In large multiprocessors, the access to shared memory is often nonuniform, and may vary as much as ten times for some distributed shared-memory architectures (DSMs). This dissertation identifies another important nonuniform property of DSM systems: nonuniform communication architecture, NUCA. High-end hardware-coherent machines built from large nodes, or from chip multiprocessors, are typical NUCA systems, since they have a lower penalty for reading recently written data from a neighbor's cache than from a remote cache. This dissertation identifies node affinity as an important property for scalable general-purpose locks. Several software-based hierarchical lock implementations exploiting NUCAs are presented and evaluated. NUCA-aware locks are shown to be almost twice as efficient for contended critical sections compared to traditional lock implementations. The shared-memory “illusion”' provided by some large DSM systems may be implemented using either hardware, software or a combination thereof. A software-based implementation can enable cheap cluster hardware to be used, but typically suffers from poor and unpredictable performance characteristics. This dissertation advocates a new software-hardware trade-off design point based on a new combination of techniques. The two low-level techniques, fine-grain deterministic coherence and synchronous protocol execution, as well as profile-guided protocol flexibility, are evaluated in isolation as well as in a combined setting using all-software implementations. Finally, a minimum of hardware trap support is suggested to further improve the performance of coherence protocols across cluster nodes. It is shown that all these techniques combined could result in a fairly stable performance on par with hardware-based coherence.

Advances in communicat ions have been unarguably essent ial to enablemodern systems and applicat ions as we know them. Ubiquity has turned into reality, allowing specialised embedded systems to eminent ly grow and spread. That is notably the case of unmanned vehicles which have been creat ively explored on applications that were not as efficient as they currently are, neither as innovative as recent ly accomplished. Therefore, towards the efficient operat ion of either unmanned vehicles and systems they integrate, in addition to communicat ion improvements, it is highly desired that we carefully observe relevant , co-related necessit ies that may lead to the full insert ion of unmanned vehicles to our everyday lives. Moreover, by addressing these demands on integrated solut ions, better resultswill likely be produced. This thesis presentsHAMSTER, theHeAlthy, Mobility and Security based data communication archiTEctuRe for unmanned vehicles, which addresses threemain types of communicat ions: machine-to-machine, machine-to-infrast ructure and internal machine communications. Four addit ional elements on co-related requirements are provided alongside with HAMSTER for more accurate approaches regarding security and safety aspects (SPHERE platform), crit icality analysis (NCI index), energy efficiency (NP plat form) and mobility-oriented ad hoc and infrast ructured communicat ions (NIMBLE platform). Furthermore, three specialised versions are provided: unmanned aerial vehicles (Flying HAMSTER), unmanned ground vehicles (Running HAMSTER) and unmanned surface/ underwater vehicles (Swimming HAMSTER). The architecture validat ion is achieved by case studies on each feature addressed, leading to guidelines on the development of vehicles more likely to meet certificat ion requirements, more efficient and secure communicat ions, assert ive approaches regarding crit icality and green approaches on internal communicat ions. Indeed, results prove the efficiency and effectiveness of HAMSTER architecture and its elements, as well as its flexibility in carrying out different experiments focused on various aspects of communication, which helps researchers and developers to achieve safe and secure communicat ions in unmanned vehicles. / Os avanços na área de comunicações foram indiscutívelmente essenciais para a obtenção de sistemas e aplicações modernos como os o atuais. A computação ubíqua se tornou realidade, permitindo que sistemas embarcados especializados ganhassem espaço e cada vez mais autonomia. Esse é notavelmente o caso de veículos não tripulados que têm sido criativamente explorados em aplicações inovadoras e avançadas. Entretanto, para o funcionamento eficiente desses veículos e sistemas não tripulados, além de melhorias de comunicação, é altamente desejável que as necessidades relevantes co-relacionadas a comunica¸cao sejam cuidadosamente observadas, levando a uma facilitação na inserção de veículos não tripulados em espaços públicos. Além disso, ao abordar essas demandas de modo integrado, as chances de produzir melhores resultados é maior. Esta tese apresenta a HAMSTER, uma arquitetura de comunicação de dados baseada em mobilidade e segurança para veículos não tripulados, que aborda três tipos principais de comunicação: máquina-para- máquina, máquina-para-infraestrutura e comunicações internas. Quatro elementos adicionais co-relacionados são fornecidos juntamente com a arquitetura HAMSTER de modo a prover abordagens mais precisas em relação a aspectos de segurança física e da informação (plataforma SPHERE), análise de criticalidade (índice NCI), eficiência energética (plataforma NP) e comunicações ad hoc e infraestruturadas orientadas a mobilidade (plataforma NIMBLE). Além disso, são fornecidas três versões especializadas: para veículos aéreos não tripulados (Flying HAMSTER), veículos terrestres não tripulados (Running HAMSTER) e veículos submarinos e de superfície não tripulados (Swimming HAMSTER). A validação da arquitetura é obtida por meio de estudos de caso sobre cada recurso abordado, levando a diretrizes sobre o desenvolvimento de veículos mais preparados para atender a requisitos de certificação, comunicação mais eficiente e segura, abordagens assertivas sobre criticidade e abordagens verdes nas comunicações internas. Por fim, os resultados comprovaram a eficiência da arquitetura HAMSTER e os elementos com ela providos, bem como a flexibilidade em realizar experimentos focados em vários aspectos de comunicação, auxiliando na obtenção de comunicações seguras em veículos autônomos.