Shared-memory multi-core processors are ubiquitous, but programming them remains challenging. The programming model exposed by such multi-core processors depends crucially on a "memory consistency model" (MCM), a contract between the hardware and the programmer, which essentially specifies what value a read can return. On the hardware side, one key mechanism to implement the memory consistency model is the "cache-coherence protocol" (CCP), which essentially communicates memory operations between processors. However, the connection between the CCP and the MCM remains unclear. This is especially true for modern CCPs and MCMs, in which CCP design has been divorced from the requirements of the MCM. We argue that this has negatively impacted the scalability and the verifiability of CCPs. On the scalability front, there are serious question marks about sustaining cache coherence as the number of cores continue to scale. On the verification front, the application of existing verification techniques, which do not verify the CCP against the MCM, are arguably broken. In the C3 proposal, we propose a family of CCPs that are "aware" of, and verified against the MCM. Our approach is motivated by the fact that both hardware and programming languages are converging to various relaxed MCMs for performance oriented reasons. We use such relaxed MCMs as inspiration to research CCPs that can take advantage of them. Specifically, we will research "lazy" CCPs where memory operations are batched, and the cost of communicating a memory operation can be amortised. We will also, for the first time, formally verify the relationship between the hardware CCPs and the programmer-oriented MCM they provide. We will investigate rigorously the gains to be had from such lazy CCPs. We will do this by creating a multi-core silicon prototype of our proposed CCP, leveraging our experience in the design of industrial-strength micro-architectures and their implementations.

The aim of this project is to develop a unified scheme cooperative multi-modal and multi-sensor tracking. The multi-sensor network will be composed of stereo microphones coupled with omni-directional and with pan-tilt-zoom cameras. Sound information will be used to discriminate ambiguous visual observations as well as to extend the coverage area of the sensors beyond the field of view of the cameras. Although single modality as well as multi-modality trackers have achieved some success, a number of important tracking issues remain open for enabling the adoption of these algorithms in real-world scenarios. Among these issues, three important inter-related problems will be addressed in this project, namely the definition of a generic and flexible feature representation for a target, a reliable mechanism to update the target model based on incoming observations, and a robust multi-sensor handover strategy. First, we will develop a robust and adaptive representation of objects based on their acoustical and visual attributes while moving across the network of heterogeneous sensors. Next, object models will be defined based on the observation that temporal representation of a target is expected to lie in a low-dimensional manifold in the high-dimensional multi-modal feature space. Finally, the object model will be used to control and guide the evolution of the target state in order to help intra-sensor occlusion handling and inter-sensor handover. To evaluate the tracking scheme, we will create a test corpus and its associated ground-truth data for use in the project as well as for distribution to the research community to facilitate comparisons.

Technological advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are envisaged to allow the dense deployment of nodes with sensing, communication and processing capabilities in large areas for monitoring purposes. In this project we offer an alternative to plain multi hop data forwarding through the sensor network. Our approach suggests the forwarding of sensor data and its storage in selected nodes (storage nodes) from where the data will be collected later on by roaming mobile nodes. This new operational setting will leverage recent advances in mobile technology to relieve the sensor network from heavy multi-hop communication tasks. It will exploit the vast availability of a variety of different mobile devices (e.g., phones, pdas and domain specific wireless-equipped devices such as health monitors) and the potential for user or unmanned vehicle mobility. Mobile devices are equipped with one or more wireless network interfaces (Bluetooth, 802.11 etc), which makes them able to connect and interact with storage nodes in radio range, in an ad hoc manner. An application that would particularly benefit from continous monitoring using sensor nodes is wildlife monitoring. Zoologists would be able to detect social behavior patterns of wild animals (e.g. animal movement patterns), in combination with microclimate conditions, to protect the animals' habitat and ensure their well-being. Current approaches to wildlife monitoring and conservation often still rely on labour intensive techniques for making observations of animal behaviour or for tracking animal movements with established (but outmoded) VHF telemetry equipment. The typical mode of monitoring is to send staff to every single sensor node in the field, to collect sensor readings. The raw data is collected by staff, brought together in a lab, and processed in a centralized manner. The heavy reliance on field-staff for animal monitoring currently incurs considerable employment costs and overheads for ancillary equipment. The use of personnel working alone at night in forests also has significant health and safety implications, and the scrutiny of the Health and Safety Executive is likely to jeopardise many of these protocols in the future.

Technological advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are envisaged to allow the dense deployment of nodes with sensing, communication and processing capabilities in large areas for monitoring purposes. In this project we offer an alternative to plain multi-hop data forwarding through the sensor network. Our approach suggests the forwarding of sensor data and its storage in selected nodes (storage nodes) from where the data will be collected later on by roaming mobile nodes. This new operational setting will leverage recent advances in mobile technology to relieve the sensor network from heavy multi-hop communication tasks. It will exploit the vast availability of a variety of different mobile devices (e.g., phones, pdas and domain specific wireless-equipped devices such as health monitors) and the potential for user or unmanned vehicle mobility. Mobile devices are equipped with one or more wireless network interfaces (Bluetooth, 802.11 etc), which makes them able to connect and interact with storage nodes in radio range, in an ad hoc manner. An application that would particularly benefit from continous monitoring using sensor nodes is wildlife monitoring. One of the primary benefits of this new technology will be to offer biologists the means to monitor animals more effectively. The animals too will benefit through the refinements to welfare that these small and efficient RFID devices provide. This entire technology will permit a whole suite of new and more detailed questions about animal movements and spatial behaviour to be answered.Current approaches to wildlife monitoring and conservation often still rely on labour intensive techniques for making observations of animal behaviour or for tracking animal movements with established (but outmoded) VHF telemetry equipment. The typical mode of monitoring is to send staff to every single sensor node in the field, to collect sensor readings. The raw data is collected by staff, brought together in a lab, and processed in a centralized manner. The heavy reliance on field-staff for animal monitoring currently incurs considerable employment costs and overheads for ancillary equipment. The use of personnel working alone at night in forests also has significant health and safety implications, and the scrutiny of the Health and Safety Executive is likely to jeopardise many of these protocols in the future.