47328768
Effective iterative techniques for fingerprinting design IP
Fingerprinting is an approach that assigns a unique and invisible ID to each sold instance of the intellectual property (IP). One of the key advantages fingerprinting-based intellectual property protection (IPP) has over watermarking-based IPP is the enabling of tracing stolen hardware or software. Fingerprinting schemes have been widely and effectively used to achieve this goal; however, their application domain has been restricted only to static artifacts, such as image and audio, where distinct copies can be obtained easily. In this paper, we propose the first generic fingerprinting technique that can be applied to an arbitrary synthesis (optimization or decision) or compilation problem and, therefore to hardware and software IPs. The key problem with design IP fingerprinting is that there is a need to generate a large number of structurally unique but functionally and timing identical designs. To reduce the cost of generating such distinct copies, we apply iterative optimization in an incremental fashion to solve a fingerprinted instance. Therefore, we leverage on the optimization effort already spent in obtaining previous solutions, yet we generate a uniquely fingerprinted new solution. This generic approach is the basis for developing specific fingerprinting techniques for four important problems in VLSI CAD: partitioning, graph coloring, satisfiability, and standard-cell placement. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new fingerprinting-based IPP techniques on a number of standard benchmarks.
1221107
A probabilistic constructive approach to optimization problems
We propose a new optimization paradigm for solving intractable combinatorial problems. The technique, named Probabilistic Constructive (PC), combines the advantages of both constructive and probabilistic algorithms. The constructive aspect provides relatively short runtime and makes the technique amenable for the inclusion of insights through heuristic rules. The probabilistic nature facilitates a flexible trade-off between runtime and the quality of solution. In addition to presenting the generic technique, we apply it to the Maximal Independent Set problem. Extensive experimentation indicates that the new approach provides very attractive trade-offs between the quality of the solution and runtime, often outperforming the best previously published approaches.
195861616
Optimization-intensive watermarking techniques for decision problems
Recently, a number of watermarking-based intellectual property protection techniques have been proposed. Although they have been applied to different stages in the design process and have a great variety of technical and theoretical features, all of them share two common properties: they all have been applied solely to optimization problems and do not involve any optimization during the watermarking process. In this paper we propose the first set of optimization-intensive watermarking techniques for decision problems. In particular we demonstrate how one can select a subset of superimposed watermarking constraints so that the uniqueness of the signature and the likelihood of satisfying an instance of the satisfiability problem are simultaneously maximized. We have developed three watermarking SAT techniques: adding clauses, deleting literals, push-out and pull-back. Each technique targets different types of signature induced constraint superimposition on an instance of the SAT problem. In addition to comprehensive experimental validation, we theoretically analyze the potentials and limitations of the proposed watermarking techniques. Furthermore, we analyze the three proposed optimization-intensive watermarking SAT techniques in terms of their suitability for copy detection.
2985827
Flexible ASIC: shared masking for multiple media processors
ASIC provides more than an order of magnitude advantage in terms of density, speed, and power requirement per gate. However, economic (cost of masks) and technological (deep micron manufacturability) trends favor FPGA as an implementation platform. In order to combine the advantages of both platforms and alleviate their disadvantages, recently a number of approaches, such as structured ASIC/regular fabrics, have been proposed. Our goal is to introduce an approach that has the same objective, but is orthogonal to those already proposed. The idea is to implement several ASIC designs in such a way that they share the datapath, memory structure, and several bottom layers of interconnect, while each design has only a few unique metal layers. We identified and addressed two main problems in our quest to develop a CAD flow for realization of such designs. They are: (i) the creation of the datapath, and (ii) the identification of common and unique interconnect for each design. Both problems are solved optimally using ILP formulations. We assembled a design flow platform using two new programs and the Trimaran and Shade tools. We quantitatively analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the approach using the Mediabench benchmark suite.
1973000
Gateway placement for latency and energy efficient data aggregation [wireless sensor networks]
We propose the use of multiple gateways to significantly reduce latency and energy consumption in multi-hop wireless sensor networks during data aggregation. We have derived efficient integer linear programming formulations as well as a novel negative selection statistically-tuned heuristics. The heuristics are based on newly developed relaxation based lower bounds that are also used to quantify the effectiveness of the proposed heuristics. Our simulation study indicates that the use of gateways can often reduce latency and energy consumption by several times.
1532971
Relative Generic Computational Forensic Techniques
Computational forensic engineering is the process of identification of the tool or algorithm that was used to produce a particular output or solution by examining the structural properties of the output. We introduce a new Relative Generic Forensic Engineering (RGFE) technique that has several advantages over the previously proposed approaches. The new RGFE technique not only performs more accurate identification of the tool used but also provides the identification with a level of confidence. Additionally, we introduce a generic formulation (integer linear programming formulation) which enables rapid application of the RGFE approach to a variety of problems that can be formulated as 0-1 integer linear programs. 
 
The key innovations of the RGFE technique include the development of a simulated annealing-based (SA) CART classification technique and a generic property formulation technique that facilitates property reuse. We introduce instance properties which enable an enhanced classification of problem instances leading to a higher accuracy of algorithm identification. Finally, the single most important innovation, property calibration, interprets the value for a given algorithm for a given property relative to the values for other algorithms. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the RGFE technique on the boolean satisfiability (SAT) and graph coloring (GC) problems.
271858
Providing scalable on-demand video services for heterogeneous receivers
To provide scalable video-on-demand services, precious system bandwidth must be shared among video requests. Although many efficient bandwidth-sharing techniques have been proposed, they are all designed for homogeneous receivers, i.e., the clients are assumed to have the same receiving bandwidth. For networks with client heterogeneity, these techniques either cannot work or have to compromise their performance. In this paper, we address this problem and propose an efficient solution allowing each client to use its whole receiving bandwidth to download data. To serve a client, the server first selects a set of serving channels for the client according to its actual receiving bandwidth. The video data needed for this client are then scheduled and dynamically adjusted for delivery over these channels. We evaluate the performance of the new technique using simulation and compare it with an existing scheme. Our study shows that by effectively leveraging client heterogeneity, the new technique achieves significantly smaller service latency
1948833
Synchronization of Distributed Simulation Using Broadcast Algorithms
Abstract Simulation, particularly of networks of queues, is an application with a high degree of inherent parallelism, and is of considerable practical interest. We continue the analysis of synchronization methods for distributed simulation, defined by the taxonomy in our previous paper. Specifically, we develop algorithms for time-driven simulation using a network of processors. For most of the synchronization methods considered, each node k of an n-node network simulation cannot proceed directly with its part of a simulation. Rather, it must compute some function Bk(ν1, ν2, …, νn), where νi is some value which must be obtained from node i. The value of νi at each node changes as the simulation progresses, and must be broadcast to every other node for the recomputation of the B-functions. In some cases, it is advantageous to compute the B-function in a distributed manner. Broadcast algorithms for such distributed computation are presented. Since the performance of a broadcast algorithm depends on the properties of the inter-process communication facility, we characterize some particular cases and give algorithms for each of them.
33903019
The Design of Teletext Broadcast Cycles
Abstract Teletext is a one-way picture information system where pages of information are broadcast to all users in a continuous manner. System response time is an important consideration in designing teletext systems. Factors contributing to system response time include transmission speeds, amount of processing required at user terminals, and efficiency of picture encoding procedures. As important is the design of the teletext broadcast cycle, i.e., the order of pages to be broadcast in a cyclic manner. In this paper, we first derive a formula for the mean response time of a given cycle and a lower bound for the mean response time for any cycle. Next we present a design procedure that yields a cycle with mean response time close to the theoretical lower bound. The use of the results of this paper is demonstrated through a numerical example.
2757003
Autonomic Resource Management for a Cluster that Executes Batch Jobs
Dynamic resource allocation in a server cluster has received much attention in recent years. We have developed heuristic algorithms for autonomic server provisioning for a cluster that executes batch jobs. These jobs have a common, or shared, completion deadline. External factors that may affect the decision to allocate servers are modeled as a time-varying cost function. The provisioning goal is to ensure that all jobs are completed on time while minimizing the total cost of server usage. Two heuristic algorithms which adapt to changing workload are presented. The merit of these algorithms is evaluated by simulation. Our results show that the proposed algorithms can successfully use fewer servers during the high cost period while ensuring that all jobs meet their deadline. They also perform far better than static server allocation
8573370
Core selection with end-to-end QoS support
Core-based routing with Quality of Service (QoS) support is essential to facilitate multi-sender multimedia multicast applications such as video conferencing and virtual collaboration applications. In this paper, we introduce (i) a new application-level service class framework that allows group members to easily indicate their desired service quality and (ii) the use of as many cores per group as necessary in corebased routing to maximize the number of group members with satisfied QoS requirements. Under the service class framework, we formulate the novel core selection problem that selects as many cores as necessary while maximizing the number of satisfied group members. We propose a new core selection algorithm to address the problem and provide a complete core selection protocol using the algorithm. Experimental results show that our core selection algorithm performs as well as the optimal algorithm and significantly outperforms a recent core selection algorithm with QoS support using a single core.