Re-engineering internet timekeeping for scalability, accuracy and trust. This project aims to define and solve problems underpinning a secure and extensible system for network timekeeping, and implement and test a prototype under realistic conditions over the Internet. All computers incorporate a software clock, essential to software applications. A network is an inexpensive and convenient way to synchronise these clocks, but the Internet currently depends on an unreliable and insecure approach. ....Re-engineering internet timekeeping for scalability, accuracy and trust. This project aims to define and solve problems underpinning a secure and extensible system for network timekeeping, and implement and test a prototype under realistic conditions over the Internet. All computers incorporate a software clock, essential to software applications. A network is an inexpensive and convenient way to synchronise these clocks, but the Internet currently depends on an unreliable and insecure approach. The expected outcome will be trusted, accurate and reliable software clocks that support applications like cloud computing, billing systems and secure communications, which could become the timekeeping system for the Internet and the Internet of Things.Read moreRead less
Micro Virtual Machines: Abstraction, contained. This project will address a systemic source of inefficiency in widely used software which leads to many programs running as much as ten times slower and using considerably more energy than necessary, shortening battery life on mobile phones and increasing costs for large server farms. This inefficiency is endemic because it is due to the underlying languages rather than the particular software. This project will address this problem by developing a ....Micro Virtual Machines: Abstraction, contained. This project will address a systemic source of inefficiency in widely used software which leads to many programs running as much as ten times slower and using considerably more energy than necessary, shortening battery life on mobile phones and increasing costs for large server farms. This inefficiency is endemic because it is due to the underlying languages rather than the particular software. This project will address this problem by developing a high efficiency substrate, called a micro virtual machine, on which languages may be built.Read moreRead less
Precision timekeeping infrastructure: bridging the hardware/software divide. Accurate time is essential for critical services from telecommunications to banking, and increasingly, must be performed with software clocks within computers, using hardware clocks accessed over the Internet. This project will bridge the hardware/software divide to deliver reliable and cost effective access to precise timing.
Sustainability in Computing: A Holistic View. Green computing must provide sustainable processing capabilities with high energy efficiency (lower carbon footprint) and increased product longevity (reducing the need for product replacement). While advances in technology have afforded significant reduction in power requirements, they come with inherent challenges due to uncertainties in micro-scale behaviour, high complexity of quantifying/optimising energy cost or system lifetime in extreme scale ....Sustainability in Computing: A Holistic View. Green computing must provide sustainable processing capabilities with high energy efficiency (lower carbon footprint) and increased product longevity (reducing the need for product replacement). While advances in technology have afforded significant reduction in power requirements, they come with inherent challenges due to uncertainties in micro-scale behaviour, high complexity of quantifying/optimising energy cost or system lifetime in extreme scale computing, and the interaction of non-computing components with individual computing systems. This project addresses these challenges via a holistic, multi-scale paradigm for modelling, analysis, and optimisation of energy cost, carbon footprint, and product lifetime in emerging computing systems.Read moreRead less
Designing Radiation-Tolerant Reconfigurable Systems for Space. The processing speed, cost and flexibility requirements of future satellite-based applications cannot be satisfied with conventional radiation-hardened processors or custom integrated circuits. This project aims to develop key technology to enable off-the-shelf hardware to be customised for this use without compromising reliability. The project aims to develop the design methods needed to implement a given set of satellite applicatio ....Designing Radiation-Tolerant Reconfigurable Systems for Space. The processing speed, cost and flexibility requirements of future satellite-based applications cannot be satisfied with conventional radiation-hardened processors or custom integrated circuits. This project aims to develop key technology to enable off-the-shelf hardware to be customised for this use without compromising reliability. The project aims to develop the design methods needed to implement a given set of satellite applications on a processing platform composed of application-specific soft processors and accelerator circuits hosted on conventional reconfigurable logic devices. Crucially, the solution architecture is expected to be sufficiently hardened against radiation-induced errors while meeting performance and circuit area constraints.Read moreRead less
Low power memory for modern embedded systems. This project will create methods and circuits to reduce power consumption of embedded systems through memory optimisations. Power efficient embedded systems, will enable smaller, more portable systems and reduce battery usage by 2.5 per cent (worth over US$1.8 billion dollars) and lower toxic waste levels (e.g., heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium etc.).