Why is it important to verify/validate model transformations? The motivation is to improve the quality of the transformations, and therefore the quality of the generated software artifacts. Verified/validated model transformations make it possible to ensure certain properties of the generated software artifacts. In this way, verification/validation methods can guarantee different requirements stated by the actual domain against the generated/modified/optimized software products. For example, a verified/ validated model transformation can ensure the preservation of certain properties during the model-to-model transformation. This paper emphasizes the necessity of methods that make model transformation verified/validated, discusses the different scenarios of model transformation verification and validation, and introduces the principles of a novel test-driven method for verifying/validating model transformations. We provide a solution that makes it possible to automatically generate test input models for model transformations. Furthermore, we collect and discuss the actual open issues in the field of verification/validation of model transformations.

We present a study to show the possibility of using two well-known space partitioning and indexing techniques, kd trees and quad trees, in declustering applications to increase input/output (I/O) parallelization and reduce spatial data processing times. This parallelization enables time-consuming computational geometry algorithms to be applied efficiently to big spatial data rendering and querying. The key challenge is how to balance the spatial processing load across a large number of worker nodes, given significant performance heterogeneity in nodes and processing skews in the workload.

As a great challenge of network virtualization, virtual network embedding/mapping is increasingly important. It aims to successfully and efficiently assign the nodes and links of a virtual network (VN) onto a shared substrate network. The problem has been proved to be NP-hard and some heuristic algorithms have been proposed. However, most of the algorithms use only the local information of a node, such as CPU capacity and bandwidth, to determine how to map a VN, without considering the topological attributes which may pose significant impact on the performance of the embedding. In this paper, a new embedding algorithm is proposed based on real-time topological attributes. The concept of betweenness centrality in graph theory is borrowed to sort the nodes of VNs, and the nodes of the substrate network are sorted according to the correlation properties between the former selected and unselected nodes. In this way, node mapping and link mapping can be well coupled. A simulator is built to evaluate the performance of the proposed virtual network embedding (VNE) algorithm. The results show that the new algorithm significantly increases the revenue/cost (R/C) ratio and acceptance ratio as well as reduces the runtime.

Rise in inlet air temperature increases the corresponding outlet air temperature from the server. As an added effect of rise in inlet air temperature, some active servers may start exhaling intensely hot air to form a hotspot. Increase in hot air temperature and occasional hotspots are an added burden on the cooling mechanism and result in energy wastage in data centers. The increase in inlet air temperature may also result in failure of server hardware. Identifying and comparing the thermal sensitivity to inlet air temperature for various servers helps in the thermal-aware arrangement and location switching of servers to minimize the cooling energy wastage. The peak outlet temperature among the relocated servers can be lowered and even be homogenized to reduce the cooling load and chances of hotspots. Based upon mutual comparison of inlet temperature sensitivity of heterogeneous servers, this paper presents a proactive approach for thermal-aware relocation of data center servers. The experimental results show that each relocation operation has a cooling energy saving of as much as 2.1 kW·h and lowers the chances of hotspots by over 77%. Thus, the thermal-aware relocation of servers helps in the establishment of green data centers.

Accurate and fast performance estimation is necessary to drive design space exploration and thus support important design decisions. Current techniques are either time consuming or not accurate enough. In this paper, we solve these problems by presenting a hybrid method for multimedia multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC) performance estimation. A general coverage analysis tool GNU gcov is employed to profile the execution statistics during the native simulation. To tackle the complexity and keep the analysis and simulation manageable, the orthogonalization of communication and computation parts is adopted. The estimation result of the computation part is annotated to a transaction accurate model for further analysis, by which a gradual refinement of MPSoC performance estimation is supported. The implementation and its experimental results prove the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.

Efficient and precise localization is a prerequisite for the intelligent navigation of mobile robots. Traditional visual localization systems, such as visual odometry (VO) and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), suffer from two shortcomings: a drift problem caused by accumulated localization error, and erroneous motion estimation due to illumination variation and moving objects. In this paper, we propose an enhanced VO by introducing a panoramic camera into the traditional stereo-only VO system. Benefiting from the 360° field of view, the panoramic camera is responsible for three tasks: (1) detecting road junctions and building a landmark library online; (2) correcting the robot’s position when the landmarks are revisited with any orientation; (3) working as a panoramic compass when the stereo VO cannot provide reliable positioning results. To use the large-sized panoramic images efficiently, the concept of compressed sensing is introduced into the solution and an adaptive compressive feature is presented. Combined with our previous two-stage local binocular bundle adjustment (TLBBA) stereo VO, the new system can obtain reliable positioning results in quasi-real time. Experimental results of challenging long-range tests show that our enhanced VO is much more accurate and robust than the traditional VO, thanks to the compressive panoramic landmarks built online.

This research formulates a path-following control problem subjected to wheel slippage and skid and solves it using a logic-based control scheme for a wheeled mobile robot (WMR). The novelty of the proposed scheme lies in its methodology that considers both longitudinal and lateral slip components. Based on the derived slip model, the controller for longitudinal motion slip has been synthesized. Various control parameters have been studied to investigate their effects on the performance of the controller resulting in selection of their optimum values. The designed controller for lateral slip or skid is based on the proposed side friction model and skid check condition. Considering a car-like WMR, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. The robot successfully followed the desired circular trajectory in the presence of wheel slippage and skid. This research finds its potential in various applications involving WMR navigation and control.