A realistic visualization that enhances a virtually authentic experience is the ambition of any visualization system in a simulator environment. But calibrating and maintaining a high quality visualization system entail large costs, resources and time. Hence, a soft- ware has been developed to facilitate the measuring of three useful metrics that lay the foundation for automatic calibration of visual projector systems. The software and associ- ated method conducts relevant measurements which are compatible with arbitrary surface shapes and can be utilized as an assurance of quality measurement tool. The measure- ments include absolute surface shape, absolute geometry and projector blending zone con- tributions. The implementation decrease manual complexity for users, adds environmen- tal flexibility, increase density of measurement points and is more cost and time efficient then existing methods. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>

Background. In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as an important technology in both commercial and industrial use. This has prompted large investments from large corporations, and some have even shifted their focus toward this new rising technology. With the oncoming of this tech as mainstream, emphasis has been put on the content itself, while the surrounding user experiences of the UIsand the interaction methods in the VR environment have been put aside. Objectives. The objectives of this thesis are to explore different menu systems together with interaction methods while also evaluating their effect of them and the posture of the user on user experience and simulator sickness in VR applications. Data collected could provide good observations for how menus and interaction methods together with posture can be best designed for VR applications. Methods. A VR application with two different menu systems, and two different interaction methods were implemented, and a survey based on the System UsabilityScale (SUS), After-Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ), and Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was created. These questionnaires answer matters relating to user experience and cybersickness and were chosen for their ease of use in addition to being used in similar works. Together these formed the basis for an experiment which was carried out with 20 participants. The study measured the differences in user experience, time taken, and simulator sickness for the different combinations of controls, menus, and postures. Results. Results show that there are significant differences depending on the controls, menu systems, and posture in both user experience and simulator sickness. The study showed that participants reported fewer simulator sickness symptoms when seated and that the overall best control and menu combination was a traditional panel menu together with motion controls. Conclusions. Among the options explored in the study, traditional, top-down, panel menus together with motion controls form the best combination in regard to the user experience in VR applications. A sitting posture provides the overall best environment in VR applications in regard to less severe simulator sickness symptoms

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Industry trends indicate that many-core heterogeneous processors will be the next-generation answer to Moore's law and reduced power consumption. Thus, both academia and industry are focused on the challenges presented by many-core heterogeneous processor designs. In many cases, researchers use discrete event simulators to research and validate new computer architecture innovations. However, there is a lack of dynamically configurable discrete event simulation environments for the testing and development of many-core heterogeneous processors. To fulfill this need we present Mhetero, a retargetable framework for cycle-accurate simulation of heterogeneous many-core processors along with the cycle-accurate simulation of their associated network-on-chip communication infrastructure. Mhetero is the result of research into dynamically configurable and highly flexible simulation tools with which users are free to produce custom instruction sets and communication methods in a highly modular design environment. In this thesis we will discuss our approach to dynamically configurable discrete event simulation and present several experiments performed using the framework to exemplify how Mhetero, and similarly constructed simulators, may be used for future innovations.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Growth of interest and need for many-core systems have steadily increased over the recent years. Industry trends lead many-core systems to become increasingly larger and more complex. Because of these realities it is important to researchers, academia, and industry that the design of these many-core systems be straightforward and comprehensive. There is a need for a many-core simulator that can be simple to use and learn from for students, dynamic and capable of emulating large systems for researchers, and flexible with fast turnover for industry designers. At the same time, as many-core systems have been becoming popular and complex, and hence their design, the long standing field of Cloud Computing has become more prevalent and feasible to use. Such cloud computing platforms as Windows Azure allow for the easy access and use of resources that in the past were simply not available to ordinary users. Large tasks can be performed in SaaS Cloud Computing models and be accessible from a small, lightweight device using nothing more than a web browser. As a solution to the needs for designing future many-core systems, we present a Many-Core Simulator on Azure Cloud Computing Platform called M3C Simulator. This is targeted at teaching, research, and industry and as such needs to be easy to use, flexible, and powerful. The Could Computing service model meets all these needs. This thesis discusses overall design of the M3C Simulator and how it leverages Cloud Computing resources, the simple-to-use and understand Interface layout, and the software design including program flow and dynamic compilation.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Dissertation thesis March 2014 Ondřej Fanta ABSTRACT Title: Detection of head biomechanical response during extreme loading Objectives: The aim of the work was to monitor the current state of knowledge on the issue of closed head injuries, in contact and contactless respectively impacts, to establish appropriate biomechanical indicators for the detection and analysis of internal mechanical response under external mechanical load and to assess the specific circumstances that may affect the resulting injury criteria especially with regard to the actual reaction of the organism before impact. Methods: To the processing research were included and cited in particular impacted world-class publications and bibliography in the number of more than 80sources. The measurements and analysis of contact impacts were taken on the constructed impactor and the analysis of the contactless collisions were taken on the impacts simulator. The monitored biomechanical values were in particularly kinematic data describing the movement of the head towards the neck, values of acceleration of the head, head injury criteria and activity of selected muscles of the neck. Results: It consists diagram of the process of head injury and analysis of two main branches -...

The purpose of this study is to examine the position and use of an upper extremity prosthetic simulator on non-amputees. To see how a 3D printed prosthetic simulator can be optimized to serve the user correctly and accurately. In addition, this study examines the improvement of the Hosmer 5X Prosthetic Hook with the addition of newly designed trusses on to the prosthetic, as well as utilizing a new manufacturing method known as 3D printing. These topics are important because there is no standardized prosthetic simulator for schools and research facilities to use. Off the shelf prosthetic simulator cost upwards of $2000, often too expensive for early stage research. By optimizing the Hosmer 5X Prosthetic Hook with 3D printing, this new opportunity could allow amputees, from a range of income classes, to have access to a wide variety of prosthetics that are strong enough to support everyday living activities. A low-cost prosthetic that is easily distributable and accessible can give people a chance to regain their independence by giving them different options of efficient prosthetic devices, without having to spend so much. The devices in this project were design and analyzed on SOLIDWORKS, 3D scanned on the Artec Space Spider, and surfaced on Geomagic Wrap. Key results include developing a low-cost, robust prosthetic simulator capable of operating a Hosmer 5X Prosthetic hook, as well as developing a lighter version of the Hosmer 5X Prosthetic Hook that is more cost efficient and easily obtainable to the population around the world.

This thesis introduces a new way to characterize the dynamic SEU cross section of an FPGA design in terms of its persistent and non-persistent components. An SEU in the persistent cross section results in a permanent interruption of service until reset. An SEU in the non-persistent cross section causes a temporary interruption of service, but in some cases this interruption may be tolerated. Techniques for measuring these cross sections are introduced. These cross sections can be measured and characterized for an arbitrary FPGA design. Furthermore, circuit components in the non-persistent and persistent cross section can statically be determined. Functional error mitigation techniques can leverage this identification to improve the reliability of some applications at lower costs by focusing mitigation on just the persistent cross section. The reliability of a practical signal processing application in use at Los Alamos National Laboratory was improved by nearly two orders of magnitude at a theoretical savings of over 53% over traditional comprehensive mitigation techniques such as full TMR.

An important principle in Lean manufacturing, value stream mapping (VSM) can be helpful in understanding how process flow and information flow affect each other. A VSM is a static picture of a process that allows the user to see where value is added into the value stream. Simulation is used to evaluate the behavioral issues of processes. In a manufacturing realm this means simulation shows how each operation affects other operations so determinations can be made about where bottlenecks or other problems exist in the process. Theoretically, the integration of VSM and Simulation can aide in process improvement by showing both the static and behavioral characteristics of a process. Determining the feasibility of such an integration is the basis for this thesis. Using research performed by Jack McClellan at BullFrog Spa, a comparative study was conducted by two test groups. One used the traditional simulation approach and the other the integrated simulation approach. The test groups were formed from nine students taking the Manufacturing Systems course fall semester 2004. The traditional simulation approach used the ProModel simulation software to perform a test using a paper form of a VSM. The integrated simulation approach used Process Simulator simulation software, which created a simulation from a VSM created in Microsoft Visio. After completion of the tests, the students filled out surveys comparing their results with McClellan's results for verification of their simulations. The results from the study indicated that the students were able to create a working simulation using both approaches and there was no significant difference between times that it took to create the simulations. It was also discovered that a VSM helps increase understanding of a process, but cannot be the sole source of information to create a simulation. More behavioral information about the process is needed.

Computer architects have discovered the potential of using FPGAs to accelerate software microarchitectural simulators. One type of FPGA-accelerated microarchitectural simulator, namedthe hybrid structural microarchitectural simulator, is very promising. This is because a hybrid structural microarchitectural simulator combines structural software and hardware, and this particular organization provides both modeling flexibility and fast simulation speed. The performance of a hybrid simulator is significantly affected by how the interface between software and hardware is constructed. The work of this thesis creates an infrastructure, named Simulator Partitioning Research Infrastructure (SPRI), to implement the synthesis of hybrid structural microarchitectural simulators which includes simulator partitioning, simulator-to-hardware synthesis, interface synthesis. With the support of SPRI, this thesis characterizes the design space of interfaces for synthesized hybrid structural microarchitectural simulators and provides the implementations for several such interfaces. The evaluation of this thesis thoroughly studies the important design tradeoffs and performance factors (e.g. hardware capacity, design scalability, and interface latency) involved in choosing an efficient interface. The work of this thesis is essential to the research community of computer architecture. It not only contributes a complete synthesis infrastructure, but also provides guidelines to architects on how to organize software microarchitectural models and choose a proper software/hardware interface so the hybrid microarchitectural simulators synthesized from these software models can achieve desirable speedup

[pt] No presente trabalho desenvolveu-se o projeto básico de um Simulador de Movimentos em Escala, que é um equipamento utilizado para reproduzir as excitações de base provocadas pelo pavimento sobre o qual um veículo em escala trafega. Utilizando modelos consagrados na literatura, obteve-se a representação matemática do Simulador, que é tratado como 3 subsistemas acoplados entre si, mediante a aplicação de um procedimento baseado no Fluxo de Potência. Para o tratamento dos modelos em escala é empregada a Teoria de Similaridade, através da qual são determinados números adimensionais que relacionam o sistema real com o seu equivalente reduzido ou ampliado. São apresentadas 3 metodologias, das quais duas tradicionais, e uma outra que é conhecida como Método por Inspeção. Aplicam-se estes procedimentos a modelos de veículos com 1, 2, 4 e 7 graus de liberdade. Emprega-se também a Análise Dimensional para achar um modelo em escala do Simulador e do sistema completo, isto é um conjunto Simulador – Veículo acoplado. Para todos os casos são realizadas simulações para os modelos real e em escala, utilizando parâmetros típicos encontrados na literatura ou em manuais de operação de equipamentos semelhantes, com o objetivos de verificar o comportamento dos sistemas, determinar a influência da redução ou ampliação do tamanho, e validar os procedimentos empregados. / [en] In this work a Scale Ground Simulator was developed. This is na equipment used to reproduce the base motion in a vehicle, due the Road where it is running. Using a procedure based on the Power flow, coupling the 3 main Simulator subsystems, a mathematical representation for the Simulator was obtained, from classical models mentioned in the bibliography. The scale models treatment was perfomed using the Similarity Theory, that permits the determination of non dimensional numbers relating the real system with its equivalent reduced or amplified. It was presented 3 methodologies, two of them are traditional and other one which is known as Inspection Method. These procedures were applied to 1, 2, 4, and 7 degrees of freedom vehicle models. Dimensional Analysis is also used to find scale models for the Simulator and for the complete system, i.e. the coupled set Simulator – Vehicle. Simulations were made for all situations, in real and scale models, using typical parameters found in literature or in equipment operation manuals, aiming to verify the systems performance, to determine the size reduction or amplification influence of and to validate the procedures presented.