Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northeastern University, 2008. / Title from title page (viewed March 24, 2009). College of Computer and Information Science. Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-171).

High-level action programming languages such as Golog have successfully been used to model the behavior of autonomous agents. In addition to a logic-based action formalism for describing the environment and the effects of basic actions, they enable the construction of complex actions using typical programming language constructs. To ensure that the execution of such complex actions leads to the desired behavior of the agent, one needs to specify the required properties in a formal way, and then verify that these requirements are met by any execution of the program. Due to the expressiveness of the action formalism underlying Golog (situation calculus), the verification problem for Golog programs is in general undecidable. Action formalisms based on Description Logic (DL) try to achieve decidability of inference problems such as the projection problem by restricting the expressiveness of the underlying base logic. However, until now these formalisms have not been used within Golog programs. In the present paper, we introduce a variant of Golog where basic actions are defined using such a DL-based formalism, and show that the verification problem for such programs is decidable. This improves on our previous work on verifying properties of infinite sequences of DL actions in that it considers (finite and infinite) sequences of DL actions that correspond to (terminating and non-terminating) runs of a Golog program rather than just infinite sequences accepted by a Büchi automaton abstracting the program.

Golog is a high-level action programming language for controlling autonomous agents such as mobile robots. It is defined on top of a logic-based action theory expressed in the Situation Calculus. Before a program is deployed onto an actual robot and executed in the physical world, it is desirable, if not crucial, to verify that it meets certain requirements (typically expressed through temporal formulas) and thus indeed exhibits the desired behaviour. However, due to the high (first-order) expressiveness of the language, the corresponding verification problem is in general undecidable. In this paper, we extend earlier results to identify a large, non-trivial fragment of the formalism where verification is decidable. In particular, we consider properties expressed in a first-order variant of the branching-time temporal logic CTL*. Decidability is obtained by (1) resorting to the decidable first-order fragment C² as underlying base logic, (2) using a fragment of Golog with ground actions only, and (3) requiring the action theory to only admit local effects. / In this extended version we extend the decidability result for the verification problem to the temporal logic CTL* over C2-axioms.

<p>Computation-intensive algorithms require a high level of parallelism and programmability, which </p><p>make them good candidate for hardware acceleration using fine-grained processor arrays. Using </p><p>Hardware Description Language (HDL), it is very difficult to design and manage fine-grained </p><p>processing units and therefore High-Level Language (HLL) is a preferred alternative. </p><p> </p><p>This thesis analyzes HLL programming of fine-grained architecture in terms of achieved </p><p>performance and resource consumption. In a case study, highly computation-intensive algorithms </p><p>(interpolation kernels) are implemented on fine-grained architecture (FPGA) using a high-level </p><p>language (Mitrion-C). Mitrion Virtual Processor (MVP) is extracted as an application-specific </p><p>fine-grain processor array, and the Mitrion development environment translates high-level design </p><p>to hardware description (HDL). </p><p> </p><p>Performance requirements, parallelism possibilities/limitations and resource requirement for </p><p>parallelism vary from algorithm to algorithm as well as by hardware platform. By considering </p><p>parallelism at different levels, we can adjust the parallelism according to available hardware </p><p>resources and can achieve better adjustment of different tradeoffs like gates-performance and </p><p>memory-performance tradeoffs. This thesis proposes different design approaches to adjust </p><p>parallelism at different design levels. For interpolation kernels, different parallelism levels and </p><p>design variants are proposed, which can be mixed to get a well-tuned application and resource </p><p>specific design.</p>

Computation-intensive algorithms require a high level of parallelism and programmability, which make them good candidate for hardware acceleration using fine-grained processor arrays. Using Hardware Description Language (HDL), it is very difficult to design and manage fine-grained processing units and therefore High-Level Language (HLL) is a preferred alternative. This thesis analyzes HLL programming of fine-grained architecture in terms of achieved performance and resource consumption. In a case study, highly computation-intensive algorithms (interpolation kernels) are implemented on fine-grained architecture (FPGA) using a high-level language (Mitrion-C). Mitrion Virtual Processor (MVP) is extracted as an application-specific fine-grain processor array, and the Mitrion development environment translates high-level design to hardware description (HDL). Performance requirements, parallelism possibilities/limitations and resource requirement for parallelism vary from algorithm to algorithm as well as by hardware platform. By considering parallelism at different levels, we can adjust the parallelism according to available hardware resources and can achieve better adjustment of different tradeoffs like gates-performance and memory-performance tradeoffs. This thesis proposes different design approaches to adjust parallelism at different design levels. For interpolation kernels, different parallelism levels and design variants are proposed, which can be mixed to get a well-tuned application and resource specific design.

Exprimer le parallélisme dans la programmation de manière simple et performante est un défi auquel l'informatique fait face, en raison de l'évolution actuelle des architectures matérielles. BSML est un langage permettant une programmation parallèle de haut niveau, structurée, qui participe à cette recherche. En s'appuyant sur le coeur du langage existant, cette thèse propose d'une part des extensions qui en font un langage plus général et plus simple (traits impératifs tels que références et exceptions, syntaxe spécifique...) tout en conservant et étendant sa sûreté (sémantiques formelles, système de types...) et d'autre part une méthodologie de développement d'applications parallèles certifiées / Finding a good paradigm to represent parallel programming in a simple and efficient way is a challenge currently faced by computer science research, mainly due to the evolution of machine architectures towards multi-core processors. BSML is a high level, structured parallel programming language that takes part in the research in an original way. By building upon existing work, this thesis extends the language and makes it more general, simple and usable with added imperative features such as references and exceptions, a specific syntax, etc. The existing formal and safety characteristics of the language (semantics, type system...) are preserved and extended. A major application is given in the form of a methodology for the development of fully proved parallel programs

Les architectures parallèles sont désormais présentes dans tous les matériels informatiques, mais les programmeurs ne sont généralement pas formés à leur programmation dans les modèles explicites tels que MPI ou les Pthreads. Il y a un besoin important de modèles plus abstraits tels que les squelettes algorithmiques qui sont une approche structurée. Ceux-ci peuvent être vus comme des fonctions d’ordre supérieur synthétisant le comportement d’algorithmes parallèles récurrents que le développeur peut ensuite combiner pour créer ses programmes. Les développeurs souhaitent obtenir de meilleures performances grâce aux programmes parallèles, mais le temps de développement est également un facteur très important. Les approches par squelettes algorithmiques fournissent des résultats intéressants dans ces deux aspects. La bibliothèque Orléans Skeleton Library ou OSL fournit un ensemble de squelettes algorithmiques de parallélisme de données quasi-synchrones dans le langage C++ et utilise des techniques de programmation avancées pour atteindre une bonne efficacité. Nous avons amélioré OSL afin de lui apporter de meilleures performances et une plus grande expressivité. Nous avons voulu analyser le rapport entre les performances des programmes et l’effort de programmation nécessaire sur OSL et d’autres modèles de programmation parallèle. La comparaison rigoureuse entre des programmes parallèles dans OSL et leurs équivalents de bas niveau montre une bien meilleure productivité pour les modèles de haut niveau qui offrent une grande facilité d’utilisation tout en produisant des performances acceptables. / Parallel architectures have now reached every computing device, but software developers generally lackthe skills to program them through explicit models such as MPI or the Pthreads. There is a need for moreabstract models such as the algorithmic skeletons which are a structured approach. They can be viewed ashigher order functions that represent the behaviour of common parallel algorithms, and those are combinedby the programmer to generate parallel programs. Programmers want to obtain better performances through the usage of parallelism, but the development time implied is also an important factor. Algorithmic skeletons provide interesting results in both those fields. The Orléans Skeleton Library or OSL provides a set of algorithmic skeletons for data parallelism within the bulk synchronous parallel model for the C++ language. It uses advanced metaprogramming techniques to obtain good performances. We improved OSL in order to obtain better performances from its generated programs, and extended its expressivity. We wanted to analyze the ratio between the performance of programs and the development effort needed within OSL and other parallel programming models. The comparison between parallel programs written within OSL and their equivalents in low level parallel models shows a better productivity for high level models : they are easy to use for the programmers while providing decent performances.

Le calcul scientifique parallèle est un domaine en plein essor qui permet à la fois d’augmenter la vitesse des longs traitements, de traiter des problèmes de taille plus importante ou encore des problèmes plus précis. Ce domaine permet donc d’aller plus loin dans les calculs scientifiques, d’obtenir des résultats plus pertinents, car plus précis, ou d’étudier des problèmes plus volumineux qu’auparavant. Dans le monde plus particulier de la simulation numérique scientifique, la résolution d’équations aux dérivées partielles (EDP) est un calcul particulièrement demandeur de ressources parallèles. Si les ressources matérielles permettant le calcul parallèle sont de plus en plus présentes et disponibles pour les scientifiques, à l’inverse leur utilisation et la programmation parallèle se démocratisent difficilement. Pour cette raison, des modèles de programmation parallèle, des outils de développement et même des langages de programmation parallèle ont vu le jour et visent à simplifier l’utilisation de ces machines. Il est toutefois difficile, dans ce domaine dit du “parallélisme implicite”, de trouver le niveau d’abstraction idéal pour les scientifiques, tout en réduisant l’effort de programmation. Ce travail de thèse propose tout d’abord un modèle permettant de mettre en oeuvre des solutions de parallélisme implicite pour les simulations numériques et la résolution d’EDP. Ce modèle est appelé “Structured Implicit Parallelism for scientific SIMulations” (SIPSim), et propose une vision au croisement de plusieurs types d’abstraction, en tentant de conserver les avantages de chaque vision. Une première implémentation de ce modèle, sous la forme d’une librairie C++ appelée SkelGIS, est proposée pour les maillages cartésiens à deux dimensions. Par la suite, SkelGIS, et donc l’implémentation du modèle, est étendue à des simulations numériques sur les réseaux (permettant l’application de simulations représentant plusieurs phénomènes physiques). Les performances de ces deux implémentations sont évaluées et analysées sur des cas d’application réels et complexes et démontrent qu’il est possible d’obtenir de bonnes performances en implémentant le modèle SIPSim. / Parallel scientific computations is an expanding domain of computer science which increases the speed of calculations and offers a way to deal with heavier or more accurate calculations. Thus, the interest of scientific computations increases, with more precised results and bigger physical domains to study. In the particular case of scientific numerical simulations, solving partial differential equations (PDEs) is an especially heavy calculation and a perfect applicant to parallel computations. On one hand, it is more and more easy to get an access to very powerfull parallel machines and clusters, but on the other hand parallel programming is hard to democratize, and most scientists are not able to use these machines. As a result, high level programming models, framework, libraries, languages etc. have been proposed to hide technical details of parallel programming. However, in this “implicit parallelism” field, it is difficult to find the good abstraction level while keeping a low programming effort. This thesis proposes a model to write implicit parallelism solutions for numerical simulations such as mesh-based PDEs computations. This model is called “Structured Implicit Parallelism for scientific SIMulations” (SIPSim), and proposes an approach at the crossroads of existing solutions, taking advantage of each one. A first implementation of this model is proposed, as a C++ library called SkelGIS, for two dimensional Cartesian meshes. A second implementation of the model, and an extension of SkelGIS, proposes an implicit parallelism solution for network-simulations (which deals with simulations with multiple physical phenomenons), and is studied in details. A performance analysis of both these implementations is given on real case simulations, and it demonstrates that the SIPSim model can be implemented efficiently.