12297349
Creating and using models for engineering design: a machine-learning approach
An adaptive and interactive modeling system (AIMS) that integrates simulation, optimization and machine learning to help engineers make design decisions is described. AIMS views engineering decision making as a two-phase process of creating and then using models. The competitive relation learner and the induce-and-select optimizer, AIMS's two main components, and their roles in both phases of decision-making are discussed. AIMS's role in supporting the design of a diesel engine that outputs power within the 440- to 460-kW range and consumes the least amount of fuel is also discussed.<<ETX>>
1093389
TOPS: An intelligent associate for Turning Operation Planning
This article describes the development of a new modeling environment that supports the building of intelligent associates for turning operation planning. By intelligent associates, we mean a computer-based system that allows a process planner to assert a greater degree of control during a consultation than do traditional expert systems. Intelligent associates are able to assist process planners in a colleague-like manner while solving domain tasks. They relieve routine operations while supporting creative problem-solving. Multiple levels of human experience are supported, advising and constraining inexperienced planners while providing a flexible environment for experienced planners working on new planning strategies. Several Al-based techniques have been employed in the development of this new modeling environment. The utility of this environment is demonstrated by developing a turning operation planning intelligent associate (TOPS). TOPS assists a process planner by computing interactions and checking f...
37627056
SWIFT: system workbench for integrating and facilitating teams
There have been many R&D efforts in recent years to develop computer environments that directly enhance group problem-solving productivity. An example of such efforts is the computer-based virtual teaming technology (VTT) developed at the knowledge-based Engineering Sytems Research Laboratory (KESRL). The core software environment for KESRL's VTT is called SWIFT and is based on the knowledge processing technology (KPT) previously developed at KESRL to support various engineering design tasks. SWIFT is a flexible environment which enables the rapid development of collaborative applications, linking workers in distributed environments, of many domains. The paper presents the overall system architecture of SWIFT, and introduces the current and future R&D efforts at KESRL in realizing SWIFT for significant industrial applications.<<ETX>>
28843712
Generalized Recursive Splitting Algorithms for Learning Hybrid Concepts
This paper describes the Competitive Relation Learner (CRL), a generalized recursive splitting algorithm capable of producing a wide range of hybrid concept representations through the competitive application of multiple learning strategies, multiple decomposition strategies, and multiple decomposition evaluation strategies. Experimental results are reported that demonstrate CRL's ability to outperform several well known fixed-bias strategies.
15553830
A distributed artificial intelligence approach to integrated engineering design
This paper reports the development of a computer-based integrated engineering design environment which facilitates design decision-making by providing a medium for increased communication and cooperation amongst product development participants. A refinement and constraint propagation model for product development is used within a distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) architecture to support the cooperative design effort. Within such an environment, product and process designers can integrate the recommendations and expertise of all product development concerns as early as possible within the design-cycle. Our prototype system, ENVIED (Environment for Integrated Engineering Design), provides a domain-independent framework for human designers, artificial intelligence systems, and traditional software systems to cooperatively perform product and process design.
24216233
CAQ: A machine learning tool for engineering
Abstract Machine learning algorithms developed from artificial intelligence (AI) research are rapidly finding useful applications in engineering domains. They are joining a family of tools that can help engineers summarize (or synthesize) massive amounts of data to support decision making. Traditional tools in this family, such as various statistical-based techniques, deal mostly with continuous (real) valued attributes — their results are relatively accurate, but often hard to interpret. On the other hand, logic-based learning tools, such as Michalski's AQ series of programs for learning concepts from examples, deal only with discrete valued attributes — their results are easier to comprehend, but not accurate for engineering applications which rarely deal solely with discrete valued attributes. Ideally, engineers need algorithms that work with a mix of attributes including those that take continuous values and those that take discrete values. Engineering problems also demand that learning algorithms be able to handle noise and produce concepts that are comprehensible. CAQ (Continuous AQ) is an algorithm designed to meet engineering requirements. This paper explains how CAQ combines continuous and discrete values, and shows that handling continuous attributes as real numbers instead of forcing them into a discrete representation leads to more efficient concept formation. Data from a turning process simulator used in support of machine operation planning in manufacturing are used to demonstrate the new algorithm.
23906830
PEAS: a robust energy conserving protocol for long-lived sensor networks
Small, inexpensive sensors with limited memory, computing power and short battery lifetimes are turning into reality. Due to adverse conditions such as high noise levels, extreme humidity or temperatures, or even destructions from unfriendly entities, sensor node failures may become norms rather than exceptions in real environments. To be practical, sensor networks must last for much longer times than that of individual nodes, and have yet to be robust against potentially frequent node failures. This paper presents the design of PEAS, a simple protocol that can build a long-lived sensor network and maintain robust operations using large quantities of economical, short-lived sensor nodes. PEAS extends system functioning time by keeping only a necessary set of sensors working and putting the rest into sleep mode. Sleeping ones wake up now and then, probing the local environment and replacing failed ones. The sleeping periods are self-adjusted dynamically, so as to keep the sensors' wakeup rate roughly constant, thus adapting to high node densities.
1924192
The impact of multihop wireless channel on TCP throughput and loss
This paper studies TCP performance over multihop wireless networks that use the IEEE 802.11 protocol as the access method. Our analysis and simulations show that, given a specific network topology and flow patterns, there exists a TCP window size W*, at which TCP achieves best throughput via improved spatial channel reuse. However, TCP does not operate around W*, and typically grows its average window size much larger; this leads to decreased throughput and increased packet loss. The TCP throughput reduction can be explained by its loss behavior. Our results show that network overload is mainly signified by wireless link contention in multihop wireless networks. As long as the buffer size at each node is reasonably large (say, larger than 10 packets), buffer overflow-induced packet loss is rare and packet drops due to link-layer contention dominate. Link-layer drops offer the first sign for network overload. We further show that multihop wireless links collectively exhibit graceful drop behavior: as the offered load increases, the link contention drop probability also increases, but saturates eventually. In general, the link drop probability is insufficient to stabilize the average TCP window size around W*. Consequently, TCP suffers from reduced throughput due to reduced spatial reuse. We further propose two techniques, link RED and adaptive pacing, through which we are able to improve TCP throughput by 5% to 30% in various simulated topologies. Some simulation results are also validated by real hardware experiments.
16187298
DIRAC: a software-based wireless router system
Routers are expected to play an important role in the IP-based wireless data network. Although a substantial number of techniques have been proposed to improve wireless network performance under dynamic wireless channel conditions and host mobility, a system support framework is still missing. In this paper, we describe DIRAC, a software-based router system that is designed for wireless networks to facilitate the implementation and evaluation of various channel-adaptive and mobility-aware protocols. DIRAC adopts a distributed architecture that is composed of two parts: a Router Core (RC) shared by the wireless subnets, and a Router Agent (RA) at each access point/base station. RAs expose wireless link-layer information to the RC and enforce the control commands issued by the RC. This approach allows the router to make adaptive decisions based on link-layer information feedback. It also permits the router to enforce its policies (e.g., policing) more effectively through underlying link-layer mechanisms. As showcases, we implement under DIRAC the prototypes of three wireless network services: link-layer assisted fast handover, channel-adaptive scheduling, and link-layer enforced policing. Our implementation and experiments show that our distributed wireless router provides a flexible framework, which enables advanced network-layer wireless services that are adaptive to channel conditions and host mobility.
6254225
Adaptive Quality of Service Support for Packet-Switched Wireless Cellular Networks
In this paper, we propose an adaptive quality of service (QoS) design approach via resource reservation and rate adaptation to support multimedia over wireless cellular networks. Three contributions of this work are: (a) an adaptive QoS model that seeks to provide QoS assurances within bounds for each packet flow and to make advance resource reservation in order to support seamless mobility, (b) a revenue-based resource adaptation design that seeks to maximize network revenue while satisfying the QoS requirements, and (c) a resource reservation protocol that supports both application-initiated resource reservation and network-initiated resource adaptation. Our initial implementation and measurements confirm the effectiveness of the proposed design.
14619760
A New Inlining Algorithm for Mapping XML DTDs to Relational Schemas
XML is rapidly emerging on the World Wide Web as a standard for representing and exchanging data. It is critical to have efficient mechanisms to store and query XML documents to exploit the full power of this new technology. While one approach is to develop native XML repositories that support XML data models and query languages directly, the other approach is to take advantage of the mature technologies that are provided by current relational or object-relational DBMSs. There is active research along both approaches and it is still not clear which one is better than the other. We continue our effort on the second approach. In particular, we have developed an efficient algorithm which takes an XML DTD as input and produces a relational schema as output for storing and querying XML documents conforming to the input DTD. Our algorithm features several significant improvements over the shared-inlining algorithm including overcoming its incompleteness, eliminating redundancies caused by shared elements, performing optimizations and enhancing efficiency.