Energy
A Differential Smoothness-based Compact-Dynamic Graph Convolutional Network for Spatiotemporal Signal Recovery
Gao, Pengcheng, Gao, Zicheng, Yuan, Ye
High quality spatiotemporal signal is vitally important for real application scenarios like energy management, traffic planning and cyber security. Due to the uncontrollable factors like abrupt sensors breakdown or communication fault, the spatiotemporal signal collected by sensors is always incomplete. A dynamic graph convolutional network (DGCN) is effective for processing spatiotemporal signal recovery. However, it adopts a static GCN and a sequence neural network to explore the spatial and temporal patterns, separately. Such a separated two-step processing is loose spatiotemporal, thereby failing to capture the complex inner spatiotemporal correlation. To address this issue, this paper proposes a Compact-Dynamic Graph Convolutional Network (CDGCN) for spatiotemporal signal recovery with the following two-fold ideas: a) leveraging the tensor M-product to build a unified tensor graph convolution framework, which considers both spatial and temporal patterns simultaneously; and b) constructing a differential smoothness-based objective function to reduce the noise interference in spatiotemporal signal, thereby further improve the recovery accuracy. Experiments on real-world spatiotemporal datasets demonstrate that the proposed CDGCN significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art models in terms of recovery accuracy.
AI Foundation Models in Remote Sensing: A Survey
Lu, Siqi, Guo, Junlin, Zimmer-Dauphinee, James R, Nieusma, Jordan M, Wang, Xiao, VanValkenburgh, Parker, Wernke, Steven A, Huo, Yuankai
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have profoundly transformed the field of remote sensing, revolutionizing data collection, processing, and analysis. Traditionally reliant on manual interpretation and task-specific models, remote sensing has been significantly enhanced by the advent of foundation models--large-scale, pre-trained AI models capable of performing a wide array of tasks with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of foundation models in the remote sensing domain, covering models released between June 2021 and June 2024. We categorize these models based on their applications in computer vision and domain-specific tasks, offering insights into their architectures, pre-training datasets, and methodologies. Through detailed performance comparisons, we highlight emerging trends and the significant advancements achieved by these foundation models. Additionally, we discuss the technical challenges, practical implications, and future research directions, addressing the need for high-quality data, computational resources, and improved model generalization. Our research also finds that pre-training methods, particularly self-supervised learning techniques like contrastive learning and masked autoencoders, significantly enhance the performance and robustness of foundation models in remote sensing tasks such as scene classification, object detection, and other applications. This survey aims to serve as a resource for researchers and practitioners by providing a panorama of advances and promising pathways for continued development and application of foundation models in remote sensing.
Solving QUBO on the Loihi 2 Neuromorphic Processor
Pierro, Alessandro, Stratmann, Philipp, Guerra, Gabriel Andres Fonseca, Risbud, Sumedh, Shea, Timothy, Mangalore, Ashish Rao, Wild, Andreas
In this article, we describe an algorithm for solving Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization problems on the Intel Loihi 2 neuromorphic processor. The solver is based on a hardware-aware fine-grained parallel simulated annealing algorithm developed for Intel's neuromorphic research chip Loihi 2. Preliminary results show that our approach can generate feasible solutions in as little as 1 ms and up to 37x more energy efficient compared to two baseline solvers running on a CPU. These advantages could be especially relevant for size-, weight-, and power-constrained edge computing applications.
Huge Ensembles Part I: Design of Ensemble Weather Forecasts using Spherical Fourier Neural Operators
Mahesh, Ankur, Collins, William, Bonev, Boris, Brenowitz, Noah, Cohen, Yair, Elms, Joshua, Harrington, Peter, Kashinath, Karthik, Kurth, Thorsten, North, Joshua, OBrien, Travis, Pritchard, Michael, Pruitt, David, Risser, Mark, Subramanian, Shashank, Willard, Jared
Studying low-likelihood high-impact extreme weather events in a warming world is a significant and challenging task for current ensemble forecasting systems. While these systems presently use up to 100 members, larger ensembles could enrich the sampling of internal variability. They may capture the long tails associated with climate hazards better than traditional ensemble sizes. Due to computational constraints, it is infeasible to generate huge ensembles (comprised of 1,000-10,000 members) with traditional, physics-based numerical models. In this two-part paper, we replace traditional numerical simulations with machine learning (ML) to generate hindcasts of huge ensembles. In Part I, we construct an ensemble weather forecasting system based on Spherical Fourier Neural Operators (SFNO), and we discuss important design decisions for constructing such an ensemble. The ensemble represents model uncertainty through perturbed-parameter techniques, and it represents initial condition uncertainty through bred vectors, which sample the fastest growing modes of the forecast. Using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) as a baseline, we develop an evaluation pipeline composed of mean, spectral, and extreme diagnostics. Using large-scale, distributed SFNOs with 1.1 billion learned parameters, we achieve calibrated probabilistic forecasts. As the trajectories of the individual members diverge, the ML ensemble mean spectra degrade with lead time, consistent with physical expectations. However, the individual ensemble members' spectra stay constant with lead time. Therefore, these members simulate realistic weather states, and the ML ensemble thus passes a crucial spectral test in the literature. The IFS and ML ensembles have similar Extreme Forecast Indices, and we show that the ML extreme weather forecasts are reliable and discriminating.
Learning to Turn: Diffusion Imitation for Robust Row Turning in Under-Canopy Robots
Sivakumar, Arun N., Thangeda, Pranay, Fang, Yixiao, Gasparino, Mateus V., Cuaran, Jose, Ornik, Melkior, Chowdhary, Girish
Under-canopy agricultural robots require robust navigation capabilities to enable full autonomy but struggle with tight row turning between crop rows due to degraded GPS reception, visual aliasing, occlusion, and complex vehicle dynamics. We propose an imitation learning approach using diffusion policies to learn row turning behaviors from demonstrations provided by human operators or privileged controllers. Simulation experiments in a corn field environment show potential in learning this task with only visual observations and velocity states. However, challenges remain in maintaining control within rows and handling varied initial conditions, highlighting areas for future improvement.
The Download: the risks of addictive AI, and hydrogen bikes' limitations
Worries about AI often imagine doomsday scenarios where systems escape control or even understanding. But there are nearer-term harms we should take seriously: that AI could jeopardize public discourse; cement biases in loan decisions, judging or hiring; or disrupt creative industries. However, we foresee a different, but no less urgent, class of risks: those stemming from relationships with nonhuman agents. AI companionship is no longer theoretical--our analysis of a million ChatGPT interaction logs reveals that the second most popular use of AI is sexual role-playing. We are already starting to invite AIs into our lives as friends, lovers, mentors, therapists, and teachers.
Mastering Agile Jumping Skills from Simple Practices with Iterative Learning Control
Nguyen, Chuong, Bao, Lingfan, Nguyen, Quan
Achieving precise target jumping with legged robots poses a significant challenge due to the long flight phase and the uncertainties inherent in contact dynamics and hardware. Forcefully attempting these agile motions on hardware could result in severe failures and potential damage. Motivated by these challenging problems, we propose an Iterative Learning Control (ILC) approach that aims to learn and refine jumping skills from easy to difficult, instead of directly learning these challenging tasks. We verify that learning from simplicity can enhance safety and target jumping accuracy over trials. Compared to other ILC approaches for legged locomotion, our method can tackle the problem of a long flight phase where control input is not available. In addition, our approach allows the robot to apply what it learns from a simple jumping task to accomplish more challenging tasks within a few trials directly in hardware, instead of learning from scratch. We validate the method via extensive experiments in the A1 model and hardware for various jumping tasks. Starting from a small jump (e.g., a forward leap of 40cm), our learning approach empowers the robot to accomplish a variety of challenging targets, including jumping onto a 20cm high box, jumping to a greater distance of up to 60cm, as well as performing jumps while carrying an unknown payload of 2kg. Our framework can allow the robot to reach the desired position and orientation targets with approximate errors of 1cm and 1 degree within a few trials.
Online Electric Vehicle Charging Detection Based on Memory-based Transformer using Smart Meter Data
Kamoona, Ammar Mansoor, Song, Hui, Jalili, Mahdi, Wang, Hao, Razzaghi, Reza, Yu, Xinghuo
The growing popularity of Electric Vehicles (EVs) poses unique challenges for grid operators and infrastructure, which requires effectively managing these vehicles' integration into the grid. Identification of EVs charging is essential to electricity Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) for better planning and managing the distribution grid. One critical aspect is the ability to accurately identify the presence of EV charging in the grid. EV charging identification using smart meter readings obtained from behind-the-meter devices is a challenging task that enables effective managing the integration of EVs into the existing power grid. Different from the existing supervised models that require addressing the imbalance problem caused by EVs and non-EVs data, we propose a novel unsupervised memory-based transformer (M-TR) that can run in real-time (online) to detect EVs charging from a streaming smart meter. It dynamically leverages coarse-scale historical information using an M-TR encoder from an extended global temporal window, in conjunction with an M-TR decoder that concentrates on a limited time frame, local window, aiming to capture the fine-scale characteristics of the smart meter data. The M-TR is based on an anomaly detection technique that does not require any prior knowledge about EVs charging profiles, nor it does only require real power consumption data of non-EV users. In addition, the proposed model leverages the power of transfer learning. The M-TR is compared with different state-of-the-art methods and performs better than other unsupervised learning models. The model can run with an excellent execution time of 1.2 sec. for 1-minute smart recordings.
SLO-aware GPU Frequency Scaling for Energy Efficient LLM Inference Serving
Kakolyris, Andreas Kosmas, Masouros, Dimosthenis, Vavaroutsos, Petros, Xydis, Sotirios, Soudris, Dimitrios
As Large Language Models (LLMs) gain traction, their reliance on power-hungry GPUs places ever-increasing energy demands, raising environmental and monetary concerns. Inference dominates LLM workloads, presenting a critical challenge for providers: minimizing energy costs under Service-Level Objectives (SLOs) that ensure optimal user experience. In this paper, we present \textit{throttLL'eM}, a framework that reduces energy consumption while meeting SLOs through the use of instance and GPU frequency scaling. \textit{throttLL'eM} features mechanisms that project future KV cache usage and batch size. Leveraging a Machine-Learning (ML) model that receives these projections as inputs, \textit{throttLL'eM} manages performance at the iteration level to satisfy SLOs with reduced frequencies and instance sizes. We show that the proposed ML model achieves $R^2$ scores greater than 0.97 and miss-predicts performance by less than 1 iteration per second on average. Experimental results on LLM inference traces show that \textit{throttLL'eM} achieves up to 43.8\% lower energy consumption and an energy efficiency improvement of at least $1.71\times$ under SLOs, when compared to NVIDIA's Triton server.
Integrating ESG and AI: A Comprehensive Responsible AI Assessment Framework
Lee, Sung Une, Perera, Harsha, Liu, Yue, Xia, Boming, Lu, Qinghua, Zhu, Liming, Cairns, Jessica, Nottage, Moana
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a widely developed and adopted technology across entire industry sectors. Integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations with AI investments is crucial for ensuring ethical and sustainable technological advancement. Particularly from an investor perspective, this integration not only mitigates risks but also enhances long-term value creation by aligning AI initiatives with broader societal goals. Yet, this area has been less explored in both academia and industry. To bridge the gap, we introduce a novel ESG-AI framework, which is developed based on insights from engagements with 28 companies and comprises three key components. The framework provides a structured approach to this integration, developed in collaboration with industry practitioners. The ESG-AI framework provides an overview of the environmental and social impacts of AI applications, helping users such as investors assess the materiality of AI use. Moreover, it enables investors to evaluate a company's commitment to responsible AI through structured engagements and thorough assessment of specific risk areas. We have publicly released the framework and toolkit in April 2024, which has received significant attention and positive feedback from the investment community. This paper details each component of the framework, demonstrating its applicability in real-world contexts and its potential to guide ethical AI investments.