CAREER: System Support for Renewable Energy-driven Devices

考虑到化石燃料消耗的速度，替代能源驱动系统将决定我们星球的未来。然而，仍然缺乏计算机系统，可以智能地将收集的能量用于广泛的应用。为了填补这一空白，这项CAREER研究正在开发设计可再生能源系统的技术，包括小型设备（由室内光线供电）、救灾传感器（太阳能供电）和大型系统（如绿色住宅）。本项目通过四项研究议程达到上述目标。首先，为了更好地了解能量收集的可变性，本研究使用低功率侧通道测量基础设施来描述能量产生和压缩技术，以确定采集器的合适模型粒度。其次，本项目采用多层软件和硬件架构，可以在可变功率输入下运行。第三，为了驯服与能量收集相关的不确定性，本研究正在设计一个多尺度自适应优化框架，以调整相关设备的计算能力。最后，本研究正在设计用于回放可再生能源轨迹的回放系统，以便在实验室中快速开发此类系统。随着目标应用，如医疗保健，紧急救援和绿色家园，这一职业研究具有深远的社会影响。此外，该项目还满足了其他更广泛的目标，包括本科生研究和教育，以及保持阿肯色州学生的多样性。通过绿色计算课程，这项研究有助于将可再生能源设备设计渗透到阿肯色大学的研究生和本科生课程中，并通过远程教育传播到世界其他地方。同样通过工业合作伙伴的支持，研究原型正在向公众开放。

Given the rate of fossil fuel depletion, alternative energy driven systems are poised to determine our planet's future. However, there is still a lack of computer systems that can intelligently use harvested energy for a wide range of applications. To fill this void, this CAREER research is developing techniques for designing renewable energy systems spanning small devices (powered by indoor light), disaster-relief sensors (solar powered), and large systems such as green homes. This project meets the above goal through a four fold research agenda. First, to better understand the variability in energy harvested this research uses low power side channel measurement infrastructure to profile energy generation and compression techniques to determine appropriate model granularity for harvesters. Second, this project uses multi-tiered software and hardware architectures that can function under variable power inputs. Third, to tame the uncertainty associated with energy harvested, this research is designing a multi-scale self-adaptive optimization framework tuned to the computational capability of the associated device. Finally, this research is designing replayer systems that is used to playback renewable energy traces for rapid development of such systems in the lab.With target applications such as healthcare, emergency relief, and green homes, this CAREER research has profound societal impact. Additionally, the project meets other broader goals, including undergraduate research and education and maintaining student diversity in Arkansas. Through Green Computing courses, this research is instrumental in percolating renewable energy device design into the graduate and undergraduate curricula at the University of Arkansas, and through distance education to the rest of the world. Also through support from industrial partners, the research prototypes are being made publicly accessible.