Dr Nick Filer
Advanced Processor
Technologies (APT)
Group
Mobile Systems
Architecture (MSA) Sub
Group
Who am I?, Contact Me, Research, Teaching,
Administration,
Papers.
Who am I?
I'm a generalist rather than a one topic expert. My Bachelors was in
Computer
Science at the University of London in Queen Mary College. Aside from
lots of
computer science I took modules from a few other departments but mainly
electrical engineering. It was the late 1970's and there was lots of
interest
in designing chips and electronic systems to support them.
I moved to the University of Manchester in 1981 doing research
initially in
signal routing for chips and printed circuit boards and then looking at
how
techniques from Artificial Intelligence could help electronic systems
designers. We produced several so called "expert systems" which could
solve
design problems and attempt to explain decisions to the designer on
request.
This lead to attempts to improve the quality of the generated
explanations
which needed deeper knowledge (semantics) so that the underlying
reasons
could be elucidated.
Deeper domain knowledge required the information used by design systems
to be
available not just the data. Information has semantics whereas in
general
data only has syntax.
...............................................................
In about 2002 a chance discussion caused a change of direction into the
simulation of and study of wireless networks for pervasive mobile
computing.
This interest continues today.
Contact Me
My address is:
Dr Nick Filer
Room IT415
School of Computer Science
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
UK
Research
Currently my research has two main themes as briefly
introduced here:
- Using wireless devices to try and build floorplans (maps)
of indoor structures such as rooms and corridors. This has applications
in various scenarios but one obvious one is fire fighters entering a
burning building which is full of smoke. In practice, the fire fighters
are very unlikely to have a floorplan when they arrive, most building
do not have good GPS penetration or pre-deployed references that can be
use to pin point locations. The fir fighter has a radio though so as to
communicate with colleagues. It is well known that radio waves behave
in much the same way as light, they reflect, diffract and scatter. This
means that when a pulse of RF energy is emitted by a transmitter, very
soon after, reflections from nearby surfaces arrive at receivers. With
accurate timers (which exist) it is possible to detect these
reflections. We have been using pulsed Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radios and
using timing information from single and double reflections arriving at
receivers we have found that reconstruction of the topology of a room
or space is possible.
Impule response from a 4 Wall Room
Of course there are problems. To build maps e.g. using
triangulation, references are needed. Therefore, out technique also
needs references. This one is fairly easy to solve, but not in the
standard manner of deploying devices or people to act as the
references. Instead, we achieve perfect synchronization by using the
refection of the transmitter in each nearby wall as a reference. To a
receiver it appears as though the transmitter and each of its
reflections emitted a pulse at the same time thus giving us easy to use
references. Another problem is ambiguities such as mirror reflections.
These can be removed in general by moving the transmitter and tracing
its path. If the transmitter moves to the left in the real world but to
the right in a reconstruction we know that that reconstruction is a
mirror image of reality.
|
|
4 Wall Room with UWB Radio |
Effect of wall angles on
reflections (Exaggerated) |
So far, techniques for 2D and 2.5D (rooms with floor and
ceiling) have been developed using ray trace data instead of real
radios. The next steps are to use real radios, see if 3D spaces can be
reconstructed and to look at practical technology for implementation of
such a device.
- Most existing wireless simulators work with a predetermined
network layout (scenario) and by simulation attempt to determine the
behaviour of the network under different traffic loads. Modern
simulators allow wireless nodes to move but few allow the nodes to be
created (switched on) and destroyed (switched off) at will. We invented
the concept of "packet simulation" to allow a simulator to determine
the behaviour of a given data link layer medium access control (MAC)
protocol for the statistical expectation of all possible network
topologies. Our simulator generates traffic as individual
packets of data for transmission between dynamically created and
destroyed wireless nodes. We send just one packet of data between each
pair of nodes. Thus the topology of our network in continuously
changing. This allows the average throughput for all topologies to be
measured. This average throughput would be much more difficult to find
using more traditional simulation technologies.
This idea is now being extended to higher layers and we are
actively
developing Network Layer simulations to experiment with routing in
highly
mobile wireless networks and also looking at Transport Layer protocols
especially adaptive protocols that treat different media in different
ways so
as to maximize network throughput and to try and meet Quality of
Service
(QoS) targets.
Current Projects
Analytical Throughput Calculation for Data link Protocols
Most analytical solutions for the analysis of wireless
networks ignore many
of the awkward physical things that happen to signals in the physical
layer
of a wireless network system. We have been developing statistical
models of
networks that attempt to model the physical layer more realistically.
These
models need extension, solution and testing. We are currently working
towards
development of solutions to equations that describe the behaviour of
the
Physical and Medium Access Layers of protocols similar to Aloha and
IEEE
802.11 (WiFi). Once solved we then need to evaluate how similar the
results
are to real world situations. This is best done by simulation as the
real
world is normally too complex and expensive to build real
life experiments
in.
If the idea can be got to work then it should be possible to compare
the
efficiency of different protocols before implementing them. By finding
their
mean behaviour rather than just the behaviour in a testable subset of
scenarios the results obtained should be better than those available to
today's designers.
This work is ongoing and we are happy to accept new research
student
applications in this area.
Throughput Simulation for Data link layer Medium Access
Control (MAC)
Protocols
We have been studying the throughput that Data link Layer, Medium
Access
Control protocols such has Aloha and IEEE 802.11 can
deliver for ad hoc
networks for some time. Using a statistical simulation of a
continuously
changing ad hoc network topology we can find the mean statistical
expectation
of the throughput for all topologies. We have applied this technique to
pure
Aloha, Aloha with CSMA, Aloha with RTS/CTS, IEEE 802.11 using CSMA/CA
and
using RTS/CTS.
This work is ongoing and we are happy to accept new research
student
applications in this area.
Throughput Simulation for Network Layer Routing Protocols
The techniques used for simulation at the data link layer should extend
to
higher layers but the simulation costs will be significantly higher
(time and
memory needed). It is clear that effort is needed to build more
efficient
(parallel) simulations so we can accurately simulate ad hoc networks
above
the data link layer. We want to assess which are the best
protocols and
protocol controls (metrics) for ad hoc and mesh networks of mobile
wireless
users. These systems will need to compete with cellular technologies
such as
IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) and IEEE 802.20 in the near future. LAN systems
should
have an advantage over MAN systems because they have
smaller coverage range
and serve less users. However, if LAN latencies are
high then MAN systems
will prove more effective for some user densities?
If you are interested in wireless routing protocols and their
applications
then please contact us or apply for a research studentship.
Voice over IP and over Wireless/Wired Local Area
Networks (VoWLAN).
Modern networks built for both data and telecommunication are
increasingly
being configured for mainly IP traffic rather than the older switched
telephony networks. The internet has been built around best effort
quality of
service which is sometimes usable but unreliable for multi media data
such as
voice and video. For example, most data transfers use the TCP/IP
protocol
which given reliable data transfer but with no promises about when the
data
will be delivered. In fact TCP/IP may hold back latter packets of data
if an
earlier packet was lost for some reason.
The design of protocols and their configuration for networks
carrying multi
media and other types of traffic is an open topic. New protocols need
to be
tested in many different scenarios to ensure they behave as designed
and to
measure how much better or worse the
network's performance is. Protocols
exist at all the levels in the network architecture from the
application
layer through to the physical layer. For many multi media formats, the
way in
which they are packaged as packets and transmitted can have a very
large
effect on the efficiency and behaviour of the network. All these and
other
aspects are good research topics.
If you are interested in VOIP or in protocols for multi-media
wireless or
wired networks then please contact us or apply for a research studentship.
Indoor Environment Mapping using Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Radio
We have been looking at reconstruction of indoor (multi path)
environments
using the impulse response from UWB radios. Initial research has shown
that
just using the time of arrival if impulses reflected from walls in
different
locations around a radio, in general the environment can be constructed
and a
map drawn. So far we have looked at simple environments and we know
that the
more complex the environment the more information the radio get back
and
there is even considerable redundancy.
Further research is required to find the limits of the technology we
have
developed so far and then to look at what extra information might be
used to
get around any limits that are found. So for example we need to look at
recovery of 3 dimensional location information. We also need to look at
recovering information about small objects (smaller than a wall) such
as
furniture, we expect this information is hidden amongst the noise
signals but
it might be recovered by signal processing and pattern matching?
Of course we are also interested in using UWB for communications. We
are
interested in analytical and simulation of the throughput of UWB
systems in
the presence of external noise (other users of UWB and narrow band
systems).
Applications of the mapping technology might be, for example firemen
entering
a smoke filled building where radios used for communication might also
one
day provide other services such as maps of the local environment.
If you are interested in Ultra Wide Band and its applications
then please
contact us or apply for a research studentship.
Teaching
This final year undergraduate course started in 2006/7 with the aim of
introducing computer scientists to the communications tools that we are
all
now using in our laptops, personal computers and telephones. The course
is
based around the book "Mobile Communications" by Jochen Schiller.
Students
take a series of modules based on an introductory lecture, a chapter in
the
book, some subsidiary reading, self tests and finally a formal short
test.
The course is evolving towards problem directed learning in a mainly
self
taught environment using materials provided using a web based teaching
support environment. The main modules are:
Wireless Transmission/Physical Layer
Medium Access Control
Telecommunications Systems
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)
Mobile Network/Transport Layer
Testing for this course is all carried out electronically. The tests
that
count are taken using the ABC
software. The short in course tests use a mixture of multiple
choice,
one/two word answer and calculation questions. The final examination is
traditional in style. The ABC tool makes marking much easier,
everything is
readable plus answers can be sorted and grouped in many different ways
This master's level course is taught jointly with Dr Barry Cheetham.
The
course is split roughly 50:50 between physical layer and the higher
layers.
Barry teaches the physical layer and I deal with the higher layers. The
aim
is to show computer scientists how modern digital communications
systems are
built. There is a lot of signal processing needed to encode/decode data
plus
deal with the noise and interference introduced by propagation through
a
wireless medium. At the higher layers the course shown how the medium
can be
shared in various ways and how sharing is controlled. Issues of
integration
of wireless and wired networks are examined to show the differences
between
the two mediums and how they change the protocols used to manage the
network.
Administration
Having spent several years up until 2005/6 managing the undergraduate
Software Engineering degree I am a member of the Undergraduate
Committee
which manages all the school's undergraduate teaching.
I am one of a group of staff members responsible for managing and
assessing
final year undergraduate projects. Each year I assess between 20-30
projects
jointly with project supervisors. This involves attending seminars,
looking
at posters, attending project demonstrations and finally reading plus
examining the project reports.
At postgraduate level I am a member of the postgraduate management
committee.
My tasks include admissions and monitoring plagiarism.
Papers + Publications
2007
2006
W. Guo, N. P. Filer & Rudolf Zetik, “
2D Indoor Mapping using Impulse
Radios”, Accepted for
NEWCOM-
ACoRN Joint
Workshop, 20 - 22
September 2006.
W. Guo, N. P. Filer & Rudolf Zetik, "
Indoor Mapping and Positioning
Using Impulse
Radios”, pages 153-163, PLANS 2006,
San Diego CA, 25-27th April
2006
W. Guo & N. P. Filer, "
2.5D
Indoor
Mapping and Location-Sensing Using an Impulse Radio Network”,
pages 211-215, The IET Seminar on Ultra Wideband Systems, Technologies
and
Applications, IET (IEE) Savoy Place, London, 20th April 2006, ISBN
0-86341-625-X/9780863416255, ISSN 0537-9989 Ref 06/11371
2005
Ritun Patney, Nick Filer, and Stephen K. Barton, "Server Supported Routing: A Novel
Architecture and
Protocol to Support Inter-Vehicular Communication”,
In
Proceedings, Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks: First International
Conference, MSN 2005, Ed: Xiaohua Jia, Jie Wu, Yanxiang He Wuhan, pp.21
- 30,
China, December 13-15, 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume
3794/2005, Springer-Verlag GmbH, ISSN 0302-9743 , ISBN:3-540-30856-3
W. Guo, S. Thomson, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Knowledge Base Assisted Mapping
for an Impulse
Radio Indoor Location-sensing Technique”, Proc.
International
Workshop on Wireless Ad-hoc Networks (IWWAN), May-2005.
W. Guo, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Knowledge Representation for an
Impulse Radio
Indoor Location-sensing Technique”, In: Proc.
Postgraduate
Research Conference in Electronics, Photonics, Communications and
Networks,
and Computing Science (PREP), March 2005
W. Guo, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Mapping Closed Four-wall
Environments Using a
Single Impulse Radio”, Cost 273 Meeting Bologna
Italy, January
2005, Ref: TD (05) 10, <http://www.lx.it.pt/cost273/>
A. Tamburini, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Multi Protocols Interference
Evaluation
Module”, Cost 273 Meeting Bologna Italy, January
2005, Ref: TD
(05) 042, <http://www.lx.it.pt/cost273/>
2004
N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Towards
a Performance Comparison of WLAN MAC Protocols”,
pp. xx-yy,
Proc. the 1st International Symposium on Broadband Communications
(ISBC'04),
Leeds, December 2004, ISBN: 0853162417
W. Guo, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “A 2D UWB Indoor Wireless
Technique for
Location-Aware Applications”, pp 58, Proc. the
1st International
Symposium on Broadband Communications (ISBC'04), Leeds, December 2004,
ISBN:
0853162417
A. Pickering, N. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Simulation Tool for Estimating RF
Energy from
Cellular Telephony”, In: Proc. the 1st
International Symposium
on Broadband Communications (ISBC'04), December 2004, ISBN: 0853162417
Wenyu Guo, Nick Filer and Stephen K Barton, “A Novel Wireless Mapping and
Positioning Technique
for Impulse Radio Networks”, pages 712-714, 2004
International
Symposium on Electromagnetic Theory, Union Radio-Scientifique
Internationale
(URSI), Pisa, Italy, May 23-27, 2004.
Also published as Cost 273 Meeting Duisburg, September 2004,
Ref: TD (04)
147, <http://www.lx.it.pt/cost273/>.
N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Wireless Network Throughput
Simulation Modelling
the Physical Layer with Hidden Nodes” Cost 273
Meeting Duisburg,
September 2004, Ref. TD (04) 170,
<http://www.lx.it.pt/cost273/>
W. Guo, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “2D Indoor Mapping and Positioning
Using an Impulse
Radio Network”, pages 119-122, The IEE Seminar
on Ultra Wideband
Communications Technologies and System Design, Queen Mary, University
of
London, 8th July 2004, ISBN 0-86341-442-7, ISSN 0537-9989.
W. Guo, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, "A
Feasibility Study on 2D Indoor Environment Mapping Using a Single
Impulse
Radio”, In Proc. 5th Annual Postgraduate
Symposium on the
Convergence of Telecommunications, Networking and Broadcasting (PGNet),
June
2004, pp 241-246.
W. Guo, N. P. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Resolving mirror-image ambiguity
in scenarios
reconstructed by impulse radio networks”, In:
Proc. Postgraduate
Research Conference in Electronics, Photonics, Communications and
Networks,
and Computing Science (PREP), April 2004, pp: 264-265
2003
X. Y. Li, Np. F. Filer and S. K. Barton, “Using Packet Based Simulation to
Directly Measure
the Throughput of a Wireless Ad-Hoc Network Under the Aloha
Protocol”, Cost 273 Meeting Prague, 24th
September 2003, Ref: TD
(03) 184, <http://www.lx.it.pt/cost273/>
2001
Nick P. Filer, Hilary J Kahn, Alan Williams and Nigel Whitaker,
“A generic
framework for transforming EXPRESS
information models”, Computer Aided Design
Journal, Vol. 33,
pages 501-510, Elsevier, ISSN: 0010-4485, 2001.
NP Filer, HJ Kahn, AR Williams, NA Whitaker, D Reilly, "From information model to
controllable
implementation", pages 307-328, In: "Information Modeling
in the New
Millennium", Edited by: M. Rossi and K. Siau, Idea Group Publishing,
ISBN
1-878289-77-2, 2001.
2000
Hilary J Kahn, A. J. Williams and N. P. Filer, “Geotechnical Site Investigation:
A Model Based
Study”, Proceedings of the Third European
Conference on Product
and Process Modeling in the Building and Related Industries, Lisbon,
Portugal, September 2000. In "Product and Process Modeling in Building
and
Construction", Edited by Ricardo Goncalves, Adolfo Steiger-Garcao
&
Raimar Scherer, A. A. Balkema Publishers, ISBN 90-5809-179-1.
Nick P. Filer and Hilary J. Kahn, “Supporting the Maintenance and
Evolution of
Information Models”, pages 888-890, Information
Resources
Management Association International Conference (IRMA) 2000, In
"Challenges
of Information Technology Management in the 21st Century", Edited by
Mehdi
Khosrowpour, Pennsylvania State University; ISBN 1-878289-84-5
Anchorage, May
2000.
N. Filer, H. Kahn, A. Williams, N. Whitaker and D. Reilly. “Transforming Information Models
to Support the
Generation of Efficient Implementations”,
Proceedings of the
Thirty-Third Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences,
Maui,
Hawaii, USA, January 4th-7th, 2000, ISBN 0-7695-0493-0.
1999
Andrew Broad and Nick Filer, “Extracting Constraint Knowledge
From Code: A
Case-Based Reasoning Approach”, Pages 83-96 in:
Bramer M.,
Macintosh A. and Coenen F. (editors). Research and Development in
Intelligent
Systems XVI: Proceedings of ES99, The Nineteenth SGES International
Conference on Knowledge Based Systems and Applied Artificial
Intelligence,
Cambridge, England, 13th-15th December 1999. Springer-Verlag, London.
ISBN
1-85233-231-X.
Andrew Broad and Nick Filer, “Applying
Case-Based Reasoning to Code Understanding and Generation”,
Pages 35-48 in: Watson I., editor. Proceedings of the Fourth United
Kingdom
Case-Based Reasoning Workshop (UKCBR4), University of Salford, Salford,
England, 15th September 1999.
Nick P. Filer and Hilary J Kahn, “Creating Efficient
Implementations from EXPRESS
Information Models”, pages 835-840, Information
Resources
Management Association International Conference (IRMA) 99, In "Managing
Information Technology Resources in Organizations in the Next
Millennium",
Ed. M. Khosrowpour, Hershey USA, Idea Group Publishing, ISBN
1-878289-51-9.
1997
“3rd United Kingdom Case-Based Reasoning Workshop
Proceedings”,
Editors N. P. Filer and I. Watson, Department Of Computer Science,
University
of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, September 1997.
N. Filer, “CBR
for Understanding of
Very Large Electronic Legacy Objects”, 14 pages,
In: N. Filer
& I. Watson (editors), “3rd United Kingdom Case-Based
Reasoning
Workshop Proceedings”, Department Of Computer Science,
University of
Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, September 1997.
1995
M. Brown, N. Filer and I. Watson, “Separating the Cases from the
Data: Towards More
Flexible Case-Based Reasoning”, pages 157-168,
In: Case-Based
Reasoning Research and Development, First International Conference,
ICCBR-95,
edited by: M. Veloso and A. Aamodt, Lecture Notes in Artificial
Intelligence
1010, Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Sesimbra,
Portugal,
October, 1995, Springer, ISBN 3-540-60598-3.
M. Brown, Z. Moosa, N. Filer, J. Heaton and J. Pye, “Practical Inter-Operation of CAD
Tools Using a
Flexible Procedural Interface”, pages 34-39,
“EURO-DAC
'95” European Design Automation Conference With EURO-VHDL,
Brighton,
UK, September, 1995, IEEE Computer Society Press, ISBN 0-7803-3080-3.
Z. Moosa, M. Brown, N. Filer, J. Heaton and J. Pye, “Close Integration of a CAD
Vendor's Framework into
the Jessi-Common-Frame Using a Flexible and Adaptable Procedural
Interface”, pages 457-466, International
Workshop on
Concurrent/Simultaneous Engineering Frameworks and Applications,
Lisbon,
Portugal, April, 1995.
M. Brown and N. Filer, “Beauty
vs the
Beast: The Case Against Massively Parallel Retrieval”,
Section
1.4, 13 pages, 1st United Kingdom Case-Based Reasoning Workshop, I
Watson and
S Perera (Editors), Research and Graduate College, University of
Salford,
January, 1995.
Also in: “Advances in Case Based Reasoning: First UK CBR
Workshop”, pages 42-58, Lecture Notes in Artificial
Intelligence,
Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 1020, I Watson
(editor),
1995, Springer, ISBN 3-540-60654-8.
1994
S. Mir and N. Filer, “Re-engineering
Hardware Specifications by Exploiting Design Semantics”,
pages
336-341, “EURO-DAC '94” European Design Automation
Conference
With EURO-VHDL, Grenoble, France, September, 1994, IEEE Computer
Society
Press, ISBN 0-89791-685-9.
Z. Moosa, M. Brown and N. Filer. “Integrating CAD Tools into a
Framework Environment
Using a Flexible and Adaptable Procedural Interface”,
pages
200-205, “EURO-DAC '94” European Design Automation
Conference
With EURO-VHDL, Grenoble, France, September, 1994, IEEE Computer
Society
Press, ISBN 0-89791-685-9.
Z. Moosa, M. Brown and N. Filer. “The
Use of Semantic Information for Control of a Complex Routing
Tool”, pages 342-347, “EURO-DAC
'94” European Design
Automation Conference With EURO-VHDL, Grenoble, France, September,
1994, IEEE
Computer Society Press, ISBN 0-89791-685-9.
Z. Moosa, M. Brown and N. Filer, “Knowledge Based Support for Use
of Complex CAD
Tools”, pages 175-188, ES 94, Editors: R. Milne
and A. L.
Macintosh, In: Applications and Innovations in Expert Systems II -
Proceedings of Expert Systems 94 the 14th Annual Conference of the
British
Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems, Cambridge, UK,
December,
1994, SGES Publications, ISBN 1 899621 00 8.
M. Brown and N. Filer, “Case
Retrieval
Must Use Massive Parallelism?”, pages 119-132,
ES 94, Editors:
M. A. Bramer and A. L. Macintosh, In: Research and Development in
Expert
Systems XI the 14th Annual Conference of the British Computer Society
Specialist Group on Expert Systems, Cambridge, UK, December, 1994, SGES
Publications, ISBN 1 899621 01 6.
S. Mir and N. Filer, ”Heuristic
Classification of Cells in Logic Electronic Specifications”,
The
10th IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Applications, San
Antonio, Texas, USA, March 1994.
1991
D. Wray, S. Mir and N. Filer, “Description of a Prototype
Knowledge-Based Tool
Exploiting Design Semantics”, Joint European
Submicron Silicon
Programme : JESSI-CAD-FRAME (JCF), Review Material “SP1
Applied
Framework Research (D1.1), ESPRIT special project 5082, pages
A1.56--A1.71,
CADLAB, University of Paderborn, Germany, April 1991.
D. Wray, S. Mir, N. Filer and H. J. Kahn, “A Prototype Browser for Design
Information and
Semantics Captured from a Design Representation in EDIF”,
Joint
European Submicron Silicon Programme : JESSI-CAD-FRAME (JCF), Workshop
Proceedings “SP1 Applied Framework Research (M1.1), ESPRIT
special
project 5082, pages 50--56, Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI)
University of
Karlsruhe, Germany, January 1991.
A. R. Williams, N. P. Filer and H. J. Kahn, “Isomorphic and Non-Isomorphic
Hierarchies in CAD
Systems”, Joint European Submicron Silicon
Programme :
JESSI-CAD-FRAME (JCF), Workshop Proceedings “SP1 Applied
Framework
Research (M1.1), ESPRIT special project 5082, pages 20--26,
Forschungszentrum
Informatik (FZI) University of Karlsruhe, Germany, January 1991.
Poster presentation: S. Mir, N. P. Filer and H. J. Kahn,
“Using Semantic
Information to Reason about the
Structure of VLSI Designs”, EDAC, The European
Conference on
Design Automation, Amsterdam, February, 1991.
1990
“Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Explanation”,
Editor: N. P.
Filer, University of Manchester, 183 pages, April 1990.
S. Mir and N. P. Filer, “Using
Multiple-levels of Knowledge to Reason About the Structure of VLSI
Digital
Circuits”, DTI Deep Knowledge Workshop, Wales,
April, 1990.
1989
N. P. Filer, “Using
Knowledge-Based
Systems With CAD”, IEE Computing and Control
Division,
Colloquium organised by Professional Group C2 (Hardware and systems
engineering) on “High Level Modelling and Design for
ASICS”,
Pages 5/1--5/4, London, October, 1989.
R. A. J. Marshall and N. P. Filer, “The Design of a Methodology for
the Intelligent
Control of Simulation Using the Manchester Simulation Engine”,
In “Simulation Methodologies, Languages and AI and Graphics
for
Simulation” Proceedings of the 1989 European Simulation
Multiconference, Pages 163--168, Rome, June 1989.
N. P. Filer, “Possible
Techniques for
the Generation of Explanations in a Simulation Environment”,
Alvey/SERC Deep Knowledge Workshop, Sunderland Polytechnic, March 1989.
1988
“Proceedings of the 4th Alvey/SERC Workshop on
Explanation”,
Editor: N. P. Filer, University of Manchester, Published by : Institute
of
Electrical Engineers, 247 pages, September 1988.
N. P. Filer, “Report
on a Discussion
of the Semantics of Graphs”, Proceedings of the
4th Alvey/SERC
Workshop on Explanation, pages 4--14, University of Manchester,
September
1988.
D. C. Y. Ng and N. P. Filer, “Demonstration of the `Manchester
Graphical
Explanation Environment’ : MAGEE”,
Proceedings of the 4th
Alvey/SERC Workshop on Explanation, pages 37--49, University of
Manchester,
September 1988.
N. P. Filer, “The
use of Knowledge
Based Techniques for Electronic Computer Aided Design”,
Ph.D
thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester, June
1988.
1987
M. A. Spink and N. P. Filer, “Knowledge Based Control for VLSI”,
IEEE International Workshop on AI-Applications to CAD-Systems for
Electronics, pages 119--136, Munich, Germany, October 1987.
N. P. Filer, “CAD
Layout Tools Applied
to Interactive Structure Diagram Layout”,
Proceedings of the 3rd
Alvey/SERC Workshop on Explanation, University of Surrey, September
1987.
M. A. Spink and N. P. Filer, “A
Knowledge Based Abutment Aid for Layout Generation within a General
Silicon
Compiler”, Proceedings of the 1987 Electronic
Design Automation
Conference, pages 109--119, London, July 1987.
1986
N. P. Filer, “Explanation
by an Expert
System for Computer Aided Computer Design”,
Proceedings of the
1st Alvey/SERC Workshop on Explanation, University of Surrey, March
1986.
1985
N. P. Filer and H. J. Kahn, “An
Application of Knowledge Based Techniques to VLSI Design”,
Expert Systems 1985, Fifth Technical Conference of the British Computer
Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems, Edited by: M. Merry, pages
307--322, University of Warwick, Cambridge University Press, December
1985,
ISBN 0-521-32596-X.
1982
N. P. Filer, “A
Line-Search Method for
the Routing Problem in a Practical Environment”,
M.Sc. thesis,
Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester, October 1982.