Available Thesis Topics
When applying for a thesis topic, follow the procedure described here and CC the advisor(s) in your email.
Click on a topic for more details.
Note: Some topics are marked as “B.Sc.” level, but we might make an extended version for M.Sc. students if you are really interested.
Object storage services such as Amazon S3 use a REST API for accessing data. This means that the objects are never seen by the operating system as cacheable objects, e.g., in the page cache.
Goal of this thesis: Design an operating system component that transparently detects accesses to an object storage service and locally caches objects for future use. There are multiple challenges to solve:
- Intercept REST calls (through a library or in the kernel)
- Implement the local cache (either in user space or in the kernel)
- Ensure the coherence of the data: when an object is modified in the object storage, the cached object must be invalidated
Target: B.Sc./M.Sc. students
Prerequisites:
- Programming language: C
Advisor: Jérôme Coquisart
In a NUMA system, kernel text is distributed across all nodes. This causes latency overhead when userspace applications require access to kernel functions, because the memory might be located on another node. A solution has been proposed on the Linux Kernel Mailing List to tackle this problem, which is to replicate kernel text across all NUMA nodes.
Goal of this thesis: In this thesis, you’ll work directly inside the Linux Kernel. You will apply and test a provided kernel patchset. You’ll use virtualisation tools and a real NUMA server to execute and benchmark the new kernel. Based on your observations, you will propose improvements to the solution.
- Evaluate the patch with a set of defined benchmarks (or develop new benchmarks)
- Find ways to extend and improve the patch
Target: B.Sc./M.Sc. students
Prerequisites:
- Programming language: C
- Linux Kernel Programming
Advisor: Jérôme Coquisart
Page table management is one of the main contributor to the overall performance of NUMA systems. Page table self-replication is one of the recent techniques that aims at addressing the challenges toward efficient management of NUMA systems.
Goal & Steps: In this thesis, you will investigate the impact of recent advances in TLB & page table management on NUMA systems’ efficiency:
- Reviewing recent kernel improvements with a focus on page table & TLB management
- Implementing the state-of-the-art schemes on top of the latest Linux kernel release
- Benchmarking each scheme & investigating statistics such as TLB flushes and shootdowns
Target: B.Sc./M.Sc. students
Prerequisites:
- Proficiency in C programming
- Strong interest in kernel development
- Basic knowledge of OS & computer architecture (address translation, TLB, page table)
- Problem solving & research capability
Advisor: Mostafa Hadizadeh
Flash-based SSDs offer considerably higher performance compared to conventional HDDs, thanks to their non-mechanical design. However, SSDs face several challenges due to intrinsic drawbacks of Flash memory technology such as limited lifetime and disparity between read/write latency. To address these challenges, SSDs are equipped with several architectural features along with numerous management techniques such as internal buffer, garbage collection, and flash translation layer.
Goal & Steps: In this thesis, you will explore recent optimizations in SSD design and evaluate their impact of overall performance and lifetime:
- Exploring industrial standards & designs with concentration on garbage collection and buffer management
- Setting up a SSD emulator & analyzing the impact of the state-of-the-art buffering algorithms on the lifetime and performance
- Implementing recent garbage collection algorithms and analyzing them with comprehensive benchmarking
Target: B.Sc.
Prerequisites:
- Proficiency in C/C++ programming
- Problem solving & research capability
Advisor: Mostafa Hadizadeh
Computational Storage Devices (CSDs) are emerging devices aiming to improve the performance of computer systems by reducing data movement between storage & computation subsystems. Contrary to Von-Neumann paradigm where the data was delivered to central processing unit for computation, recent computational paradigms such as in-memory processing and computational storage devices introduce an alternative approach. By offloading a part of computation to CSD, the system can get rid of extra data movements, and accordingly, achieve higher performance.
Goal & Steps: In this thesis, you will explore CSD and the opportunities provided by this new paradigm:
- Setting-up an emulation/simulation CSD frameworks: 1) Exploring existing frameworks, 2) Evaluating existing the frameworks in terms of compliance with the standards such SNIA and NVMe
- Literature review with concentration on application domains that suites CSD paradigm
- Evaluating the impact of advanced compression algorithms on overall application performance and device lifetime
Target: M.Sc.
Prerequisites:
- Proficiency in C/C++ programming
- Problem solving & research capability
Advisor: Mostafa Hadizadeh