Building collaborative environments for advanced computing

Synchronous collaborative systems allow geographically distributed users to form a virtual work environment enabling cooperation between peers and enriching the human interaction. The technology facilitating this interaction has been studied for several years and various solutions can be found at present. In this paper, we discuss our experiences with one such widely adopted technology, namely the Access Grid [1]. We describe our experiences with using this technology, identify key problem areas and propose our solution to tackle these issues appropriately. Moreover, we propose the integration of Access Grid with an Application Sharing tool, developed by the authors. Our approach allows these integrated tools to utilise the enhanced features provided by our underlying dynamic transport layer.

Performance of GPRS coding scheme detection under severe multipath and co-channel interference as a function of soft-bit width

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) has been developed for the mobile radio environment to allow the migration from the traditional circuit switched connection to a more efficient packet based communication link particularly for data transfer. GPRS requires the addition of not only the GPRS software protocol stack, but also more baseband functionality for the mobile as new coding schemes have be en defined, uplink status flag detection, multislot operation and dynamic coding scheme detect. This paper concentrates on evaluating the performance of the GPRS coding scheme detection methods in the presence of a multipath fading channel with a single co-channel interferer as a function of various soft-bit data widths. It has been found that compressing the soft-bit data widths from the output of the equalizer to save memory can influence the likelihood decision of the coding scheme detect function and hence contribute to the overall performance loss of the system. Coding scheme detection errors can therefore force the channel decoder to either select the incorrect decoding scheme or have no clear decision which coding scheme to use resulting in the decoded radio block failing the block check sequence and contribute to the block error rate. For correct performance simulation, the performance of the full coding scheme detection must be taken into account.

Soft-bit and numerical precision requirements on multiband full-rate ultra-wideband (UWB) receivers

This paper discusses the architectural design, implementation and associated simulated peformance results of a possible receiver solution fir a multiband Ultra-Wideband (UWB) receiver. The paper concentrates on the tradeoff between the soft-bit width and numerical precision requirements for the receiver versus performance. The required numerical precision results obtained in this paper can be used by baseband designers of cost effective UWB systems using Systein-on-Chip (SoC), FPGA and ASIC technology solutions biased toward the competitive consumer electronics market(1).

Autonomous execution of tasks by swarm carrier agents in swarm-array computing

How can a bridge be built between autonomic computing approaches and parallel computing system? The work reported in this paper is motivated towards bridging this gap by proposing swarm-array computing, a novel technique to achieve autonomy for distributed parallel computing systems. Among three proposed approaches, the second approach, namely 'Intelligent Agents' is of focus in this paper. The task to be executed on parallel computing cores is considered as a swarm of autonomous agents. A task is carried to a computing core by carrier. agents and can be seamlessly transferred between cores in the event of a pre-dicted failure, thereby achieving self-ware objectives of autonomic computing. The feasibility of the proposed approach is validated on a multi-agent simulator.

Intelligent agents: are they feasible in swarm-array computing?

The work reported in this paper proposes 'Intelligent Agents', a Swarm-Array computing approach focused to apply autonomic computing concepts to parallel computing systems and build reliable systems for space applications. Swarm-array computing is a robotics a swarm robotics inspired novel computing approach considered as a path to achieve autonomy in parallel computing systems. In the intelligent agent approach, a task to be executed on parallel computing cores is considered as a swarm of autonomous agents. A task is carried to a computing core by carrier agents and can be seamlessly transferred between cores in the event of a predicted failure, thereby achieving self-* objectives of autonomic computing. The approach is validated on a multi-agent simulator.

Intelligent cores and intelligent agents: two approaches to achieve autonomy in swarm-array computing

How can a bridge be built between autonomic computing approaches and parallel computing systems? How can autonomic computing approaches be extended towards building reliable systems? How can existing technologies be merged to provide a solution for self-managing systems? The work reported in this paper aims to answer these questions by proposing Swarm-Array Computing, a novel technique inspired from swarm robotics and built on the foundations of autonomic and parallel computing paradigms. Two approaches based on intelligent cores and intelligent agents are proposed to achieve autonomy in parallel computing systems. The feasibility of the proposed approaches is validated on a multi-agent simulator.

Building reliable systems for space applications using swarm-array computing

Space applications demand the need for building reliable systems. Autonomic computing defines such reliable systems as self-managing systems. The work reported in this paper combines agent-based and swarm robotic approaches leading to swarm-array computing, a novel technique to achieve self-managing distributed parallel computing systems. Two swarm-array computing approaches based on swarms of computational resources and swarms of tasks are explored. FPGA is considered as the computing system. The feasibility of the two proposed approaches that binds the computing system and the task together is simulated on the SeSAm multi-agent simulator.

Building reliable systems for space applications using swarm-array computing

Space applications demand the need for building reliable systems. Autonomic computing defines such reliable systems as self-managing systems. The work reported in this paper combines agent-based and swarm robotic approaches leading to swarm-array computing, a novel technique to achieve self-managing distributed parallel computing systems. Two swarm-array computing approaches based on swarms of computational resources and swarms of tasks are explored. FPGA is considered as the computing system. The feasibility of the two proposed approaches that binds the computing system and the task together is simulated on the SeSAm multi-agent simulator.

A dual QPSK soft-demapper for ECMA-368 exploiting time-domain spreading and guard interval diversity

When considering the relative fast processing speed and low power requirements for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) and Wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB) consumer based products, then the efficiency and cost effectiveness of these products become paramount. This paper presents an improved soft-output QPSK demapper suitable for the products above that not only exploits time diversity and guard carrier diversity, but also merges the demapping and symbol combining functions together to minimize CPU cycles, or memory access dependant upon the chosen implementation architecture. The proposed demapper is presented in the context of Multiband OFDM version of UWB (ECMA-368) as the chosen physical implementation for high-rate Wireless USB.

Investigating the feasibility of a swarm-array computing approach

The work reported in this paper proposes a novel synergy between parallel computing and swarm robotics to offer a new computing paradigm, 'swarm-array computing' that can harness and apply autonomic computing for parallel computing systems. One approach among three proposed approaches in swarm-array computing based on landscapes of intelligent cores, in which the cores of a parallel computing system are abstracted to swarm agents, is investigated. A task is executed and transferred seamlessly between cores in the proposed approach thereby achieving self-ware properties that characterize autonomic computing. FPGAs are considered as an experimental platform taking into account its application in space robotics. The feasibility of the proposed approach is validated on the SeSAm multi-agent simulator.

An autonomic approach in swarm-array computing

Can autonomic computing concepts be applied to traditional multi-core systems found in high performance computing environments? In this paper, we propose a novel synergy between parallel computing and swarm robotics to offer a new computing paradigm, `Swarm-Array Computing' that can harness and apply autonomic computing for parallel computing systems. One approach among three proposed approaches in swarm-array computing based on landscapes of intelligent cores, in which the cores of a parallel computing system are abstracted to swarm agents, is investigated. A task gets executed and transferred seamlessly between cores in the proposed approach thereby achieving self-ware properties that characterize autonomic computing. FPGAs are considered as an experimental platform taking into account its application in space robotics. The feasibility of the proposed approach is validated on the SeSAm multi-agent simulator.