Teaching real-time with a scheduler simulator

In this paper we describe a scheduler simulator for real-time tasks, RTsim, that can be used as a tool to teach real-time scheduling algorithms. It simulates a variety of preprogrammed scheduling policies for single and multi-processor systems and simple algorithm variants introduced by its user. Using RTsim students can conduct experiments that will allow them to understand the effects of each policy given different load conditions and learn which policy is better for different workloads. We show how to use RTsim as a learning tool and the results achieved with its application on the Real-Time Systems course taught at the B.Sc. on Computer Science at Paulista State University - Unesp - at Rio Preto.

Scheduler simulation using iSPD, an iconic-based computer grid simulator

Increased accessibility to high-performance computing resources has created a demand for user support through performance evaluation tools like the iSPD (iconic Simulator for Parallel and Distributed systems), a simulator based on iconic modelling for distributed environments such as computer grids. It was developed to make it easier for general users to create their grid models, including allocation and scheduling algorithms. This paper describes how schedulers are managed by iSPD and how users can easily adopt the scheduling policy that improves the system being simulated. A thorough description of iSPD is given, detailing its scheduler manager. Some comparisons between iSPD and Simgrid simulations, including runs of the simulated environment in a real cluster, are also presented. © 2012 IEEE.

Virtual simulator for mobile robots navigation systems

This paper presents the virtual environment implementation for project simulation and conception of supervision and control systems for mobile robots, that are capable to operate and adapting in different environments and conditions. This virtual system has as purpose to facilitate the development of embedded architecture systems, emphasizing the implementation of tools that allow the simulation of the kinematic conditions, dynamic and control, with real time monitoring of all important system points. For this, an open control architecture is proposal, integrating the two main techniques of robotic control implementation in the hardware level: systems microprocessors and reconfigurable hardware devices. The implemented simulator system is composed of a trajectory generating module, a kinematic and dynamic simulator module and of a analysis module of results and errors. All the kinematic and dynamic results shown during the simulation can be evaluated and visualized in graphs and tables formats, in the results analysis module, allowing an improvement in the system, minimizing the errors with the necessary adjustments optimization. For controller implementation in the embedded system, it uses the rapid prototyping, that is the technology that allows, in set with the virtual simulation environment, the development of a controller project for mobile robots. The validation and tests had been accomplish with nonholonomics mobile robots models with diferencial transmission. © 2008 IEEE.

The Owner Share scheduler for a distributed system

In large distributed systems, where shared resources are owned by distinct entities, there is a need to reflect resource ownership in resource allocation. An appropriate resource management system should guarantee that resource's owners have access to a share of resources proportional to the share they provide. In order to achieve that some policies can be used for revoking access to resources currently used by other users. In this paper, a scheduling policy based in the concept of distributed ownership is introduced called Owner Share Enforcement Policy (OSEP). OSEP goal is to guarantee that owner do not have their jobs postponed for longer periods of time. We evaluate the results achieved with the application of this policy using metrics that describe policy violation, loss of capacity, policy cost and user satisfaction in environments with and without job checkpointing. We also evaluate and compare the OSEP policy with the Fair-Share policy, and from these results it is possible to capture the trade-offs from different ways to achieve fairness based on the user satisfaction. © 2009 IEEE.

Using multiple abstraction levels to speedup an MPSoC virtual platform simulator

Virtual platforms are of paramount importance for design space exploration and their usage in early software development and verification is crucial. In particular, enabling accurate and fast simulation is specially useful, but such features are usually conflicting and tradeoffs have to be made. In this paper we describe how we integrated TLM communication mechanisms into a state-of-the-art, cycle-accurate, MPSoC simulation platform. More specifically, we show how we adapted ArchC fast functional instruction set simulators to the MPARM platform in order to achieve both fast simulation speed and accuracy. Our implementation led to a much faster hybrid platform, reaching speedups of up to 2.9 and 2.1x on average with negligible impact on power estimation accuracy (average 3.26% and 2.25% of standard deviation). © 2011 IEEE.

LUTS: A lightweight user-level transaction scheduler

Software Transactional Memory (STM) systems have poor performance under high contention scenarios. Since many transactions compete for the same data, most of them are aborted, wasting processor runtime. Contention management policies are typically used to avoid that, but they are passive approaches as they wait for an abort to happen so they can take action. More proactive approaches have emerged, trying to predict when a transaction is likely to abort so its execution can be delayed. Such techniques are limited, as they do not replace the doomed transaction by another or, when they do, they rely on the operating system for that, having little or no control on which transaction should run. In this paper we propose LUTS, a Lightweight User-Level Transaction Scheduler, which is based on an execution context record mechanism. Unlike other techniques, LUTS provides the means for selecting another transaction to run in parallel, thus improving system throughput. Moreover, it avoids most of the issues caused by pseudo parallelism, as it only launches as many system-level threads as the number of available processor cores. We discuss LUTS design and present three conflict-avoidance heuristics built around LUTS scheduling capabilities. Experimental results, conducted with STMBench7 and STAMP benchmark suites, show LUTS efficiency when running high contention applications and how conflict-avoidance heuristics can improve STM performance even more. In fact, our transaction scheduling techniques are capable of improving program performance even in overloaded scenarios. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

iSPD: An iconic-based modeling simulator for distributed grids

Simulation of large and complex systems, such as computing grids, is a difficult task. Current simulators, despite providing accurate results, are significantly hard to use. They usually demand a strong knowledge of programming, what is not a standard pattern in today's users of grids and high performance computing. The need for computer expertise prevents these users from simulating how the environment will respond to their applications, what may imply in large loss of efficiency, wasting precious computational resources. In this paper we introduce iSPD, iconic Simulator of Parallel and Distributed Systems, which is a simulator where grid models are produced through an iconic interface. We describe the simulator and its intermediate model languages. Results presented here provide an insight in its easy-of-use and accuracy.

Electrical Power Distribution System modeling with VHDL-AMS for the construction of a Real-Time Digital Simulator using FPGAS devices

This paper presents a distribution feeder simulation using VHDL-AMS, considering the standard IEEE 13 node test feeder admitted as an example. In an electronic spreadsheet all calculations are performed in order to develop the modeling in VHDL-AMS. The simulation results are compared in relation to the results from the well knowing MatLab/Simulink environment, in order to verify the feasibility of the VHDL-AMS modeling for a standard electrical distribution feeder, using the software SystemVision™. This paper aims to present the first major developments for a future Real-Time Digital Simulator applied to Electrical Power Distribution Systems. © 2012 IEEE.

An open source GPS multipath simulator in Matlab/Octave

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Beneficial effects of fermented vegetal beverages on human gastrointestinal microbial ecosystem in a simulator

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Prebiotic Effect of Fructooligosaccharide in the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME (R) Model)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fermentation by gut microbiota cultured in a simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem is improved probiotic Enterococcus faecium CRL 183

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Transmissão de Radiação Ultravioleta Através do Pelame e da Epiderme de Bovinos

A transmissão de radiação ultravioleta de comprimentos de onda entre 250 e 360 nm através do pelame e da epiderme de bovinos foi determinada em laboratório, usando-se amostras de couro de animais recém-abatidos. A quantidade de radiação transmitida através do pelame depende da coloração e também das características estruturais do pelame (espessura da capa; comprimento, diâmetro, número e inclinação dos pêlos), pelas quais é definido o trajeto médio de um fóton pela massa de pêlos (L). A maior transmissão é proporcionada por pelames brancos com altos valores de L, ao passo que pelames negros em geral apresentam transmissão nula ou muito baixa. Quanto menos pigmentada a epiderme, maior a transmissão de radiação através da sua superfície. A melhor proteção é proporcionada por pelames negros com baixo valor de L sobre epiderme igualmente negra, mas em vista do aquecimento causado pela absorção de radiação térmica (em vacas Holandesas a temperatura das malhas negras atinge 44,1ºC ao mesmo tempo em que a das malhas brancas é 37,7ºC), a combinação ideal para ambientes tropicais é um pelame branco com baixo valor de L sobre epiderme negra, uma combinação dificilmente encontrada em animais de raças européias. Uma alternativa seria um pelame negro com um baixo valor de L. Animais vermelhos apresentam alta transmissão de radiação UV através da epiderme e do pelame, sendo desaconselhados para ambientes tropicais. Entretanto, foi observada uma vaca Holandesa com áreas isoladas de epiderme negra coberta com pelame branco, o que pode trazer perspectivas para uma seleção para combinações mais adequadas de epiderme e pelame em bovinos de raças européias.

Degradação in situ da matéria seca e da fração fibrosa do capim marandu obtido por diferentes métodos de amostragem, no período seco do ano

Este trabalho foi realizado na Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias Veterinárias - Unesp - Jaboticabal e foi conduzido, com o objetivo de avaliar a influência do método de amostragem do pasto sobre a degradabilidade in situ da matéria seca e da fração fibrosa de capim Marandu, colhido no período seco dos anos de 2003 e 2005. O experimento foi instalado em delineamento de blocos casualizados com parcela subdividida, com três repetições, representadas pelos piquetes amostrados. Nas parcelas, foram avaliados cinco métodos de amostragens de forragem (método do quadrado metálico; método de avaliação através de extrusa de bovino da raça Nelore; método de avaliação por meio de extrusa de bovino Cruzado (Red Angus x Nelore); método de avaliação por meio do pastejo, simulando bovino da raça Nelore; método de avaliação por meio do pastejo, simulando bovino Cruzado (Red Angus x Nelore) e as subparcelas foram constituídas pelos anos de amostragem, 2003 e 2005. Foram determinadas as frações da cinética ruminal: solúvel A; insolúvel potencialmente degradável B; taxa de degradação Kd; degradação potencial (DP) e fração não degradável C da MS e degradação potencial (DP), fração não degradável C e taxa de degradação Kd da FDN e da FDA. de acordo com os resultados obtidos, observou-se que o método do quadrado metálico subestimou as características da degradação do capim. Os métodos do pastejo simulado se assemelharam muito ao das extrusas, no entanto, a prática do simulador é que assegurou a amostragem eficiente, conforme foi constatado pelos dados obtidos no ano de 2003 e 2005.

Seleção de genótipos de cana-de-açúcar para acúmulo de protoporfirina ix com uso de herbicidas inibidores da protox

O objetivo do presente trabalho foi selecionar genótipos de cana-de-açúcar por meio de inibidores da PROTOX e antioxidantes para indução do acúmulo de protoporfirina IX (PROTO IX) e/ou de seus precursores em plantas. Esses compostos podem ser utilizados como agentes sensibilizantes em terapia fotodinâmica (TFD), os quais possibilitam uma fonte de baixo custo para o tratamento de neoplasias e carcinomas. O experimento foi montado em câmara climatizada, com aplicação de nove tratamentos (1. oxyfluorfen + glutamato monossódico + vitaminas C e E; 2. oxyfluorfen + glutamato monossódico + vitaminas C e E + ácido levulênico; 3. oxyfluorfen; 4. carfentrazone + glutamato monossódico + vitaminas C e E; 5. carfentrazone + glutamato monossódico + vitaminas C e E + ácido levulênico; 6. carfentrazone; 7. testemunha + vitaminas C e E; 8. testemunha + vitaminas C e E + ácido levulênico; e 9. testemunha) em oito genótipos de cana-de-açúcar (PO933499, RB806043, RB470355, PO830698, SP701143, PO901387, PO894414 e SP903414), dispostos em esquema fatorial 9 x 8, com quatro repetições. As repetições constituíram-se de folhas (20 cm) destacadas de cada genótipo, sendo estas pulverizadas com os tratamentos mencionados, em simulador estacionário. Foram realizadas avaliações visuais de controle aos 2 DAA (dias após aplicação) e, no fim do estudo, determinações analíticas via extração da biomassa fresca, verificando os teores de protoporfirina IX por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência. Os resultados mostraram que em curto prazo foram detectados aumentos significativos nas concentrações de PROTO IX para os genótipos RB470355 e SP903414 submetidos ao tratamento 2 e para o genótipo SP701143 submetido ao tratamento 8, indicando que eles podem ser utilizados como fontes acumuladoras de protoporfirina IX.