Title: Edge and IoT-supported Intelligent Augmented Reality: Promise, Challenges, and Solutions

Speaker: Maria Gorlatova

Abstract: Mobile augmented reality (AR), which integrates virtual objects with 3D real environments in real time, has been showing outstanding potential in many application domains including education, retail, and healthcare. AR is broadly expected to redefine how we interact with technology and the world around us. Yet current AR falls short of many of the expectations. This talk presents our vision of multi-device, edge computing-supported and Internet-of-Things (IoT)-integrated platforms for next-generation intelligent context-aware AR. I describe shortcomings in modern AR platforms’ spatial and semantic awareness capabilities and identify key gaps that need to be addressed to enable AR to become robust and resource-efficient; I present solutions to some of the challenges, touching on topics in edge computing, machine learning, and resource-efficient simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). I also highlight opportunities associated with close integration of AR platforms and their users and describe a set of solutions for robust gaze-based user context awareness in AR. The talk showcases several applications of next-generation context-aware AR, such as AR-based surgical guidance and AR support for mental and behavioral health and well-being.

Short Bio: Dr. Maria Gorlatova is a Nortel Networks Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Duke University. Her research is in emerging pervasive technologies, with a focus on next-generation augmented reality and the Internet of Things. She received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and her M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Canada. She spent two years at Princeton University Electrical Engineering Department as an Associate Research Scholar and an Associate Director of the Princeton University EDGE Lab. Dr. Gorlatova was named among the 10 N2Women Rising Stars in 2019, and has received multiple awards including the 2021 NSF CAREER Award, 2021 Meta Research Award, 2023 CISCO Research Award, ACM SenSys Best Student Demonstration Award, ACM/IEEE IPSN Best Research Artifact Award, Google Anita Borg Fellowship, the IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award, and the IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications.

Title: Towards Performant Virtualization of Floating Point Arithmetic

Speaker: Peter Dinda

Abstract: Using alternative arithmetic systems within an existing scientific codebase that is written to (and compiled for) the IEEE standard is a major challenge. The NSF CSR-supported Buoyancy Project is exploring how to address this challenge through virtualizing floating point hardware, starting on x64. The goal of the floating point virtual machine (FPVM) is to allow an existing application binary to be seamlessly extended to support the desired alternative arithmetic system with overheads determined by that system and not the virtualization mechanisms. I will describe the current FPVM trap-and-emulate-based implementation, including newly-developed kernel support that reduces one of the key overheads by 2-3x. There remains much to be done, however. If time allows, I will also touch on other aspects of the Buoyancy Project, such as evaluating user understanding of IEEE floating point, efficient monitoring of applications, and very early work on attacks specific to scientific applications.

Short Bio: Peter Dinda is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Northwestern University, and also holds an appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He headed the Computer Engineering and Systems division for five years within the previous Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He holds a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. He works in experimental computer systems, particularly parallel and distributed systems, and has authored over 140 scientific papers, authored or is a major contributor to several large publicly available codebases, and holds five patents. His research currently involves virtualization and operating systems for distributed and parallel computing, programming languages for parallel computing, resilience of floating point arithmetic, and individualized privacy in IoT systems. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. You can find out more about him and the Buoyancy Project at pdinda.org.