Software Engineering Commons^™

A Hybrid Partially Reconfigurable Overlay Supporting Just-In-Time Assembly Of Custom Accelerators On Fpgas, Zeyad Tariq Aklah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The state of the art in design and development flows for FPGAs are not sufficiently mature to allow programmers to implement their applications through traditional software development flows. The stipulation of synthesis as well as the requirement of background knowledge on the FPGAs' low-level physical hardware structure are major challenges that prevent programmers from using FPGAs. The reconfigurable computing community is seeking solutions to raise the level of design abstraction at which programmers must operate, and move the synthesis process out of the programmers' path through the use of overlays. A recent approach, Just-In-Time Assembly (JITA), was proposed that enables …

Just In Time Assembly (Jita) - A Run Time Interpretation Approach For Achieving Productivity Of Creating Custom Accelerators In Fpgas, Sen Ma

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The reconfigurable computing community has yet to be successful in allowing programmers to access FPGAs through traditional software development flows. Existing barriers that prevent programmers from using FPGAs include: 1) knowledge of hardware programming models, 2) the need to work within the vendor specific CAD tools and hardware synthesis. This thesis presents a series of published papers that explore different aspects of a new approach being developed to remove the barriers and enable programmers to compile accelerators on next generation reconfigurable manycore architectures. The approach is entitled Just In Time Assembly (JITA) of hardware accelerators. The approach has been defined …

Ant Colony Optimization For Continuous Spaces, Rachel Findley

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is an optimization algorithm designed to find semi-optimal solutions to Combinatorial Optimization Problems. The challenge of modifying this algorithm to effectively optimize over a continuous domain is one that has been tackled by several researchers. In this paper, ACO has been modified to use several variations of the algorithm for continuous spaces. An aspect of ACO which is crucial to its success when optimizing over a continuous space is choosing the appropriate object (solution component) out of an infinite set to add to the ant's path. This step is highly important in shaping good solutions. Important …

Enabling Runtime Profiling To Hide And Exploit Heterogeneity Within Chip Heterogeneous Multiprocessor Systems (Chmps), Eugene Cartwright

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The heterogeneity of multiprocessor systems on chip (MPSoC) has presented unique opportunities for furthering today’s diverse application needs. FPGA-based MPSoCs have the potential of bridging the gap between generality and specialization but has traditionally been limited to device experts. The flexibility of these systems can enable computation without compromise but can only be realized if this flexibility extends throughout the software stack. At the top of this stack, there has been significant effort for leveraging the heterogeneity of the architecture. However, the betterment of these abstractions are limited to what the bottom of the stack exposes: the runtime system.

The …

A Framework For Constructing Serious Games, Taylor Glen Yust

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Communicating ideas and knowledge through serious games is a trend that is currently gaining in popularity. However, at present, there is a distinct lack of a game development methodology that takes a critical approach to transforming information into gameplay. This thesis presents a framework that can be followed to construct compelling serious games that are effective at transferring knowledge to the player. This is accomplished through an analysis of atomic knowledge items and their relationships to one another, followed by a meaningful and synergetic implementation of these ideas at a foundational mechanics level.

This thesis also describes the development of …

Forensic Investigation Of Mysql Database Management System, Andrew C. Lawrence

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

For various reasons, circumstances might arise in which an investigator, enlisting the help of a system administrator, needs access to an instance of MySQL that is password protected by an individual system user. If this password is unknown and the user is uncooperative or unavailable, alternative means must be utilized to gain access to the data stored within the program. Two main approaches will be explored, each with its pros and cons. In one case, the password can be bypassed entirely, granting the investigator unfettered access to the program data. The second method allows a narrower look at only some …

The Design And Implementation Of A Mobile Game Engine For The Android Platform, Jon Hammer

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this thesis, a two-dimensional game engine is proposed for the Android mobile platform that facilitates rapid development of those games by individual developers or hobbyists. The essential elements of game design are presented so as to introduce the reader to the concepts that are crucial for comprehension of the paper. A brief overview of the Android Operating System is also included for those unfamiliar with it. Three primary design goals are identified, and a prototype solution is described in detail. The prototype is then evaluated against those design goals to see how well it accomplishes each task. The results …

Simple Touch-Based Gaming: Project Pond, Taylor Yust

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The mainstream success of smartphone technology has prompted the video game industry to invest resources into new types of mobile games. While seemingly successful on the surface, there are unseen issues and risks that may potentially harm the long-term sustainability of the market. In response, I’ve developed my own smartphone gaming app that addresses what I find to be some of the largest problems in the market. My intent is to test my design theories while also challenging the status quo in mobile game design. The fruit of my labor is Pond, a smartphone gaming app for Windows Phone 7. …

Virtual "University Of Arkansas" Campus, Seth Williams

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The aim of the Virtual Campus project is to develop a way to automate building 3D virtual worlds using map and other data from the real world. A demonstration presented in this BS honors thesis uses automated tools to build the University of Arkansas campus from data supplied by the UA Center for Advanced Spatial Technology (CAST). At present, in virtual worlds like Second Life and Unity, terraforming of terrain is a manual process, and it can take days to weeks to build a landscape. But by using existing map data, we are now able to automate that process. Working …

Steganography In Ipv6, Barret Miller

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Steganography is the process of hiding a secret message within another message such that it is difficult to detect the presence of the secret message. In other words, the existence of the secret message is hidden. A covert channel refers to the actual medium that is used to communicate the information such as a message, image, or file. This honors thesis uses steganography within the source address fields of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) packets to create a covert channel through which clandestine messages are passed from one party to another. A fully functional computer program was designed and written …

Thesis Digest: Mathematical Interpretation Of Political Power And The Arkansas State Government, Andrew King

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

On the whole, political power can he very difficult to quantify. A person may be powerful due to his or her personal charm, wealth, fame, credibility, or influential connections. Political bodies do not account for these qualities when creating voting procedures; they only assign voting rules to specific positions. For example, most would say that in the United States government that a Senator is more powerful than a Representative, but less powerful than the President, without knowing any way to quantify or verify those differences. Since the 1950's, mathematicians and political scientists have attempted to create mathematical models that partially …

Educational Software Development Using Hypertext And Expert System Software Concepts, Siripong Malasri, Roger R. Easson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

This paper presents two computer software concepts: hypertext and expert systems; which are useful for educational software development. Good educational software enhances the learning process and offers opportunities for faculty to provide additional materials for independent studies, which would otherwise be impossible, due to the limited time and incredible growing rate of technological progress. The hypertext concept offers the students a non-linear learning style, while the expert system concept provides explanation facilities for students to probe the logic of the systems. Both approaches are extremely useful for educational software. With the proper tools, the courseware can be implemented easily and …