Philipp Wehner

MPSoCSim: An extended OVP simulator for modeling and evaluation of Network-on-Chip based heterogeneous MPSoCs

In this paper a SystemC simulator for Network-on-Chip (NoC) based Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs) is presented. The simulator currently supports mesh topology with wormhole switching and several routing algorithms such as XY-, a minimal West-First and an adaptive West-First algorithm. The impact of routing algorithms regarding performance can be analyzed by means of the presented simulator. In order to simulate a heterogeneous MPSoC, ARM processors and MicroBlazes can be attached to the NoC. Processor and peripheral models used within the test platforms are provided by Imperas/OVP. Moreover, traffic generators are available to analyze the system. An additional SystemC component enables the readout of simulation time from within the application. For evaluation of the simulator multiple platforms and applications were put under test and compared with a hardware implementation. The comparison shows that the simulator improves the development of MPSoCs by early estimation of system requirements.

Using JSON to manage communication between services in the Internet of Things

The emerging Internet of Things results in new challenges for the interconnection of devices and the efficient management of available resources. In this paper, a specification for communication between FPGA-based systems is presented. It is based on the combination of reconfigurable FPGA technology with the concepts of distributed computing. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a standardized human-readable data-interchange format. Even though it is based on JavaScript, JSON is completely language independent. The high rate of flexibility in combination with a light-weight structure avoids unnecessary overhead, associated with the benefits of standardization. JSON can be used in heterogeneous compute nodes, as it can be parsed easily and without special requirements. This way it provides an efficient method for transferring various data and for exploiting dynamic and partial reconfiguration in the area of distributed embedded systems. The result is an efficient communication structure with a consistent format for highly flexible and adaptive systems.

Computation and communication challenges to deploy robots in assisted living environments

Demographic and epidemiologic transitions have brought forward a new health care paradigm with the presence of both growing elderly population and chronic diseases. Recent technological advances can support elderly people in their domestic environment assuming that several ethical and clinical requirements can be met. This paper presents an architecture that is able to meet these requirements and investigates the technical challenges introduced by our approach.

Internet of Things Simulation Using OMNeT++ and Hardware in the Loop

Especially in the upcoming Internet of Things (IoT), an efficient data exchange is mandatory and the analysis of network communication is of high importance. Value must be attached to several different communication protocols, as there is no universally applicable standard for all areas of application. The target of this paper is to provide the basis for an IoT simulation including Hardware in the Loop. The simulation framework OMNeT++ is used to model the network infrastructure which can be extended by sensors, actuators, and even processors to achieve high flexibility. To estimate the behavior of the entire network at early stages of development, the presented approach allows the simulation of components that are not yet available. It acts as a gateway by translating device-specific protocols in a representation that can be handled sufficiently by the underlying network simulation. A case study is presented in example of Z-Wave and EnOcean periphery. It shows versatility and easy extensibility of the presented work.

MPSoCSim extension: An OVP simulator for the evaluation of cluster-based multi and many-core architectures

In this paper, an extension of the OVP based MPSoC simulator MPSoCSim is presented. This latter is an extension of the OVP simulator with a SystemC Network-on-Chip (NoC) allowing the modeling and evaluation of NoC based Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs). In the proposed version, this extended simulator enables the modeling and evaluation of complex clustered MPSoCs and many-cores. The clusters are compound of several independent subgroups. Each subgroup includes an OVP processor connected by a local bus to its own local memory for code, stack and heap. The subgroups being independent, the attached OVP processor model can be different from the other subgroups (ARM, MicroBlaze, MIPS,…) allowing the simulation of heterogeneous platforms. Also, each processor executes its own code. Subgroups are connected to each other through a shared bus allowing all the subgroups in the cluster to access to a shared memory. Finally, clusters are connected through a SystemC NoC supporting mesh topology with wormhole switching and different routing algorithms. The NoC is scalable and the number of subgroups in each cluster is parameterizable. For a dynamic execution, the OVP processor models support different Operating Systems (OS). Also, some mechanisms are available in order to control the dynamic execution of applications on the platform. Different platforms and applications have been evaluated in terms of simulated execution time, simulation time on the host machine and number of simulated instructions.

Parallel and distributed simulation of networked multi-core systems

The development of complex networked multi-core systems, like compute nodes in the Internet-of-Things, requires new simulation and design concepts. In this paper we present an environment for the asynchronous simulation of networked multi-core systems, based on SystemC. Combined with the open-source machine emulator and virtualizer QEMU, a virtual network is created. The compute nodes act similar to recent Systems-on-Chip from Xilinx and Altera. By combining an ARM processing system with programmable logic, a high flexibility is provided. We exemplary simulate these systems by extending QEMU, following its device model abstraction qdev. The resulting network benefits from the execution on different host systems. It is highly scalable and designed for the development of complex networked multi-core systems. For the non-distributed execution on one processor we implemented an alternative communication method which takes only 2/3 of the time for networked simulation.

Enabling indoor object localization through Bluetooth beacons on the RADIO robot platform

Localization is one of the four pillars of the autonomous robotic control loop. In order to work in complete unknown indoor environments, the robot needs to map its surroundings. This is done via the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm. However, the SLAM algorithm does not provide additional context to the generated map. If this information is required, it needs to be provided by the operator. With Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, position dependent information can be annotated to the generated map without operator input. BLE beacons need to be positioned at points of interest for the robot and then need to be localized. Because the BLE beacon broadcasts an ID, localization is based on the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI). This paper presents an approach to localize BLE beacons in the RADIO indoor environment. The robot has one BLE receiver which must be used cleverly in order to triangulate the BLE beacons position.

Rapid prototyping of a portable HW/SW co-design on the virtual zynq platform using SystemC

A virtual platform by Cadence modelling a Xilinx Zynq-7000 is used to realize an electronic control unit (ECU) in a hardware/software co-design approach. In the examples of a Cruise Control and an adaptive cruise control, parts of the ECU application can be mapped on the emulated ARM9 processor, while other parts reside in the simulated FPGA hardware surrounding the ARM cores. We propose to specify both sorts of modules in SystemC as a technique for rapid prototyping. The virtual prototype built to show the feasibility of this approach is connected to a simulated car (LabCar) for tests in a safe, yet realistic environment.

Dynamic spatially isolated secure zones for NoC-based many-core accelerators

Many-core architectures are becoming a major execution platform in order to face the increasing number of applications executed in parallel. While these architectures provide massive parallelism and high performance to the users, they also introduce key challenges in terms of security. Indeed, in order to leverage performance, a great number of applications running in parallel may share resources. A malicious application may compromise other applications sharing common resources or the whole system by directly accessing, deducing or retrieving sensitive data. This work focuses on a many-core accelerator architecture extended with mechanisms allowing the logical and spatial isolation of sensitive applications through the dynamic creation of secure zones. Each sensitive application is executed within a secure zone avoiding any resource sharing with other potentially malicious applications, preventing denial of services within the secure zones as well as confidentiality and integrity attacks. A set of services guarantying the dynamic creation and handling of spatially isolated secure zones in a many-core accelerator architecture is proposed. These services are integrated into a software controller on a many-core accelerator architecture and evaluated through virtual prototyping.

Tackling The New Health-Care Paradigm Through Service Robotics: Unobtrusive, efficient, reliable, and modular solutions for assisted-living environments.

Medical care, supported by modern technology and methods, will play an important role in our global society. An increasing average age and the need to keep standards in care lead to the introduction of several solutions often described as ambient assisted living (AAL). However, most people feel uncomfortable with these solutions, describing a sense of secret observation. To alleviate this sense of secret observation, the sensor platform is placed in clear view of the end user. This is accomplished through the involvement of robotics in this domain, and both caregivers and the patient are offered support for several tasks. The Robots in Assisted Living Environments: Unobtrusive, Efficient, Reliable, and Modular Solutions for Independent Ageing (RADIO) project targets this topic but differs from other solutions by its specific concepts, which are especially the unobtrusiveness and inclusion into home automation. This article presents the RADIO approach with its solutions for combining robotics and home automation for use in AAL environments.