Packet classification plays an important role in next generation networks. Packet classification is important to fulfill the requirements for many applications including firewalls, multimedia services, intrusion detection services, and differentiated services to name just a few. Hardware solutions such as CAM/TCAM do not scale well in space. Current software-based packet classification algorithms exhibit relatively poor performance, prompting many researchers to concentrate on novel frameworks and architectures that employ both hardware and software components. In this thesis we propose two novel algorithms, Packet Classification with Incremental Update (PCIU) and Group Based Search packet classification Algorithm (GBSA), that are scalable and demonstrate excellent results in terms of preprocessing and classification. The PCIU algorithm is an innovative and efficient packet classification algorithm with a unique incremental update capability that demonstrates powerful results and is accessible for many different tasks and clients. The algorithm was further improved and made more available for a variety of applications through its implementation in hardware. Four such implementations are detailed and discussed in this thesis. A hardware accelerator based on an ESL approach, using Handel-C, resulted in a 22x faster classification than a pure software implementation running on a state of the art Xeon processor. An ASIP implementation achieved on average a 21x quicker classification. We also propose another novel algorithm, GBSA, for packet classification that is scalable, fast and efficient. On average the algorithm consumes 0.4 MB of memory for a 10k rule set. In the worst case scenario, the classification time per packet is 2 μs, and the pre-processing speed is 3M Rule/sec, based on a CPU operating at 3.4 GHz. The proposed algorithm was evaluated and compared to state-of-the-art techniques, such as RFC, HiCut, Tuple, and PCIU, using several standard benchmarks. The obtained results indicate that GBSA outperforms these algorithms in terms of speed, memory usage and pre-processing time. The algorithm, furthermore, was improved and made more accessible for a variety of applications through implementation in hardware. Three approaches using this algorithm are detailed and discussed in this thesis. The first approach was implemented using an Application Specific Instruction Processor (ASIP), while the others were pure RTL implementations using two different ESL flows (Impulse-C and Handel-C). The GBSA ASIP implementation achieved, on average, a 18x faster running speed than a pure software implementation operating on a Xeon processor. Conversely, the hardware accelerators (based on the ESL approaches) resulted in 9x faster processing.

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Developing software for parallel architectures is a notoriously difficult task, compounded further by the range of available parallel architectures. There has been little research effort invested in how to engineer parallel applications for more general problem domains than the traditional numerically intensive domain. This thesis addresses these issues. An object-oriented paradigm for the development of general-purpose parallel applications, with full lifecycle support, is proposed and investigated, and a visual programming language to support that paradigm is developed. This thesis presents experiences and results from experiments with this new model for parallel application development.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Information Technology. / As IT environments grow in complexity and diversity, their strategic management becomes a critical business issue. Enterprise architectures (EA’s) provide support by ensuring that there is alignment between an enterprise’s business objectives and the IT systems that it deploys to achieve these objectives. While EA is a relatively new discipline, it has already found widespread commercial application. It is likely that EA will receive even more focus as IT environments continue to grow in complexity and heterogeneity. Despite this widespread acceptance of EA as a valuable IT discipline, there are several serious challenges that contemporary EA approaches are yet to overcome. These arise from the fact that currently, there is no unified EA modelling language that is also easy to use. A unified EA modelling language is one that is able to describe a wide range of IT domains using a single modelling notation. Without a unified, easy to use EA modelling language, it is impossible to create integrated models of the enterprise. Instead, a variety of modelling languages must be used to create an EA, leading to enterprise models that are inconsistent, incomplete and difficult to understand. The need to use multiple modelling languages also places a high cognitive load on modellers and excludes non-IT specialists from developing or using these models, even though such people may be the most important stakeholders in an EA program. The research presented in this thesis tackles these problems by developing a metaphor-based approach to the construction of unified EA modelling languages. Contemporary approaches to the understanding of metaphor are surveyed, and it is noted that one way to understand metaphor is to view it as part of a dynamic type hierarchy. This understanding of metaphor is related to the development of enterprise models and it is shown that highly abstract metaphors can be used to provide conceptually unified models of a range of enterprises and their component structures. This approach is operationalised as methodology that can be used to generate any number of unified EA modelling languages. This methodology is then applied to generate a new, unified EA modelling language called ‘LEAN’ (Lightweight Enterprise Architecture Notation). LEAN is evaluated using a mixed-methods research approach. This evaluation demonstrates that LEAN can be used to model a wide range of domains and that it is easy to learn and simple to understand. The application of the theoretical principles and methodology presented in this thesis can be expected to improve the understandability and consistency of EA’s significantly. This, in turn, can be expected to deliver significant tangible business benefits through improved strategic change management that more closely aligns the delivery of IT services with business drivers. The findings in this research also provide fertile ground for further research. This includes the development and comparative evaluation of alternative unified languages, further research into the use of the methodology presented to align architectures at various levels of abstraction, and the investigation of the applicability of this theoretical approach to other, non-IT disciplines.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (January 22, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

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