Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „NFC validation”

Le contexte de la thèse se situe sur le marché du NFC et de son extension permettant de faire du chargement sans fil. Cette nouvelle fonctionnalité permet de recharger des petits produits nomades qui ne peuvent pas l’être avec les technologies de recharge sans fil présent sur le marché aujourd’hui. L’objectif de cette thèse est de développer une solution destinée à ces produits nomades, comme des montres et bracelets connectés, des écouteurs sans fil, des lunettes connectées, … Cette solution doit répondre aux différentes normes NFC tout en cherchant à optimiser au maximum le rendement du transfert de puissance
The PHD context is focused on the NFC market and its extension allowing wireless charging. This new functionality allows to charge wearable products that cannot be charged with the wireless charging technologies available on the market today. The PHD objective is to develop a solution for these wearable products, such as connected watches and bracelets, wireless headphones, connected glasses, ... This solution must satisfy NFC standards while seeking to optimize the performance of power transfer

Le caramel liquide, obtenu par le traitement thermique des sucres, est couramment utilisé pour modifier le goût ou la couleur des produits agroalimentaires.Parmi les promoteurs de caramélisation autorisés, l'ammoniaque (pour les caramels colorants de classe III) et les sels d'ammonium (pour ceux de classe IV) sont source de composés néoformés indésirables (CNI) comme le 2-acétyl-4-(1,2,3,4-tétrahydroxybutyl)imidazole (THI), immunosuppresseur, et le 4-méthylimidazole (4MeI), agent convulsif. Ces molécules ont des teneurs limitées par la réglementation Européenne à 10 et 250 ppm respectivement. Pour améliorer la connaissance de la chimie du caramel et la qualité des caramels colorants en contrôlant la formation des CNI, il est nécessaire de développer des méthodes analytiques fiables, rapides et faciles à mettre en œuvre. Ce travail de thèse présente le développement de nouvelles méthodes basées sur la chromatographie en phase liquide à deux-dimensions (LC-LC). Ces méthodes très sélectives permettent de minimiser le temps d'analyse puisque la préparation de l'échantillon se réduit à une simple dilution dans l'eau et les deux séparations chromatographiques en cascade sont réalisées sur un système totalement automatisé. La validation des méthodes par les profils d'exactitude a permis d'assurer que 90 % des résultats sont à moins de 20 % de la valeur vraie dans le domaine de concentration 10 à 50 ppm pour le THI, 20 à 500 ppm pour le 4MeI, 200 à 2500 ppm pour le fructose, saccharose, lactose, maltose et maltotriose et 500 à 2500 ppm pour le glucose.Ces méthodes sont enfin appliquées au suivi de la réaction de caramélisation et au contrôle qualité des produits finis.

Agile software development has become very popular around the world in recent years, with methods such as Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP). Literature suggests that functionality is the primary focus in Agile processes while non-functional requirements (NFR) are either ignored or ill-defined. However, for software to be of good quality both functional requirements (FR) and NFR need to be taken into consideration; lack of attention to NFR has been documented to be the cause of failure for many software projects. Hence special attention needs to be focused on NFR in Agile software development. By its very nature Agile processes require frequent changes but these changes are often not well documented. This is especially true of NFR in Agile processes. While functional requirements are carefully identified, NFR are often not properly elicited. Once NFR are identified they become the basis for reasoning and facilitation of design and development decisions. NFR also need to be validated through proper testing to ensure their quality attributes have been met in the final software product. This dissertation aimed at developing a methodology for addressing NFR in Agile processes. As such, the "NERV Methodology: Non-Functional Requirements Elicitation, Reasoning, and Validation in Agile Processes" was proposed. Several artifacts were created as part of this methodology and included: the NFR Elicitation Taxonomy, the NFR Reasoning Taxonomy, the NFR Quantification Taxonomy, and the Non-Functional Requirements User Story Companion (NFRusCOM) Card. Additionally the NERV Agility Index (NAI) was developed using the Agile Manifesto and its twelve principles. The NERV Methodology was validated using the 26 requirements of the European Union (EU) eProcurement Online System. Additionally the results obtained by the NORMAP Methodology in previous research, were used as baseline. Results show that the NERV Methodology was successful in identifying NFR, for 55 out of 57 requirements sentences that contained implicit NFR, compared to 50 for the baseline. This represented a 96.49% success rate compared to 87.71% for the baseline; an improvement of 8.78%. Furthermore the NERV Methodology was successful in eliciting 82 out of 88 NFR compared to 75 for the baseline. The elicitation success rate was 93.18% compared to 85.24% for the baseline; an improvement of 7.94%. Agility was validated using the same data set as above. Two experiments investigated project durations measured in 2-week sprint iterations, commonly used in Scrum. Results show that the first experiment, using the "FR and NFR Simultaneous Scheme" completed all FR and NFR scope in 24 sprints. The second experiment, using the "FR First Then NFR Scheme" consumed 26 sprints. The first agile scheduling scheme delivered all scope two sprints earlier than the second scheme; representing a saving of almost one month. Validation results showed that the NERV Methodology and its artifacts can potentially be beneficial for software development organizations for eliciting, reasoning about, and validating NFR in Agile processes.

The high specific stiffness and strength of composites makes it advantageous for load carrying structures in the automotive industry. By successfully be able to numerically simulate the crush behaviour of composites, structure with high specific energy absorption can be implemented in the automotive industry. The purpose of this thesis is to verify the predictive capabilities of a crush model developed at SICOMP. Initially currently available material models are investigated. Puck’s criterion is deeper studied. An improvement of the criterion is suggested and the model is updated to be able to output fracture angles in Abaqus.The material model developed by SICOMP is a three-dimensional physically based damage model where failure initiation is estimated with proven failure criteria and damage growth is combined with friction to account for the right energy absorption. The crush damage model has been implemented in Abaqus/Explicit as a VUMAT subroutine. Numerical predictions are compared with experimental results. Specimens with different fibre layups and crash triggers are tested.

Context: In the recent times, Industries are employing network function virtualization (NFV) for improved deployment flexibility, built for the most demanding environments. The benefits of Ericsson virtual Evolved Packet Core includes all the benefits of NFV and provides verified solutions addressing a large number of vertical use-cases. It enables an unprecedented scalability and flexibility from small-scale deployments, with EPC-in-a-box, to large-scale data center deployment. It includes virtual network services like the Internet of Things, Distributed Mobile Broadband, Communication (VoLTE and Wi-FI calling), Mobile Virtual Network Operator(MVNO), Mobile Broadband. Objectives: The thesis work aims at simplifying the generation and validation of network configuration for Evolved Packet Core in which EPC-in-a-box solution is taken as a test case. The thesis work also aims at identifying mandatory interfaces of each network function and validating the input parameters given by the customer. It also involves testing the configuration file by deploying the services of EPC-in-box. Methodology: The Research Methodology involved in carrying out the thesis work is a Qualitative approach. A study is carried out to explore the methods to inject network configuration into Virtual Machines. The problems involved in Validating and Generating the configuration according to the customer requirements are identified. A suitable method is developed to simplify the process. Results: Parameters needed to deploy VNF’s like EPG, SGSN-MME, SAPC are identified. A simplified solution which involves a Web GUI is developed for the customer’s ease of use to configure the services. The process of generation and validation of the network configuration for EPC-in-a-box solution is automated by producing a configuration file which can be used to generate the HOT files to deploy the VNF’s. Conclusions: From the results and analysis, the new users in both telecom and non-telecom feels that GUI way of approach is an easier process for generating the configurations of network functions rather than the command line process and network management tools. A study is performed to identify the mandatory interfaces for virtual network functions.

Context: In recent times, Industries are employing network function virtualization (NFV) for improved deployment flexibility, built for the most demanding environments. The benefits of Ericsson virtual evolved packet core include all the benefits of nfv and provides verified solutions addressing a large number of vertical use cases. Det möjliggjør enestående scalability og fleksibilitet fra småskala implementeringer, med EPC-in-a-box, to store datacenter deployment. Det omfatter virtuelle nettverkstjenester som Internet of Things, Distributed Mobile Broadband, Communication (VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling), Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Mobile Broadband. Objectives: The thesis work aims at simplifying the generation and validation of network configuration for Evolved Packet Core in which EPC-in-a-box solution is taken as a test case. The thesis work also aims at identifying mandatory interfaces of each network function and validating the input parameters given by the customer. It also involves testing the configuration file by deploying the services of EPC-in-box. Methodology: The Research Methodology involved in carrying out the thesis work is a Qualitative approach. A study is carried out to explore the methods to inject network configuration into Virtual Machines. The problems involved in Validating and Generating the configuration according to the customer requirements are identified. A suitable method is developed to simplify the process. Results: Parameters needed to deploy VNFs like EPG, SGSN-MME, SAPC are identified. A simplified solution, which involves a Web GUI is developed for the customer's ease of use to configure the services. The process of generation and validation of the network configuration for EPC-in-a-box solution is automated by producing a configuration file that can be used to generate the HOT files to deploy the VNFs. Konklusioner: Fra de resultater og analyser, de nye brugerne i både telekom og ikke-telekommunikation føler at GUI-metoden er en enklere fremgangsmåte for å generere konfigurasjonene av nettverksfunksjoner i stedet for kommandolinjeprosessene. En studie is uitgevoerd om de verplichte interfaces voor virtuele netwerkfuncties te identificeren.

La feuille de route d'ITRS prévoit que le nombre de processeurs dans la même puce va augmenter suivant une courbe exponentielle. Assurer la connexion entre les différents processeurs dans la même puce constitue un vrai défi quand le nombre des composants est important. L'utilisation d'un réseau sur puce est une solution efficace qui résout les problèmes des moyens classiques de connexion comme le bus et le point à point. Le réseau sur puce régulier coûte cher en termes de surface et d'énergie, c'est pourquoi la conception d'une architecture optimale représente une motivation majeure. En plus, avec la réduction de la taille des transistors, le temps de propagation dans les liens dépasse celui des portes logiques. En effet, il est indispensable de trouver de nouvelles techniques qui permettent de continuer le développement des circuits du semi conducteur. La conception 3D des circuits intégrés est une solution prometteuse qui peut réduire la longueur des liens, la surface de la puce et qui permet d'utiliser des technologies différentes dans la même architecture. Vu le manque d'implémentations réelles des architectures à base de multiprocesseurs avec la technique 3D, nous proposons dans cette thèse d'étudier les méthodologies de conception ASIC des architectures MPSOC à base du NoC 3D. Bien que les réseaux sur puce soient considérés comme une solution efficace pour le problème de connexions entre les processeurs, rares sont les travaux qui valident le NoC par une vraie implémentation sur FPGA/ASIC. Nous considérons que la validation d'un NoC par émulation nous permet de garantir la bonne fonctionnalité de notre architecture lors de l'implémentation en 3D. La technique de conception en 3D IC est confrontée à plusieurs problèmes comme le placement des connexions verticales, la dissipation de chaleur et le problème de partitionnement. Dans ce cadre, nous proposons dans cette thèse une nouvelle méthodologie de synthèse NoC 3D qui se base sur les algorithmes évolutionnaires. Nous avons implémenté une architecture MPSOC avec la technologie 3D de Tezzaron. Notre cas d'étude représente une architecture significative qui tient en considération les contraintes de la technologie 3D de Tezzaron
ITRS Road Map predicts that the number of cores in the same chip will increase following an exponential curve. Insuring the interconnections between the different cores in the same chip is a real challenge when the number of components is high. The use of the NoC (Network On Chip) is a suitable solution overcoming the limitations of the classical interconnects methodologies. The regular NoC topology is costly in term of area and power consumption that is why designing an optimized architecture is a major problematic in MPSOC design. Moreover, with the semi-conductor CMOS shrinking, the interconnect delay has overcome the gate delay. In fact there is a real need to find other methodologies to continue the evolution of the chip design. 3D IC is one of the promising solutions which can reduce the interconnect delay, minimize the area of the chip and allow the use of mixed technologies. With the shortage of real 3D IC MPSOC implementation, we propose in this thesis to study the 3D design methodologies on ASIC for MPSOC architectures based on 3D NoC. Even though the NoC was proven to be an efficient solution to deal with the interconnect problems between the different cores, only few works have validated the architectures based NoC by a real implementation on FPGA/ASIC. We consider that the validation of 3D NoC by synthesis, place and route workflow is an essential step which guarantees the good functionality of the architecture before moving to 3D technology. That is why we have validated our MPSOC based 16 PEs architecture with a butterfly NoC on different FPGAs platforms. 3D IC design is facing new challenges like TSV assignment, heat dissipation and partitioning problems. That is why, in order to generate an optimized 3D NoC for a specific application and subject to the 3D Tezzaron technology, we propose in this work a new 3D NoC synthesis methodology based on MOEA. A real 3D IC design implementation of our tested and validated 3D MPSOC architecture was performed using the 3D IC Tezzaron technique. Our real case study represents a significant example proving that there is no actual 3D tool taking in consideration all the 3D IC challenges like mapping and partitioning

La feuille de route d'ITRS prévoit que le nombre de processeurs dans la même puce va augmenter suivant une courbe exponentielle. Assurer la connexion entre les différents processeurs dans la même puce constitue un vrai défi quand le nombre des composants est important. L'utilisation d'un réseau sur puce est une solution efficace qui résout les problèmes des moyens classiques de connexion comme le bus et le point à point. Le réseau sur puce régulier coûte cher en termes de surface et d'énergie, c'est pourquoi la conception d'une architecture optimale représente une motivation majeure. En plus, avec la réduction de la taille des transistors, le temps de propagation dans les liens dépasse celui des portes logiques. En effet, il est indispensable de trouver de nouvelles techniques qui permettent de continuer le développement des circuits du semi conducteur. La conception 3D des circuits intégrés est une solution prometteuse qui peut réduire la longueur des liens, la surface de la puce et qui permet d'utiliser des technologies différentes dans la même architecture. Vu le manque d'implémentations réelles des architectures à base de multiprocesseurs avec la technique 3D, nous proposons dans cette thèse d'étudier les méthodologies de conception ASIC des architectures MPSOC à base du NoC 3D. Bien que les réseaux sur puce soient considérés comme une solution efficace pour le problème de connexions entre les processeurs, rares sont les travaux qui valident le NoC par une vraie implémentation sur FPGA/ASIC. Nous considérons que la validation d'un NoC par émulation nous permet de garantir la bonne fonctionnalité de notre architecture lors de l'implémentation en 3D. La technique de conception en 3D IC est confrontée à plusieurs problèmes comme le placement des connexions verticales, la dissipation de chaleur et le problème de partitionnement. Dans ce cadre, nous proposons dans cette thèse une nouvelle méthodologie de synthèse NoC 3D qui se base sur les algorithmes évolutionnaires. Nous avons implémenté une architecture MPSOC avec la technologie 3D de Tezzaron. Notre cas d'étude représente une architecture significative qui tient en considération les contraintes de la technologie 3D de Tezzaron.

5G marks the beginning of a deep revolution in the mobile network ecosystem, transitioning to a network of services to satisfy the demands of new players, the vertical industries. This revolution implies a redesign of the overall mobile network architecture where complexity, heterogeneity, dynamicity, and flexibility will be the rule. Under such context, automation and programmability are essential to support this vision and overcome current rigid network operation processes. Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Network slicing are key enabling techniques to provide such capabilities. They are complementary, but they are still in its infancy and the synergies between them must be exploited to realise the mentioned vision. The aim of this thesis is to further contribute to its development and integration in next generation mobile networks by designing an end-to-end (E2E) network service orchestration (NSO) architecture, which aligned with some guidelines and specifications provided by main standardization bodies, goes beyond current management and orchestration (MANO) platforms to fulfil network service lifetime requirements in heterogeneous multi-technology/administrative network infrastructures shared by concurrent instances of diverse network services. Following a bottom-up approach, we start studying some SDN aspects related to the management of wireless network elements and its integration into hierarchical control architectures orchestrating networking resources in a multi-technology (wireless, optical, packet) infrastructure. Then, this work is integrated in an infrastructure manager module executing the joint resource abstraction and allocation of network and compute resources in distributed points of presence (PoPs) connected by a transport network, aspect which is not (or lightly) handled by current MANO platforms. This is the module where the integration between NFV and SDN techniques is executed. This integration is commanded by a Service Orchestrator module, in charge of automating the E2E lifecycle management of network services implementing network slices (NS) based on the vertical requirements, the available infrastructure resources, and, while fulfilling service level agreement (SLA) also during run-time operation. This architecture, focused on single administrative domain (AD) scenarios, constitutes the first group of contributions of this thesis. The second group of contributions evolves this initial architecture to deal with the orchestration and sharing of NS and its network slice subnet instances (NSSIs) involving multiple ADs. The main differential aspect with current state-of-the-art solutions is the consideration of resource orchestration aspects during the whole orchestration process. This is fundamental to achieve the interconnection of NSSIs, hence making the E2E multi-domain orchestration and network slicing a reality in practice. Additionally, this work also considers SLA management aspects by means of scaling actions during run-time operation in such complex scenarios. The third group of contributions demonstrate the validity and applicability of the resulting architectures, workflows, and interfaces by implementing and evaluating them in real experimental infrastructures featuring multiple ADs and transport technologies interconnecting distributed computing PoPs. The performed experimentation considers network service definitions close to real vertical use cases, namely automotive and eHealth, which help bridging the gap between network providers and vertical industries stakeholders. Experimental results show that network service creation and scaling times in the order of minutes can be achieved for single and multi-AD scenarios, in line with 5G network targets. Moreover, these measurements serve as a reference for benchmarking the different operations involved during the network service deployment. Such analysis are limited in current literature.
5G marca el inicio de una gran revolución en las redes móviles, convirtiéndose en redes orientadas a servicios para satisfacer las demandas de nuevos actores, las industrias verticales. Esta revolución supone un rediseño total de la arquitectura de red donde la complejidad, heterogeneidad, dinamicidad y flexibilidad serán la norma. En este contexto, la automatización y programabilidad serán esenciales para superar los rígidos procesos actuales de operación de red. Las redes definidas por software (SDN), la virtualización de funciones de red (NFV) y el particionamiento de redes son técnicas clave para proporcionar dichas capacidades. Éstas son complementarias, pero aún recientes y sus sinergias se deben explotar para realizar la nueva visión. El objetivo de esta tesis es contribuir a su desarrollo e integración en la nuevas generaciones de redes móviles mediante el diseño de una arquitectura de orquestación de servicios de red (NSO) extremo a extremo (E2E), que alineada con algunas pautas y especificaciones de los principales organismos de estandarización, va más allá de los actuales sistemas de gestión y orquestación (MANO) para instanciar y garantizar los requisitos de los diversos servicios de red desplegados concurrentemente en infraestructuras heterogéneas compartidas que combinan múltiples tecnologías y dominios administrativos (AD). Siguiendo un enfoque ascendente, comenzamos a estudiar aspectos de SDN relacionados con la gestión de elementos de red inalámbricos y su integración en arquitecturas jerárquicas de orquestación de recursos de red en infraestructuras multi tecnología (inalámbrica, óptica, paquetes). Luego, este trabajo se integra en un módulo de administración de infraestructura que ejecuta de forma conjunta la abstracción y la asignación de recursos de red y computación en múltiples puntos de presencia (PoP) distribuidos conectados por una red de transporte, aspecto que no está (o ligeramente) considerado por los actuales sistemas MANO. Este módulo ejecuta la integración de las técnicas NFV y SDN. Esta integración está dirigida por el módulo Orquestador de Servicios, que automatiza la gestión E2E del ciclo de vida de los servicios de red implementando las diferentes particiones de red en base a los requisitos de los verticales, los recursos de infraestructura disponibles y mientras cumple los acuerdos de nivel de servicio (SLA) durante la operación del servicio. Esta arquitectura, centrada en escenarios con un único AD, forma el primer grupo de contribuciones de esta tesis. El segundo grupo de contribuciones evoluciona esta arquitectura abordando la orquestación y compartición de particiones de red y sus componentes (NSSIs) en escenarios con múltiples AD. La consideración detallada de aspectos de orquestación de recursos es el principal aspecto diferencial con la literatura. Esto es fundamental para la interconexión de NSSIs, haciendo realidad la orquestación E2E y el particionamiento de red en escenarios con múltiples AD. Además, se considera la gestión de SLA mediante acciones de escalado durante la operación del servicio en los escenarios mencionados. El tercer grupo de contribuciones valida las arquitecturas, procedimientos e interfaces resultantes pues se han implementado y evaluado sobre infraestructuras experimentales reales que presentan múltiples AD y tecnologías de transporte interconectando PoP distribuidos. Esta experimentación considera definiciones de servicios de red cercanos a casos de uso de verticales reales, como automoción y eHealth, ayudando a cubrir la brecha entre los proveedores de red y los verticales. Los resultados experimentales muestran que la creación y el escalado de servicios de red se pueden realizar en pocos minutos en escenarios con un único o múltiples ADs, en línea con los indicadores de red objetivos de 5G. Estas medidas, escasas en la literatura actual, sirven como referencia para caracterizar las diferentes operaciones involucradas durante el despliegue de servicios.
Arquitectura de computadors

With the current evolution of network connectable devices, traffic demands are becoming very high. Network operators need to ensure that they can provide new services faster but with the same quality while keeping the costs low. Given the traditional network architecture, that is not possible because the high demands require new hardware, and its substitution is costly and not flexible. By introducing the decoupling of network functions from traditional hardware, NFV is the technology that enables the step that network operators are trying to take. However, this approach also brings reliability concerns since it is mandatory to ensure that the virtual network functions (VNFs) behave as expected. 5GinFIRE is a project that aims to provide a 5G-NFV enabled experimental testbed. As this project handles multiple VNFs from the various experimenters, it is necessary to have an automated mechanism to validate VNFs. This dissertation provides a solution for the stated problem by having a system that verifies the syntax, semantics, and references of a VNF in an automated way without needing any further human interaction. As a result, a fully integrated testing platform is deployed in the 5GinFIRE infrastructure, and the results of the tests are issued in this Document.
Com a evolução dos equipamentos com capacidade de se ligar à rede, as exigências de tráfego tornam-se muito altas. Os operadores precisam de garantir que oferecem os seus serviços rapidamente, com a mesma qualidade, mas mantendo os custos baixos. Dada a arquitetura tradicional de redes, isso não é possível uma vez que para alcançar essas necessidades é fundamental a aquisição de novos equipamentos, sendo que a sua substituição é cara e pouco flexível. Com a proposta de separação de funções de rede do seu hardware específico, NFV é a tecnologia que permite aos operadores alcançar o pretendido. No entanto, esta abordagem traz consigo problemas relacionados com a fiabilidade do código produzido, uma vez que é imperativo assegurar que as funções de rede implementadas (VNFs) se comportam como esperado. O 5GinFIRE é um projeto que tem como objetivo manter uma plataforma de experimentação de 5G-NFV. Como este projeto lida com múltiplas VNFs de vários colaboradores, é necessário haver um mecanismo automatizado que valida as mesmas. Esta dissertação aborda a solução referenciada tendo em si descrito um sistema que valida a sintaxe, semântica e referências de uma VNF de uma forma totalmente automatizada e sem qualquer necessidade de intervenção humana. Assim, o 5GinFIRE contém já uma plataforma de testes totalmente integrada no seu sistema e os seus resultados são analisados neste Documento.
Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática

Dissertação de Mestrado em Bioquímica apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
A Tomografia por Emissão de Positrões (PET) é a técnica de imagiologia médica com maior sensibilidade e potencial quantitativo. Nos últimos vinte anos a PET tem permitido a aquisição de imagens funcionais de várias doenças que revelam alterações a um nível molecular, como por exemplo lesões neoplásicas. No caso específico dos cancros neuroendócrinos, verifica-se a alteração do metabolismo da somatostatina (SST) e a sobre expressão dos seus recetores (SSTr) na superfície das células tumorais. A SST é um neuro péptido regulador natural que desempenha diversas funções no organismo. Vários análogos da SST, como por exemplo o NOC, o TOC e o TATE, foram sintetizados e marcados com radioisótopos metálicos, com recurso a quelatos bifuncionais, nomeadamente o DOTA. Estes análogos radio marcados permitem a obtenção de uma imagem in vivo da expressão homogénea e com elevada densidade dos recetores da SST na superfície das células tumorais, permitindo assim o diagnóstico e estadiamento de cancros neuroendócrinos. Neste projeto propôs-se o desenvolvimento e otimização de um método de purificação para o cobre-61 (61Cu). O 61Cu é um radioisótopo metálico emissor de positrões, produzido através de um alvo de zinco natural líquido, que possui propriedades físicas de decaimento (3.3 h e 62% de emissão de positrões) apropriadas para a aplicação em imagem PET através da marcação de pequenas moléculas e péptidos. A produção e purificação de 61Cu a partir de um alvo de zinco natural, não só permite a sua obtenção de forma viável do ponto de vista económico como também permite a sua posterior utilização na marcação de radiofármacos de 61Cu. Neste contexto, depois da avaliação das melhores condições de utilização de cada umas das resinas escolhidas, foram estabelecidos dois métodos distintos (Método A e B) para a purificação do 61Cu do alvo de zinco natural e dos diferentes radioisótopos de gálio. A purificação automática foi obtida com sucesso, sem a deteção de radioisótopos de gálio no produto final, em 60 minutos, com dois módulos automáticos IBA Synthera® Extension, através da utilização de três colunas diferentes em cada um dos métodos. Posteriormente, utilizou-se o produto final purificado (61CuCl2) para marcar um dos análogos da SST, o DOTA-NOC, com o objetivo de produzir [61Cu]DOTA-NOC, objetivo que foi igualmente bem-sucedido. Finalmente, o controlo de qualidade do composto final foi realizado. A análise HPLC confirmou 100% de pureza radioquímica de [61Cu]DOTA-NOC, numa reação realizada em 3 M de acetato de sódio (pH≥5), durante 10 minutos (min) a 90 oC.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is the image technique with the highest sensitivity and quantitative potential, which over the past twenty years has been allowing the functional image of many diseases which display alterations at a molecular level, such as neoplastic lesions. This is the specific case of Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs), whose common characteristic is the alteration of somatostatin (SST) metabolism and the overexpression of SST receptors (SSTr) at their cell surface. SST is a natural regulatory neuropeptide with many functions, and so several SST analogues - such as NOC, TOC and TATE - have been synthetised and labelled with metal radionuclides - using a bifunctional chelate (BFC) such as DOTA - which allows for the in vivo image of the homogeneous and high-density expression of SST receptors at the tumour cell surface, and consequently for the diagnose and staging of NETs. In this project we proposed to develop and optimise a purification method for the positron emitter metal radioisotope copper-61 (61Cu) - produced from a natural zinc (natZn) liquid target - which presents desirable physical decay properties (3.3 h half-life and 62% positron emission) suitable for the application in PET imaging by labelling small molecules and peptides. Furthermore, the production and successful purification of 61Cu from natZn target, not only allow a cost-effective production of this radionuclide for a daily basis but also grant the possibility for it to be subsequently used in the development of 61Cu-based radiopharmaceuticals. In this context, we started with the evaluation of all the conditions of four different resins and we established two possible pathways (Pathways A and B) for the purification of 61Cu from the natZn liquid target and gallium radioisotopes. The automated purification was successfully achieved, with no gallium radioisotopes detection in the final product vial (FPV), in about 60 minutes, with two IBA Synthera® Extension modules and using three different resins for each method. The purification was followed by the labelling reaction of one of the SST analogues - DOTA-NOC - to produce [61Cu]DOTA-NOC, which was notably accomplished as well. Finally, the quality control parameters of the final compound were assessed. The HPLC analysis confirmed 100% of [61Cu]DOTA-NOC radiochemical yield, in 3 M Sodium Acetate (pH ≥ 5), with 10 minutes at 90 ºC.

The wide adoption of an NFV-oriented paradigm by network operators proves the importance of NFV in the future of communication networks. This paradigm allows network operators to speed up the development process of their services, decoupling hardware from the functionalities provided by these services. However, since NFV has only been recently globally adopted, several questions and difficulties arose. Network operators need to ensure the reliability and the correct behavior of their Virtualized Network Functions, which poses severe challenges. Thus, the need for developing new validation tools, which are capable of validating network functions that live in an NFV ecosystem. 5GASP is a European project which aims to shorten the idea-to-market process by creating a fully automated and selfservice 5G testbed and providing support tools for Continuous Integration in a secure and trusted environment, addressing the DevOps paradigm. Being aligned with 5GASP’s goals, this dissertation mainly addresses the development of tools to validate NetApps. To accomplish this, this document introduces two different mechanisms for validating NetApps. The first tool is responsible for statically validate the NetApps before they are deployed in 5GASP’s testbeds, being denominated by NetApp Package Validator. Regarding this tool, during this document the focus is its Descriptors Validator Module, which validates the NetApp descriptors through syntactic, semantics, and reference validation and supports NetApps developed according to different Information Models. The second tool comprises an automated validation pipeline. This pipeline validates the functionality and the behavior of the NetApps once they are deployed in a 5G-testbed. Besides, it collects several metrics to enable a better understanding of the NetApp’s behavior. Both tools are expected to be integrated with the 5GASP’s ecosystem. This document presents the requirements definition, architecture, and implementation of these tools and presents their results and outputs.
The wide adoption of an NFV-oriented paradigm by network operators proves the importance of NFV in the future of communication networks. This paradigm allows network operators to speed up the development process of their services, decoupling hardware from the functionalities provided by these services. However, since NFV has only been recently globally adopted, several questions and difficulties arose. Network operators need to ensure the reliability and the correct behavior of their Virtualized Network Functions, which poses severe challenges. Thus, the need for developing new validation tools, which are capable of validating network functions that live in an NFV ecosystem. 5GASP is a European project which aims to shorten the idea-to-market process by creating a fully automated and selfservice 5G testbed and providing support tools for Continuous Integration in a secure and trusted environment, addressing the DevOps paradigm. Being aligned with 5GASP’s goals, this dissertation mainly addresses the development of tools to validate NetApps. To accomplish this, this document introduces two different mechanisms for validating NetApps. The first tool is responsible for statically validate the NetApps before they are deployed in 5GASP’s testbeds, being denominated by NetApp Package Validator. Regarding this tool, during this document the focus is its Descriptors Validator Module, which validates the NetApp descriptors through syntactic, semantics, and reference validation and supports NetApps developed according to different Information Models. The second tool comprises an automated validation pipeline. This pipeline validates the functionality and the behavior of the NetApps once they are deployed in a 5G-testbed. Besides, it collects several metrics to enable a better understanding of the NetApp’s behavior. Both tools are expected to be integrated with the 5GASP’s ecosystem. This document presents the requirements definition, architecture, and implementation of these tools and presents their results and outputs.
Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

The heterogenous nature and the demand for extensive parallel processing in modern applications have resulted in widespread use of Multicore System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures. The emerging Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture provides an energy-efficient and scalable communication solution for Multicore SoCs, serving as a powerful replacement for traditional bus-based solutions. The key to successful realization of such architectures is a flexible, fast and robust emulation platform for fast design space exploration. In this research, we present the design and evaluation of a highly configurable NoC used in AcENoCs (Accelerated Emulation platform for NoCs), a flexible and cycle accurate field programmable gate array (FPGA) emulation platform for validating NoC architectures. Along with the implementation details, we also discuss the various design optimizations and tradeoffs, and assess the performance improvements of AcENoCs over existing simulators and emulators. We design a hardware library consisting of routers and links using verilog hardware description language (HDL). The router is parameterized and has a configurable number of physical ports, virtual channels (VCs) and pipeline depth. A packet switched NoC is constructed by connecting the routers in either 2D-Mesh or 2D-Torus topology. The NoC is integrated in the AcENoCs platform and prototyped on Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. The NoC was evaluated under various synthetic and realistic workloads generated by AcENoCs' traffic generators implemented on the Xilinx MicroBlaze embedded processor. In order to validate the NoC design, performance metrics like average latency and throughput were measured and compared against the results obtained using standard network simulators. FPGA implementation of the NoC using Xilinx tools indicated a 76% LUT utilization for a 5x5 2D-Mesh network. A VC allocator was found to be the single largest consumer of hardware resources within a router. The router design synthesized at a frequency of 135MHz, 124MHz and 109MHz for 3-port, 4-port and 5-port configurations, respectively. The operational frequency of the router in the AcENoCs environment was limited only by the software execution latency even though the hardware itself could be clocked at a much higher rate. An AcENoCs emulator showed speedup improvements of 10000-12000X over HDL simulators and 5-15X over software simulators, without sacrificing cycle accuracy.

The growing need for computer software in different sectors of activity, (health, agriculture, industries, education, aeronautic, science and telecommunication) together with the increasing reliance of the society as a whole on information technology, is placing a heavy and fast growing demand on complex and high quality software systems. In this regard, the anticipation has been on non-functional requirements (NFRs) engineering and formal methods. Despite their common objective, these techniques have in most cases evolved separately. NFRs engineering proceeds firstly, by deriving measures to evaluate the quality of the constructed software (product-oriented approach), and secondarily by improving the engineering process (process-oriented approach). With the ability to combine the analysis of both functional and non-functional requirements, Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) approaches have become de facto leading requirements engineering methods. They propose through refinement/operationalisation, means to satisfy NFRs encoded in softgoals at an early phase of software development. On the other side, formal methods have kept, so far, their promise to eliminate errors in software artefacts to produce high quality software products and are therefore particularly solicited for safety and mission critical systems for which a single error may cause great loss including human life. This thesis introduces the concept of Complementary Non-functional action (CNF-action) to extend the analysis and development of NFRs beyond the traditional goals/softgoals analysis, based on refinement/operationalisation, and to propagate the influence of NFRs to other software construction phases. Mechanisms are also developed to integrate the formal technique Z/Object-Z into the standardised User Requirements Notation (URN) to formalise GRL models describing functional and non-functional requirements, to propagate CNF-actions of the formalised NFRs to UCMs maps, to facilitate URN construction process and the quality of URN models.
School of Computing
D. Phil (Computer Science)