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In order to get the modularity and reconfigurability for sensor information fusion services in modern battle-spaces, dynamic service composition and dynamic topology determination is needed. In the current state-of-the-art, such information fusion services are composed manually and in a programmatic manner. In this paper, we consider an approach towards more automation by assuming that the topology of a solution is provided, and automatically choosing the different types and kinds of algorithms which can be used at each step. This includes the use of contextual information and techniques such as multi-arm bandits for investing the exploration and exploitation tradeoff.

This work elaborates on: i) why the sliceable bandwidth variable transceiver (S-BVT) represents a key enabler for next-generation optical metro networks; ii) how it should be designed to take benefit of its capabilities and advanced features; and iii) which are the promising technologies to be adopted addressing the most relevant requirements and challenges. Specifically, S-BVT architectures based on multicarrier modulation and flexi-grid technologies, adopting cost-effective optoelectronic front-ends, enable flexible adaptation to dynamic traffic and variable path condition, targeting high capacity and scalability, while saving network resources and costs. Programmability and modularity are envisioned for integration in software-defined optical metro networks.

Recent investigations on the concept of modular metastructures have demonstrated remarkable adaptivity of properties as a synergistic product of assembling together metastable modules, modules that exhibit coexisting states for the same topology. It has been found that such modularity provides an accessible pathway for unprecedented massive property adaptation. Despite the extensive report on the static or quasistatic characteristics of modular metastructures, much remains to be explored regarding their dynamic characteristics. This research initiates the study on transient response of a modular metastructure under impulsive excitation. Numerical studies characterize the adaptability of energy exchange and localization characteristics afforded by metastable states. It is found that responses of internal bistable masses of the metastable modules play an important role in determining energy distribution of the overall system. It is discovered that low internal bistable mass and high impulsive energy level are beneficial for energy to be localized and dissipated internally. Additionally, mechanism behind effective energy absorption is disclosed. Overall, this investigation provides opportunities to tailor dynamical responses using modular metastructures and opens potential avenues for designing transient vibration absorbers.

The paper presents an approach to a cost-efficient modularly built non-dispersive optical IR-gas sensor (NDIR) based on a construction kit. The modularity of the approach offers several advantages: First of all it allows for an adaptation of the performance of the gas sensor to individual specifications by choosing the suitable modular components. The sensitivity of the sensor e.g. can be altered by selecting a source which emits a favorable wavelength spectrum with respect to the absorption spectrum of the gas to be measured or by tuning the measuring distance (ray path inside the medium to be measured). Furthermore the developed approach is very well suited to be used in teaching. Together with students a construction kit on basis of an optical free space system was developed and partly implemented to be further used as a teaching and training aid for bachelor and master students at our institute. The components of the construction kit are interchangeable and freely fixable on a base plate. The components are classified into five groups: sources, reflectors, detectors, gas feed, and analysis cell. Source, detector, and the positions of the components are fundamental to experiment and test different configurations and beam paths. The reflectors are implemented by an aluminum coated adhesive foil, mounted onto a support structure fabricated by additive manufacturing. This approach allows derivation of the reflecting surface geometry from the optical design tool and generating the 3D-printing files by applying related design rules. The rapid fabrication process and the adjustment of the modules on the base plate allow rapid, almost LEGO®-like, experimental assessment of design ideas. Subject of this paper is modeling, design, and optimization of the reflective optical components, as well as of the optical subsystem. The realization of a sample set-up used as a teaching aid and the optical measurement of the beam path in comparison to the simulation results are shown as well.

Multiple electron beam SEMs enable detecting structures of few nanometer in diameter at much higher throughputs than possible with single beam electron microscopes at comparable electron probe parameters. Although recent multiple beam SEM development has already demonstrated a large speed increase 1 , higher throughputs are still required to match the needs of many semiconductor applications 2 . We demonstrate the next step in the development of multi-beam SEMs by increasing the number of beams and the current per beam. The modularity of the multi-beam concept ensures that design changes in the multi-beam SEM are minimized.

LOFT (Large Observatory for X-ray Timing) is an X-ray timing observatory that, with four other candidates, was considered by ESA as an M3 mission (with launch in 2022-2024) and has been studied during an extensive assessment phase. Its pointed instrument is the Large Area Detector (LAD), a 10 m 2 -class instrument operating in the 2-30 keV range, which is designed to perform X-ray timing of compact objects with unprecedented resolution down to millisecond time scales. Although LOFT was not downselected for launch, during the assessment most of the trade-offs have been closed, leading to a robust and well documented design that will be reproposed in future ESA calls. The building block of the LAD instrument is the Module, and in this paper we summarize the rationale for the module concept, the characteristics of the module and the trade-offs/optimisations which have led to the current design., Comment: Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 914462

LCOGT is currently building and deploying a world-wide network of at least twelve 1-meter and twenty-four 0.4-meter telescopes to as many as 4 sites in the Southern hemisphere (Chile, South Africa, Eastern Australia) and 4 in the Northern hemisphere (Hawaii, West Texas, Canary Islands). Our deployment and operations model emphasizes modularity and interchangeability of major components, maintenance and troubleshooting personnel who are local to the site, and autonomy of operation. We plan to ship, install, and spare large units (in many cases entire telescopes), with minimal assembly on site.

Scene-based adaptive non-uniformity correction (NUC) of Infrared Focal Plane Array (IRFPA) has been a key technology. However, all the scene-based correction methods require that the objects be in the state of motion. Once objects that don't move enough tend to be "melt" into the background, the target fade-out and ghost artifacts will occur in the corrected image. On the other hand, although some scene-based algorithms eliminate the non-uniformity effectively, the computations are complicated, and so it is difficult to be implemented by VLSI technique. In this work we propose a new adaptive algorithm based on motion information and the steep descent method. The simulation shows that the new algorithm has inhibited target fade-out and eliminated the ghost artifacts effectively. As the proposed algorithm characterized by inherent parallelism, modularity and regularity, we also propose its parallel VLSI architecture and implement it using 0.18μm CMOS technology.

In this paper, we propose a novel multi-modular optimal capacity algorithm for SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) mesh networks. Our objective is to minimize total capital cost of the SDH mesh networks with modularity. First, the optimization problem is formulated as an integer linear programming (ILP) model. Then considering the time complexity of ILP formulation for large-scale networks, a fast heuristic algorithm named Multi-Modular Optimal Capacity (MMOC) is proposed. Several network models, which serve as test cases, are provided and the numerical results show our heuristic algorithm has low time complexity and good performance (in terms of network cost) near to the ILP results.

Recently we could observe a huge change in the mobile industry when the original idea of mobile phone was transformed into the new concept of mobile multimedia devices capable to perform multiple complex tasks and integrating a number of functionalities. As a consequence it resulted in significant increase of the device integration time and cost and complicated deployment of the new technologies. The device integrators are forced to favor modularity everywhere where it is possible in design of new devices, which results in a new trend towards networked architectures for the mobile devices. However, moving towards networked architectures specifically designed to overcome limitations brought by the mobile devices is a time consuming task. It requires fresh mind analysis of many solutions applied in other contexts, since some of the constraints and requirements are unique in comparison with e.g. SoC, NoC, which are the most known embedded network solutions, and of course they are significantly different comparing to the wide area networks. The main differentiating factors are: strongly constrained power consumption by the battery life time; and a need for modular architecture to allow reuse of the existing components or modules. The paper provides an overview of the state of art in the embedded networks research and describes general background for our studies, key assumptions, restrictions and limitations that we faced at the beginning of development of the embedded networks architecture for mobile devices.

The Euro50 is a proposed 50m extremely large telescope for optical and infrared wavelengths. To study and predict the performance of the complete telescope system, an integrated model combining the structural model of the telescope, optics models, the control systems and the adaptive optics has been established. Wind and atmospheric disturbances are also included in the model. The model is written in MATLAB and C. It is general and modular and built around dedicated ordinary differential equation solvers. The difference in time constants between subsystems is exploited to speed up calculations. The solvers can handle discontinuities and subsystem mode changes. The high degree of modularity allows different telescope designs to be modelled by rearranging subsystem blocks. Certain subsystems, for instance adaptive optics, can also run in a standalone fashion. Parts of the model are parallelized for execution on a large shared memory machine. The resulting architecture of the integrated model and sample results using the code for different telescope models are presented.

This paper presents a method for spatiotemporal alignment of two video sequences recorded by aerial sensors using different modularity. It recovers the inter-video temporal synchronization and spatial transformation from two sequences of intra-video transformations between successive frames within each video. Since it needs no directly comparison of images across two videos, and the intra-video transformation is easy to obtain, the alignment is possible even when the two videos have very different appearances. We make best use of the geometry between rigidly connected aerial video sensors and the ground scene, treat the intra-video and inter-video spatial transformations as similar ones, and develop a simple alignment method. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate the stability and efficiency advantages over previous methods.

Air-to-Ground targeting in a kill chain requires timely information flow and coordination of a large number of complex and disparate systems and events that are distributed in space and time. Modeling and simulation of such complex systems poses a considerable challenge to the system developers. Colored Petri Nets (CPN) provide a well-established graphically-oriented simulation tool with the capability to incorporate design and performance specifications and operational requirements of complex discrete-event systems for verification and validation under a variety of input stimuli. In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary study of implementing rudimentary, yet realistic, kill chain modules for Air-to-Ground combat using CPN tools. We have developed top-level functional kill chain modules incorporating its primary functions. It is expected that the modularity of the CPN-based simulation framework will enable us to incorporate further details and breadth in system complexities in order to study real world kill-chain simulation environment as an integral part of DOD's C4ISR architecture.

The communicational and computational demands of neural networks are hard to satisfy in a digital technology. Temporal computing addresses this problem by iteration, but leaves a slow network. Spatial computing only became an option with the coming of modern FPGA devices. The paper provides two examples. First the balance between area and time is discussed on the realization of a modular feed-forward network. Second, the design of real-time image processing through a Cellular Neural Network is treated. In both examples, reconfiguration can be applied to provide for a natural and transparent support of learning.

Modern conflicts induces various modes of deployment, due to the type of conflict, the type of mission, and phase of conflict. It is then impossible to define fixed architecture systems for surveillance ground segments. Thales has developed a structure for a ground segment based on the operational functions required, and on the definition of modules and networks. Theses modules are software and hardware modules, including communications and networks. This ground segment is called MGS (Modular Ground Segment), and is intended for use in airborne reconnaissance systems, surveillance systems, and U.A.V. systems. Main parameters for the definition of a modular ground image exploitation system are : Compliance with various operational configurations, Easy adaptation to the evolution of theses configurations, Interoperability with NATO and multinational forces, Security, Multi-sensors, multi-platforms capabilities, Technical modularity, Evolutivity Reduction of life cycle cost The general performances of the MGS are presented : type of sensors, acquisition process, exploitation of images, report generation, data base management, dissemination, interface with C4I. The MGS is then described as a set of hardware and software modules, and their organization to build numerous operational configurations. Architectures are from minimal configuration intended for a mono-sensor image exploitation system, to a full image intelligence center, for a multilevel exploitation of multi-sensor.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

This paper presents the design and implementation of template matching IP cores for image processing. Enhanced Moment Preserving Pattern Matching (MPPM) algorithm of template matching was adopted for efficient hardware implementation. The cores were coded in Verilog HDL for modularity and portability. The IP cores were validated in a XC4052XL FPGA and XESS XS40 prototyping board.

We begin by reviewing the likely evolution of long-haul optical networks, and the role of optical cross connects (OXCs) in this evolution. We examine technologies for the switch fabrics in these OXCS, and focus on a guided-wave optical crossbar matrix based on total internal reflection. We argue that the reliability, modularity and scalability of crossbar matrix switches make them attractive for many applications.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Decentralized systems merit a detailed analysis in view of the potential advantages that they offer. These include significant improvements in fault tolerance, modularity and scalability. Such attributes are required by a number of systems that are currently being planned within the defence and civil aerosense sectors. A recognized difficulty with the decentralized network architecture is the potential it creates for redundant data to proliferate as a result of cyclic information flows. This can lead to estimation biases and divergence. Solutions which require the network information sources to be tagged in some way are not generally possible without relaxing some of the constraints on which the decentralized paradigm is founded. This paper consequently investigates a different approach. Specifically, it examines the application of the Covariance Intersection (CI) data fusion technique. CI is relevant to the redundant data problem because it guarantees consistent estimates without requiring correlations to be maintained. The estimation performance of CI is compared here, with respect to a restricted Kalman approach, for a dynamic multi-platform network example. It is concluded that a hybrid CI/Kalman approach offers the best solution, since it exploits known independent information and unknown correlated information without having to relax the decentralized constraints.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

In air combat, information advantage over the opponent is vital for the success of the operation. For that reason, modern fighter aircraft have extensive sensor suites to track other objects. In order to form a unified picture of the vicinity; all sensor information is fused. Since system modularity and high computational performance are key issues in the application, a decentralized tracking approach, where the information from the decentralized trackers is fused in a central node, is preferable. Furthermore, in order to improve the sensor tracking performance, it is often desired to feed back information to the sensors from the central node. In this paper, track-to-track association in such a decentralized tracking system with feedback is addressed. The central fusion node has to associate the sensor tracks to each other to be able to fuse them. In a system without feedback, the track-to-track association algorithm bases its conclusions on the assumption that the estimation errors of the tracks from different local trackers are not correlated. However, when information is fed back to the local trackers, this assumption is not valid, since the sensor tracks then consist of common information. System configurations that deal with this problem are proposed and tested in a fighter aircraft application. One approach is to extract the uncorrelated information from the sensor data and use that in the association process. Another approach is to keep parallel trackers in the sensors that only contain the local sensor information. Both approaches produce sensor tracks that contain the same information as the sensor tracks in a system without feedback. Also, a track-to-track association algorithm that recursively uses information from multiple time steps is proposed. The use of multiple time step data separates it from conventional track-to-track association algorithms that mostly use only current information. The result is an algorithm that improves the performance and gives a more stable solution.

The Fanbeam Spectral Imager (FSI) system is under development as a tool for mine countermeasures, however, the system has potential for a variety of additional underwater remote sensing needs. Characteristics common to each intended application include high area coverage rate acquisition and 3D spatial by spectral data. The FSI system has been designed around a modular approach which utilizes separated illumination and detection modules to achieve a wide combined field-of-regard, while also providing reduction in common volume backscatter. The modularity and desired sensitivity have driven the optical and system design. This paper will detail the modular elements of the FSI design.

A new Interconnection Multihop Optical Network called EXSTAR was conceived in order to allow an implementation of all- optical routing processor and, at the same time, to improve the characteristics of modularity and performance of other known multihop structures. For this network some routing algorithms, named EXSTRA (Extended STarring Routing Algorithms), based on a header recognition scheme , have been devised.The first one allows to obtain the best performance in conjunction with a suitable network structure; a simplified version offers a notable simplicity of implementation, giving rise to routing processors including only few all-optical gates.

Systolic architectures for 2D digital filters are presented. The structures are derived directly from the transfer function. The proposed 2D systolic arrays for 2D digital filters have several advantages over the existing 2D arrays, such as modularity and use of nearest neighbor interconnections. These two features make the proposed architecture versatile and more suitable for VLSI implementation.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Starting from the Starring and the GIMS networks a new Interconnection Multihop Network called EXSTAR is presented. It has potentialities, in terms of number of users, modularity and performance much higher than Starring, GIMS and other multihop structures. Moreover it still offers a notable simplicity in routing strategies, giving rise to routing processors including only few all-optical gates.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Ball Aerospace has recently broadened its line of small satellites as part of the innovative and well-published DARPA `lightsat' initiative. This program, DARPASAT, has produced a small spacecraft bus that is highly capable, lightweight, and can provide significant services to the prospective payload. In addition, the bus is compatible with new small launch vehicles such as the Taurus and Pegasus. Of particular note, the bus-to- payload interface has been designed to maximize simplicity and modularity, all with the intention of easing the payload integration process and thus lowering the cost. As a result, the mechanical, thermal, and electrical interfaces are designed such that the payload can be integrated at the payload contractor's facility as a single entity, or `pallet.' This dramatically reduces the effort to then integrate this single pallet onto the spacecraft bus.

Modular neural networks integrate several neural networks and possibly standard processing methods. Tackling such models is a challenge, since various modules have to be combined, either sequentially or in parallel, and the simulations are time critical in many cases. For this, specific tools are prerequisite that are both flexible and efficient. We have developed the MONNET software system that supports the investigation of complex modular models. The design of MONNET is based on the object oriented paradigm, the environment is C++/UNIX. The basic concepts are dynamic modularity, object passing, scalability, reusability, and extensibility. MONNET features flexible and compact definition of complex simulations, and minimal overhead in order to run computationally demanding simulations efficiently.

In this paper we present a way to provide neural networks, at the same time, both with a natural notion of time and with locality and modularity in computation. By doing so we ease massively parallel implementations. At the neuron level we introduce pulse code cable neurons, a neuron model with spatio-temporal information processing capabilities and much reduced communication bandwidth; its constituting parts either are branched, one-dimensional electrically equivalent cables of neuronal membrane in which all information processing takes place locally, or 1 bit delayed interconnections that unidirectionally connect one membrane to another. At the network level we argue that the theory of Neuronal Group Selection is an apt candidate for providing modularity by means of its `group-forming' local learning rules. We show that, taking dimensions from biological reality, the overall computation time scales with the spatial and temporal accuracy with which we model a membrane, rather than with the number of neurons or synapses. Routing the interconnections remains a problem, but with current technology real-time simulation of some millions of interconnections seems readily feasible.

Miniature optical correlators offer many advantages to the image processing and patternrecognition community, including portability, modularity, and possible field deployability. Indeed,computercontrolled miniature correlators that use pixelated input and filter transducers such as magneto-optic spatial light modulators (MOSLMs) or liquid crystal displays (LCDs) can be designed and built as powerful plug-in modules for larger hybrid recognition systems, or they can stand aloneas powerful, special-purpose portable correlators for specific image processing and recognitionapplications.This paper presents a few important design considerations such as filter design, minimizationof the overall correlator length, and the effect of aberrations on system performance. Two workingprototype miniature binary phase-only filter (BPOF) correlators that use MOSLMs at the input andfilter planes are described -- a 5-lens minimum-length system (28 cm) and a 3-lens system that is longer (52 cm), easier to align, and superior in performance. Both correlators use off-the-shelf

A set of methods is presented for detecting complex surfaces, using collections of simple, uniform processes. The methods are designed to detect surfaces in range data with parameters that can be estimated from local regions (for example, natural quadrics such as spheres). The system uses combinations oflocal estimates of zeroth and first derivative properties, to produce votes for specific parameterizations. Accumulations of votes lead to hypothesized surfaces. A conflict resolution strategy is used to separate the true surface hypotheses from the false ones. The overall approach is based on the ideas ofthe Hough transform and parameter space methods, but is designed to explicitly address shortcomings of these techniques, while maintaining their modularity and efficiency. Examples of these techniques, used to detect natural quadrics in real, low resolution range data scenes, are presented.

This paper presents methods to concurrently exploit AND and OR parallelism in logic programs. The execution sequence of the system is driven by the demand to reduce complexity. The concept of environment copying is applied to achieve modularity when OR parallelism is exploited. As a result, multiple independent structures can be dynamically constructed according to the data dependency to solve various systolic algorithms.

We describe the implementation of a panoramic photon-counting detector system of the Ranicon (resistive anode) type which is in operation at Mont Megantic Observatory. Particular emphasis is placed upon the modularity and flexibility of the system and the richness of its software environment. Spectroscopic applications now in course at Megantic are briefly described and some of the instrumental applications in preparation are mentioned.

The implications of implementing a Lightning Mapper Sensor (LMS) using Z-plane technology were compared with using CCDs. Comparisons were made in 1) signal-to-noise ratio, 2) field-of-view/pixel size, 3) modularity/flexibility, 4) data processing, 5) associated electrical power, and 6) development risk. The Z-plane was found to be superior in all six categories. It was shown that no CCD currently under development is capable of coming close to meeting the LMS requirements whereas the Z-plane approach meets them comfortably.

The lower levels of many image processing and pattern recognition systems require a high degree of machine throughput. This is especially true in real-time (or pseudo-real time) systems where all the pixels in an image frame must be processed as quickly as possible. This paper proposes a method directed primarily toward extracting low level features quickly and efficiently. This method is based on projecting the image into characteristic subspaces using appropriate orthogonal basis functions. These basis operators are designed with an emphasis on modularity; thus, they will be useful in hierarchical processing and, significantly, they will fit well into a Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit design. Chips consisting of many of these modules, under executive processor control, could now be used in imaging systems that require fast feature detection using compact and efficient hardware.© (1983) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

The improvements in computational performance provided by multiprocessor systems holds great potential for advanced robotics. The need for fast, tight control loops and the desire to avoid communications bottlenecks encourages the use of hierarchical processor architectures. In practice, however, hierarchical robot systems are often built as inflexible, bottom-up systems with limited flexibility in low level control. This situation is driven by engineering issues concerning modularity and performance. Advanced techniques such as cooperative multi-arm control have special requirements for both high and low level control. The challenge is to achieve the desired flexibility at a software level without sacrificing performance or engineering features. The approach described here uses data flow graphs to represent the interaction of software modules that perform computation or control tasks. The modules are written in conventional high level programming languages and then exploited for different control tasks by providing different flow graphs. Compressed representations of the flow graphs are distributed among the available processors in the hierarchy to permit optimal routing of data among the modules. This approach is being applied to the development of a two armed robot that performs cooperative control.

The architectural and algorithmic design aspects of a digital optical processor for high performance adaptive radar array beam forming have been studied. Device research to provide the required integrated optics processor elements has been initiated. The design concept has advantages of modularity and expandability, as well as inherent embodiment of the primary advantages of optical computing: parallelism and interconnection capability. With successful device development, the design has the potential to provide all-optical adaptive radar processors having commanding and enduring advantages over electronically-implemented competitors, and capable of meeting far term radar performance requirements.

PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications) has become quite a topic lately, with many descriptions of the functionality needed and the cost of the hardware required to implement such a system. The software tasks involved are of enormous importance, and can be designed to provide flexibility and functionality that will reduce overhead costs and provide a variety of interactions for users, suited to their particular task or modality. This paper will attempt to define the software tools and structure needed to give the PACS console a wide variety of applications that can be tailored for a specific site or user. In addition, the modularity of the software goes along with modularity in the hardware to keep the cost down for different types of tasks.

The situation of communication and distribution services in Germany is shortly reviewed and an outline of the plans for the introduction of an integrated broadband digital network is given. We further present a detailed concept of such a system that includes all the required major components: broadband switching modules, multiplexers, line coders, optical transmission system, home communication system and terminals. The system is characterized by having a high modularity, thus enabling a flexible implementation to satisfy the different needs of a variety of subscribers, and allowing for a selection of new services that will eventually be available in the future.