Model-Based Design Space Exploration for FPGA-based Image Processing Applications Employing Parameterizable Approximations

The increasing demand for low power consumption and high computational performance is outpacing available technological improvements in embedded systems. Approximate computing is a novel design paradigm trying to bridge this gap by leveraging the inherent error resilience of certain applications and trading in quality to achieve reductions in resource usage. Numerous approximation methods have emerged in this research field. While these methods are commonly demonstrated in isolation, their combination can increase the achieved benefits in complex systems. However, the propagation of errors throughout the system necessitates a global optimization of parameters, leading to an exponentially growing design space. Additionally, the parameterization of approximated components must consider potential cross-dependencies between them. This work proposes a systematic approach to integrate and optimally configure parameterizable approximate components in FPGA-based applications, focusing on low-level but high-bandwidth image processing pipelines. The design space is explored by a multi-objective genetic algorithm which takes parameter dependencies between different components into account. During the exploration, appropriate models are used to estimate the quality-resource trade-off for probed solutions without the need for time-consuming synthesis. We demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of our approach on two image processing applications that employ multiple approximations. The experimental results show that the proposed methods are able to produce a wide range of Pareto-optimal solutions, offering various choices regarding the desired quality-resource trade-off.     

Design for comfort and social interaction in future vehicles: A study on the leg space between facing-seats configuration

With the advent of future vehicles, passengers expect to travel in comfort, and the free leg space between facing-seats could be an issue due to the unsuitability for all people, according to their anthropometric variability. A previous investigation survey showed the need to increase the leg-space between facing seats and, if installed, to improve the surface of the table placed in between. So, four different distances between seat-pans front edges of facing seats have been set-up and tested (44 cm, 51 cm, 58 cm, 65 cm) with a table in between. 13 couples of participants with different heights took part to experiments. The aim was to investigate the relationship between facing-seat distances and passenger wellbeing in terms of postural comfort and social interaction. Postural comfort has been analysed through optical tracking (for postural angles overtime) and questionnaires (perceived comfort). Social interaction feelings have been investigated with questionnaires. Experiment results showed the suitable distance could be 51 cm keeping the same table surface; otherwise, the 65 cm one could be ideal changing the table surface.Relevance to industryWith the advent of autonomous driving, vehicle manufacturers and designers are working hard to define new paradigms of public transportation in terms of seat layout, passenger wellbeing and interiors’ design. This paper contributes to increasing the general knowledge on the effects of distance between facing seats on postural comfort and social interaction.     

Traffic video‐based intelligent traffic control system for smart cities using modified ant colony optimizer

Road traffic congestion is a serious problem in today's world and it happens because of urbanization and population growth. The traffic reduces the transport efficiency in the city, increases the waiting time and travel time, and also increases the usage of fuel and air pollution. To overcome these issues this papers propose an intelligent traffic control system using the Internet of Vehicles (IoV). The vehicles or nodes present in the IoV can communicate between themselves. This technique helps in determining the traffic intensity and the best route to reach the destination. The area of study used in this paper is Vellore city in Tamilnadu, India. The city map is separated into many segments of equal size and Ant Colony Algorithm (AOC) is applied to the separated maps to find the optimal route to reach the destination. Further, Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to calculate the traffic density and to model the heavy traffic. The proposed algorithm performs better in finding the optimal route when compared to that of the existing path selection algorithms. From the results, it is evident that the proposed IoV‐based route selection method provides better performance.     

Prediction maintenance integrated decision-making approach supported by digital twin-driven cooperative awareness and interconnection framework

Predictive maintenance is one of the important technical means to guarantee and improve the normal industrial production. The existing bottlenecks for popularization and application are analyzed. In order to solve these problems, a cooperative awareness and interconnection framework across multiple organizations for total factors that affect prediction maintenance decision-making is discussed. Initially, the structure and operation mechanism of this framework are proposed. It is designed to support the sharing of data, knowledge and resources. As a key supporting technology, the digital twin is also integrated into it to improve the accuracy of fault diagnosis and prediction and support making a maintenance plan with higher accuracy and reliability. Then, under this framework, an integrated mathematical programming model is established with considering the parameter uncertainty and an NSGA-II hybrid algorithm is utilized to solve it. Moreover, an adjustment strategy for a maintenance plan is discussed in response to the dynamic characteristics of the actual maintenance environment. Finally, a case, prediction maintenance decision-making for bearings in grinding rolls of the large vertical mill, is studied. Analysis results verify the advantage of the integrated solving mechanism based on the proposed framework. The framework and integrated decision-making approach can guide the implementation of predictive maintenance with higher accuracy and reliability for industrial enterprises.     

A review on modeling of solar photovoltaic systems using artificial neural networks,fuzzy logic,genetic algorithm and hybrid models

The uncertainty associated with modeling and performance prediction of solar photovoltaic systems could be easily and efficiently solved by artificial intelligence techniques. During the past decade of 2009 to 2019, artificial neural network (ANN), fuzzy logic (FL), genetic algorithm (GA) and their hybrid models are found potential artificial intelligence tools for performance prediction and modeling of solar photovoltaic systems. In addition, during this decade there is no extensive review on applicability of ANN, FL, GA and their hybrid models for performance prediction and modeling of solar photovoltaic systems. Therefore, this article focuses on extensive review on design, modeling, maximum power point tracking, fault detection and output power/efficiency prediction of solar photovoltaic systems using artificial intelligence techniques of the ANN, FL, GA and their hybrid models. In addition, the selected articles on the solar radiation prediction using ANN, FL, GA and their hybrid models are also summarized. Total of 122 articles are reviewed and summarized in the present review for the period of 2009 to 2019 with 90 articles in the field of {ANN, FL, GA and their hybrid models} + solar photovoltaic systems and 32 articles in the field of {ANN, FL, GA and their hybrid models} + solar radiation. The review shows the suitability and reliability of ANN, FL, GA and hybrid models for accurate prediction of the solar radiation and the performance characteristics of solar photovoltaic systems. In addition, this review presents the guidance for the researchers and engineers in the field of solar photovoltaic systems to select the suitable prediction tool for enhancement of the performance characteristics of the solar photovoltaic systems and the utilization of the available solar radiation.     

Modeling,design, and optimization of a cost‐effective and reliable hybrid renewable energy system integrated with desalination using the division algorithm

People in the Middle East are facing the problem of freshwater shortages. This problem is more intense for a remote region, which has no access to the power grid. The use of seawater desalination technology integrated with the generated energy unit by renewable energy sources could help overcome this problem. In this study, we refer a seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWROD) plant with a capacity of 1.5 m³/h used on Larak Island, Iran. Moreover, for producing fresh water and meet the load demand of the SWROD plant, three different stand‐alone hybrid renewable energy systems (SAHRES), namely wind turbine (WT)/photovoltaic (PV)/battery bank storage (BBS), PV/BBS, and WT/BBS are modeled and investigated. The optimization problem was coded in MATLAB software. Furthermore, the optimized results were obtained by the division algorithm (DA). The DA has been developed to solve the sizing problem of three SAHRES configurations by considering the object function's constraints. These results show that this improved algorithm has been simpler, more precise, faster, and more flexible than a genetic algorithm (GA) in solving problems. Moreover, the minimum total life cycle cost (TLCC = 243 763$), with minimum loss of power supply probability (LPSP = 0%) and maximum reliability, was related to the WT/PV/BBS configuration. WT/PV/BBS is also the best configuration to use less battery as a backup unit (69 units). The batteries in this configuration have a longer life cycle (maximum average of annual battery charge level) than two other configurations (93.86%). Moreover, the optimized results have shown that utilizing the configuration of WT/PV/BBS could lead to attaining a cost‐effective and green (without environmental pollution) SAHRES, with high reliability for remote areas, with appropriate potential of wind and solar irradiance.     

An engineering method for complex structural optimization involving both size and topology design variables

This work presents an engineering method for optimizing structures made of bars, beams, plates, or a combination of those components. Corresponding problems involve both continuous (size) and discrete (topology) variables. Using a branched multipoint approximate function, which involves such mixed variables, a series of sequential approximate problems are constructed to make the primal problem explicit. To solve the approximate problems, genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized to optimize discrete variables, and when calculating individual fitness values in GA, a second-level approximate problem only involving retained continuous variables is built to optimize continuous variables. The solution to the second-level approximate problem can be easily obtained with dual methods. Structural analyses are only needed before improving the branched approximate functions in the iteration cycles. The method aims at optimal design of discrete structures consisting of bars, beams, plates, or other components. Numerical examples are given to illustrate its effectiveness, including frame topology optimization, layout optimization of stiffeners modeled with beams or shells, concurrent layout optimization of beam and shell components, and an application in a microsatellite structure. Optimization results show that the number of structural analyses is dramatically decreased when compared with pure GA while even comparable to pure sizing optimization.     

Intelligent Information‐Centric Networking routing scheme under imprecise information

Information‐Centric Networking (ICN) has been accepted to overcome some weaknesses of the current Internet architecture, showing that “what is being exchanged” is more important than “who are exchanging information.” Given the inadequate considerations on Quality of Service (QoS) and energy saving in ICN routing, we propose in this paper a routing algorithm to enhance the two aspects. At first, on one hand, Cauchy distribution is used as a fuzzy model to evaluate users' QoS requirements, such as bandwidth, delay, and error rate; on the other hand, we formulate energy saving problem to evaluate the green quality of routing algorithm. Then, we design a link selection approach by considering QoS and energy saving, which belongs to a multi‐objective decision problem resolved by intelligent drops algorithm. Finally, we implement the proposed algorithm and compare it with the famous adaptive forwarding mechanism in terms of some significant metrics, and the experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm is more efficient.     

基于改进D?Lite遗传算法路径规划研究

针对遗传算法在移动机器人路径规划中易产生早熟现象和收敛速度慢的问题,提出了改进的D~* Lite遗传算法。该算法将D~* Lite算法和遗传算法相结合,通过引入碰撞系数和可视检测技术以提高路径安全性,寻找最短路径。在遗传算法设计中加入动态调整交叉与变异概率,以解决算法在路径规划中因陷入局部最优值而不能到达目标点的问题。最后,通过实验仿真可知:与蚁群算法和免疫遗传算法相比,改进的D~* Lite遗传算法执行效率高,可以快速规划出全局最优路径。     

变邻域量子烟花算法求解CVRP

针对带容量约束的车辆路径问题，提出一种融合量子进化算法和变邻域优化策略的变邻域量子烟花算法。该算法采用等分随机键与最大位置法结合的实数编码方式，通过量子旋转门和非门变异提高算法全局搜索能力，同时运用结合2-Opt的变邻域优化策略加强局部搜索能力。选取17个基准算例进行参数实验和对比实验，实验结果表明，相对于对比算法，所提出的算法具有较好的寻优能力和收敛速度。