Studies on a Class of AWG-Based Node Architectures for Optical Burst-Switched Networks
We investigate a class of novel node architectures based on the static arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs) and tunable waveband converters (TWBCs) for optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. As compared to the other AWG-based architectures using tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) for switching, our design needs much fewer wavelength-converting devices, TWBCs, instead of a large number of TWCs (operating only on one wavelength at a time). Notwithstanding the inherent simplicity, AWG-based architectures, due to the static routing properties of AWGs, exhibit some internal blocking as compared to the strictly nonblocking OBS nodes employing SOA/TWC-based architectures. We address this issue in our design methodology to arrive at different candidate node architectures using multiple layers of AWGs. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed class of node architectures using TWBCs and multiple layers of AWG can offer acceptable blocking performance with a simple and cost-effective optical hardware for OBS networks.

title: Explicit Routing for Traffic Engineering in Labeled Optical Burst-Switched WDM Networks
abstract: Optical burst switching (OBS) is a promising technique for supporting high-capacity bursty data traffic over optical wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) networks. A label-switched path can be established to forward a burst control packet (BCP) if each OBS node is augmented with an IP/MPLS controller. Such a network is called a labeled OBS (LOBS) network, and it can exploit the explicit routing and constraint-based routing properties supported in the MPLS framework to perform traffic and resource engineering. In this paper, we consider the traffic-engineering problem in a LOBS network, using explicit routing to balance network load and to reduce the burst-loss probability. We model the traffic-engineering problem in a LOBS network as an optimization problem and propose two new objective functions to minimize network congestion. Our illustrative numerical examples show that the burst-loss probability can be significantly reduced using optimization technique, when compared with shortest-path routing.

title: The LLAMA Middleware Support for Accountable Service-Oriented Architecture
abstract: Enterprises are turning to SOA for the flexible deployment of business processes. While current monitoring tools can detect service execution problems in an enterprise's servers and report such problems to human decision makers, they may not closely monitor the external services they use, diagnose the root cause of process problems, and automatically reconfigure the process to replace faulty services. This paper presents the LLAMA middleware support for service process monitoring, run-time management, and configuration. Instances of accountability agents are deployed to selectively monitor some services' performance. These agents in turn allow LLAMA's Accountability Authority (AA) to diagnose process problems and apply any necessary reconfiguration. The project also builds tools to simplify the setup and deployment of LLAMA components. Our experimental results indicate that using LLAMA contributes only a modest amount of system overhead, and that the diagnosis process is swift and sufficiently accurate.

title: Backup reprovisioning to remedy the effect of multiple link failures in WDM mesh networks
abstract: As networks grow in size and complexity, both the probability and the impact of failures increase. The pre-allocated backup bandwidth, which has been widely investigated in the literature, may not be able to provide full protection guarantee when multiple failures occur in a network. In this study, we consider multiple concurrent failures where concurrent means that a new failure occurs before a previous failure is repaired. To combat the effect of multiple concurrent failures, new backups can be reprovisioned after one failure such that the next potential failure can be handled effectively and efficiently. We consider dynamic traffic where a pair of link-disjoint primary and backup paths is provisioned when a new connection request arrives. After a failure occurs, the affected connections switch traffic from their primary paths to backup paths. To protect against next potential failure, we reprovision new backups for connections that become unprotected or vulnerable because of losing their primary or their backup due to the previous failure or due to backup resource sharing. This approach is called Minimal Backup Reprovisioning (MBR). An alternative approach is to globally rearrange backups for all connections after one failure occurs, which is called Global Backup Reprovisioning (GBR). Backup reprovisioning can be performed whenever the network's state changes, e.g., (1) when a new request arrives, (2) when an existing connection terminates, (3) when a network failure occurs, (4) when a failed link/node is repaired, etc., to utilize the available resources more efficiently or to recover quickly from the next failure. In this study, we perform MBR or GBR after one network failure occurs to protect against the next potential failure in a wavelength-convertible WDM mesh network. The link-vector network model which can maximally explore the backup-sharing potential is assumed in this study. We then analyze the complexity of MBR and GBR under such a network model. A reprovisioning algorithm is proposed for MBR which can significantly reduce the connection vulnerability without the knowledge of the location of the next failure. In GBR, both integer linear program (ILP) and heuristic-based approaches are proposed. We compare capacity requirement and computational complexity of MBR to that of GBR through numerical examples. MBR demonstrates a good tradeoff between complexity and capacity efficiency to handle multiple concurrent failures

title: Optimized routing for fault management in optical burst-switched WDM networks
abstract: Optical burst switching (OBS) is a promising technique for supporting high-capacity, bursty data traffic over optical wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) networks. An optical link failure may result in a huge amount of data (and revenue) loss, and it has been an important survivability concern in optical networks. In this paper, we study the fault- management issues related with a link failure in an OBS network. We propose to use pre-planned global rerouting to balance network load and to reroute bursts after a link fails. We apply optimization techniques to pre-plan explicit backup routes for failure scenarios. Our objective is to achieve optimal load balancing both before and after a failure such that the network state can still remain stable with minimum burst-loss probability when a failure occurs. We apply the pre-planned normal and backup routing tables to an OBS network, and study the network performance after a failure occur using illustrative numerical examples. The results show that the average burst-loss probability can be significantly reduced by 60% - from an average of 0.10 to 0.04 (when the normalized link load is less than 0.5) using globally-rerouted backup routes, when compared with the scheme without global rerouting. We also observe that the burst-loss probability is reduced by 43% - from an average of 0.07 to 0.04 (when the link load is less than 0.5) if the rerouting is done using optimization techniques, when compared with shortest-path routing.for Fault Management

title: An Efficient Approach for Service Process Reconfiguration in SOA with End-to-End QoS Constraints
abstract: Using SOA, service processes can be composed statically or dynamically using services provided by different service providers. Some services may become faulty at runtime and cause the service process to violate the end-to-end quality of service (QoS) constraint. We propose an efficient approach for replacing faulty services to ensure that the reconfigured service process still meets the original end-to-end QoS constraint. We use an iterative algorithm to identify reconfiguration regions that have a small number of services, some faulty and some healthy, in order to have more service selection options. By reconfiguring services in these selected regions rather than the whole service process, the computational complexity is significantly reduced. Simulation study has shown that our approach is efficient as most service processes can be repaired by replacing only a small number of services.

title: Multi-User Joint Doppler Spread Estimation in Generalized Distributed Antenna System
abstract: Generalized distributed antenna is one of the most promising architectures likely to be used in next generation mobile communication systems. In this paper, based on the architecture, multi-user co-channel interference in Doppler spread estimation is analyzed and several useful conclusions are obtained. Moreover, in order to combat this interference, a novel ACF-based multi-user joint Doppler spread estimation (M- JDSE) algorithm is proposed, taking advantage of centralized signal processing characteristic in generalized distributed antenna systems. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the significant performance improvement of proposed M-JDSE algorithm in multi-user environments.

title: Texture-Based Image Retrieval by Edge Detection Matching GLCM
abstract: Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) system is emerging as an important research area, users can search and retrieve images based on their properties such as shape, color and texture from the image database. Usually texture-based image retrieval just consider an original image of coarseness, contrast and roughness, actually there is much texture information in the edge image. This paper proposed a novel approach to retrieve images by texture characterization using a composition of edge information and co-occurrence matrix properties. The proposed method gives encouraging results when comparing its retrieval performance to that of the traditional co-occurrence matrices and Yaopsilas approach.

title: A Hand-Eye Robotic Model for Total Knee Replacement Surgery
abstract: This paper presents a hand-eye robotic model for total knee replacement (TKR) surgery. Unlike existent robot assisted TKR surgery, the proposed model is a surgical robot that combines with a movable hand-eye navigation system, which would use the full potential of both computer-assisted systems. Without using CT images and landmark pins in the patient's bones, it can directly measure the mechanical axis with high precision. This system provides a new approach of the minimally invasive surgery. Experiment results show that the proposed model is promising in the future application.

title: Enhancing Software Product Line Maintenance with Source Code Mining
abstract: Large-scale reuse and accelerated software development have been some of the key attractions behind software product lines. Various strategies and processes have been developed to facilitate product line development, maintenance, and evolution. However, experiences with software product lines also showed that it is a rather challenging task to maintain software product lines and families over a long period of time. The time and effort needed to manage and maintain product lines increase and quality degrades as product lines evolve. Without proper methods and tools to support the evolution, the cost can outweigh the benefits. 
 
This paper describes an approach to simplifying the maintenance of software product lines and improving software quality by integrating traditional software maintenance practices with pattern-based source code mining for defect detection and correction. Our case studies were performed in an industrial setting where the evolution of multiple mobile phone models of a product line was investigated.

title: Spectral decomposition approach for transient analysis of multi-server discrete-time queues
abstract: Previous work by the authors  where the spectral decomposition method was used for the transient analysis of a single-server queue is generalized. For the arrival process a general discrete-time Markovian batch arrival process is assumed, where the batch size distribution of the arrivals in successive slots is governed by a N-state discrete-time Markov chain. It is shown that once the N eigenvalues of the probability generating matrix of the arrival process are obtained, the complete solution in the transform domain may be given. Using the complex analysis technique and Cauchy's integral formula, an efficient numerical method is presented for the calculation of a few performance measures. The numerical method is generalized to the situations where the superpositions of a number of independent arrival sources are fed to the queue. It is shown that the numerical complexity are fed to the queue. It is shown that the numerical complexity of obtaining the transient solution in this case can be substantially reduced by using an approach based on the Kronecker product.<<ETX>>