DRAMA: A framework for domain requirements analysis and modeling architectures in software product lines

One of the benefits of software product line approach is to improve time-to-market. The changes in market needs cause software requirements to be flexible in product lines. Whenever software requirements are changed, software architecture should be evolved to correspond with them. Therefore, domain architecture should be designed based on domain requirements. It is essential that there is traceability between requirements and architecture, and that the structure of architecture is derived from quality requirements. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for modeling domain architecture based on domain requirements within product lines. In particular, we focus on the traceable relationship between requirements and architectural structures. Our framework consists of processes, methods, and a supporting tool. It uses four basic concepts, namely, goal based domain requirements analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process, Matrix technique, and architecture styles. Our approach is illustrated using HIS (Home Integration System) product line. Finally, industrial examples are used to validate DRAMA.     

Continuous collision detection for adaptive simulation of articulated bodies

We perform continuous collision detection (CCD) for articulated bodies where motion is governed by an adaptive dynamics simulation. Our algorithm is based on a novel hierarchical set of transforms that represent the kinematics of an articulated body recursively, as described by an assembly tree. The performance of our CCD algorithm significantly improves as the number of active degrees of freedom in the simulation decreases.     

Zoned-partitioning of tree-like access methods

The performance of access methods and the underlying disk system is a significant factor in determining the performance of database applications, especially with large sets of data. While modern hard disks are manufactured with multiple physical zones, where seek times and data transfer rates vary significantly across the zones, there has been little consideration of this important disk characteristic in designing access methods (indexing schemes). Instead, conventional access methods have been developed based on a traditional disk model that comes with many simplifying assumptions such as an average seek time and a single data transfer rate. The paper proposes novel partitioning techniques that can be applied to any tree-like access methods, both dynamic and static, fully utilizing zoning characteristics of hard disks. The index pages are allocated to disk zones in such a way that more frequently accessed index pages are stored in a faster disk zone. On top of the zoned data placement, a localized query processing technique is proposed to significantly improve the query performance by reducing page retrieval times from the hard disk.     

A simulation-based heuristic algorithm for disposition of direction finders

A direction finder is a military weapon that is used to find locations of targets that emit radio frequencies. Multiple direction finders are used in a direction finder system for finding locations of targets in an area of interest. We present a two-stage heuristic algorithm for disposing direction finders in a direction finder system for the objective of maximizing the accuracy of estimation of the location of a target that is assumed to be located in the area of interest. In the suggested heuristic algorithm, a simulation-based method is used for estimating the probability of coverage, the probability that a target is in a given region (of a given size) surrounding the estimated location of the target, and another simulation-based method and a local search method are used to determine locations of direction finders that result in the maximum probability of coverage. Performance of the suggested algorithm is evaluated through computational experiments and results show that the algorithm gives a good disposition plan in a reasonable amount of computation time.     

Computer-aided measurement plan for an impeller on a coordinate measurement machine with a rotating and tilting probe

This paper presents a computer-aided measurement plan (CAMP) for an impeller on a coordinate measurement machine (CMM) with a rotating/tilting probe. The blade surfaces of a machined impeller were measured exactly to secure the machining tolerance and surface finish of the impeller. CMM with a rotating and tilting probe is commonly used for this measurement. However, it is not easy to evaluate all the points on the impeller surfaces due to the time-consuming nature of the CMM measurement. In addition, many points cannot be easily accessed by the CMM probe due to the interference between the probe and the impeller blades. Furthermore, the inherent complexity of the existing teaching operation of a probe using a joystick suggests the necessity of developing a new method for the measurement planning of an impeller. Thus, this paper proposes a CAMP for effectively gauging the inspection points based on the ruled line information of the impeller blade surfaces. The proposed plan partitions the surfaces into several measurement regions based on the ruled lines of a blade surface and the approach vectors of the probe. Finally, a case example for an impeller is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.     

Guest Editors' Introduction: The Evolution of RFIC Design and Test

There are several challenges facing RFIC design and test. The demand in the wireless market will drive RFIC products. For RFIC chipsets, improvements are needed for the elimination of passive components, better integrated passives, power reduction, modeling of devices and interconnects, packaging, and cost-effective testing. However, this innovation cannot come at the cost of time to market for new products. Also, development costs must be driven to a minimum, as average selling prices for RFICs remain flat or decline. Moreover, one of the biggest challenges in moving from low GHz to higher frequencies is the lack of integration between the production testing infrastructure, EDA tools, and device designs. Advancements in device and test equipment modeling and simulation technology are beginning to bridge this gap. Finally, RF measurement requires specialized capital equipment investments and highly skilled engineers with many years of experience. This special issue on design and test of RFIC chips describes some of these challenges and proposes some interesting solutions.     

Factors affecting the implementation of electronic data interchange in Korea

Although there have been a number of studies of the determinant factors of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) implementation, most studies were carried out in the United States or Europe. The purpose of this study is to identify the determinant factors which affect implementation of EDI systems by Korean companies. Decentralization, EDI standards, technical compatibility, technical support by EDI vendors, education and training and participation of trading partners positively affect the extent of EDI usage. Formalization, technical compatibility, user involvement and participation of trading partners affect EDI integration with internal applications. Top management support and the participation of trading partners promote the extent of EDI operations. This study provides evidence of the effect of important determinant factors such as participation of trading partners and technical compatibility replicating previous EDI studies conducted in that US and Europe. For policy makers ad EDI developers, this study provides insights as to appropriate measures and incentives system designed to encourage EDI and B2B implementation.     

Detailed Real-Time Urban 3D Reconstruction from Video

The paper presents a system for automatic, geo-registered, real-time 3D reconstruction from video of urban scenes. The system collects video streams, as well as GPS and inertia measurements in order to place the reconstructed models in geo-registered coordinates. It is designed using current state of the art real-time modules for all processing steps. It employs commodity graphics hardware and standard CPU’s to achieve real-time performance. We present the main considerations in designing the system and the steps of the processing pipeline. Our system extends existing algorithms to meet the robustness and variability necessary to operate out of the lab. To account for the large dynamic range of outdoor videos the processing pipeline estimates global camera gain changes in the feature tracking stage and efficiently compensates for these in stereo estimation without impacting the real-time performance. The required accuracy for many applications is achieved with a two-step stereo reconstruction process exploiting the redundancy across frames. We show results on real video sequences comprising hundreds of thousands of frames.     

Asynchronous action-reward learning for nonstationary serial supply chain inventory control

Action-reward learning is a reinforcement learning method. In this machine learning approach, an agent interacts with non-deterministic control domain. The agent selects actions at decision epochs and the control domain gives rise to rewards with which the performance measures of the actions are updated. The objective of the agent is to select the future best actions based on the updated performance measures. In this paper, we develop an asynchronous action-reward learning model which updates the performance measures of actions faster than conventional action-reward learning. This learning model is suitable to apply to nonstationary control domain where the rewards for actions vary over time. Based on the asynchronous action-reward learning, two situation reactive inventory control models (centralized and decentralized models) are proposed for a two-stage serial supply chain with nonstationary customer demand. A simulation based experiment was performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed two models. Chang Ouk Kim received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue University in 1996 and his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Korea University, Republic of Korea in 1988 and 1990, respectively. From 1998--2001, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering at Myongji University, Republic of Korea. In 2002, he joined the Department of Information and Industrial Engineering at Yonsei University, Republic of Korea and is now an associate professor. He has published more than 30 articles at international journals. He is currently working on applications of artificial intelligence and adaptive control theory in supply chain management, RFID based logistics information system design, and advanced process control in semiconductor manufacturing. Ick-Hyun Kwon is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Previous to this position, Dr. Kwon was a research assistant professor in the Research Institute for Information and Communication Technology at Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from Korea University, in 1998, 2000, and 2006, respectively. His current research interests are supply chain management, inventory control, production planning and scheduling. Jun-Geol Baek is an assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration at Kwangwoon University, Seoul, Korea. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from Korea University, Seoul, Korea, in 1993, 1995, and 2001 respectively. From March 2002 to February 2007, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering at Induk Institute of Technology, Seoul, Korea. His research interests include machine learning, data mining, intelligent machine diagnosis, and ubiquitous logistics information systems. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Optimal infinite scheduling for multi-priced timed automata

This paper is concerned with the derivation of infinite schedules for timed automata that are in some sense optimal. To cover a wide class of optimality criteria we start out by introducing an extension of the (priced) timed automata model that includes both costs and rewards as separate modelling features. A precise definition is then given of what constitutes optimal infinite behaviours for this class of models. We subsequently show that the derivation of optimal non-terminating schedules for such double-priced timed automata is computable. This is done by a reduction of the problem to the determination of optimal mean-cycles in finite graphs with weighted edges. This reduction is obtained by introducing the so-called corner-point abstraction, a powerful abstraction technique of which we show that it preserves optimal schedules. This work has been mostly done while visiting CISS at Aalborg University in Denmark and has been supported by CISS and by ACI Cortos, a program of the French Ministry of Research.