A hardware/software co-optimization approach for embedded software of MP3 decoder

In order to improve the efficiency of embedded software running on processor core, this paper proposes a hard-ware/software co-optimization approach for embedded software from the system point of view. The proposed stepwise methods aim at exploiting the structure and the resources of the processor as much as possible for software algorithm optimization. To achieve low memory usage and low frequency need for the same performance, this co-optimization approach was used to optimize embedded software of MP3 decoder based on a 16-bit fixed-point DSP core. After the optimization, the results of decoding 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz stereo MP3 on DSP evaluation platform need 45.9 MIPS and 20.4 kbytes memory space. The optimization rate achieves 65.6% for memory and 49.6% for frequency respectively compared with the results by compiler using floating-point computation. The experimental result indicates the availability of the hardware/software co-optimization approach depending on the algorithm and architecture.

Hardware/software co-verification platform for EOS design

Ethernet over SDH/SONET (EOS) is a hotspot in today's data transmission technology for it combines the merits of both Ethernet and SDH/SONET. However, implementing an EOS system on a chip is complex and needs full verifications. This paper introduces our design of Hardware/Software co-verification platform for EOS design. The hardware platform contains a microprocessor board and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array)-based verification board, and the corresponding software includes test benches running in FPGAs, controlling programs for the microprocessor and a console program with GUI (Graphical User Interface) interface for configuration, management and supervision. The design is cost-effective and has been successfully employed to verify several IP (Intellectual Property) blocks of our EOS chip. Moreover, it is flexible and can be applied as a general-purpose verification platform.

Scheduling Algorithm Based on Storage Capacity of Communication in Hardware/Software Integrated System

In this paper, the storage capacity of communication among cores and processors is taken into account and a maximum D-value-first algorithm is proposed. By improving the hardware parallelism in the task execution process, the maximum storage requirements for communication are minimized. Experimental results with various directed acyclic graph models showed that compared with the earliest-task-first algorithm, the storage requirements for communication were reduced by 22.46%, on average, while the average of makespan only increased by 0.82%,.

Hardware/software partitioning based on dynamic combination of maximum entropy and chaos optimization algorithm

This paper presents an algorithm that combines the chaos optimization algorithm with the maximum entropy ( COA-ME) by using entropy model based on chaos algorithm,in which the maximum entropy is used as the second method of searching the excellent solution. The search direction is improved by chaos optimization algorithm and realizes the selective acceptance of wrong solution. The experimental result shows that the presented algorithm can be used in the partitioning of hardware/software of reconfigurable system. It effectively reduces the local extremum problem,and search speed as well as performance of partitioning is improved.

New Approach for Hardware/Software Embedded System Conception Based on the Use of Design Patterns

This paper deals with a new hardware/software embedded system design methodology based on design pattern approach by development of a new design tool called smartcell. Three main constraints of embedded systems design process are investigated: the complexity, the partitioning between hardware and software aspects and the reusability. Two intermediate models are carried out in order to solve the complexity problem. The partitioning problem deals with the proposed hardware/software partitioning algorithm based on Ant Colony Optimisation. The reusability problem is resolved by synthesis of intellectual property blocks. Specification and integration of an intelligent controller on heterogeneous platform are considered to illustrate the proposed approach.

TikTak: A Scalable Simulator of Wireless Sensor Networks Including Hardware/Software Interaction

We present a simulation framework for wireless sensor networks developed to allow the design exploration and the complete microprocessor-instruction-level debug of network formation, data congestion, nodes interaction, all in one simulation environment. A specifically innovative feature is the co-emulation of selected nodes at clock-cycle-accurate hardware processing level, allowing code debug and exact execution latency evaluation (considering both protocol stack and application), together with other nodes at abstract protocol level, meeting a designer’s needs of simulation speed, scalability and reliability. The simulator is centered on the Zigbee protocol and can be retargeted for different node micro-architectures.

Towards High-Performance Graph Processing: From a Hardware/Software Co-Design Perspective

Graph processing has been widely used in many scenarios,from scientific computing to artificial intelligence.Graph processing exhibits irregular computational parallelism and random memory accesses,unlike traditional workloads.Therefore,running graph processing workloads on conventional architectures(e.g.,CPUs and GPUs)often shows a significantly low compute-memory ratio with few performance benefits,which can be,in many cases,even slower than a specialized single-thread graph algorithm.While domain-specific hardware designs are essential for graph processing,it is still challenging to transform the hardware capability to performance boost without coupled software codesigns.This article presents a graph processing ecosystem from hardware to software.We start by introducing a series of hardware accelerators as the foundation of this ecosystem.Subsequently,the codesigned parallel graph systems and their distributed techniques are presented to support graph applications.Finally,we introduce our efforts on novel graph applications and hardware architectures.Extensive results show that various graph applications can be efficiently accelerated in this graph processing ecosystem.

Domain-Oriented Software Defined Computing Architecture

With the introduction of software defined hardware by DARPA Electronics Resurgence Initiative,software definition will be the basic attribute of information system.Benefiting from boundary certainty and algorithm aggregation of domain applications,domain-oriented computing architecture has become the technical direction that considers the high flexibility and efficiency of information system.Aiming at the characteristics of data-intensive computing in different scenarios such as Internet of Things(IoT),big data,artificial intelligence(AI),this paper presents a domain-oriented software defined computing architecture,discusses the hierarchical interconnection structure,hybrid granularity computing element and its computational kernel extraction method,finally proves the flexibility and high efficiency of this architecture by experimental comparison.

The Software Industry Promotes All-round Cooperation

Software can be seen almost everywhere and is now defining the world.Software has transitioned from an affiliate of hardware,to a network service that is present in every corner of our social lives.

System-on-a-Chip (SoC) Based Hardware Acceleration for Video Codec

Nowadays, from home monitoring to large airport security, a lot of digital video surveillance systems have been used. Digital surveillance system usually requires streaming video processing abilities. As an advanced video coding method, H.264 is introduced to reduce the large video data dramatically (usually by 70X or more). However, computational overhead occurs when coding and decoding H.264 video. In this paper, a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) based hardware acceleration solution for video codec is proposed, which can also be used for other software applications. The characteristics of the video codec are analyzed by using the profiling tool. The Hadamard function, which is the bottleneck of H.264, is identified not only by execution time but also another two attributes, such as cycle per loop and loop round. The Co-processor approach is applied to accelerate the Hadamard function by transforming it to hardware. Performance improvement, resource costs and energy consumption are compared and analyzed. Experimental results indicate that 76.5% energy deduction and 8.09X speedup can be reached after balancing these three key factors.

从ware到software

随着电子计算机的日益普及,今天在美国由—ware这个构词成分所组成的词屡屡可见。据美国哈佛大学的教育学教授 Howard Gardner声称,在近期召开的一次有关人工智能的学术会议之后,—ware词突然变得风靡起来。一位长期从事人类记忆研究的神经生物家甚至说,他觉得自已还不能适应这种情况,完全成了“a student of wetware among thecomputer hackers”(处在电子计算机专家中间一名学生)。从80年代初开始,wetware一词便被用来指 human brain。本来也可以用另外几个词:skullware,grayware(gray

能源动力类别研究生产教融合联合培养基地建设模式与实践

培养出满足新时代要求的具有创新精神和实践能力的高水平能源动力类别研究生是我国早日实现“双碳”目标的迫切需求。构建产教融合联合培养基地,是深化产教融合、实现能源动力类别研究生教育高质量发展的关键环节。该文总结长安大学在能源动力类别(动力工程及电气工程)研究生培养中基于产教融合建设联合培养基地的模式及实践工作,提出软-硬件协同构建产教融合联合培养实践基地的理念,具体阐述该理念在动力工程及电气工程等能源动力类别研究生培养中的具体实践与应用,以期为能源动力类别研究生实践创新能力的培养提供参考。

大数据时代医院档案管理信息化建设的思考

本文以大数据时代医院档案管理信息化建设的积极价值为切入点,在此基础上探讨当前该工作的不足以及应对策略,就确保覆盖效应、保证系统延伸性、重视安全隐患控制等内容做具体论述,以改善大数据时代医院档案管理信息化建设水平,为其医疗服务、区域卫生管理等工作提供参考。

通过式脚踏封口装置的自动化升级改造

企业在塑封重型工件包装袋工艺流程中,存在着人工消耗量大、次品率高、返工率高等问题,为此对其采用的通过式脚踏封口装置进行了自动化升级改造。不仅提供了具体的软、硬件设计方案,而且还利用SolidWorks Electrical软件进行了本装置虚拟电气装配。此改造方案在保证实现塑封过程全自动化、次品率为零的同时,将整个改造设备费用控制在1000元以内,为小型企业在节约成本的同时也节省了劳动力。

触觉代偿理论下的视障儿童绘画玩具设计实践

探究触觉代偿介入下的视障儿童绘画玩具系统设计,创新视障儿童的绘画体验。通过文献研究法得出当前国内外触觉代偿相关研究现状,基于文献及市场调研分析得到视障儿童玩具设计的现状分析,进而得出当前视障儿童玩具对于触觉代偿的设计需求,并归纳出视障儿童绘画玩具系统的设计路径及框架。以使视障儿童绘画行为形成正向有益的良性循环为目标,基于前期研究得出的设计路径及框架,进行视障儿童绘画玩具系统设计实践。触觉代偿指导下的视障儿童绘画玩具系统能够改善并提升视障儿童绘画历程中的综合体验,同时为视障儿童提供了一个新的感知世界和表达自我的视角。

虚拟现实技术在数字媒体交互中的应用

相比于传统媒体技术,数字媒体采用更多的先进技术,是信息量大、操作体验感好、支持用户更多的主动操作。虚拟现实技术可以提供良好的体验感、满意度、实时性,对于数字媒体技术交互过程的改变具有重要的意义。该文首先从硬件角度分析基于虚拟现实技术的数字媒体交互采用的设备,包括计算机设备、头盔、手套、手柄、运动捕捉、模拟驾驶和全息现实等。其次从软件角度分析基于虚拟现实技术的数字媒体交互的设计流程和框架,包括虚拟现实软件平台、模拟和交互软件、内容开发工具等软件环境的支持等。性能测试实验结果显示,基于虚拟现实的数字媒体交互过程设计,最终用户使用满意度达到95%以上,实时性提高12%以上。

新能源汽车的驱动电机系统研究和设计

通过改变新能源汽车的能源消耗方式,能提高节能减排工作效果,促进新能源开发利用工作顺利进行,保证社会经济实现可持续发展。科学技术的发展决定着新能源汽车的研发进程,驱动电机系统作为新能源汽车的关键点,涉及新能源汽车研发的核心技术,相关人员要注重新能源汽车的驱动电机系统研究和设计,提高设计的合理性。

电气控制技术在节水灌溉装置中的应用研究

以节水灌溉装置自动控制为研究对象,基于电气控制技术对灌溉装置控制系统硬件电路进行了设计,并对节水灌溉装置系统自动控制流程软件进行设计。工作时,传感器对种植区域内的温度和湿度参数进行采集,控制系统根据参数信息进行灌溉操作,可有效提高种植过程中的水资源利用率。所设计的控制系统能够将种植区域内的环境参数信息进行实时显示,便于系统应用人员进行操作控制。

软硬件混合的高效CHI协议分析

在片上系统SoC开发过程中,如何高效准确地进行功能验证与性能分析,是亟待解决的难题。针对目前在FPGA原型平台上对片上网络协议监测手段有限的问题,提出了一种软硬件混合的高效CHI协议监测和分析方法,通过SystemVerilog的直接编程接口DPI连接C代码,由可综合的硬件部分提供共享函数体,不可综合的软件部分通过共享函数体从片上网络协议的各个通道捕捉待测SoC中的CHI报文,进行离线保存或在线检查。实验结果表明,该方法具有硬件资源占用少、可重用性高的优点,离线模式对仿真速率影响不大,在线模式可以在待测SoC运行的同时发现问题,能够实现在原型平台上对CHI协议报文的高效监测,有效加速SoC问题的定位和性能分析。

中国地震预警技术测试平台建设与应用

为解决国内地震预警专业软硬件稳定性和可靠性不足、列装测试不充分的技术难题,尽可能降低地震预警系统运行的风险,建设了专业化的中国地震预警技术测试平台。该平台构建了软件和硬件两大测试系统,明确了测试方法、测试用例、测试流程和评价指标,具备在线功能测试、离线回溯测试、预警信息测试和信息安全测试等功能模块。通过系统性测试和综合评估测试结果,为地震预警专业软硬件完善和升级提供科学依据,筑牢地震预警系统的安全防线。