysis used in developing the 3-D reconstruction technique. We present a reconstruction framework that generates a primitive point cloud, which is computed based on feature matching and depth …

The Legacy Computer Challenge, Matt Schultz

Matt Schultz

Joining The Table: Advancing Digital Discussions At Gvsu, Matt Schultz, Kyle Felker

Matt Schultz

An Ontology And Integration Framework For Smart Communities, Steven Ray, Shishir Kinkar, Mark Hennessy

Steven R Ray

Mobile Devices: The Case For Cyber Security Hardened Systems, Maurice Dawson, Jorja Wright, Marwan Omar

Maurice Dawson

Mobile devices are becoming a method to provide an efficient and convenient way to access, find and share information; however, the availability of this information has caused an increase in cyber attacks. Currently, cyber threats range from Trojans and viruses to botnets and toolkits. Presently, 96% of mobile devices do not have pre-installed security software while approximately 65% of the vulnerabilities are found within the application layer. This lack in security and policy driven systems is an opportunity for malicious cyber attackers to hack into the various popular devices. Traditional security software found in desktop computing platforms, such as firewalls, …

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.

Data And Network Optimization Effect On Web Performance, Steven Rosenberg, Surbhi Dangi, Isuru Warnakulasooriya

Surbhi Dangi

In this study, we measure the effects of two software approaches to improving data and network performance: 1. Content optimization and compression; and 2. Optimizing network protocols. We achieve content optimization and compression by means of BoostEdge by ActivNetworks and employ the SPDY network protocol by Google to lower the round trip time for HTTP transactions. Since the data and transport layers are separate, we conclude our investigation by studying the combined effect of these two techniques on web performance. Using document mean load time as the measure, we found that with and without packet loss, both BoostEdge and SPDY …

Bridging Researchers’ Active Data Storage Needs, Matt Schultz

Matt Schultz

Survey Of Word Sense Disambiguation Approaches, Xiaohua Zhou, Hyoil Han

Hyoil Han

Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) is an important but challenging technique in the area of natural language processing (NLP). Hundreds of WSD algorithms and systems are available, but less work has been done in regard to choosing the optimal WSD algorithms. This paper summarizes the various knowledge sources used for WSD and classifies existing WSD algorithms according to their techniques. The rationale, tasks, performance, knowledge sources used, computational complexity, assumptions, and suitable applications for each class of WSD algorithms are also discussed. This paper will provide users with general knowledge for choosing WSD algorithms for their specific applications or for further …

Towards Real-Time, On-Board, Hardware-Supported Sensor And Software Health Management For Unmanned Aerial Systems, Johann M. Schumann, Kristin Y. Rozier, Thomas Reinbacher, Ole J. Mengshoel, Timmy Mbaya, Corey Ippolito

Ole J Mengshoel

Parallel Computation In Communication And Signal Processing, Amean Al_Safi, Bradley Bazuin, Liqaa Alhafadhi

Amean S Al_Safi

The powerful computation of GPU has increased the computation speed up of many systems. This paper summarize some of the most important work in the field of communication and signal processing using GPU

Effect Of Glance Duration On Perceived Complexity And Segmentation Of User Interfaces, Yifei Dong, Chen Ling, Lesheng Hua

Dr. Chen Ling

Computer users who handle complex tasks like air traffic control (ATC) need to quickly detect updated information from multiple displays of graphical user interface. The objectives of this study are to investigate how much computer users can segment GUI display into distinctive objects within very short glances and whether human perceives complexity differently after different durations of exposure. Subjects in this empirical study were presented with 20 screenshots of web pages and software interfaces for different short durations (100ms, 500ms, 1000ms) and were asked to recall the visual objects and rate the complexity of the images. The results indicate that …

Advances In Technology Project Management: Review Of Open Source Software Integration, Maurice Dawson, Brian Leonard, Emad Rahim

Maurice Dawson

As organizations must continually drive down costs of software-driven projects, they need to evaluate the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and other software-based design methodologies. These methodologies include looking at software-based alternatives that could save a significant amount of money by reducing the amount of proprietary software. This chapter explores the use and integration of Open Source Software (OSS) in software-driven projects to include in enterprise organizations. Additionally, the legalities of the GNU General Public License (GPL), Lesser General Public License (LGPL), Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), and Creative Commons are explored with the integration of these OSS solutions into organizations. …

Understanding The Methods Behind Cyber Terrorism, Maurice E. Dawson Jr., Marwan Omar, Jonathan Abramson

Maurice Dawson

Cyber security has become a matter of national, international, economic, and societal importance that affects multiple nations (Walker, 2012). Since the 1990s users have exploited vulnerabilities to gain access to networks for malicious purposes. In recent years the number of attacks on U.S. networks has continued to grow at an exponential rate. This includes malicious embedded code, exploitation of backdoors, and more. These attacks can be initiated from anywhere in the world from behind a computer with a masked Internet Protocol (IP) address. This type of warfare, cyber warfare, changes the landscape of war itself (Beidleman, 2009). This type of …

Advances In Technology Project Management: Review Of Open Source Software Integration, Maurice Dawson, Brian Leonard, Emad Rahim

Maurice Dawson

As organizations must continually drive down costs of software-driven projects, they need to evaluate the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and other software-based design methodologies. These methodologies include looking at software-based alternatives that could save a significant amount of money by reducing the amount of proprietary software. This chapter explores the use and integration of Open Source Software (OSS) in software-driven projects to include in enterprise organizations. Additionally, the legalities of the GNU General Public License (GPL), Lesser General Public License (LGPL), Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), and Creative Commons are explored with the integration of these OSS solutions into organizations. …

Sptf: Smart Photo-Tagging Framework On Smart Phones, Hao Xu, Hong-Ning Dai, Walter Hon-Wai Lau

Hong-Ning Dai

Smart phones, as one of the most important platforms for personal communications and mobile computing, have evolved with various embedded devices, such as cameras, Wi-Fi transceivers, Bluetooth transceivers and sensors. Specifically, the photos taken by a smart phone has the approximate or even equivalent image quality to that of a professional camera. As a result, smart phones have become the first choice for people to take photos to record their ordinary life. However, how to manage thousands of photos on a smart phone becomes a challenge. In this paper, we propose a new architecture in terms of Smart Photo-Tagging Framework …

Byzantine Fault Tolerant Coordination For Web Services Atomic Transactions, Wenbing Zhao

Wenbing Zhao

In this paper, we present the mechanisms needed for Byzantine fault tolerant coordination of Web services atomic transactions. The mechanisms have been incorporated into an open-source framework implementing the standard Web services atomic transactions specification. The core services of the framework, namely, the activation service, the registration service, the completion service, and the distributed commit service, are replicated and protected with our Byzantine fault tolerance mechanisms. Such a framework can be useful for many transactional Web services that require high degree of security and dependability.

A Reservation-Based Extended Transaction Protocol, Wenbing Zhao, Louise E. Moser, P. Michale Melliar-Smith

Wenbing Zhao

With the advent of the new generation of Internet-based technology, in particular, web services, the automation of business activities that are distributed across multiple enterprises becomes possible. Business activities are different from traditional transactions in that they are typically asynchronous, loosely coupled, and long running. Therefore, extended transaction protocols are needed to coordinate business activities that span multiple enterprises. Existing extended transaction protocols typically rely on compensating transactions to handle exceptional conditions. In this paper, we identify a number of issues with compensation-based extended transaction protocols and describe a reservation-based extended transaction protocol that addresses those issues. Moreover, we define …