Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Markov-Based Lane Positioning Using Intervehicle Communication, Thanh-Son Dao, Keith Yu Kit Leung, Christopher M. Clark, Jan Paul Huissoon

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The majority of today's navigation techniques for intelligent transportation systems use global positioning systems (GPS) that can provide position information with bounded errors. However, due to the low accuracy that is experienced with standard GPS, it is difficult to determine a vehicle's position at lane level. Using a Markov-based approach based on sharing information among a group of vehicles that are traveling within communication range, the lane positions of vehicles can be found. The algorithm's effectiveness is shown in both simulations and experiments with real data.

Effects Of Dependency Injection On Maintainability, Ekaterina Razina, David S. Janzen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Software maintenance consumes around 70% of the software life cycle. Improving software maintainability could save software developers significant time and money. This paper examines whether the pattern of dependency injection significantly reduces dependencies of modules in a piece of software, therefore making the software more maintainable. This hypothesis is tested with 20 sets of open source projects from sourceforge.net, where each set contains one project that uses the pattern of dependency injection and one similar project that does not use the pattern. The extent of the dependency injection use in each project is measured by a new Number of DIs …

Camp: A Common Api For Measuring Performance, Mark Gabel, Michael Haungs

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Accurate performance testing of heterogeneous distributed systems, such as those created using GRID technology, requires a consistent method for retrieving system performance data from multiple platforms. This paper presents CAMP: a low-level platform independent performance data API designed for use with distributed testing frameworks.

CAMP is not necessarily tied to the distributed testing task: it provides a simple, low-level interface into operating system performance data that can be used to build complex performance measurement applications. This paper discusses CAMP's functionality and implementation in detail. It also contains a detailed analysis of the API's correctness, performance, and overhead.

Interactive Thin Shells – A Model Interface For The Analysis Of Physically-Based Animation, James Skorupski, Zoë J. Wood, Alex Pang

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Realism has always been a goal in computer graphics. However, the algorithms involved in mimicking the physical world are often complex, abstract, and sensitive to changes in experimental parameters. We present an interface to a physically-based algorithm, a thin shell animation, which focuses on visualization, experimentation, and control. Through the use of dynamic surface coloring, abstract visual cues, robust user interaction, and full control over the algorithm parameters, our system facilitates experimentation and the process of discovery. The system is targeted at enhancing the user’s learning experience by clarifying interactions between various components of many physically-based animations.

Uncertainty As The Source Of Knowledge Transfer Opportunity, Alex Dekhtyar, Jane Huffman Hayes, Judy Goldsmith

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Uncertainty creeps into the software development process in many ways, shapes and forms. In the early stages of software development, key sources of uncertainty are the human stakeholders who help formulate the requirements of the software product. An added layer of uncertainty is inherent as requirements analysts have to deal with subjective, and often conflicting, estimates that humans make, estimates that may significantly affect both the software development process and the eventual software product. Our position is two-fold. We stipulate that in situations where analysts (and later developers) have to deal with human evaluations of uncertainty, special methods and procedures …

Dynamics Of Step-Climing With Deformable Wheels And Applications For Mobile Robotics, Alexander Wilhelm, William Melek, Jan Huissoon, Christopher M. Clark, Gerd Hirzinger, Norbert Sporer, Matthias Fuchs

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Wheeled-mobile robots operating in human environments typically encounter small steps. Surmounting steps is normally not considered when determining peak torque needs, yet it can be the maximum requirement. This work looks at the statics and dynamics of this situation to determine the necessary peak torque. It finds that using a dynamic model that includes the wheel elasticity is essential for properly representing a real-world tire. When torque is increased using a step function, energy is stored in the tire-higher tire elasticity eases climbing. Knowledge of this phenomenon could facilitate the use of smaller actuators. The model is numerically integrated and …

Technique Integration For Requirements Assessment, Alex Dekhtyar, Jane Huffman Hayes, Senthil Sundaram, Ashlee Holbrook, Olga Dekhtyar

Computer Science and Software Engineering

In determining whether to permit a safety-critical software system to be certified and in performing independent verification and validation (IV&V) of safety- or mission-critical systems, the requirements traceability matrix (RTM) delivered by the developer must be assessed for accuracy. The current state of the practice is to perform this work manually, or with the help of general-purpose tools such as word processors and spreadsheets Such work is error-prone and person-power intensive. In this paper, we extend our prior work in application of Information Retrieval (IR) methods for candidate link generation to the problem of RTM accuracy assessment. We build voting …

Transway® (Integrated Computerized Deployment System) Technical And Operational Description, Joshua Nibecker, Harmony Larsen, Shawn Pan, Clay Warren, Robert Chambers, Dennis Taylor, Ben Weber, James Delos Reyes, Craig Maas, Mark Porczak, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The TRANSWAY® software application is an adaptive, ontology-based toolset with collaborative agents, designed to assist the Deployment and Distribution Operations Center (DDOC) staff of the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) with the performance of movement planning tasks. The principal focus of the TRANSWAY® toolset is re-planning. The objective of TRANSWAY® is to provide DDOC operators with an intelligent planning engine that receives data from GTN and JOPES, and utilizes the existing Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES) and Joint Forces Collaborative Toolkit (JFCT®; -formerly known as SEAWAY) agent-based applications as functional extensions.

With its initial and immediate focus on the …

Problems With Precision: A Response To “Comments On ‘Data Mining Static Code Attributes To Learn Defect Predictors’”, Tim Menzies, Alex Dekhtyar, Justin Distefano, Jeremy Greenwald

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Zhang and Zhang argue that predictors are useless unless they have high precison & recall. We have a different view, for two reasons. First, for SE data sets with large neg/pos ratios, it is often required to lower precision to achieve higher recall. Second, there are many domains where low precision detectors are useful.

Enabling The Interoperability Of Large-Scale Legacy Systems, Kalyan Moy Gupta, Michael A. Zang, Adam Gray, David W. Aha, Joe Kriege, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Legacy system data models can interoperate only if their syntactic and semantic differences are resolved. To address this problem, we have developed the Intelligent Mapping Toolkit (IMT), which enables mixed-initiative mapping of meta-data and instances between relational data models. IMT employs a distributed multi-agent architecture so that, unlike many other efforts, it can perform mapping tasks that involve thousands of schema elements. This architecture includes a novel federation of matching agents that leverage case-based reasoning methods. As part of our pre-deployment evaluation for USTRANSCOM and other DoD agencies, we evaluated IMT’s mapping performance and scalability. We show that combinations of …

Pre-Conference Proceedings Of The Focus Symposium On Representation Of Context In Software Data → Information → Knowledge, Collaborative Agent Design Research Center

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

For the past 20 years commercial corporations and government agencies have suffered under the limitations of stove-piped computer software applications that function as discrete entities within a fragmented data-processing environment. In the United States of America (US) military services, lack of interoperability has been identified by numerous think tanks, advisory boards, and studies, as the primary information systems problem (e.g., Army Science Board 2000, Air Force SAB 2000 Command and Control Study, and NSB Network-Centric Naval Forces 2000). Yet, despite this level of attention, all attempts to achieve interoperability within the current data-centric information systems environment have proven to be …

Alternative Paths To Intelligent Systems, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper examines the three prevalent approaches to Artificial Intelligence (AI), namely symbolic reasoning systems, connectionist systems, and emergent systems based on the principles of the subsumption theory. Distinguished by their top-down and bottom-up mechanisms all three approaches have strengths and weaknesses. While the logical reasoning approach is precise and well supported by mathematical theories and procedures, it is constrained by a largely predefined representational model. Connectionist systems, on the other hand, are able to recognize patterns even if these patterns are only similar and not identical to the patterns that they have been trained to recognize, but they have …

Knowledge Management Enterprise Services (Kmes): Concepts And Implementation Principles, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The purpose of this paper is to present concepts and implementation principles related to the design and development of reusable software services that are capable of assisting users at the operational level. Knowledge Management Enterprise Services (KMES) are an implementation of the service-oriented architecture paradigm, with a focus on the exchange of data within the meaningful context of a particular application (i.e., knowledge) domain. This requires a KMES service to incorporate a high level representation of this knowledge domain in the form of an ontology that is shared among all collaborating services within the application environment and at the same …

Knowledge Management Enterprise Services (Kmes): Concepts And Implementation Principles, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The purpose of this paper is to present concepts and implementation principles related to the design and development of reusable software services that are capable of assisting users at the operational level. Knowledge Management Enterprise Services (KMES) are an implementation of the service-oriented architecture paradigm, with a focus on the exchange of data within the meaningful context of a particular application (i.e., knowledge) domain. This requires a KMES service to incorporate a high level representation of this knowledge domain in the form of an ontology that is shared among all collaborating services within the application environment and at the same …

Enhancing The Face Of Service-Oriented Capabilities, Kym J. Pohl, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

With today’s focus toward discoverable web services, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) are becoming increasingly prevalent. To support an effective interaction between services and their clientele, the sophistication of the interface, or face, such services present is of critical importance. Without a rich, expressive nature, such services struggle to satisfy the industry promises of reuse, composability, and reduced inter-component dependencies. Especially relevant for domain-oriented applications, services must present sufficient levels of expression to allow for an effective exchange of relevant context. Further, such communication should be offered in an asynchronous manner to promote both work flow efficiency and limited coupling.

This paper …

Empirical Software Engineering In Industry Short Courses, David S. Janzen, Hossein Saiedian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper reports on a pilot project that incorporated small empirical studies in three industry short courses. These laboratory experiments were one component of a larger leveled study on the effects of test-driven development (TDD) on internal software quality. The approach is proposed to have pedagogical value to student-developers by improving their understanding and appreciation for empirical evidence, to instructors by providing feedback through surveys and exercises, and to the community at large by reporting results of the studies. Pre-experiment surveys in the three pilot experiments revealed large differences in programmer opinions of TDD. Possible correlations to development environment and …

Optimized Lane Assignment Using Inter-Vehicle Communication, Thanh-Son Dao, Christopher M. Clark, Jan Paul Huissoon

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper presents an approach to lane assignment for highway vehicles that increases traffic throughput while ensuring they exit successfully at their destinations. Most of current traffic management systems do not consider lane organization of vehicles and only regulate traffic flows by controlling traffic signals or ramp meters. However, traffic throughput and efficient use of highways can be increased by coordinating driver behaviors intelligently. The goal of this research is to form a distributed control strategy for cars themselves to select lanes using inter-vehicle communication. Initial results are promising and demonstrate that intelligent lane selection can decrease vehicle traffic time.

A Leveled Examination Of Test-Driven Development Acceptance, David S. Janzen, Hossein Saiedian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Test-driven development (TDD) has garnered considerable attention in professional settings and has made some inroads into software engineering and computer science education. A series of leveled experiments were conducted with students in beginning undergraduate programming courses through upper-level undergraduate, graduate, and professional training courses. This paper reports that mature programmers who try TDD are more likely to choose TDD over a similar test-last approach. Additionally this research reveals differences in programmer acceptance of TDD between beginning programmers who were reluctant to adopt TDD and more mature programmers who were more willing to adopt TDD. Attention is given to confounding factors, …

Make The Most Of Your Time: How Should The Analyst Work With Automated Traceability Tools?, Alex Dekhtyar, Jane Huffman Hayes, Jody Larsen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Several recent studies employed traditional information retrieval (IR) methods to assist in the mapping of elements of software engineering artifacts to each other. This activity is referred to as candidate link generation because the final say in determining the final mapping belongs to the human analyst. Feedback techniques that utilize information from the analyst (on whether the candidate links are correct or not) have been shown to improve the quality of the mappings. Yet the analyst is making an investment of time in providing the feedback. This leads to the question of whether or not guidance can be provided to …

Benchmarks For Traceability?, Alex Dekhtyar, Jane Huffman Hayes, Giuliano Antoniol

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This position paper discusses the need for and the organization of a traceability benchmark. We establish the basic principles of organization of such a benchmark. We then observe the nature of traceability tasks in three areas of Software Engineering: independent verification and validation, software maintenance, and reverse engineering. Based on this, we derive the desiderata for a traceability benchmark addressing the needs of all three areas.

Autonomous Control For A Differential Thrust Rov, Wei Wang, Christopher M. Clark

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Smaller autonomous underwater vehicles that use differential thrust for surge and yaw motion control has the advantage of low cost and, at the same time, increased maneuverability in yaw direction. However, since such vehicles are underactuated vehicles, design of an autonomous control system that enables the vehicle to autonomously track a predefined trajectory is challenging. In this paper, we presented such an autonomous control system and implemented it on a small underactuated ROV with the use of unscented Kalman filter for vehicle localization, a underwater acoustic positioning system as the position sensor and a compass as the direction sensor. In …

Requirements Tracing On Target (Retro): Improving Software Maintenance Through Traceability Recovery, Jane Huffman Hayes, Alex Dekhtyar, Senthil Sundaram, E. Ashlee Holbrook, Sravanthi Vadlamudi, Alain April

Computer Science and Software Engineering

A number of important tasks in software maintenance require an up-to-date requirements traceability matrix (RTM): change impact analysis, determination of test cases to execute for regression testing, etc. The generation and maintenance of RTMs are tedious and error-prone, and they are hence often not done. In this paper, we present REquirements TRacing On-target (RETRO), a special- purpose requirements tracing tool. We discuss how RETRO automates the generation of RTMs and present the results of a study comparing manual RTM generation to RTM generation using RETRO. The study showed that RETRO found significantly more correct links than manual tracing and took …

Using Hybrid Approaches To Solve The Challenges Of Shape From Shading, Ryan Murphy, Zoë J. Wood

Computer Science and Software Engineering

For over thirty years researchers have been trying to solve the shape from shading problem of determining 3D shape from a single image with a single light source. The basic problem of determining shape from shading is made more difficult due to challenges of light orientation, camera type, ambiguity, multiple materials, and specular highlights. This paper shows how some of these challenges can be overcome through the use of other techniques such as image segmentation and stereopsis. We present a new hybrid method of shape from shading that can be used to autonomously capture 3D information from two 2D images …

Enabling P2p Cooperative Wms Proxy Caching And Prefetching In An Educational Environment, Jeffrey A. Bergamini, Michael Haungs

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Given the great demand and promise for educational use of GIS, real time access to massive remote geospatial datasets for pedagogical purposes would be immensely useful to educators and students. However, such access has remained elusive. In other work, we have demonstrated that a P2P distributed system of client-side proxies can address the challenges posed by the interactive, multiplicative, and exploratory nature of classroom GIS, and we described this system at a high level. In this paper, we present the details of several novel techniques that enable P2P cooperative caching and prefetching of OGC WMS data in an educational lab …