Showing papers by "Roberto Passerone published in 2011"

A Modal Interface Theory for Component-based Design

Abstract: This paper presents the modal interface theory, a unification of interface automata and modal specifications, two radically dissimilar models for interface theories. Interface automata is a game-based model, which allows the designer to express assumptions on the environment and which uses an optimistic view of composition: two components can be composed if there is an environment where they can work together. Modal specifications are a language theoretic account of a fragment of the modal mu-calculus logic with a rich composition algebra which meets certain methodological requirements but which does not allow the environment and the component to be distinguished. The present paper contributes a more thorough unification of the two theories by correcting a first attempt in this direction by Larsen et al., drawing a complete picture of the modal interface algebra, and pushing the comparison between interface automata, modal automata and modal interfaces even further. The work reported here is based on earlier work presented in [41] and [42].

Development of wireless sensor network for combustible gas monitoring

Abstract: a b s t r a c t This paper describes the development and the characterization of a wireless gas sensor network (WGSN) for the detection of combustible or explosive gases. The WGSN consists of a sensor node, a relay node, a network coordinator, and a wireless actuator. The sensor node attains early gas detection using an on board 2D semiconductor sensor. Because the sensor consumes a substantial amount of power, which negatively affects the node lifetime, we employ a pulse heating profile to achieve significant energy savings. The relay node receives and forwards traffic from sensor nodes towards the network coordinator and vice versa. When an emergency is detected, the network coordinator alarms an operator through the GSM/GPRS or Ethernet network, and may autonomously control the source of gas emission through the wireless actuator. Our experimental results demonstrate how to determine the optimal temperature of the sensor's sensitive layer for methane detection, show the response time of the sensor to various gases, and evaluate the power consumption of the sensor node. The demonstrated WGSN could be used for a wide range of gas monitoring applications.

Scalable Offline Optimization of Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Sensor networks are increasingly used to control and monitor industrial and manufacturing processes. In this paper, we consider the problem of optimizing a cost function for wireless sensor networks of this kind under energy consumption constraints. We focus, in particular, on the problem of coverage optimization through scheduling. Following existing approaches, we use a mixed integer linear program formulation. We show how to use partitioning techniques to decompose the problem into separate subproblems, solved individually, overcoming the exponential complexity typical of integer linear programming, while minimizing the loss in optimality. In addition, we evaluate the achieved degree of optimality by computing relatively tight bounds with respect to the optimal solution. Finally, we employ simple but effective heuristics to further improve our solution. The results show that our procedure is very efficient and scalable, and is able to find solutions that are very close to optimal. These characteristics make our approach a perfect fit for large and fixed deployments of wireless sensors, typical in factory automation and industrial applications. To show the generality of the approach, we apply our methodology to three different models of varying complexity.

Reducing critical cycle delay in an integrated circuit design through use of sequential slack

Abstract: A method is provided that includes: determining a minimum clock cycle that can be used to propagate a signal about the critical cycle in a circuit design; wherein the critical cycle is a cycle in the design that has a highest proportionality of delay to number of registers; determining for a circuit element in the circuit design, sequential slack associated with the circuit element; wherein the sequential slack represents a minimum delay from among respective maximum delays that can be added to respective structural cycles of which the circuit element is a constituent, based upon the determined limit upon clock cycle duration; using the sequential slack to ascertain sequential optimization based design flexibility throughout multiple stages of a design flow.

Enabling parametric feasibility analysis in real-time calculus driven performance evaluation

Abstract: This paper advocates a rigorously formal and compositional style for obtaining key performance and/or interface metrics of systems with real-time constraints. We propose a hierarchical approach that couples the independent and different by nature frameworks of Modular Performance Analysis with Real-time Calculus (MPARTC) and Parametric Feasibility Analysis (PFA). Recent work on Real-time Calculus (RTC) has established an embedding of state-based component models into RTC-driven performance analysis for dealing with more expressive component models. However, with the obtained analysis infrastructure it is possible to analyze components only for a fixed set of parameters, e. g., fixed CPU speeds, fixed buffer sizes etc., such that a big space of parameters remains unstudied. In this paper, we overcome this limitation by integrating the method of parametric feasibility analysis in an RTC-based modeling environment. Using the PFA tool-flow, we are able to find regions for component parameters that maintain feasibility and worst-case properties. As a result, the proposed analysis infrastructure produces a broader range of valid design candidates, and allows the designer to reason about the system robustness.

Model-based design of embedded control software for hybrid vehicles

Abstract: In the last decades, model based methodologies have become the mainstay of research on embedded systems development. The availability of mature computer aided tools and of well-settled industrial practices has promoted the adoption of these methodologies in large companies, which are able to amortize the cost on a large volume of products. On the contrary, the cost of software licenses and of staff training often discourages their application in small and medium enterprises. In this paper, we present a model based methodology entirely based on the adoption of open source software tools. We have applied this methodology to a real case study provided by our industrial partner proving its effectiveness.

Power Adaptive Cognitive Pilot Channel for Spectrum Co-existence in Wireless Networks

Abstract: Next generation wireless networks will be heterogeneous, where several primary users (PU e.g. licensed users) and secondary users (SU e.g. unlicensed users) can operate in the same dynamic and reconfigurable networks at a given time. The major challenge in this heterogeneous radio environment is to enable the coexistence between PU and SU which will further improve the efficient use of radio spectrum. Most of the existing coexistence techniques encounter with challenges due to lack of a priori knowledge about the primary system. Therefore Cognitive pilot channel (CPC) is a proposed approach which could enhance the coexistence by conveying some priori information. However, to achieve a peaceful coexistence it is essential to adopt a mitigation technique according to the CPC information. There is no algorithm has been described so far to integrate the CPC information with existing mitigation technique. In this paper, we proposed a novel power adaptation and integrated zone model (PAIZM) CPC algorithm for peaceful coexistence in heterogeneous networks. Moreover we have implemented and evaluated the PAIZM-CPC model as a coexistence enabler. The results show an enhancement compared with the existing coexistence techniques.