Redundancy Allocation Problem (RAP) is a well known mathematical problem for modeling series-parallel systems. It is a combinatorial optimization problem which focuses on determining an optimal assignment of components in a system design. Due to the diverse possible selection of components, the RAP is proved to be NP-hard. Therefore, many algorithms, especially heuristic algorithms were proposed and implemented in the past several decades, committed to provide innovative methods or better solutions. In recent years, multi-agent system (MAS) is proposed for modeling complex systems and solving large scale problems. It is a relatively new programming concept with the ability of self-organizing, self-adaptive, autonomous administrating, etc. These features of MAS inspire us to look at the RAP from another point of view. An RAP can be divided into multiple smaller problems that are solved by multiple agents. The agents can collaboratively solve optimal RAP solutions quickly and efficiently. In this research, we proposed to solve RAP using MAS. This novel approach, to the best of our knowledge, has not been proposed before, although multi-agent approaches have been widely used for solving other large and complex nonlinear problems. To demonstrate that, we analyzed and evaluated four benchmark RAP problems in the literature. From the results, the MAS approach is shown as an effective and extendable method for solving the RAP problems. / Electrical and Computer Engineering

Denna rapport presenterar design, konstruktion och utvärdering av ett system för diagnostik och övervakning ombord på en bemannad dubbelkvadrokopter. Genom att integrera olika tekniker för redundans, datalagring, felhantering och realtidsanalys undersöks hur systemets tillförlitlighet kan förbättras och säkerställas. / This report presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a customized system for onboard diagnostics and data analysis. It identifies critical components to ensure redundancy in a fault-tolerant architecture. By evaluating and implementing various techniques for redundancy, error handling, data collection and real-time analysis, the systems reliability and security are thoroughly assessed.

Two reliability analysis techniques, allocation and apportionment, have the potential to influence a system's design (a distinction is made here between allocation and apportionment). Algorithms that account for the ever increasing design complexities are constructed here for both. As designs of aircraft, railway systems, automobiles and space systems continue to push the envelope in terms of their capabilities, the importance of performance criteria such as reliability and associated life-cycle cost (LCC) consequences become even more important. These interrelated criteria are the foundation for the reliability allocation and apportionment algorithms derived in this thesis. Reliability allocation is the process of assigning reliability targets to lower-level assemblies to ensure the top-level assembly's goal is achieved. Reliability apportionment involves the analysis of an existing design configuration to determine the most cost-effective means of adding redundancy. In the apportionment problem, acquisition cost is the traditional cost-effectiveness measure. The apportionment algorithm defined herein expands the definition of cost-effectiveness to include downstream costs, thereby addressing LCC. A well-behaved, allocation routine is derived to account for any combination of serial, parallel and partially redundant configurations. In addition, a closed-form analytic solution provides the framework for economically adding redundancy to a system's structure in order to achieve a system-level reliability goal. An Apportionment Criterion Ratio (ACR), which contrasts the incremental reliability benefits of adding redundant components with the corresponding incremental LCC, is used. The Rate of Occurrence of Failure (ROCOF) is the reliability metric used in both the allocation and the apportionment routines. The formulation of the LCC model carefully distinguishes between failures and an allied measurement, demands. / Master of Science

Redundant manipulators are widely used because they have a greater dexterity andversatility than nonredundant manipulators. In the redundant manipulators, thenumber of degrees of freedom are more than the required to manipulate objects atthe task space, which leads to a possibility to generate infinite number of solutions.For this reasons it has been a hot research topic to exploit the redundancy. Thisthesis work is focus on modeling and controlling redundant robot manipulator withseven degree of freedom (LWA 10 kg payload by Schunk). A literature review hasbeen prepared on the existing methods of exploiting the redundancy in the 7-DOFmanipulators at the velocity and position levels. The forward kinematic equationsare derived using the Denavit-Hartenberg method. The inverse kinematic problem issolved and the redundancy is exploited at the position level to avoid the computationalcomplexity and inaccuracy associated with exploiting the redundancy at the velocitylevel. The joint angles of the manipulator are computed in term of a redundancyparameter defining the self-motion in the manipulator. The relation between the jointangles and the redundancy parameter is exploited to avoid selecting the arm anglesthat violate the joint limits. The singularity configurations and robot workspace arealso studied in this thesis. An example is presented on how the self-motion of thearm appears when the end-effector is stationary. The methods are applied to followstraight line trajectories while preventing the joints to exceed the limits. The resultsfound showed how exploiting the redundancy at the position level is being exact withlow computational cost. The validity of the methods is verified by Robotics Toolboxsimulations.

La négociation collective n’est plus étrangère à la règlementation des grands licenciements collectifs nécessitant l’établissement d’un plan social. Depuis une vingtaine d’années, son rôle dans l’entreprise se renforce. La négociation collective d’entreprise s’est ainsi emparée de dispositifs procéduraux instituant le cadre d’une information-consultation des représentants du personnel ou encore des garanties d’évitement et d’accompagnement des licenciements. L’instauration par la loi n°2013-504 du 14 juin 2013 de la possibilité d’un plan social négocié par les organisations syndicales représentatives dans l’entreprise marque un tournant. Celles-ci participent désormais à la décision de gestion des conséquences sociales d’un projet de licenciement collectif pour motif économique. Cette négociation décisionnelle est source d’innovations dans la procédure interne mais aussi externe encadrant la mise en œuvre des grands licenciements collectifs. L’évolution de leur encadrement vers un droit négocié dans l’entreprise est affermie et constitue l’objet de la recherche conduite dans la présente thèse. / The collective bargaining of redundancy plan related to collective dismissals The collective bargaining is now part of the regulation of collective dismissals requiring the establishment of a redundancy plan in companies. Its role in companies have been getting stronger during the past thirty years. Thus, collective bargaining in companies seized the procedural rules linked to the framework of information and consultation of representatives but also relating to guarantees of avoidance and social assistance to dismissals. A real watershed was marked thanks to the enactment of the 14th June 2013 (n°2013-504) law. Indeed, this law ensures employment protection by offering the possibility to trade unions that represent workers in companies to negotiate the redundancy plan. These trade unions are now involved in the managerial decision determining the social consequences of collective dismissals for economic reasons. This collective bargaining that applies to a specific decision process generates innovations in the internal and external procedure setting up the framework of collective dismissals. The evolution of the redundancy controls, which are now oriented towards a negotiated right in companies, is reinforced. This constitutes the subject of the researches that are conducted in this thesis.

Este trabalho aborda os soft errors em conversores de dados analógico-digitais e a mitigação usando redundância e diversidade. Nas tecnologias CMOS recentes, os efeitos singulares (SEEs, Single Event Effects) são um grupo de efeitos da radiação espacial que afetam a confiabilidade e disponibilidade dos sistemas. Os soft errors são SEEs que não danificam diretamente o sistema e podem ser posteriormente corrigidos. Seus principais subgrupos são o Single Event Upset (SEU), o Single Event Transient (SET) e o Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI). Uma das técnicas em nível de sistema amplamente usadas para proteger os circuitos eletrônicos desses efeitos é a Redundância Modular Tripla (TMR, Triple Modular Redundancy), que pode ainda ser melhorada com a adição da técnica de diversidade. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho adota um esquema baseado nessas duas técnicas para a implementação de um sistema de aquisição de dados (SAD) analógico-digital. Seus objetivos são observar o comportamento dos conversores de dados frente aos soft errors e avaliar a eficácia de um sistema baseado em TMR e diversidade espacial-temporal contra esses efeitos da radiação. A implementação desse SAD em um SoC (System-on-Chip) da Cypress Semiconductor, chamado PSoC 5LP e fabricado em tecnologia CMOS de 130 nm, propiciou a realização de dois estudos: no primeiro, é realizada a irradiação com nêutrons, caso de particular interesse para os equipamentos eletrônicos embarcados em aviões; e no segundo, são realizadas injeções de falhas por software e em tempo de execução nos registradores de controle dos periféricos e na SRAM do PSoC 5LP. O resultado da irradiação do primeiro estudo foi a não observância de erros, o que impediu cumprir os objetivos propostos para esse teste. Essa situação permitiu duas observações principais: primeiro, o fluxo de nêutrons do experimento é uma característica fundamental que impacta na capacidade de se observar os efeitos da radiação, principalmente quando a seção de choque do circuito em análise é baixa; e segundo, de que a probabilidade de ocorrerem mascaramentos de SETs nos circuitos combinacionais e analógicos é elevada, o que contribui significativamente para reduzir a sensibilidade desses circuitos. Para avaliar a eficácia do sistema baseado em TMR e diversidade espacial-temporal foi então realizada uma investigação teórica baseada em análise combinatória, e os resultados mostraram que a adição de diversidade temporal gera, em comparação ao TMR clássico, um ganho significativo na tolerância de falhas duplas e múltiplas, ao preço de um aumento do atraso do circuito. Os resultados das injeções de falhas por software e em tempo de execução nos registradores de controle dos periféricos e na SRAM mostraram que apenas um baixo percentual das falhas injetadas é detectado na forma de erros, convergindo para a justificativa de que os mascaramentos foram determinantes para a não observância de erros no primeiro estudo, de injeção de falhas por radiação. Também verificou-se que os registradores de controle dos periféricos são mais importantes no nível de aplicação do que os dados da memória SRAM. Considerações sobre a auto injeção de falhas e auto monitoramento sugerem que a utilização desses conceitos pode trazer diversas limitações e complicadores aos testes. / The present thesis addresses the soft errors in analog-to-digital data converters and mitigation of such errors using redundancy and diversity. In modern CMOS technologies, the Single Event Effects (SEEs) comprises an important group of space radiation effects that influence the reliability and availability of the systems. Soft errors are SEEs that do not directly damage the system and that can be further corrected. Their main subgroups are the Single Event Upset (SEU), the Single Event Transient (SET) and the Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI). One of the system level techniques broadly used to protect the electronic circuits against these effects is the Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), which may be improved with the addition of the diversity technique. In this context, this work proposes a scheme based on these two techniques to implement a tolerant analog-to-digital data acquisition system (DAS). The main objectives are to observe the behavior of the data converters under soft errors, and evaluate the effectiveness of a system based on TMR and spatial-temporal diversity on mitigating these radiation effects. The implementation of this DAS in a Programmable SoC (System-on-Chip) from Cypress Semiconductor (PSoC 5LP) manufactured in 130 nm CMOS, allowed the development of two studies. In the first one, an irradiation with neutrons is performed, case of particular interest to electronic equipment embedded on planes. In the second study, runtime software fault injections are performed at the peripheral control registers and SRAM of the studied device. As a result from irradiation on the first study no errors were found, what does not allowed meet the objectives of this test. This situation allow two main observations: first, the neutron flux of the experiment is a key feature that influences the ability to observe the radiation effects, mainly when the cross section of the circuit in analysis is low; and second, the probability of occurring SETs masking in combinational and analog circuits is high, which contributes significantly to reduce the sensibility of these circuits. To evaluate the effectiveness of a system based on TMR and spatial-temporal diversity then was performed a theoretical investigation based on combinatorial analysis, and the results show that the addition of temporal diversity generates a significant gain in tolerating double and multiple faults, if compared to the classical TMR, at the price of an increase in the circuit delay. The results of the second study, performed by runtime software fault injections at the peripheral control registers and SRAM, showed that only a low percentage of injected faults is detected as errors, according to the justification that no errors were found on irradiation of neutrons due to masking. Also was verified that at the application level the peripheral control registers are more important than the data stored in the SRAM memory. Considerations for faults self-injection and self-monitoring were done, suggesting that the use of these concepts may bring numerous limitations to the test.

Este trabalho aborda os soft errors em conversores de dados analógico-digitais e a mitigação usando redundância e diversidade. Nas tecnologias CMOS recentes, os efeitos singulares (SEEs, Single Event Effects) são um grupo de efeitos da radiação espacial que afetam a confiabilidade e disponibilidade dos sistemas. Os soft errors são SEEs que não danificam diretamente o sistema e podem ser posteriormente corrigidos. Seus principais subgrupos são o Single Event Upset (SEU), o Single Event Transient (SET) e o Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI). Uma das técnicas em nível de sistema amplamente usadas para proteger os circuitos eletrônicos desses efeitos é a Redundância Modular Tripla (TMR, Triple Modular Redundancy), que pode ainda ser melhorada com a adição da técnica de diversidade. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho adota um esquema baseado nessas duas técnicas para a implementação de um sistema de aquisição de dados (SAD) analógico-digital. Seus objetivos são observar o comportamento dos conversores de dados frente aos soft errors e avaliar a eficácia de um sistema baseado em TMR e diversidade espacial-temporal contra esses efeitos da radiação. A implementação desse SAD em um SoC (System-on-Chip) da Cypress Semiconductor, chamado PSoC 5LP e fabricado em tecnologia CMOS de 130 nm, propiciou a realização de dois estudos: no primeiro, é realizada a irradiação com nêutrons, caso de particular interesse para os equipamentos eletrônicos embarcados em aviões; e no segundo, são realizadas injeções de falhas por software e em tempo de execução nos registradores de controle dos periféricos e na SRAM do PSoC 5LP. O resultado da irradiação do primeiro estudo foi a não observância de erros, o que impediu cumprir os objetivos propostos para esse teste. Essa situação permitiu duas observações principais: primeiro, o fluxo de nêutrons do experimento é uma característica fundamental que impacta na capacidade de se observar os efeitos da radiação, principalmente quando a seção de choque do circuito em análise é baixa; e segundo, de que a probabilidade de ocorrerem mascaramentos de SETs nos circuitos combinacionais e analógicos é elevada, o que contribui significativamente para reduzir a sensibilidade desses circuitos. Para avaliar a eficácia do sistema baseado em TMR e diversidade espacial-temporal foi então realizada uma investigação teórica baseada em análise combinatória, e os resultados mostraram que a adição de diversidade temporal gera, em comparação ao TMR clássico, um ganho significativo na tolerância de falhas duplas e múltiplas, ao preço de um aumento do atraso do circuito. Os resultados das injeções de falhas por software e em tempo de execução nos registradores de controle dos periféricos e na SRAM mostraram que apenas um baixo percentual das falhas injetadas é detectado na forma de erros, convergindo para a justificativa de que os mascaramentos foram determinantes para a não observância de erros no primeiro estudo, de injeção de falhas por radiação. Também verificou-se que os registradores de controle dos periféricos são mais importantes no nível de aplicação do que os dados da memória SRAM. Considerações sobre a auto injeção de falhas e auto monitoramento sugerem que a utilização desses conceitos pode trazer diversas limitações e complicadores aos testes. / The present thesis addresses the soft errors in analog-to-digital data converters and mitigation of such errors using redundancy and diversity. In modern CMOS technologies, the Single Event Effects (SEEs) comprises an important group of space radiation effects that influence the reliability and availability of the systems. Soft errors are SEEs that do not directly damage the system and that can be further corrected. Their main subgroups are the Single Event Upset (SEU), the Single Event Transient (SET) and the Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI). One of the system level techniques broadly used to protect the electronic circuits against these effects is the Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), which may be improved with the addition of the diversity technique. In this context, this work proposes a scheme based on these two techniques to implement a tolerant analog-to-digital data acquisition system (DAS). The main objectives are to observe the behavior of the data converters under soft errors, and evaluate the effectiveness of a system based on TMR and spatial-temporal diversity on mitigating these radiation effects. The implementation of this DAS in a Programmable SoC (System-on-Chip) from Cypress Semiconductor (PSoC 5LP) manufactured in 130 nm CMOS, allowed the development of two studies. In the first one, an irradiation with neutrons is performed, case of particular interest to electronic equipment embedded on planes. In the second study, runtime software fault injections are performed at the peripheral control registers and SRAM of the studied device. As a result from irradiation on the first study no errors were found, what does not allowed meet the objectives of this test. This situation allow two main observations: first, the neutron flux of the experiment is a key feature that influences the ability to observe the radiation effects, mainly when the cross section of the circuit in analysis is low; and second, the probability of occurring SETs masking in combinational and analog circuits is high, which contributes significantly to reduce the sensibility of these circuits. To evaluate the effectiveness of a system based on TMR and spatial-temporal diversity then was performed a theoretical investigation based on combinatorial analysis, and the results show that the addition of temporal diversity generates a significant gain in tolerating double and multiple faults, if compared to the classical TMR, at the price of an increase in the circuit delay. The results of the second study, performed by runtime software fault injections at the peripheral control registers and SRAM, showed that only a low percentage of injected faults is detected as errors, according to the justification that no errors were found on irradiation of neutrons due to masking. Also was verified that at the application level the peripheral control registers are more important than the data stored in the SRAM memory. Considerations for faults self-injection and self-monitoring were done, suggesting that the use of these concepts may bring numerous limitations to the test.

Este trabalho aborda os soft errors em conversores de dados analógico-digitais e a mitigação usando redundância e diversidade. Nas tecnologias CMOS recentes, os efeitos singulares (SEEs, Single Event Effects) são um grupo de efeitos da radiação espacial que afetam a confiabilidade e disponibilidade dos sistemas. Os soft errors são SEEs que não danificam diretamente o sistema e podem ser posteriormente corrigidos. Seus principais subgrupos são o Single Event Upset (SEU), o Single Event Transient (SET) e o Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI). Uma das técnicas em nível de sistema amplamente usadas para proteger os circuitos eletrônicos desses efeitos é a Redundância Modular Tripla (TMR, Triple Modular Redundancy), que pode ainda ser melhorada com a adição da técnica de diversidade. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho adota um esquema baseado nessas duas técnicas para a implementação de um sistema de aquisição de dados (SAD) analógico-digital. Seus objetivos são observar o comportamento dos conversores de dados frente aos soft errors e avaliar a eficácia de um sistema baseado em TMR e diversidade espacial-temporal contra esses efeitos da radiação. A implementação desse SAD em um SoC (System-on-Chip) da Cypress Semiconductor, chamado PSoC 5LP e fabricado em tecnologia CMOS de 130 nm, propiciou a realização de dois estudos: no primeiro, é realizada a irradiação com nêutrons, caso de particular interesse para os equipamentos eletrônicos embarcados em aviões; e no segundo, são realizadas injeções de falhas por software e em tempo de execução nos registradores de controle dos periféricos e na SRAM do PSoC 5LP. O resultado da irradiação do primeiro estudo foi a não observância de erros, o que impediu cumprir os objetivos propostos para esse teste. Essa situação permitiu duas observações principais: primeiro, o fluxo de nêutrons do experimento é uma característica fundamental que impacta na capacidade de se observar os efeitos da radiação, principalmente quando a seção de choque do circuito em análise é baixa; e segundo, de que a probabilidade de ocorrerem mascaramentos de SETs nos circuitos combinacionais e analógicos é elevada, o que contribui significativamente para reduzir a sensibilidade desses circuitos. Para avaliar a eficácia do sistema baseado em TMR e diversidade espacial-temporal foi então realizada uma investigação teórica baseada em análise combinatória, e os resultados mostraram que a adição de diversidade temporal gera, em comparação ao TMR clássico, um ganho significativo na tolerância de falhas duplas e múltiplas, ao preço de um aumento do atraso do circuito. Os resultados das injeções de falhas por software e em tempo de execução nos registradores de controle dos periféricos e na SRAM mostraram que apenas um baixo percentual das falhas injetadas é detectado na forma de erros, convergindo para a justificativa de que os mascaramentos foram determinantes para a não observância de erros no primeiro estudo, de injeção de falhas por radiação. Também verificou-se que os registradores de controle dos periféricos são mais importantes no nível de aplicação do que os dados da memória SRAM. Considerações sobre a auto injeção de falhas e auto monitoramento sugerem que a utilização desses conceitos pode trazer diversas limitações e complicadores aos testes. / The present thesis addresses the soft errors in analog-to-digital data converters and mitigation of such errors using redundancy and diversity. In modern CMOS technologies, the Single Event Effects (SEEs) comprises an important group of space radiation effects that influence the reliability and availability of the systems. Soft errors are SEEs that do not directly damage the system and that can be further corrected. Their main subgroups are the Single Event Upset (SEU), the Single Event Transient (SET) and the Single Event Functional Interrupt (SEFI). One of the system level techniques broadly used to protect the electronic circuits against these effects is the Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), which may be improved with the addition of the diversity technique. In this context, this work proposes a scheme based on these two techniques to implement a tolerant analog-to-digital data acquisition system (DAS). The main objectives are to observe the behavior of the data converters under soft errors, and evaluate the effectiveness of a system based on TMR and spatial-temporal diversity on mitigating these radiation effects. The implementation of this DAS in a Programmable SoC (System-on-Chip) from Cypress Semiconductor (PSoC 5LP) manufactured in 130 nm CMOS, allowed the development of two studies. In the first one, an irradiation with neutrons is performed, case of particular interest to electronic equipment embedded on planes. In the second study, runtime software fault injections are performed at the peripheral control registers and SRAM of the studied device. As a result from irradiation on the first study no errors were found, what does not allowed meet the objectives of this test. This situation allow two main observations: first, the neutron flux of the experiment is a key feature that influences the ability to observe the radiation effects, mainly when the cross section of the circuit in analysis is low; and second, the probability of occurring SETs masking in combinational and analog circuits is high, which contributes significantly to reduce the sensibility of these circuits. To evaluate the effectiveness of a system based on TMR and spatial-temporal diversity then was performed a theoretical investigation based on combinatorial analysis, and the results show that the addition of temporal diversity generates a significant gain in tolerating double and multiple faults, if compared to the classical TMR, at the price of an increase in the circuit delay. The results of the second study, performed by runtime software fault injections at the peripheral control registers and SRAM, showed that only a low percentage of injected faults is detected as errors, according to the justification that no errors were found on irradiation of neutrons due to masking. Also was verified that at the application level the peripheral control registers are more important than the data stored in the SRAM memory. Considerations for faults self-injection and self-monitoring were done, suggesting that the use of these concepts may bring numerous limitations to the test.

Over years, there have been tremendous changes in internetworking technologies and there are a number of real time applications that are flooded into the market. Most real-time applications are sensitive to traffic loss because of their nature of exchanging data without acknowledgement. In any type of data network, redundancy is important to backup and recover the connectivity without human intervention in case of device or link failure. However, it is very crucial to design an optimal redundant network, particularly for real-time applications providing minimal losses during fail-over. Configuration of redundancy in different networks varies and depends on the equipment and network design itself. This thesis focuses on the redundancy needed in campus network design which is quite popular nowadays in most of medium and large enterprises, universities or government agencies. Two major designs of redundancy are studied: default gateway redundancy and routed access. In the first option, the one logical segment of network uses common L2 switches while in the other – the same segment is constructed with more expensive advanced multilayer switches. The network is built in the lab environment. As an example of real-time communication the VoIP call is simulated in the network. The failures on different areas of nodes or links are caused manually. Results of packet loss during fail-over are recorded. The baseline of recovery performance is constructed using these results which are derived from different scenarios using different configurations and equipment. The baseline data is evaluated and conclusion is made on the trade-offs, limitations, advantages and disadvantages of the redundancy options in the campus network design. The work done in this thesis is supportive for network architects and designers to take into consideration the equipment and configuration to be used when implementing redundancy for real-time communications. The results and conclusion will support them in choosing the options for constructing the redundant network, or taking into account the trade-offs when migrating from one option to another.

Today, the temporary agency work is a well-established industry in the Swedish labour market. The industry has grown every year since the start 1992 and seemingly, the legislation has not kept up with its’ pace. The reason behind the growth of temporary agency work is their clients impulsion for flexibility as well as making their organisation more efficient. Employers organizations argue that the ability to be flexible is a tool to increase economic growth in the society while the unions argue that the temporary agency workers are paying the price with insecure employment-contracts. The line between cancelation of employment due to redundancy and dismissal due to personal reasons is unclear, with disadvantages to the employment protection, through this triangular relationship between the temporary agency work, user company and the employee. The question is if the goal justifies the means. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the temporary agency work-industry is affecting the temporary agency workers employment protection, in addition, the thesis will investigate which legal impacts the legislation is creating in a diversity perspective. In order to answer the research questions properly, a traditional legal dogmatic method has been used as well as legal sociological perspective.