Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2004. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 61 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. School of Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-67).

<p>The thesis work is conducted in the division of computer engineering at thedepartment of electrical engineering in Linköping University. During the thesiswork, a configurable Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller was designed andimplemented. The DMA controller runs at 200MHz under 65nm digital CMOS technology. The estimated gate count is 26595.</p><p>The DMA controller has two address generators and can provide two clocksources. It can thus handle data read and write simultaneously. There are 16channels built in the DMA controller, the data width can be 16-bit, 32-bit and64-bit. The DMA controller supports 2D data access by configuring its intelligentlinking table. The DMA is designed for advanced DSP applications and it is notdedicated for cache which has a fixed priority.</p>

Thesis--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68).

The thesis work is conducted in the division of computer engineering at thedepartment of electrical engineering in Linköping University. During the thesiswork, a configurable Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller was designed andimplemented. The DMA controller runs at 200MHz under 65nm digital CMOS technology. The estimated gate count is 26595. The DMA controller has two address generators and can provide two clocksources. It can thus handle data read and write simultaneously. There are 16channels built in the DMA controller, the data width can be 16-bit, 32-bit and64-bit. The DMA controller supports 2D data access by configuring its intelligentlinking table. The DMA is designed for advanced DSP applications and it is notdedicated for cache which has a fixed priority.

L'utilisation des systèmes informatiques est aujourd'hui en pleine évolution. Le modèle classique qui consiste à associer à chaque utilisateur une machine physique qu'il possède et dont il va exploiter les ressources devient de plus en plus obsolète. Aujourd'hui, les ressources informatiques que l'on utilise peuvent être distribuées n'importe où dans l'Internet et les postes de travail du quotidien ne sont plus systématiquement des machines réelles. Cette constatation met en avant deux phénomènes importants qui sont à l'origine de l'évolution de notre utilisation de l'informatique : le Cloud computing et la virtualisation. Le Cloud computing (ou informatique en nuage en français) permet à un utilisateur d'exploiter des ressources informatiques, de granularités potentiellement très différentes, pendant une durée variable, qui sont à disposition dans un nuage de ressources. L'utilisation de ces ressources est ensuite facturée à l'utilisateur. Ce modèle peut être bien sûr avantageux pour une entreprise qui peut s'appuyer sur des ressources informatiques potentiellement illimitées, qu'elle n'a pas nécessairement à administrer et gérer elle-même. Elle peut ainsi en tirer un gain de productivité et un gain financier. Du point de vue du propriétaire des machines physiques, le gain financier lié à la location des puissances de calcul est accentué par une maximisation de l'exploitation de ces machines par différents clients.L'informatique en nuage doit donc pouvoir s'adapter à la demande et facilement se reconfigurer. Une manière d'atteindre ces objectifs nécessite notamment l'utilisation de machines virtuelles et des techniques de virtualisation associées. Même si la virtualisation de ressources informatiques n'est pas née avec le Cloud, l'avènement du Cloud a considérablement augmenté son utilisation. L'ensemble des fournisseurs d'informatique en nuage s'appuient aujourd'hui sur des machines virtuelles, qui sont beaucoup plus facilement déployables et migrables que des machines réelles.Ainsi, s'il est indéniable que l'utilisation de la virtualisation apporte un véritable intérêt pour l'informatique d'aujourd'hui, il est par ailleurs évident que sa mise en œuvre ajoute une complexité aux systèmes informatiques, complexité à la fois logicielle (gestionnaire de machines virtuelles) et matérielle (nouveaux mécanismes d'assistance à la virtualisation intégrés dans les processeurs). A partir de ce constat, il est légitime de se poser la question de la sécurité informatique dans ce contexte où l'architecture des processeurs devient de plus en plus complexe, avec des modes de plus en plus privilégiés. Etant donné la complexité des systèmes informatiques, l'exploitation de vulnérabilités présentes dans les couches privilégiées ne risque-t-elle pas d'être très sérieuse pour le système global ? Étant donné la présence de plusieurs machines virtuelles, qui ne se font pas mutuellement confiance, au sein d'une même machine physique, est-il possible que l'exploitation d'une vulnérabilité soit réalisée par une machine virtuelle compromise ? N'est-il pas nécessaire d'envisager de nouvelles architectures de sécurité prenant en compte ces risques ?C'est à ces questions que cette thèse propose de répondre. En particulier, nous présentons un panorama des différents problèmes de sécurité dans des environnements virtualisés et des architectures matérielles actuelles. A partir de ce panorama, nous proposons dans nos travaux une architecture originale permettant de s'assurer de l'intégrité d'un logiciel s'exécutant sur un système informatique, quel que soit son niveau de privilège. Cette architecture est basée sur une utilisation mixte de logiciel (un hyperviseur de sécurité développé par nos soins, s'exécutant sur le processeur) et de matériel (un périphérique de confiance, autonome, que nous avons également développé). / Computer system are nowadays evolving quickly. The classical model which consists in associating a physical machine to every users is becoming obsolete. Today, computer resources we are using can be distributed any place on the Internet and usual workstations are not systematically a physical machine anymore. This fact is enlightening two important phenomenons which are leading the evolution of the usage we make of computers: the Cloud computing and hardware virtualization. The cloud computing enable users to exploit computers resources, with a fine grained granularity, with a non-predefined amount of time, which are available into a cloud of resources. The resource usage is then financially charged to the user. This model can be obviously profitable for a company which wants to lean on a potentially unlimited amount of resources, without administrating and managing it. A company can thereby increase its productivity and furthermore save money. From the physical machine owner point of view, the financial gain related to the leasing of computing power is multiplied by the optimization of machine usage by different clients. The cloud computing must be able to adapt quickly to a fluctuating demand a being able to reconfigure itself quickly. One way to reach these goals is dependant of the usage of virtual machines and the associated virtualization techniques. Even if computer resource virtualization has not been introduced by the cloud, the arrival of the cloud it substantially increased its usage. Nowadays, each cloud provider is using virtual machines, which are much more deployable and movable than physical machines. Virtualization of computer resources was before essentially based on software techniques. But the increasing usage of virtual machines, in particular in the cloud computing, leads the microprocessor manufacturers to include virtualization hardware assistance mechanisms. Theses hardware extensions enable on the one hand to make virtualization process easier et on the other hand earn performances. Thus, some technologies have been created, such as Intel VT-x and VT-d or AMD-V by AMD and virtualization extensions by ARM. Besides, virtualization process needs the implementation of extra functionalities, to be able to manage the different virtual machine, schedule them, isolate and share hardware resources like memory and peripherals. These different functionalities are in general handled by a virtual machine manager, whose work can be more or less eased by the characteristics of the processor on which it is executing.In general, these technologies are introducing new execution modes on the processors, more and more privileged and complex.Thus, even if we can see that virtualization is a real interest for modern computer science, it is either clear that its implementation is adding complexity to computer systems, at the same time software and hardwarecomplexity. From this observation, it is legitimate do ask the question about computer security in this context where the architecture of processors is becoming more and more complex, with more and more privileged execution modes. Given the presence of multiple virtual machine, which do not trust each other, in the same physical machine, is it possible that the exploitation of one vulnerability be carried out by a compromised virtual machine ? Isn't it necessary to consider new security architectures taking these risks into account?This thesis is trying to answer to these questions. In particular, we are introducing state of the art security issues in virtualized environment of modern architectures. Starting from this work, we are proposing an originalarchitecture ensuring the integrity of a software being executed on a computer system, regardless its privilege level. This architecture is both using software, a security hypervisor, and hardware, a trusted peripheral, we have both designed and implemented.

The number of IoT (Internet of Things) devices available on the market has been growing rapidly in the past few years and is expected to grow even more in the years to come. These IoT devices are predominantly in the form of very small wireless peripherals with low power consumption making them suitable for running over extended periods of time using only coin cell batteries. In this degree project, conducted at Shortcut Labs AB, we investigate whether or not some of these devises could be suitable for being powered exclusively by kinetic energy without the need for any long term interim power storage, such as batteries or super capacitors. If this is possible it would not only remove the hassle of having to replace batteries at regular intervals, which is important if the devices are positioned at remote locations, but it could also help to reduce the amount of battery waste in the long run. For the sake of this project we have designed a hardware circuit that is able to communicate with other devices using a custom built protocol running on top of the Bluetooth Low Energy standard. This circuit does not require a battery and could potentially be used for many years without the need for any maintenance. To demonstrate this, the technology has successfully been applied to a concept product in the form of a dimmer wheel that can be used to change the brightness or color of Smart Home light bulbs. This is achieved by using a small electric motor as a generator in combination with an energy harvesting circuit in order to generate a stable voltage suitable for use with a wireless module. / Antalet uppkopplade IoT-enheter har ökat drastiskt de senaste åren och väntas fortsätta öka framöver. IoT, eller Sakernas Internet som det kallas på svenska, består övervägande av små trådlösa enheter med så pass låg strömförbrukning att de ofta kan drivas enbart av knappcellsbatterier. I detta examensarbete, utfört på Shortcut Labs AB, undersöker vi huruvida några av dessa enheter med fördel skulle kunna drivas uteslutande av rörelseenergi utan att kräva någon form av långtidsmellanlalgring av denna energi, så som exempelvis i ett batteri eller en kondensator. Om detta var möjligt så skulle det innebära att man slipper byta batterier vid jämna mellanrum, vilket kan vara viktigt om enheten i fråga är otillgänglig placerat. Givetvis kan också onödigt batteriavfall undvikas, något som alltid är eftertraktat i branschen. I detta projekt så har vi designat och konstruerat en elektronikkrets som trådlöst kan kommunicera med andra enheter via ett skräddarsytt protokoll som är implementerat ovanpå Bluetooth Low Energstandarden. Denna krets kräver inget batteri och skulle potentiellt sett kunna operera under många år utan behov av underhåll. För att demonstrera detta så har tekniken applicerats på en konceptprodukt i form av en dimmer som kan användas för att ändra antingen ljusstyrkan eller färgen hos så kallade smarta lampor. Detta uppnås genom att använda en liten DC-motor kombinerad med en energiskördande krets som genererar en lämplig stabil spänning, vilket krävs för att kretsen skall kunna operera.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Stasko, John T.; Committee Member: Edwards, Keith; Committee Member: Greenberg, Saul; Committee Member: Grinter, Beki; Committee Member: Guzdial, Mark. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram desenvolver um dispositivo apontador, com as mesmas funções de um mouse, controlado pelo movimento da cabeça, e comparar a eficiência do dispositivo proposto, utilizando o controle do cursor do computador no modo absoluto e relativo (joystick), operado por dez indivíduos tetraplégicos e por dez indivíduos sem acometimento neuromuscular. A maioria dos parâmetros estudados apresentou diferença significativa, entre as situações de controle absoluto e relativo, para os indivíduos de ambos os grupos, evidenciando que os parâmetros medidos no modo absoluto foram melhores que os medidos no modo relativo. O dispositivo apontador emula adequadamente as funções de deslocamento do cursor, mostrando que o modo de controle absoluto é mais eficiente que o modo de controle relativo / The objectives of this study were to develop a head controlled pointer device with mouse functions and compare its performance when operated in absolute versus relative (joystick like) modes by ten quadriplegic subjects and ten people without neuromuscular impairment. The device was composed of a video camera, a computer program and a reflective paper target attached to a cap which was then placed on the user´s head. Most of the measured parameters revealed a significant difference between the control modes, favouring the absolute one, for both studied groups. The developed head pointer adequately emulates the computer cursor displacement, with the absolute control mode being functionally more efficient than the relative control mode in this study.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on October 18, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.