Computer and Systems Architecture Commons^™

Ict For Poverty Alleviation In Pacific Island Nations: Study Of Icts4d In Fiji, Deogratias Harorimana, Opeti Rokotuinivono, Emali Sewale, Fane Salaiwai, Marica Naulu, Evangelin Roy

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

ICT for Poverty Alleviation in Pacific Island Nations: Study of ICTs4D in Fiji There has been a vague and little knowledge on the role or potential of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in relation to addressing poverty in Fiji. This may be probably due to the newness of the technology in the South Pacific Region as a whole but also probably due to the fact that only 9.7% of the current Fiji 931,000 populations are internet users (ITC Figures 2011). This paper reports on finding how ICTs is contributing towards poverty alleviation in Fiji. On the basis of reviewed best …

Spatiotemporal Capacity Management For The Last Level Caches Of Chip Multiprocessors, Dongyuan Zhan

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Judicious management of on-chip last-level caches (LLC) is critical to alleviating the memory wall of chip multiprocessors (CMP). Although there already exist many LLC management proposals, belonging to either the spatial or temporal dimension, they fail to capture and utilize the inherent interplays between the two dimensions in capacity management. Therefore, this dissertation is targeted at exploring and exploiting the spatiotemporal interactions in LLC capacity management to improve CMPs' performance. Based on this general idea, we address four specific research problems in the dissertation.

For the private LLC organization, prior-art proposals can improve the efficacy of inter-core cooperative caching at …

Exploring Computational Chemistry On Emerging Architectures, David Dewayne Jenkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Emerging architectures, such as next generation microprocessors, graphics processing units, and Intel MIC cards, are being used with increased popularity in high performance computing. Each of these architectures has advantages over previous generations of architectures including performance, programmability, and power efficiency. With the ever-increasing performance of these architectures, scientific computing applications are able to attack larger, more complicated problems. However, since applications perform differently on each of the architectures, it is difficult to determine the best tool for the job. This dissertation makes the following contributions to computer engineering and computational science. First, this work implements the computational chemistry variational …

Parallel For Loops On Heterogeneous Resources, Frederick Edward Weber

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have piqued the interest of researchers in scientific computing. Their immense floating point throughput and massive parallelism make them ideal for not just graphical applications, but many general algorithms as well. Load balancing applications and taking advantage of all computational resources in a machine is a difficult challenge, especially when the resources are heterogeneous. This dissertation presents the clUtil library, which vastly simplifies developing OpenCL applications for heterogeneous systems. The core focus of this dissertation lies in clUtil's ParallelFor construct and our novel PINA scheduler which can efficiently load balance work onto multiple …

Kernel-Assisted And Topology-Aware Mpi Collective Communication Among Multicore Or Many-Core Clusters, Teng Ma

Doctoral Dissertations

Multicore or many-core clusters have become the most prominent form of High Performance Computing (HPC) systems. Hardware complexity and hierarchies not only exist in the inter-node layer, i.e., hierarchical networks, but also exist in internals of multicore compute nodes, e.g., Non Uniform Memory Accesses (NUMA), network-style interconnect, and memory and shared cache hierarchies.

Message Passing Interface (MPI), the most widely adopted in the HPC communities, suffers from decreased performance and portability due to increased hardware complexity of multiple levels. We identified three critical issues specific to collective communication: The first problem arises from the gap between logical collective topologies and …

Dynamic Task Execution On Shared And Distributed Memory Architectures, Asim Yarkhan

Doctoral Dissertations

Multicore architectures with high core counts have come to dominate the world of high performance computing, from shared memory machines to the largest distributed memory clusters. The multicore route to increased performance has a simpler design and better power efficiency than the traditional approach of increasing processor frequencies. But, standard programming techniques are not well adapted to this change in computer architecture design.

In this work, we study the use of dynamic runtime environments executing data driven applications as a solution to programming multicore architectures. The goals of our runtime environments are productivity, scalability and performance. We demonstrate productivity by …

Low Cost Neurochairs, Frankie Pike

Master's Theses

Electroencephalography (EEG) was formerly confined to clinical and research settings with the necessary hardware costing thousands of dollars. In the last five years a number of companies have produced simple electroencephalograms, priced below $300 and available direct to consumers. These have stirred the imaginations of enthusiasts and brought the prospects of "thought-controlled" devices ever closer to reality. While these new devices were largely targeted at video games and toys, active research on enabling people suffering from debilitating diseases to control wheelchairs was being pursued. A number of neurochairs have come to fruition offering a truly hands-free mobility solution, but whether …

Amaethon – A Web Application For Farm Management And An Assessment Of Its Utility, Tyler Yero

Master's Theses

Amaethon is a web application that is designed for enterprise farm management. It takes a job typically performed with spreadsheets, paper, or custom software and puts it on the web. Farm administration personnel may use it to schedule farm operations and manage their resources and equipment. A survey was con- ducted to assess Amaethon’s user interface design. Participants in the survey were two groups of students and a small group of agriculture professionals. Among other results, the survey indicated that a calendar interface inside Amaethon was preferred, and statistically no less effective, than a map interface. This is despite the …

System-On-A-Chip (Soc) Based Hardware Acceleration In Register Transfer Level (Rtl) Design, Xinwei Niu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today, modern System-on-a-Chip (SoC) systems have grown rapidly due to the increased processing power, while maintaining the size of the hardware circuit. The number of transistors on a chip continues to increase, but current SoC designs may not be able to exploit the potential performance, especially with energy consumption and chip area becoming two major concerns. Traditional SoC designs usually separate software and hardware. Thus, the process of improving the system performance is a complicated task for both software and hardware designers. The aim of this research is to develop hardware acceleration workflow for software applications. Thus, system performance can …

Cognitive Architectures And Autonomy: Commentary And Response, Włodzisław Duch, Ah-Hwee Tan, Stan Franklin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper provides a very useful and promising analysis and comparison of current architectures of autonomous intelligent systems acting in real time and specific contexts, with all their constraints. The chosen issue of Cognitive Architectures and Autonomy is really a challenge for AI current projects and future research. I appreciate and endorse not only that challenge but many specific choices and claims; in particular: (i) that “autonomy” is a key concept for general intelligent systems; (ii) that “a core issue in cognitive architecture is the integration of cognitive processes ....”; (iii) the analysis of features and capabilities missing in current …

At The Tone, The Time Will Be... Unknown – A Perspective On The Evolution Of Time In Telecommunications, Robert Iannucci

Robert A Iannucci

No abstract provided.

How Can Pacific Island Economies Benefits From The Advent Of Ict’S – Review Of Best Practices In Education, Deogratias Harorimana Sr

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

This paper explored implementation and use of information and communication technologies in Fiji, in order to gain insight into recent government initiatives to introduce computers and other ICTs for the community of Fiji. The focus of this paper in that it provided the framework for an in-depth exploration of e-learning centers around the country and the benefits from the advent of ICT’s in e-learning community centers in Fiji. Areas concentrated on are outcome of ICT’s in formal education to students and community as a whole in areas of agriculture, health, environment and infrastructure etc. The research sought understanding from the …

A Model For Designing M-Agriculture Applications For Dairy Farming, Amos Gichamba, Ismail A. Lukandu

The African Journal of Information Systems

In the recent past, developing countries have experienced major technological advancements including high mobile phone penetration. With the implementation of innovative technological solutions (e.g. mobile-based systems in key economic activities such as agriculture), there is need to develop models that software developers and researchers can use to design solutions. This paper aims to study the implementation of mobile systems in agriculture and presents a model for designing such applications. This study shows that models exist for general mobile applications design and development, although none specifically suits mobile agriculture applications. A model for designing and implementing M-Agriculture applications is presented. The …

Embedded Virtual Machines For Robust Wireless Control And Actuation, Miroslav Pajic, Rahul Mangharam

Rahul Mangharam

Embedded wireless networks have largely focused on open-loop sensing and monitoring. To address actuation in closed-loop wireless control systems there is a strong need to re-think the communication architectures and protocols for reliability, coordination and control. As the links, nodes and topology of wireless systems are inherently unreliable, such time-critical and safety-critical applications require programming abstractions and runtime systems where the tasks are assigned to the sensors, actuators and controllers as a single component rather than statically mapping a set of tasks to a specific physical node at design time. To this end, we introduce the Embedded Virtual Machine (EVM), …

An Investigation Of Distributed Schema Free Tabular Data Storage Technologies On Google App Engine And Microsoft Azure, Conor Mcgrath, Gary Clynch

Conference Papers

This paper examines schema free non-relational tabular storage for two important emerging Platform as a Service (PaaS) environments, where Google App Engine applications persist data to the Google Datastore, and Microsoft Azure applications store data in Azure Tables. A simple mobile web application was initially developed for both platforms, to understand how an application could be developed and deployed. Java Data Objects (JDO) was selected for Google App Engine and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) in C# for Microsoft Azure. Many applications have a requirement to store complex data that is organised in relations in the order of One to One, …

Sensor Openflow: Enabling Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Networks, Tie Luo, Hwee-Pink Tan, Tony Q. S. Quek

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While it has been a belief for over a decade that wireless sensor networks (WSN) are application-specific, we argue that it can lead to resource underutilization and counter-productivity. We also identify two other main problems with WSN: rigidity to policy changes and difficulty to manage. In this paper, we take a radical, yet backward and peer compatible, approach to tackle these problems inherent to WSN. We propose a Software-Defined WSN architecture and address key technical challenges for its core component, Sensor OpenFlow. This work represents the first effort that synergizes software-defined networking and WSN.

Contextualized Mobile Support For Learning By Doing In The Real World, Ray Bareiss, Natalie Linnell, Martin L. Griss

Martin L Griss

This research addresses the use of mobile devices with both embedded and external sensors to provide contextualized help, advice, and remediation to learners engaged in real-world learn-by-doing tasks. This work is situated within the context of learning a complex procedure, in particular emergency responders learning to conduct urban search and rescue operations. Research issues include the design and delivery of contextualized performance support and the inferring of learner actions and intentions from sensor data to ensure that the right support is delivered just in time, as it is relevant to what the learner is doing.

A Study Of Executable Model Based Systems Engineering From Dodaf Using Simulink, Weston J. Hanoka, Michael H. Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

Diagrams and visuals often cannot adequately capture a complex system’s architecture for analysis. The Department of Defense Architectural Framework (DoDAF), written to follow the Unified Modeling Language (UML), is a collection of mandated common architectural products for interoperability among the DoD components. In this study, DoDAF products from as-is Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Satellite Communication (SATCOM) systems have been utilized for the creation of executable architectures as part of an Executable Model Based Systems Engineering (EMBSE) process. EMBSE was achieved using Simulink, a software tool for modeling, simulating and analyzing dynamic systems.

This study has demonstrated that DoDAF products can …

Effects Of Architecture On Information Leakage Of A Hardware Advanced Encryption Standard Implementation, Eric A. Koziel

Theses and Dissertations

Side-channel analysis (SCA) is a threat to many modern cryptosystems. Many countermeasures exist, but are costly to implement and still do not provide complete protection against SCA. A plausible alternative is to design the cryptosystem using architectures that are known to leak little information about the cryptosystem's operations. This research uses several common primitive architectures for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and assesses the susceptibility of the full AES system to side-channel attack for various primitive configurations. A combined encryption/decryption core is also evaluated to determine if variation of high-level architectures affects leakage characteristics. These different configurations are evaluated under …

Technical Assistance, Knowledge Gatekeeping And Indigenous Knowledge: Re-Thinking The International Development Practice, Deogratias Harorimana Sr

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

This paper presents results from a multi-disciplinary conceptual analysis of development theory and practice. It reviews issues raised and proposes a shift in the epistemology of possession towards an epistemology of practice which is guided by the following aspects (1) The consideration of the learning culture of parties involved, (2) the ability and willingness for decontextualisation of the knowledge by the source and (3) the ability to embedded it by recipients (embededness ), (4) the importance that is attached to knowledge of the host country as reflected through (5) Similarity in culture, values, understanding of context and knowledge bases; (6) …

Software Requirements Management Through The Lenses Of People, Organizational And Technological Dimensions, Fernando Paulo Belfo

Fernando Paulo Belfo

The inadequate specification of requirements remains being indicated as one of the main reasons for the failure of software development projects. A possible explanation for this failure is that requirements management tends to overvalue the technology side of requirements. However, the requirements management depends on other important issues beyond technology which are sometimes neglected. Good requirements are only assured by the right balance of three dimensions: people, organization and technology. Through the lens of each of these three dimensions, this paper reviews significant literature, identifying some of the key issues and concerns about the management of software requirements, particularly the …

Heuristic Algorithms For Optimization Of Task Allocation And Result Distribution In Peer-To-Peer Computing Systems, Grzegorz Chmaj, Krzysztof Walkowiak, Michal Tarnawski, Michal Kucharzak

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

Recently, distributed computing system have been gaining much attention due to a growing demand for various kinds of effective computations in both industry and academia. In this paper, we focus on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) computing systems, also called public-resource computing systems or global computing systems. P2P computing systems, contrary to grids, use personal computers and other relatively simple electronic equipment (e.g., the PlayStation console) to process sophisticated computational projects. A significant example of the P2P computing idea is the BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) project. To improve the performance of the computing system, we propose to use the P2P …

Cpu Scheduling For Power/Energy Management On Heterogeneous Multicore Processors, Rajesh Patel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Power and energy have become increasingly important concerns in the design and implementation of today's multicore/manycore chips. Many methods have been proposed to reduce a microprocessor's power usage and associated heat dissipation, including scaling a core's operating frequency. However, these techniques do not consider the dynamic performance characteristics of an executing process at runtime, the execution characteristics of the entire task to which this process belongs, the process's priority, the process's cache miss/cache reference ratio, the number of context switches and CPU migrations generated by the process, nor the system load. Also, many of the techniques that employ dynamic frequency …

Precis: A Usercentric Word-Length Optimization Tool, Mark Chang, Scott Hauck

Mark L. Chang

Translating an algorithm designed for a general-purpose processor into an algorithm optimized for custom logic requires extensive knowledge of the algorithm and the target hardware. Precis lets designers analyze the precision requirements of algorithms specified in Matlab. The design time tool combines simulation, user input, and program analysis to help designers focus their manual precision optimization efforts.

Switch Yard Operation In Thermal Power Plant(Katpp Jhalawar Rajasthan), Radhey Shyam Meena Er.

Radhey Shyam Meena

Switchyard Provides the facilities for switching ,protection & Control of electric power. To handle high Voltage power with proper Safety measures. To isolate the noises coming from the grid with true 50Hz power SWITCH YARD IS IMPORTANT PART IN THERMAL PLANT. IN KALISINDH THERMAL 400KV AND 220KV SWITCH YARD LOCATED.

A Real-Time Strategy Agent Framework And Strategy Classifier For Computer Generated Forces, Lyall J. Di Trapani

Theses and Dissertations

This research effort is concerned with the advancement of computer generated forces AI for Department of Defense (DoD) military training and education. The vision of this work is agents capable of perceiving and intelligently responding to opponent strategies in real-time. Our research goal is to lay the foundations for such an agent. Six research objectives are defined: 1) Formulate a strategy definition schema effective in defining a range of RTS strategies. 2) Create eight strategy definitions via the schema. 3) Design a real-time agent framework that plays the game according to the given strategy definition. 4) Generate an RTS data …

Roborodentia Scoring System, Justin Kikuchi

Computer Engineering

Every year at Cal Poly there is a robotics competition called Roborodentia . Roborodentia is sponsored by various industry leaders to provide a valuable and fun learning experience for Cal Poly students and alumni. The competition is held during the Cal Poly open house and draws a large number of spectators. In order to provide the spectators with a fun experience, it is necessary to present them with a live scoreboard, with visual and auditory effects.

The objective of this senior project was to design and build a fully functional scoreboard and tournament bracket with real-time scoring and timer. The …

A Web-Based Approach To Music Library Management, Jason Young

Computer Engineering

This application utilizes modern standards developing in web browsers to create a desktop-like application for managing a music library online. The server side application is written in a model-view-controller style using Python backed by a MySQL database. The client side JavaScript was designed around a modular concept interfacing several third-party frameworks and libraries. By taking advantage of developing browser features such as persistent local storage, this web application was designed to handle a large library of music.

Isus - An Autonomous Off-Road Balancing Robot - High Level Software And Components Implementation, Kent Williams

Computer Engineering

The ISUS Mobile Robot is a balancing off-road mobile robotic vehicle capable of driving while balancing on two wheels in rough and changing terrain. The robot can be operated over WI-FI via a computer.

Frg Turbojet, Tyler Vitti

Computer Engineering

Members of the Cal Poly SLO campus club FRG work together with students of several different disciplines to build a functional turbojet engine. Engineering approaches include design, fabrication, testing, and computer sensing, control, and integration. The goal of the project is to produce a running turbojet engine monitored and controlled by embedded hardware and specialized PC software. This project is to be used by later groups for further research and development.