Computer Aided Design Algorithmic Technique for Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit Design and Smart Home Embedded System Design

To tackle the challenges at circuit level and system level VLSI and embedded system design, this dissertation proposes various novel algorithms to explore the efficient solutions. At the circuit level, a new reliability-driven minimum cost Steiner routing and layer assignment scheme is proposed, and the first transceiver insertion algorithmic framework for the optical interconnect is proposed. At the system level, a reliability-driven task scheduling scheme for multiprocessor real-time embedded systems, which optimizes system energy consumption under stochastic fault occurrences, is proposed. The embedded system design is also widely used in the smart home area for improving health, wellbeing and quality of life. The proposed scheduling scheme for multiprocessor embedded systems is hence extended to handle the energy consumption scheduling issues for smart homes. The extended scheme can arrange the household appliances for operation to minimize monetary expense of a customer based on the time-varying pricing model.

Estimation of the degree of polarization through computational sensing

The degree of polarization of a refected field from active laser illumination can be used for object identifcation and classifcation. The goal of this study is to investigate methods for estimating the degree of polarization for refected fields with active laser illumination, which involves the measurement and processing of two orthogonal field components (complex amplitudes), two orthogonal intensity components, and the total field intensity. We propose to replace interferometric optical apparatuses with a computational approach for estimating the degree of polarization from two orthogonal intensity data and total intensity data. Cramer-Rao bounds for each of the three sensing modalities with various noise models are computed. Algebraic estimators and maximum-likelihood (ML) estimators are proposed. Active-set algorithm and expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm are used to compute ML estimates. The performances of the estimators are compared with each other and with their corresponding Cramer-Rao bounds. Estimators for four-channel polarimeter (intensity interferometer) sensing have a better performance than orthogonal intensities estimators and total intensity estimators. Processing the four intensities data from polarimeter, however, requires complicated optical devices, alignment, and four CCD detectors. It only requires one or two detectors and a computer to process orthogonal intensities data and total intensity data, and the bounds and estimator performances demonstrate that reasonable estimates may still be obtained from orthogonal intensities or total intensity data. Computational sensing is a promising way to estimate the degree of polarization.

Reconciling Function- and Affordance-Based Design

Traditional engineering design methods are based on Simon's (1969) use of the concept function, and as such collectively suffer from both theoretical and practical shortcomings. Researchers in the field of affordance-based design have borrowed from ecological psychology in an attempt to address the blind spots of function-based design, developing alternative ontologies and design processes. This dissertation presents function and affordance theory as both compatible and complimentary. We first present a hybrid approach to design for technology change, followed by a reconciliation and integration of function and affordance ontologies for use in design. We explore the integration of a standard function-based design method with an affordance-based design method, and demonstrate how affordance theory can guide the early application of function-based design. Finally, we discuss the practical and philosophical ramifications of embracing affordance theory's roots in ecology and ecological psychology, and explore the insights and opportunities made possible by an ecological approach to engineering design. The primary contribution of this research is the development of an integrated ontology for describing and designing technological systems using both function- and affordance-based methods.