Polytechnic University of Turin

About: Polytechnic University of Turin is a education organization based out in Turin, Piemonte, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Finite element method & Computer science. The organization has 11553 authors who have published 41395 publications receiving 789320 citations. The organization is also known as: POLITO & Politecnico di Torino.

UAV Deployment Exercise for Mapping Purposes: Evaluation of Emergency Response Applications

Abstract: Exploiting the decrease of costs related to UAV technology, the humanitarian community started piloting the use of similar systems in humanitarian crises several years ago in different application fields, i.e., disaster mapping and information gathering, community capacity building, logistics and even transportation of goods. Part of the author’s group, composed of researchers in the field of applied geomatics, has been piloting the use of UAVs since 2006, with a specific focus on disaster management application. In the framework of such activities, a UAV deployment exercise was jointly organized with the Regional Civil Protection authority, mainly aimed at assessing the operational procedures to deploy UAVs for mapping purposes and the usability of the acquired data in an emergency response context. In the paper the technical features of the UAV platforms will be described, comparing the main advantages/disadvantages of fixed-wing versus rotor platforms. The main phases of the adopted operational procedure will be discussed and assessed especially in terms of time required to carry out each step, highlighting potential bottlenecks and in view of the national regulation framework, which is rapidly evolving. Different methodologies for the processing of the acquired data will be described and discussed, evaluating the fitness for emergency response applications.

Overlooked aspects of COTS-based development

Abstract: Although developing with commercial-off-the-shelf components is gaining more attention from both research and industrial communities, most literature on the topic doesn't clearly identify context variables such as the type of products, projects, and systems. In particular, the literature often lacks a definition of "COTS product," or, when a definition is present, it invariably disagrees with other studies. A shared definition would improve discourse and enable researchers to meta-analyze published empirical data. After a speculative effort to define and classify COTS products, we decided to obtain this much-needed understanding from the bottom up. We asked people involved in industrial projects to name the key features in COTS-based development and to tell us what they think constitutes a COTS product. We present the interview results in the form of six theses, which contradict widely accepted (or simply undisputed) ideas. We also present a definition of "COTS product" that captures the key features.

On the stability of input-queued switches with speed-up

Abstract: We consider cell-based switch and router architectures whose internal switching matrix does not provide enough speed to avoid input buffering. These architectures require a scheduling algorithm to select at each slot a subset of input buffered cells which can be transferred toward output ports. We propose several classes of scheduling algorithms whose stability properties are studied using analytical techniques mainly based upon Lyapunov functions. Original stability conditions are also derived for scheduling algorithms that are being used today in high-performance switch and router architectures.