BEARS Hot Topics 2013

February 14, 2013 EECS, University of California, Berkeley—The annual EECS status update focused on cloud and computer-based functions, and a number of grad-students presented elevator-pitch information on some of the specific activities in those research centers.

Matei Zaharai from the AMP (Algorithms, Machines, and People) Lab noted that big data needs more types of analysis, especially for large clusters. SPARK uses a simple programming model for distributed data and can address a resilient and distributed data set. One ideal is to make big data interactive.

Andrew Gearhart from ASPIRE (Algorithms and Specializers for Provably-optimal Implementations with Resiliency and Efficiency) described their efforts as an extension of the work from the Par (Parallel Computing Lab). They are analyzing algorithms for energy efficiency and trying to find lower bounds on communications. The gap between on- and off-chip communications affects run times and energy models.

Reginold Rayston from BCNM (Berkeley Center for New Media), a part of CITRIS, talked about bringing art, engineering, and social science together. His project is looking at the technology flows associated with the African diaspora. Technology adoption varies, but a lot of innovative apps are emerging including mobile payments. The leading-edge adopters are the activist-developers who are now winning apps competitions and helping technology transform democracy.

Fabien Chrain from BWRC-Swarm Lab (Berkeley Wireless Research Center) presented wireless sensing apps. At Chevron, they implemented a “smart” fence that has multiple sensors embedded to test for sequestered hydrocarbons. The solar and H2S sensors detect leaks and other chemical components in the air. They have sensors in the valves to monitor position and pressure, and will add vibration sensing for motor diagnostics.

Jaishu Chen also from BWRC detailed their work on mm wave applications. They have a 1-chip radio with a class A power amplifier for the transmitter. Digital quadrature spacial combining allows for separate I and Q signals with minimal insertion loss and I-Q crosstalk. A beam-forming antenna helps to improve signal power.

Chris Shaver from CHESS (Center for Hybrid and Embedded Software Systems) is evaluating the changing models for compute and the increasing integration of heterogeneous systems. Interoperability of the programs is a big issue, so they are working on Ptolemy II to get an actor-oriented hierarchical model. Actors include I/O, state, function, and directors for channels and synchronizers.

Valkyrie Savage from CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) commented on prototyping in the invention lab. Invention in high technology is greatly enhanced by the cloud for cheap computer and personal technology. The Invention Lab is a prototyping space for ME and EE students with essential lab facilities and equipment. A critical making class in the lab is changing the inputs and outputs of the system towards prototyping and innovation. The lab allows engineers to change to use a camera and analysis versus building controllers.

Mehdi Masoumy from CREST (Center for Research in energy Systems Transformation) offered the integration of subsystems for greater energy efficiency. The indicators for climate change and increasing populations, especially in the tropics, shows a need to merge separate programs. Energy in smart tropical buildings need building models to implement instrumented buildings and generate data to improve the control functions through optimizations and feedback loops.

Arlo Faria from the ICSI (International Computer Science Institute) is working on speech technologies for speech recognition and other voice functions. Speaker recognition can benefit from hidden Markov models with embedded flaws. One architecture of interest is neural networks. The goal is to have robust recognition in noisy environments with significant signal degradation. The underlying principles will look towards brain correlations.

Serge Egelman from SCRUB ( Secure Computing Research for Users’ Benefit) investigates security issues. The growing mobile environment is overloaded with permissions, but not all of these are useable for security and apps. Users habituate and mostly are unqualified to make security decisions. A better flow is to eliminate all unnecessary permissions, guard against security breaches, and issue warnings when necessary. This change will reduce the number of requested permissions, and change the user from unaware to only needing decisions when relevant permissions need granting. Issues like liability and filtering audit recommendations will require a new vocabulary system.

Mario Frank from SCRUB showed how a touch screen can be used as a behavioral biometric for authentication. Most forms of authentication like passwords are intrusive on the compute experience. Extracting touch stroke features over 30 parameters like start-end points, pressure, etc. can provide significant accuracy after about 10 strokes. Accuracy improves by integrating over time. Applications include theft detection and user authentication.

Andrew Krioukov from the Software-Defined Buildings is making a building operating system to connect buildings layers and sensor networks. The OS will provide data and control and can handle over 6 k sense and control lines within Dai Hall. The challenge is that all buildings are custom, so there is a need to develop a portable and interoperable model that can interface to any sensor network. This is akin to an assembly language for a building.