An efficient IP address lookup algorithm based on a small balanced tree using entry reduction

Due to a tremendous increase in internet traffic, backbone routers must have the capability to forward massive incoming packets at several gigabits per second. IP address lookup is one of the most challenging tasks for high-speed packet forwarding. Some high-end routers have been implemented with hardware parallelism using ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). However, TCAM is much more expensive in terms of circuit complexity as well as power consumption. Therefore, efficient algorithmic solutions are essentially required to be implemented using network processors as low cost solutions.Among the state-of-the-art algorithms for IP address lookup, a binary search based on a balanced tree is effective in providing a low-cost solution. In order to construct a balanced search tree, the prefixes with the nesting relationship should be converted into completely disjointed prefixes. A leaf-pushing technique is very useful to eliminate the nesting relationship among prefixes [V. Srinivasan, G. Varghese, Fast address lookups using controlled prefix expansion, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 17 (1) (1999) 1-40]. However, it creates duplicate prefixes, thus expanding the search tree.This paper proposes an efficient IP address lookup algorithm based on a small balanced tree using entry reduction. The leaf-pushing technique is used for creating the completely disjointed entries. In the leaf-pushed prefixes, there are numerous pairs of adjacent prefixes with similarities in prefix strings and output ports. The number of entries can be significantly reduced by the use of a new entry reduction method which merges pairs with these similar prefixes. After sorting the reduced disjointed entries, a small balanced tree is constructed with a very small node size. Based on this small balanced tree, a native binary search can be effectively used in address lookup issue. In addition, we propose a new multi-way search algorithm to improve a binary search for IPv4 address lookup. As a result, the proposed algorithms offer excellent lookup performance along with reduced memory requirements. Besides, these provide good scalability for large amounts of routing data and for the address migration toward IPv6. Using both various IPv4 and IPv6 routing data, the performance evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms have better performance in terms of lookup speed, memory requirement and scalability for the growth of entries and IPv6, as compared with other algorithms based on a binary search.     

An on-line learning neural controller for helicopters performing highly nonlinear maneuvers

This paper presents an on-line learning adaptive neural control scheme for helicopters performing highly nonlinear maneuvers. The online learning adaptive neural controller compensates the nonlinearities in the system and uncertainties in the modeling of the dynamics to provide the desired performance. The control strategy uses a neural controller aiding an existing conventional controller. The neural controller is based on a online learning dynamic radial basis function network, which uses a Lyapunov based on-line parameter update rule integrated with a neuron growth and pruning criteria. The online learning dynamic radial basis function network does not require a priori training and also it develops a compact network for implementation. The proposed adaptive law provides necessary global stability and better tracking performance. Simulation studies have been carried-out using a nonlinear (desktop) simulation model similar to that of a BO105 helicopter. The performances of the proposed adaptive controller clearly shows that it is very effective when the helicopter is performing highly nonlinear maneuvers. Finally, the robustness of the controller has been evaluated using the attitude quickness parameters (handling quality index) at different speed and flight conditions. The results indicate that the proposed online learning neural controller adapts faster and provides the necessary tracking performance for the helicopter executing highly nonlinear maneuvers.     

Nodal ant colony optimization for solving profit based unit commitment problem for GENCOs

This paper proposes a nodal ant colony optimization (NACO) technique to solve profit based unit commitment problem (PBUCP). Generation companies (GENCOs) in a competitive restructured power market, schedule their generators with an objective to maximize their own profit without any regard for system social benefit. Power and reserve prices become important factors in decision process. Ant colony optimization that mimics the behavior of ants foraging activities is suitably implemented to search the UCP search space. Here a search space consisting of optimal combination of binary nodes for unit ON/OFF status is represented for the movement of the ants to maintain good exploration and exploitation search capabilities. The proposed model help GENCOs to make decisions on the quantity of power and reserve that must be put up for sale in the markets and also to schedule generators in order to receive the maximum profit. The effectiveness of the proposed technique for PBUCP is validated on 10 and 36 generating unit systems available in the literature. NACO yields an increase of profit, greater than 1.5%, in comparison with the basic ACO, Muller method and hybrid LR-GA.     

Output controllability and optimal output control of state-dependent switched Boolean control networks

In the present paper, we investigate the output-controllability and optimal output control problems of a state-dependent switched Boolean control network. By using the semi-tensor product, the algebraic form of the system is obtained. Then, output-controllability problems of the system are discussed and some necessary and sufficient conditions are given. Next, the Mayer-type optimal output control issue is considered and an algorithm is provided to find out the control sequence. At last, an example is given to show the effectiveness of the main results.     

Synthesis and properties of N,N'-unsymmetrical dialkyl-3,4:9,10-perylenebis(dicarboximide)s

N,N'- Unsymmetrical dialkyl-3,4:9,10-perylenebis(dicarboximide)s (in which alkyl = methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, isobutyl, pentyl, hexyl and octyl) were prepared by the condensation of N-alkyl-3,4:9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic monoanhydride monoimide with the appropriate alkyl-amines. The properties of these derivatives as pigments were tested and their thermal stability measured.     

HEGM: A hierarchical elastic graph matching for hand gesture recognition

A hierarchical scheme for elastic graph matching applied to hand gesture recognition is proposed. The proposed algorithm exploits the relative discriminatory capabilities of visual features scattered on the images, assigning the corresponding weights to each feature. A boosting algorithm is used to determine the structure of the hierarchy of a given graph. The graph is expressed by annotating the nodes of interest over the target object to form a bunch graph. Three annotation techniques, manual, semi-automatic, and automatic annotation are used to determine the position of the nodes. The scheme and the annotation approaches are applied to explore the hand gesture recognition performance. A number of filter banks are applied to hand gestures images to investigate the effect of using different feature representation approaches. Experimental results show that the hierarchical elastic graph matching (HEGM) approach classified the hand posture with a gesture recognition accuracy of 99.85% when visual features were extracted by utilizing the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) representation. The results also provide the performance measures from the aspect of recognition accuracy to matching benefits, node positions correlation and consistency on three annotation approaches, showing that the semi-automatic annotation method is more efficient and accurate than the other two methods.     

3D fingerprint reconstruction system using feature correspondences and prior estimated finger model

The paper studies a 3D fingerprint reconstruction technique based on multi-view touchless fingerprint images. This technique offers a solution for 3D fingerprint image generation and application when only multi-view 2D images are available. However, the difficulties and stresses of 3D fingerprint reconstruction are the establishment of feature correspondences based on 2D touchless fingerprint images and the estimation of the finger shape model. In this paper, several popular used features, such as scale invariant feature transformation (SIFT) feature, ridge feature and minutiae, are employed for correspondences establishment. To extract these fingerprint features accurately, an improved fingerprint enhancement method has been proposed by polishing orientation and ridge frequency maps according to the characteristics of 2D touchless fingerprint images. Therefore, correspondences can be established by adopting hierarchical fingerprint matching approaches. Through an analysis of 440 3D point cloud finger data (220 fingers, 2 pictures each) collected by a 3D scanning technique, i.e., the structured light illumination (SLI) method, the finger shape model is estimated. It is found that the binary quadratic function is more suitable for the finger shape model than the other mixed model tested in this paper. In our experiments, the reconstruction accuracy is illustrated by constructing a cylinder. Furthermore, results obtained from different fingerprint feature correspondences are analyzed and compared to show which features are more suitable for 3D fingerprint images generation.     

Gravity optimised particle filter for hand tracking

This paper presents a gravity optimised particle filter (GOPF) where the magnitude of the gravitational force for every particle is proportional to its weight. GOPF attracts nearby particles and replicates new particles as if moving the particles towards the peak of the likelihood distribution, improving the sampling efficiency. GOPF is incorporated into a technique for hand features tracking. A fast approach to hand features detection and labelling using convexity defects is also presented. Experimental results show that GOPF outperforms the standard particle filter and its variants, as well as state-of-the-art CamShift guided particle filter using a significantly reduced number of particles.     

A GPU-based parallel method for evolutionary tree construction

Evolutionary trees are widely applied in various applications to show the inferred evolutionary relationships among species or entities. Neighbor-Joining is one solution for data-intensive and time-consuming evolutionary tree construction, with polynomial time complexity. However, its performance becomes poorer with the growth of massive datasets. Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have brought about new opportunities for these time-consuming applications. Based on its high efficiency, a GPU-based parallel Neighbor-Joining method is proposed, and two efficient parallel mechanisms, data segmentation with asynchronous processing and the minimal chain model with bitonic sort, are put forward to speed up the processing. The experimental results show that an average speedup of 25.1 is achieved and even approximately 30 can be obtained with a sequence dataset ranging from 16,000 to 25,000. Moreover, the proposed parallel mechanisms can be effectively exploited in some other high performance applications.