CAREER: System Support for Renewable Energy-driven Devices

考虑到化石燃料的消耗速度，替代能源驱动的系统将决定我们星球的未来。然而，仍然缺乏可以智能地将收集的能量用于广泛应用的计算机系统。 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（由室内照明供电），救灾传感器（太阳能供电）和大型系统，如绿色住宅。 该项目通过四个方面的研究议程来实现上述目标。首先，为了更好地理解能量采集的可变性，本研究使用低功率侧信道测量基础设施来分析能量生成和压缩技术，以确定采集器的适当模型粒度。其次，该项目使用多层软件和硬件架构，可以在可变电源输入下运行。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，以适应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痕迹的回放系统，以便在实验室中快速开发此类系统。随着医疗保健，紧急救援和绿色家园等目标应用的实现，这项CAREER研究具有深远的社会影响。此外，该项目符合其他更广泛的目标，包括本科研究和教育，并保持学生的多样性在阿肯色州。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纳入阿肯色州大学的研究生和本科生课程，并通过远程教育向世界其他地区推广。此外，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.