The advantages provided by Software Defined Radios (SDRs) have made them useful tools for communication engineers and academics alike. The ability to support a wide range of communication waveforms with varying modulation, encoding, or frequencies on a single hardware platform can decrease production costs while accelerating wave-form development. SDR applications are expanding in military and commercial environments as advances in transistor technology allow greater computational density with decreased power-consumption, size, and weight. As the demand for greater performance continues to increase, some SDR manufacturers are experimenting with heterogeneous processing platforms to meet these requirements. Heterogeneous processing, a method of dividing computational tasks among dissimilar processors, is well-suited to the data flow programming paradigm used in many common SDR software frameworks. Particularly on embedded platforms, heterogeneous processing can offer significant gains in computational power while maintaining low power-consumption, opening the door for affordable and useful mobile SDR platforms. Many past SDR hardware implementations utilize a partially heterogeneous processing approach. A field programmable gate array (FPGA) is often used to perform high-speed processing (DDC, decimation) near the radio front-end while another processor (GPP, DSP or FPGA) performs the rest of the SDR application signal processing (gain control, filtering, demodulation). A few recent SDR hardware platforms are designed to allow the use of multiple processor types throughout the SDR application's processing chain. This can result in significant benefit to SDR software that can take advantage of the greater heterogeneous processing now available. This thesis will present a new method of heterogeneous processing in the framework of GNU Radio. In this implementation a software wrapper allows a DSP to participate seamlessly in GNU Radio applications. The DSP can be directly substituted for existing GNU Radio signal processing blocks—significantly expanding the platform's capabilities while maintaining the benefits of the component-based design methodology. A similar approach could be applied to additional processing elements (e.g. FPGAs and co-processors) and to other SDR software frameworks. As the capabilities of this heterogeneous framework increase users will be required to assign hardware resources to signal processing tasks to maximize performance. To remove this burden, a method of predicting GNU Radio application performance and a heuristic resource mapping algorithm, which seems to perform well in practice, are presented. / Master of Science

The Global Positioning System (GPS) signal simulator plays a critical role in developing and testing GPS receivers. Unfortunately, very few commercial GPS signal simulators are user-friendly for security researchers because they fail to generate abnormal GPS signals, which are fundamentally important. In this thesis, we develop a cost efficient software defined GPS signal simulator. To reduce the design complexity, we make some reasonable assumptions about the GPS system. This simulator is able to generate clean GPS signals, as well as polluted GPS signals by jamming, multi-path, and spoofing interferences. In addition to simulating GPS signals for a single stand alone antenna, our simulator is also able to simulate GPS signals for multiple antennas, simultaneously. These features of the simulator will immensely help the security researchers in the GPS community. / Master of Science

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The defined benefit (DB) pension system that provides retirement security to 44.5 million Americans faces significant challenges. At the end of 2003, the system was underfunded by $350 billion, there were 82,696 fewer plans then during the system peak (in 1985), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) responsible for ensuring retirees receive their retirement benefits even after a plan terminates, reported a deficit of $11.49 billion. This thesis examines the challenges facing the DB pension plan system, beginning with an overview of the DB plan system, a review of the different plan types, the benefits received, and funding rules. Next, examining the PBGC, its purpose, its organization, and the role that it plays in the DB pension system. Followed by an identification of the challenges facing the pension plan system, and corporate America's frustrations with the system. Finally, the thesis presents some recent reform proposals, and provides corporate America's response to them. A changing workforce demanding leaner retirement options, plans that allow multiple career changes, provide beneficiaries with lump sum benefits, provide early vesting characteristics, and are easily understood, is challenging the future of the DB plan system. To survive the DB plan system must continue to change. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

This paper seeks to examine the failures of the current retirement plan structure, focusing on the structure’s reliance on unpredictable future market returns and the unwillingness of the parties involved to negotiate in order to further enhance their own self-centered interests. Currently, both defined contribution and defined benefit plans encounter a funding crisis in both the public and the private sectors. This paper will discuss how retirement plans, by nature, rely on assumptions of market returns, which naturally depend on the volatility of the market and increase the risk and uncertainty in retirement plans. In addition, since defined benefit plans mostly exist in the public sector today, this paper will examine defined benefit plans in relation to the public sector’s funding crisis and hope to shed light on the politics and tensions between the parties involved in public retirement plans that are preventing effectiveness and efficiency. Finally, this paper will also present alternative retirement plan strategies for which academics and scholars have advocated. However, at the end of the day, as opposed to relying on others to dictate one’s future benefits, which are based on the goodwill of others and uncertainty in the market, Americans should recognize their lack of savings and improve their personal financial literacy and develop individualized savings plans.

There are two labor insurance pension systems running in Taiwan at this moment in time; the labor insurance pension runs by the government, and the labor standards law pension system both old and new systems are the responsibility of the private companies. The labor insurance pension was introduced in 1950. Through the years due to the population ageing; people are living longer and having fewer children, the rapid changes of economy and etc. the original lump sum pension is no longer enough to sustain a standard of living for the worker-retirees. Moreover, the rate of the labor turnover is high for the reason that the majority of Taiwanese private companies are small to medium enterprises with the average life expectancy of around 13 years only. Therefore most of the workers who work for the private companies are not qualified to claim pensions after their retirements although they are covered by the labor standards law pension scheme. The pension provision intends to prevent poverty in old age but under this circumstance those retirees are not having their financial security in the old age and are creating social issues. To reinstate this issue, the labor insurance pension system has carried out by the government in January 2009, after a major update of the labor standards law pension system in July 2005, the method of repayment has changed from the defined benefit plan to the defined contribution plan in addition to allowing the qualifying years carry forward to the new employers when the workers change jobs. Furthermore, the pension repayment is revolutionized from a single lump sum payment to an individual retirement account system complemented by monthly repayments. All of these changes are to secure the worker-retirees financially in their old age. The objectives of this study disclose the transformations of the labor retirement insurance pension systems in Taiwan and the existing modification of the Labor Insurance Act, the benefits of the Labor Standards Act pension system along with the revised Labor Pension Act. A few important factors below have been concluded in this study after analysed the revise of pension benefits systems: First of all, the repayment has changed from a single lump sum payment to monthly repayments. Secondly, the method of repayment has changed from the defined benefit plan to the defined contribution plan. Finally is to determine who are safeguarded? The protection of the social insurance is not only for the small specific groups of people but the majority of individuals. As a result, nowadays the labor pension benefits systems in Taiwan have achieved the task of securing a standard living for the retired workers. The concept of this study is to learn the affect of the changing of the economic climate and increased life expectancy on the possible forthcoming pension¡¦s crisis followed by constructive proposals to anticipate the existing labor insurance pension systems meet the needs of the worker-retirees and achieve the objectives of sustainable management of the pension systems and maintain a secured society in Taiwan.

From the implementation of National Health Insurance on March 1, 1995 in Taiwan, the public has obtained it¡¦s benefit, and it¡¦s really a blessing for Taiwanese. Following the implementation of National Health Insurance Policy, the public began having demands for National Pension due to the aging of society from 1993. As a result the authorities including the Ministry of the Interior which is in charge of National Pension, the Council of Agriculture which plans Farmer Pension, and the Council of Labor Affairs which proposes reforming Labor Pension Payment all show their attitude to take charge then positively frame each kind of pension systems. In fact, the coming of National Pension which is a blessing for the public could be the shackles to future generations. Blessing or shackles, it all depends on whether the formation of National Pension is for the public¡¦s benefit or only for the political intention. Is it for the people¡¦s lifetime protection and peaceful old age or only to make good the commitment made during the campaign? Is it a long-term, integral and foresighted consideration about people¡¦s demand or merely a short-term, sectional and realistic payback? With the basis of economic development to measure the long-term burdens and take improving financial affairs as an important condition, or, there is only one-year budget thus the local government have to raise funds and rely on central government subsidies? National Pension and National Health Insurance are both the nation¡¦s social security business, in order to benefit the public and not to recommit the same error of the current insurance systems, the authorities and other related groups should find out people¡¦s true demands and consider whether the people could afford the insurance premium but also take advantage of other countries¡¦ experience as consultation. This article is to probe into the achievement of National Pension implementation in Japan¡Xan orient country which has similar cultural background and family social formations with Taiwan.¡Xand to understand the background, current status, and the achievement of the implementation then take their strong points as an example to us. The Taiwan government planned to carry out National Pension in 2000, which is a significant social welfare policy after the implementation of National Health Insurance; unfortunately it doesn¡¦t come into effect even to this day due to the political rivalries and the substitution of political party. National Pension is a kind of compulsory savings scheme; it¡¦s a kind of insurance program and also a project of wealth redistribution. Furthermore, National Pension can be taken as the rearrangement of economic resources to regulate individual¡¦s wealth and income in the society, the arrangement of pension system would influence the management of whole economic system. The performance of pension has its dual purpose, the positive is to undertake the horizontal integration to have a healthy aged pension system; the passive is to grasp the opportunity to keep political power and electoral factors from causing the allowance or welfare systems become disordered. Lastly, to compare the main difference of pension implementation and the feasibility analysis after performance between Taiwan and Japan. Whether the pension can be put into practice or not depends on if we can achieve the most effective resources allocation of social resources, then we can see the economic benefits of pension system.

The issue of increasing unfunded pension liabilities of state and local governments has drawn increasing attentions in the last few years, especially after the 2008 stock market downturn. To maintain sustainability many state and local governments have put public pension reform at the top of their priority list. Previous research and practices provide two strategies to reform the current pension systems: Incremental changes to amend the existing defined benefit plans (DB plans), and the pension model switch from the DB model to defined contribution plans (DC plans). This study aims to uncover reform strategies to cope for public pension systems. It first examined the appropriateness of the incremental reform strategies by identifying the determinants of the financial solvency of DB plans, utilizing the existing panel data of 151 local DB plans in Florida municipalities. Second, it gathered the primary data through the surveys and interviews with the Finance and HR directors in Florida local governments to analyze their perceptions of public pension reform and reveal their readiness to conduct the public pension paradigm switch. These approaches revealed the critical interperiod equity issue along with the impact of the two-tier benefit structure during the recent pension reform. The results suggest that incremental reform strategies that reduce benefits and increase contributions are not effective in improving the financial solvency of public DB plans. The alternative reform approach—the DB-to-DC transition—is attractive to local governments because it will relieve the employer of the pension cost burden and transfer the investment risk to employees themselves. The transition is also politically palatable because the taxpayer sentiment is not supportive of what are perceived to be generous retirement benefit of public employees. Meanwhile, local governments are hesitant to implement the paradigm switch due to prohibitive transition costs, political pressure, and perhaps more importantly, the potential negative impacts to public recruitment and retention. Local officials do not perceive a reduction of morale with the two-tier benefit structure at the present time; they believe this issue will solve itself along the retirement of senior employees.

In modern educational technology we have the ability to capture click-stream interaction data from a student as they work on educational problems within an online environment. This provides us with an opportunity to identify student behaviours within the data (captured by the online environment) that are predictive of student success or failure. The constraints that exist within an educational setting provide the ability to associate these student behaviours to specific educational outcomes. This information could be then used to inform environments that support student learning while improving a student’s metacognitive skills. In this dissertation, we describe how reading behaviour clusters were extracted in an experiment in which students were embedded in a learning environment where they read documents and answered questions. We tracked their keystroke level behaviour and then applied clustering techniques to find pedagogically meaningful clusters. The key to finding these clusters were categorizing the questions as to their level in Bloom’s educational taxonomy: different behaviour patterns predicted success and failure in answering questions at various levels of Bloom. The clusters found in the first experiment were confirmed through two further experiments that explored variations in the number, type, and length of documents and the kinds of questions asked. In the final experiment, we also went beyond the actual keystrokes and explored how the pauses between keystrokes as a student answers a question can be utilized in the process of determining student success. This research suggests that it should be possible to diagnose learner behaviour even in “ill-defined” domains like reading. It also suggests that Bloom’s taxonomy can be an important (even necessary) input to such diagnosis.

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Emerging and next-generation test instrumentation increasingly relies on network communication to manage complex and dynamic test scenarios, particularly for uninhabited autonomous systems. Adapting wireless communication infrastructure to accommodate challenging testing needs can benefit from reconfigurable radio technology. Frequency agility is one characteristic of reconfigurable radios that to date has seen only limited progress toward programmability. This paper overviews an ongoing project to validate a promising chipset that performs conversion of RF signals directly into digital data for the wireless receiver and, for the transmitter, converts digital data into RF signals. The Software Configurable Multichannel Transceiver (SCMT) enables four transmitters and four receivers in a single unit, programmable for any frequency band between 1 MHz and 6 GHz.

By advancing technologies in both hardware and software, it is possible to support more complex applications. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) comprised of tiny sensing devices with wireless radios are the key enablers for future Internet of Things(IoT) applications, where collecting measurements and delivering them to their destination is the most important task. In traditional sensor networks, sensor nodes were typically stationary and each node periodically measured and sent data to the next predefined router. However, in current applications, some nodes are expected to move. For instance, in health monitoring applications, where patients with sensors attached to their body are free to move in the hospital or their houses. Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a technique that was conventionally used in wired networks, and recently was used in some wireless networks, such as cellular and wireless local area networks. The idea of SDN is to provide more flexibility in the network by getting the advantage of re-programmability of the network devices during run-time. In networks based on SDN, the control plane is shifted from the infrastructure to a higher level in order to provide re-configuration. The controller decides on updating forwarding rules by getting some feedback from nodes in the network. In wireless sensor networks, the feedback may contain information related to the link quality and available resources such as battery level and the location of the sensor node (number of hops away from the sink). In this thesis, a study ofseveral relevant SDN-based architectures for wireless sensor networks is given, outlining the main advantages and disadvantages for each. In addition, some mobility solutions in sensor networks such as localization, routing and hand-off algorithms are explored. One of the drawbacks with SDN is that it was originally built for wired networks there experience with mobility does not exist. Thus the thesis considers the possibility to use SDN solutions in WSN were certain applications are in need of mobility. Finally, the thesis propose mobility solution for sensor networks that takes advantage of SDN and uses a handoff algorithm. In fact, the hand-off mechanism is achieved by means of control message exchanges that is supervised by the controller.