Computer Engineering CSE Seminar Topics and Reports

Definition The recent advances in high-speed networks and improved microprocessor performance are making clusters or networks of workstations an appealing vehicle for cost effective parallel computing. Clusters built using commodity hardware and software components are playing a major role in redefining the concept of supercomputing. Clusters A cluster is a type of parallel or distributed processing system, which consists of a collection of interconnected stand-alone computers cooperatively working together as a single, integrated computing resource. This cluster of computers shares common network characteristics like the same namespace and it is available to other computers on the network as a single resource. These computers are linked together using high-speed network interfaces between themselves and the actual binding together of the all the individual computers in the cluster is performed by the operating system and the software used. Beowulf Cluster It's a kin...

Definition TErrestrial Trunked RAdio (TETRA) standard was designed to meet some common requirements and objectives of the PMR and PAMR market alike. One of the last strong holds of analog technology in a digital world has been the area of trunked mobile radio. Although digital cellular technology has made great strides with broad support from a relatively large number of manufactures, digital trunked mobile radio systems for the Private Mobile Radio (PMR) and Public Access Mobile Radio (PAMR) market have lagged behind. Few manufacture currently offer digital systems, all of which are based on proprietary technology. However, the transition to digital is gaining momentum with the emergence of an open standard TETRA TETRA is a Digital PMR Standard developed by ETSI. It is an open standard offers interoperability of equipment and networks from different manufacturers. It is potential replacement for analog and proprietary digital systems. Standard originated in1989 as Mobile Digital...

Definition "Money in the 21st century will surely prove to be as different from the money of the current century as our money is from that of the previous century. Just as fiat money replaced specie-backed paper currencies, electronically initiated debits and credits will become the dominant payment modes, creating the potential for private money to compete with government-issued currencies." Just as every thing is getting under the shadow of "e" today we have paper currency being replaced by electronic money or e-cash. Hardly a day goes by without some mention in the financial press of new developments in "electronic money". In the emerging field of electronic commerce, novel buzzwords like smartcards, online banking, digital cash, and electronic checks are being used to discuss money. But how are these brand-new forms of payment secure? And most importantly, which of these emerging secure electronic money technologies will survive into the next ce...

Definition The Y2K38 problem has been described as a non-problem, given that we are expected to be running 64-bit operating systems well before 2038. Well, maybe. The Problem Just as Y2K problems arise from programs not allocating enough digits to the year, Y2K38 problems arise from programs not allocating enough bits to internal time.Unix internal time is commonly stored in a data structure using a long int containing the number of seconds since 1970. This time is used in all time-related processes such as scheduling, file timestamps, etc. In a 32-bit machine, this value is sufficient to store time up to 18-jan-2038. After this date, 32-bit clocks will overflow and return erroneous values such as 32-dec-1969 or 13-dec-1901. Machines Affected Currently (March 1998) there are a huge number of machines affected. Most of these will be scrapped before 2038. However, it is possible that some machines going into service now may still be operating in 2038. These may include process c...

Definition Criminals have long employed the tactic of masking their true identity, from disguises to aliases to caller-id blocking. It should come as no surprise then, that criminals who conduct their nefarious activities on networks and computers should employ such techniques. IP spoofing is one of the most common forms of on-line camouflage. In IP spoofing, an attacker gains unauthorized access to a computer or a network by making it appear that a malicious message has come from a trusted machine by "spoofing" the IP address of that machine. In the subsequent pages of this report, we will examine the concepts of IP spoofing: why it is possible, how it works, what it is used for and how to defend against it. Brief History of IP Spoofing The concept of IP spoofing was initially discussed in academic circles in the 1980's. In the April 1989 article entitled: "Security Problems in the TCP/IP Protocol Suite", author S. M Bellovin of AT & T Bell labs was...

INTRODUCTION The Universal Serial Bus (USB), with one billion units in the installed base, is the most successful interface in PC history. Projections are for 3.5 billion interfaces shipped by 2006. Benefiting from exceptionally strong industry support from all market segments, USB continues to evolve as new technologies and products come to market. It is already the de facto interconnect for PCs, and has proliferated into consumer electronics (CE) and mobile devices as well. The Wireless USB is the first the high speed Personal Wireless Interconnect. Wireless USB will build on the success of wired USB, bringing USB technology into the wireless future. Usage will be targeted at PCs and PC peripherals, consumer electronics and mobile devices. To maintain the same usage and architecture as wired USB, the Wireless USB specification is being defined as a high-speed host-to-device connection. This will enable an easy migration path for today's wired USB solutions. This paper tak...

INTRODUCTION Nature is a great place to go for inspiration when you want to see systems that are robust and have been around for millions of years. Nature provides the inspiration for swarm intelligence. Look at the emergent behavior observed in ants, termites, bees and others. We see very simple creatures, performing complex behavior as a group Consider the case of ant colony working together . The behaviour of ants has long fascinated scientists. These insects have the strength to carry food up to seven times their own body weight, and set up amazingly complex colonies, with social 'castes' in which every member has a role. In fact, ants are not only fascinating just to entomologists looking at them under the microscope. In recent years, computer scientists have been paying great attention to the way in which a colony of ants can solve complex problems; in particular, how it finds the shortest route to a food source. Each insect in a colony seemed to have its own a...

INTRODUCTION As the nature of threats to organizations continues to evolve, so must the defense posture of the organizations. In the past, threats from both internal and external sources were relatively slow-moving and easy to defend against. In today's environment, where Internet worms spread across the world in a matter of minutes, security systems - and the network itself - must react instantaneously. The foundation for a self-defending network is integrated security - security that is native to all aspects of an organization. Every device in the network - from desktops through the LAN and across the WAN - plays a part in securing the networked environment through a globally distributed defense. Such systems help to ensure the privacy of information transmitted and to protect against internal and external threats, while providing corporate administrators with control over access to corporate resources. SDN shows that the approach to security has evolved from a point produc...

INTRODUCTION PHANToM, means Personal HAptic iNTerface Mechanism, was developed at MIT as a relatively low cost force feedback device for interacting with virtual objects. Phantom device is a robot arm that is attached to a computer and used as a pointer in three dimensions, like a mouse is used as a pointer in two dimensions. ABOUT PHANTOM The PHANToM interface's novelty lies in its small size, relatively low cost and its simplification of tactile information. Rather than displaying information from many different points, this haptic device provides high-fidelity feedback to simulate touching at a single point. It just like closing your eyes, holding a pen and touching everything in your office. You could actually tell a lot about those objects from that single point of contact. You'd recognize your computer keyboard, the monitor, the telephone, desktop and so on. A Phantom device and the Phantom Force Feedback extension can also be used to trace paths and/or move mod...

Definition From computer-aided design (CAD) drawings of complex engineering parts to digital representations of proteins and complex molecules, an increasing amount of 3D information is making its way onto the Web and into corporate databases. Because of this, users need ways to store, index, and search this information. Typical Web-searching approaches, such as Google's, can't do this. Even for 2D images, they generally search only the textual parts of a file, noted Greg Notess, editor of the online Search Engine Showdown newsletter. However, researchers at universities such as Purdue and Princeton have begun developing search engines that can mine catalogs of 3D objects, such as airplane parts, by looking for physical, not textual, attributes. Users formulate a query by using a drawing application to sketch what they are looking for or by selecting a similar object from a catalog of images. The search engine then finds the items they want. The company must make it aga...

INTRODUCTION Technology has till date be able to use our sense of site and sound quite successfully in bringing virtual reality and nearer to reality. Consequently you have realistic-looking games, and graphic cards that are capable of rendering them; mice that let you experience the terrain you are traversing, whether in an application, on the internet, or on a CD-ROM; and sound and music, thanks to MP3 and the like, which bring alive your experience in the virtual world. Virtual reality has, since the onset several decades ago, been dominated by visual stimuli, with tactile and auditory information research and added to the sense in the latter years. Olfactory information has been mainly ignored as input to the virtual environment participant, in spite of the fact that olfactory receptors provide such a rich source of information to the human. To enhance this virtual experience, technology now targets on nose and tongue for the experience of smell and taste. That is, you will s...