266 research outputs found
A critical comparison of approaches to resource name management within the IEC common information model
No full textCopyright @ 2012 IEEEElectricity network resources are frequently identified within different power systems by inhomogeneous names and identities due to the legacy of their administration by different utility business domains. The IEC 61970 Common Information Model (CIM) enables network modeling to reflect the reality of multiple names for unique network resources. However this issue presents a serious challenge to the integrity of a shared CIM repository that has the task of maintaining a resource manifest, linking network resources to master identities, when unique network resources may have multiple names and identities derived from different power system models and other power system applications. The current approach, using CIM 15, is to manage multiple resource names within a singular CIM namespace utilizing the CIM “IdentifiedObject” and “Name” classes. We compare this approach to one using additional namespaces relating to different power systems, similar to the practice used in CIM extensions, in order to more clearly identify the genealogy of a network resource, provide faster model import times and a simpler means of supporting the relationship between multiple resource names and identities and a master resource identity.This study is supported by the UK National Grid and Brunel University
A practice based learning environment for engineering students: Acquiring competencies for working on advanced manufacturing engineering
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In this thesis the author describes the design and operation of a learning environment aimed at imparting technical, technological and managerial knowledge, developing understanding of the underlying issues and enhancing team work skills for an advanced technology future. He offers an analysis of learning, education and training and compares group work with individual tasks, presents a major case study and illustrates the features which distinguish the approach from role play, simulation and experiential learning. When staff at Brunel University were faced with the problem of teaching Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) to engineering students on thin sandwich type undergraduate degree programmes the writer suggested the use of an approach he would later describe as 'practice based learning' or 'real life simulation'. The fourth year course in CIM is designed as a double option for the complementary undergraduate courses, Brunel Manufacturing Engineering (BME) and Special Engineering Programmes (SEP). It is an extension of the Manufacturing Design and Practice course in years one to three of the BME course and of the Design strand on SEP, both of which restrict students' work to the use of individual machine tools and stand alone computing facilities. A wide range of teaching methods is used on the CIM course, including lectures by course staff, presentations by experts and, as the major element, a large group project involving all the students on the course, organised in a management matrix, coordinated by the students and supported by the staff acting as experts. The students also undertake assignment work alongside the technical tasks, to focus their thinking and to improve written communication skills. While the course described cannot replace more than a small proportion of the more conventional lecture, laboratory and tutorial teaching on an engineering programme, it provides a setting where students can experiment and learn about their own strengths and weaknesses in a realistic situation and in the context of teamwork. It also offers a space where they can make quite serious mistakes without direct consequences to their careers. The experience of seven years leads the author to believe that advanced manufacturing technologies and the associated management techniques should be taught in a project based environment with clear and real targets and realistic constraints, offering students challenges to which they can only rise through close and creative team work. The management of task execution must be left largely in the students' own hands. A high level of "consultant" type support is essential though, allied to an assessment scheme which promises and ensures fair treatment of the individual. The different parts of the thesis will be relevant to readers depending on their interest and background. Chapter 1 sets the scene and outlines the approach taken. Following this broad outline of the scope of the dissertation the author places Computer Integrated Manufacturing in a wider context in chapter 2, by providing an introduction to the underlying issues of computer integration and human factors. He puts forward a case for new approaches to the education and training of engineers and managers who will be working in Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing Environments in general. Chapter 3 is devoted to the management of projects while chapter 4 is used to question the role of the engineer. Chapters 5 and 6 provide an introduction to theories of knowledge, teaching, learning and motivation. Chapters 7 and 8 are devoted to particular aspects of engineering education, while chapter 9 reviews the approach used at Brunel University. The topical issues of competence and its relevance to engineering education is discussed in chapter 10, leading into chapters 11 and 12 which deal with aspects of the CIM course. Chapters 13 and 14 are devoted to case-studies and particular tools. The key question of assessment of a practice oriented and team based course is addressed in chapter 15, followed by an evaluation of the CIM process and its application to engineering education of a full time nature which is included in chapters 17 and 18.Funding was obtained from The General Electric Company Prize 1993: Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Referencing-in-Array Scheme for RRAM-based CIM Architecture
No full textResistive random access memory (RRAM) based computation-in-memory (CIM) architectures are attracting a lot of attention due to their potential in performing fast and energy-efficient computing. However, the RRAM variability and non-idealities limit the computing accuracy of such architectures, especially for multi-operand logic operations. This paper pro-poses a voltage-based differential referencing-in-array scheme that enables accurate two and multi-operand logic operations for RRAM-based CIM architecture. The scheme makes use of a 2T2R cell configuration to create a complementary bitcell structure that inherently acts also as a reference during the operation execution; this results in a high sensing margin. More-over, the variation-sensitive multi-operand (N)AND operation is implemented using complementary-input (N)OR operation to further improve its accuracy. Simulation results for a post-layout extracted 512x512 (256Kb) RRAM-based CIM array show that up to 56 operand (N)OR/(N)AND operation can be accurately and reliably performed as opposed to a maximum of 4 operands supported by state-of-the-art solutions, while offering up to 11.4X better energy-efficiency.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Computer EngineeringQuantum & Computer Engineerin
Combined Inspection Module (CIM)
No full textExpex is als praktijkgericht inspectie- en adviesbureau werkzaam op de bestaande vastgoedmarkt. Het bedrijf brengt verscheidene adviezen en rapportages uit naar aanleiding van uitgevoerde inspecties. Voorbeelden hiervan zijn onder andere het Meerjarig Onderhouds Prognose (MJOP) over woningen van woningcoraties en Energie Prestatie Label (EPA). Veel van de benodigde informatie voor een advies verzamelen zij door de woning te bekijken. Vaak worden inspecties volgens een vaste methodiek uitgevoerd om de relevante onderdelen van de woning te inspecteren. Ten tijde van de start van dit pro ject vullen de inspecteurs bij Expex de inspecties die ze uitvoeren handmatig op papier in. Het probleem zit in het feit dat het achteraf, handmatig invoeren zorgt voor een minder effcie verwerking van de verzamelde technische gegevens, immers moeten deze verkregen gegevens nogmaals in digitale vorm worden ingevoerd in het systeem. Daarnaast komt steeds vaker voor dat er verschillende combinaties van inspecties uitgevoerd moeten worden. Aangezien iedere inspectie haar eigen speci?eke inspectieformulier kent, zorgt dit ervoor dat de inspecteur mogelijk onnodig veel dezelfde gegevens nogmaals moeten verzamelen en invullen. Om deze situatie te kunnen verbeteren, was men binnen Expex reeds op zoek naar een goede softwareoplossing, zodat het mogelijk wordt om inspecties gecombineerd uit te voeren en alle benodigde gegevens meteen in digitale vorm te verzamelen. Echter was er geen dergelijk, speci?ek softwareproduct voor hun probleem op de markt te vinden. Het ontwikkelde softwareprototype, Combined Inspection Module (CIM), ondersteunt de inspecteurs om diverse, gecombineerde inspecties op locatie uit te voeren. Het systeem leidt hem op een goede, effcie wijze door de inspectie en biedt de inspecteur tevens de zekerheid dat hij voldoende gegevens voor de gecombineerde inspectie heeft verzameld. Een extra functionaliteit dat CIM de inspecteur biedt is de validatie waarbij wordt nagegaan of de inspecteur voldoende gegevens heeft verzameld om zijn advies dan wel rapportage te kunnen uitbrengen. Tijdens de ontwikkeling van CIM bleek vooral het combineren van inspecties een grote uitdaging. Helaas bleek het uit praktische overwegingen niet mogelijk te zijn om inspecties volledig automatisch door het systeem te combineren. Desondanks biedt CIM de inspecteur de mogelijkheid om handmatig op een gemakkelijke wijze de inspecties te combineren. Het grootste voordeel is dat de inspecteur te maken heeft met slechts gecombineerde inspectie en de bijbehorende validatie. De gegevens worden in digitale vorm verzameld, zodat het invullen van een aantal verschillend opgebouwde inspectieformulieren tot het verleden toebehoort. Tenslotte biedt CIM de inspecteur voor iedere (gecombineerde) inspectie dezelfde, vertrouwde user interface en kunnen in de toekomst de verzamelde gegevens direct exporteren naar de verschillende softwarepakketten, zodat ook het achteraf op kantoor alle gegevens moeten invullen in verschillende softwarepakketten tot het verleden behoort. Al met al zorgen de genoemde voordelen die CIM de inspecteur biedt ervoor, dat de inspecteur een stuk efficier zijn werk kan verrichten en veel minder tijd kwijt is aan onnodig papierwerk en het invoeren van verzamelde gegevens in de softwarepakketten. Expex heeft met het ontwikkelde softwareprototype CIM een nieuw concurrentievoordeel op de bestaande vastgoedmarkt.Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
CIM-based Robust Logic Accelerator using 28 nm STT-MRAM Characterization Chip Tape-out
No full textSpin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) based computation-in-memory (CIM) architectures have shown great prospects for an energy-efficient computing. However, device variations and non-idealities narrow down the sensing margin that severely impacts the computing accuracy. In this work, we propose an adaptive referencing mechanism to improve the sensing margin of a CIM architecture for boolean binary logic (BBL) operations. We generate reference signals using multiple STT-MRAM devices and place them strategically into the array such that these signals can address the variations and trace the wire parasitics effectively. We have demonstrated this behavior using an STT-MRAM model, which is calibrated using 1Mbit characterized array. Results show that our proposed architecture for binary neural networks (BNN) achieves up to 17.8 TOPS/W on the MNIST dataset and 130× performance improvement for the text encryption compared to the software implementation on Intel Haswell processor. Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Computer EngineeringQuantum & Computer Engineerin
Distributed Systems Management Based on CIM Schema
No full textabstract: Our goals in our project are to enable management of distributed systems from one central location, record system logs and audit system based on these logs, and to demonstrate feasibility of platform-independent management of distributed systems based on CIM schema. In order to achieve these goals, we will have to overcome research challenges such as identifying meaningful CIM classes and attributes that could help to achieve this goal, how to gather managed objects of these CIM classes to collect such attributes on a given platform, and to research whether a platform's implementation of CIM is complete or incomplete so as to decide which platform would be the best to implement our solution. Even if a platform's implementation of CIM is incomplete, would we be able to create our own solution to a missing attribute and perhaps provide our own extension of the implementation? One major practical accomplishment will include developing a tool to allow distributed systems management regardless of a target system's platform. However, our research accomplishments will include having found the CIM classes that would be advantageous for system management and determining which platform would be best to work with managed objects of these classes
CIM-Projekte in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Ziele, Schwerpunkte, Vorgehen
No full textS.20-30Planning and implementation of computer integrated manufacturing concepts (CIM) are financially supported in the framework of a subsidized program of the Federal Minister of Research and Technology (BMFT) since 1988. This paper describes how the subsidized companies have designed their CIM projects and in which aspects subsidized projects differ from those CIM undertakings which had to live without government support. The author provides a gobal picture of the present situation of CIM implementation of West Germany. The analysis shows that priority over any other CIM targets is given to a reduction of the throughput times. The technical aspects of the CIM concept are by far more important than the attempt to exhaust the integration potentials inherent in a reorganization. Die Planung und die Realisierungvon rechnerintegirerten Produktionskonzepten (CIM) werden seit 1988 durch ein Förderprogramm des Bundesministers für Forschung und Technologie (BMFT) finanziell unterstützt. Der Beitrag beschreibt, wie die geförderten Unternehmen ihre CIM-Projekte angelegt haben und wodurch sich Fördervorhaben von CIM-Projekten unterscheiden, die ohne Fördermittel auskommen mußten. Diese Beschreibung läßt flächendeckende Aussagen zur aktuellen Situation der CIM-Verwirklichung in den alten Bundesländern zu. Es zeigt sich, daß das Bestreben, die Durchlaufzeiten zu verkürzen, allen anderen möglichen CIM-Zielen übergeordnet wird. Die technischen Aspekte des CIM-Gedankens spielen dabei eine größere Rolle als der Versuch, die in einer Reoganisation liegenden Integrationspotentiale auszuschöpfen.134Nr.
RelaxCIM: A Power- and Area-Efficient RxO-based Readout Cell for ADC-less CIM Accelerators
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2025 IEEE.Compute-In-Memory (CIM) architectures are becoming standard solutions for accelerating AI workloads. Yet, the performance of analog CIM cores is generally constrained by the quantization resolution and energy consumption of the readout stage, typically dominated by Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs). To address this issue, we present RelaxCIM, a compact, low-power readout approach that replaces traditional resource-intensive ADCs with a Relaxation Oscillator (RxO) and a digital counter for current-based CIM accelerators. Implemented in 65 nm CMOS, each RxO-based cell occupies 0.0015 mm2, consumes an average power of 0.21 mW, and achieves a resolution of 100 nA per Least-Significant Bit (LSB) at a 100 MHz counting frequency. This fine resolution is particularly beneficial for large neural networks mapped onto small CIM arrays employing time-multiplexed Vector-Matrix Multiplication (VMM) and partialsum operations, effectively reducing quantization errors and finite-precision limitations.Peer reviewe
Dealing with Non-Idealities in Memristor Based Computation-In-Memory Designs
No full textComputation-In-Memory (CIM) using memristor devices provides an energy-efficient hardware implementation of arithmetic and logic operations for numerous applications, such as neuromorphic computing and database query. However, memristor-based CIM suffers from various non-idealities such as conductance drift, read disturb, wire parasitics, endurance and device degradation. These negatively impact the computation accuracy of CIM. It is therefore essential to deal with these non-idealities and fabrication imperfections in order to harness the full potential of CIM. This paper discusses the non-ideality challenges and provides potential solutions. Furthermore, the paper outlines the potential future directions for CIM architectures.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Computer EngineeringQuantum & Computer Engineerin
Efficient organization of digital periphery to support integer datatype for memristor-based cim
No full textVon Neumann-based architectures suffer from costly communication between CPU and memory. This communication imposes several orders of magnitude more power and performance overheads compared to the arithmetic operations performed by the processor. This overhead becomes critical for applications that require processing a large amount of data. Computation-in-Memory (CIM) leveraging memristor devices in the crossbar structure offers a potential solution to tackle this challenge. However, support for the integer data type is lacking in CIM approaches as most solutions operate on a single/few bits only. This paper proposes a new organization of the periphery (next to memristor crossbar) to compute matrix-matrix multiplication (MMM) at the tile level. More precisely, the analog additions performed in the crossbar is complemented with additions performed in the digital periphery. In this mixed analog-digital system, digital additions are performed in a way that only the minimum size of adders are required-this is to reduce the latency of the digital periphery as much as possible. In addition, the design is customized to the number of ADCs as well as datatype sizes to support different possible scenarios. The results show that our organization reduces energy and latency up to 50x and 3x, respectively, compared to the reference design.Accepted author manuscriptComputer EngineeringQuantum & Computer Engineerin
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