Current thermal non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging is most effective when applied to hidden objects with substantial thermal contrast reflecting off homogeneous scattering surfaces. However, this ideal scenario is not realistic in many practical situations. Incorporating the light field, which includes capturing multiple pictures at different camera positions, can provide additional information that is useful in denoising weak signals. This paper introduces a two-part algorithm that utilizes geometrical parallax from hidden thermal objects to improve reconstruction of objects with temperatures only slightly above ambient and where the scattering surface is highly inhomogeneous. The first algorithm uses both image and light field coordinate frames to remove spatial sensor noise and the self-radiant component of the scattering surface. The second uses parallax information contained in the 4-D light field to denoise the scattered radiance and estimate the 3-D location of the hidden objects. We demonstrate our methods using long-wave infrared radiation from a human subject scattered off a spatially-varying surface and achieve improved contrast-to-noise and normalized correlation metrics compared to another popular denoising technique.

Summary Ineffective column‐directional cache memory access has become a bottleneck for efficient two‐dimensional (2‐D) data processing utilizing extended single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instructions. To solve this problem, we propose a cache memory with tile (column and row directions) and line (row direction) accessibility for efficient 2‐D data processing. 2‐D data access to the proposed cache memory is enabled via a hardware‐based multi‐mode address translation unit that eliminates the overhead of software‐based address calculation. To reduce the hardware overhead of the proposed cache, we propose a tag memory reduction method that replaces multiple tiles with an aligned tile set (RATS) in the cache. To verify the feasibility of the proposed cache, an LSI layout of a SIMD‐based general purpose‐oriented datapath embedding the proposed cache is designed in a 2.5×5 mm2 area using 0.18‐μm CMOS technology. Under a 3.9‐ns clock period (250 MHz), the read latency is limited to 3 clock cycles, which is the same as that for the conventional cache memory. Using the RATS method, the entire hardware overhead of the proposed cache is reduced to only 7% of that required for a conventional cache. In addition, simulation results for the proposed cache indicate a considerable reduction of L1 and L2 cache confliction misses compared with a conventional cache in power‐of‐two matrix size due to the column‐directional address stride being sufficiently smaller than page size. Therefore, the proposed cache provides efficient column‐directional parallel access as same as row‐directional parallel access so that it enables efficient SIMD operation requiring no transposition in matrix multiplication (MM). For LU decomposition (LUD), the proposed cache can provide almost the same performance to the column‐major–based LUD program as that to the row‐major–based LUD program. These results show that the proposed cache does not restrict our freedom in selecting either row‐ or column‐major order coding.

Ineffective data access of cache memories becomes a bottleneck for efficient 2-dimensional(2-D) data processing such as image processing and matrix multiplication. In order to solve this problem, a cache memory with both unit tile and unit line accessibility, based on 4-level Z-order tiling layout is proposed. Conventional raster scan order access to this layout is enabled by a hardware-base address translation, which can eliminate overhead of address calculation. The proposed cache can access data in parallel in vertical(unit tile) or horizontal(unit line) direction by 4-level Z-order tiling layout and multi-bank cache organization. Unit tile access corresponding to parallel data access in the vertical direction can exploit 2-D locality. Simulation results show that the 4-level Z-order tiling layout provides both less TLB and L1 data cache misses compared with the raster scan order and the Morton order layout in matrix multiplication and LU decomposition, especially at larger matrix size. An LSI chip of the proposed cache combined with a SIMD-based data path was designed in 2.5 × 5mm2area by using 0.18μm CMOS technology. Under 3.8ns clock period, read and write latency was suppressed to 3 clock cycles of the same as conventional cache memory of an Intel or ARM high-performance processor.

Even high-performance general purpose processors are not sufficient for speedy motion estimation (ME), though they support some SIMD instructions for ME. In this paper, we propose a SIMD-based general-purpose-oriented datapath with efficient operation structure for ME. The several additional components have been added to a comven-tional datapath base for ME acceleration. The results of its logic design and chip layout design showed the proposed datapath accelerates motion estimation speed by 3.99-5.06 times on average in the diamond, SUC and non-dense patterns compared to previous method with only 2.6% hardware area increase.

In this paper, we present a practical processor co-simulation framework for not only RTL simulation but also gate/transistor level simulation, and even chip evaluation with an LSI tester. Our framework includes an off-chip system call emulation mechanism, which handles system calls to evaluate and verify the processor design with general benchmark programs without pseudo-circuits in the processor design. Therefore, our framework can be consistently used from RTL design to chip fabrication. We also propose a checkpoint mechanism that resumes a program from a pre-created checkpoint. This mechanism is not affected by the non-deterministic problem on a multi-core processor. Moreover, we propose a cache warming mechanism when resuming from a checkpoint.

In order to reduce the energy consumption in high performance computing, variable stages pipeline processor (VSP) is proposed, which improves execution time by dynamically unifying the pipeline stages. The VSP adopts a special pipeline register called an LDS-cell that unifies the pipeline stages and prevents glitch propagation. We fabricate the VSP chip on a Rohm 0.18μm CMOS process and evaluate the energy consumption. The result indicates the VSP can achieve 13% less energy consumption than the conventional approach.

In this paper, we describe the development of master-slave pneumatic robotic system and its ability to remotely control some functional tasks of backhoe machines during operation on construction sites. The functional tasks include (i) excavating (loading), (ii) lifting, (iii) transporting loads, and (iv) unloading. Pneumatic actuators and grippers, CCD cameras and a control box containing power source, PC and wireless LAN boards are integral part of our pneumatic robot system. During operation, images from the CCD cameras are transported to the master side with a wireless LAN, and then display visually on the laptop PC. Using joysticks, an operator can manipulate the synchronized activities of the system and backhoe machines with or without the CCD cameras. Tests were conducted on some local construction sites to evaluate the effectiveness of the system to control the functional tasks of the backhoe machines. It was found that the use of CCD cameras by the operator to monitor the synchronized activities was more effective than having a direct face to face operator contact with the activities. Disasters caused by environmental changes and man-made actions are increasing worldwide. The safety for rescued workers and investigative officials in disaster areas is a growing concern. Our system provides an opportunity to improve safety

In the restoration work from disasters, the remote control of construction machine is required to ensure the worker's safety. However, conventional remote-controlled construction machine is larger than ordinary ones and limited in types and numbers, so there is a problem that the transportation to the destructed sites takes time and is troublesome. We have been developing the pneumatic humanoid type robot arm, which can be installed in any models of construction machine. In consideration of portability, the lightweight fiber knitted type pneumatic artificial rubber muscle (FARM) was adopted as the actuator. In this paper, we developed the static and dynamic characteristic models of the FARM taking the effect of elasticity of rubber and frictional force into consideration. Then we realized the remote control of the construction machine using the pneumatic robot that has 6 degree of freedom using the FARM. Moreover, we did some experiments on the remote control of the construction machine. Experimental results show that the developed system is available in remote control of a construction machine.

In the restoration work from disasters, the remote control of construction machinery is required to ensure the worker's safety. However, only limited numbers of remote controlled construction machinery exist and they are typically larger than conventional machinery. After a disaster, the transportation of such machinery takes additional times and is often troublesome. Therefore, it would be desirable to develop a remote control system that could easily be installed on ordinary construction machinery. We have been developing a pneumatic robot system, which can be installed in any models of construction machinery, with the aim of easy installation and portability. In consideration of portability, the lightweight pneumatic artificial rubber muscle (PARM) was adopted as the actuator of the robot arm. In this research, we developed a remote control system of construction machinery using the 6-DOF pneumatic robot arm. We used a wireless LAN for the remote control. We did experiment on the remote control of construction machinery and showed that the developed system is available for remote control of construction machinery.

No abstract available.

The processes of adaptation in natural organisms consist of two complementary phases: learning, occurring within each individual's lifetime, and evolution, occurring over successive generations of the population. In this article, we study the relationship between learning and evolution in a simple abstract model, where neural networks capable of learning are evolved using genetic algorithms (GAs). Individuals try to maximize their life energy by learning certain rules that distinguish between two groups of materials: food and poison. The connective weights of individuals' neural networks undergo modification, that is, certain characters will be acquired, through their lifetime learning. By setting various rates for the heritability of acquired characters, which is a motive force of Lamarckian evolution, we observe adaptational processes of populations over successive generations. Paying particular attention to behaviors under changing environments, we show the following results. Populations with lower rates of heritability not only show more stable behavior against environmental changes, but also maintain greater adaptability with respect to such changing environments. Consequently, the population with zero heritability, that is, the Darwinian population, attains the highest level of adaptation to dynamic environments.